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Dominicans - the Predicants |
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LINKS:The Dominican Friar Johannes
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Dominicans, also known as the predicants, were one of the
so-called beggar fraternities born in the 13th century. Earlier, monks had withdrawn into
monasteries, now they started to move from town to town, from country to country,
preaching and begging. Very poor, they identified with Christ and spread his message. The founder of the Dominican brotherhood was a Spaniard called Dominic, later St. Dominic (1172-1221), who created the order especially to object to heresy that had spread within the church. His idea was to use effective education to fight the threat of heretics against Christianity. The spreading of the Dominican order was very fast in the 13th century. A Dominican convent was founded at Turku as early as in 1249. At the time, Turku was situated at the very periphery of Christianity. The primary aim of the predicants or the Black Friars, as they were also called because of the colour of their gown, was to preach and save souls. They eagerly preached improvement to people and urged them to live according to the Christian moral. They acted as confessors and advisers for ordinary people and even supported the decision-makers. The Dominican order was very learned by nature and it incited its friars to educate themselves. To preach in the vernacular required linguistic studies and to tutor laymen required accurate theological studies so that diverse heretical believings could be removed at an early stage. Many of the most remarcable scholars in the Middle Ages rose from the Dominican order. The most famous of them all was Thomas Aquinas. |
