Each is followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be. I. My Lord Jesus Christ, who didst found the Church with thy Precious Blood, and by the preaching of the Apostles didst establish, propagate and extend it throughout the whole world, and thereafter didst commission the holy Patriarch Dominic to adorn, illustrate, and defend it with the splendour of his merits and doctrine; graciously hear the prayers which this Apostolic man incessantly offers to Thee for the increase of her treasures, both spiritual and temporal. II. Most merciful Redeemer, who didst choose as thy fellow labourer for the salvation of souls St. Dominic, who by his zeal, aided by thy grace, gained over to the Church so many heretics who had been lost to her, and so many sinners who had grieved her by their obstinacy; send, O my God, ever fresh labourers into thy vineyard to work for thy glory, and gather in the fruits of eternal life. III. O good Jesus, who didst delight to see St. Dominic prostrate every night before thy altar, adoring Thee hidden in the most holy Sacrament with most lively faith, and offering up, now groans, now prayers, now penances on behalf of the Church, at that time persecuted by her enemies and profaned by her servants; defend this thy Spouse through the intercession of St. Dominic from the outrages and plots of the infernal enemy of mankind. V. Pray for us, St. Dominic. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray. Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who are weighed down by the burden of our sins may be raised up by the patronage of thy blessed Confessor Dominic. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Three Prayers to St. Dominic
Three prayers for the founder of the Order of Preachers — for the Church's treasures, for labourers in the vineyard, and for the Spouse he defended by praying all night before the altar.
On 8 August; for preachers and teachers; for vocations; during the Rosary, which his order carried across Europe.
Dominic de Guzmán rode south through Languedoc in 1203 and found a countryside lost to the Albigensians, partly because the Catholic preachers sent against them arrived on horseback with retinues while the heretics walked barefoot. His answer was an order of men who would out-argue them and out-walk them: trained in theology, sworn to poverty, and sent out two by two. The Order of Preachers was confirmed in 1216.
The three prayers follow that life. The first asks Christ, who founded the Church with His Blood and sent Dominic 'to adorn, illustrate, and defend it', to hear the prayers he offers for her. The second asks for fresh labourers in the vineyard. The third remembers what his brethren testified to at the canonisation: that he spent his nights in the church before the Blessed Sacrament, and slept, when he slept at all, on the floor.
Leo XIII, a pope much given to Dominican causes, indulgenced them in 1883. The text is the Raccolta's of 1910.
One hundred days once a day, and plenary once a month — Leo XIII, 21 July 1883 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 334).
