St. Nicholas and the Dominican Order
A bond that spans eight hundred years
Fra Angelico, St. Dominic and St. Nicholas, Perugia Altarpiece, 1438
Even among those who are well acquainted with the traditions of the Dominican Order, it might be pretty surprising to discover that among the figures most closely associated with it is the saint we celebrate today: Saint Nicholas of Bari. Born in Myra, Asia Minor (now Turkey), in the second half of the third century, Saint Nicholas emerged as an ecumenical figure in the dialogue between different Christian denominations, being an object of great veneration in both the West and the East.
Let us then briefly look at the links between St. Nicholas and the Order of Preachers through its eight hundred-year history.
The Origins in Bologna and Paris
From the earliest years of the Order, Saint Nicholas has been an integral part of its history. The church of San Nicolò delle Vigne in Bologna, where Saint Dominic himself founded the community of friars, was dedicated to him, like several other early Dominican churches. Not only did this church host the very first General Chapters, but it was also the place of St. Dominic’s death, who wished to be buried in the basilica under the feet of his brothers. The very altar of St. Nicholas was the site of several religious celebrations and religious professions, including that of Blessed Diana degli Andalò.
In Paris, too, the early friars found themselves particularly attached to St. Nicholas, who was, in fact, the patron saint of the university. It is no coincidence that when the friars finally received the convent of Saint Jacques in 1221, they were asked to celebrate a solemn mass each year on the feast of the holy bishop "for the living masters and students and the good of the Parisian studium."
St. Nicholas in early Dominican literature and art
The devotion of the early friars also emerges in the 13th-century hagiographic accounts written by Gerald of Frachet in his “Vitae Fratrum”. St. Nicholas is a recurring figure in the narrated apparitions, sometimes accompanied by the Virgin Mary. For example, it is told how Brother Rudolf received a vision of St. Nicholas who consoled him about the future of the Order; the saint of Myra showed him the river flowing near Bologna with a boat full of friars, a sign of the abundance of vocations that the Order would experience in the future.
Moreover, we also have a sermon for St. Nicholas’s feast written by the first successor of St. Dominic, Jordan of Saxony. Another Dominican of that century who contributed a lot to the devotion to the holy bishop is Jacobus de Voragine, author of the Legenda Aurea (1260ca.), which collected the lives of several Christian saints. St. Nicholas’s life was also told through the paintings of Fra Angelico, another most famous Dominican of the 15th century. These works were initially made for the Dominican church in Perugia and are part of the Perugia Altarpiece, partly kept at the Vatican Museums.
St. Thomas and St. Nicholas
St. Thomas, one of the most famous Dominicans in history, is also intimately linked to the saint of Myra. St. Nicholas is mentioned no less than six times in Aquinas's works, and we also have a sermon of Thomas preached in Paris on his feast day, probably a few years before his death.
Moreover, during the Mass of the Feast of St. Nicholas in 1273, Aquinas experienced a crucial moment of his life, which would end within a few months after that event. According to his ancient biographers, while celebrating Mass, Thomas had a mystical experience that marked the end of his theological production. Faced with what had been revealed to him, in fact, all that he had been able to say about God now appeared to him as "straw" in comparison with the Truth he had been given the grace to contemplate on that December 6th at the chapel of St. Nicholas in the church of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples.
Dominican liturgy for St. Nicholas
The veneration of St. Nicholas grew further at the end of the 13th century when the feast of St. Nicholas was elevated in the Order to the liturgical rank of feast duplex. This choice by the General Chapter was intended as a tribute to the then General Master Nicola Boccasino, who later became Pope Benedict XI.
We thus find ourselves having proper liturgical formularies for Saint Nicholas in the ancient Dominican breviary. Prominent among the various antiphons and prayers, almost all of which are inspired by the saint's life, are the antiphon to the Benedictus, where the saint is sung as "kindliest of bishops", and the antiphon to the Magnificat where reference is made to an oil (the holy manna) "that trickles from his tomb and heals those who are ailing".
The Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari
Dominican friars guardians of St. Nicholas in Bari
The bond between the Order and St. Nicholas experienced an important boost in 1951, when the Basilica containing his relics in Bari was entrusted to the Dominicans. Ever since, the friars have been promoting the cult of St. Nicholas and pursuing the ecumenical vocation of the place, inspired by St. Nicholas's evangelical life that made him a saint loved by Christians of all denominations.