Final Blog - Question 7

“Hello everyone. Welcome to the ‘Frolicking Fanjeauxians’ tour. I am your tour guide, St. Dominic de Guzman. I’ll give you all a minute to enjoy the beautiful view and take a few pictures before I continue on.

Can you all hear me? Good. I have a lot of information to share with you all today, and I wouldn’t want you to miss any of it. Let me start by introducing myself further. I was born in Caleruega, Spain to Felix Guzman and Jane of Aza around 1170. Before I was born, my mom had a dream of a dog with a torch in his mouth lighting up the world, and she knew that her son would make a difference in this world. I bet she had no idea, however, that eventually the Catholic Church would name me a saint.

Today, this town seems so quiet doesn’t it? Well, when I first arrived here in 1206, it wasn’t. It was a bustling little town. We had farmers, we had soldiers, we had families living here. It really was a nice place to be. Not that it isn’t now; I just want to stress that it was very different. We also had jongleurs. Can anyone tell me what they are? Yes, sir in the back? Correct! Jongleurs are performers who performed the poetry and music of the troubadours.

This town was quite the interesting place to be. It was also not a wealthy town. The law in this area was that wealth was to be distributed throughout the family, not just given to the oldest son. This is of course a more fair way of doing things, but it made any wealth in the family quickly go away. Towns were usually ruled jointly by noblemen.

You’re probably all wondering what brought me here. It was all because of the Crusades against the Cathars. Pope Innocent III had the King of France call a crusade against them in 1209. The crusaders took over Fanjeaux, forcing the Cathars to flee. A word about the Cathars, they were Christian, but believed in many heretical ideas. Most notably, they believed in duality. They thought there was a divide between the spirit and the body. The believed the spirit was divine and the body was evil. As Catholics, we don’t believe that. I personally believe quite the opposite. In my life I developed the nine ways of prayer. After I finish the tour, I’ll give you the opportunity to come with me to the couvant where we can pray this way together, and you may get a better idea of what I mean.

Anyway, where we are now is an area called the Seinadou. It’s one of my favorite places in Fanjeaux, not just because the people have been so kind as to put up a statue and a mosaic of me, but for the beauty you can see from this spot. It is from here that I saw a ball of fire falling, which I believe was an act of God. I was inspired to talk to people, especially the Cathars, after the crusade was over about converting to Catholicism. I was able to help some of the women convert, but sadly, their families would not take them back. It is because of this that I set up a convent for them in Prouilhe. Imagine your family not wanting you to come home because of your religion? They needed a place to go, and I was only doing what I could to help. I spent 8

years here before leaving for Toulouse in 1215. I am sad to say what has happened here since then. During the French Revolution, there was a huge fire, and the monastery was abandoned for almost 100 years. Even today they are going through legal troubles with the people doing construction on it. Despite all the hardships, I know this place will recover and continue to embody the spirit it has always had. I’ll give you a few minutes to take some pictures before we continue on.

Okay, be careful walking. They’re doing some construction and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. However, I haven’t actually seen anyone working all week. Either way, be careful. Okay now on your left you can see ‘The House of St. Dominic.” I may or may not have actually lived here, but I’m not going to give away the secret. My favorite part of this building is the stained glass windows. They depict me during the time I was here and I’m honored that someone would take the time to decorate this place so beautifully.

Now everyone stop! Don’t walk into each other, just stop. Do you all see the beautiful sunset? I just wanted to make sure you all noticed it. In 2010, I notice that so many people are so busy in

their lives that they don’t take the time to notice all the beauty around us. We’re going to now keep walking to the right, towards the Belvedere. I talked to the owner, Monsiur Gaiye, and he’s being kind enough to let us conclude our tour on the patio, so just follow me up the stairs and through the hallway.

Okay, from here we can see where I talked about before. Prouilhe is down that hill. It’s a very nice walk down to the monastery, and I encourage you all to take the trip. On the way you’ll see many different fields, including some with peas and even some with the fastest growing sunflowers in the world. But yes, we’re sitting on the patio of the Belvedere. Many different groups come and stay here throughout the year, including a group of students and faculty/staff from Dominican colleges all over the United States. They come to learn about me and the time period in which I lived.

Fanjeaux is now a very different place than I knew, but I’m glad that people still make pilgrimages (that’s one of my favorite words) here and that the history of this town is being kept alive and not forgotten.

Thank you for coming on the ‘Frolicking Fanjeauxians’ tour. I hope that I’ve been a decent tour guide. I don’t ask for tips; I simply ask that you go out and preach by way of study, community, prayer, and mission. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, and don’t forget that we will be praying the nine ways of prayer at the couvant later tonight.”