All Saints of the Dominican Order

All Dominican Saints is a feast celebrated on November 7 to honor all the saints of the Dominican Order, both canonized and uncanonized. Even among the canonized Dominican saints, it is not possible to celebrate all of them in one liturgical year, so this is a special day set aside to commemorate the entire cloud of witnesses from the Dominican family who have lived lives of valiant virtue, embodying the Order's charism of contemplation, study, community, and preaching.

This feast is similar to All Saints' Day (November 1) in the broader Catholic Church, but it specifically focuses on members of the Dominican Order. These saints include our founder, St. Dominic, tremendous theologians like St.Thomas Aquinas, mystics like St. Catherine of Siena, and many others who have contributed to the mission of the Order throughout history who are less known or who have only local feast celebrations (i.e., a city where the saint's body is buried).

So how many canonized saints and blesseds are there in the Dominican Order?

According to Master Gerrard Timoner III (the current successor of Saint Dominic), we have 389 saints and blesseds within the Dominican Order (Order of Preachers).

This feast day of "All Saints of the Order of Preachers" also celebrates the un-canonized saints: martyrs, confessors, friars, nuns, holy men and women of the third order Dominicans, all of whom in some way, before dying lived the beatitudes by serving the poor, teaching the ignorant as professors or lay teachers, living contemplatively in the silence of monasteries (our cloistered sisters), and some who died for the faith when persecution came. We believe many of them are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision and continue interceding for the church militant today!

The feast also serves as a reminder to the members of the Dominican family—friars, nuns, sisters, and laity—of our call to holiness and the importance of following the example set by our predecessors. It's hard to give an exact number of how many saints the Dominican order has in total.

In the words of Pope Clement, "Do not ask me how many saints the Order of Saint Dominic has given to heaven. Count if you can, the stars which gleam in the firmament, and then you will know the number of saints among the descendants of Saint Dominic."

Within the first 100 years of the Order's existence, it is said to have gained nearly 30,000 religious who donned the chaste habit of Saint Dominic from all the countries of Europe. (1) A census taken in the 18th century contained the names of approximately 40,000. (2) Based upon these figures, we may safely say that no less than several hundred thousand Dominicans have lived, labored, and passed to their eternal reward. A census in the year 1277 shows that there were 404 Dominican schools of theology (priories), which shows that such figures of Dominican friars are realistic and plausible. (3) As far as the number of members of the Second and Third Order, it may be counted in the millions.

In Dominican communities, November 7 is celebrated with a special Mass and prayers in honor of all the holy men and women of the Order, giving thanks for their contributions and asking for their intercession.