Saint Dominic of Silos
Saint Dominic Enthroned as Abbot (15th century painting by Bartolomé Bermejo)
Born	1000, Cañas (modern Rioja), Spain
Died	December 20, 1073, Silos
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine	Silos
Feast	December 20
Attributes	abbot surrounded by the Seven Virtues; mitred abbot enthroned with a book, a veil tied to his crozier.
Patronage	against rabies; against rabid dogs; against insects; captives; pregnant women; prisoners; shepherds

Saint Dominic of Silos (Santo Domingo de Silos) (1000—December 20, 1073) is a Spanish saint, to whom the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos is dedicated.

Born in Cañas, La Rioja to a family of peasants, he worked as a shepherd before becoming a Benedictine monk at the monastery of San Millán de Cogolla. There, he became Novice Master and then Prior before being driven out with two of his fellow monks by the King of Navarre, who wished to annex the monastery's lands.

Under the protection of Ferdinand I of León, they found refuge at the monastery later named after him. There, Dominic rebuilt the monastery, both spiritually and physically, and turned it into a center of book design, gold and silver work, scholarship, and charity. The monastery became one of the centers of the Mozarabic liturgy, and also preserved the Visigothic script of ancient Spain.

Wealthy patrons endowed the monastery, and Dominic raised funds to ransom Christians taken prisoner by the Moors. He died of natural causes in 1073.

[edit] Veneration

Dominic's relics were translated to the monastery church at Silos on January 5, 1076. Churches and monasteries were dedicated to him as early as 1085. His special patronage was connected with pregnancy, and before 1931, his abbatial staff was used to bless Spanish queens and kept by their beds when they were in labor.

The mother of Saint Dominic of Guzmán is said to have prayed at the shrine of Dominic of Silos before she conceived the child that would subsequently found the Dominican Order.

Gonzalo de Berceo wrote an account of his life called the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.

[edit] External links

• Patron Saints Index: Dominic of Silos^{[dead link]}
• Dominic of Silos