The Dominican family united in prayer for brothers and sisters who have returned to the Father’s house
On Saturday, November 16th, 2024, in the Basilica of St. Lawrence outside the Walls in Rome, the Master of the Order, Brother Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, presided over the traditional Eucharistic celebration on the occasion of the Anniversary of the Order’s deceased, concelebrated by Dominican friars from the different convents of the city.
In the Basilica of St. Lawrence outside the Walls, the friars, sisters and lay members of the Dominican family present in Rome joined in prayer for the brothers and sisters who have returned to the Father’s house, and they went in procession from the basilica to the nearby Campo Verano cemetery, where the Order of Preachers’ funeral chapel and crypt are located, housing the remains of over 300 sisters, friars, laity and nuns who have died in Rome.
In accordance with the Order’s liturgical calendar, on November 8th we celebrate the Anniversary of all the deceased of the Dominican Family (Anniversarium Omnium Fratrum et Sororum Defunctorum), in memory of all those who have returned to the Father’s house: friars, nuns, sisters of apostolic life, laypeople, and members of priestly fraternities. The Anniversary of the Order’s deceased, celebrated every year on the second Saturday of November in the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls, holds a special significance and is a moving occasion for the Dominican Family present in Rome, who gather to pray and give thanks to God for the deceased members of the Order.
“We are gathered around the Eucharistic table to give thanks to the Lord for the gift of life and vocation given to our dear deceased brothers and sisters of the Order.” With these words, the Master of the Order introduced his homily, in which he recalled that mercy is part of our vocation as Dominicans. “We asked God and the community for mercy when we made profession in the Order. That’s why part of our tradition is to pray daily for our dear departed brothers and sisters, because, as the Church teaches, praying for the living and the dead is a work of spiritual mercy,” emphasized Brother Gérard, who observed that human life is like the inverse of the mystery of the Incarnation, of the Word becoming flesh: “It’s a kind of inversion because, first, we are flesh and then, when we die in this world, we become memory; in a certain sense, our flesh becomes word, it becomes verb.”
In his homily, the Master of the Order emphasized that Christian hope is never merely individual, but it also hope for others. “Our lives are deeply intertwined, and the good and evil that each of us does always affects others. Brother Gerard explained that every time we visit a cemetery, we read the names on the headstones and the dates of birth and death, and in this regard, he offered for reflection the message of a poem that speaks of life, “of a lifeline, which is symbolized by the dash, the little line that connects the date of birth and the date of death.”
“During this Holy Mass, we pray for our deceased brothers and sisters. We thank God for having given our brothers and sisters this dash, this line of life, a life that has touched and blessed so many other lives through their witness and preaching. We give thanks to the Lord Jesus, who prays for us and asks the Father to unite us to Him forever. In Jesus, the hyphen becomes an infinite line, for with Him, we will live forever,” concluded the Master of the Order, who, as every year, after the Eucharistic blessing, led the traditional solemn procession of the Dominican Family. Singing the Order’s traditional hymns and the Litany of our Saints, the procession made its way to the Campo Verano Cemetery, where the Order of Preachers’ funeral chapel and crypt are located. In front of the crypt door, the Dominican Family sang the traditional hymn O Spem miram (O wondrous hope), imploring Saint Dominic not to forget his promise to intercede for his sons and daughters. In keeping with tradition, the Master of the Order led the prayer for the deceased and gave the final blessing.
