Dcn Leah Sandwell-Weiss

Dear friends,

“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” For some of us, this line from a Monty Python series of skits may be all we remember about the Spanish Inquisition. I knew a bit more, but what I remember most vividly from the sketches and memes featuring this line is that the inquisitors were dressed all in red.

But in researching today’s reading about St Dominic, I discovered that the order he founded, the Order of Preachers (abbreviated O.P.) or Dominicans, was actively involved in the Spanish Inquisition, wore black capes, and its members were called Black Friars in England and elsewhere. That started me on a bit of research about St Dominic and the Order’s role in the Inquisition. What I discovered surprised me.

Dominic was born in Spain around 1170. As with most early saints, his youth is a bit obscured, but he became a priest around 1194. He must have impressed his bishop because he accompanied the bishop on a diplomatic visit to Denmark in the early 1200s to arrange a marriage of a princess to the crown prince of Castile. While their negotiations were successful, the princess died before leaving her country. So the bishop and Dominic traveled back to Spain through southern France.

There they learned about the Albigensian sect from Cistercians who had been sent there by the Pope to preach against it. What the Cathars—as they are more commonly known—believed is a bit unclear now as they were eventually wiped out; we also know that politics and power were involved.

Whatever their beliefs, they were not orthodox Christian beliefs. Popes had originally sent missionaries, like the Cistercians, to convert them, with negligible impact. Dominic and his bishop concluded that only preachers who displayed real sanctity, humility and asceticism could win over convinced Cathar believers.

Dominic’s conviction led eventually to the establishment of the Dominican Order in 1216. The Order was to live up to the terms of his rebuke, "Zeal must be met by zeal, humility by humility, false sanctity by real sanctity, preaching falsehood by preaching truth." However, even Dominic managed only a few converts among the Cathars.

Dominic’s Order stressed being active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer, and meditation. Famous Dominicans include St Thomas Aquinas, St Catherine of Sienna, and Bartolomé de Las Casas, who vigorously advocated for the rights of Native Americans after the Spanish conquest. The Dominican Order spread around the world and became famous for its work against heresy and preaching orthodox faith. But what does all this have to do with the Spanish Inquisition?

Dominic himself died in 1221, but he and the Dominican Order are presented as leaders of both the Papal and later Spanish Inquisition; the first wasn’t begun until 1231 and 1234 in parts of France and the Spanish Inquisition didn’t officially start until 1478. So he clearly didn’t play a historical role.

However, members of his Order eventually did participate in France and later in Spain; one other famous Dominican was Cardinal Tomas de Torquemada, the first Spanish Grand Inquisitor, known for his cruelty and torture. The Spanish Inquisition commissioned an artist in the 15th century to paint St Dominic presiding at an auto da fé, using his image to justify their activities.

As with all people, the impact of St Dominic’s life impacted the future in a mixture of positive and negative ways. What I’ve observed is that today many of us, including myself, view strict orthodoxy as too restraining—we want to believe what we believe without someone telling us what we must believe. Yet this was vastly different in the past.

Church leaders who tried to enforce orthodoxy had their reasons for it—some we think are good, such as saving souls and maintaining Christian unity, and some we consider bad, such as maintaining order and power systems at all costs, and supporting rulers. Yet, I think we can join in the collect for St Dominic in praying that we long to learn and share the Word and Gospel to spread the love of God:

Almighty God, grant unto your people a hunger for your Word and an urgent longing to share your Gospel; that, like your servant Dominic, we might labor to bring the whole world to the knowledge and love of you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Deacon Leah