ORDER OF PREACHERS
The Dominican Family
Trinidad & Tobago

BRIEF NOTE ON
THE HISTORY OF THE IRISH PROVINCE
OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS (Dominicans)
IN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

St Dominic was born around 1170 at Calaruega, northern Spain. He became a Canon Regular of St. Augustine in Osma after his ordination to the priesthood.

Accompanying Diego, his bishop, on a diplomatic trip, Dominic encountered the Albigensian heresy at Toulouse in southern France and this changed his life. He never returned to live in Spain and work to reconcile the Albigensians to the Church became his major preoccupation. He gathered around him friars who would accompany him in his mission of reconciliation by preaching the word of God.

He quickly perceived that the friars would have to live in community and this helped in forming his plans for the Order of Preachers which was approved by the Pope in 1216. Immediately Dominic sent them out in pairs to make other foundations and to preach. They arrived in Ireland in 1224 and from there have gone out to other parts of the world. .

As Pope John Paul II reminded us during his pastoral visit to Trinidad & Tobago in 1985, when Christopher Columbus visited Trinidad in 1498, there were two Dominicans on board his flagship. These did not remain in the country but sailed on with the Spanish fleet.

The next priests to come to the island were also Dominicans, fray Francisco de Cordova and fray Juan Garces and their stay was also short as they were put to death shortly afterwards, betrayed by the Spanish soldiers who had travelled with them. That was in 1513. They were the first martyrs in Trinidad.

St Luis Bertrand, O.P., the Apostle of South America, may have visited in 1567 and 1568 several of the Caribbean Islands, among which Trinidad, Tobago, St. Vincent and Grenada, are mentioned.

Capuchin priests came when San Jose Oruna, present–day St. Joseph, was chosen as the capital of the country.

The Dominicans did not return until 1864 when a French Dominican, Most Rev. Louis Joachim Gonin, appointed the previous year, became the fourth Archbishop of Port of Spain. He brought six Dominican friars with him. They lived in George Street, Port of Spain, but later built the Cathedral Presbytery on reclaimed land south of the Cathedral and this was blessed on 16 February 1880.

The first Irish Dominican to be appointed to Trinidad was Bishop William O’Carroll who was coadjutor (right to succession) bishop from 1871 to 1880, when he died without succeeding Archbishop Gonin. Because of his position he was able to get some priests from the Irish Province to come to Trinidad. One of these arrived in 1880 and another in 1887. Unfortunately priests were not numerous in the Irish Province at that time.

The second Irish Dominican to be appointed to the local episcopacy was Coadjutor Bishop Thomas Hyland. 1882 to 1884 when he too died without succeeding Archbishop Gonin.

In 1887 Archbishop Patrick Vincent Flood was appointed coadjutor and two years later, on the death of his predecessor, he became fifth Archbishop of Port of Spain. French was the lingua franca in Trinidad and the British Government asked that English–speaking priests be brought to replace the French clergy. This was accomplished in 1895 when a pontifical decree committed the island of Trinidad to the apostolate of the Irish Province of the Order of Preachers. From then onwards a steady flow of Irish Dominicans came to minister in Trinidad.

On the death of Archbishop Flood in 1907, Archbishop John Pius Dowling, another Irish Dominican, became the Apostolic Administrator; in 1909 he was appointed sixth Archbishop.

When he died in 1940, Archbishop Finbar Ryan, who had been coadjutor from 1937, became the seventh Archbishop of Port of Spain until his resignation in 1966. During that time, from his appointment in 1958, Bishop William Michael Fitzgerald was auxiliary bishop until 1966 and then he became Apostolic Administrator until local born Holy Ghost priest, Archbishop Anthony Pantin, became the eighth Archbishop.

With this the Dominicans were no longer responsible for the administration of the Archdiocese but they continued to give collaboration and support to the local Church as Parish Priests (as many as forty–three parishes at one particular period in the 1970s), Directors of various organizations, Chaplains to Hospitals, Prisons, Schools, lecturers in Secondary Schools, Teacher Training Colleges, and in the Regional Seminary of St. John Vianney & the Uganda Martyrs at Tunapuna, managers of Primary Schools, promoters of the Credit Union Movement (one of whom was the founding father in the country), social services to the poor and the disabled, builders of churches, schools and presbyteries, editor/managers of the Catholic News and its predecessor, founders of the Belmont Orphanage, the bringing of the Dominican Sisters to serve the lepers first in Cocorite and then in Chacachacare where a Dominican priest assisted, etc

From 1957 Dominicans were responsible for Holy Cross College, Arima. In the adjoining Priory they had a centre for training local vocations to the priesthood.

In 1972 the Dominicans left their residence in the Cathedral Presbytery, Port of Spain, and opened the Priory of St. Finbar, attached to the church of that name in Diego Martin. This vibrant parish will soon have the Dominican Pastoral Centre where the work of the Order will be continued and new apostolates undertaken. Among these will be lectures and programmes in the scriptural and theological knowledge of the faith with full audio–visual facilities. Distance Learning leading to a diploma in theology or Sacred Scripture is already well advanced in the planning stages, the formation of the laity in Sacred Liturgy, publishing and distribution of books, pamphlets and tracts, the preparation of radio, television and audio aids for instruction in the faith, etc. “Preaching and the salvation of souls” was the purpose of the establishment of the Order of Preachers as approval by Pope Innocent III in 1216 who “appointed [them] entirely for the complete evangelization of the Word of God.” ‘Preaching’ is understood in a broad sense to include any form of proclamation of the word of God. The Dominican Pastoral Centre will be devoted to the “Holy Preaching”.

Just over two hundred priests and brothers of the Irish Province have served in Trinidad & Tobago.

One of the local born members of the Order is Bishop Robert Rivas , Bishop of Kingstown in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Ordained a bishop in 1990, he is now one of the most senior members in the Antilles Episcopal Conference.

A second local Dominican who became a Bishop in the Caribbean is Grenada-born Bishop Vincent Darius of St. George’s-in-Grenada, who lived in Holy Cross Priory as a member of the community while he did his novitiate and later studied at the Regional Seminary until his ordination to the priesthood in 1987. He was ordained a bishop in 2002.

We may sum up the vision of the Order of Preachers in the following Mission Statement:

“The Order of Preachers was founded eight hundred years ago by St. Dominic Guzman so that his followers, the Dominican Fathers, might

·        Live the Word of God Together

·        Pray over it

·        Study it

·        Celebrate it and

·        Proclaim it

in a life of chastity, poverty, obedience and community living.

“This Order disseminates the Word of God in an evolving world by Preaching, Teaching, Writing, through work in Churches, the Social Media of Communications, and the modern Aereopagi which the members either use or create as circumstances dictate.

“Their objective is the Salvation of Souls by influencing young people, professional groups, married couples and families, single people and students to develop a formation of character and the integral progress of mankind in a world that needs the Gospel Values”