Pope Honorius III confirms the Dominican Order
With the bull Religiosam vitam Pope Honorius III took under his protection the community of preachers that the Castilian canon Dominic had gathered in Toulouse to win back the Cathars; it grew into the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans.
- Date
- 22 December 1216exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Rometoday: Rome, Italy · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Saint Dominic, Dominicans (Order of Preachers)
- Threads
- Europe and the Mediterranean in the 13th century
- Also known as
- Order of Preachers; Ordo Praedicatorum; Орден проповедников; Religiosam vitam
Dominic de Guzmán, a canon of the cathedral of Osma, accompanied his bishop, Diego, on an embassy of King Alfonso VIII of Castile to Denmark in 1203 or 1204. Returning through Languedoc, the two met the Cistercians sent by the pope to preach against the Cathars; blaming the monks’ failure on their pomp, they took up an ascetic life and began preaching themselves. In 1206 Dominic settled women converts in a convent at Prouille, and in Toulouse he and his companions formed a community — in 1214 according to some accounts, in April 1215, when the citizen Peter Seila gave them his house, according to others. Since the Fourth Lateran Council had forbidden new religious orders, the brothers adopted the Rule of St Augustine. On 22 December 1216 the bull Religiosam vitam took their church of St Romanus in Toulouse under papal protection and confirmed their rule and possessions; in January 1217 another bull recognized them as an order devoted to study and authorized to preach everywhere.
On 15 August 1217 Dominic dispersed his small band: seven brothers went to Paris to found a priory for study and preaching, and houses followed in other university towns — Bologna (1218), Palencia and Montpellier (1220) and Oxford. Dominic died in Bologna on 6 August 1221. Pope Gregory IX later entrusted the Dominicans with the Inquisition, and the order’s scholars included Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
Connections
Related events
- Bernard founds Clairvaux: the rise of the CisterciansJune 1115 · Western and Central EuropeIn Languedoc Dominic met the Cistercian preachers sent by the pope against the Cathars; blaming their failure on their pomp, he chose to preach in poverty
- Francis of Assisi founds the Franciscan orderbetween 1209 and 1210 · Western and Central EuropeThe two great mendicant orders of the 13th century
- Fourth Council of the Lateran11–30 November 1215 · Western and Central EuropeThe council forbade new religious orders, so Dominic’s brothers adopted the existing Rule of St Augustine
- Albigensian Crusade1209–1229 · Western and Central EuropeDominic preached to the Cathars of Languedoc, where the crusade against them was being fought
- “Summa Theologica” by Thomas Aquinas1265–1274 · Western and Central EuropeThomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar; he wrote the first part of the Summa at the order’s school of Santa Sabina in Rome
Same place
- Great Fire of Rome19 July 64 – c. 27 July 64 · Western and Central Europe
- Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Romebetween 64 and 68 · Western and Central Europe
- Nero crowns Tiridates I in Rome66 · Western and Central Europe
- Pliny the Elder’s Natural History77 · Western and Central Europe
- Inauguration of the Colosseum80 · Western and Central Europe
- Hadrian’s Pantheonbetween 114 and 118 – between 125 and 128 · Western and Central Europe
- Galen in Rome162 · Western and Central Europe
- Antonine Plague165–180 · Western and Central Europe
- Murder of Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors31 December 192 – June 193 · Western and Central Europe
- Constitutio Antoniniana212 · Western and Central Europe
- Decian persecutionJanuary 250 – 251 · Western and Central Europe
- Plotinus teaches in Rome: the rise of Neoplatonismc. 244 – 270 · Western and Central Europe
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284 · Western and Central Europe
- Aurelian Walls271–275 · Western and Central Europe
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312 · Western and Central Europe
- Jerome begins the Vulgate382 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410 · Western and Central Europe
- Vandal sack of Rome2–16 June 455 · Western and Central Europe
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554 · Western and Central Europe
- Coronation of Charlemagne25 December 800 · Western and Central Europe
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome (1527)6 May 1527 · Western and Central Europe
Adjacent events in the thread
- Rise of the universities: Paris, Oxford and Cambridge1200 – 13 April 1231 · Western and Central Europe
- Saint Sava wins autocephaly for the Serbian Church1219 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Eastern Europe
- Battle of Lipitsabetween 21 April and 22 April 1216
Africa
- Rock-hewn churches of Lalibelac. 1181 – c. 1221
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
- Great Zimbabwe, the stone capital of a Shona kingdom1200–1299 – c. 1450
South Asia
- Construction of the Qutb Minarbetween 1193 and 1199 – between 1220 and 1232
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Construction of Angkor Thom and the Bayon1181 – c. 1218
North America
- Ancestral Puebloans build Cliff Palace at Mesa Verdec. 1190 – c. 1280
- The Thule migrate east across the Arctic to Greenlandc. 1200 – c. 1300
- Mississippian centres after Cahokia: Moundville, Etowah and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complexc. 1200 – c. 1450
Latin America
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
- The Kingdom of Cusco: the Inca state before the empirec. 1200 – c. 1438