Rev. Bro. Reginald Lynch OP is a transitional deacon stationed at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio. He is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood at St. Dominic's Church in Washington DC on May 24, 2013. You are invited!He recorded this witness before he was ordained, originally from Totus Tuus.
"Blessed Reginald was one of the first Dominicans, a companion of St Dominic, and received a special grace from the Blessed Mother - he actually received what we call the scapular of our habit from the Blessed Mother herself (which is the large rectangular white piece which hangs on the front and the back of the Dominican habit), as a sign of protection and motherly affection from the Blessed Mother. Blessed Reginald received this grace on what would have been his deathbed; he was about to enter the Order and fell deathly ill, but instead of dying St Dominic prayed for him and he received a special grace and was healed, by the intercession of Mary. At this instance Mary showed him the full habit which included the scapular .. So when Dominicans wear the habit, which is the sign of our life and our mission, you see integral even within the habit itself a sign of Mary's protection for us. And it's integral to Dominican prayer and to Dominican preaching so that when we think about the role of Mary in our life, we see her as deeply integrated in our own consecration to Christ, so that her motherhood of the Word of God becomes the motherhood of us as well. ... So when we live the Dominican vocation, in contemplation of the Word of God and in preaching, I like to remember this in particular, it helps me to remember the protection of Mary and her role in my own life, as a religious and a Dominican."
More on Blessed Reginald of Orleans
1. homily from Fr. Romanus Cessario OP
2. "A Second Elijah" from Dominican Nuns in Summit, NJ
3. article from Bro. Albert Signan OP of Western Dominican Province