Fray Nelson: 5 traits from Santo Domingo de Guzmán for today’s world

Fray Nelson Medina, Dominican priest and a doctor of fundamental theology known for his vast apostolate on social networks, highlights 5 features of the life of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, to help Catholics in today’s world.

On the eve of the Fiesta de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the Holy Founder of the Dominicans, Fray Nelson shared with ACI Press the following features of the famous Spanish saint, to whom the Virgin Mary delivered the Rosary.

1. Santo Domingo was contemplative

“Witnesses to Santo Domingo’s time present us the profile of a man of prayer. It is not simply a great piety or devotion, which was also present in it, it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a constant and growing love,” said Fray Nelson.

“We can say that Sunday’s contemplation relies on a deep fascination with the person of Christ, especially for Christ as Savior of sinners,” said the Colombian priest.

2. Santo Domingo: A man of study

Fray Nelson stressed that “the time in which Sunday lived (1170 – 1221) was characterized by abundance of religious groups that taught similar things, but different from the faith of the Catholic Church.”

This situation, the Dominican friar continued, “engendered great confusion in the people of God. Domingo’s proposal is the dialogue based on the study of sources, particularly of the Holy Scripture.”

“To the extent that the study and dialogue, oriented to the search for truth, become the communication instrument, we manage to overcome differences and learn from each other,” he said.

3. Santo Domingo was a deeply compassionate man

“Domingo’s mercy has been well testified throughout his life. Being a student in the city of Palencia, in Spain, a great hunger hit the region,” said Fray Nelson.

“Domingo put on sale his very valuable books to relieve the hunger of so many people. He is especially remembered his phrase ‘I do not want to study on dead skins while Hunger hands tend to be earthy.'”

This same attitude of compassion, highlighted the priest, “had Sunday regarding the needs of the soul. His night prayer as a great cry: Lord, mercy, what will be of sinners!”

4. Santo Domingo was a church man

Fray Nelson told ACI Press that “when we disappoint us for the sins and contradictions of church men and women, we tempt us to take the easy way, that of flight, separate ourselves from the community, perhaps to believe ourselves better and more perfect.”

“The Sunday Church needed great reforms and Sunday understood that the best way to transform what hurts us of the Church is not attacking it from the outside but living the Gospel, first of all, and then helping to build from within,” he said.

5th Santo Domingo was also a fraternal man

“Domingo had a great capacity to undertake arduous missions, even in solitude, but he was not a lonely worker but rather a pioneer, and what he wanted and finally could achieve, it was a community of witnesses who could, with his life and his words serve many in many places,” said Fray Nelson.

“His fraternal spirit manifested himself in the ability to give new forces to those who were discouraged and be a reason for trust and friendship for all,” added the priest.

“The testimony of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is that of a way of being, an extremely complete and balanced personality and I think something like this urgently needs our time,” he said.

Finally, Fray Nelson stressed that in today’s world, “in the midst of so many polarizations and extremisms, the serene and bright balance of a saint like Domingo de Guzmán has a lot to tell us.”

Originally published on August 7, 2022, this note has been updated for republication.