Order of Preachers

Order of Preachers

Dominicans is the informal name given to members of the Order of Preachers and is based upon the name of the founder of the Order of Preachers, St. Dominic de Guzman O.P. In fact, the initials O.P. which appear after the name of every professed Dominican be it a friar (priest or lay brother and formerly called 1st Order), nun (cloistered woman in a monastery and formerly called 2nd Order), sister (active sister who does ministry in the community and formerly called 3rd Order), or lay member (ordinary non-ordained Catholics and also formerly called 3rd Order) stand for Ordinis Praedicatorum which is simply Order of Preachers in Latin.