GIORDANO di SASSONIA, blessed. — Dominican Master General, b. at Burgberg near Dassel (Westphalia) around 1185, d. on 13 February 1237 off the coast of Syria.
As a young man, G. went to Paris, where in 1218 he was magister artium. Being a deacon and bachelor of theology, on 12 February 1220 he entered the Dominican Order and, as a delegate of the Paris convent, took part in the first General Chapter in May 1220 at Bologna. He taught in Paris. Appointed provincial of Lombardy in 1221, at the General Chapter of Paris, on 23 May 1222 he was elected successor to St. Dominic. Alternating the General Chapters between Bologna and Paris and combining with his travels the visitation of the provinces and the propagandistic activity for his Order in cultural centers, G. made notable journeys through Italy, Germany, France, and England. He had contact with Gregory IX and the papal Curia, with Frederick II, with Queen Blanca, and with prelates and scholars everywhere. Returning to Europe after a visit to the Holy Land, he was shipwrecked off the Syrian coast and was buried in the Dominican church of Acre. The ecclesiastical cult paid to G. through the centuries was confirmed by Leo XII in 1827.
Endowed with a lively intelligence and a noble will, a rich and generous heart, a fascinating eloquence,
nante, and a rare skill in dealing with people and affairs, G. successfully prepared the legacy of St. Dominic for the great tasks that the Friars Preachers were soon to undertake, increasing the houses from 30 to 300 and the members from approximately 300 to 4,000. The Vitae Fratrum of Gerardo di Frachet, from 1259–60, after the book on St. Dominic, devote an entire book to “our holy and worthy father, Friar Jordano, worthy of remembrance,” with a wealth of personal and spiritual recollections.
He came to know the noble Diana d'Andalo, whom, as Master General, he assisted in founding the monastery of S. Agnese at Bologna. G.’s letters to blessed Diana are important testimonies for religious and cultural history.
As Master General, G. strengthened the constitutional principles, presiding over the General Chapters and two most general chapters (Paris 1228 and 1236) and publishing the Constitutiones primae Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum quae erant tempore magistri Jordani (ed. H. Ch. Scheeben [*Quellen a. Forschungen zur Gesch. des Dominikanevordens*, 38], Colonia 1939). He promoted conventual studies and saw two friars rise to chairs at the University of Paris (1230 and 1231); he gave impetus to the priestly ministry in preaching, the administration of the Sacraments, and burials. From 1231 onward he had to accept the appointment of his friars as inquisitors in France, Germany, Lombardy, Tuscany, the Kingdom of Sicily, and Spain.
G. was the first Dominican scholastic writer (In Priscianum minorem: Postilla super Apocalypsum), historian (Libellus de principiis Ordinis Praedicatorum, ed. H. Ch. Scheeben [*Mon. Ord. Praed. hist., 16], Rome 1935, pp. 25–88), homiletic writer (cf. Archiv. Fratr. Praed., 10 [1940], pp. 5–19), and spiritual writer (Epistulae, ed. A. Walz, in Archiv. Fratr. Praed., 20 [1950], p. 1 ff. Cf. Quénil-Echard, I, pp. 93–100; H. Ch. Scheeben, Der lit. Nachlass Jordans V. Sachsen, in Hist. Jahrb.*, 52 [1932], pp. 56–71).