Dominican Brothers: Conversi, Lay, and Cooperator Friars by the noted Dominican author and historian, Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., captures the rich and elaborative history of the vocation and ministry of Dominican brothers since the very foundation of the Dominican Order in 1216.Through exhaustive and ground-breaking research, Fr. Thompson has uncovered a legion of little known facts and about the history, vitality, permanence, and presence of the vocation and ministry of the Dominican brother (including saints, blesseds, and martyrs) in promoting Dominican fraternal life and the mission of the Order in service to the Church universal. Thompson’s work is not limited to a dry historical review of the past; rather, he brings the richness of the past into the present day so that it will promote vocations to the Dominican brotherhood, whose life and ministry are indispensable in the process of renewing and sustaining the fraternal life and ministry of the Order and the Church: preaching and the salvation of souls.This prophetic document also needs to be studied by other religious orders and read in tandem with the Vatican Document, “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church,” issued by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies for Apostolic Life.
