Saint Dominic

"I believe, Most Blessed Father, that in order to reward Mr. Duca's ardent faith in some way, Your Holiness should have the kindness to confer upon him or his brother Don Rodrigo, canon of the cathedral of Toulouse, the sacred purple, which he has already earned through his expeditions, staining it with the accursed blood of those wretches. It is enough for his name to be heard in these countries for the Albigensian heretics to tremble from head to toe. His custom is to go around the courts, dispatching the most angry ones in one fell swoop. Those who fall into his hands are forced to profess our faith with the formula prescribed by Your Holiness. If they refuse, he has them beaten thoroughly while the stake is lit. Then he asks them if they are repentant and, upon hearing that they are not, concludes: “Either believe or die.” They are burned slowly to give them time to repent and earn eternal forgiveness. Some of these wretched souls, though very rarely, showed signs of retraction and horror at the death they deservedly suffered as they breathed their last; and I consoled myself in the Lord by observing those acts that could be signs of repentance. The more they struggled, the more we rejoiced in"

"Dominic, who wished to found a religious Order of theologian-preachers, reminds us that theology has a spiritual and pastoral dimension that enriches the soul and life. Priests, the consecrated and also all the faithful may find profound "inner joy" in contemplating the beauty of the truth that comes from God, a truth that is ever timely and ever alive. Moreover the motto of the Friars Preachers contemplata aliis tradere helps us to discover a pastoral yearning in the contemplative study of this truth because of the need to communicate to others the fruit of one's own contemplation."

"Per sapïenza in terra fue | di cherubica luce uno splendore. (Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia XI, 37-39)"