Editing Dominican Order (section)

===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 />