Blessed Mannes, Brother of St. Dominic

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)

Truly, there is nothing more pleasing to God than brothers who dwell in unity for the salvation of souls. The Dominican order for over 800 years has had brothers and sisters dwelling in unity with Christ. At the very start of the Order two brothers in particular did this the best. These two brothers are St. Dominic and his older brother Bl. Mannes. Bl. Mannes is not well known by anyone outside the Dominican Order, but he is a man who influenced St. Dominic tremendously. Bl. Mannes, before joining the Dominican Order, was a secular priest who was ordained while St. Dominic was young.

The virtues St. Dominic holds are also found in Bl. Mannes – fortitude, kindness, magnanimity, and zeal for preaching. But, first and foremost in Bl. Mannes is the virtue of humility. It's a grace from heaven that Bl. Mannes never envied his younger brother or felt inadequate with himself. Even though being the older of the two, Bl. Mannes gave way for his brother to be the shining light to the world. In a way, I can also understand this as being the older brother. I have one younger brother who surpasses me in holiness. Yet, the truth is that I can rejoice in this because God made us with unique capabilities so that we rely on each other. If every man were perfected in all virtues, there would be no need for charity or another person's gifts. I can only imagine the sharing of these two holy brothers' gifts. Bl. Mannes helped his brother during the foundation of the Order. He was right beside him during the meetings with Pope Innocent III. Like Simon of Cyrene did with our Lord, he also helped carry the heavy cross his brother had. 

How good is our God that he blessed the world with these two holy brothers! Bl. Mannes was united to St. Dominic both in spirit and flesh through Christ. This our Lord has also done in our own families through baptism. So let us take from Bl. Mannes the humility and deep desire to cooperate with God in whatever manner and way of life we are called to. Bl. Mannes truly shows us that to change the world we must first bring the love of Christ to our families. Once you can do that, you can set the world on fire.