Wrong.
Although for all I know it is also the Franciscan title for S. Francis, ‘Our Seraphic Father’ is actually the Dominican title for him; because, of course, the two Saints – Francis & Dominic – were active at very much the same time, and it is certainly suggested, if not actually proved (I admit to not having investigated this with great care) that they met in Rome during their lifetimes.
My experience, of course, relates primarily to Oxford : and there it is the normal practice for them to attend each other’s Masses on the Patronal Festivals, and indeed for someone from the other Order to preach . . . so that on S. Dominic’s Day (well, actually his ‘other’ day; the August feast is just impractical in Oxford) a Franciscan preaches, and today one of the brethren from Blackfriars will return the compliment, and honour S. Francis.
I shan’t be able to get to Oxford this evening, or indeed to any other Franciscan house : but they will all be firmly in my prayers on this feast of ‘Our Seraphic Father’, and I invite you to have them in your prayers today as well.
I imagine you are familiar with the proper mass for the Feast of St. Francis, from the traditional Dominican Missal - complete with a sequence: Sanctitatis nova signa.
ReplyDeleteThe sequence is on the net: http://www.liturgialatina.org/dominican/sequence_francis.htm