dominican saints

Blessed Dominic Spadafora was one of the glories of the Church in Sicily in the fifteenth century. He had a long career in the Order, for he lived to be ninety.

Dominic was born in Sicily, of an old and noble family. His father was Baron of Miletto, and members of the family were connected with the nobility of Venice and Palermo. As a child, Dominic attended school in the Convent of St. Rita in Palerno, which had been founded some years before by Blessed Peter Geremia. Exactly when he became a member of the community there, we do not know. He was sent to Padua for his theology and received his degree there in 1479. He returned to Palerno and for some time lived quietly conducted classes for the brethren and the secular clergy.

In 1487 Dominic, making a distinguished defense of a thesis in Venice came to the notice of the master general. Considered one of the promising young men of the province, Dominic was made the socius of the master general and, in 1493, was sent to found a convent dedicated to Our Lady of Grace in Monte Cerigone. here he remained in retirement until his death.

What we have considered to be the usual virtues of a Dominican friar were practiced faithfully by Dominic Spadafora, but it is difficult to find anything unusual in his life. He spent most of his Dominican life in the Convent of Our Lady of Grace, directing societies and confraternities, zealous for regular observance and scrupulously exact in his own behavior. The convent where he lived was never large nor very important, and, though he seems to have led a superior, intellect, he was evidently contended with complete obscurity. This in itself id sufficiently unusual.

Dominic Spadafora died in 1540, after revealing to the community that he knew he was about to die. He attended all religious exercises up to the hour of his death, and he died as every Dominican hopes he will-the community was around him, singing the “Salve Regina.”