Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/144

 DOMINICANS

112

DOMINIO

and even iron, the actual products are only vegetable: sugar (183, 754 acres under cultivation in 1906); tobacco (nearly 15,000,000 lbs. of leaf exported annually); co- coa; coffee. The actual timber output is insignificant. In 1907 the total length of railroad was 112 miles.

The Constitution of the Dominican Republic is said to be modelled on that of Venezuela; the presi- dent, elected for four years, is assisted by a council of ministers; the legislature is a single chamber elected liy popular vote in twenty-four departments. The su- preme court of the republic (a president and four judges) is appointed by the national congress, its "minister fiscal", however, being appointed by the chief execu- tive; for courts of first instance, the republic is diviiied into eleven jvidi- cial districts, each presided over by an alcalde. By the terms of the Constitution edu- cation is gratui- tous and compul- sory.

The ancient city of San Domingo (population, 16,- 000) is still the seat of the civil government, as well as the see of the archbishop, who, however, no longer has any suf- fragans. The re-

The Homenaje Tower, San Domingo

In which Diego Columbus was

imprisoned

lations between Church and State are (190S) very cordial. The Constitution of the Republic, in which religious liberty is an article, guarantees to the Church freedom of action, which, nevertheless, is curtailed by the law providing that the civil solem- nization of marriages must precede the canonical. The municipal cemeteries are consecrated in accord- ance with the Church's requirements, though in some important centres of population there are non- Cathohc cemeteries besides. In the Dominican Re- public (with which the Archdiocese of San Domingo is coextensive) there are 600,000 Catholics, upwards of 1000 Protestants, and very few Jews, while the Ma- sonic lodges number about thirteen. The total num- ber of parishes is 56, each with its own church, in addi- tion to which there are 13 chapels and 82 mission sta- tions. The (ecclesiastical) Conciliar seminary, at the capital, is under the care of the Eudist Fathers (Con- gregation of Jesus and Jlary), who also administer the cat hedral parish. Anot her college under ecclesiastical control is that of San Sebastian in La Vega. A dio- cesan congregation of religious women numbers 30 members, distributed among four houses; these sisters, who have charge of a hospital, care for orphan children and the infirm aged.

Kfim, .San Dominrjo (Philadelphia, 18701; Hazard, Santo Domingo, Past and Present (New York, 1873); Del Monte y Tejada, HistoriadeS. Domingo (Madrid, I860); Moroni, Dizio- nario, s. v. Domingo; Schomburgk, Xoles on St Domingo in Proceedings of British Association, 1851; Statesman's Year-Book, 190S. E. M.^CPHERSON.

Dominicans. See Preachers, Order of.

Dominici, Ciiovanni, Ble.ssed (Banchini or B.\c- CHiNi was his family name). Cardinal, .statesman, and writer, b. at Florence, 13.56; d. at Buda, 10 July, 1420. He entered the Dominican Order at Santa Maria Novella in 1372 after having been cured, thrrjugh the intercession of St. Catherine of Siena, of an impediment of speech for which he had been refused admission to the order two years before. On his re- turn from Paris, where he completed his theological

studies, he laboured as professor and preacher for twelve years at Venice. With the sanction of the master general, Blessed RajTnondof Capua, he estab- lished convents of strict observance of his order at Venice (1391) and Fiesole (1406), and founded the convent of Corpus Christi at Venice for the Dominican Nmisof the Strict Observance. He was sent as envoy of Venice to the conclave of 1406 in which Ciregory XII was elected; the following year the pope, whose confessor and covmsellor he was, apjiointed him Arch- bishop of Ragusa, created him cardinal in 1408 and sent him as ambassador to Himgan,-, to secure the ad- hesion of Sigismimd to the pope. At the Council of Constance l3ominici read the vokmtary resignation which Gregorj- XII had adopted, on his advice, as the surest means of ending the schism. Martin V ap- pointed him legate to Bohemia on 19 July, 1418, but he accomplished little with the followers of Hus, ow- ing to the supineness of King Wenceslaus. He was declared blessed by Gregory XVI in 1832 and his feast is observed 10 Jime. Dominici was not only a prolific writer on spiritual subjects but also a graceful poet, as his man}' vernacular hjanns, or Laudi, show. His "Regola del govemo di cura familiare", written be- tween 1400 and 1405, is a valuable pedagogical work (edited by Salvi, Florence, 1800) which treats, in four books, of the faculties of the soul, the powers and senses of the body, the uses of earthly goods, and the education of children. This last book has been trans- lated into German by Rosier (Herder's Bibliothek der katholischen Piidagogik, VII, Freiburg, 1894). His "Lucula Noctis" (R. Coulon, O. P., Latin text of the fifteenth century with an introduction, Paris, 1908) in reply to a letter of Nicola di Piero Salutati, is the most important treatise of that day on the study of the pagan authors. Dominici does not flatly condemn classical studies, but strenuously opposes the pagan- izing humanism of the day.

Rosler, Cardinal Johannes Dominici, O. Pr. (Freiburg, 1893); QuETiF and Echard. SS. O. P.. I, 757, 768, II, 822; S.\UERLAND, Cardinal Johannes Dominici und sein Verhalten zu den kirchlichen Unionsbestrehungen wtihrend der Jahre 11*06- 1^1.'> in Briegersehe Zeitschrift, IX; Mandonnet in Historisches Jahrbuch, V; Pastor, Geschichte der Pdpste, III, 22 sq.; Mor- TlER, Histoire dcs MaUres Gi-neraux de Vordre des Freres PrS' cheurs. III, 551 sq.; 'BlBClo^l, Lettere diSanii e Beati Fiorentini (1736), III; Cormier, Beati Raymundi Litterw et Opuscula. Thos. M. Schwertnee. Dominic Loricatus, Saint. SeeFoNTE Avellana. Dominic of Jesus-Mary, Venerable. See Thomas of Jesus.

Dominic of Mangazaki, Blessed. See Martyrs, J.1P ank.se.

Dominic of Prussia, a Carthusian monk and asceti- cal writer, b. in Poland, 1382; d. at the monastery of St. Alban near Trier, 1461. According to the account he wrote of himself his first teacher w-as the parish priest, a pious Dominican; later he was a student at the University of Cracow where he was noted for his intelligence. Falling into bad habits he led a vaga- bond Hfe until twenty-five years of age, when he re- formed through the influence of Adolf of Essen, prior of the Carthusian monastery of St. Alban, near Trier. Dominic now became a Carthusian, entering the order in 1409. His monastic life was one of severe penance and religious fervour. The spiritual favours he re- ceived were mmierous, and many visions are ascribed to him. Among the positions he filled were those of master of novices at Mainz and vicar of the monastery of St. Alban, where he died. As an author Dominic compo.sed seventeen treatises, which have been pre- served in various libraries. In the " Libri duo experi- entiarum" he relates the events of his own life; the "Tract.atus de Contempt umundi", "Remedium tenta- tionum", "De vera obedientia", and "Sonus epulan- tis" he prepared during his solitary repasts. A fur- ther work is his " Letters of Direction".

Dominic of Prussia is frequently mentioned in the