Ordo Praedicatorum

LETTERS OF JOHN PAUL II TO THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

ON THE OCCASION OF THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS 16 August 2004

To Reverend Father Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa
Master General of the Dominicans, Krakow

In your hands, Venerable Brother, I place my cordial greeting and the expression of my spiritual closeness to the representatives of the Dominican communities across the world, which have been meeting over the last weeks in Krakow to pray together and to examine the Order’s present situation and the tasks the Founder’s charism requires of it in the perspective of the challenges of today. I am certain that this effort was accompanied by the breath of the Holy Spirit, who has guided the spiritual sons of St Dominic down the ages, inspiring them to spread the Gospel judiciously and to serve Christ in his Church readily. May his breath accompany you always, so that your ministry will bear blessed fruits.

I am delighted that this time, the first in history, the General Chapter has taken place in Krakow, having as its special patron St Jacek Odrowaz (St Hyacinth), who has such strong associations with this beloved city. I am confident that your meditations will not lack references to the apostolic zeal of this apostle of the Slav countries, which he travelled across on his way from Gdansk to Kiev, not only proclaiming the Gospel but also witnessing to Christ’s love through his own holiness. Tomorrow, when we will be commemorating this Saint in the liturgy, I will pray specially that his spirit may accompany the Dominican confreres who are carrying out the same mission today on all the continents. The apostolic activity of the Dominicans has always been bound to the “service of thought”. An expression of this has been their concern to further learning in the various branches of knowledge, and their concern to start a philosophical and theological dialogue with their exponents. Krakow, with its university, has for centuries been a special witness of this service. I entrust its continuation today to you, so that the generations of our century may draw abundantly from true wisdom and become increasingly free in spirit, able to take on their own responsibilities at the service of the dignity of people in every walk of life, private and social.

I entrust you, Reverend Master General, the Members of the Chapter and all the Dominicans to the Mother of God, Queen of the Rosary. May her intercession obtain for your Order all God’s gifts, so that it may develop in peace and serve the Church fruitfully. I warmly bless you all: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

From Castel Gandolfo, 16 August 2004 JOHN PAUL II ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS PREACHERS Friday, 15 February 2002

Dear Religious,

1. I greet with great joy, you who make up the General Council of the Order of Preachers. I greet cordially each one and through you greet your entire religious family. In particular I thank the Master General, Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa, for expressing your common sentiments of loyalty and fidelity to the Apostolic See. Meeting you today reminds me of the contacts I have had with your Order. I still have pleasant memories of my student years at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome. It was a very fruitful period for my theological formation due to the expert contribution of my superlative and unforgettable Dominican teachers. Here I would like to mention Fr Garrigou-Lagrange and Frs Paul Philippe and Mario Luigi Ciappi, who later became Cardinals, and other distinguished Dominican professors. What I had the chance to assimilate in the classrooms of the Angelicum, has always been helpful in my pastoral ministry.

2. The Dominican Order of which you are the ranking representatives, has a specific task in the immense undertaking of the new evangelization that the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 vigorously launched. This is a common ecclesial enterprise to which all the members of the People of God, and particularly religious families, are called to contribute. As I wrote in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio ineunte, “The men and women of our own day often perhaps unconsciously ask believers not only to “speak’ of Christ, but in a certain sense to “show’ him to them” (n. 16). Doesn’t this request coincide with the project of life that St Dominic expressed so effectively: “contemplata aliis tradere” (to hand on to others what contemplation has taught)? Only those who have had an experience of God can speak of him convincingly to others. At the school of St Dominic and of all the Dominican saints you are called to be teachers of truth and holiness. 3. Dear friends, may this be the basic thrust of your General Council in providing courageous instructions for the life and apostolate of the Dominican Friars throughout the world. I follow you whole-heartedly, wishing every good thing for your communities spread on every continent. I call down upon you the motherly help of Our Lady of the Rosary and the protection of the saints and blesseds of your Order. As I assure you of my remembrance in prayer, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to you, to your confreres and to all who belong to the Dominican spiritual family.

APOSTOLIC LETTER ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY AND FAITHFUL ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY

Proclaiming Christ with Mary 17.

The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge, in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at different levels of the Christian experience. Its form is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation, capable of forming Christians according to the heart of Christ. When the recitation of the Rosary combines all the elements needed for an effective meditation, especially in its communal celebration in parishes and shrines, it can present a significant catechetical opportunity which pastors should use to advantage. In this way too Our Lady of the Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ. The history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer.

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