2 - THE COMING OF THE FRIARS

Summary

Bernard loved the valleys, Benedict the hills, Francis the towns, Dominic the cities of renown.

One of the fundamental tasks facing the Dominican Order in the early thirteenth century was simply the establishment of its first convents as organizational bases. In this regard, the Iberian peninsula did not emerge as a major priority. Despite the fact that Dominic himself was Castilian and his second successor (Raymond Penyafort) a Catalan, Spain remained something of a backwater for the Order when compared with centers of activity such as France or Italy. Few resources were directed to the region by the Order's central leadership, few convents were actually built, and it would take decades in some cases for conventual life to exhibit any signs of vitality. The multi-religious frontier lands of Spain presented a challenge, and mendicant outposts there might have been expected to attract adventurous souls driven by a passion for missionary work – but within the larger Dominican family they merely comprised one of the least important of twelve Provinces. The relatively slow, erratic pace of convent formation in Castile and the Crown of Aragon ensured that the friars' impact on local populations was generally limited. They were able to provide teachings, counsel and spiritual discipline for some segments of Christian society in a few selected urban settings, but neither their prominence nor their resulting “missionary” efficacy (whether internal or external) should be overstated.