Seal of the Order of Preachers Mary, Mother of Truth Lay Dominicans · Mesa, Arizona

A Cloud of Witnesses

Saints Who Walked This Path

Lay Dominicans have become saints as merchants, students, mothers, lawyers, and laborers. They lived the same rule we live, in the middle of the world.

Margaret of Castello in a black-and-white Dominican habit, standing beneath a red Gothic arch, from a fourteenth-century altarpiece.

St. Margaret of Castello

1287–1320 Feast: April 13

Born blind and disabled, she was abandoned by her parents and became a Dominican tertiary known for her joy. She was canonized in 2021.

Catherine of Siena in a white veil and crown of thorns, hand on her heart, eyes lifted upward.

St. Catherine of Siena

1347–1380 Feast: April 29

A Dominican tertiary who advised popes, helped return the papacy to Rome, and is now a Doctor of the Church.

Emblem of St. Martin de Porres: a broom and cross

St. Martin de Porres

1579–1639 Feast: November 3

He began as a Dominican tertiary in Lima and later became a lay brother of the friars. He is known for his care of the sick and the poor.

Rose of Lima in a Dominican habit and crown of roses, holding a branch of roses toward the Christ Child in the clouds.

St. Rose of Lima

1586–1617 Feast: August 23

A Dominican tertiary who lived a life of prayer and penance at home. She was the first canonized saint of the Americas.

Louis de Montfort in a black biretta, white surplice, and embroidered stole, a rosary in his hand. Detail of a hand-colored nineteenth-century print.

St. Louis de Montfort

1673–1716 Feast: April 28

A priest and member of the Dominican Third Order. He was a tireless preacher of the Rosary and author of True Devotion to Mary.

Emblem of St. Bartolo Longo: a rosary around the Shrine of Pompeii

St. Bartolo Longo

1841–1926 Feast: October 5

A lawyer who returned to the faith, became a Lay Dominican, and built the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii. He was canonized in 2025.

Black-and-white photograph of Pier Giorgio Frassati as a young man in a suit and tie, arms folded.

St. Pier Giorgio Frassati

1901–1925 Feast: July 4

A young Lay Dominican from Turin who loved the mountains, his friends, and the poor. He was canonized in 2025.

The same path is open to you.

Come and See

Image credits

  • St. Margaret of Castello: Catherine of Siena among four Dominican Blesseds (detail: Margaret of Castello), c. 1394–98, Andrea di Bartolo; photograph by Sailko. Painting public domain; photograph CC BY 3.0. Wikimedia Commons
  • St. Catherine of Siena: Saint Catherine of Siena, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons
  • St. Rose of Lima: Saint Rose of Lima, 1683, Claudio Coello. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons
  • St. Louis de Montfort: Le vénérable serviteur de Dieu, Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort (detail), image d’Épinal, 1868, Imagerie Pellerin, Épinal; Bibliothèque nationale de France. Public domain (PD-France; PD-US-expired). Wikimedia Commons
  • St. Pier Giorgio Frassati: Pier Giorgio Frassati, photograph before 1925, Unknown photographer; from the collection of Luciana Frassati. Public domain (PD-Italy; PD-1996 in the US). Wikimedia Commons