Friday was the Feast of St Dominic. I couldn’t help but think of our gathering at Urlaur Abbey on Monday last. Bishop Brendan mentioned that the Abbey was founded in 1430 – about 200 years after Dominic founded the Order of Preachers. He died about five years after founding the Order. Two hundred years later, men came to Urlaur in his name and memory and set up a Monastery there. Again, Bishop Brendan told us that the Monastery flourished for about two hundred years and was then supressed by Cromwellian’s soldiers but it survived due to a supportive local man, to whom the land was given, and continued until the mid 1800’s.
I was taken by Dominic’s initial intention in the setting up of the order. He wanted to win Souls – save Souls – through preaching and persuasion.
Maybe it’s time to give persuasion another chance!
Bishop Brendan’s Homily at the Urlaur Pattern (Courtesy of iCatholic.ie)