Founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, known as the Dominicans, Dominic was born in Spain. After studying arts and theology he joined a community of Augustinian canons (priests who lived following the Rule of Augustine) at Osma. At the request of the bishop of Osma, he accompanied him on two embassies to Northern Europe and in the course of these, both became interested in missionary work to pagans. But the Pope did not grant the request of the bishop to resign his see and they turned their attention to fighting heretics at home. Dominic proved himself good at it both by his preaching as well as his way of life. On the bishop’s advice, Dominic gathered a community of priests and adopted a new style of itinerant, mendicant preaching in imitation of the Apostles. Out of this community, the first Mendicant Order was born, the Order of Friars Preachers. In 1215 he travelled to Rome to seek Papal authorization of his order which was granted under the condition that the order follows the Rule of Augustine. He travelled extensively in Italy, Spain and France, preaching and making foundations and the order spread fast. In 1220 he summoned a General Chapter where the Order’s first constitutions were completed. They emphasized the priority of preaching and the good of souls. In addition to the Friars, Dominic also laid the foundations of an order of Dominican nuns. Dominic was remarkable for the intensity of his zeal for souls and for his dedication to prayer, for his fearlessness and his love of simplicity and poverty. His single minded determination to be a preacher and to send out preachers on the apostolic model made him refuse three bishoprics which he was offered. The Dominicans are officially dedicated to preaching and the good of souls, and from the outset study has occupied a central position. At Dominic’s desire, the order adopted not only individual, but also corporate poverty, owning nothing but its actual houses and churches. Communities, as well as individual friars were to be supported only by alms, not by properties or revenues. The intellectual side of the order’s work expanded greatly during the 13th century and it produced some of the greatest intellectuals of the Church, like Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. They were also extensively used by the Papacy for such missions as the preaching of Crusades, the Inquisition etc. They were also engaged in mission and followed the colonial powers, Spain and Portugal, to the missions. St Dominic is traditionally, but wrongly, held to have instituted the Rosary.

Historically, one of the outstanding contributions of Dominic has been the constitutions of the Dominicans, which though took final shape only after his death, had been basically his work. They were in many ways unique and showed the capacity of Dominic for organization and discipline. They embodied a completely new conception of authority. At every level the superiors were elected and they were made responsible for the conduct of their office to their constituents. The basic unit of the order was the individual priory or convent. Its head was elected by the brethren in chapter. The order was divided into provinces and the head of each province was elected by a special session of the provincial chapter consisting of the heads of individual houses together with two representatives elected for the purpose by each priory. As the provincial chapter was usually a large body, the Preachers adopted the Cistercian practice of delegating business to a steering committee of four diffinitores. The sovereign body of the order was the General Chapter, which met every year. In its representative character it differed from all previous structures. It consisted of the Master General, and one representative elected by the chapter of each province. For two successive years only the elected representatives of the provinces attended, in the third year, the provincial priors attended instead. The Master General himself was elected by an enlarged session of the general chapter. This structure was taken over by other mendicant orders and with modification by most institutes of religious life of modern times. The constitutions of the Dominicans also influenced the political history of Europe as they are considered the first instance of a democratic constitution in Europe.