Editing Dominican Order (section)

==Divisions==
The friars, nuns, third orders (Dominican laity), and the members of priestly fraternities of Saint Dominic form the Order of Preachers. Together with the religious sisters, Associates of the Religious Sisters, and Dominican youth they form the Dominican Family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dominicanwitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RULELatinEnglish_2007.pdf|title=INFORMATION FROM THE LAITY OFFICE AT ROME|access-date=2020-01-27|archive-date=2020-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925184615/http://www.dominicanwitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RULELatinEnglish_2007.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Governance===
The highest authority within the Order of Preachers is the General Chapter, which is empowered to develop legislation governing all organizations within the Dominican umbrella, as well as enforce that legislation. The General Chapter is composed of two bodies, the Chapter of Provincials and the Chapter of Definitors (or ''Diffinitors''), a unique configuration within the Catholic Church. Each body is of equal authority to propose legislation and discuss other matters of general importance within the order, and each body may be called individually or jointly. The Provincials consists of the superiors of individual Dominican provinces, while the Diffinitors consists of "grass root" representatives of each province, so created to avoid provincial superiors having to spend excessive time away from their day-to-day duties of governing. To maintain stability of the legislation of the order, new legislation is enacted only when approved by three successive meetings of the General Chapter.<ref name=D'amato>{{cite web|first1=A.|last1=D'Amato, O.P.|url=http://dominicains.ca/documents-generaux/les-chapitres-generaux-dans-lordre-des-precheurs/?lang=en|title=The General Chapter in the Order of Preachers|date=April 1983|accessdate=August 7, 2022|archive-date=August 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807175937/http://dominicains.ca/documents-generaux/les-chapitres-generaux-dans-lordre-des-precheurs/?lang=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first General Chapters were held at Pentecost in the years 1220 and 1221.<ref name=rel22 /> More recent General Chapters have been held as follows:

*1998 – [[Bologna]], Italy <ref name=dlay>Stooker, G., [https://web.archive.org/web/20110819184846/http://laity.op.org/eng/library/krak2004.php Report of the Promoter General of the Dominican Laity to the Friars General Chapter, Krakow, Poland, 2004], published June 2004, archived 19 August 2011, accessed 11 February 2024</ref>
*2001 – [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], USA <ref name=dlay />
*2004 – [[Kraków]], Poland<ref>Deeb, M., [http://historicalpapers-atom.wits.ac.za/downloads/a3413.pdf A3413: Michael Deeb Papers, 1969–2012], accessed 17 August 2023</ref>
*2010 – 290th General Chapter, 1–21 September 2010, Rome,<ref>Irish Dominicans, [https://dominicans.ie/general-chapter-of-dominican-order/ General Chapter of Dominican Order] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208080812/https://dominicans.ie/general-chapter-of-dominican-order/ |date=2022-12-08 }}, accessed 8 December 2022</ref> which elaborated the ''mission mandates'' of the order<ref name=rel22>Order of Preachers, [https://www.op.org/relatio-of-the-master-of-the-order/ RELATIO OF THE MASTER OF THE ORDER TO THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF TULTENANGO JULY 2022], Prot. n. 50/20/485 Tultenango 2022, accessed 28 July 2023</ref>
*2016 – Bologna<ref>[[Flickr]], [https://www.flickr.com/photos/orderofpreachers/albums/72157670396868792 General Chapter – Bologna 2016], accessed 1 August 2023</ref>
*2019 – Elective General Chapter, 9 July – 4 August 2019, at the Convent of St. Martin de Porres, [[Biên Hòa]], Viet Nam
*2022 – 16 July – 8 August 2022, [[Tultenango]] in the [[State of Mexico]], a Chapter of Definitors<ref>Ordo Praedicatorum, [https://www.op.org/logo-of-the-general-chapter-tultenango-2022/ Logo of the General Chapter, Tultenango, 2022], accessed 8 December 2022</ref>

The General Chapter elects a [[Master of the Order of Preachers|Master of the Order]], who has "broad and direct authority over every brother, convent and province, and over every nun and monastery".<ref name=MasterOP>{{cite web|url=https://www.op.org/master-of-the-order/|title=The Master of Dominican Order|accessdate=August 7, 2022|archive-date=August 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819170738/https://www.op.org/master-of-the-order/|url-status=live}}</ref> The master is considered the successor of Dominic, the first Master of the Order, who envisioned the office to be one of service to the community. The master is currently elected for a nine-year term, and is aided by the General Curia of the Order. His authority is subject only to the General Chapter.<ref name=MasterOP /> He, along with the General Chapter, may assign members, and appoint or remove superiors and other officials for the good of the order.<ref name=MasterOP /><ref name=D'amato />

===Nuns===
The Dominican nuns were founded by Dominic even before he had established the friars. They are contemplatives in the cloistered life. The nuns celebrated their 800th anniversary in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.800.op.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614232914/http://www.800.op.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-06-14 |title=OP 800 – Home |publisher=800.op.org |date=2006-03-16 |access-date=2012-06-04 }}</ref> Some monasteries raise funds for their operations by producing religious articles such as priestly [[vestments]] or baking [[communion wafer]]s.<ref name=OPWest>{{Cite web|url=https://opwest.org/our-order|title=Our Order|website=Dominican Friars &#124; Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus|access-date=2022-08-26|archive-date=2022-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819140301/https://opwest.org/our-order|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Friars===
Friars are male members of the order, and consist of members ordained to the priesthood as well as non-ordained members, known as cooperator brothers. Both priests and cooperators participate in a variety of ministries, including preaching, parish assignments, educational ministries, social work, and related fields.<ref name=OPWest /> Dominican life is organized into four pillars that define the order's chrism: prayer, study, community and preaching.<ref name=rosaryHS>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rosaryhs.com/s/1514/bp19/interior.aspx?sid=1514&gid=1&pgid=665|title=The Dominican Charism|website=www.rosaryhs.com}}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Dominicans are known for their intellectual rigor that informs their preaching, as well as engaging in academic debate with contemporary scholars.<ref name=IntelHearaldUk>{{Cite web|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/dominicans-value-the-intellectual-life/|title='Dominicans value the intellectual life'|date=July 1, 2021|access-date=August 26, 2022|archive-date=August 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826213837/https://catholicherald.co.uk/dominicans-value-the-intellectual-life/|url-status=live}}</ref> A significant period of academic study is required prior to taking final vows of membership.<ref name=OPvocations>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opvocations.org/the-dominican-vocation|title=THE DOMINICAN VOCATION &#124; Dominican Friars – St. Albert the Great|website=Dominican Vocations|access-date=2022-08-26|archive-date=2022-08-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826213837/https://www.opvocations.org/the-dominican-vocation|url-status=live}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Dominican Sisters}} Religious sisters===
[[File: Relief SS Domenic and Catherine.jpg|thumb|right|Marble relief of SS Dominic and Catherine]]

Women have been part of the Dominican Order since the beginning, but distinct active congregations of Dominican sisters in their current form are largely a product of the nineteenth century and afterward. They draw their origins both from the Dominican nuns and the communities of women tertiaries (laywomen) who lived in their own homes and gathered regularly to pray and study: the most famous of these was the [[Mantellate Sisters|Mantellates]] attached to Saint Dominic's church in Siena, to which Catherine of Siena belonged.{{sfn|Ritchie|Ronald|2001|p=29}} In the seventeenth century, some European Dominican monasteries (e.g. St Ursula's, Augsburg) temporarily became no longer enclosed, so they could engage in teaching or nursing or other work in response to pressing local need. Any daughter houses they founded, however, became independent.{{sfn|Gouws|1978|loc=Ch. 1}} But in the nineteenth century, in response to increasing missionary fervor, monasteries were asked to send groups of women to found schools and medical clinics around the world. Large numbers of Catholic women traveled to Africa, the Americas, and the East to teach and support new communities of Catholics there, both settlers and converts. Owing to the large distances involved, these groups needed to be self-governing, and they frequently planted new self-governing congregations in neighboring mission areas in order to respond more effectively to the perceived pastoral needs.{{sfn|Cleary|Murphy|McGlynn|1997|p=}} Following on from this period of growth in the nineteenth century, and another great period of growth in those joining these congregations in the 1950s, there are currently{{when|date=May 2025}} 24,600 sisters belonging to 150 Dominican religious congregations present in 109 countries affiliated to Dominican Sisters International.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dsiop.org/index.php/who-are-we |title=Dominican Sisters International |access-date=2016-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823011301/http://www.dsiop.org/index.php/who-are-we |archive-date=2016-08-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

As well as the friars, Dominican sisters live their lives supported by four common values, often referred to as the Four Pillars of Dominican Life, they are community life, common prayer, study, and service. Dominic called this fourfold pattern of life "holy preaching". Henri Matisse was so moved by the care that he received from the Dominican sisters that he collaborated in the design and interior decoration of their [[Chapelle du Saint-Marie du Rosaire]] in [[Vence]], France.{{sfn|Billot|1999|p=}}

===Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic===
The Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic<ref>Website: [https://www.sacerdotes.op.org/ Fraternitates Sacerdotales Sancti Dominici] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211213621/https://www.sacerdotes.op.org/ |date=2023-02-11 }}, accessed 11 February 2023</ref> consist of [[diocesan priests]] who are formally affiliated to, and "true members" of,<ref>Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic, [https://www.sacerdotes.op.org/what-we-do What We Do] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211212119/https://www.sacerdotes.op.org/what-we-do |date=2023-02-11 }}, accessed 11 February 2023</ref> the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) through a rule of life that they profess, and who strive for evangelical perfection under the overall direction of the Dominican friars. The origins of the Dominican fraternities can be traced from the Dominican third Order secular, which then included both priests and lay persons as members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.op.org/en/content/who-we-are-0|title=Who We Are – Order of preachers|website=www.op.org|access-date=2017-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224042442/http://www.op.org/en/content/who-we-are-0|archive-date=2017-12-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> Now existing as a separate association from that of the laity, and with its own distinct rule to follow, the Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic continue to be guided by the order in embracing the gift of the spirituality of Dominic in the unique context of the diocesan priesthood. Along with the special grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, which helps them to perform the acts of the sacred ministry worthily, they receive new spiritual help from the profession, which makes them members of the Dominican Family and sharers in the grace and mission of the order. While the order provides them with these spiritual aids and directs them to their own sanctification, it leaves them free for the complete service of the local church, under the jurisdiction of their own bishop.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

===Dominican laity (tertiary/third order)===
[[File:Giovanni di Paolo The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena.jpg|thumb|''The [[Mystic Marriage]] of Saint [[Catherine of Siena]]'' (1347–1380) by [[Giovanni di Paolo]], {{circa|1460}} ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]])]]

Lay Dominicans are governed by their own rule, the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, promulgated by the Master in 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.op.org/sites/www.op.org/files/public/documents/fichier/RULELatinEnglish_0.pdf|title=Information from the Laity Office at Rome|access-date=2013-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909220725/http://www.op.org/sites/www.op.org/files/public/documents/fichier/RULELatinEnglish_0.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is the fifth Rule of the Dominican Laity; the first was issued in 1285.<ref>See also the [http://laity.op.org/eng/library Lay Dominican Web Library]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819183956/http://laity.op.org/eng/library |date=August 19, 2011 }}</ref> Lay Dominicans are also governed by the Fundamental Constitution of the Dominican Laity, and their provinces provide a General Directory and Statutes. According to their Fundamental Constitution of the Dominican Laity, sec. 4, "They have a distinctive character in both their spirituality and their service to God and neighbor. As members of the Order, they share in its apostolic mission through prayer, study and preaching according to the state of the laity."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://laydominicans.org/|title=Dominican Laity – Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic – Dominican Third Order|website=Dominican Laity – Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic – Dominican Third Order|access-date=2017-12-23|archive-date=2017-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224101445/http://laydominicans.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Pope Pius XII, in Chosen Laymen, an Address to the Third Order of St. Dominic (1958), said, "The true condition of salvation is to meet the divine invitation by accepting the Catholic 'credo' and by observing the commandments.  But the Lord expects more from you [Lay Dominicans], and the Church urges you to continue seeking the intimate knowledge of God and His works, to search for a more complete and valuable expression of this knowledge, a refinement of the Christian attitudes which derive from this knowledge."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.3op.org/chosen-laymen.php|title=Chosen Laymen|website=Wayback Machine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113161821/http://www.3op.org/chosen-laymen.php|archive-date=2013-01-13}} See the official transcript, in French {{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-50-1958-ocr.pdf|title=Acta Apostolicae Sedis|website=The Holy See|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2020-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621094907/https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-50-1958-ocr.pdf|url-status=live}} beginning at page 674.</ref>

The two greatest saints among them are [[Catherine of Siena]] and [[Rose of Lima]], who lived [[asceticism|ascetic]] lives in their family homes, yet both had widespread influence in their societies.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

===Associates===

In the 20th century, Associates who share the Dominican [[charism]] with congregations of religious sisters were formed. Dominican Associates are Christian women and men; married, single, divorced, and widowed; clergy members and lay persons who were first drawn to and then called to live out the charism and continue the mission of the Dominican Order – to praise, to bless, to preach. Associates do not take vows, but rather make a commitment to be partners with vowed members, and to share the mission and charism of the Dominican Family in their own lives, families, churches, neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities. They are most often associated with a particular apostolic work of the congregation of active Dominican sisters to which they belong.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.domlife.org/beingdominican/WhoWeAre/Associates.htm |title=Who Are Dominican Associates? |access-date=2015-04-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331235853/http://www.domlife.org/beingdominican/WhoWeAre/Associates.htm |archive-date=2015-03-31 }}</ref>