
From St. Dominic himself to martyrs in World War II, the Dominican Order has borne fruit in holy men and women from every continent and walk of life. Discover some of their stories here.

Born: 1170
Region: Caleruega, Spain
Feast Day: August 8
St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, is known for his successful and tenacious commitment to the conversion of Christian souls away from heresy by being a living example of what he patiently preached.

Born: 1226
Region: Italy
Feast Day: January 28, modern calendar; March 7, traditional calendar
Known as The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas was a prolific author of theology and philosophy, many of his timeless ideas and commentary are still studied, taught and debated today.

Born: Before 1200
Region: Lauingen, Germany
Feast Day: November 15
A Doctor of the Church and prolific author, St. Albert participated in the 1259 General Chapter that created the program of study for the Dominican Order.

Born: 1347
Region: Siena, Italy
Feast Day: April 29
A Third Order Dominican and Doctor of the Church, St. Catherine is known for her instrumental role in restoring the papacy to Rome and her Dialogue of over 400 letters.

Born: 1st century
Region: Judea
Feast Day: July 22
St. Mary Magdalene, who accompanied Christ even to the foot of the Cross, was the first recorded witness of His Resurrection. She immediately ran to tell the Twelve, becoming the “Apostle to the Apostles”, and was adopted as a patroness of the Order of Preachers.

Born: 1181
Region: Assisi, Umbria, Italy
Feast Day: October 4
St. Francis and St. Dominic are traditionally known for their friendship, which began in 1216 when they were both in Rome seeking papal approval for their Orders.

Born: c. 1135
Region: Haza, Spain
Feast Day: August 2
Bl. Joan, while pregnant with St. Dominic, is known for her dream of a dog leaping from her womb lighting the world on fire with a torch.

Born: 1901
Region: Turin, Italy
Feast Day: July 4
A Third Order Dominican, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati is well known for his active lifestyle as a mountaineer and skier; his body was found incorrupt in 1981 upon opening his tomb.

Born: 1205
Region: Verona, Italy
Feast Day: April 29
St. Peter of Verona, a compelling preacher and martyr, was appointed inquisitor of Northern Italy by Pope Gregory IX. This region was home to many who followed the heresy of Catharism.

Born: 1175
Region: Spain
Feast Day: January 7
St. Raymond, a humble and penitential man, founded the Order of Our Lady of Ransom with King James of Aragon and St. Peter Nolasco. The order was devoted to rescuing Christians captured by the Moors.

Born: 1185
Region: Opole, Poland
Feast Day: August 16
Known as The Apostle of Poland, St. Hyacinth received the habit from St. Dominic around 1217.

Born: 1242
Region: Hungary
Feast Day: January 18
St. Margaret was the daughter of King Bela IV. Despite her nobility, she entered the convent and labored and fasted intensely for the wretched, poor, and infirm.

Born: Circa 1268
Region: Tuscany, Italy
Feast Day: April 20
St. Agnes is known for her visions, such as holding the Christ child in her arms while receiving communion from an angel, and miraculous cures during her lifetime.

Born: Circa 1287
Region: Metola, Italy
Feast Day: April 13
St. Margaret was born with severe birth defects. She became a Dominican tertiary, devoted to the care of the dying and imprisoned.

Born: 1306
Region: Donauworth, Bavaria
Feast Day: June 20
A prominent Rhineland mystic, Bl. Margaret wrote a treatise on the Lord’s Prayer and recorded her mystical experiences in her autobiography or Spiritual Journal.

Born: 1322
Region: Bologna, Italy
Feast Day: May 13
Bl. Imelda, immensely devoted to the Eucharistic presence, so strongly desired her first holy communion that she died of joy after receiving our Lord at the age of 11.

Born: 1330
Region: Capua, Italy
Feast Day: October 5
Bl. Raymond was the Spiritual Director of St. Catherine of Siena and is known as the second founder of the Order of Preachers because of his reformation of the Order.

Born: 1357
Region: Valencia, Spain
Feast Day: April 5
Known as a great preacher and miracle worker, St. Vincent Ferrer evangelized in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Flanders, England, Ireland, and Scotland.

Born: 1387
Region: Vicchio, Italy
Feast Day: February 18
Declared universal patron of all artists by Pope St. John Paul II in 1984, Fra Angelico’s fresco paintings are known for their simplicity and beauty.

Born: 1389
Region: Florence, Italy
Feast Day: May 10
Best known for his extraordinary gifts of counsel and knowledge, St. Antoninus wrote his Summa Theologica Moralis, which helped educate the clergy during the Renaissance.

Born: 1504
Region: Bosco, Italy
Feast Day: April 30
Pope St. Pius V is best known for his Counter Reformation work which implemented the decrees of the Council of Trent. These include standardizing the liturgy, revising the Vulgate, and publishing the Catechism.

Born: 16th Century
Region: Cologne
Feast Day: July 9
St. John of Cologne was captured and ultimately martyred by the Calvinists while administering the sacraments to imprisoned priests in Gorkum, Netherlands.

Born: 1522
Region: Florence, Italy
Feast Day: February 13
St. Catherine was known during her life for her extraordinary sanctity. Many bishops, world leaders, and clergy sought her counsel, including three popes.

Born: 1526
Region: Valencia, Spain
Feast Day: October 9
Known as The Apostle to South America, St. Louis Bertrand had the gift of tongues, so that as he preached in Spanish to the Indians, they heard him in their own languages, converting thousands.

Born: 1579
Region: Lima, Peru
Feast Day: November 3
St. Martin de Porres, a Third Order Dominican and servant to the sick and poor, was known to have extraordinary abilities, including bilocation, aerial flights, miraculous knowledge, and instant cures, among others.

Born: 1585
Region: Location
Feast Day: MM/DD
A Third Order Dominican in Lima, Peru, St. Juan Macias is known for his work with the poor. He was good friends with St. Martin de Porres and they often served the poor together.

Born: 1586
Region: Lima, Peru
Feast Day: August 23
St. Rose, from an early age, dedicated her life to prayer and penance. She was known to only sleep for two hours so that she could pray more.

Born: 1589
Region: Régil, Guipuskoa, Spain
Feast Day: September 28
As a missionary to Japan, St. Dominic Ibáñez was tortured and martyred by the 'hole hanging' method, Ana-tsurushi. One of his cooperator brothers, St. Frances Shoyemon, was martyred on the same day. All 16 of these martyrs were closely associated with or members of the Dominican Family.

Born: Ca. 1600
Region: Manila, Philippines
Feast Day: September 28
Martyred in Japan in 1637, St. Lawrence Ruiz told his Japanese captors, “I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly accept death for God. If I had a thousand lives, all these to Him I shall offer. Do with me as you please." St. Lawrence Ruiz belonged to the same group of martyr-companions as Saint Dominic Ibáñez and is known as the first canonized Filipino martyr.

Born: 1607
Region: Spain
Feast Day: January 15
St. Francis de Capillas was a Spanish Dominican friar who is known as the protomartyr of China, being the first Christian Missionary martyred there.

Born: 1673
Region: Montfort, France
Feast Day: April 28
A Third Order Dominican, St. Louis de Montfort is best known for promoting strong devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, angels, and the Rosary.

Born: 1754
Region: France
Feast Day: July 4
Credit: By Sjwells53 (wikimedia commons)
During the French Revolution, Bl. Catherine Jarrige helped to secure shelter, food, and supplies for the celebration of Mass for persecuted priests.

Born: Ca. 1761
Region: Villa Felice, Spain
Feast Day: July 12
Bishop St. Ignatius Delgado is one of 130,000-300,000 Christians martyred in Vietnam from the 15th century to the 20th century.

Born: 1799
Region: Nam Định, Vietnam
Feast Day: November 24
A Third Order Dominican, local magistrate, and member of the Vietnamese martyr-companions associated with St. Ignatius Delgado, St Dominic An-Kham was martyred as an elderly man for his association with and defense of local Christians.

Born: 1818
Region: Lugo, Spain
Feast Day: July 27
A missionary to Southeast Asia from Manila to Tonkin, Bishop Saint José María Díaz Sanjurjo is known for his apostolic zeal and martyrdom.

Born: 1832
Region: France
Feast Day: May 21
Bl. Hyacinthe Cormier was the 76th Master General of the Order of Preachers.

Born: 1841
Region: Italy
Feast Day: October 5
Bartolo Longo was initially an apostate to the Church, even becoming a Satanist Priest. However, a Dominican priest guided him back to the Church and he became a Dominican Tertiary, preaching against the occult to college students.

Born: 1899
Region: Poland
Feast Day: September 6
Bl. Julia was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis in the Stutthof concentration camp. She risked her life daily to care for those imprisoned with her, including those infected with typhus, which she ultimately contracted and died from shortly before the camp was liberated.