Taking of the Habit
Taking of the Habit
By Fr. Louis Bethea, O.P.
When a young man enters the Order of Preachers, after a period of postulancy, he arrives at the novitiate where he is clothed in the habit of the Order. As it happens, the man kneels before the prior of the house, who clothes the young man in the habit. It is a very humbling experience for everyone involved, whether it’s because you are a nervous novice trying to figure out how you will stand up with all these new robes on, or if you’re the prior who suddenly realizes you’ve put this poor man’s head through the sleeve.
Eventually all of the men (new novices) are clothed and they receive their new names. “In the world you were known as Joe,” for example, “and in the Order you will be known as, Dominic.”
It is the creation of a new man, a man who doesn’t lose his former self, but a man who grows into a Dominican version of himself. This is what it means to be a son of St. Dominic, but for all of us, he offers us a chance to renew ourselves according to his life.
“My child,” he says, “be a light of the Church.” St. Dominic is often pictured with a star above his head because his godmother, holding him at his baptism, saw a star shining above his forehead. It was a sign of how Dominic’s mission was to bring the light of God—the truth of the Church—to those who lived in ignorance, like the Albigensian heretics he is known for combating. It was not that he did this on his own, but, like candlelight that passes through a lantern and lights up a room, so Dominic spread to everyone the brilliant light of God’s truth and love.
“Now,” he continues, “go and be teachers of truth.” St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers to fight the many heresies that plagued the world in the 13th century. He was bold, daring, and all with an eye, not only to correcting the heretic, but to bringing them back into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by Christ upon Peter, the Rock. This is unity grounded in truth! Christ sent out His disciples two by two, just as Dominic did, and so Dominic’s first task was to send his men out to the universities so that his men could be immersed in truth to effectively preach it.
Now he says, “model yourself as a rose of patience and an ivory of chastity.” It’s one thing to learn and to preach truth, but it’s another thing to do it tactfully and be received well. We can look to Dominic spending hours with an innkeeper, bringing him back to the true faith through his miraculous patience. Patience is a slow battle of the will, accepting that things do not always work out the way we want them, but according to the perfect will of God. So it is that to be a rose of patience is to recognize this fact and bear one’s struggles with grace, knowing that God is in control.
It is in this active acceptance, acting with the will and grace of God, that the purity of St. Dominic shone through. It is recorded that at the translation of his relics, the odor of sanctity filled the air around him. This was no fluke, for his entire life was lived with a purity of body and soul only given by God to a few remarkable saints.
This is not unobtainable for us. In fact, it’s exactly who God has called us to be! To live the life of a Christian, as Dominic did, is to grow in the life of virtue, to become more like God, just as God intended.
And it is through living this way that Dominic was a preacher of grace through and throughout his entire life. And so, when that novice, newly clothed in the habit of St. Dominic, stands up, receives his name, and enters into the Church to celebrate at the Holy Mass, he stands there before a jubilant congregation, as a new man. It’ll take him a while to figure this life out—it isn’t easy! But, constantly reminded of the intercession of our Blessed Mother by the dangling Rosary at his side and Our Lady’s scapular around his neck, and of St. Jude, who intercedes for these impossible causes, and with the support of his classmates, brother friars, and formators, the novice will begin a lifetime of growing in holiness.
That life of holiness is yours and mine as well. By clinging to the Lord, we too can light up the world and preach the truth of God with patience and love, fortified by living solely for God and loving others because of God Who dwells in them. That is faith. That is hope. That is love. And by doing this—by embracing a life of virtue, we pray to our Holy Father Dominic: Preacher of grace, unite us with the blessed.