Franciscans, Dominicans and their Art: Part I, Comparing the Spirit of the Orders
Dominic (1170-1221) was born in Spain, educated at the University of Palencia and ordained. By 1199 he was prior of the episcopal canons under Bishop Diego at Osma. In the course of his travels with the Bishop, Dominic concluded that the only effective means of combating the rampant heresy in southern France and eastern Spain was to abandon the lifestyle of well-to-do clergy, live like commoners, and preach a clearly articulated Catholicism. By 1216 Dominic had received approval from Pope Honorius III for the Order of Preachers. Dominic strove to spread the Order's work until his death in 1221.
Dominican activity was characterized from the beginning by a sense of mission on behalf of the Church, rather than a personal seeking of individual holiness. St. Dominic himself was referred to as "first member"3 and was not canonized until 1234. His personality never dominated the Order like Francis did the Friars Minor and the Preachers always retained a fundamentally corporate approach to their early founders. The earliest account of Dominican origin does not even begin with the story of Dominic. Even in later Dominican hagiography Dominic is depicted as an exemplar of the Order rather than its guiding light.4
These two orders experience intense conflict and rivalry. Franciscans insisted on the need for absolute evangelical poverty as a means of personal holiness and imitation of Christ (and St. Francis)5. The Preachers, however, saw evangelical poverty as a means to an end. For them it was one more way of teaching by word and example. It also allowed them to reach peasants who were attracted to the simple lifestyle of heretical evangelists. Dominicans were also University trained, in contrast to the sometimes uneducated Franciscans. Franciscans were also initially non-ordained, unlike the clerical Dominicans. Because of this, Franciscan preaching was limited to emotionalistic expounding on the sufferings of Christ, a favorite theme of Francis himself.6 The Preachers, in contrast, were allowed, by virtue of their ordination, to explicate on theological themes as a means of conversion through the intellect. These conflicts and contrasts carried over into the art which the Orders created or commissioned.
Next Article: Part II - Iconographical divergence
Notes: 1 - The temptation to elaborate on the lives of Dominic and Francis, as well as the early history of their Orders, must be resisted.
2 - The term "cult"" is here understood in its original context and not in the pergoritive modern manner.
3 - Jordon of
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