Dominican Jubilee in Rome

Very Rev. Bruno Cadore, Master of the Order of Preachers, preaches at the Jubilee Mass in Rome.

This year, the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) celebrate the 800th year of our founding.  For a brief history of the Order, the Dominican friars of the Province of England have an excellent summary.  The Jubilee will be celebrated mostly at the local level, as a thanksgiving to God for the Order and a supplication for the grace necessary to continue our mission.  For the events in the Province of St. Joseph, you can see our Provincial Jubilee website.  For events around the world, see the Jubilee Website of the Order.

You can follow us on social media on Twitter at @Dominican_Order or on Facebook at OrdoPraedicatorum.

Here in Rome, the Jubilee began with Mass at Santa Sabina on the Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers (Nov 7 in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite).  Santa Sabina is the priory where, by long tradition, the Master of the Order lives.  The Basilica was originally given to St. Dominic in 1220.  Mass was celebrated by the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP.  Present were friars from all over the world, as well as Dominican sisters and nuns, and members of the Third Order.

Here is a slideshow of pictures from the Mass.

Feast of San Clemente

For the last several decades, our Basilica of San Clemente in Rome has organized a procession with the relics of St. Clement through the neighborhood--complete with fireworks and a band.  Unfortunately, we were rained out, so the procession stayed indoors and the fireworks were cancelled.

But the Band still came:

The celebrant for the Mass was H.E. Matteo Maria Zuppi, an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome.

Pictures from the Basilica and the Mass are below:

The Patronal Feast of the Basilica of San Clemente

By tradition, ordained by St. Peter himself, Flavius Clemens of Rome is generally reckoned the 3rd Pope after Peter, although some ancient lists of Popes have a different order.  The house on the site of the Basilica here is associated with the family of Clemens, although there is some dispute as to whether it is the same Clement.  Some ancient historians of the Church (e.g., Eusebius), thought he was the co-worker of Paul mentioned in Paul's letter to the Phillipians.  Of the writings attributed to Pope Clement I, scholars today are confident of only one having been written by Clement, his Epistle to the Corinthians.

Pope Clement was a first century Christian, and likely died before the year 100.  He is a great source of the faith and practice of the early Church in Rome, and his Epistle is definitely worth reading.  An interesting aspect of the letter is that it reveals a Bishop who is not an Apostle involving himself in the business of another Church.  This is often seen as an early sign of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.