Munio of Zamora
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His Excellency, the Most Reverend Lord Brother Munio of Zamora, O.P. | |
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Castile-León, Spain) | |
Died | 19 February 1300 Rome, Italy |
Buried | Basilica of Santa Sabina Rome, Italy |
Nationality | Spanish |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Munio of Zamora,
Life
Spain
No details of Munio's early life are recorded, but he is assumed to have been born in
One notable difference he had from his predecessors was that he did not have the academic background which they did, never having studied at the great universities of Italy or France, and thus not having a Master's degree. Administration was his sole talent.
Master General
Munio, in his office as Prior Provincial, took part in the
The state of the Order as a whole at the time of Munio's election required a man of his gifts. The rapid growth of the Order had often been accomplished with minimal training of its new members. Discipline had become a major concern of Munio's predecessors, who issued frequent appeals to the friars and nuns of the Order to maintain the spirit of the Rule. Men were joining who claimed to have already the gift of preaching, and demanded to do so without any restrictions on the part of the Order.
In his first letter to the Order at large after his election, Munio issues a serious call to the friars and nuns to keep a spirit of poverty more strenuously, as well as an adherence to solitude and silence. He concludes:
May the zeal of the Order revive in you all! For I tell you with a heart filled with bitterness that, among many of you, this zeal has lost its first vigor.[1]
The Third Order
Shortly after his election as Master, Munio promulgated the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the Blessed Dominic (Regula Fratrum et Sororum Ordinis de Paenitentiae Beati Dominici), which provided a rule of life (lasting into the 21st century) for the "
The Master of the Order thus offered an opportunity to lay people and secular clergy, who had been independent until then, to adopt a rule of life and to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Dominican Order, by making a promise of obedience to the Master General of the Order. The laity were here being given an ecclesiastical mission and were being placed at the service of the preaching of truth "in accordance with their own life".[2]
With this formal incorporation into the structure of the Dominican Order, the groups of Dominican penitents began to grow and flourish. With their legitimization through their Rule, they were able to withstand the accusations of the
This was a major development in the life of the Order, and was taken upon his initiative. Thus Munio played a significant role in the history of the Dominican Order. There were consequences, however. Upon the ascension to the Throne of St. Peter, the Franciscan friar, Pope Nicholas IV, took Munio's legislation as a reason to edit the Dominican Rule in its entirety.
Resignation
After Nicholas' election, rumors and stories about Munio's past started to circulate in Rome. Among them were the charges that he had been elected thanks, in large part, to the manipulations and bribery of his patron, King Sancho IV of Castile.
It was further alleged that Munio was also in the background when Sancho had authorized a payment of 30,000
Despite the shaky foundations of the rumors, in 1289 Pope Nicholas chose to believe them, and made a personal appeal to Munio that he resign his office. Munio did not act on this request. Then came the General Chapter of 1290, in which Munio was re-elected, despite the allegations. The capitulars in attendance declared that Munio's reputation for abstinence was so well-founded that the only infractions were of such a nature that it would have involved morsels "without which life was not worth living". Seeing this support, the pope offered Munio the position of
The pope's indecision did not last long, however, for, the following year (1291), Pope Nicholas, with the support of the
Bishopric and death
Munio's career was rehabilitated in 1294, when he was appointed
Notes and references
- ^ Fray Munio de Zamora, O.P.: un Domenico controvertido by Fray Luis Pérez Arruga, O.P. [1](in Spanish)
- ^ International website of the Order of Preachers "Lay Dominicans" Archived 2011-09-11 at archive.today
- ^ Pérez, ibid
External links
- Mary Laven's detailed review of Peter Linehan, The Ladies of Zamora 1997
- Peter Linehan article in History Today March 1997.
- The Dominican Story: brief laudatory biography