The McGreal Center at Dominican University

11/01/2024

The McGreal Center had the privilege of photographing and digitally preserving the beautiful Santa Sabina Center, run by the San Rafael Dominican Sisters in San Rafael California. Look for a digital tour soon of this remarkable space, and a testament to American Dominicans' commitment to beauty in their mission to preach the Gospel, and encourage contemplation in their common spiritual life.

02/17/2024

See our new video about the Fanjeaux Pilgrimage.

Dominican Colleges and Universities for the past four decades have sent students, faculty, and staff the southern France to visit the lands of St. Dominic, t...

11/20/2023

The credit for the discovery of the DNA double helix has gone to American biologist James Watson, English physicist Francis Crick and New Zealand biologist

11/16/2023

Albert the Great is a well-known member of the Order of Preachers. A brilliant and holy man, he was drawn to the Dominicans after he heard preaching by then-Master General of the Order Jordan of Saxony. Albert was an incredibly open-minded man, having incorporated Jewish and Arabian interpretations of Aristotelian physics into his work . He served as Bishop of Regensburg, Germany, and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1459 and canonized a saint in 1931.

11/16/2023

The following is a collaboration between Sister Amelia DeMarco and Sister Jeanne Shary. Sister Amelia conducted extensive research and reported on St. Albert's life and legacy. Sister Jeanne was inspired to preach at today's liturgy based on Sister Amelia's writing and today's Gospel reading from Lu...

11/15/2023

Happy Feast of Saint Albert the Great!

Love supplies all that is wanting for our salvation; it contains abundantly every good thing and lacks not even the presence of the supreme object of our desires. It is by love alone that we turn to God, are transformed into his likeness, and are united to him, so that we become one spirit with him and receive by and from him all our happiness: here [on earth] in grace, hereafter in glory. Love can find no rest until it reposes in the full and perfect possession of the Beloved. It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws closer to man, and man to God. But where love is not found God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess love we possess God, for God is love (1 Jn 4:8).

There is nothing keener than love, nothing more subtle, nothing more penetrating. Love cannot rest until it has sounded all the depths and learned the perfections of its Beloved. It desires to be one with him and, if it could, would form but one being with the Beloved. It is for this reason that it cannot suffer anything to intervene between it and the object loved, which is God, but springs forward towards him, and finds no peace until it has overcome every obstacle, and reached even unto the Beloved. Upon love are based the law, the prophets, and the precepts of the Lord (Mt 22:40). Hence the Apostle wrote to the Romans: Love is therefore the fulfilling of the law, and in the first letter to Timothy: The aim of this instruction is love.
—St. Albert the Great

—————————

Image: Ernest Board — "Albertus Magnus expounding his doctrines of physical science"

11/09/2023

The National Religious Vocation Conference story map is a comprehensive resource that provides a profile of newer entrants to religious life and data on perpetually professed people and congregations in the U.S. It also expands on the meaningful characteristics of those entering religious life today, such as mission, ministry, community, spirituality and prayer life.

Learn more about U.S. congregations and their members at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4a6bd86853514999967cd8cd0f7da798

11/08/2023

11/08/2023

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

🔸FEAST OF ALL DOMINICAN SAINTS

On this day we celebrate the Feast of All Saints of the Dominican Order.

In Short Lives of the Dominican Saints, by A Sister of the Congregation of St. Catharine of Siena, 1901, we read:

"It may not be without interest to record in this place the number of Saint Dominic's children who, up to the present date, A.D. 1900, have received the honours of canonization and beatification. The canonized Saints of the Order are 14 in number; its Beati, 215. By far the majority of these belong, of course, to the First or Great Order; but the Second Order of cloistered women has 10 representatives, and the Third Order, 66. We may add to the figures given above, Blessed Jane of Aza, the mother of our Holy Father, Saint Dominic, 58 members of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, beatified with our Japanese Martyrs, and 7 Martyrs belonging to the Dominican Mission of Eastern Tonquin."

"The General Chapter of Valencia caused a list to be drawn up of the martyrs of the Order between the years 1234 and 1335, and it was found to contain 13,370 names. In the sixteenth century alone, 26,000 of the children of Saint Dominic gave their lives for the faith; and an author writing in the year 1882 states as an ascertained fact, that, from the foundation of the Order down to our own day, there has never been a single decade of years without some addition to the blood-stained roll of its martyrs. The century now closing has furnished its quota in the far East, where the chronicle of the Dominican Mission in Tonquin may be said to be written in blood.

For more informations, Pls read here!
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/day-all-saints-dominican-order

A very happy feast day to all Dominicans!

11/08/2023

Mary gathered a group of coworkers who supported themselves doing laundry while visiting the sick poor in their homes.

04/30/2023

Today is the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena. Edgewood High School senior Ava Steiner shares her reflection. "Throughout high school, I thought getting good grades, pleasing my parents, and attending a good university was God’s plan for me. After all, everyone else was doing the same, so why would I be any different? However, I have learned so much throughout my senior year that taught me about my relationship with God. I learned the importance of having patience, learned that it is okay to change your mind, and learned to put more trust and faith in God. At the beginning of my second semester, I started to have second thoughts about going to college. I didn’t know what I wanted to study and have never felt secure about my future career goals. At the same time, I realized that I didn’t want to stop dancing. Being on stage was where I felt most alive, so why would I walk away from that? With the support of my amazing parents, and trusting in God’s plan for me, I had made the decision to take a gap year and pursue professional dance. This was a big step for me, as it was a far cry from the plan I thought God had for me. My experience directly relates to Acts of the Apostles 9:31-42. This passage discusses having complete trust in God and the wonders God can do for you. It mentions when Peter heals Aeneas at Lydda, and when he restored Tabitha, 'Then he turned to her body and said, ‘Tabitha, rise up.’ She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive.' This also relates to the mission of St. Catherine of Siena. She was called by God to enter public life to help the sick and the poor. She was known for visiting hospitals and homes where poor and sick people lived. This was the plan that God had for her, similar to how God called Peter to show God’s acts of mercy to those in need. We must continually work on strengthening our relationship with God. Helping out those around us, spreading the Gospel and showing God’s work, as well as spending more time in prayer are all ways we can continually grow closer to God. What’s more important and often more difficult is to put all of our faith into God and God’s plan. Remember that God is knowing of all things and will grace us with what we need exactly when we need it. Whether it be a person, a season, or a lesson, God will provide you with the help you need for that specific time in your life. So the next time God presents an opportunity you thought was off the path God had for you, I encourage you to put your trust in God and have peace knowing that you will be guided the rest of the way."