In an age where faith is pitted against science, morality against freedom, the figure of the French Dominican Henri Lacordaire (1802-1861) stands as a beacon for us whose society is grounded on an amalgam of ideas that emanated from the Enlightenment and it’s love child, the French Revolution. For Lacordaire had to face the same issues concerning faith, reason, morality and law that dominate contemporary socio-political discourse. The son of a doctor, he chose instead the path of a lawyer. Following his studies in law and a brief stint in practice, he embraced the religion of his youth and discerned a vocation to the priesthood. Ordained for the Archdiocese of Paris on 22 September 1827, he was soon caught up in the stirrings of the French Revolution. His stance, one that would come to define his outlook on religion and politics, is summed up in the catchphrase of L’Avenir, a journal he helped launch: Dieu et la Liberte! (God and Freedom). Despite the strongly anti-clerical mood of the time (a mood that resonates in our ears today), his stance sought a reconciliation between the ultramontanist defence of papal sovereignty and the revolutionist cry for liberty.

After resisting commendations to join the Jesuits and overcoming his initial fear at the loss of freedom that would be entailed in consecrated religious life, Lacordaire entered the Dominican Order in 1837. His political and religious sentiments played a definite role in the choice of order. Founded in 1216 by the Spaniard Dominic Guzman to combat the spread of error by the preaching of truth, the Dominican Order comprises a delicate blend of prayer and study lived out in community for the ultimate purpose of proclaiming the liberty bestowed upon humanity by the Truth of God as revealed and made manifest in the Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. Dominic’s intent was to retain the fortifying virtues cultivated by a life of prayer, penance, study and regular observance so as to ensure that the Word which is preached is not hollow but filled with the truth and grace of a life lived in the Holy Spirit. As such, these practices must conduce to and never detract from the ultimate end for which the Order exists, that is, preaching and the salvation of souls. It is for this reason that Dominic chose for his Order, the democratically inclined rule of St. Augustine. It was upon seeing this underlying principle of freedom of the sake of truth that convinced Lacordaire of his calling to the Order and, furthermore, of the need for the existence of such an order in post-Revolution France. Lacordaire could now see that the obedience required in submitting to religious vows did not detract from freedom but, rather, was its most eminent expression.

This marriage between the ideals of the Revolution and the founding principles of the Dominican Order was incorporated into the revisions to the life and outlook of the Order following the Second Vatican Council. In an age where individualism, autonomy and choice are raised on a pedal stool, it is Lacordaire’s holistic vision, as reflected in the current constitutions which gear all to the preaching mission, that will serve to ensure that the Order continues to appeal to the youth of today who search for that path upon which their freedom will flourish.