Godzdawgs*

Thomas Aquinas Combats the False Teachers
in his Summa Contra Gentiles
Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 13th c.

From the Dominican Friars of Poland...combining a traditional image with a contemporary beat, and a bit of a surprise at 4:25ff.

Note on group cultures. There are two Catholic religious orders I know very well, The Society of Mary, a group of educators of young people, founded in France in the early 19th century, and the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, founded in southern Europe in the early 13th. The first has a dominantly feminine streak in its culture, not only focussed on and vowed to Mary, but with a priority given to feeling and affiliation. The second, although famous for its connection to Mary's rosary, is distinctly masculine, valuing philosophical and theological thinking, dispute and discipline. The first run schools, the second ran the Inquisition.

Ironically, or perhaps complimentarily, the post-1789 mostly lay Marian group has little sense of ceremony or aesthetic, an unusually egalitarian spirit and never even wore a noticeable religious habit, while the historically aggressive mostly priestly Preachers have a monastic ceremonial tradition, a complex (but always elected) hierarchy and governance structure, a somewhat spare but clear aesthetic (Fra Angelico, for example) and wear a striking garb. The Polish video strikes me as very masculine still.

*The Dominican friars' name in Latin sounds a lot like the phrase "Domini canes", which means "The Lord's Dogs". And St. Dominic's mother, while pregnant, dreamed of a dog carrying a torch in its mouth. Young English friars are on the web as Godzdogz. And the Poles...well, it's a pretty interesting piece.