Dominic, Saint

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St. Dominic, detail of a panel by the school of Messina (?), 15th century; in the Museo …—Anderson—Alinari/Art Resource, New York

(born 1170, Caleruega, Castile—died Aug. 6, 1221, Bologna, Romagna; canonized July 3, 1234; feast day August 8) Founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, or Dominicans. He joined the religious community of the cathedral of Osma c. 1196. On a visit to southern France in 1203, he encountered the Albigensian heresy (see Cathari) and determined to fight it. He gathered a group of preachers willing to travel the roads barefoot and in poverty, and in 1206 he founded a convent of nuns converted from heresy. While designing his order devoted to preaching, Dominic may first have met St. Francis of Assisi, who became his good friend. In 1216 he received sanction for his order from Pope Honorius III. He established schools of theology at his two principal houses near the Universities of Paris and Bologna.

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