The life of brothers in formation revolves around four major axes that have structured Dominican life since the origins of our Order: prayer, community life, study and mission.
Student brothers give priority to personal and choral prayer in their lives.
In this way, they seek to deepen their relationship with God, while at the same time learning more about his face and his plan of salvation through their studies.
The liturgical celebration of the canonical office is one of the pillars on which Dominican life rests.
The brothers are not simply asked to pray, but to pray together and with solemnity.
They are asked to make this choral prayer the center and heart of their apostolic religious life.
Like their predecessors, the monks and canons, they participate in the sanctification of time by their assiduous prayer.
The year, the weeks and the days are punctuated by the recitation of the Office.
The liturgical year gives rhythm to their preaching.
It’s a breath of fresh air, with its high points and phases of recovery.
It’s a spring from which the brothers draw together, the Lord mysteriously creating a common soul among them.
Every day, they sanctify the hours with all those who pray and on behalf of all those who do not.
Concrete learning of community life lived in tension with the demanding commitment of study and research.
To lead the life of the Apostles is the fundamental project that animates the Order of Preachers: not simply a project of action, but also a project of life, a certain way of existing as Christians.
We don’t choose each other as friends might, but we receive each other as brothers with a common Father.
The choice to live together makes us responsible for each other and for the harmonious development of the community.
We are constantly building on each other’s weaknesses.
Gathered to dwell together in unanimity, as one heart and one soul in God, we are driven to live as one, even if we have different opinions and attitudes.
This is only possible because Christ, the center of our community life, makes us one.
In keeping with the tradition of the Order, the brothers are committed to acquiring a solid competence in the service of the Word.
The prologue to the primitive Constitutions states the following about study in our Order: “Our study must aim principally, ardently and with the greatest care at being useful to the soul of our neighbor”.
Study plays a major role in Dominican life.
It is one of its pillars.
Saint Dominic broke with monastic tradition and replaced manual work, a source of income as well as personal balance, with intellectual work.
Lectio divina becomes theological work.
Our contemplation is not just that inherent in prayer.
It is, more generally, the contemplation of study, the ruminating on the truth about God and man, the search for meaning.
The primary aim of study is not to turn us into specialists in philosophy and theology.
Rather, it aims to reveal the meaning of things and the world, of man and human situations, of God’s plan in history.
During the formative years, initiation into various ministries is made possible in the form of service to the conventual community, neighboring Christian communities and local social organizations.
Cooperating brothers living at the studendat have the opportunity to acquire or perfect technical or professional training.
Others can receive the same theological training as the brothers who will be ordained priests.
At the end of this stage, the duration of which can vary according to each individual’s situation, the brother will be required to continue his studies or to commit to an extended internship of a year or more.
Solemn profession, the definitive commitment to the Order, usually coincides with the end of the period of simple vows.