From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 8th - St. Dominic, Founder   
      
   Saint Dominic de Guzman was born in Spain in 1170. As a student, he sold his   
   books to feed the poor during a famine, and offered himself to ransom a   
   slave. At the age of twenty-five, after taking the religious habit he became   
   acting Superior of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in Osma, and was   
   soon offered an episcopal chair at Compostella. He answered as afterward he   
   also answered many times: "God has not sent me to be a bishop, but to   
   preach." He accompanied his prelate to southern France on a commission for   
   the king of Castille. There his heart was well-nigh broken by the ravages of   
   the Albigensian heresy, a variant of ancient Manicheanism, and the source of   
   devastating wars in southern France. His life from that time on was devoted   
   to the conversion of heretics and the defense of the Faith.   
      
   In the year 1199, while he was still a Canon Regular of Saint Augustine and   
   was preaching near the Spanish coasts, he was taken captive, with all his   
   audience and a Brother in religion, by a band of pirates. They placed the   
   prisoners in their galleys at the oars. When a furious storm broke, the   
   young Saint exhorted the disciples of Mohammed to think seriously of their   
   souls, to open their eyes to the truth of Christianity, and above all, to   
   invoke the Mother of God. They did not listen until his third exhortation,   
   at a moment when it was clear the ship and passengers could not be saved.   
   They swore to him then that if the God of Christians preserved them by the   
   intercession of His Holy Mother, they would dedicate themselves to their   
   service. Immediately the storm ceased, and the pirates kept their word.   
      
   When in his 46th year, and with six companions, he began the great Order of   
   Preaching Friars, this Order with that of the Friars Minor, founded by his   
   contemporary friend Saint Francis of Assisi, was the chief means God   
   employed to renew Christian fervor during the Middle Ages. In addition,   
   Saint Dominic founded his Second Order for nuns for the education of   
   Catholic girls, and his Third Order, or Tertiaries, for persons of both   
   sexes living in the world. God abundantly blessed the new Order, and France,   
   Italy, Spain, and England welcomed the Preaching Friars. Our Lady took them   
   under Her special protection. During a debate with the heretics, a book by   
   the Saint, defending Her Immaculate Conception, was thrown into the flames   
   along with one by the heretics, to see whether one might be spared. Saint   
   Dominic's was not injured, and many heretics were converted.   
      
   It was in 1208, while Saint Dominic knelt in the little chapel of Notre Dame   
   de La Prouille, and implored the great Mother of God to save the Church,   
   that Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the Rosary, bidding him to go   
   forth and preach it. During the famous battles in southern France against   
   the Albigensians, with his rosary in hand he revived the courage of the   
   Catholic armies, led them to victory against overwhelming numbers, and   
   finally subdued the heresy. His nights were spent in prayer; and, though all   
   beheld him as an Angel of purity, before morning broke he would scourge   
   himself to blood. His words rescued countless souls, and three times raised   
   the dead to life. At length, on August 6, 1221, at the age of fifty-one, he   
   gave up his soul to God.   
      
   Reflection: "God has never refused me what I have asked," said Saint   
   Dominic. How could God refuse to respond to the single intention of His   
   Saints, which is His own - the salvation and sanctification of souls? Saint   
   Dominic has left us the Rosary that we may learn, with Mary's help, to ask   
   what pleases God, and then to pray easily and simply with the same trust.   
      
   Patronage:   
   Astronomers, astronomy, Dominican Republic, falsely accused people,   
   scientists   
      
   Sources: Les plus illustres captifs, by Rev. Fr. Calixte de la Providence,   
   Trinitarian (Delhomme et Briguet: Lyons, 1892), Vol. I; Little Pictorial   
   Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and   
   other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
    [God] does not want each person to keep all the counsels, but only those   
   appropriate to the diversity of persons, times, opportunities, and   
   strengths, as charity requires; for it is charity, as queen of all virtues,   
   all commandments, all counsels, and, in short, of all laws and all Christian   
   actions that gives to all of them their rank, order, time, and value.   
   -St Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you, and that your   
   joy may be made full. St. John 15:11   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Walking in Faith and Courage   
      
   Saint Dominic observed walking as a mode of prayer while traveling from one   
   country to another, especially when he passed through some deserted region.   
   He then delighted in giving himself completely to meditation, disposing for   
   contemplation, and he would say to his companion on the journey: It is   
   written in Hosea "I will lead my spouse into the wilderness and I will speak   
   to her ear" (Hos 2: 14). Parting from his companion, he would go on ahead   
   or, more frequently, follow at some distance. Thus withdrawn, he would walk   
   and pray; in his meditation he was inflamed and the fire of charity was   
   enkindled. While he prayed it appeared as if he were brushing dust or   
   bothersome flies from his face when he repeatedly fortified himself with the   
   Sign of the Cross.   
      
   The brethren thought that it was while praying in this way that the saint   
   obtained his extensive penetration of Sacred Scripture and profound   
   understanding of the divine words, the power to preach so fervently and   
   courageously, and that intimate acquaintance with the Holy Spirit by which   
   he came to know the hidden things of God.   
      
   SAINT DOMINIC'S NINE WAYS OF PRAYER   
      
      
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   Prayer to Saint Dominic   
      
   God of Truth   
   you gave your church a new light   
   in the life and preaching of our Father Dominic.   
   Give us the help we need to support our preaching   
   by holy and simple lives.   
   We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,   
   who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,   
   God, forever and ever.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)