We, the lay people of St. Dominic, are the faithful baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, confirmed and in full communion of faith, sacraments and ecclesiastical government, we are called by a special vocation to progress on the path of Christian life and to animate temporal things through the charism of St. Dominic.
Cf. General Declarations, 2019, 1 § I.
Cf. General Declarations, 2019, 1 § I.
Who we are?
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Where are we?
| REGION | Countries | Fraternities | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASIA-PACIFIC – APCLDF | 12 | 1.491 | 117.749 |
| EUROP – ECLDF | 25 | 369 | 5.377 |
| UNITED STATES & CANADA – DLIPC | 2 | 168 | 2.790 |
| LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN – COFALC | 23 | 152 | 1.821 |
| AFRICA – ACLDF | 13 | 29 | 550 |
| TOTAL / FEBRUARY 2023 | 75 | 2.209 | 128.287 |
Do you want to join the Dominican Laity?
In order to join the Order of Preachers in whose apostolic mission we participate fully, we, the Laity of St. Dominic, make a promise according to the formula provided by the Rule. Incorporation into the lay branch of the Order, called the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, subject to the Master and the other Major Superiors of the Order, takes place only with this promise (Cf. General Declarations, 2019, 1 § II).
Guided by our Dominican family, we are organized through fraternities in the provinces, vice-provinces and vicariates.
Some historical date
| 1216 | On December 22nd, Pope Honorius III approves the Order of Friars Preachers. |
| 1285 | The Master of the Order, fr Munio de Zamora (1285-1291), promulgates the first Rule of the Penitentes of Saint Dominic. |
| 1923 | The Master of the Order, fr Luis Theissling (1916-1925), promulgates the Rule of the Secular Third Order of Saint Dominic, in the spirit of the new Code of Canon Law of 1917. |
| 1969 | The Master of the Order, fr Aniceto Fernandez (1962-1974), promulgates the new Rule ad experimentum in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. |
| 1985 | First International Congress of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, Montreal (Canada). |
| 1987 | On 15 January, the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes approves the new Rule of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic. |
| 1988 | On 16 February, the Master of the Order, fr Damian Byrne (1983-1992), completes the Rule with the promulgation of the General Declarations. |
| 2002 | Creation of the International Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities (ICLDF), representing each continent or region. |
| 2007 | II International Congress of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic in Buenos Aires (Argentina). |
| 2007 | On 15 November, the Master of the Order, fr Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa (2001-2009), promulgates the General Declarations of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic. |
| 2015 | The Master of the Order, fr Bruno Cadoré (2010-2019), approves the integration of two lay Dominicans into the International Commission for Justice and Peace. |
| 2018 | III International Congress of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, Fatima (Portugal). |
| 2019 | On 28 January, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life approves the modifications to the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic. |
| 2019 | On 9 March, the Master of the Order, fr. Bruno Cadoré (2010-2019), promulgates the amendments to the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic and the new General Declarations. |
| 2019 | On 15 May, the Master of the Order, fr. Bruno Cadoré (2010-2019), approves the Statutes of the International Commission of the Dominican Family, in which the Promoter General for the Laity and the International Coordinator of the Lay Dominican Fraternities (ICLDF) participate. |
| 2020 | The General Promoter for the Laity presents the Instrumentum Laboris for the Ratio Formationis et Studiorum Generalis Laicorum Ordinis Praedicatorum to the International Commission of the Dominican Family. |
| 2021 | The Master of the Order approves the use of the postnominal initials “OP” and no others, by the Laity of the Fraternities of St. Dominic, to identify themselves as members of the Order. (ACG Biên Hòa 2019, n. 237). |
Rule and General Declarations
- Rule and General Declarations
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- Rules – Translations
International and Regional Council
At the international level there is the Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities (ICLDF), in which we are represented by each of the five regions: Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States-Canada.
The International Council and the Regional Councils have the mission to promote greater communication between Lay Dominican Fraternities in order to achieve a more effective preaching of the Gospel in accordance with the signs of the times.
- ICLDF Members
| Sébastien Milazzo | ICLDF Coordinator ECLDF President (Europe) |
| Alphonsine Aya Kouassi – M’Bengue | President of ACLDF (Africa) |
| Margareth Velasquez | President of COFALC (Latin America and Caribbean) |
| Theophilus Atmadi | Delegate of APCLDF (Asia – Pacific) |
| Kathy Kendrek | Delegate of DLIPC (United States and Canada) |
| fr. Juan Ubaldo LÓPEZ SALAMANCA | General Promoter for the Laity |
- Statutes of the ICLDF (En/Es/Fr)
- Acts of the III International Congress of Lay Fraternities (Fatima, 2018)
- Regional Councils:
- AFRICA: Council of African Lay Dominican Fraternities (ACLDF)
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- ASIA-PACIFIC: Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities of Asia Pacific (APCLDF)
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- LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN: Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities of Latin America and the Caribbean (COFALC)
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- USA & CANADA: Interprovincial Council of the Lay Fraternities of the United States and Canada (DLIPC)
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- EUROPE: Council of European Lay Dominican Fraternities (ECLDF)
- Visit: https://icldf.org/