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 200 DOMINIC biographers. In a public conference a doc- trinal exposition was drawn up on both sides, and presented to the Catharists chosen to pre- side. Unable to agree, both manuscripts were submitted to the test of fire, Dominic's remain- ing, as it is said, untouched by the flames. It was at Fanjaux that he conceived the project of erecting a monastery for the education of daughters of poor but noble parents, who were the object of Catharist proselytism. Foulques, just appointed bishop of Toulouse, gave him for that purpose the church of Notre Dame de Prouille, near which a monastery was begun at once, and soon became one of the educational centres of France. In the spring of 1207 this first series of missions was concluded by a two weeks' conference at Montreal, near Prouille, when the test of fire- was again resorted to, and 150 persons abjured the Catharist doctrines. The bishop of Osma had now to return to his diocese, leaving Dominic at the head of the missionaries. His death and the murder of Peter de Castelnau occurring almost simul- taneously, Dominic saw himself forsaken by all but a few secular priests just as the crusade against the Albigenses commenced. He re- mained with his little band in the neighbor- hood, watching, says the early biographer, over his rising establishment of Prouille, and increasing his efforts to gain or to retain the good opinion of the Albigenses. For seven years was the land wasted by religious and civil war. Dominic has often been represented as one of the instigators of this bloody strife, but, as appears, unjustly. He and his companions ceased not to preach to the afflicted populations, and to terrify into humanity the swarms of freebooters (routiers) who infested the country. He is only mentioned once in the authentic acts of this war, as having been seen praying in the church of Muret on Sept. 13, 1213, while the battle was going on outside between the forces of De Montfort and the king of Aragon. Dietrich of Apolda, his earliest historian and almost his contemporary, says of him during these years, " He continued to combat heresy by his discourses, his examples, his miracles." Another writer of the epoch mentions his name once in connection with the punishment of heretics, and it is to tell how Dominic savd one poor wretch from the stake. From the records of that period we gather that during this whole war Dominic never ceased to labor in Languedoc; that he was respected by the leaders on both sides; that (save in tlir -ingle instance mentioned above) the au- thentic acts do not speak of him ; he is named in no letter sent to Rome, in no letter coming from it, and in no official document published tin-re concerning the war, the inquisition, or tbe punishment of Albigenses. The devotion of the rosary, established by him in those days indicates an influence far from sanguinary (See ROSARY.) In 1215, at the fall of Toulouse,' Dominic vitb his companions repaired thither. He had seen how little of religious pacification the crusade had achieved, and what seeds of hatred it left behind. His old idea of trying what an army of true priests could effect now returned. Foulques, the bishop of Toulouse, applauded it. Six of his fellow missionaries had resolved to follow him in realizing it. One of them, Pierre Cellani, a native of the city, ap- propriated his own house for their residence ; and the bishop assigned them the church of St. Romain, with the sixth part of all the dio- cesan tithes for their support, appointing them at the same time "preachers in the diocese of Toulouse." Innocent III., solicited by the bishop and Dominic, encouraged the project, which was in accordance with the recommen- dations of the 18th Lateran council, but bade Dominic choose for his society one of the ex- isting rules of monastic orders. Hastening back to Toulouse, Dominic found 16 compan- ions where he had left six, and took them with him to Prouille, where after much deliberation they adopted the rule of St. Augustine, modi- fied in accordance with their proposed mode of life. On Dec. 22, 1216, two separate bulls of Honorius III. approved and confirmed the new society; and a third, issued in the follow- ing January, is addressed to them as " preachers in the country of Toulouse," and " preachers " has been their official title ever since. Dom- inic was at the same time appointed magister sacri palatii (master of the sacred palace), that is, theologian and spiritual director of the pontifical household. On Aug. 15, 1217, Dom- inic and his brethren recited their solemn re- ligious vows in the church of Prouille before a vast concourse of persons of every rank. After the ceremony he proceeded to carry out his design of taking possession of the three great centres of learning, Paris, Bologna, and Rome. After making his brethren elect a superior general to serve in his absence, he set out for Rome on foot and with a single companion, seven of the remaining religious being despatch- ed the same day to Paris. On Dominic's ar- rival in Rome, the pope assigned to him the vacant church and ruinous cloister of San Sisto on the Coslian hill. Dominic, besides preaching frequently to the papal household, preached also in every church in Rome, sometimes de- livering several discourses daily. By order of the pope he reformed at this time the female monasteries of Rome, making the cloistered nuns observe a strict reclusion, and giving them the rule and habit of St. Augustine. This was the origin of the Dominican nuns. At this time also he founded a "tertiary order" or "third order of penitence," composed of per- sons of both sexes and all ranks of life, bound by no vows, nor required to quit their secular occupations and domestic duties, but taking on themselves the obligation of avoiding worldly pleasures and vanities, of repairing the wrongs they had committed, of being true and just in all their dealings, and of practising charity ac- cording to their means. The establishment of San Sisto was soon given up to the Dominican