The Order of Preachers begins with Mary’s tender intercessions and continues into eternity with Her maternal patronage. Ten sequential stained glass windows and a rose window narrate the story between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Order of Preachers.

Seignadou
From the beginning of the Order, Dominicans have attributed their existence to the intervention of Mary. The Order of Preachers was conceived in the mind of God, willed by the Mother of Lord, Jesus Christ, and established by Dominic de Guzman. Mary found her apostle in Dominic, who shared her merciful aspiration for all souls. Mary must have heard the wailing groans of Dominic that evening on the hills of Fanjeaux and many nights thereafter as he kept vigils, “Lord have compassion on your people. What will become of sinners?”[1]

Mary gives Dominic the habit
In a heavenly rapture, God the Father assured Catherine of Siena that the existence, mission and identity of the Order were given through the intercession of Mary. God the Father stated, “[Dominic] was a light that I offered the world through Mary and sent into the mystic body of holy Church as an uprooter of heresies. Why did I say ‘through Mary’? Because she gave him the habit—a task My goodness entrusted to her.” [4] The Dominican habit is Mary’s personal commendation of the Order’s establishment and the mark of her maternal protection over the last eight centuries.


Assumption – Dispersal of Brethren
Mary was the confidant of the itinerant preacher Dominic as he walked from town to town preachin and whenever he encountered difficulties in his mission for the salvation of souls, Dominic turned to the Virgin Mary in prayer and hymns. His favorite was Ave Maris Stella in which he invoked the blessing and protection of the virginal Mother of God. It was not a coincidence therefore, that Dominic dispersed his brethrens on August 15, 1217. [5] On this solemnity of our Lady’s Assumption into Heaven, Dominic entrusted the members of the Order and its mission to the Blessed Virgin Mary.


St. Hyacinth
Hyacinth (1185-1257) was born of a noble family in Silesia. Trained as a priest, he was appointed a canon by his uncle, the bishop of Krakow, who took him to Rome on church business in 1220. Here Hyacinth met Dominic, who influenced his so profoundly that he became a Dominican. In 1221 he was sent to Krakow, where he established the first Dominican house in Poland. During one of the Tartar invasions Hyacinth’s convent was attacked. While hurrying to hide the Sacrament, Hyacinth heard Mary, who had earlier appeared to him and told him that she would never refuse him anything. She now beckoned him not to leave her statue behind to be desecrated. It was a large statue, and Hyacinth did not see how he could carry it. “I will lighten the load,” Mary assured him. With the sacrament in one hand and the statue in the other, Hyacinth ran through the flames and escaped from the burning convent. [6]


Dominic and the Rosary
The Hail Mary is very dear to the Dominican soul. Holy Father Dominic gave exemplary witness to this great devotion and love for the Mother of God. Since the eleventh century Christians have been reciting the Ave Maria, consisting only of the angelic salutation on their knees. [7] The greeting of Elizabeth was added the following century. By the time of Dominic, he and the first brethrens were accustomed to such Marian piety. During his years of preaching to the Albigensians, Dominic confronted the heretics with divine truths. Manuscripts from the fourteenth century summarized the preaching of Dominic under three themes: Incarnation, Redemption, and Eternal life, which according to Reginald-Garrigou Lagrange, was inspired by Our Lady. Some scholars theorize that Dominic worked out a combination of the rosary’s mental and vocal prayer in connection with his preaching, so that when his audience returned home and said the rosary in private, the mention of the mystery would help them recall the sermon’s text. In this way, Dominic faithfully carried out the Virgin Mary’s desire for the salvation of souls through the preaching of the Gospel mysteries. [8]
The Order of Preachers has tirelessly propagated the devotion to the rosary. In particular, one of its members, Pope, Pius V, penned the first papal document on the Rosary and established its feastday. He had invoked Christians to join in earnest recitation of the rosary, begging the intercession of the Virgin Mary as the Turks advanced into the Strait of Corinth in 1571. Through the intercession of Mary and Hail Marys, the Battle of Lepanto was won. Henceforth, the feast of Our Lady of Victory was established to annually commemorate the miraculous event of October 7. [9] Gregory XIII, the successor of Pius V, changed the title of the feast to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

Since the sixteenth century, the fifteen decade rosary was added to the Dominican habit. The rosary of five decades is recited daily in common in many houses of the Order. There is no doubt that the recitation of the rosary is one of the most delightful Marian devotions and a most powerful means of obtaining spiritual and temporal favors. It is the “queen of indulgenced devotions.” A plenary indulgence is granted for devout recitation of the Rosary in the presence of Blessed Sacrament or tabernacle, in a religious community, as a family, or in group. [10]


Blessing of the cells
From the time of its found, several Dominican friars witnessed the Virgin Mary blessing the brethrens in their sleep on many occasions. Jordan of Saxony, the successor of Dominic, once saw a most noble Lady accompanied by a host of virgins passing through the dormitory and sprinkling the cells of the friars with holy water. The queenly dame hurriedly passed over one cell, however, as the friar was not properly dressed and therefore, did not deserve the Lady’s nightly blessing. When questioned, the Lady not only revealed her name but also her affection towards the Order,

I am Mary, the virgin Mother of Jesus, and I am come once more to visit my brethren. I bear a very special love for this Order, and what pleases me most is that you begin all your undertakings, all that you say or do during the day, by asking my help and blessing, and you likewise end them to my praise. In return for this I have asked and obtained of my Son that none of you shall pass so much as one day in mortal sin without either repenting of it, or being found out, or cast out of the Order, that he may not defile my own Order. [11]

The custom of sprinkling the cells with holy water every night began during the first century of the Order’s existence.


Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine
In 1368 Catherine experienced her mystical marriage to Jesus who was accompanied by His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Beloved, St. Dominic, and King David playing the psalter and singing sweetly. Jesus then placed a diamond-studded ring on Catherine’s finger, wedding her to Himself with the words, “I your Creator and Redeemer espouse to you in faith which you shall preserve inviolate until its blissful consummation in the joys of heaven.” [12]


Salve Regina
Because of its festsive character, Compline is considered a solemn hour of the Divine office in the Order. It concludes with the Salve procession from the choir to the Lady’s altar as a loving tribute to the Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. The brethren “looked forward to the hour of Compline as to a festival, and directly as the signal was given, they hurried to choir.” [13]

While still the Provincial Superior of Lombardy, Jordan of Saxony adopted a Marian custom from the Cistercian tradition in response to a diabolic episode in Bologna. The evil spirit possessed and tormented Friar Bernard. Jordan, a devotee of the Lady, sought her intercession. He asked the brethren within the province to solemnly sing the Salve Regina antiphon each night to implore the protection of the Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. “The Virgin could not abandon an Order she had called into existence: she helped it, protected it and presided over even the smallest detail.” [14] She answered their prayers and freed Friar Bernard from the grips of the evil one. Humbert of Romans, the fourth General Master of the Order, later recounted a similar disturbance in Paris quelled trhough the intercession of Mary. [15] In 1222, Jordan, now as the General Master of the Order, instituted the singing of the Salve in procession to commemorate the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This custom became uniquely Dominican since the Salve was to be sung at the end of each day in contrast to the periodic practice of the Cistercian tradition to sing the Salve in procession after chapters.

With the Salve Regina processions, the Mother of Mercy continues to manifest her special patronage to the brethren. One night, when the friars were singing, Eia ergo, advocate nostra, Master Jordan had a vision of Mary prostrated before her Son seeking the preservation of the Order. [16] As the community continued to sing, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte, a pious woman from Marseilles saw Mary pleasantly smiling upon her preachers. [17] Henceforth, the Dominicans have knelt at these words, Turn then most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy on us, [18] as the hebdomadarian blessed the brethren with holy water. Then, as the friars concluded the hymn begging, After this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus…O sweet Virgin Mary, the holy woman again noticed Mary offering the Child Jesus to the brethren. [19] These visions testified to the fact of Mary’s approval of the preachers’ homage, and in return she keeps her post as the watchful intercessor.

In life and at the hour of death, Dominicans invoke the intercession of the Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. When a brother reaches the threshold of death, the friars in the community are summoned by a tabella or clapper. The community surrounds his deathbed and intones the Salve Regina, entrusting his departure to the loving hands of the Mother of God. This ritual originated from the friars in Sandomir, Poland who endured their massacre by the Tatars with the Salve Regina on their lips. [20]


Mary Immaculate Province
Throughout their migration ordeal from the Motherhouse in Vietnam, crossing the treacherous waters of the Sea China Sea and aboard the 747 airbus, to the United States of America, never once did the ten pioneer sisters doubt the mercy of God nor cease to invoke the protection of His loving Mother. Grateful for Her maternal love and tender care, the Dominican Sisters of the US province placed themselves under Our Lady with the title Immaculate Conception patronage. Like Mary who lovingly nurtured and instructed Her Son, Jesus, the Sisters serve as teachers and administrators in all levels of education.


Vision of Dominic – Under Mary’s Mantel
Dominic himself related this iconic vision to Cecilia and the nuns at San Sisto. During one of his nightly vigil, Dominic was taken into heaven to the throne of God with the Blessed Virgin at his right. Looking around Dominic saw members of other religious orders except his own in the heavenly court. Grieved at the sight, Dominic continued to pray in tears. When the Lord asked Dominic why he was weeping bitterly, Dominic expressed his sorrow at the absence of his own brethren. The Lord assured Dominic that his Order had been entrusted to his Mother. Mary then opened her arms and to Dominic’s relief, there was a sea of Dominicans under her cloak. Confident of Mary’s patronage of the Order, Dominic gave a long and very beautiful sermon to his brethren the very next morning after Matins, “exhorting them to love and reverence of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” [21] Blessed Cecilia and the early Dominicans held with conviction the personal protection of Mary for the Order of Preachers, despite the fact that the image of being cloaked by Mary’s mantel had been long observed in the Cistercian tradition.


ROSE WINDOW
The Rose Window honors Mary, Queen of Preachers. The center circle consists of the overlapping of the letters A and M ( Ave Maria) adorned with a golden crown, and the petals illuminate a cloud of radiant white bleeding through the hues of blue. In each of the 12 petals is a star blazing in a sky of celestial sapphire.