The Order of Preachers (in Latin: Ordo Fratrum Prædicatorum – OP), more known under the name of Dominican Order, is a Latin catholic order been born in 1215 thanks to saint Dominique’s charisma. He is a member of begging orders as the Order of the Franciscan Friars (Fratres Minores). The Dominicans follow saint’s Augustin rule and have their own constitutions. Their mission is to study and to preach and to defend the truth. They were based in the context of the Cathar heresies of the XIIIth century.

The currency of the Order is “Veritas” (The Truth) but we also find other currencies: “announce what we contemplated” (Contemplata aliis tradere), resumed by saint Thomas of Aquin, or still “to praise, to bless, to preach”. They also have for mission to promote the worship of the Rosary.

The Dominicans are not monks, that is cloistered members of a religious order living in a monastery, but apostolic members of a religious order living in convents. The brotherly life, of prayer and study, is the foundation of their religious life. The Dominican convents are mainly in big cities to facilitate the apostolate.

The Saint-Etienne convent, which welcomes within it the École Biblique, joins in Jerusalem in this dynamics: be a place of study on the Land of the Bible, welcome researchers and be in the service of the Church for a better understanding of the Revelation. This in-depth study of the Word in context is the mission of “Saint Predication” of Jerusalem.

The Dominican Order, supervised by Master of the Order, consists of friars (6000), of moniales (3000) and of Dominican laymen (100 ‘ 000). All the superiors of the Dominicans are elected for a while limited and for renewable mandates once. Among the major figures of the Order, we find theologians (saint Thomas d’Aquin), mystic (saint Catherine of Siena) or still defenders of the Indians during the colonization (Bartolomé de las Casas).