Dominican religious names, etc.

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I went to a Lay Dominican Regional Meeting today and had the great pleasure of meeting an awesome Dominican priest named Fr. Bede — Bede! I love it!! I’ve suggested it before as a nickname for Benedict, but I have to say, today I was loving it on his own. I asked him if it was a religious name or his birth name, and he confirmed it was his religious name, taken in honor of Fr. Bede Jarrett, OP. I asked him how many of the Dominican friars take a new name, and he thought about two-thirds. I thought that was really interesting! I also heard him talking about one of his brother friars whose name is Br. Athanasius. Swoon!

It also made me realize that I don’t think I ever told you all that I have a religious name — we’re able to take one when we take our vows if we’d like to, and mine is Maria Rosa Dominica, for Our Lady, St. Rose of Lima (a Third Order Dominican and my birthday saint), and St. Dominic of course. Some of our other members are: Esther Anthony, Mary Catherine, Mary Dominic and … I can’t remember who else! I’m pretty sure we have a Thomas (for Aquinas) … gah! How is my namey mind failing me?! I’ll have to get back to you with the others, each one is so beautiful and so personally meaningful.

We also had the amazing blessing of having several relics on display during our meeting — St. Dominic, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. John Neumann, Bl. Bartolo Longo (aka Br. Rosary, love it!), and Fr. McGivney (our meeting was held at our local Knights of Columbus hall). I felt like we had a roomful of heavenly friends with us. 🙂

I hope you all had a great Saturday!

22 thoughts on “Dominican religious names, etc.”

  1. That sounds like such a lovely way to spend your Saturday 🙂 Maria Rosa Dominica is such a beautiful name! I met a Dominican friar last year while doing a scavenger hunt for school (really long story), and his religious name was Louis, which I thought was an awesome name.

    Esther Anthony and Mary Dominic are interesting names. I kind of love religious names where a woman takes on a very masculine name. There’s a nun at a convent by my hometown who is Mother Mark, and I’ve always found that such a fascinating choice. I always mean to ask her why she chose it instead of a traditionally feminine name, maybe I’ll remember next time I visit.

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    • I love that too, l when a woman takes a masculine name. I also love when a man takes Mary (I’ve never seen a man take a different female name though — have any of you?). I know a little Louis who goes by Louie and it’s really sweet!

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      • Hmmmm, I think Mary and Mary variants is the only feminine name I’ve seen a male take. I met a Father Jean Marie (Jean pronounced in the French way) and Brother Josemaria, but other then that I haven’t heard of feminine names for men. I think it would be kind of awesome to meet a little boy who was Peter Anne or something similar, though I don’t know how that would go over on the playground.

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  2. Your religious name is beautiful!

    I also have to mention a playground experience I had earlier this week. A fellow mom of a two-year-old kept referring to her son as “Ash.” I assumed his name was something like Asher. But when he did something wrong, she yelled, “Athanasius! Athanasius!” It took all my self-control not to ask if they were Catholic, haha! But I also thought, what a great name and fantastic, wearable nickname! It felt like it came straight from your blog. I also have a spot for St. Athanasius after writing a paper about him to get accepted into an overseas graduate program in theology (I didn’t end up with enough finances to attend the school, sadly, but it worked out anyway when I got engaged to my now-husband who could not have moved overseas).

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  3. Hey Kate,
    You know I love this post! Was definitely going to ask you what names you chose for your religious name in my next email. We are getting settled in Naples. A group of seminarians from the NAC and sisters are visiting the base chapel next weekend. Excited to host them and praying a Dominican connection will come our way.

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    • That’s so great Shelby!! I’ll pray for it too!! I was just loving being a part of the Dominican family this weekend, Marianne was there and was sharing news of the whole province, and her dealings with the Master General (!!), it was awe inspiring, and really felt like our little group is part of something much bigger, and that we’re an important part of it. Please keep me updated!

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  4. I know a Bede!!! At first when his Mom told me his name, I didn’t catch the Venerable reference and thought she was saying Bead — payback for all the times people thought I said Coal/Kohl and Blaze 😛

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  7. Bl. Bartolo Longo was the patron saint of my blog for many years! Long story about why, and why I didn’t necessarily continue his patronage when I moved sites (mostly because of new beginnings). I love him!

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    • WOW that’s awesome!! Most people I know have never heard of him, but one of my Dominican sisters has always had a special devotion to him … I’d love to hear your long story sometime!

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  8. i love that you are a lay dominican!! i was a religious sister with a dominican community for awhile and a lot of these names mentioned here are names of sisters in my community. religious sister names make for great baby names 😉

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  11. My father and brother are both Bede! My husband and I will be using Bede as the middle name for our son, due in a few weeks. If only deciding on a first name was as easy. I think Bede is great name on its own.

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