Does He Drop the Habit?

Brother Augustine Marie Reisenauer, O.P.

Brother Vito Martinez is a Capuchin friar studying to be a priest.  Sometimes he wears his habit to his college classes, and sometimes he doesn't.  He noticed that people act differently around him when he's in habit.  So he questions whether the habit is a  bridge or a barrier.

Some people like them, others look at the religious in habit like they're from Mars. I don't know where to stand on this, because like Bro. Vito, I can see where people scatter when you wear it, but others go over and say how much they like to see religious in habit.

My experience, unfortunately, has been negative.  I've brought religious in habit out to eat and people look at us like we're the KGB.  One time I brought a student Dominican friar out to a restaurant.  I saw a lot of people I knew from work there.  The next day, one of my co-workers asked me who the sheik was.  You see, their habits are white, like you see Arab sheiks.  So those people who think that wearing a habit is giving good witness had better ask, witness to what.  The Dominican brother was giving witness as a Muslim in his "sheik robes."

Yes, I did have the opportunity to explain who Brother was and what he represented, but that was ONE person.  No one else asked.  Did they think he was really a sheik?

Even Brother Vito notices that it was when he didn't wear his habit, that his classmates approached him and asked him about it.  But in habit they stayed away from him.

So I guess you have to wear it half the time, like Brother Vito.

Celebrating St. Dominic

op and osf

My "cloistered brothers" were in rare form today.  They put on a special program to celebrate our Feast Day.  We didn't have enough time together.  It all had to end too soon.
   The chapter's music group, Echoes of Truth, played and sang for us.  The chapter's Sacred Movement Group performed, also.  We played Dominican Trivia.  And we even had a Franciscan preach to us.
   Father Martin Curtin, OFM CAP preached on the beginnings of the two Orders.  What particularly impressed me was the story of seeing Christ in others.  Fr. Martin made me see Christ in a new way.  I use to wonder, when I saw a particularly revolting person, where Christ was, in that person.  Fr. Martin in talking about community life, said that annoying people encourage us to act like Christ.  That's where Christ is--"us" being moved to be better persons.  Finally, I get it.

And in a Franciscan's preaching!  Who knew?

My Franican Rosary

Tradition has it that St Francis and St Dominic met in Rome when they were both there to seek ratification for their new Orders from the Pope. The two Orders have regarded themselves as 'first cousins', even 'brothers', ever since. Where possible, Franciscans come to Dominican churches to preach on the feast of St Dominic and Dominicans go to Franciscan churches to preach on the feast of St Francis. Hence, I find it perfectly fitting, if not desirable, to count among my friends, Franciscan Friars, Franciscan Sisters, and Lay Franciscans. My Cardinal Archbishop, is a Capuchin Franciscan. We're all family.

Then when I met Brother Vito Martinez, OFM Cap, my world expanded to include Br. Vito, the rest of his Novitiate, and his world of formation. We are united in prayer.

When Fr. Vito undertook the apostolate of making rosaries. My interest was really piqued.

I make rosaries

. I've tried to make rosaries in the past. OK. I've made one. This one was for a friend making her final profession. I ordered a sterling silver cross with her name engraved. The beads were black and white. The medallion in the middle was Our Lady of Pompeii. It was very Dominican. I had Fr. Richard Fleck, OP, bless it.

The Rosary fell apart.

My craftsmanship was at fault, of course, not the Dominican blessing.

I fixed it for her. Then, again...and...again.... Every time I saw her, she handed me her Rosary to be repaired.

I went out and bought her, her own needle nosed pliers. :-/

I've never made another, although I fix people's rosaries, all the time. Since I do it for free, no one dares complain.

Anyway, I read on Br. Vito's blog that he was making a traditional 15 decade Dominican Rosary for a Dominican nun. Well, I wanted one. That's a lie. I coveted.

I asked; and I received. Br. Vito generously agreed to make a 15 decade traditional Dominican rosary. Imagine. This is great because we Lay Dominicans are buried in habit. We are not allowed to wear full habit, (we wear the scapular for ceremonies) unless it's our shroud. I have a habit. I have a belt. I was dreading making myself the Rosary. And I was going all the way, and making a 20 decade. But God had mercy on me, and brought Br. Vito in my life. Now, I have better.

Did you read what Pope Benedict XVI said about the Dominicans and Franciscans, just this year? He talked about the two Orders being intertwined in love. He spoke of their founders' zeal and apostolic mission. Their unique reading of the times and how this is carried forward today. As in a Franciscan making a Rosary for a Dominican. :-)

Did you know that until the promulgation of "Inter Oecumenici in 1964," the blessing of Rosaries was a reserved blessing, and only priests of the Dominican Order could bless them. That is why the older Roman Rituals did not contain a blessing for Rosaries. However, since Vatican II, any priest or deacon may bless a Rosary using formulas in use from 1964 to 1984 or the formula found in the new Liber Benedictionum of 1984 (LB 506):

May this Rosary and the one who uses it be blessed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen. That's why I had Father Reynold Rynda, OFM Cap bless my Rosary. See pix.

Having a Franciscan make and bless a Dominican Rosary is the best of both worlds. You can't get any better than that. Note that Franciscan historian Luke Wadding (1588-1657) dates the origin of the Franciscan Crown to the year 1422. He tells the story of a young novice in the Franciscan Order who, previously accustomed to express his devotion to the Blessed Virgin by adorning her statue with a wreath of fresh flowers, was prevented from continuing this practice in the novitiate. In distress, he considered leaving the Order. But the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and instructed him to recite a rosary of seven decades in honour of her seven joys; thus, he might weave a “crown” more pleasing to her than flowers on her statue.

From that time, the practice of reciting the “Crown of the Seven Joys“ became general in the order. Thus it became known as the Franciscan Crown—or the Seraphic Rosary.

Legend tells us that St. Dominic was taught the Rosary from the Blessed Mother. Legend tells us that St. Dominic prayed the Rosary before he preached. Legend tells us that St. Dominic said the Rosary was the best weapon against heretics.

It is fact that the Dominican Pope, Pius V, had his navy pray the Rosary before the Battle of Lepanto. It is fact the a Lay Dominican, Bartolo Longo used the Rosary effectively and built the Shrine of Pompeii. Miracles occur there, today. It is a fact that the Dominicans helped spread devotion to the Rosary.

And it is a fact, that the first time I use my Dominican Rosary, the first decade will be prayed for Fr. Reynold and his intentions, since he blessed my Rosary. The second decade will be for Br. Vito and his intentions. The rest of my rosary intentions are personal.

In Spiritu Patri Dominic et Francis

My Rosary is Finished!

Is it my birthday? Is it Christmas? Am I making Profession? No--it's just a special day that I am blessed! So very blessed. Br. Vito Martinez, O.F.M. Cap. made me a traditional 15 decade Rosary.

Br. Vito posted on my Face Book Wall that is was ready. Yeah! God is good.
Now, it's just the mammon details: price and shipping and handling and waiting for it.

What ever it costs will be worth it. Brother had to order more supplies than usual, and different ones than he was accustomed to. He even had to switch to a stronger metal because he must intuitively know, being a Capuchin Franciscan, that Dominicans pray the Rosary often and very earnestly. This Rosary will get plenty of use.

It took Br. Vito 2 1/2 hours just to make six decades. This is a 15 decade Rosary. Literally, this is a Labor of Love. See Br. John Nguyen,O.F.M.Cap., holding it up.

St. Catherine of Siena, patron of Lay Dominicans, ask your Beloved Jesus to bless Br. Vito Martinez, O.F.M. Cap., in a very special way, for being so kind and generous to make this 15 decade traditional Dominican Rosary. May Br. Vito persists in his vocation. May he be full of grace. May he fulfill all that he is meant to be. In Jesus' Name I beg that this be done according to God's will. Amen.