The founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans or Order of Preachers (OP).He preached against heresy.Soon his order spread throughout Spain and then to other parts of the World.Throughout his life, Dominic is said to have zealously practiced rigorous self-denial. He abstained from meat and observed stated fasts and periods of silence. He selected the worst accommodations and the meanest clothes, and never allowed himself the luxury of a bed. When traveling, he beguiled the journey with spiritual instruction and prayers. As soon as he passed the limits of towns and villages, he took off his shoes, and, however sharp the stones or thorns, he trudged on his way barefooted. Rain and other discomforts elicited from his lips nothing but praises to God.Death came at the age of fifty-one and found him exhausted with the austerities and labors of his eventful career. Before death he exhorted his followers to have charity, to guard their humility, and to make their treasure out of poverty. He died at noon on 6 August 1221.He was canonized in 1234 and is the patron saint of astronomers.His Feast day is celebrated on Aug. 8.
The Dominicans were founded as part of the mendicant movement: not monks tied to a monastery but called to go out into the world carrying the Gospel while retaining the roots of monastic prayer. In Dominican spirituality, common prayer and apostolic activity are mutually nourishing. Like the apostles who were sent out to preach but were also exhorted by Jesus to pray constantly, our preaching is a prayer, an encounter with God in the people with whom and to whom we preach, and our time spent in silence before God orients us more surely to our apostolic mission.http://curia.op.org/en/
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