Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
| Ordo Praedicatorum | |
Coat of arms of the order
| |
| Abbreviation | OP |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1216 |
| Founder | Saint Dominic |
| Type | Mendicant Catholic religious order |
| Legal status | Institute of Consecrated Life |
| Headquarters |
Santa Sabina, Rome, Italy |
Membership (2013) |
6,058 (including 4,470 priests) |
| Bruno Cadoré | |
| Affiliations | Catholic Church |
| Website |
op |
The Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum, postnominal abbreviation OP), also known as the Dominican Order, is a mendicant Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Dominic of Caleruega in France, 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 carry 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 affiliated lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries, though recently there has been a growing number of associates 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 the Preachers in the forefront of the intellectual life of the Middle Ages. The order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers. In the year 2013 there were 6,058 Dominican friars, including 4,470 priests. The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, currently Bruno Cadoré.
A number of other names have been used to refer to both the order and its members.
The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they travelled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this ideal emerged two orders of mendicant friars: one, the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi; the other, the Friars Preachers, by Dominic of Guzman. Like his contemporary, Francis, Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization, and the quick growth of the Dominicans and Franciscans during their first century of existence confirms that the orders of mendicant friars met a need.
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Wikipedia