The Spirit of the Dominican Order: Illustrated from the Lives of Its Saints

by Augusta Theodosia Drane

To describe the Spirit of an Order is a task of no little difficulty: it is to explain that which is neither palpable, tangible, nor visible; it is to picture the unseen. No one but a member of an Order can understand, much less reveal to others, the Order's Spirit; it presupposes not book-learning but practical life-study, it is a .. drawing from life." "What man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man that is in him?" The late Archbishop Ullathome was accustomed to say that "to understand is to stand wIder." To Wlderstand the spirit of a life one must stand or live under it. To explain that spirit to an outsider, it must be embodied in the life of the Founder or in the lives of its most illustrious members. The daily life, the daily practices, the daily work, the daily devotions, the daily following of traditional as well as constitutional exercises, the daily association with those who have borne the yoke from their youth and have grown old in the service-these alone can reveal what we mean by the spirit of an Order, these alone can make known to us the inner self of a religious life. The writer of the following pages, having herself imbibed the spirit of the Dominican Order in her Dominican home, saw the wisdom of embodying its spirit in the living instances of some of its sainted members. From her graceful and prolific pen we have the Dominican spirit revealed in the Life of the Founder of the Order; then she manifests that spirit in his best known and most illustrious daughter, the seraph Saint of Siena; now she shows us the likeness of the Father and the reflection of his spirit in many others, his spiritual children. The title of the present work suggests its scope and object: "The Spirit of the Dominican Order illustrated in the Lives of its Saints." The spirit is explained not so much in words as by the more emphatic teaching of example. The book is an object lesson in Dominican life. It is a Dominican gallery containing pictures familiar and pictures new. It is a mirror reflecting Dominican ways; a photograph portraying the lines, the lineaments, the expression of the Dominican face; a phonograph reproducing Dominican words and sayings coming from the abundance of the Dominican heart and therefore revealing the Dominican spirit. Every Order has its own peculiar spirit, different in some degree at least from the spirit of every other Order, hence its raison d' etre. If all were alike one would suffice for the different characters of men and the varying needs of Christian society. All are not alike, they agree in the first broad principles of religious life; in all else they agree too-but they agree to differ-to differ that is in their mode of carrying out these principles among men. As flower differs from flower, and leaf from leaf, and as every man has his own identity, so with Orders; yet all work with the same great aim.

290 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

In religion MOTHER FRANCIS RAPHAEL, O.S.D.; b. at Bromley near London, in 1823; d. at Stone, Staffordshire, 19 April, 1894. Her parents were both Protestants, her father being managing partner in an East India mercantile house. Her remarkable natural gifts were developed by wide reading at a very early age. In 1837 she moved with her family to Babbicombe, Devonshire, where she read much of the early literature of the Oxford Movement. Burnet's "History of the Reformation", she declared, was the real cause of her conversion. It was not, however, till 1847 that she grew uneasy as to her religious beliefs, whereupon she consulted Keble and Pusey, but without satisfaction. The influence of Maskell, then Vicar of St. Mary Church, helped her more and she confided to him a scheme called "Ideal of a Religious Order". He told her that such an order existed in the Catholic Church, naming the Third Order of St. Dominic. This made a profound impression on her mind and gradually she was drawn to the Church. She was received at Tiverton, 3 July, 1850, and in 1852 entered the Third Order of St. Dominic at Clifton. On 8 Dec., 1853, she was professed at the new convent of Stone, Staffordshire, and was there employed in teaching and in writing various books, meanwhile making great spiritual progress. In 1860 she was appointed mistress of novices, but in 1863 became mistress of studies instead, thus obtaining more leisure for writing. In 1872 she became prioress under her friend, Mother Imelda Poole, and on the death of the latter in 1881 succeeded her as provincial (25 Nov., 1881), thus taking charge of the whole congregation and the convents of Stoke-on-Trent, Bow, and St. Mary Church. Her character was well summed up by Bishop Ullathorne, when he described her as "one of those many-sided characters who can write a book, draw a picture, rule an Order, guide other souls, superintend a building, lay out grounds, or give wise and practical advice with equal facility and success." She continued to grow in remarkable sanctity till her death, which took place a fortnight after she had ceased to be provincial.

Her works include: "The Morality of Tractarianism" (1850), published anonymously; "Catholic Legends and Stories" (1855); "Life of St. Dominic" (1857); "Knights of St. John" (1858); "Three Chancellors, Wykeham, Waynflete and More" (1859); "Historical Tales" (1862); "Tales and Traditions" (1862); "History of England for Family Use" (1864); "Christian Schools and Scholars" (1867); "Biographical Sketch of Hon. H. Dormer" (1868); "Songs in the Night" (1876); "New Utopia" (1876); "History of St. Catherine of Siena" (1880); "History of St. Dominic" (1891); "The Spirit of the Dominican Order" (1896), and some smaller pieces. She translated the "Inner Life of Père Lacordaire" (1868), edited a "Life of Mother Margaret Mary Hallahan" (1869), "Archbishop Ullathorne's Autobiography" (1891), and "Letters of Archbishop Ullathorne" (1892).