Dominican Order

"Order of Preachers" redirects here. For the Anglican religious order, see Anglican Order of Preachers.
"Black Friars" redirects here. For the Black Monks, see Benedictines. For other uses, see Blackfriars (disambiguation).
Order of Preachers
Ordo Prædicatorum
AbbreviationOP
Formation
  • 1206 (for women)
  • 1215 (for men)
  • December 22, 1216 (December 22, 1216) (of pontifical right)
FounderDominic de Guzmán
Founded at
HeadquartersConvento Santa Sabina, Piazza Pietro d'Illiria 1, Rome, Italy[1]
Membership (2020)
5,545 members (includes 4,147 priests)[1]
Master of the Order
Fr. Gerard Timoner III, OP
Parent organization
Catholic Church
Websiteop.org
Motto: Laudare, benedicere, praedicare ('To praise, to bless, to preach')
Patron Saints:

The Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Prædicatorum, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally display the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning 'of the Order of Preachers'. Membership in the order includes friars,[a] nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries). More recently, there have been a growing number of associates of the religious sisters who are unrelated to the tertiaries.

Founded to preach the gospel and to oppose heresy, the teaching activity of the order and its scholastic organisation placed it at the forefront of the intellectual life of the Middle Ages.[2] The order is famed for its intellectual tradition and for having produced many leading theologians and philosophers.[3] In 2018, there were 5,747 Dominican friars, including 4,299 priests.[1] The order is headed by the master of the order who, as of 2022, is Gerard Timoner III.[4] Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Siena are the co-patronesses of the order.

Saint Dominic, portrayed in the Perugia Altarpiece by Fra Angelico, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia.
  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Mandonnet 1911.
  3. ^ Marshall 2011.
  4. ^ Lomonaco 2019.


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