Reginald of Orléans, Bl.
REGINALD OF ORLÉANS, BL.
Also known as Reginald of St. Gilles; Dominican preacher; b. Orléans, France, 1183; d. Paris, Feb. 1, 1220. Reginald took the doctorate in Canon Law at the University of Paris in 1206 and taught there for the next five years. In 1212 he was elected dean of the canons of Saint-Aignan, Orléans. St. dominic received him into his order in 1218 after a nearly mortal illness during which Our Lady is said to have appeared and shown Reginald the dominican habit. On Reginald's return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Dominic sent him to Bologna, where he erected a priory at the Church of St. Nicholas of the Vines (now San Domenico). In the summer of 1219 he was sent to Paris to help the young Dominican foundation at the university. He died the following February. Acclaimed for his preaching and holy life, he was beatified by Pius IX in 1875.
Feast: Feb. 17 (formerly Feb. 12).
Bibliography: j. quÉtif and j. Échard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum. (Paris 1719–23) 1.1:89–90. h. scheeben, Der heilige Dominikus (Freiburg 1927). g. gieraths, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 8:1099. m. h. vicaire, Saint Dominic and His Times, tr. k. pond (New York 1965).
[m. markowski]