L'évangélisme de saint Dominique

The “evangelicalism” of St Dominic. The purpose of this article is to suggest that, among the various interpretations of Diego’s intervention with the papal legates in 1206, it is possible to recognise the development of an attitude which is proper to Dominic. In 1206 Diego relaunched the mission against the heretics by convincing the legates that the Catholic preachers ought to follow the model of the apostles : those who wanted to preach veritas evangelica ought to practise paupertas evangelica. Later, when it became necessary to resolve the ambiguities in Diego’s inheritance, some people saw him as having simply proposed a tactical response to the particular situation in the Midi ; for Dominic, however, the situation had brought to light a permanently valid aspect of the gospel, and he wished to radicalise its practices. At the same time, he expanded the régula apostolorum, recommending, not just paupertas evangelica, but parsimonia evangelica. His attempts to convince his brethren, and his partial lack of success, allow us simultaneously to come to a better understanding of the early development of the Order of Preachers and to grasp one aspect of Dominic’s own mentality.