Dominic of Prussia (german: Dominikus von Preußen; la, Dominicus Prutenus; 1382–1461) was a

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

monk and ascetical writer. He is credited with a popular early form of the

Rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

which focused on meditation.

Life

Born in Danzig (Gdańsk),

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. According to the account he wrote of himself his first teacher was the parish priest, a pious Dominican; later he was a student at the University of Kracow where he was noted for his intelligence. Falling into bad habits he led a vagabond life until twenty-five years of age, when he reformed through the influence of Adolf of Essen, prior of the Carthusian monastery of St. Alban, near Trier. Dominic became a Carthusian, entering the order in 1409. His monastic life was one of severe penance and religious fervour and many visions are ascribed to him. Among the positions he filled were those of master of novices at Mainz and vicar of the monastery of St. Alban, where he died. As an author Dominic composed seventeen treatises, which have been preserved.Mougel, Ambrose. "Dominic of Prussia." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 1 May 2022

Carthusian Rosary

To Dominic is attributed the practice of meditation during the recitation of the

Hail Mary The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

s, which he called the "Life of Jesus

". As in his time the Ave Maria terminated with the words; "Fructus ventris tui, Jesus", he added to each a sentence to recall to mind the mystery. It included such themes as the

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

and the

Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...

. Dominic's psalter was made up of fifty "Aves", plus the

Pater Noster The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

and the

Gloria Patri The Gloria Patri, also known as the Glory Be to the Father or, colloquially, the Glory Be, is a doxology, a short hymn of praise to God in various Christian liturgies. It is also referred to as the Minor Doxology ''(Doxologia Minor)'' or Lesser D ...

, making it Trinitarian in nature. "The number of Hail Marys are not important. What counts is the quality of one’s meditation, of authentic contemplative prayer.""Carthusian Rosary", Marian Library, University of Dayton
/ref> Both Dominic and his friend Adolf of Essen sought to spread the use of this form of prayer in the Carthusian Order and among the laity. They were very successful and psalters of this type multiplied in the 15th century. For this reasons it is called the "Carthusian Rosary". Some authors believe that the "Psalter" of Dominic was the form, or one of the original forms, from which the present Rosary developed. He died in 1461 at St. Alban's Charterhouse near

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

Works

* ''Liber experientiae''Dominic of Prussia. ''Liber experientiae'', Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg, 2010
/ref>

References

External links

''Analacta Cartusiana'', v. 283
1382 births 1461 deaths German Roman Catholic saints Carthusians Clergy from Gdańsk People from the State of the Teutonic Order People from Trier Jagiellonian University alumni 15th-century Christian saints {{Germany-saint-stub