The Domician Monastery
The seal
of the monastery bore the words `Order of Preachers". The people, however, knew it as
"Blackfriars Monastery' because of the black cloak the friars wore in public over their
white habit. Accoding to medieval documents the monastery was dedicated to Saint
Catherine. A common symbol of the Dominican Order is a black and white dog holding
in his mouth a burning torch. It derives from a pun on the Latin name of the friars,
"Dominicanes", which means `the followers of Dominic". But the name could be split
into two words "Domini canes" which means "the hounds of the Lord". The torch
represents the flame of truth. The monastery was celebrated for its scholarship Its best
known prior was an Estonian from Tallinn named Mauritius. He studied theology in
Cologne with one of the most eminent medieval scholars, Saint Albertus Magnus, and
may have been a fellow-student of St Thomas Aquinas. Mauritius completed his studies
annaabi.ee 
