Meeting of Francis & Dominic: Some Common Themes in Dominican Spirituality and the Francis-Pontificate
Published in Dominican Ashram, Vol. 5 Issue 4 (December 2023), pp. 159-167. Reproduced with permission.
“A
Jesuit, a Franciscan and a Dominican…” This brings to mind the many anecdotes
that one hears about them from time to time. The underlying assumption here is
that these three great religious families have always had their own very
distinctive and differentiated approach to life and its many challenges. But
could the spiritualities of the great founders Francis of Assisi, Dominic de
Guzman, and Ignatius of Loyola, despite their unique approaches have some
common ground and compatibility with each other? This question came to the fore
when on that rainy evening of 13 March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was
presented to the Church from the Balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, as
Pope Francis. Many in the Church were surprised that this first “Francis,” a
son of St. Ignatius, was the first Jesuit to occupy the chair of St. Peter as
head of the Catholic Church. On the very next day, The Washington
Post referred to the new Pope as a “Franciscan Jesuit” and a “Jesuit
Franciscan.”[1]
True! But would it also be possible to uncover hints of Dominican spirituality
in the thought and writings of Pope Francis? In this article, I will pick out
ten themes of Dominican spirituality found in Francis’ Pontificate. I offer
this as a humble tribute to the man himself on the completion of ten years of
his Petrine ministry.
1. The Primacy of Evangelization
A
truly apostolic man, Dominic set about untiringly preaching the Gospel. Soon he
established the Order of Preachers for this same purpose, namely, preaching and
the salvation of souls, so that he could fulfil Jesus’ command to make
disciples of all nations.[2]
Jordan of Saxony tells us that, “Dominic’s practice of sending brethren here
and there into various parts of God’s Church… was so remarkable for the
confident and unhesitating manner in which it was done, even against the advice
of some who deemed it unfeasible.”[3] In
similar manner, Pope Francis speaks in Evangelii Gaudium of the “Church
which ‘goes forth…a community of missionary disciples who take the first step.”[4]
Again he writes, “I dream of a ‘missionary option’, that is, a missionary
impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways
of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably
channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her
self-preservation.”[5]
How true these words ring out in the life of Dominic, who realized that stored
grain rots while scattered grain bears fruit, and who wished himself to go to
preach to the Cuman Tartars. Our Fundamental Constitution too speaks of
our special function, which is “to proclaim everywhere by word and example the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, taking into account people’s situations, the times and
the locations.”[6]
2.
A Renewed Confidence in Preaching
Pope
Francis, writing to our Order on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the Dies
Natalis of St. Dominic, mentions that, “among the titles attributed to
Saint Dominic, that of ‘Preacher of Grace’ stands out for its consonance with
the charism and mission of the Order he founded.”[7]
Likewise, in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, he writes,
“Let us renew our confidence in preaching, based on the conviction that it is
God who seeks to reach out to others through the preacher, and that he displays
his power through human words.”[8]
Again, in the same exhortation, he deals at length with the importance of the
homily, the liturgical context of the proclamation of the Word of God, the
challenge of an inculturated preaching and the necessity of preparing to preach
by setting aside a prolonged time of study, prayer, reflection and pastoral creativity.[9] As
Dominicans, with preaching as our specific charism, we can indeed profit from
the rich reflection that the Holy Father has offered to the Church on this
subject in Evangelii Gaudium.
3.
At the Foot of the Cross
The
early biographers of St. Dominic repeatedly remind us of his deeply
contemplative life – his spirit of piety, his devotion in praying the Divine
Office, his ‘nine ways of prayer,’ the tears he shed while offering Mass, his
penances and his night-long vigils which where interrupted by being overcome by
sleep for a few moments at the foot of the altar itself. “The daytime he shared
with his neighbour, but the night he dedicated to God.”[10]
Dominican spirituality has well understood that as for Dominic so too for his
brethren, deep contemplative union with God is necessary for our apostolic
life. In his first homily after his Papal election, Pope Francis said, “When we journey without the Cross, when we build
without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not
disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals,
popes, but not disciples of the Lord.”[11]
In another place, with St. Thomas’ Contemplata
aliis tradere in mind, he says, “Whoever wants to preach must first let the
word of God move him deeply and become incarnate in his daily life… Today too,
people prefer to listen to witnesses: they ‘thirst for authenticity’ and ‘call
for evangelizers to speak of a God whom they themselves know and are familiar
with.’”[12]
4.
The Medicine of Mercy and the Gift of Tears
One
of the most endearing virtues of St. Dominic was his great compassion and mercy
for those who were suffering in any way whatsoever. We are told, for instance,
of his decision as a student in Palencia to sell his precious manuscripts to
aid the poor during a famine in Spain. Writing to the Order on the eighth
centenary of St. Dominic’s death, Pope Francis remarked, “[Dominic’s] witness
to the mercy of Christ and his desire to bring its healing balm to those
experiencing material and spiritual poverty was to inspire the foundation of
your Order and shape the life and apostolate of countless Dominicans in varied
times and places.”[13]
On the tenth anniversary of Francis’ election, Andrea Tornielli, the Editorial
Director of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communications wrote, “‘Mercy’ is
indeed the word that best summarizes the magisterium of the Argentine Pope as
he enters the second decade of his pontificate.”[14]
Throughout these ten years, he has invited us “constantly to contemplate the
mystery of mercy,”[15]
and to be a Christian community that is an “oasis of mercy”[16]
and a “field hospital” for those who suffer in any way. On many occasions, he
has spoken of the importance of the “gift of tears, which includes two aspects
– that of weeping for the sufferings of others, and weeping for one’s own sins,
wherein “the heart bleeds for the suffering of having offended God and
neighbour.”[17]
He goes on further to say, “The beauty of repentance, the beauty of weeping,
the beauty of contrition! As always Christian life has its best expression in
mercy.”[18]
In speaking of the gift of tears, Pope Francis is surely in continuity with the
spiritual tradition, not only of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius, but
also of St. Dominic to whom God gave “the singular gift of weeping for sinners,
the wretched and the afflicted, whose sufferings he felt within his
compassionate heart, which poured out its hidden feelings in a shower of
tears.”[19]
5.
Poor and For the Poor
When
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the successor of Peter, he took the name
of ‘Francis’ after the great St. Francis of Assisi. Reflecting on the choice of
his name, he recalls that, when the counting of votes in the electoral conclave
had arrived at the majority, the Cardinal seated beside him gave him a hug and
said, “Don’t forget the poor.” At that moment, the Pope says, “those words came
to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of
Francis of Assisi.”[20]
And so all along he has emphatically insisted that, “[f]or the Church, the
[preferential] option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather
than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one… This is why I
want a Church that is poor and for the poor.”[21]
In addition to speaking on this subject numerous times, he has also given
witness to the ‘option for the poor’ by adopting great simplicity in his
personal life as well as in his manner of governance. While we know that
Dominic disagreed with St. Francis on the style of living out of poverty, they
were both united in making voluntary poverty an essential element of their
respective religious orders, and also, of the reform of the Church in their
time. Jordan of Saxony notes that, “As a true friend of poverty, he wore shabby clothing. In food
as well as in drink, he observed the strictest moderation.”[22] On
his deathbed, he asked his brothers to embrace voluntary poverty as a part of
his legacy. So, we Dominicans “have decided to be poor both in fact and in
spirit, so that while we endeavour to free people from domination by wealth and
to direct them to things of the spirit, we also may conquer greed.”[23]
6. The
Periphery and the Marketplace
Among his
first words to the crowd that had gathered to see the newly elected Successor
of Peter on 13
March 2013, Pope Francis said that the “Cardinals have gone to the ends of the
earth to get [a Bishop of Rome].”[24]
Indeed, throughout his papacy, Pope Francis has been a Pope of the
‘peripheries’, reminding Christians that “all of us are asked to obey his call
to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’
in need of the light of the Gospel.”[25]
It was this desire to reach out to those at the peripheries that led Dominic to
become an itinerant preacher and found the Order of Preachers. When the vast
majority of the clergy of the times were indifferent to the numerous souls
being led astray by the Albigensian heresy, Dominic went out to those very
peripheries which had been shunned by the monks and clergy, on one instance
even spending the entire night in discussion with an innkeeper to bring him back to the true faith. In his life we see exemplified for us the words of the Pope: “The Church is called to
be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open… I prefer a Church
which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets,
rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and clinging to its
own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and
then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures… [M]y hope
is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures
which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh
judges, within habits which make us feel safe…”[26]
Wasn’t it this impulse that led Dominic to throw open the doors of the
cloister, so that his friars could go out to the marketplace? As Dominicans, we
“have been sent to all men and women, all groups and peoples, believers and
unbelievers.”[27] Indeed, in the
spirituality of St. Dominic, the cloister, the peripheries and the marketplace
all come together as a Holy Preaching.
7. Walking
Together
The
earliest accounts of the life of St. Dominic often paint the picture of him walking on
the road along with his brethren. He was truly a man of and for the community –
walking along with his brethren and inviting them to communion, participation
and mission along with him. The ‘Synod on Synodality’ convoked
by Pope Francis is an
expression of this same fundamental attitude – that of becoming “experts in the
art of encounter”[28]
and “walking on the same road, walking together.”[29]
For Pope Francis, synodality is truly the “‘style of God’, who travels the
paths of history and shares in the life of humanity.”[30]
It is very important to remember that “the Synod is not a parliament or an
opinion poll; the Synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy
Spirit.”[31] We can find a wonderful
example of synodality in the lives of Dominic and his brethren who were
“pilgrims in love with the Gospel and open to the surprises of the Holy
Spirit.”[32] Pope Francis has also
spoken of the Order’s “inclusive form of
governance, in which all shared in the process of discernment and
decision-making, in accordance with their respective roles and authority,
through the system of chapters at all levels. This ‘synodal’ process enabled
the Order to adapt its life and mission to changing historical contexts while
maintaining fraternal communion.”[33]
From its very beginnings, the Order has been permeated by a strong “synodal
culture,” which consists of the dimensions of obedience with listening,
humility with dialogue and friendship with discernment.[34]
8.
Fraternity – “Brothers and Sisters, All”
When
Dominic began his apostolic life, he began to be called “not subprior, but
Brother Dominic.”[35]
He wished to breathe his last surrounded by his brethren and be buried under
their feet. As the Master of the Order observes: “At a time when clericalism
seemed to obscure the evangelical meaning of diakonia… Dominic grounded
the diakonia of preaching on fraternal communion.”[36]
Pope Francis, too, has noted that, “[t]he witness of evangelical fraternity… remains a
fundamental element of the Dominican charism.”[37]
In his Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis stresses the importance
of human fraternity and social friendship, taking inspiration from St. Francis
of Assisi, who considered himself the brother to all creation. The Pope
expresses his desire that “in this our time, by acknowledging the dignity of
each human person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration
to fraternity.”[38] One of the greatest
challenges to fraternity in the Church is clericalism, “a perverse
temptation [which]… makes us keep
thinking of a God who only speaks to some, while the others must listen and
obey.”[39]
The rich tradition of fraternity in the Dominican Order invites us to imitate
Dominic who was not “a saint alone on a pedestal, but a saint enjoying table
fellowship with his brothers.”[40]
Jordan of Saxony puts this beautifully: “All men were swept into the embrace of
his charity, and, in loving all, he was beloved by all.”[41]
9. “Wake
up the World” – Religious Life at the Service of the Church
In his
Apostolic Letter Witnesses of Joy, Pope Francis writes to men and women
religious: “I am counting on you to ‘wake up the world’, since the distinctive
sign of consecrated life is prophecy… Prophets receive from God the ability to
scrutinize the signs of the times in which they live and to interpret events…
Prophets know God and they know the men and women who are their brothers and
sisters.”[42] Consecrated men and women
are invited to look to the past with gratitude, live the present with passion
and embrace the future with hope. The reform brought about by St. Dominic in
the Church and in the world was precisely through his innovative model of
religious life, though initially it appeared to many as a “new and unusual type
of religious life.”[43]
The profession of the vows, common life and regular observance, taken as a
harmonious whole, enable us to be preachers of the Word of salvation to the
world. Pope Francis, preaching to the Dominicans, said, “Jesus says it very
clearly: if salt loses its taste, it is no longer useful. Alas if salt loses
its taste! Alas a Church that loses her taste! Watch out for a priest, a
consecrated person, a Congregation that loses its taste!”[44]
He then spoke of the work of St. Dominic and his Order, which “full of the salt
and light of Christ… has helped so many men and women to not be dispersed in
the midst of the carnival of worldly curiosity, but who instead savoured the
taste of healthy doctrine, the taste of the Gospel.”[45]
10. The
Testimony of Joy
One of the
words that continually resounds in the Pontificate of Pope Francis as well as
in the tradition of the Dominican Order is ‘Joy.’ Pope Francis writes: “The joy
of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus… With
Christ joy is constantly born anew.”[46] He tells us that the saints, “[f]ar from
being timid, morose, acerbic or melancholy, or putting on a dreary face… are
joyful and full of good humour.”[47]
Jordan of Saxony likewise tells us that, “because a joyful heart begets a
cheerful face, [Dominic] manifested the peaceful harmony within his soul by his
cordial manner and his pleasant countenance… the joy which shone in his
features bore witness to a clear conscience… This cheerfulness is what enabled
him so easily to win everyone's affection, for, as soon as they looked at him,
they were captivated.”[48]
Speaking of religious life, Pope Francis says, “Where there are religious,
there is joy…We can apply to the consecrated life the words of Benedict XVI …
‘It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but by attraction’…The
consecrated life will not flourish as a result of brilliant vocation programmes,
but because the young people we meet find us attractive, because they see us as
men and women who are happy!” Don’t we have abundant testimony of this,
especially in the early days of the Order, and all through its history, in the
numerous men and women who have joined the family of St. Dominic to share in
the joy of the Gospel?
Conclusion
Looking
back on the pages of history, some may be tempted to look at Francis and
Dominic as being poles apart – entirely different and irreconcilable
personalities. And yet, we know that they had more in common than their
differences, which in a complementary manner served to edify and renew the
Church. Even if they never met each other during their lifetime (as recent
scholarship seems to indicate), the close association of these two saints is
something immortalised in the traditions of both their religious orders as well
as in the history of the Church.[49]
This association is far from a hagiographical mirage of history or a
superficial cover-up of real differences – we are only too aware of the intense
‘sibling rivalry’ that has played out between the followers of these two saints
down the centuries, as well as major differences between the Franciscan and
Dominican approaches. Rather, this “meeting” goes to show how the Holy Spirit
is able to unite different personalities, charisms, spiritualities and
approaches in the loving service of God and his Church. Christ, who told St.
Francis to rebuild his Church also inspired Dominic to become the ‘Lumen
Ecclesiae.’ It is He who said to Simon Peter and his successors, “You are
Peter and upon this rock, I will build my Church.”[50]
As Pope Francis completes ten years of his Petrine Ministry, we extend to him
the embrace of prayer, fidelity, and obedience. Holy Father, ad multos annos!
[1]Mathew
N. Schmalz, “A Franciscan Jesuit for pope,” The Washington Post (U.S.A.) 14
March 2013, Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/a-franciscan-jesuit-for-pope/2013/03/14/323a1e68-8cf1-11e2-b63f-f53fb9f2fcb4_story.html,
Accessed on 24 June 2023.
[4]Francis,
Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the
Gospel in Today’s World (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House,
2013), 24.
[6]Fundamental
Constitution, The Book of Constitutions and Ordinations of the Brothers of
the Order of Preachers (Dublin: Dominican Publications, 2012), 1§V.
[7]Francis,
Praedicator Gratiae, Letter to the Master of the Order for the Eighth
Centenary of the Death of St. Dominic of Caleruega, Analecta Ordinis
Praedicatorum, 129, 1 (January-December 2021), 9-12.
[11]Francis,
“Our life is a journey,” Homily of 14 March 2013, L’Osservatore Romano,
English edition (Vatican City) 20 March 2013, 4.
[14]Andrea
Tornielli, “A Church that reverberates with the mercy she has received,”
Available at https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-03/a-church-that-reverberates-the-mercy-received.html,
Accessed on 24 June 2023.
[15]Francis,
Misericordiae Vultus, Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 2015), 2.
[17]Francis,
“The precious gift of tears,” General Audience of 12 February 2020, L’Osservatore
Romano, English edition (Vatican City) 14 February 2020, 3.
[20]Francis,
“A Church that is poor and is for the poor,” Audience to Representatives of the
Communications Media, L’Osservatore Romano, English edition (Vatican
City) 20 March 2013, 6.
[23]The
Book of Constitutions and Ordinations of the Brothers of the Order of Preachers
(Dublin: Dominican Publications, 2012), 31,1.
[28]Francis,
“Listening to the questions, concerns and hopes of all people and nations,”
Homily at the Mass for the Opening of the Synodal Process on 10 October 2021, L’Osservatore
Romano, English Edition
(Vatican City) 15 October 2021, 4.
[31]Francis,
“The challenge of a Church open to newness,” Address on the occasion of the
Moment of Reflection for the Beginning of the Synodal Journey on 9 October
2021, L’Osservatore Romano (Vatican City) 15 October 2021, 3.
[34]Hyacinthe
Destivelle OP, “Synodality of Religious Life: The Dominican Example,” Dominican
Ashram, 5, 2 (June 2023),
81.
[36]Homily
of the Master of the Order, Gerard F. Timoner III, OP, 6 August 2021, Dominican
Ashram, 3, 3 (September 2021), 109.
[38]Francis,
Fratelli Tutti, Encyclical Letter on Fraternity and Social Friendship
(Mumbai: St. Pauls, 2020), 8.
[39]Francis,
“Participation, Communion, Mission,” Address on occasion of the Christmas
Greetings to the Roman Curia on 23 December 2021, L’Osservatore Romano,
English Edition (Vatican City) 31 December 2021, 4.
[42]Francis,
Witnesses of Joy, Apostolic Letter for the Year of Consecrated Life
(Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 2014), II, 2.
[44]Francis,
Homily at the Closing of the Jubilee of the 800th Anniversary of the
Confirmation of the Order of Preachers, 21 January 2017, Available at
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2017/documents/papa-francesco_20170121_omelia-domenicani.html,
Accessed on 25 June 2023.
[47]Francis,
Gaudete et Exsultate, Apostolic Exhortation on the Call to Holiness in
Today’s World (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 2018), 122.
[49]Both
the Franciscan and Dominican Orders preserve traditions that emphasize their
close fraternity. For instance, the anecdotal meeting of St. Francis and St.
Dominic in Rome has inspired several works of art. It has been a popular custom
for both the Friars Preachers and the Friars Minor to invite each other to
preside over the Holy Mass on the feast days of their respective founders. Both
St. Francis and St. Dominic are invoked with the title “Our Holy Father” and
are given a prominent place in the liturgical calendars of both the Orders.
To
take an interesting example from outside the religious tradition, Dante’s Divine
Comedy puts the praise of St. Francis in the mouth of a Dominican, St.
Thomas Aquinas. In the very next Canto, a Franciscan, St. Bonaventure,
celebrates the life and legacy of St. Dominic. Dante was able to see the close
spiritual unity between the two traditions perhaps much better its adherents
who were engaged in fierce theological battles during his time.
[50]
Mt 16:18
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