Jordan of Saxony

Infobox Saint
name=Jordan of Saxony
birth_date=c. 1190
death_date=1237
feast_day=13 February
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church


imagesize=200px
caption=Fresco of Jordan in the convent at Worms
birth_place=Westphalia, Saxony
death_place=near Syria
titles=Master-General of the Order of Preachers
beatified_date=1825
beatified_place=
beatified_by=Pope Leo XII (cultus confirmed)
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes=
patronage=University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Engineering
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
issues=

Blessed Jordan of Saxony (or Gordanus, Giordanus, Jordanus, also known as de Alamaia) (c. 1190 – 1237), a German of noble descent, was deacon of the Dominican Order in Paris.

Jordan possibly came from Borgberge near Dassel in the Duchy of Saxony. In 1222 he became successor of the founder of the Order and its first master general, Saint Dominic.

During Jordan's supervision the young Order increased to over 300 convents. By his lectures in university towns he won many, allegedly well over 1,000, professors and students for the Order, among whom were Albertus Magnus. He is venerated as the patron of Dominican vocations.

Jordan is the author of "Libellus de principiis Ordinis Praedicatorum" ("Booklet on the beginnings of the Order of Preachers"), a Latin text which is both the earliest biography of Saint Dominic and the first narrative history of the foundation of the Order.

Jordan died in a shipwreck on the return from Palestine, where he had visited the local convents of the Order; the shipwreck occurred off the coast of Syria when his ship sunk while he was on his way from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1237.

Jordan was buried in the Dominican church of Akko in present-day Israel. His feast day is 13 February.

External links

* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj0i.htm Jordan at Patron Saints Index]
* [http://www.op.org/DomCentral/trad/brethren/breth04.htm "The legend of blessed Jordan of Saxony, second master general of the order of preachers"] at the Ordo Praedicatorum [http://www.jordandesajonia.edu.co]