Order of Preachers: 790 Years Young

The Nuns of the Order of Preachers are celebrating 800 years but today the Order celebrates its 790th birthday for on this day Pope Honorius III approved the Order of Preachers saying to St. Dominic and the first brethren: ""He who ever makes His Church fruitful with new offspring, wanting to make these modern times measure up to former times, and to propagate the Catholic faith, inspired you with a holy desire by which, having embraced poverty and made profession of regular life, you have given yourselves to the proclamation of the Word of God, preaching the name of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world."

As we rejoice in the many blessings and gifts given to the Order by God through the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary we would also like to mention that on December 16th 20 new decrees were promulgated by Benedict XVI among them 14 Dominican Friars martyred during the Spanish Civil War. If the glory of the Church is her martyrs than we can say also that these new martyrs are the glory of the Dominican Order and we ask their intercession that the Order will ever be fruitful with new members and faithful to its mission of Preaching for the Salvation of souls.

—the martyrdom of the Servants of God ENRIQUE IZQUIERDO PALACIOS, born on 17 February 1890 in Oviedo, Asturias (Spain), and killed in odium fidei on 23 December 1936 in Santander, Cantabria (Spain), and 13 companions from the Order of the Friars Preachers (Dominicans), killed during the religious persecution in the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

A special thank you to the folks over at the "Hagiography Circle" for the the information and pictures! This a wonderful site that we highly recommend!