Dominic of Prussia

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The Rosary Clausulae of Dominic of Prussia, manuscript , Trier City Archives, around 1410

Dominic of Prussia , also Dominicus Prutenus (* around 1384 near Danzig ; † December 21, 1460 in Trier ) was a Carthusian , spiritual writer and is considered the creator of today's form of the rosary .

Life

Dominic was the son of a fisherman from the Gdansk area. At the age of 11 he entered the service of a preacher. He studied at the University of Krakow , became an educator, teacher, headmaster and notary in various places, including a. in Görlitz , Gnesen , Prague and Heidelberg . Some sources report that he was addicted to drinking and gambling .

Dominic of Prussia came to Trier and entered the Charterhouse of St. Alban in 1409 . The local prior Adolf von Essen († 1439) used a new form of prayer, called Rosarium , which probably went back to his friar Heinrich Eger von Kalkar (1328–1408). A large number of the prayers, Hail Mary, were prayed one after the other and, with the uniform, repetitive prayer, plunged into contemplative meditation on Jesus and his mother Mary. It was a simple prayer for common people that did not require any special education or knowledge, only piety. Adolf von Essen promoted this mode of prayer among the faithful and made it widely known. He also recommended it to the Duchess Margarete von der Pfalz , who was under his spiritual direction and who in turn spread it as much as possible.

Since Dominic of Prussia had difficulties in prayerfully looking at the secrets of salvation, he wrote (according to tradition in Advent 1409) 50 final sentences, so-called clausulae , with a brief aspect, one of which is one at the end of each Hail , Maria attached. Gradually, only the 15 most striking of them became firmly established and are still used today for praying the rosary. The division into fixed sections with a certain number of Hail, Mary and finally the selection and regular use of the 15 final sentences still in use today are said to go back to Adolf von Essen and Dominikus von Prussia .

In 1415, Adolf von Essen founded the Marienfloss Charterhouse near Sierck-les-Bains at the request of the Lorraine duke couple Charles II and Margarete von der Pfalz . He took his student Dominikus with him, where he was the vicar of the monastery. From 1419 the duchess, who had been abandoned by her husband, also lived there and devoted herself to religious life. In 1421 both Carthusians returned to Trier. Dominic of Prussia became one of the religious advisors to Archbishop Otto von Ziegenhain . 1434/35 Dominikus worked as novice master in the Mainz Charterhouse and from 1439, after the death of Adolf von Essen, he took over the management of the Charterhouse St. Alban, Trier, as his successor.

Dominic of Prussia died in the Trier Charterhouse in 1460. He left behind various theological writings in Latin, most of which have never been translated into German. They contain u. a. biographical material on himself and many details on the history of the Carthusian monastery of Trier.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniel Tibi: Pearls of Faith. Introduction to the Rosary Prayer , EOS-Verlag, St. Ottilien, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8306-7338-5 , p. 13 .; see. also Reader for Rosary Prayer , p. 1
  2. ↑ La chapelle de Marienfloss - Mairie de Sierck les Bains. Illustrated website for the Marienfloss Charterhouse. In: siercklesbains.fr. Retrieved March 28, 2018 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Dominic of Prussia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dominicus Prutenus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Carthusian monk
DATE OF BIRTH around 1384
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1460
Place of death trier