Founder of the Roman Catholic Dominican order
of preaching friars. Feast day 7 Aug. Born in
Old Castile, Dominic was sent by Pope
Innocent III in 1205 to preach among the
heretic Albigenesian sect in Provence. In
1208 the pope instigated the Albigensian
crusade to suppress the heretics by force,
and this was supported by Dominic. In 1215
the Dominican order was given premises at
Toulouse; during the following years Dominic
established friaries at Bologna and elsewhere
in Italy, and by the time of his death the
order was established all over W Europe.