St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers (the "Dominicans") initially to preach against the teachings of the Cathars in Southern France and Italy. From there the order spread widely, especially in Spain, where it emphasized preaching to Moslems in the reconquered territories. From Spain it also spread to the Americas, again emphasizing preaching and conversion.1



Because of the wide reach of the order, images of St. Dominic are very common in Latin countries. Sometimes if it is clear who the figure is the saint's only attributes will be his book, tonsure, and Dominican habit. Otherwise he will be identified by one or more of these attributes:



LILIES



Perhaps the most common attribute is a stalk of lilies, as at right. The lilies refer to the saint's notable chastity. (For example, see this passage in the Golden Legend.)



A DOG WITH A TORCH



In the Golden Legend St. Dominic's mother while pregnant dreams that she will give birth to a dog who will hold a torch in its mouth and "burn the world." It has been suggested that the dog represents a pun on Dominicanus, the word for a Dominican friar, and Domini canis, "dog of the Lord." At any rate, a dog is often shown at the saint's feet holding a torch in its mouth, as in the second picture at right.



A STAR ON THE FOREHEAD



The Legend also relates that when St. Dominic was a baby his godmother saw a star on his forehead during the baptism, so another common attribute is a star either on the forehead (example) or above the head (example).



THE ROSARY



Centuries after Dominic's death a tradition developed that it was he who introduced the Rosary A loop of beads for counting off a number of "Hail Mary" prayers interspersed with the Lord's Prayer and the "Glory be." to the world, having received it in a vision from the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child (example). In many images Mary and the Child dispense two rosaries, one to Dominic and one to St. Catherine of Siena (example). Tiepolo has a grand ceiling fresco in which Dominic passes on the rosary to the multitudes. At the base of the image he places the souls in Purgatory, for whom the faithful are especially encouraged to pray the rosary. Many other images of the institution of the rosary also emphasize the importance of this prayer for the souls in Purgatory (example).



By the beginning of the 20th century Catholic historians had rejected this tradition as completely unfounded. There is no mention of the rosary or any rosary vision in any of the documents from St. Dominic's lifetime, nor in the early biographies, nor in the dossier compiled for his canonization (Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Rosary"). Even so, the tradition lives on. After World War II, among the new stained glass windows created for Munich's cathedral was one of Mary handing Dominic a rosary constructed in the modern style familiar to 20th-century Catholics.



OTHER IMAGERY



Although Dominic's innovation was to found an order dedicated to preaching in the world, the legends still attribute to him the virtues of a contemplative. Thus Fra Angelico painted several frescos for the convent of San Marco in Florence of the saint kneeling before and/or embracing the Cross in the manner of St. Mary Magdalene (example), and Tarchiani's painting mentioned above illustrates the Golden Legend's passage on his nightly penitence.



The Legend says that after receiving Dominic's request to establish the Order of Preachers the Pope had a dream in which the saint was protecting the church of St. John Lateran from falling down, and that the pope thereupon decided to honor Dominic's request. The dream is pictured in a 15th-century manuscript illumination in the Metropolitan Museum.



MIRACLES



Unsurprisingly, a great many miracles are attributed to St. Dominic. In one repeated in a number of his vitae, he and a group of Cathars test the validity of their respective beliefs by building a great fire and tossing into it Dominic's book of his teachings and the Cathars' book of theirs. The Cathar book burns up, but Dominic's jumps out of the fire unharmed (image).2 Prepared in March, 2015 by Richard Stracke, Emeritus Professor of English, Augusta University, revised 2015-10-25, 2017-01-16, 2017-10-30, 2020-04-29.



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