Munio of Zamora,
O.P., (1237 – 19 February 1300) was a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
Dominican friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...
who became the seventh
Master General of the Dominican Order in 1285, and later a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
.
Life
Spain
No details of Munio's early life are recorded, but he is assumed to have been born in
Zamora. What is known of him comes from diverse sources, of varying value, and giving contradictory judgments. It would appear that he had a reputation of being an excellent administrator, when he was appointed as
Prior Provincial
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
of his native country in 1281. He was also known as being an
ascetic
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
man, practicing perpetual
abstinence
Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc.
...
, though he also came to be known for his leniency towards those under his authority.
One notable difference he had from his predecessors was that he did not have the academic background which they did, never having studied at the great universities of Italy or France, and thus not having a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. . Administration was his sole talent.
Master General
Munio, in his office as Prior Provincial, took part in the
General Chapter
A chapter ( la, capitulum or ') is one of several bodies of clergy in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Nordic Lutheran churches or their gatherings.
Name
The name derives from the habit of convening monks or canons for the read ...
of the Order, held in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
in 1285. When he was nominated as Master of the Order at that gathering, the
French contingent of the Chapter objected to him based on his alleged lack of studies appropriate to the office. Nevertheless, the Chapter elected him.
The state of the Order as a whole at the time of Munio's election required a man of his gifts. The rapid growth of the Order had often been accomplished with minimal training of its new members. Discipline had become a major concern of Munio's predecessors, who issued frequent appeals to the friars and nuns of the Order to maintain the spirit of the Rule. Men were joining who claimed to have already the gift of preaching, and demanded to do so without any restrictions on the part of the Order.
In his first letter to the Order at large after his election, Munio issues a serious call to the friars and nuns to keep a spirit of
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
more strenuously, as well as an adherence to solitude and silence. He concludes:
The Third Order
Shortly after his election as Master, Munio promulgated the ''Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the Blessed Dominic'' (''Regula Fratrum et Sororum Ordinis de Paenitentiae Beati Dominici''), which provided a rule of life (lasting into the 21st century) for the "
penitent" laymen and women who had been leading lives inspired by the friars, long called the
Third Order of St. Dominic. In the opening passages, the
Rule
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
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* Business rule, a rule perta ...
lays down these prerequisites: "They must be filled with the utmost jealous, burning zeal, after their own fashion, for the truth of Catholic faith".
The Master of the Order thus offered an opportunity to
lay people and
secular clergy
In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...
, who had been independent until then, to adopt a rule of life and to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Dominican Order, by making a promise of obedience to the Master General of the Order. The laity were here being given an