Feast of Saint Dominic – August 8

Dominic was born in 1170 in Spain to a wealthy family. He received an excellent education and worked in the court of the King of Castile. He was also able to travel throughout Europe on diplomatic missions, thus getting to know the situation of Christians in different places.

In 1215, Dominic founded a house in Toulouse and he shared the house with a number of companions, living according to a monastic rule. A short time later, he received approval from the Pope to found the Order of Preachers, which became known later as the Dominican Order. He moved to Rome and travelled extensively, keeping in touch with the members of the order that was spreading throughout Europe.

He died in 1221.

Dominican monks were active in our kehillot right from the beginning. On this Feast of Saint Dominic, let us pray for the Dominicans and remember in a special way those who founded and administered Isaiah House in Jerusalem, a house that served as the Jerusalem kehilla's first home. Four of the Dominicans who lived there were spiritual fathers for the Jerusalem kehilla for many years: Father Bruno Hussar, Father Jacques Fontaine, Father Marcel Dubois and Father Gabriel Grossman.

Another important project of the Dominicans in the Holy Land is the Ecole biblique et archéologique (French Biblical and Archeological School), founded at the end of the 19th century and an important center of research in Biblical studies in the 20th century.