Blessed Reginald of Orléans

Blessed Reginald of Orléans (Latin: Reginaldus Aureliensis; French: Réginald d'Orléans; born c. 1180 in Orléans, France; died early February 1220 in Paris, France) was a French canon lawyer, professor, and early member of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) who played a pivotal role in shaping the nascent Dominican Order in its first years. A Doctor of Canon Law who had served as Dean of the Cathedral Chapter at Orléans and as a prominent preacher associated with the University of Paris, he abandoned an eminent ecclesiastical career to join Saint Dominic's new Order after a life-threatening illness in Rome during which, according to the earliest Dominican tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him, healed him, and revealed to him the characteristic habit of the Friars Preacher. His preaching at Bologna and Paris drew a stream of gifted young men into the Order, including the future Blessed Jordan of Saxony, who became Dominic's successor as the Order's second Master General and who recorded Reginald's story in the first Dominican history.

Reginald died in February 1220 after less than two years as a Dominican friar, but the memory of his apostolic fire — Saint Dominic reportedly called him a "second Elijah" — was preserved with reverence within the Order from his death onward. In 1875, following an examination by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Pope Pius IX formally confirmed his immemorial cult and granted the divine office and Mass of Blessed Reginald to the Friars Preacher and to the dioceses of Paris and Orléans. His feast day is 12 February.

Stored in Cargo: Blessed Reginald of Orléans

Blessed Reginald of Orléans
Feast Day	February 12
Profession	Canon lawyer; university professor; Dominican friar and preacher
Rel. Affiliation	Catholic Church; Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
Attributes	Dominican habit; book of canon law
Birthplace	Orléans, France
Death Place	Paris, France
Cause of Death	Natural causes (exhaustion following intense apostolic activity)
Primary Shrine	Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Paris (original burial place)
Liturgical Class	Blessed; feast in the Dominican Order and in the dioceses of Paris and Orléans
Historic Class	Not in the General Roman Calendar

Biography

Early life and academic career

Reginald was born around 1180 in Orléans, one of the foremost cities of northern France, long home to distinguished schools of rhetoric, theology, and above all law. He trained in canon law and attained the degree of Doctor of Canon Law, one of the most prestigious qualifications available to a medieval cleric, and went on to become a professor associated with the University of Paris. He was also appointed Dean of the Cathedral Chapter of Orléans, a position of significant ecclesiastical responsibility that placed him among the senior clergy of one of France's great cathedral cities. By his late thirties he was widely recognised as both a brilliant canonist and a compelling preacher.

Journey to Rome and encounter with Saint Dominic (1218)

In 1218, Reginald set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, travelling through Rome. In the eternal city he encountered Saint Dominic, who was then engaged in the urgent work of seeking recruits and formal organisation for his newly founded Order of Preachers — confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1216 and only now beginning to grow beyond its initial nucleus at Toulouse. Dominic recognised in Reginald exactly the kind of learned, zealous preacher that the new Order needed, and Reginald was deeply drawn to the apostolic vision that Dominic embodied. The two men conversed at length, and Reginald resolved to join the Order as soon as his affairs permitted.

Vision of the Virgin Mary and the Dominican habit

Before Reginald could make his formal profession, however, he fell dangerously ill in Rome. According to the account composed by Blessed Jordan of Saxony — who recorded it as an eyewitness of the Order's early history and as one who owed his own vocation to Reginald — the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Reginald during his illness. In the vision, she anointed him with holy oil, restoring him to health, and then held out to him the habit that the Friars Preacher were to wear.

This vision, if accepted as a historical datum within the Dominican tradition, has an architectural importance for the Order. Before Reginald's illness, the brethren wore a habit modelled on that of the Augustinian canons — wholly black, without the white elements that now define the Dominican appearance. After Reginald described his vision, the habit was amended: a white woollen tunic and white scapular were added beneath the black cappa or outer mantle. The white tunic and scapular, regarded as gifts of Our Lady, have remained the hallmark of Dominican dress ever since.

Restored to health, Reginald received the Dominican habit from Saint Dominic himself and made his profession into the Order. He then completed his intended pilgrimage to the Holy Land before returning to Italy to begin his apostolate.

Preaching at Bologna

Saint Dominic assigned Reginald to the Dominican community at Bologna, where he served as Prior. His preaching rapidly became a phenomenon: Jordan of Saxony records that Reginald's words were "like a burning torch, inflaming the hearts of all his hearers," and that gifted young men flocked to the Order in response to his sermons. Among those who credited Reginald's influence with their own Dominican vocation was Jordan of Saxony himself — a Master of Theology at Paris who heard Reginald preach and was seized by the desire to follow Dominic. Jordan entered the Order in 1219, succeeded Saint Dominic as Master General in 1222, and served in that office until his own death in a shipwreck in 1237, leaving a permanent imprint on the Order's spirituality. He is himself Blessed Jordan of Saxony.

Preaching at Paris

Recognising the strategic importance of the University of Paris — the intellectual heart of medieval Christendom and the source of preachers and theologians for the whole Western Church — Saint Dominic sent Reginald to Paris to plant the Dominican mission there and draw the scholars of the university into the Order's life. Reginald continued to preach with the same apostolic urgency, and the Dominican community at Paris began to grow.

Death (February 1220)

The combined effects of his earlier illness and the relentless intensity of his preaching apostolate proved fatal. Reginald died in Paris in the early days of February 1220, aged approximately forty. He was buried at the church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris, where his memory was venerated almost immediately. Saint Dominic, who died the following year in August 1221, survived Reginald by only eighteen months. The Order had lost in Reginald not merely a great preacher but one of the most potent embodiments of its charism in the lives of those who would shape its future.

Cult and beatification

Reginald was revered within the Order of Preachers as a Blessed essentially from the time of his death, and the Dominican Order maintained an unbroken cult in his honour for six centuries. In 1875, after a formal examination by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Pope Pius IX confirmed this immemorial cult and granted the divine office and Mass of Blessed Reginald to the Friars Preacher and to the dioceses of Paris and Orléans, giving his veneration official ecclesiastical standing for those territories.

Significant events

• Born c. 1180 in Orléans, France; trained in canon law; became Doctor of Canon Law, professor at Paris, Dean of the Cathedral Chapter of Orléans.
• 1218: Travelling on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, stopped in Rome and met Saint Dominic.
• 1218 (Rome): Fell dangerously ill; received a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who healed him and revealed the white tunic and scapular of the Dominican habit; received the habit from Saint Dominic.
• After recovery: Completed his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
• 1219: Assigned as Prior of the Dominican convent at Bologna; preaching there drew many vocations, including the future Blessed Jordan of Saxony.
• 1219–1220: Sent by Dominic to Paris; established the Dominican apostolate at the University of Paris.
• Early February 1220: Died in Paris, aged about 40; buried at Notre-Dame-des-Champs.
• 1875: Pope Pius IX formally confirmed his immemorial cult; feast granted to the Order and to the dioceses of Paris and Orléans.

Significant locations

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Legend

• Birth location: Orléans, France
• Death location: Paris, France
• Notable location: Where he met Saint Dominic in 1218, fell ill, and received the vision of the Dominican habit from the Blessed Virgin Mary (Rome, Italy)
• Notable location: Where he served as Prior and his preaching attracted many to the Order, including the future Blessed Jordan of Saxony (Bologna, Italy)
• Notable location: Where he was sent by Saint Dominic and died in February 1220 (Paris, France)
• Notable location:
• Notable location:

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Feast day

February 12 (Dominican Order and dioceses of Paris and Orléans); February 1 (some other calendars)

Veneration

Blessed Reginald of Orléans is venerated within the Order of Preachers as one of the central figures of the Order's first generation — a brilliant canonist who surrendered his career to become a Dominican preacher and who, in the few months before his early death, helped give the Order both its characteristic habit and several of its most important future leaders. The role attributed to him in the fixing of the Dominican habit through the vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary has made him a figure of enduring symbolic importance in Dominican identity and spirituality. Blessed Jordan of Saxony, who owed his own Dominican vocation to Reginald's preaching and who provided in his Libellus the earliest account of the Order's founding, ensured that Reginald's memory would be preserved at the heart of Dominican tradition.

Prayers

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External links

• Nashville Dominican Sisters – Bl. Reginald of Orleans
• Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of Grace – Bl. Reginald of Orleans
• Anastpaul.com – Blessed Reginald of Orléans (Saint of the Day)
• Summit Dominicans – Blessed Reginald of Orleans: A Second Elijah!