It is a tradition that on the Feast of Saint Dominic, a Franciscan is invited to preach, and visa versa. This is what happened at Pius V, Providence Rhode Island. The Franciscan who preached was none other than my Cardinal Archbishop Sean O'Malley. Here is what he wrote in his blog.
In the Franciscan order, we have a tradition that on the Feast of St. Francis we invite a Dominican to come and preach and preside. In turn, the Dominicans, on the feast of St. Dominic, always invite a Franciscan.
So, this year I was invited to celebrate the Mass and preach for the Feast of St. Dominic at St. Pius V Parish in Providence, Rhode Island. This is also the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Dominican order. So this celebration of St. Dominic’s day had a particular significance this year.
The parish is right across the street from Providence College, and is named for Pope Pius V who was a Dominican. Pope Pius was pope in a very tumultuous time in the Church. He is actually the pope who ended up excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was also the pope who helped resist the invasion of Europe by the Turks. He called for a novena of the rosary before the Battle of Lepanto and out of that comes the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary that we celebrate in October.
As I mentioned in my homily, della Robbia, Fra Angelico, Dante and so many writers and artists speak about these meetings between St. Dominic and St. Francis.
I was very honored to be part of the celebration and happy to continue a tradition that goes back to the special friendship that existed between St. Dominic and St. Francis.
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