The Order of Preachers, 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, nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans. More recently, there have been a growing number of associates of the religious sisters who are unrelated to the tertiaries.
Pope Gregory XI was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death, in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pope recognized by the modern Catholic Church. In 1377, Gregory XI returned the Papal court to Rome, ending nearly 70 years of papal residency in Avignon, in modern-day France. His death was swiftly followed by the Western Schism involving two Avignon-based antipopes.
Peter of Verona, also known as Saint Peter Martyr and Saint Peter of Verona, was a 13th-century Italian Catholic priest. He was a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher. He served as Inquisitor in Lombardy, was killed by an assassin, and was canonized as a Catholic saint 11 months after his death, making this the fastest canonization in history.
Vincent Ferrer, OP was a Valencian Dominican friar and preacher, who gained acclaim as a missionary and a logician. He is honored as a saint of the Catholic Church and other churches of Catholic traditions.
Angelus of Jerusalem, OCarm was a Catholic convert from Judaism and a religious priest of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance.
Benedict the Moor was a Sicilian Franciscan friar. Born of enslaved Africans in San Fratello, he was freed at birth and became known for his charity.
Amadeus of Portugal, born João de Menezes da Silva, was a Portuguese nobleman who became first a Hieronymite monk, then left that life to become a friar of the Franciscan Order. Later he became a reformer of that religious order, which led to his founding of a distinct branch of the Friars Minor that was named after him, but later suppressed by the Pope in order to unite them into one great family of Friars Minor Observants (1568).
The Third Order of Saint Dominic, also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Catholic third order which is part of the Dominican Order.
Giovanni Dominici, OP was an Italian Catholic prelate and Dominican who became a cardinal. His ideas had a profound influence on the art of Fra Angelico, who entered the Dominicans through him.
Raymond of Capua, was a leading member of the Dominican Order and served as its Master General from 1380 until his death. First as Prior Provincial of Lombardy and then as Master General of the Order, Raymond undertook the restoration of Dominican religious life. For his success in this endeavor, he is referred to as its "second founder".
John Macías, O.P., was a Spanish-born Dominican Friar who evangelized in Peru in 1620. He was canonized in 1975 by Pope Paul VI. His main image is located at the main altar of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Lima and is venerated by the local laity in Peru. A church was built in his honor in 1970 in San Luis, Lima, Peru.
Humilis of Bisignano was a Franciscan friar who was widely known in his day as a mystic and wonderworker. He has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
Jordan of Pisa, also called Jordan of Rivalto, was a Dominican theologian and the first preacher whose vernacular Italian sermons are preserved. His cultus was confirmed on 23 August 1833 by Pope Gregory XVI and he was beatified in 1838; his day is either March 6 or August 19. His relics are in the church of Santa Caterina in Pisa.
Catherine de' Ricci, OP, was an Italian Catholic nun in the Third Order of St. Dominic. She is believed to have had miraculous visions and corporeal encounters with Jesus Christ. She is also said to have spontaneously bled with the wounds of the crucified Christ. She is venerated for her mystic visions and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Blackfriars Leicester, also known as St Clement's Church, Leicester and St Clement's Priory, Leicester, is a former priory of the Order of Preachers in the city of Leicester in Leicestershire, England. It is also the name of a former civic parish, and a neighbourhood in the city built on and around the site of the old priory.
Giacomo Bianconi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Preachers. Bianconi - who hailed from Umbria - joined the order in his adolescence and dedicated his pastoral career to his flock and on one notable occasion aided refugees when Frederick II sacked the area in 1248. He also combatted heresies and managed to convert one of their chief propagators while also distinguishing himself through his life of extreme poorness that went past the Dominican standards.
Pedro Vásquez, OP, also known as Peter Vásquez, was a Roman Catholic missionary from Spain. He was beatified in July 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
Gabriel Ferretti was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor. He was an ancestor to both Cardinal Gabriele Ferretti and Pope Pius IX having been descended from a long noble lineage. Ferretti entered the religious life after becoming of age and soon after his ordination held two important leadership positions in the order. He set about restoring run down Franciscan convents in the region as well as seeing to the establishment of new ones to deal with an influx of new novices.
Procter, Lives of the Dominican Saints, pp. 210-213. (See further V. Pellazza, Elogio storico del B. Antonio (1863) Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus O.P., p. 40; and L. Ferretti, Vita del B. Antonio (1919))
