Dominic was the son of nobles Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, and he was born in Caleruega, Spain, in 1170. Eventually, the Church would beatify both his mother and his brother Manes, who became a Dominican. Antonio, the eldest son of the family, also became a priest.

Dominic studied for eleven years at the University of Palencia after receiving his early education from his uncle, a priest. He sold every one of his rare book collections in one famous incident during this time to help the city's impoverished.

Following his priestly ordination, Bishop Diego of Osma requested that Dominic participate in regional church reform initiatives. Before being asked to join the bishop on a task for King Alfonso IX of Castile in 1203, he lived a life of austere prayer for nine years at Osma.

Dominic saw the negative effects of the Albigensian heresy, which had spread throughout southern France in the previous century while traveling with the bishop in France. The group brought back to life the heresy known as Manichaeism, which denied that God created the material world and instead saw it as an awful place.

Dominic, fearing the spread of heresy, started to consider establishing a monastic order to uphold the truth. Pope Innocent III dispatched him and Bishop Diego in 1204 to help in the campaign against the Albigensians, which ultimately included both military force and religious persuasion.

Dominic participated in theological discussions and established a convent in France, the regulations of which would later serve as a model for the lives of Dominican women. While the military campaign against the Albigensians grew more intense between 1208 and 1215, he persisted in preaching.

Because of his severe physical austerities, Dominic is claimed to have fallen into a coma in 1214. It is during this time that he is said to have seen the Virgin Mary and received instructions to spread the prayer of the Rosary. Its emphasis on the life and incarnation of Christ which directly refuted the Albigensian view.

That same year, Dominic returned to Toulouse and got the bishop to agree with his proposal for a preaching-focused order. He and a few disciples were acknowledged as a religious congregation in their community, and in 1215 Dominic traveled to Rome with the bishop of Toulouse for an ecumenical council.

The council established a barrier to the establishment of new religious orders while simultaneously emphasizing the need for the Church to improve its preaching. In 1216, however, Dominic was appointed as the Pope's top theologian and received papal permission for his proposal. In 1218, the pope assisted the Order of Preachers in their European expansion.

The last few years of Dominic's life were devoted to expanding the order and carrying out his preaching tours, during which he is estimated to have converted 100,000 people. On August 6, 1221, St. Dominic passed away in Italy following a few weeks of illness. Pope Gregory IX canonized him in 1234.

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