Novena to St Dominic - Day 2
Blessed Mannes - Brother of St Dominic
As we continue our novena in honour of St. Dominic, I hope that our most Holy Father would excuse me for shifting the attention slightly away from him and focusing briefly on his elder brother Bl. Mannes de Guzman.
This somewhat hidden yet important figure of the early beginnings of the Dominican Order, humbly lay aside his ‘elder sibling privileges’ and generously followed his much younger brother, Dominic, on an uncharted journey starting from the tireless preaching against the Albigenses in Southern France to the establishment of the Order of Preachers.
Undoubtedly, Mannes was a man of great humility and meekness. Already an established cleric in his own right, Mannes willingly and with great generosity became one of the first to be received into the Order by the hands of his younger sibling, St. Dominic. Furthermore, Mannes also readily accepted Dominic’s charge to make the daring venture to establish a foundation in Paris. For me, I find this easily looked over fact fascinating. Coming from a family of three older brothers, I am certain if I ordered them to do anything, they would quickly put me back in my place and tell me where exactly I should go!
Nevertheless, on serious reflection, I can’t help but wonder that perhaps the first fruits of the order may have been hindered somewhat if Mannes had chosen to fall into the devil’s common trap of envy and manifested itself into a textbook case of ‘sibling rivalry’. Mannes could have easily become like one of the embittered brothers of Joseph in Genesis. However, instead of conceding to any passionate feelings of resentment towards Dominic’s ‘dream’ of creating a preaching order, Mannes wisely choose to humbly follow his younger brother in the ‘Genesis’ of the Dominicans, knowing that God’s will and the salvation of souls was far greater than any petty rivalry.
To conclude, I firmly believe, that this easily forgotten figure of the early Dominicans is a possible powerful intercessor for difficulties and dissension experienced not only between siblings in individual families but also in the Dominican family itself and in the wider universal Church.
Blessed Mannes de Guzman, pray for us. St. Dominic, pray for us.
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