From: St. Dominic and His Work, by Pierre Mandonnet, O.P.,
Translated by Sister Mary Benedicta Larkin, O.P., B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis/London, 1948.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Ordo PraedicatorumTHE TERM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE WHEN Foulques and Dominic set out for Rome and the Lateran Council, they intended to ask the Pope to confirm the Toulouse society for preaching.(1) Often in their more intimate conversations on its subject, they had sketched projects for the future.(2) Therefore we should not be surprised to find that even before the journey to Rome they had made plans for the work and the name of the new Order. The expression used by Jordan, "which was to be called and would be an Order of Preachers," need not be thought of as a projection of later events to an earlier period, even though a year or two passed.(3) before the title Ordo Praedicatorum was officially conferred.
The term ordo praedicatorum and other terms like it were current in the twelfth century and had a precise meaning. It would be a mistake to identify this term with the title given to the Order of St. Dominic or to interpret the expression in the light of its present connotation. On the other hand, there exists a certain continuity of derivation. To discover what was then meant by ordo praedicatorum, we must recall the steps in the development of this idea.
Since the day Christ gave His apostles the command: "Going, therefore, teach ye all nations" (Matt. 28:19), preaching has been the most eminent office of the Church. One of the first decisions of the apostolic college concerned this duty and its organization (Acts 6:2 f.). That the twelve might be free to consecrate themselves wholly to preaching, they entrusted to deacons the care of the poor. The vocation of Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, was in a special sense to preach the gospel; that was his conviction.(4)
When St. Augustine speaks of preachers, praedicatores veritatis, he seems to be referring particularly to successors of the apostles.(5) For him, moreover, the preacher was the bishop.(6) Like the vocation of the apostles, that of the bishops was to feed the flock of Christ, to teach and direct the faithful.(7) Augustine vigorously defended the teaching mission of the bishop. It was not by chance that St. Paul associated "pastors" and "doctors" together (Ephes. 4:11). It was his purpose to convince others that the one office was inseparable from the other. The bishop was at once pastor and doctor.(8) The work of a doctor was to communicate to the faithful the revelation preserved in Holy Scripture, to explain the Sacred Books. The office of doctor was one with that of the preacher of the word (veritatis), the herald of the gospel of Christ.(9)
St. Jerome had treated the same thought. To fulfill a mission as the head of a Church, it was not enough to be holy. The shepherd had to be capable of edifying the flock entrusted to him by his knowledge and his word: he should be a "doctor." (10)
"He who neglects the preaching office assigned to him," says a work written for a bishop, "will perish with all those whom his inexcusable silence has caused to perish." However exemplary his life may be otherwise, that will hardly avail him; because he has not achieved his first and principal duty to announce the word of God to the faithful.(11) He must not excuse himself by reason of his inexperience or his want of oratorical gifts. The people really desire of their shepherds only the truth in an intelligible form. (12)
THE WORDS OF ST. GREGORY Gregory the Great (d. 604) manifested a predilection for speaking of the messengers of the word of God and particularly under the formula, ordo praedicatorum. In all his works and notably in the commentary on the First Book of Kings,(13) he reverts to it frequently. Everywhere in the Sacred Books he found symbols and references to the preaching office. The great splendor of his writings, his authority and influence in the Middle Ages, warrant a more developed exposition of his views.
The doctrinal office of the Church, he says when interpreting St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (4:11), is entrusted to four classes of workers. In the beginning there were in the Church only apostles and prophets. They were soon aided by evangelists and doctors (who are not distinguished from pastors). The latter by their preaching and teaching communicate the rich treasure of Holy Scripture to the faithful, while the evangelists are entrusted with the missions and devote themselves to the instruction of the infidels and catechumens.(14) The doctors preach, and the preachers teach: this theme occurs repeatedly in all its varying contexts.(15) The one and the other are the same identical office; the same duties are proper to each; they require the same virtues. The two terms, "preacher" and "doctor," are synonymous.(16) Preaching was not to be confused with exhortation, which, without any special commission, any cleric and even any one of the faithful might have occasion to give to his neighbor.(17) Preaching in the true sense of the word meant an office, the object of a commission, a delegated duty. This office embraced all that pertained to the ministry of souls. The preacher or pastor was to instruct his people in truth and good morals, direct and defend them;(18) is if he found himself at the head of his Church it was precisely for that work.(19) Here we note how Gregory envisaged the "preachers-doctors" as the bishops exclusively. In other passages he explicitly reaffirmed this idea.(20)
Thus in the anointing of Saul he saw the consecration of bishops, wherein the ceremonies make the consecrated one appear as preacher and doctor.(21) To the unlearned, the bishop preached by the example of his life; to the learned, he opened the mysteries of Scripture by his knowledge.(22) Interpretation of these texts constituted one of the principal duties of the preacher, and it was in this function especially that he merited the title of doctor. If we recall that in patristic times preaching to the faithful consisted almost exclusively of explanation of Holy Scripture, we will understand the right and force of identifying the preacher and the doctor. The body of those who served the gospel by preaching and teaching was known, without distinction, either as the ordo praedicatorum(23) or as the ordo doctorum.(24) To the priests and prophets who constituted the order in the Old Testament,(25) Gregory related the "new order of preachers" and the "new order of doctors," interpreters of the Sacred Books and messengers of the new covenant.(26)
In the rich and multiple organism which the Church constitutes, soon and naturally the states, the groups, or the individuals devoting themselves to the same office were grouped under the accolade of the same ordo: for example, ordo patrum, ordo prophetarum, ordo episcoporum, ordo continentium (order of virgins), ordo conjugatorum, ordo laïcorum, and so on. The term designated a class, a category of men. We find mention of orders of this kind in widely different authors. But it seems that Gregory the Great was the first to group under the term ordo praedicatorum all those who devoted themselves to the office of preaching.(27)
SANCTUS PRAEDICATOR Gregory assigned a special place in the Church to preachers who in an eminent degree realized the character of messengers and teachers of the gospel: the sancti praedicatores.(28) To give themselves body and soul to their office, they lived dead to the world and its vices, often renouncing every possession.(29) What an impression such a life would make on the clergy and laity of the eleventh and twelfth centuries may be imagined and particularly upon those who aimed at realizing more closely the primitive ideal of the apostles, and for whom a rich prelate was a scandal.
The right and duty of preaching belonged in the beginning only to the bishops, the very successors of the apostles. It is beyond doubt that simple priests and deacons could in certain circumstances -- not taking account of exceptional cases supernaturally inspired -- preach and explain the Sacred Books. The first Christian ages furnished more than one example of this practice, but it was always by delegation of a bishop and in place of him. However, the practice was not allowed to go on without a stir of objection. The preaching of the priest Augustine instead of and in place of his bishop caused quite a little scandal in North Africa.(30) Jerome inveighed, apparently without great success, against the custom of certain Churches where ,it was forbidden a priest to preach in the presence of the bishop.(31) At Rome in particular the privilege of the bishop(32) was watched over almost jealously. In the eighth century it still appeared necessary to appeal to the authority of Jerome to permit preaching by priests.(33)
THE PREACHER A TEACHER From what has just been said, it is possible to picture the situation for the patristic period: the preacher was essentially the bishop. He alone preached by right of office. To announce the gospel was the most ancient and the first of the duties proper to him. That is why the ordo praedicatorum was confined to the hierarchical body constituted by the bishops. Except in place of the bishop and by his commission, no one could preach. The term praedicatio in the fullest sense of the word meant teaching Christian doctrine through whatever organs were designated for the work.(34) As ambassadors of Christ, the Word made flesh and Truth made manifest, as messengers of the gospel, they were called "preachers of the truth" and "preachers of the word." As an interpreter of Holy Scripture, the preacher earned the title of doctor. The "holy preacher" was the preacher who lived what he preached, who taught by word and example. According to the teaching of the Fathers, it was a duty always to listen to the words of the bishop, even though his life could not be proposed as a model. The preacher's authority and influence was more far-reaching when, not content merely to speak as an ambassador of Christ and in His name, he also truly imitated Christ in his life.
To the portrait of the preacher traced for us by the Fathers, especially by Gregory the Great, the following centuries did not add any essential traits. The same features were perpetually emphasized. Indeed, writers were often satisfied with simply reproducing the word-for-word sketch of earlier texts. A closer scrutiny, however, will reveal that, under the vesture of unchanging formulas, the concept of preaching was all the while in process of evolution. An examination and analysis of this development is the next step.
In the manner of Gregory the Great, Rabanus Maurus (d. 856) found in the Sacred Books foreshadowings and symbols of the order of preachers. The stewards of Solomon providing for the royal table represented the whole order of holy preachers, engaged in hard and unwearying labor to provide through tongue and pen whatever was needful for their neighbor.(35) It is interesting to note with what insistence Rabanus counted writers among those who fulfilled the work of the preachers. Perhaps he had in mind the monastic scribes of Fulda. Holy doctors and preachers, well versed in the Scriptures, will be armed for a successful attack against the wickedness and perfidy of the enemies of Christ.(36) To apostolic orthodoxy they will unite the strength of an exemplary life,(37) and through love of their neighbor they will strive by word and example to save sinners from perdition.(38) For men they bold the place of God; all owe them humble obedience.(39)
Peter Damian (d. 1072) desired that priests should be numbered in the ordo praedicatorum. In addition to the twelve apostles, did not Christ send the seventy disciples to preach? The seventy men whom Moses summoned at the command of the Lord, the twelve fountains and the seventy palm trees, were they not allegories of the ordo praedicatorum formed by the bishops and the other ranks of the clergy?(40)
Peter leaping from the boat and walking on the sea to meet Jesus (Matt. 14:29) was for Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109) a typical figure of the order of preachers, hastening in the lead of the faithful toward the kingdom of heaven.(41) Gottfried, the abbot of Admont (d. 1165), as well as others,(42) recognized in the messengers sent by the king to the guests of the marriage feast (Matt. 22:3 f.) the likeness of the doctors and heralds of the truth. By their example and by their word they stirred the people to higher aspirations.(43) The preacher was the guardian of the vineyard; he was the leader and intermediary willed by God.(44)
BY WORD AND EXAMPLE In this text and in a general way in the works of the last authors cited, there occur frequent references to the "holy preachers" or to the "holy doctors" who work or ought to work "by word and example." These expressions reflect, in part at least, the Gregorian reform then in course of development; for that movement considered chiefly an improvement in the morals of the clergy. These allusions may also have signified something deeper. All the writers quoted belonged to the cloister. Out of that environment in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries many voices rose to claim for the monks, the true imitators of the apostles, a share in the ministry of souls and in preaching. It would not be surprising if some of the texts reflected the influence of such ideas.
The glosses of Scripture show to what an extent the idea of ordo praedicatorum and of ordo doctorum was current in the twelfth century.(45) The sons of St. Dominic soon selected a large number of these texts and applied them to their Order. Most of them were drawn from the works of the Fathers, or at least inspired by them.
A passage from the glossa ordinaria, repeating an idea of Peter Damian, envisaged an expansion in the class of preachers. The case of the seventy disciples showed that the class of preachers was not constituted exclusively by the immediate successors of the apostles.(46) Apropos of St. Luke, 14:17, the gloss remarks that the servant sent to invite the guests signifies the ordo praedicatorum which will come at the end of time.(47) Cited also were a certain number of other texts taken from well-known authors. Other glosses contributed nothing essentially new.
In a letter which deserves particular attention because of its pronouncements on several problems of preaching, Innocent III refers to the ordo praedicatorum. Recalling that the most profound mysteries and the most sublime truths are hidden in Holy Scripture, and that eminent and instructed souls do not succeed in fully explaining them, the Pope counseled the laity to be on their guard against the temptation to wish to understand all and interpret all themselves. Therefore it would be still less permissible for men whose instruction is inadequate to take it upon themselves to preach and explain the Sacred Books to others. To each his place and his duty; beyond these limits, none ought to go. Since the duty of teaching and governing others was confided to a select number and since the ordo doctorum discharged one of the most important functions of the Church, it could not depend on the will of an individual to set himself up as a preacher.(48) Thus we find reiterated the traditional doctrine that the preacher of Holy Scripture, that is, the preacher in the strict sense of the word, is called "doctor." Moreover, it is especially in the bishops and generally in prelates that the office is invested. The point of view of the age of the Fathers still endured.
We may note, however, that among the preachers were numbered more and more persons who were not bishops. Of course it is understood that they had received the commission to preach from authorized superiors.
TOWARD A PREACHING SOCIETY While the world of preachers was on the verge of a great expansion, at the same time it was being contracted within certain bounds. It had been given a limited determination by Rabanus Maurus, and the idea of ordo praedicatorum, or, to be more precise, that of ordo became more clearly defined, and little by little almost imperceptibly began to be associated with the idea of a group, that is, a community, properly so called, of preachers. A beginning of this idea is traceable in the writings of the commentators on the Apocalypse.
The list of writers who employed and identified the terms ordo praedicatorum and ordo doctorum could be extended.(49) Those we have mentioned are sufficient for our purpose. The group now about to claim all our interest includes the apocalyptic writers to whom we have just referred.
The turmoil of continual wars, the progress of Islamism, the growth of error everywhere, and more than anything else perhaps, the corrupt morals of the clergy, all contributed their share in the twelfth century to develop apocalyptic ideas and uneasy forecasts about the end of the world. Witness to this are the numerous commentaries on the Apocalypse, always a book of particular interest in periods of unrest.
Richard of St. Victor (d. 1173), referring to the seven angels of the Apocalypse (Apoc., chap. 8), gives a description of the ordo praedicatorum. Taken in chronological order, the angels constitute the ordo praedicatorum of all ages, from the time of Christ to the end of the world.(50) "First angel, first order of preachers," and so on.(51) Each of the angels is characterized by a particular office according to the period in which he appears. With the appearance of the sixth and the seventh angel, the ordo praedicatorum is also called ordo doctorum.(52) Indeed, in these ages which immediately precede the coming of Antichrist, preachers and sacred masters are one in preaching and defending the faith.(53) "Holy preachers" and prelates, in a word, the members of the hierarchy, hold a privileged place in the Church. By the grace of God the mysteries of Holy Scripture are first made known to them. It is their duty by their own preaching or that of others to transmit to the faithful what they should have learned and contemplated.(54)
Similar ideas occur in the work of Anselm of Laon (d. 1117).(55) Other commentators on the Apocalypse also agree in identifying the seven angels with the preachers;(56) Martin of Leon (d. 1203), canon regular of Spain, notes the likeness particularly in preachers who practice the apostolic life.(57) With Joachim of Flora (d. 1202) the explanation of the allegory of the Apocalypse attains a new height. His Expositio is illuminating, particularly on the meaning and evolution of the idea of ordo praedicatorum.(58)
Of the three great ages of the world which embrace the whole span of religious history, the second is that of the revelation of the Son of God. it is characterized by the ordo praedicatorum or ordo clericorurn, because by this intermediary Christ continues to communicate Himself to the world.(59) Nothing more is said about the preachers and their duty. They simply represent the teaching Church.
Joachim divides the second age into seven periods. The time in which he writes (between 1180 and 1202) corresponds to the decades of transition from the fifth to the sixth.(60) With the sixth period, a new order is to appear in the Church.(61) It will manifest itself in the figure of a preacher of invincible faith, a "preacher of truth" will be who, surrounded by his disciples, the "order of preachers, remarkable for the power of his word.(62) Descending from the heights of contemplation, he will teach men to scorn the things of earth and to cherish the treasures of heaven.(63) All the false prophets and heretics will unite against the preacher of truth and attempt to silence him.(64) They will not succeed. The renown of the new order will grow in radiance and brilliance; even to the end of time it will preach and defend the faith with success.(65) Elsewhere Joachim calls this order the order of the just and of the perfect, because its members will imitate the life of Jesus and His apostles.(66) At times he also speaks of the rise of two orders in the near future, both of which will receive the mission to preach.(67) His thoughts on this point are not very clear or particularly coherent. But that does not affect the matter in question. For him also the preacher is the doctor par excellence.(68) He holds in his hand the two-edged sword of truth, the possession of all who assume the office of preacher,(69) this duty likewise makes him a "lector" in Holy Scripture.(70)
THE PREDICTIONS OF JOACHIM Certain of Joachim's ideas or descriptions had a striking harmony with more than one feature of the Order of St. Dominic, as it subsequently appeared, and earned for the Calabrian abbot the reputation of a prophet who had predicted the institution of the Order.(71)
Joachim was certainly a good observer of the conditions and trends of his time. He could foresee in a certain measure the orientation which events would take. The earnest interest he had in the destinies of the Church moved him to seek sure ways and means to cope with dangers and weaknesses. Thus many events that he desired and vividly described were purely personal fabrications, expressive of his ideas and his hopes. Like other apocalyptic writers, Joachim was in a way the interpreter of his age. The ideas cherished by him were likewise, and often in the same degree, a preoccupation with his contemporaries. For example, when he spoke of an order of preachers that would soon arise and replace the "order of bishops,"(72) he was but giving expression to an idea already current, that preaching could be separated from the episcopal dignity and exercised in an autonomous way.
It is of no great importance for us to know whether Joachim of Flora was effectively inspired by prophecy. But we are interested in whether he prepared the way for future developments. The prodigious influence of his writing indicates that he exercised a tremendous power.(73) How far did this power affect the motivation of particular events? What did it contribute to the formation of Innocent III's policy in regard to preaching? We should not a priori reject the possibility of an influence that would render intelligible certain daring moves on the part of the pope, especially the singular and unusual work confided to the Order of Cîteaux in his apostolic program. For want of a decisive document, we shall for the moment simply put the question.(74)
One thing, however, is certain: Joachim gave a final determination to the new concept of ordo praedicatorum, one which does not embrace the full traditional notion. He forecast a new "order of preachers," a religious community on the model of older orders, the essential office of which would be preaching and the defense of the faith. Thus the idea of transferring to an independent community the office and the title until then reserved exclusively to the bishops lost some of its startling newness. It is evident that precisely at the right moment Joachim rendered an important service to the foundation of the future Order of Preachers.
In almost all the texts examined and discussed in this chapter, one truth is brought forcibly and strikingly to light: it is the exact equivalence of the two concepts, "preacher" and "doctor." For the Fathers as well as for the authors of the twelfth century, it is a truth so manifest that not any of them feels the need of giving it special consideration. They are content to use the terms almost interchangeably, That does not mean that they regarded the terms as absolutely identical. The very texts indicate that a "doctor" stands for a preacher of Holy Scripture, a preacher of the faith, a preacher to whom the Church has confided the mission of instructing the faithful in the truths of belief, In this connection, even before the time of the Preachers, certain Premonstratensians were called "preachers and doctors," because the instruction and direction of a certain number of souls had been confided to them.(75)
The term "doctor," therefore, should not be translated by "professor." This latter personage, in the restricted present-day role, did not appear on the scene until later; he took one of the last places in the teaching Church. When theology, and scholastic theology in particular, was still in its infancy, the bishop was at once preacher, doctor, and professor;(76) of these titles that of preacher was the first and most eminent. The first duty of the bishop was to instruct in the truth of faith the flock committed to him; he acquitted himself Of this duty by preaching. When he devoted himself to the education of his clergy and introduced them into the mysteries of Holy Scripture, he was a professor, in the modern sense of the term. But ever and always when he announced the faith as a witness of revealed truth and of tradition, he acted as a doctor, in virtue of the office expressly founded to communicate doctrine to the faithful.
DOMINICAN PREACHING The preaching entrusted to the sons of Dominic as the essential office of their Order was the preaching of the faith. In this office they were to be auxiliaries of the bishop, who now could no longer compass the work of his charge alone. It was an age when the preaching of the faith involved critical encounters; truth had to be sustained on the battleground of heresies. No wonder an appeal was made to the University of Paris for preachers of the faith qualified for the struggle against the Albigenses.(77) They were, indeed, professors of theology, but in all probability they would have refused this title and preferred that of "preachers." Nor would they grant that there could be any essential difference between preaching the gospel to a congregation of the faithful and explaining the Holy Books to their hearers in the school, Peter Cantor (d. 1197), one of the most celebrated "professors" of the time in the schools of Paris, had no loftier ambition than to preach and to train others for preaching.(78) It was a general and absorbing aim. Through the twelfth century and far into the thirteenth, all the great masters of theology were great preachers. The scholarly life was enveloped in the life of preaching to which it was ordained. Called by the bishops to share or assume the professorial duty incumbent on the episcopate, the masters were at the same time introduced to participation in the fullness of the doctoral mission; they became doctors and, in consequence, preachers.
The sons of Dominic, therefore, were faithful to this program when they at once extended the scope of their activity to the whole field of theology. Under penalty of endangering their ideal, such action was imperative. They would have only partially fulfilled their office if, when theology became dissociated from preaching and constituted an independent discipline, they retained but one half of their doctrinal mission. Certainly St. Dominic had no intention of founding an order of professors, in the strict sense of the word. His desire was to create a society of able preachers, masters of doctrine, well instructed in the faith and in the Sacred Books. Otherwise why would be have attached so much importance to study? Why did he wish to have a "doctor" in every convent?(79)
We shall not pursue the matter further. This aspect of the subject has been treated in a special study.(80)
Another traditional name for preachers was also transmitted to the Friars Preachers: "Preachers of the word of truth," or simply, "preachers of truth." Even with St. Augustine the expression conveyed the idea of a doctrinal mission for the proclamation of truth. The title ordo veritatis was for the Dominicans a symbolic device. The papal documents which employ it are on that account very significant.
Frequently we have come across expressions such as "holy preachers" and "holy doctors." The nearer we come to the thirteenth century, the more freighted with meaning is the call to the preacher to teach "by word and by example." Undoubtedly one of the reasons was that many of the prelates were far too indifferent about the personal example they should have given. Therein, to be sure, lay one of the impelling forces which favored the dissociation of the preaching Office from the dignity of the episcopate and the state of prelate. Preaching was to be reserved to him who lived what be spoke. One step more and an exemplary life would be considered the sole qualification for a legitimate exercise of the sacred word. Evidently such requirements could not be pushed too far without a trespass on what was orthodox; yet such ideas prepared the way for the separation that actually occurred.
In the thirteenth century the expression ordo praedicatorum had, as already noted, a twofold meaning. It signified first of all, in the classical and traditional sense, the whole body of bishops and prelates along with their delegates in the office of teaching the faithful. But in the commentaries on the Apocalypse it was shown to have another significance, one of later discovery and one less clearly defined. It concerned a future reality, the image of which was not yet clear. The new ordo praedicatorum, that was yet to be, would be different from the ancient ordo. It would bear the same name and fulfill the same function, but the preachers would constitute a separate community, in the form of a religious order. Again and again there was insistence on the fact that preachers should imitate the life of Christ and His apostles.
THE RISE OF AN ORDER The foregoing study should have made it clear that the Order of Preachers was prepared for in many different ways. When the Order of St. Dominic was dedicated by the papacy to the ministry of preaching and was given a name designating the doctrinal office of the Church and the most important duty of the bishop, it appeared like an unprecedented move. Yet this aspect should not be over stressed. The foundation was not unexpected. To all who had eyes to see, it was evident that sooner or later the bishops, whatever their good will, would be unequal to the task of fulfilling alone the office of preacher and doctor. In fact, from day to day there arose occasions for confiding this duty to those who were not prelates. And writers were at work disseminating and propagating the new ideas. From the beginning of the thirteenth century the thought that preaching could be exercised apart from the episcopal office and the care of souls began to be more generally entertained.
In the light of this fundamental and basic preparation, the importance of earlier elements, as marshaled and organized by St. Dominic in view of his purpose, should not appear secondary. At the right moment the indispensable man placed himself at the service of the papacy to construct out of all the good forces ready at hand a pastoral institution perfectly adapted to the new needs of Christendom in the thirteenth century.
NOTES 1 "Moreover, Brother Dominic and the Bishop came to the Council together and with equal ardor then besought the Lord Pope, Innocent, to confirm for Brother Dominic and his brethren the Order which was to be called and would be an Order of Preachers" (Jordan, no. 40).
2 "The institution of the Order had only been considered; for the Order of Preachers had not yet been established" (Ibid., no. 37).
3 "The title Fratres ordinis praedicatorum appeared in a legal document for the first time on February 11, 1218, in a letter of Honorius III. Laurent, no. 84. 156
4 "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel (I Cor. 1: 17). I am appointed a preacher and an apostle, a doctor of the Gentiles" (I Tim. 2:7).
5 "Bringing up clouds from the ends of the earth. What clouds? Preachers of the word of His truth. . . . But it is not enough to have raised up clouds from Jerusalem or from Israel to be sent by Him to preach His gospel unto all the earth; concerning these clouds it is written: 'Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world.' This is little, but since the Lord said: 'This gospel shall be preached . . .' (Matt. 24:14), clouds rise from the ends of the earth. For, the gospel increasing, whence will there be preachers of the gospel on the borders of the world unless He there call clouds from the ends of the earth?" (Enarrat. in Ps. 134:7; PL, XXXVII, 1749). "For apostolic preachers have been sent ... the clouds are the preachers of the word of truth.... The preachers, therefore through whom the gospel of God is preached, are the clouds of God" (Enarrat. in Ps. 35:6 PL, XXXVI, 346; cf. 837).
6 "The leaders whom He appointed to preach to His people (Sermo 17, PL, XXXVIII, 125. Cf. Sermo 18, PL, XXXVIII, 131; Sermo 353; PL, XXXIX, 1560).
7 "To them He entrusted his sheep, that they might be fed, that is, instructed and governed" (In Joan. Evang. tract. 123, 5; PL, XXXV, 1969).
8 "But when he had said 'pastors,' be added 'doctors' that pastors might understand that teaching was part of their office ... but in such a degree that one and the same office was included in the two titles: and other some pastors and doctors" (epist. 149, 2); Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, 44, 358.
9 Cf. Sermo 71; PL, XXXVIII 456 ff. "Therefore, he ought to be a scholar and a doctor of Holy Scripture... to teach ... to edify ... to impart" (PL, XXXIV, 91).
10 "It is necessary, therefore, that the bishop . . . be . . . a doctor . . . for it is of no profit to possess virtue unless he is able also to instruct the people entrusted to him" (PL, XXIII, 258; XXVI, 569). "That one and the same leader of the Church be both pastor and doctor" (PL, XXVI, 500).
11 Julianus Pomerius (d. 498), De vita contemplativa. "He ought to live holily, to give example, and to teach by reason of the duty of his office . . . even if he live holily . . . since he perishes with all who on account of his silence will perish." "For he is a leader of the Church of God not only that be may lead others to live well by the example of his own life, but likewise by preaching faithfully" (PL, LIX, 434; cf. 432).
12 "Nor will the Pontiff excuse himself through lack of skill, alleging that he is not able to teach because he is not sufficiently eloquent in speech . . . and his hearers can profit sufficiently if they also hear preached simply to them what they see done spiritually by their teachers" (PL, LIX, 438).
13 The In primum Regum expositiones are indeed from St. Gregory though he did not himself write them out. The actual writing was the work of assistant, the Abbot Claudius, whose fidelity St. Gregory expressly praised. Cf. Hurter, Nomenclator litterarius theologiae catholicae (1903), I, 561.
14 "Holy Church for the instruction of the faithful has four orders of rulers whom Paul . . . enumerates (Ephes. 4:11; 1 Cor. 12:28). Pastors and doctors are named as one order of rulers, because he who teaches truly feeds the flock of God. . . . In the beginning Holy Church had apostles and prophets. . . . As in former times, so now there are evangelists and doctors. . . . Truly apostles and prophets have endured from then until now" (Ezech. 40 : 42); PL, LXXVI, 1046. The office of evangelist and that of deacon are almost inclusive.
15 "Not undeservedly are holy doctors called pillars because, while they preach truth, they endeavor to live in accord with their preaching. . . . Four bases secure the pillars of the tabernacle, because the preachers of the Church . . . uphold the four books of the Evangelists" (Job 38:6; PL, LXXVI, 457). "Samuel ministered to the Lord in the presence of Heli, as the new order of doctors preached the faith of the Redeemer. . . . To minister unto the Lord, therefore, is to proceed to the work of preaching" (PL, LXXIX, 40, 45, 79).
16 PL, LXXIX, 102, 155 f., 158, 267.
19 "Preachers are placed at the head of holy Church for this purpose (the pastoral ministry). . . . But in thought and obedience the ministers are often inferior to those over whom they have been placed by their prelacy" (Ibid., 74, 277 ff.).
20 "The ruler is called to stand in the midst of the people, and thereby the figure of prelates is shown to Holy Church. Moreover, we hold that the rulers of the Church are the holy preachers" (Ibid., 104, 808).
22 "The life of the preacher is proposed as an example of salvation to the faithful, and through his teaching the secrets of Holy Scripture are revealed to the wise" (Ibid., 142).
23 Ibid., LXXVI, 882, 1267; LXXIX, 148-50, 155-57, 271.
24 Ibid., LXXIX, 42, 150, 153, 164,
25 They are frequently considered together in the formula, ordo doctorum veterum, veteres doctores (PL, LXXIX, 102 f.)
26 Novus praedicatorum ordo (ibid., 104, 145, 150, 153). Novus doctorum ordo (Ibid., 145).
27 One of the corresponding texts attributed to St. Augustine by Frachet (p. 16) is not authentic.
28 Cf. PL, LXXIX, 100, 153 f., 158.
29 "Wherefore in order to love their neighbor perfectly, holy preachers have striven to love nothing in this world, to seek nothing and to possess nothing with undue attachment" (PL, LXXVI, 1094).
30 Possidius, Vita S. Augustini episcopi, chap. 5: Valerius, bishop of Hippo, whose native language was Greek and who was, therefore, not well versed in Latin, "empowered the same priest (Augustine) to preach and very frequently to comment on the Gospel in the church in his presence, contrary indeed to the use and custom of the African Church, whence also some bishops objected" (PL, XXXII, 37). Similar instances are recorded elsewhere.
31 "In certain Churches there is the very bad custom of silencing priests so they may not speak in the presence of the bishops, as if the latter were envious or not disposed to listen" (Epist. 52, ad Nepotianum; PL, XXII, 534).
32 Cf. Hefele-Leclerq, II, 1112.
33 "For they say that priests and deacons have been forbidden to preach in churches . . . Let them declare in what canon priests have been forbidden to preach . . . . For our Lord Jesus Christ subjected men of the second rank to His apostles for the office of preaching. . . . Wherefore are homilies read in the church by every order of clerics? What is a homily but a preaching?" He ends by citing the letter of Jerome to Nepotianus (Alcuin, epist. 163; PL, C, 427).
34 In this sense, the letters of the Fathers of the Church are also sermons. It was not rare for bishops to send a written instruction to those who could not assist at their preaching in the church. Cf. Martigny, p. 662.
35 "Lest anything be wanting to those who dwell in the house of the king, the whole order of holy preachers labors (by writing and speaking) that the table of the Lord may be filled with an abundance of books and all of the faithful may have suitable food" (cf. III Kings 4:27; PL, CIX, 132). "The order of holy preachers . . , composes divine documents by writing and teaching" (PL, CIX, 1036),
36 "For David the leader wages war against enemies when the order of holy preachers opposes the shield of faith against the powerful of the world" (PL, CIX, 873). "Holy preachers deliver sacred sermons" (PL, CX, 510). Because the order of preachers shows the faithful, who are members of Christ, the deceit and depravity of heart of those men (heretics and schismatics) . . . the holy doctors manifesting their iniquity" (PL, CIX, 651).
37 "What do the twelve young lions signify but the order of preachers that follows the apostolic teaching? . . . The ways of good works . . . they strive to fortify by their teaching and example" (cf. III Kings 10:20; PL, CIX, 197, 1035; CXI, 1079).
38 "Thus that Ethiopian eunuch who, impelled by the fear and love of God, was eager to understand the prophet, signifies the holy preachers of the nations who, the Gospel says, make themselves chaste for the kingdom of heaven, who through divine charity strive both by word and example to rescue the oppressed from the pit of perdition" (PL, CXI, 1079).
39 "It is in accord with this sound plan of Holy Church that the multitude of the faithful is ranged under the rule of holy preachers, that through humility and obedience the people may be made subject to the power of her chosen teachers" (cf. Esther 8:2; PL, CIX, 661). "She will raise up unto the ages a useful governor over the earth. For the power of holy doctors is ordained by the dispensation of God; and He has given them a ministry of honor when He has by their office set them as leaders of the human race" (cf. Ecclus. 10:2; PL, CIX, 826). The interlinear (Anselm of Laon) interprets the word rector as the ordo praedicatorum (Biblia Sacra cum glossa ordinaria . . . et postillis Nicolai de Lyra (Antwerp, 1617, III, 2016).
40 Peter Damian, Contra intemperantes clericos (op. XVIII); PL, CXLV, 389.
41 "Peter stands for the order of preachers; the waters in truth . . . signify the people. Over the people he walks to Christ who leads to the kingdom of heaven by ruling the multitude of the faithful. . . . For Peter descends from the boat as often as any holy doctor from the bosom of mother Church, whence he came forth" (St. Anselm; PL, CLVIII, 600).
42 "But who is designated by this servant unless the order of preachers?" (Gregory the Great; PL, LXXVI, 1267).
43 "Again through the servants sent we understand the doctors and preachers who by word and example call the guests to the marriage. . . . And because preaching is exercised not by silence but by speech, it seems suitable to apply to the very preachers of truth that which follows in the text: 'Call the guests.' 'Call,' I say, that is, 'be more diligent in preaching, arouse the souls of your hearers to better things' " (PL, CLXXIV, 612).
44 "In the aforesaid husbandmen of the Lord we can also find the certain good preachers appointed in the vineyard of the Lord, through whom the Lord will order his own workers to be called" (PL, CLXXIV, 135). "But a certain good prelate is not unhappily symbolized by the gate of the city, for through him the way for the Lord is prepared in the soul. For while the holy preachers through their instructions enlighten and inflame the faithful soul in the love of God, they themselves are indeed gates of the city" (Ibid., 535). In Ecclus., chap. 1. "In the second verse he includes three ranks through whom and in whom Holy Church is established. . . . In the height of heaven, the life of the continent; in the breadth of the earth, the life of the married; in the depth of the abyss, the, order of prelates may rightly be understood" (Ibid., 1112). The "prelates" and "doctors of the truth" constitute the third order. The "holy doctors" discover in their persevering toil over the Holy Books "how they must be at the head of each of the other orders," that is, of the continent and the married (Ibid.).
45 Cf. Biblia sacra cum glossa ordinaria . . . et postillis Nicolai de Lyra (1617), II, 701, 1630, III, 2171: IV, 1903; V, 90. PL, CXIII, 1221. The ordinary gloss, attributed by mistake to Walafrid Strabo, is a composition of the twelfth century. The interlinear gloss has been definitely assigned to Anselm of Laon (d. 1117); several indications lead to the supposition that this author, or at least his school, is also responsible for the glossa ordinaria.
46 "For not only the twelve apostles preached the faith of Christ, but also the Other seventy" (PL, CXIII, 234, 437).
47 "The hour of the supper, the end of the world. . . . In this time the servant is sent, that is the order of preachers" (PL, CXIV, 308). Cf. Biblia Sacra cum glossa Ordinaria, V, 887.
48 Innocent III, "to all the faithful of Christ in the city of Metz as well as in the limits of the diocese" (probably of July, 1199; cf. Grundmarm, p. 98); PL, CCXIV, 696 f.
49 E.g., St. Bernard (PL, CLXXXIII, 506); Anastasius IV (PL, CLXXXVIII, 1085); Martène, Anecdota, V, 1643); Peter Lombard, Collect. in epist. ad Philipp., I, 12-18 (PL, CXCII, 227); in epist. ad Eph., IV, 11 (PL, CXCII, 200); Alain of Lille (PL, CCX, 379).
50 "The seven angels standing before the throne of God are the army of preachers of all times, because seven is the number of days, the grace of the Holy Spirit working, preaching the word of God" (PL, CXCVI, 776).
52 "And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet, that is, the sixth order of doctors of the time of Anti-Christ preached." "Thus the sixth angel is the sixth order of preachers" (Ibid., 786, 794).
53 "Likewise, aptly is it said to be before the eyes of the Lord (cf. Apoc. 9:13), because the Father is well pleased in the Son, referring to the sixth angel who sounded the trumpet, that is, to those who, amid the peril of persecution, will spread the holy truth of doctrine. For all writers and teachers of sacred knowledge will preach in those days, and preachers whose special work it is to strengthen others, will struggle to fortify the elect against the cruelty of that hour" (Ibid., 786).
54 "For under the opening of the seals he declares that those secret things veiled by figures in Holy Scripture are revealed by holy doctors. For those things which are hidden in Scripture are first opened through divine grace to the holy doctors, who afterward through their own word or that of others preach openly to the people. . . . For truly every gift is best, and every good perfect, which comes own from the Father of lights: first, of course, it is revealed to a few elders, namely, to the prelates and doctors, because then it is preached by them to many, indeed, to all the faithful of the Church" (Ibid., 886).
55 Anselm of Laon, Enarrationes in Apocal.; PL, CLXII, 1529 ff.
56 Bruno, bishop of Segni (d. 1123). "For the seven angels are doctors; in truth, the seven trumpets are seven sermons." "For the first angel playing on the trumpet stands for the first doctors beginning to preach" (PL, CLXV, 646f.). Rupert of Deutz (d. 1135). "For who are those seven angels but all the preachers of the gospel, the messengers of truth?" (PL, CLXIX, 1106.)
57 Martin of Leon (d. 1203). "And the seven angels are all preachers imitating the apostles." "And if openly one says: 'I saw and I heard . . . the voice of one eagle,' that is, the preaching of one rank of preachers." "And the sixth angel . . . the rank, to wit, of the sixth grade of preachers" (PL, CCIX, 846, 349, 353).
58 Expositio magni prophetae Abbatis Joachim in Apocalipsim, 1527.
59 "And again as the order of the married, distinguished in the first age, seems in the pattern of the similitude to pertain to the Father, and the order of preachers of the second age relates to the Son, so the order of monks of the great last times is for the Holy Spirit" (op. cit.).
60 "Therefore, as far as I can determine, the time of the sixth angel (the sounding on the trumpet, Apoc. 9:13) has at least been ushered in; but the time of the fifth has not yet reached its consummation. Therefore the time of the sixth angel has already begun in sequence and ought to reach fulfillment with all swiftness and instancy" (op. cit.).
61 "The sixth age of the Church, in which it would conceive ... a spiritual offspring beyond all others this is the very order shown by Jesus. This order, of course, must indeed be inaugurated within the limit of a favorable period, that is, in the sixth age if it has not risen previously in other epochs, because this point is not yet clear to me, for beginnings are always obscure and lowly" (Expositio, fol. 83 va.).
62 "One thing I hold certain: the sign of this angel touches personally a certain great preacher; however, it may be capable of reference spiritually to many religious men who are to come in that age, especially since Christ chose not a few disciples to preach the word of the gospel" (Expositio, fol. 137 rb.). "Moreover whether that preacher appears alone or in a company, he is to have great power of illumination in preaching the word of God" (Ibid., fol. 198 va.). "Whoever that preacher of the truth will be, he is described as strong, because he will be robust in faith. He will come down from heaven because he will go forth from the contemplative life to the active" (Ibid., fol. 137 rab.).
63 "Therefore, although the reprobates are not worthy, nevertheless, either for their sake that they may not have an excuse, or for the sake of the elect that they may know how to redeem the time, because the days are evil, a preacher of truth must be sent by the Lord in the sixth age to teach men how to despise earthly goods and to love the heavenly" (Ibid., fol. 137 ra.).
64 "And all these (i.e., false prophets) labor to blot out the name of Christ from the earth and impose silence on the sixth angel, that is, on the preachers of truth to whom it is given to announce to others the gospel of Christ in those times" (Ibid., fol. 135 rb.).
65 "For an order will arise which seems new and is not; clothed in black and girded; their number grows and their fame is spread abroad, and they preach the faith which they will defend unto the consummation of the world in the spirit of Elias" (Ibid., fol. 176 ra.).
66 "We think, nevertheless, that what has been seen sitting above the white cloud and like unto the Son of man signifies a certain order of just men to whom it has been granted to imitate perfectly the life of the Son of man" (Ibid., fol. 174 va.), "Wherefore there ought to be understood in that which was like the Son of man, a certain future order of perfect men following the life of Christ and the example of His apostles" (Ibid., fol. 175 vb.).
67 "But there is nothing contrary to faith or rational consideration in the idea that certain spiritual Eliases, men like Moses and Elias appearing with Christ on the mountain, would be sent by the Lord to preach the word to men quickly, even as the twelve apostles were prefigured in the similitude of the twelve patriarchs; or that two orders of just men should be thus designated in figure" (ibid., fol. 147 rb.).
68 "It is the portion of doctors faithfully to drink in the rain of the teaching of Christ and to pour it into the hearts of the faithful by the distillation of their words" (Ibid., fol. 106 va.).
69 "For what is meant by 'cherubim,' which is interpreted as fullness of knowledge, but the doctor of the Church, and what by the flaming and revolving sword but the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, which has been given into the band of the doctor so that no one may enter the inner paradise but through him?" (Ibid., fol. 70 rb.).
70 "The Gospel of Matthew is for that reason suitable for priests, that is, for the teachers of deacons, because it is the duty of doctors to explain the Sacred Scriptures" (Ibid., fol. 107 rb.).
72 Cf. Denifle, Protocoll der commission zu Anagni; Archiv., I, 111.
73 The Fourth Lateran Council gave attention in the first place to Joachim's Libellus against Peter Lombard and, directly after the profession of faith, devoted its first canon to that writing. The terms employed by Innocent manifest his firmness in condemning the error of the Cistercian and yet his great regard for Joachim's religious work and his attitude toward the Pope: "especially since the same Joachim has requested that all his writings be submitted to us that they might be approved or even corrected according to the judgment of the Apostolic See" (can. 2; Hefele-Leclercq, V, 1329). Joachim already had intimate dealings with the predecessors of Innocent, and some of his spiritual compositions, notably his commentary on the Apocalypse, had been written on the order of Lucius III and carried on with the encouragement of his successors. Cf. Schott, "Joachim, der Abt von Floris," Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, XXII (1901), 356-58.
74 Although the ideas of Joachim about the future order were neither very clear nor very coherent, it is evident that for him the order of Cîteaux was to be the, source of this renewal. In the copious studies produced since the beginning of the century on Joachim of Flora, it does not seem that the accord between the ideas of the Calabrian. and the Order of Preachers has been made the object of special consideration. On this point a judicious treatment may be found in the few pages of Fournier, Études sur Joachim de Flore et ses doctrines (1909), pp. 43-49.
75 "For the Norbertines glory that they are preachers and doctors." Martène, Anecdota, V, 1620.
76 "There is still a remnant of this in the prescription which requires of the future bishop an academic title. Codex Iris Can., can. 331, §1, 5º.
77 Cf. Laurent, no. 76. Honorius III wrote to the master and students of the University of Paris that some should come to Toulouse to teach and preach to the people.
78 Cf. Congar, "Note sur la Gnose on l'enseignement religieux des savants et des simples selon saint Thomas," Bulletin Thomiste, I, 5-7. Peter Cantor expressed his idea on the subject in his Verbum abbreviatum: "Training in Sacred Scripture consists in three exercises: reading, disputing, preaching. . . . Moreover, reading is the basis and foundation of the other two; because through it the other abilities are prepared. Disputation is like a wall in this training and building, because nothing is fully understood or faithfully preached unless first broken by the tooth of disputation. Indeed, preaching, to which the first are subservient, is like a roof protecting the faithful from the heat, from the whirlwind of vice. Therefore, only after the reading and consideration of Holy Scripture, and the examination of controverted points through disputation should preaching be engaged in, and not before; for thus the round is completed" (chap. 1; PL, CCV, 25).
79 A reading of Jordan's Libellus as well as the process of canonization with this point in view, will give an amazing insight into the number of times there is a question of study and the place it occupied in the life of St. Dominic.
80 Mandonnet, in Revue Hist. Eccl., XI (1914), 34-49; cf. infra, chap. 19.
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