The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally display the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning 'of the Order of Preachers'. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans. More recently, there has been a growing number of associates of the religious sisters who are unrelated to the tertiaries.
Blackfriars Priory is a Dominican religious community in Oxford, England. Its primary work is the administration of two educational institutions: Blackfriars Studium, a centre of theological studies in the Roman Catholic tradition; and Blackfriars Hall, a constituent permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. The current prior of Blackfriars is Nicholas Crowe. The name Blackfriars is commonly used in Britain to denote a house of Dominican friars, a reference to their black cappa, which forms part of their habit.
Greyfriars is a Roman Catholic friary and parish located in East Oxford, which until 2008 was also a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. Situated on the Iffley Road in East Oxford, it was one of the smallest constituent halls of the university. Its status as a permanent private hall (PPH) referred to the fact that it was governed by an outside institution, rather than by its fellows as is college.
Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain and then-Chancellor of the University.
The University of Oxford has thirty-nine colleges, and four permanent private halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. Colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university. These colleges are not only houses of residence, but have substantial responsibility for teaching undergraduate students. Generally tutorials and classes are the responsibility of colleges, while lectures, examinations, laboratories, and the central library are run by the university. Students normally have most of their tutorials in their own college, but often have a couple of modules taught at other colleges or even at faculties and departments. Most colleges take both graduates and undergraduates, but several are for graduates only.
Analytical Thomism is a philosophical movement which promotes the interchange of ideas between the thought of Thomas Aquinas, and modern analytic philosophy.
Thomas Cajetan, OP, also known as Gaetanus, commonly Tommaso de Vio or Thomas de Vio, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, the Master of the Order of Preachers 1508 to 1518, and cardinal from 1517 until his death. He was a leading theologian of his day who is now best known as the spokesman for Catholic opposition to the teachings of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation while he was the Pope's legate in Augsburg, and among Catholics for his extensive commentary on the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.
Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, OP is an English Catholic priest and Dominican friar who served as master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He is the only member of the order's English Province to hold that office.
The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PUST), also known as the Angelicum in honor of its patron the Doctor Angelicus Thomas Aquinas, is a pontifical university located in the historic center of Rome, Italy. The Angelicum is administered by the Dominican Order and is the order's central locus of Thomist theology and philosophy.
Brian Evan Anthony Davies is a British philosopher, Roman Catholic priest, and friar. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University, and author of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, now in its fourth English edition, which has been translated into five languages.
John Christopher "Aidan" Nichols is an English academic and Catholic priest.
Dominique Pire, O.P. was a Belgian Dominican friar whose work helping refugees in post-World War II Europe saw him receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958. Pire delivered his Nobel lecture, entitled Brotherly Love: Foundation of Peace, in December 1958.
Fergus Gordon Thomson Kerr is a Scottish Roman Catholic priest of the English Dominican province. He has published significantly on a wide range of subjects, but is famous particularly for his work on Ludwig Wittgenstein and Thomas Aquinas.
Richard Damian Finn, O.P. is presently Director of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, at Blackfriars, Oxford, and a member of the Theology Faculty and the Classics Faculty at the University of Oxford. He has previously served as Regent of Blackfriars, as well as Novice Master for the English Province of the Order of Preachers.
Fr Ian Anthony Ross was a Scottish born Catholic priest and member of The Order of Preachers (Dominican). He was also a noted broadcaster, writer, community activist, educator and antiquarian who served as Rector of the University of Edinburgh (1979–1982).
Thomas O'Loughlin is Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham. He earned a BA, MPhil, PhD (NUI), STB (Maynooth) and DD hon.c (Bangor).
Columba Ryan was a British priest of the Dominican Order and a philosophy teacher, university chaplain, and pastor. He was the brother of John Ryan, the British animator and cartoonist.
Daniel Callus (1888–1965) was a Maltese historian and philosopher. His main interest was in the history of Medieval philosophy.
Bede Jarrett OP was an English Dominican friar and Catholic priest who was also a noted historian and author. Known for works including Mediæval Socialism and The Emperor Charles IV, Jarrett also founded Blackfriars Priory at the University of Oxford in 1921, formally reinstating the Dominican Order at that university for the first time since the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII.
Benjamin Earl, O.P. is an English Catholic Priest, Dominican Friar, and Canon lawyer. He is the Procurator General of the Order of Preachers —the 800-year old mendicant order colloquially known as the Dominicans.
