Dominic of Sora, Saint

DOMINIC OF SORA, Saint. - Benedictine, born at Foligno in the second half of the 11th century, died at Sora on 22 January 1031. A monk at St. Sylvester in Foligno, out of a desire for solitude and for greater detachment from his relatives he withdrew to Sabina and began to alternate the eremitical life with the cenobitic.

In the solitude of a mountain near Scandriglia (986), driven by the numerous disciples who flocked to him, he founded the monastery of St. Saviour. To escape popularity he had to move from one place to another, but he was always reached by new followers, or even by local lords who begged him to restore monastic observance in their lands. Thus arose, alongside and together with the hermitages, various monasteries in the places where the Saint stayed; besides in Sabina, in Abruzzo (St. Peter in Lago, St. Peter of Avellana), in Lazio (St. Bartholomew of Trisulti, and, in the vicinity, a monastery of nuns; St. Angelo in the territory of Segni). Finally, the foundation most closely linked to his name was that of Sora, due to the munificence of Count Pietro Rainerio, whom D. had converted. Of this monastery D. was abbot for the rest of his life, while he had entrusted the others founded by him to the government of his most tried disciples. It seems, however, that he did not entirely abandon his foundations. Although he did not directly set out to reform the monastic Order, as other saints of the time did, D. carried out in this field, through his foundations and the example of his life, truly fruitful work, and to him, no less than to the promoters of the Cluniac reform, the monastic renewal in the provinces mentioned is due.

D. extended his zeal also beyond the cloisters, preaching to the people and combating, sometimes with exceptional severity, the vices of the time; above all he inculcated the holiness of marriage. His thaumaturgic virtue and his prophetic gift were further reasons for his popularity. Even today he is much venerated among the populations of southern Lazio, Campania and Abruzzo. His body rests in the church of the monastery founded by him at Sora; notable relics are also preserved at Foligno. His feast is celebrated on 22 January and, at Sora, also in summer, when numerous pilgrims flock there from the neighbouring districts.

Ambrogio Manconi