Fraternities

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.

Who we are?

  • 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).
  • – We are attached to a fraternity and are guided by the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic and the General Declarations; updated and promulgated in May 2019. In the same way, we are nourished by the orientations and official documents of the Church and of the Order.

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).

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)
    • ASIA-PACIFIC: Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities of Asia Pacific (APCLDF)
    • LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN: Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities of Latin America and the Caribbean (COFALC)
    • USA & CANADA: Interprovincial Council of the Lay Fraternities of the United States and Canada (DLIPC)
    • EUROPE: Council of European Lay Dominican Fraternities (ECLDF)
  • Visit: https://icldf.org/
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Contact info

 Piazza Pietro d'Illiria, 1 | 00153 Roma | Italy

 info@curia.op.org

 +39.06.579401

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