13th-century painters - St Dominic in Prayer - WGA15964

''De Modo Orandi'' (English: The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic) is an anonymous thirteenth-century treatise on the prayer life of St. Dominic, the founder of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

. The treatise is based on the testimony of Sister Cecilia of the Monastery of St. Agnes at Bologna. There are three extant manuscripts with illustrations of the saint's nine prayer postures. One is housed in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

. The treatise presents nine prayer postures used by the saint each connected to a specific virtue. Below is the breakdown provided by William Hood. The work itself does not break out the postures and virtues in such a neat manner. Others, for instance, connect the ninth mode ''conversatio'' in Latin not to the English ''conversation'' but to ''travel'' i.e. praying while strolling about. The art historian William Hood argues that ''De Modo Orandi'' was the inspiration for the prayer postures of

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic, (; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilians, Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he a ...

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, and

Peter of Verona Peter of Verona (1205 – April 6, 1252), also known as Saint Peter Martyr and Saint Peter of Verona, was a 13th-century Italian Catholic priest. He was a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher. He served as Inquisitor in Lombardy, was ki ...

who appear in the meditative wall

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s at

San Marco, Florence San Marco is a Catholic Church, Catholic religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church (building), church and a convent. The convent, which is now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, has three claims to fame. During the 15th century ...

References

{{Reflist 13th-century manuscripts Dominican spirituality