santamaria da joomla

Relics In the Christian sense, the term « relics » primarily means the remains (in latin « reliquiae ») of the body of a saint or a blessed, and secondarily objects that have a direct bearing on the life of Christ (for example the cross) or of the saints, or even objects that have touched…

Salve Regina (prayer) « Hail holy queen »: these are the first Latin words of one of the last prayers that the community of Dominican brothers or sisters sings at nightfall, at the end of the office of Compline. This prayer was composed in the eleventh century. It is attributed to Adhemar, bishop of Puy-en-Velay…

Rosary The word reminds us of a rose garland that crowns the Virgin Mary: these flowers are actually each of the prayers that believers recite to contemplate the mysteries of the life of Christ through prayer and the life of Mary. Among these mysteries we count, at least since the sixteenth century, the joyful, the…

Virgin Mary Mariy is the name of the young virgin girl who, two thousand years ago, gave birth to Jesus, true man and true God: she is therefore also the Mother of God. In an account dating back to the first century, the evangelist Saint Luke reports that Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel,…

The Dominican Order An order is a group of people giving themselves fully to God as a gift having pronounced vows of fidelity until death. Many orders have been founded during the history of the Church. In the thirteenth century, Saint Dominic, choosing the Rule of Saint Augustine, introduced a new way to live fully…

Church (monument) In the apostolic times that followed Pentecost, shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christians of the early communities would regularly gather to hear the proclamation of the Scriptures, listen to the preaching of the apostles and the ministers of the Church, and celebrate at the mass, the sacrament of…

Conclave (election of the pope) First this Latin word means a « locked room (clavis) » and it then refers to the assembly of cardinals who meet in such a place to elect a new pope, guided by the Holy Spirit. Regulated from the thirteenth century, the conclave has set strict rules of secrecy for…

Convent (place of Dominican life) A place where people gather, answering to a personal call of God to live together according to the religious rules inspired by the Gospel, in order to seek God. These men and women, bound by the vows of religion, in this way follow the counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience…