St. Domingo de Guzman

St. Domingo de Guzman & The Dominicans

The figure and the work of St. Domingo de Guzman are difficult to express in a few words. As a man of his age, the full plentitude of the Middle Ages, he was one of the few who had the opportunity to travel extensively and study first hand the nuances of the heretic problem that was sweeping the Europe of that time. After living through that turbulent time preaching, he decided to create the Order of the Preachers, The Dominicans. We propose a pilgrimage that will take you to the origins of this Order, with visits to some of its monasteries, the Holy Cave and some Spanish Dominican communities.
This year 2016 will mark the eighth centennial of the foundation of the Order and there are a number of acts being planned to celebrate it. We will keep you informed.

St. Domingo was born in 1170 in Caleruega in the province of Burgos and spent his youth there before studying at the first Spanish university in Palencia. After being named canon in Burgo de Osma he began his first European trip, where, deciding to dedicate himself to preaching, he found himself confronted with heretics and the French Albigenses. He visited Rome on various occasions and when he finally returned to Spain he obtained from Pope Honario permission to found the Order of the Preachers, the Dominicans.

A visit to the most important sites of St. Domingo’s life, such as the Holy Cave in Segovia, his home town of Caleruega, and encounters with various Dominican communities are some of the proposals that can be incorporated with other visits to Marian sanctuaries, the Avila of St. Teresa, Segovia and Salamanca, some of the most important sections of the Way of St. James as well as the opportunity to listen to the Gregorian chants of the Benedictine monks in the Monastery at Silo. And, time permitting, we could visit Barcelona, the birthplace of St. Ramon de Peñafort or Valencia, the birthplace of St. Vicente Ferrer, or Salamanca’s San Esteban Faculty of Theology.