§ 72. ST. DOMINIC AND THE DOMINICANS. 421
of the Augustinians, and built the convent of St. Rom aims at Toulouse. He was again in Rome from September, 1216, to Easter, 1217. Honorius III. in 1216 approved the or ganization, and confirmed it in the possession of goods and houses. An unreliable tradition states that Honorius also conferred upon Dominic the important office of Master of the Palace, magister palatii. The office cannot be traced far beyond Gregory IX.1
The legendary accounts of his life represent the saint at this time as engaged in endless scourgings and other most rigorous asceticisms. Miracles, even to the raising of the dead, were ascribed to him.
In 1217 Dominic sent out monks to start colonies. The order took quick root in large cities, — Paris, Bologna, and Rome, — the famous professor of canon law at Paris, Regi nald, taking its vows. Dominic himself in 1218 established two convents in Spain, one for women in Madrid and one for men at Seville. The first Dominican house in Paris, the convent of St. Jacques, gave the name Jacobins to the Dominicans in France and Jacobites to the party in the French Revolution which held its meetings there. In 1224 St. Jacques had one hundred and twenty inmates. The order had a strong French element and included in its prayers a prayer for the French king. From France, the Dominicans went into Germany. Jordanus and other in mates of St. Jacques were Germans. They quickly estab lished themselves, in spite of episcopal prohibitions and opposition from other orders, in Cologne, Worms, Strassburg, Basel, and other German cities.2 In 1221 the order
were canons regular. Denifle was a Dominican, and in his able article gives too much credit to Dominic for originality.
1 This important office according to Echard at first gave to the incumbent the right to fix the meaning of Scripture at the Pontifical court. It has since come to have the duty of comparing all matters with the catholic doctrine before they are presented to the pope, selecting preachers for certain occa sions, conferring the doctors' degree, etc. Wetzer-Welte avoids giving offence to the Dominicans by making the ambiguous statement, III. 1934, that Domi nic gewissermassen der erste Mag. palatii ivurde.
2 Hauck, IV. 391-394.
422 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
was introduced into England, and at once settled in Ox ford.1 The Blackfriars Bridge, London, carries in its name the memory of their great friary in that city.
The first General Chapter was held 1220 in Bologna. Dominic preached with much zeal in Northern Italy. He died, lying on ashes, at Bologna, Aug. 6, 1221, and lies buried there in the convent of St. Nicholas, which has been adorned by the art of Nicholas of Pisa and Michael Angelo. As com pared with the speedy papal recognition of Francis and Anthony of Padua, the canonization of the Spanish saint followed tardily, thirteen years after his death, July 13, 1234. 2
At the time of Dominic's death, the preaching friars had sixty convents scattered in the provinces of Provence, North ern France, Spain, Lombardy, Italy, England, Germany, and Hungary, each of which held its own chapter yearly. To these eight provinces, by 1228, four others had been added, Poland, Denmark, Greece, and Jerusalem.3 Combined they made up the General Chapter. Each of the provinces was presided over by a provincial or provincial prior, and the convents by a prior or sub prior. The title and dignity of abbot were not assumed. At the head of the whole body stands a grand-master.4 Privilege after privilege was conferred by the Holy See, including the important right to preach anywhere and everywhere.5 The constitutions of 1228 are the earliest we possess, but they are not the oldest. They were revised under Rayrnund de Penaforte, the third general.6
Mendicancy was made the rule of the order at the first
1 At the suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII., the Domini cans had 58 houses in England (Gasquet, p. 237), or 57 according to Addis and Scannell, Diet., p. 301.
2 Potthast, I. 810.
3 See the Constitution of 1228, Denifle, pp. 212, 215.
4 Magister generalis. In 1862 Pius IX. limited his tenure of office to twelve years. Since 1272 he has lived at St. Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.
5 May 16, 1227. See Potthast, I. 684. Denifle makes much of this point, pp. 176-180.
6 Denifle gives the best edition in Archiv for 1885, pp. 193-227.