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Dominican Friars

Dominican Friars, also known as the Order of Preachers, began with the teachings of St. Dominic. Its members follow the Augustine Rule. On this page you will find links to some of the information about the Dominicans on the web, as well as information from Abbot Gasquet's book English Monastic Life. Gasquet published the book through The Antiquaries Book series in 1904. It is now out of print and not generally available. There may be a number of factual errors in the text, or points on which historians or theologians do not agree. Gasquet's text, notes & links>>

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The Friars

The friars differed from the monks in certain ways. The brethren by their profession were bound, not to any locality or house, but to the province, which usually consisted of the entire number of houses in a country. They did not, consequently, form individual families in their various establishments, like the monks in their monasteries. They also, at first, professed the strictest poverty, not being allowed to possess even corporate property like the monastic Orders. They were by their profession mendicants, living on alms, and only holding the mere buildings in whey they dwelt.
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The Dominicans, or Black Friars <>

The founder of these friars was a Spaniard named Dominic, a canon of the diocese of Osma, in Old Castile, at the close of the twelfth century. They were known as Dominicans, from their founder ; “Preaching Friars,” from their mission to convert heretics ; in England, “Black Friars,” from the colour of their cloak ; and in France, “Jacobins,” from having had their first house in the Rue St. Jacques, at Paris. Their rule was founded on that of St. Augustine, and it was verbally approved in the Council of Lateran in A.D. 1215, and the following year formally by Honorius III. Their founder, having been a secular canon of Osma in Spain, his friars t first adopted the ordinary dress of canons ; but about A.D. 1219 they took a white tunic, scapular, and hood, over which, when in church of when they went abroad, they wore a black cappa, or cloak, with a hood of the same color. They first came to England with Peter de Rupibus, bishop of Winchester, in A.D. 1221 and their Order quickly spread. In the first year of their arrival they obtained a foothold in the University of Oxford, and at the time of the general suppression of the religious Orders in the Sixteeth century they had fifty-eight convents in the country.

English Monastic Life by F.A. Gasquet. (pages 234 & 236.)

Dominican Houses in England (Gasquet doesn't give a lot of information about Dominican houses in his index. All that is available is listed here. For more English Religious Houses, see the index page):

Arundel		Sussex.
Bamburgh		Northumberland
Bangor		Carnarvon.
Beverley		Yorks, E. R.
Boston		Lincoln.
Brecknock		Brecon.
Bristol		Somerset.
Cambridge		Cambridge.
Canterbury		Kent.
Cardiff		Glamorgan.
Carlisle		Cumberland.
Chelmsford		Essex.
Chester		Cheshire.
Chichester		Sussex.
Derby		Derby.
Dunstable		Beds.
Dunwich		Suffolk.
Exeter		Devon.
Fisherton (see Salisbury)		Wilts.
Gloucester		Gloucester.
Guildford (see Langley)		Surrey.
Haverfordwest		Pembroke.
Hereford		Hereford.
Hull		Yorks, E. R.
Ilchester		Somerset.
Ipswich		Suffolk.
King’s Langley		Herts.
Lancaster		Lancaster.
Langley, King’s (see Kin’s Langley)		Herts.
Langley (see Guildford)		Surrey.
Leicester		Leicester.
Lincoln		Lincoln.
London		Middlesex.
Lynn		Norfolk.
Melcombe, or Milton, near Weymouth		Dorset.
Newcastle-on-Tyne		Northumberland.
Newcastle-under-Lyme		Stafford.
Northhampton		Northants.
Norwich		Norfolk.
Oxford		Oxford.
Pontefract		Yorks, W. R.
Rhuddlan		Flint.
Salisbury, Fisherton		Wilts.
Scarborough		Yorks, N. R.
Shrewsbury		Salop.
Stamford		Northants.
Sudbury		Middlesex.
Thetford		Norfolk.
Truro		Cornwall.
Warwick		Warwick.
Wilton		Wilts.
Winchelsea		Sussex.
Winchester		Hants.
Worcester		Worcester.
Yarm, of Yarum		Yorks, N. R.
Yarmouth		Norfolk.
York		Yorks.
Dartford	Female Religious (Nuns)	Kent.

Dominican Links:

Order of Preachers article through Newadvent.org.

The Dominican Family, Order of Preachers, international webpage.

The Order of Preachers, English Province webpage, and more about the Dominican Family.

The Rule of St. Augustine, through Dominican Central.

A great page of links from Dominican Central. Through this page you can visit to all kinds of texts on Dominican History including St. Dominic and his Work, by Pierre Mandonnet, O.P., another history of the order by the Very Reverend J.B. O'Connor, and yet another history, by William A. Hinnebusch O.P. Ph.D.

Dominican Nuns in the USA.

Corrections, questions? email me