Dominican Order: Encyclopedia II - Dominican Order - Contemporary Period

Dominican Order - Contemporary Period

The contemporary period of the history of the Preachers begins with the different restorations of provinces undertaken after the revolutions which had destroyed the Order in several countries of the Old World and the New. This period begins more or less early in the nineteenth century, and it cannot be traced down to the present day without naming religious who are still living and whose activity embodies the present life of the Order. The revolutions not having totally destroyed certain of the provinces, nor decimated them, simultaneously, the Preachers were able to take up the laborious work of restoration in countries where the civil legislation did not present insurmountable obstacles. During this critical period the number of Preachers seems never to have sunk below 3,500. The statistics for 1876 give 3,748 religious, but 500 of these had been expelled from their convents and were engaged in parochial work. The statistics for 1910 give a total of 4,472 religious both nominally and actually engaged in the proper activities of the Order. They were distributed in twenty-eight provinces and five congregations, and possessed nearly 400 convents or secondary establishments.

In the revival movement France held a foremost place, owing to the reputation and convincing power of the orator, Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (1802-1861). He took the habit of a Friar Preacher at Rome (1839), and the province of France was canonically erected in 1850. From this province were detached the province of Lyons, called Occitania (1862), that of Toulouse (1869), and that of Canada (1909). The French restoration likewise furnished many labourers to other provinces, to assist in their organization and progress. From it came the master general who remained longest at the head of the administration during the nineteenth century, Père Vincent Jandel (1850-1872). Here should be mentioned the province of St. Joseph in the United States. Founded in 1805 by Father Dominic Fenwick, afterwards first Bishop of Cincinnati, Ohio (1821-1832), this province has developed slowly, but now ranks among the most flourishing and active provinces of the order. In 1910 it numbered seventeen convents or secondary houses. In 1905, it established a large house of studies at Washington, D.C., called the Dominican House of Studies.

The province of France (Paris) has produced a large number of preachers, several of whom became renowned. The conferences of Notre-Dame-de-Paris were inaugurated by Père Lacordaire. The Dominicans of the province of France furnished most of the orators: Lacordaire (1835-1836, 1843-1851), Jacques Monsabré (1869-1870, 1872-1890), Joseph Ollivier (1871, 1897), Thomas Etourneau (1898-1902). Since 1903 the pulpit of Notre Dame has again been occupied by a Dominican. Père Henri Didon (d. 1900) was one of the most esteemed orators of his time. The province of France displays greater intellectual and scientific activity than ever, the chief centre being the house of studies at present situated at Kain, near Tournai, Belgium, where are published L'Année Dominicaine (founded 1859), La Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Theologiques (1907), and La Revue de la Jeunesse (1909).

The province of the Philippines, the most populous in the order, is recruited from Spain, where it has several preparatory houses. In the Philippines it has charge of the University of Manila, recognized by the government of the United States, two colleges, and six establishments; in China it administers the missions of North and South Fo-Kien, in the Japanese Empire, those of Formosa (now Taiwan) and Shikoku, besides establishments at New Orleans, at Caracas, Venezuela and at Rome. The province of Spain has seventeen establishments in the Peninsula and the Canaries, as well as the missions of Urubamba, Peru. Since 1910 it has published at Madrid an important review, La Ciencia Tomista. The province of Holland has a score of establishments, and the missions of Curaçao and Puerto Rico. Other provinces also have their missions. That of Piedmont has establishments at Constantinople and Smyrna; that of Toulouse, in Brazil; that of Lyons, in Cuba, that of Ireland, in Australia and Trinidad and Tobago; that of Belgium, in the Belgian Congo (now Congo), and so on.

Doctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration of the Preachers. Several institutions besides those already mentioned have played important parts. Such is the Biblical school at Jerusalem, open to the religious of the Order and to secular clerics, and which publishes the Revue Biblique. The faculty of theology of the University of Freiburg, confided to the care of the Dominicans in 1890, is flourishing and has about 250 students. The Collegium Angelicum, established at Rome (1911) by Hyacinth Cormier (master general since 1902), is open to regulars and seculars for the study of the sacred sciences. To the reviews mentioned above must be added the Revue Thomiste, founded by Père Thomas Coconnier (d. 1908), and the Analecta Ordinis Prædicatorum (1893). Among the numerous writers of the order in this period are: Cardinals Thomas Zigliara (d. 1893) and Zephirin González (d. 1894), two esteemed philosophers; Father Alberto Guillelmotti (d. 1893), historian of the Pontifical Navy, and Father Heinrich Denifle, one of the most famous writers on medieval history (d. 1905).

In 1910 the order had twenty archbishops or bishops, one of whom, Andreas Frühwirth, formerly master general (1892-1902), was Apostolic nuncio at Munich (Sanvito, Catalogus omnium provinciarum sacri ordinis praedicatorum, Rome, 1910; Analecta O. P., Rome, 1893--; L'Année Dominicaine, Paris, 1859-- ). In the last two publications will be found historical and bibliographical information concerning the history of the Preachers during the contemporary period.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Contemporary Period", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki