St. Dominic of Silos was born in 1000, in Navarre, Spain. He was a peasant, and as a young man, he worked as a shepherd until he entered the Benedictine monastery at Navarre. When the king of Navarre asked Dominic to hand over the monastery’s lands, he refused, and had to flee the house with two other companions.
Dominic and the other monks were welcomed by the king at Old Castile, where he entered the monastery of San Sebastian in Silos. San Sebastian was a rundown abbey, lacking in spirituality and physical regimens.
Dominic was elected abbot, and in a short period of time, he rebuilt the monastery and revolutionized the monks’ charitable works and financial status. He was known for his miracles of healing, which he obtained through prayer, and for ransoming Christian prisoners from the moors.
St. Dominic died in Silos on Dec. 10, 1073. About 100 years later, a young woman, who had had great trouble with pregnancy, made a pilgrimage to St. Dominic's tomb. St. Dominic appeared to her, and told her she would bear a son. The woman, Joan of Aza, did have a son, who grew up to be Dominic Guzman, the founder of the Dominicans.
