DOMINIC LORICATUS, ST.

Benedictine hermit; place and date of birth unknown; d. Oct. 14, 1060. He considered his parents' gift to the bishop who ordained him simoniacal, and on this account he determined to do the strictest penance and to resign from the practice of his priestly functions. For some time he lived as a hermit near Sitria. But soon after 1040 he joined the group of hermits around peter dami an at fonte avellana, and later became the prior at Suavicinum near Frontale. Dominic Loricatus (i.e., the Armored One, so-called from the metal breastplate he wore about his chest) can be considered as a prominent representative of those Italian hermits of the 10th and 11th centuries who practiced extraordinary penance. Peter Damian described Dominic's penitential practices in a letter to Pope alexander ii (Patrologia Latina, 144:1012–24). Dominic's remains are in Frontale.

Feast: Oct. 14 (observed by the camaldolese and in the Dioceses of Gubbio, San Severino, and Pergola, Italy).

Bibliography: peter damian, Vita, Patrologia Latina, ed. j.p. migne, 217 v. (Paris 1878–90) 144:945–952. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae cr mediae aetatis (Brussels 1898–1901),2239. a. pothast, Bibliotheca historica medii aevi (Graz 1957),1272. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum (Metten 1933–37) 3:178, 180. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, by the Benedictines of Paris (1959) 10:451–455. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints (New York 1956) 4:110–111.

[f. dressler]