Vigils Reading – St Dominic

THE SIX VIRTUES OF ST. DOMINIC

From the writings of St Mechthild 3

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On the feast of St. Dominic I prayed to our Lord for the whole Order of Preachers. Our dear Lord deigned to come to me himself and he brought along St. Dominic… Our Lord said: “My son Dominic had four things about him while on earth that all priors should have about them. He loved his fellow Dominicans so much that he could never bear to trouble them with things arising from some whim of his own. The second is that he often improved the food to help and show affection for his brethren, so that the young brothers might not think back on the world and so that the older ones might not succumb on the way. The third is that in holy wisdom he provided for them the model for being moderate, for the sake of God, in their whole being, in all their customs, and in all their wants. The fourth is that he was so merciful that he never wanted to burden his dear brethren with any kind of penance that the order did not require for wrongdoing.”…

After this our dear Lord said: “I love two things in the Order of Preachers so much that my divine heart unceasingly smiles upon it. The first is the holiness of their life; the second is their great value for the church. In addition, they greet my Holy Trinity with seven things. These are: deep sighs, sincere weeping, intense longing, strict discipline, distressful exile, genuine humility, and joyous love.”…

In the Order of Preachers a brother <Heinrich> died on the solemn feast of Easter… After he was buried, a certain person went to where his dead body was and greeted both soul and body. She did this regularly upon the death of religious people. There God celebrated in her soul a divine feast, and his soul was shown to her in God’s embrace in great glory. She saw clearly that his glory was not yet complete, and she asked our Lord how long he was going to remain like that and whether he had suffered at all in purgatory. Our Lord said: “He shall remain like this for a week.” That is, seven days and seven nights. He had rested himself on God’s breast in untold bliss of spiritual fervor that he had not experienced on earth. Very quickly had he come there without suffering, just as a mother takes up her dear child out of the ashes onto her lap…

Then he invited me to his feast, where he was going to receive his glory. The whole heavenly army prepared for it and joined together in a beautiful procession. St. Dominic came with a whole throng. They were all preachers, and they all wore the golden crowns of those who died in the order, crowns that differed in value according to how holy they had been in the order. St. Dominic brought a shining crown toward Brother Heinrich that sparkled as beautifully as the sun at its brightest. He gave it to him as a reward from God, because he had followed his holy example in the Dominican order. St. Dominic is indescribably more beautiful than the others because he receives a special honor from each brother as a reward. I saw him especially well clothed because of three qualities. He wears a white garment of innate purity; in addition, a green garment of growing wisdom of God, and also a red garment decorated with clasps because he had suffered spiritual martyrdom. They carry a military standard displaying the order’s honor, one that no one else carries…

Our Lord sat in his omnipotence and crowned this brother with three kinds of honors. They were simple obedience, voluntary poverty, constant humiliation. Brother Heinrich thanked our Lord thus: “I thank you, Lord, that you found me, preserved me, and received me.” He then bowed to our Lord and turned to his brothers. St. Dominic said: “Welcome, dear son, now enter into the glory of your Lord!