Habakkuk 1.12—2.4; Psalm 49; Matthew 17.14-20
Dominic (ca 1170-1221) was born in Castile in Spain and joined the Canons Regular of Osma. In 1206 he was sent to France to help uproot the Albigensian heresy, and there with six companions he founded the Order of Preachers (better known as the Dominicans) to assist in this work.
The Albigensians (named for the French town of Albi where a large number of adherents lived) viewed all the physical world as evil. They claimed that the world was the creation of a Demiurge eternally opposed to God. They saw Jesus as an angel, not God-made-man, and denied the efficacy of the sacraments. They taught sexual abstinence in marriage and vegetarianism. They decried the priesthood and denied the existence of Purgatory.
The Order of Preachers was approved by the Holy See in 1216 and has had a huge impact on the life of the church. Among their gifts to the church is the holy rosary, attributed to the preaching of St Dominic. Dominic died, exhausted, in Bologna.