The Order of Preachers, called the Black Friars in Britain, was founded in 1216 by the Spanish priest Dominic, from whom they took the name by which they are usually known, the Dominicans. It received approval from Pope Honorius III in the document shown here.

The 13th Century was an exciting time in Western Europe; new ideas had been introduced, which did much to change the way people thought and lived. Many of these ideas were in conflict with the teaching and thought of the Church and were regarded as heretical. As Dominic travelled through Spain and France he encountered these ideas and those who held and propagated them; he spent much time in discussion. He realised that these ideas had to be met and refuted; he also realised that the existing church structures were inadequate to meet this challenge.

Monks were bound by their vow of stability to remain in their monasteries, the diocesan clergy were confined to their parishes, the bishops were concerned with administering their dioceses, and very often involved with affairs of state. So Dominic decided that a new order was necessary, and he founded a body of men and women who would live in community and observe the traditional choral office in a modified form. But the great difference would be that the men would be able to move freely from house to house, place to place, to meet challenges whenever and wherever they occurred. In his famous phrase "the world would be their cloister".

This idea was seen not only as new and radical, but dangerous, and was greeted with great hostility. His men would come to be known, not as monks, but friars, from the Latin frater, brother. The emphasis of his new foundation would be on intense study, to allow them to enter into dialogue with the new ideas, and to preach the truth of the Gospel. These friars would live in communities, under the direction of a superior, the Prior, elected by the community; the divine office would be recited daily, but in a modified form, to allow the friars time to devote to study.

Houses, priories, were not independent or autonomous, but were grouped in larger units known as provinces. The head of the province, the Provincial, was elected by members of the province. Inevitably, changes occurred over the centuries, but the original basic ideas of the Order as envisaged by Dominic remain at the heart of the Order today, communal living, choral office, intense application to study as a means of teaching and preaching, and the welcoming and discussion of new ideas.

Many of the ideas which were causing concern at the time were being taught and propagated in the great universities of the time, so it was in these universities that the new order of preachers opened some of their first houses, e.g. Paris, Bologna. Different kinds of ideas had been introduced. These had to be examined as to the validity of their content, whether they contradicted the teaching of the Church, or whether they could be used as valuable tools to help in the understanding of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. Two of the great figures of the period were Dominicans, Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, who welcomed the new ideas and used them to lay the foundations of a system of thought which expounded the Church’s understanding of the Gospel and revelation.

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