Another excerpt from the Holy Father's Wednesday general audience on St Dominic:
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When Dominic died in 1221 in Bologna, the city that declared him its patron, his work had already had great success. The Order of Preachers, with the support of the Holy See, had spread to many countries of Europe to the benefit of the whole Church. Dominic was canonized in 1234, and it is he himself, with his sanctity, who indicates to us two indispensable means for apostolic action to be incisive. First of all, Marian devotion, which he cultivated with tenderness and which he left as precious legacy to his spiritual children, who in the history of the Church have had the great merit of spreading the prayer of the holy rosary, so dear to the Christian people and so rich in evangelical values, a true school of faith and piety. In the second place, Dominic, who took care of some women's convents in France and in Rome, believed profoundly in the value of intercessory prayer for the success of apostolic work. Only in Paradise will we understand how much the prayer of the cloistered effectively supports apostolic action! To each one of them I direct my grateful and affectionate thoughts.
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I can personally attest to the fruits of our cloistered sisters' ministry of contemplative prayer. Their intercessions have helped me, my family and friends, and the friars of my province dozens of times in the ten years I have been a Dominican. For the Order as a whole, our nuns are a Powerhouse of Prayer!
If you would like to learn more about our cloistered sisters, check out this link.
Complete text of the Wednesday audience.
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Isn't/wasn't there a tradition among Dominican priests to memorize at least a votive Mass to Mary (readings and ordinary and all) once becoming a priest? It is particularly helpful should one find himself without a Missal. Have you ever considered following in that tradition?
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