Basilica S. Dominici consecrata est ab Innocentio IV P.M. die 17 Oct. 1251 Bononiae

Dominicus Oxomensis (Hispanice Domingo de Osma; natus anno 1170; mortuus Bononiae anno 1221) fuit conditor Ordinis Praedicatorum vel Dominicanorum. Anno 1234 canonizatus est in Ecclesia Catholica; a permultis tempore nostro "Sanctus Dominicus de Guzmán" appellatur.

Dominicus natus est in oppido Caleruega Castellae (praenomen habet a sancto Dominico de Silos cuius monasterium non longe a Caleruega iacet). Fons antiquissimus de vita eius, a Iordano de Saxonia anno fere 1233 conscriptum, nihil dicit aut de nominibus aut de origine patris aut matris.In fonte posteriori, sed etiam saeculi XIII, legimus parentes praenomina habuisse Ioannam et Felicem Secundum auctorem Castellae saeculi XIV pater Dominici fuit vir venerabilis et dives in populo suo. Scriptor anni fere 1439 in libro familiae Guzmán dicato, praetendit patrem Dominici ex illa familia natum, matrem autem e familia Aça.

Tempore pueritiae nihil miri ei accidit. Omnia tandem mutata sunt cum missus est cum episcopo suo, Didaco, praedicare Catharis seu Albigensibus et reducere eos ad ecclesiam catholicam. Episcopus missus est a Papa, qui anno 1205 iubuit Didaco docere fidem catholicam haereticis. Ita Dominicus, anno suae aetatis 26, iter fecit cum episcopo suo in comitatem Tolosanum ut inveniat et verteat Albigenses ad fidem orthodoxam.[5] Anno 1206 fundavit domum seu refugium feminarum Prullianum; ab hoc initio continuat operam fidei catholicae.

Interdum legatus Papae necatus est ab inimicis; papa Innocentius III iubuit ducem Albigensium necari, et ita fecit bellum. Dum Albigenses effugiebant et necabantur Dominicus etiam temptabat vertare eos. Cum parvo numero discipulorum, multi Albigenses duxit veritati.

Numquam domum redivit. Anno 1215, adiuvante Fulcone, episcopo Tolosano, Dominicus congregavit homines in ordinem praedicatorum Tolosae: ita Dominicani nati sunt, religiosi sed et praedicatores. Ita anno 1217 mense Ianuario auctoritatem recepit a papa Honorio III Ordinem Fratrum Praedicatorum sive Dominicanorum condire. Feminas virosque recepit in ordinem. Mortuus est Bononiae die 6 Augusti 1221.

Beatificatus est a papa Gregorio IX anno 1234. Celebratur a Ecclesia Catholica die 8 Augusti; est sanctus patronus terrae natalis suae Castellae.

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange -Immensity of the Soul

Fr. Reginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (1877-1964) is considered the greatest Catholic theologian of the 20th century. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange came to the attention of Catholic scholars early in the last century, when he wrote against Modernism. Knowing that Modernism---which denied the objective truth of Divine revelation and taught an heretical conception of the evolution of dogma---attacked the very heart of the Catholic faith, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange authored what are now classic works on apologetics, in defense of the Catholic Faith by way of both philosophy and theology. He taught at the Angelicum in Rome from 1909 to 1960, and served as a consultor to the Holy Office and other Roman Congregations for several years. He is most famous, however, for his works, an astonishing 500 books and articles. In these he has demonstrated that he is a true son of St. Thomas Aquinas [full-color picture above] in the classic Dominican tradition. The sepia image of Fr. Lagrange is one of the few of the theologian in later life that does not feature the glasses he often wore.

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange was best known for his spiritual theology, especially for insisting "that all are called to holiness and for zealously propounding the thesis that infused contemplation and the resulting mystical life are in the normal way of holiness or Christian perfection. His classic work in this field---and his overall masterpiece---is The Three Ages of the Interior Life, in which the Catholic Faith stands out in all its splendor as a Divine work of incomparable integrity, structure and beauty, ordered to raise man to the Divine life of grace and bring to flower in him the "supernatural organism" of Sanctifying Grace and the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost---the wellsprings of all true mysticism. Among his other famous theological works are The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, Christian Perfection and Contemplation (a forerunner of The Three Ages of the Interior Life), The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus, The Mother of the Saviour and our Interior Life, and Christ the Saviour."