lessed
Cecilia Caesarini, who was received by St. Dominic into
his new order, in her old age described him thus :
He
was thin and of middle height. His face was handsome and
somewhat fair. He had reddish hair and beard and beautiful
eyes. From his forehead and eyes shown a sort of radiance
which drew everyone to respect and love him. He was always
cheerful and alert, except when he was moved to compassion
at the sight of someone's troubles. His hands were long
and fine and his voice pleasingly resonant. He never got
bald, though he wore the full tonsure, which was mingled
with a few grey hairs.
Our knowledge of Dominic de Guzman's life is chiefly based
on the Libellus of Jordan of Saxony, his successor as
head of the Order of Preachers which Dominic founded.
Jordan knew Dominic personally and wrote only about twelve
years after his death, but had not been one of his close
companions. The Libellus, although written to promote
Dominic's canonization in 1234 is disappointingly sketchy.
It tells us more about the origins of the Order than the
personality of the founder. Unlike the Franciscans, the
early followers of St. Dominic never showed much interest
in their founder's cult and seemed to have feared that
too much popular devotion to him might hinder the mission
he had entrusted to them.
Dominic was born between 1171 and 1173 in the Castilian
village of Caleruega, son of Felix de Guzman and Jane
of Aza of the Spanish nobility. Christian Spain was still
struggling to free itself from Moorish occupation and,
even for a knightly family, life was austere in that stark,
dry region where Felix as local lord owned little more
than range land, a few flocks of sheep, and the manor
house and tower (still standing) which served to guard
the land. Jane of Aza was noted for her concern for the
poor and was regarded by the local people as a saint.
From
his earliest youth Dominic was trained to become a priest.
Such a decision had to be made early since the choice
of vocation determined the kind of training a child was
given, either for knighthood or priesthood. After he had
learned the rudiments, Dominic was initiated into clerical
studies by his mother's brother, a priest. When he was
about fourteen, he went to the cathedral school of Palencia
to study philosophy and theology. He studied theology
for four years, an unusually thorough formation for the
average priest in those days. While in Palencia Dominic
manifested his great generosity during a famine, using
his slender resources to help the poor and gaining additional
funds by selling his books. Completing his studies when
he was about twenty four, he joined the chapter of Canons
Regular of the cathedral of Osma, and soon afterwards
was ordained a priest. Later he became subprior of the
chapter.
(Sources
: Ashley, Benedict. The Dominicans. The Liturgical
Press. 1990; Hinnebusch, W. The Dominicans. A Short
History. Dominican Publications, 1985)
