Rome Newsroom, May 24, 2021 / 07:00 am
Pope Francis praised the Dominican charisms of preaching and missionary discipleship in a letter marking the 800th anniversary of the death of the order’s founder, St. Dominic Guzman.
“Together with St. Francis of Assisi, Dominic understood that the proclamation of the Gospel, verbis et exemplo, entailed the building up of the entire ecclesial community in fraternal unity and missionary discipleship,” Pope Francis said in the letter signed on May 24.
“The Dominican charism of preaching overflowed early into the establishment of the varied branches of the larger Dominican family, embracing all the states of life in the Church,” he said.
“In succeeding centuries, it found eloquent expression in the writings of St. Catherine of Siena, the paintings of Blessed Fra Angelico and the charitable works of St. Rose of Lima, Blessed John Macias and St.Margaret of Castello.”