THE
INTRODUCTION
The
The
Nine Ways of Prayer have
been sometimes printed as a supplement to the Life of St. Dominic by Theodoric of Apoldia, though they
form no part of that work. The reason for this is traceable to the visit of
Conrad of Trebensee, Provincial of Germany, to
TEXT
THE
Holy
teachers like Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, Hilary, Isidore,
John Chrysostom, John Damascene, Bernard, and other
saintly Greek and Latin doctors have discoursed on prayer at great length. They
have encouraged and described it, pointed out its necessity and value,
explained the method, the dispositions which are required, and the impediments
which stand in its way. In learned books, the glorious and venerable doctor,
Brother Thomas Aquinas, and Albert, of the Order of Preachers, as well as
William in his treatise on the virtues, have considered admirably and in a
holy, devout, and beautiful manner that form of prayer in which the soul makes
use of the members of the body to raise itself more devoutly to God. In this
way the soul, in moving the body, is moved by it. At times it becomes rapt in
ecstasy as was
Certainly
many saints of both the Old and New Testament are known to have prayed like
this at times. Such a method serves to enkindle devotion by the alternate
action of soul upon body and body upon soul. Prayer of this kind would cause
Saint Dominic to be bathed in tears, and would arouse the fervor of his holy
will to such intensity that his bodily members could not be restrained from
manifesting his devotion by certain signs. As a result, the spirit of the
supplicant was sometimes raised up during its entreaties, petitions, and
thanksgivings.
The
following, then, are the special modes of prayer, besides those very devout and
customary forms, which Saint Dominic used during the celebration of Mass and
the praying of the psalmody. In choir or along the road, he was often seen
lifted suddenly out of himself and raised up with God and the angels.
The
SAINT
DOMINIC'S first way of prayer was to humble himself before the altar as if
Christ, signified by the altar, were truly and personally present and not in
symbol alone. He would say with Judith: "O Lord, God, the prayer of the
humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee [Judith
In
this way our holy father, standing erect, bowed his head and humbly considering
Christ, his Head, compared his lowliness with the excellence of Christ. He then
gave himself completely in showing his veneration. The brethren were taught to
do this whenever they passed before the humiliation of the Crucified One in
order that Christ, so greatly humbled for us, might see us humbled before his
majesty. And he commanded the friars to humble themselves in this way before the
entire Trinity whenever they chanted solemnly: "Glory be
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." In this manner of
profoundly inclining his head, as shown in the drawing, Saint Dominic began his
prayer.
The
SAINT
DOMINIC used to pray by throwing himself outstretched upon the ground, lying on
his face. He would feel great remorse in his heart and call to mind those words
of the Gospel, saying sometimes in a voice loud enough to be heard: "O
God, be merciful to me, a sinner." [Luke 18:13] With devotion and
reverence he repeated that verse of David: "I am he that has sinned, I
have done wickedly." [II Kings 24:17]. Then he would weep and groan
vehemently and say: "I am not worthy to see the heights of heaven because
of the greatness of my iniquity, for I have aroused thy anger and done what is
evil in thy sight". From the
psalm: "Deus auribus nostris
audivimus" he said fervently and devoutly:
"For our soul is cast down to the dust, our belly is flat on the
earth!" [Ps. 43:25]. To this he would add: "My soul is
prostrate in the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word" [Ps.
118:25].
Wishing
to teach the brethren to pray reverently, he would sometimes say to them: When
those devout Magi entered the dwelling they found the child with Mary, his
mother, and falling down they worshipped him. There is no doubt that we too
have found the God-Man with Mary, his handmaid. "Come, let us adore
and fall down in prostration before God, and let us weep before God, and let us
weep before the Lord that made us" [Ps. 94:61. He would also exhort
the young men, and say to them: If you cannot weep for your own sins because
you have none, remember that there are many sinners who can be disposed for
mercy and charity. It was for these that the prophets lamented; and when Jesus
saw them, he wept bitterly. The holy David also wept as he said: "I
beheld the transgressors and began to grieve" [Ps. 118:158].
The
AT THE
END of the prayer which has just been described, Saint Dominic would rise from
the ground and give himself the discipline with an iron chain, saying,
"Thy discipline has corrected me unto the end" [Ps. 17:36].
This is why the Order decreed, in memory of his example, that all the
brethren should receive the discipline with wooden switches upon their
shoulders as they were bowing down in worship and reciting the psalm
"Miserere" or "De Profundis"
after Compline on ferial days. This is performed for
their own faults or for those of others whose alms they receive and rely upon.
No matter how sinless he may be, no one is to desist from this holy example
which is shown in the drawing.
The
AFTER
THIS Saint Dominic would remain before the altar or in the chapter room with
his gaze fixed on the Crucified One, looking upon Him with perfect attention.
He genuflected frequently, again and again. He would continue sometimes from
after Compline until midnight, now rising, now
kneeling again, like the apostle Saint James, or the leper of the gospel who
said on bended knee: "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" [Matt.
8:2]. He was like Saint Stephen who knelt and called out with a loud cry:
"Lord, do not lay this sin against them" [Acts 7:60]. Thus
there was formed in our holy father, Saint Dominic, a great confidence in God's
mercy towards himself, all sinners, and for the perseverance of the younger
brethren whom he sent forth to preach to souls. Sometimes he could not even
restrain his voice, and the friars would hear him murmuring: "Unto thee
will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not thou silent to me: lest if thou be silent
to me, I become like them that go down into the pit" [Ps. 27:1] and
comparable phrases from the Sacred Scripture.
At
other times, however, he spoke within himself and his voice could not be heard.
He would remain in genuflection for a long while, rapt in spirit; on occasion,
while in this position, it appeared from his face that his mind had penetrated
heaven and soon he reflected an intense joy as he wiped away the flowing tears.
He was in a stage of longing and anticipation like a thirsty man who has
reached a spring, and like a traveler who is at last approaching his homeland.
Then he would become more absorbed and ardent as he moved in an agile manner
but with great grace, now arising, now genuflecting. He was so accustomed to
bend his knees to God in this way that when he traveled, in the inns after a
weary journey, or along the wayside while his companions rested or slept, he
would return to these genuflections, his own intimate and personal form of
worship. This way of prayer he taught his brethren more by example than by
words.
The
WHEN
HE WAS in the convent, our holy father Dominic would sometimes remain before
the altar, standing erect without supporting himself or leaning upon anything.
Often his hands would be extended before his breast in the manner of an open
book; he would stand with great reverence and devotion as if reading in the
very presence of God. Deep in prayer, he appeared to be meditating upon the
words of God, and he seemed to repeat them to himself in a sweet voice. He
regularly prayed in this way for it was Our Lord's manner as Saint Luke tells
us: ". . . according to his custom he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath
and began to read" [Luke
He
would sometimes join his hands, clasping them firmly together before eyes
filled with tears and restrain himself. At other times he would raise his hands
to his shoulders as the priest does at
On a
journey he would secretly steal away at the time for prayer and, standing,
would immediately raise his mind to heaven. One would then have heard him
speaking sweetly and with supreme delight some loving words from his heart and
from the riches of Holy Scripture which he seemed to draw from the fountains of
the Savior. The friars were very much moved by the sight of their father and
master praying in this manner. Thus, having become more fervent, they were
instructed in the way of reverent and constant prayer: "Behold as the eyes
of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of the handmaid are
on the hands of her mistress . . ." [Ps. 122:2].
The
OUR
HOLY FATHER, Saint Dominic, was also seen to pray standing erect with his hands
and arms outstretched forcefully in the form of a cross. He prayed in this way
when God, through his supplications, raised to life the boy Napoleon in the
sacristy of the
In a
similar manner he prayed near
Nor did the holy man Dominic resort to this manner of
praying unless he was inspired by God to know that something great and
marvelous was to come about through the power of his prayer. Although he did not forbid the brethren to pray in this
way, neither did he encourage them to do so. We do not
know what he said when he stood with his hands and arms extended in the form of
a cross and raised the boy to life. Perhaps it was those words of Elias:
"O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into
his body" (III Kings
In a
grave and mature manner, he would slowly pronounce the words in the Psalter
which mention this way of prayer. He used to say attentively: "O Lord, the
God of my salvation: I have cried in the day and in the night before
thee," as far as that verse "All the day I have cried to thee, O Lord:
I stretched out my hands to thee" (Ps. 87:2-10). Then he would add:
"Hear, O Lord, my prayer give ear to my supplication in thy truth . .
." He would continue the prayer to these words: "I stretched forth my
hands to thee . . . Hear me speedily, O Lord" (Ps. 142:1-7).
This
example of our father's prayer would help devout souls to appreciate more
easily his great zeal and wisdom in praying thus. This is true whether, in
doing so, he wished to move God in some wonderful manner through his prayer or
whether he felt through some interior inspiration that God was to move him to
seek some singular grace for himself or his neighbor. He then shone with the
spiritual insight of David, the ardor of Elias, the charity of Christ, and with
a profound devotion, as the drawing serves to indicate.
The
WHILE
PRAYING he was often seen to reach towards heaven like an arrow which has been
shot from a taut bow straight upwards into the sky. He would stand with hands
outstretched above his head and joined together, or at times slightly separated
as if about to receive something from heaven. One would believe that he was
receiving an increase of grace and in this rapture of spirit was asking God for
the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the Order he had founded.
He
seemed to seek for himself and his brethren something of that transcendent joy
which is found in living the beatitudes, praying that each would consider
himself truly blessed in extreme poverty, in bitter mourning, in cruel
persecutions, in a great hunger and thirst for justice, in anxious mercy
towards all. His entreaty was that his children would find their delight in
observing the commandments and in the perfect practice of the evangelical
counsels. Enraptured, the holy father then appeared to
have entered into the Holy of Holies and the Third Heaven. After prayer of this
kind he truly seemed to be a prophet, whether in correcting the faulty, in
directing others, or in his preaching.
Our
holy father did not remain at prayer of this type very long but gradually regained
full possession of his faculties. He looked during that time like a person
coming from a great distance or like a stranger in this world, as could easily
be discerned from his countenance and manner. The brethren would then hear him
praying aloud and saying as the prophet: "Hear, O Lord, the voice of my
supplication which I pray to thee, when I lift up my hands to thy holy
temple" (Ps. 27:2).
Through
his words and holy example he constantly taught the friars to pray in this way,
often repeating those phrases from the psalms: "Behold, now bless ye the
Lord, all ye servants of the Lord ... in the nights lift up your hands to the
holy places, and bless ye the Lord" (Ps. 133:1-3), "I have
cried to thee, O Lord, hear me; hearken to my voice when I cry to thee. Let my
prayer be directed as incense in they sight; the lifting up of my hands as the
evening sacrifice" (Ps. 140:1-2). The drawing shows us this mode of
prayer so that we may better understand it.
The
OUR
FATHER, Saint Dominic, had yet another manner of praying at once beautiful,
devout, and pleasing, which he practiced after the canonical hours and the
thanksgiving following meals. He was then zealous and filled with the spirit of
devotion which he drew from the divine words which had been sung in the choir
or refectory. Our father quickly withdrew to some solitary place, to his cell
or elsewhere, and recollected himself in the presence of God. He would sit
quietly, and after the sign of the cross, begin to read from a book opened
before him. His spirit would then be sweetly aroused as if he heard Our Lord
speaking, as we are told in the psalms: "I will hear what the Lord God
will speak to me . . . (Ps. 84:9). As if disputing with a companion he
would first appear somewhat impatient in his thought and words. At the next
moment he would become a quiet listener, then again seem to discuss and
contend. He seemed almost to laugh and weep at the same time, and then,
attentively and submissively, would murmur to himself and strike his breast.
Should
some curious person have desired to watch our holy father Dominic, he would
have appeared to him like Moses who went into the desert, to Horeb, the sacred mountain of God, and there beheld the
burning bush and heard the Lord speaking to him as he was bowed down in the
divine presence. This holy custom of our father seems, as it were, to resemble
the prophetic mountain of the Lord inasmuch as he
quickly passed upwards from reading to prayer, from prayer to meditation, and
from meditation to contemplation.
When
he read alone in this solitary fashion, Dominic used to venerate the book, bow
to it, and kiss it. This was especially true if he was reading the Gospels and
when he had been reading the very words which had come from the mouth of
Christ. At other times he would hide his face and cover it with his cappa, or bury his face in his hands and veil it slightly
with the capuce. Then he would weep, all fervent and
filled with holy desires. Following this, as if to render thanks to some person
of great excellence for benefits received, he would reverently rise and incline
his head for a short time. Wholly refreshed and, in great interior peace, he
then returned to his book.
The
OUR
FATHER, Saint Dominic, observed this mode of prayer while traveling from one
country to another, especially when he passed through some deserted region. He
then delighted in giving himself completely to meditation, disposing for
contemplation, and he would say to his companion on the journey: It is written
in Osee "I will lead her (my spouse) into
the wilderness and I will speak to her ear" (Osee
The
brethren thought that it was while praying in this way that the saint obtained
his extensive penetration of Sacred Scripture and profound understanding of the
divine words, the power to preach so fervently and courageously, and that
intimate acquaintance with the Holy Spirit by which he came to know the hidden
things of God.