Thirteenth-century Christians assigned a new value and meaning to the human body, a discovery to which the anti-dualistic preaching of Dominic of Caleruega and his brothers made a decisive contribution. For Dominic, the human body was a vessel created by God, which must therefore be treated with respect for its function as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Its needs had to be recognised and satisfied, but at the same time controlled through asceticism. As is well known, Dominic also integrated corporeality into his prayer in a striking way, thus leaving his Order a particularly significant spiritual legacy.
But it was with Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas that, drawing on Aristotelian thought, a reflection on the body and corporeality was opened up; this would have a profound impact on the Dominican intellectual tradition, both theological and scientific. The Master General of the Order, Humbert of Romans, a contemporary of Albert and Thomas, in a sermon addressed to medical students, justified the usefulness of studying this discipline by referring to the importance of the human body, subject to disease because of original sin. Recent research has also highlighted the figure of the friar and bishop Teodorico Borgognoni as an example of a physician from the Order of Preachers.
Despite having a positive view of the human body, Dominican masters had a clear hierarchical order in mind, according to which the soul was superior to the body. In the logic of the inquisitors, for example, the effort to save the souls of proven heretics, but also to protect the body of the Church from the plague of heresy, was sufficient reason to justify the use of persecution and torture.
The Editorial Committee of Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum wishes to dedicate a special issue of the journal in 2027 to the theme The Dominicans and the Body. The aim is to open a reflection on this topic from a long-term historical perspective, from the Middle Ages to the modern and contemporary ages. Theological elaboration, spiritual narratives and major cultural debates will be examined, but the focus will also be on the concrete action of the Friars Preachers and Dominican women in the social and human environment in which they worked, the relationships they were able to build, the power dynamics they had to deal with, and the practices and behaviours they shaped.
Five major thematic areas have been specified:
- The conceived body (doctrine and culture)
The medieval legacy (the devaluation of the body in the monastic tradition) – Body and soul in Thomas Aquinas – Medicine and physiology: Albert the Great and his school – The body and sexuality in moral theology (the medieval Summae virtutum and the debates of the modern age) – Hagiographies
- The lived body (practices)
Dress codes – Food codes – Body care – Asceticism – Corporeality for the observants – The body after death
- Dominican pastoral care
The anti-Cathar controversy – The body of the preacher – The body of the confessor (Summae confessorum) – The body of the inquisitor – The body of the woman
- The sacred body
The praying body – The body of ecstasy (and prophecy) – The heart, blood, tears – Stigmata in the Dominican tradition: from the mystics of the thirteenth century to the living saints – Rituals and sacred representations
- Images
The Eucharistic body: the Chapel of the Corporal in Orvieto – Dominican art: Beato Angelico – The body in books: miniatures
In addition to the aforementioned topics, the editorial board of the journal may also consider further proposals and suggestions from scholars interested in the project.
Scholars who wish to contribute to the monographic volume of Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum with an essay are invited to submit provisional titles and an abstract (450-500 words, in Italian, English, French, Spanish or German) by 1 November 2025. Accepted contributions may be submitted by 30 June 2026. These will then undergo a peer review process according to the journal’s usual practice.
Contact: praeses@institutumhistoricum.op.org (Viliam Štefan Dóci OP)
Download the Call for papers.