At the head of Bishop Diego’s suite was his sub-prior, Domingo de Guzman, later to be known as St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers which bears his name, then a young man in the middle thirties, slender, fair-haired, dressed in the white habit and surplice worn by Augustinian canons regular. He was a gentleman born and bred who had taken his university course at Palencia, had been made canon and then sub-prior at Osma, and was Bishop Diego’s constant companion. Three years before, while accompanying his patron on one of the latter’s diplomatic trips, he had passed through Toulouse. Being lodged in the house of a heretic, he had sat up all night with the man, until by dint of prayer, exhortation, and argument he persuaded him to turn from the error of his ways. Now he was admitted, with Diego, into the council chamber of the legates.
No one else who comes directly into our story has set in motion such a force as did St. Dominic. He and St. Francis more than any men since the conversion of the Roman Empire, were to give to the Catholic Church new power over men’s thoughts and affections. Perhaps he would loom larger in our sight were he not so often considered together with St. Francis. It is true that his personality has not the same extraordinary poetry, simplicity and charm as that of the “Poverello” of Assisi. But in his consuming zeal for the faith he was Francis’s equal, while in organizing ability and statesmanlike adaptation of means to ends, he was by far Francis’s superior. He was an extraordinary man.
For the time being, he was merely the chief of Bishop Diego’s suite, and there is no evidence that he even spoke in the council. It was Diego who advised the legates to put all their energy into preaching, and (that their pomp and retinue might no longer be contrasted with the simplicity and self-denying asceticism of the heretical chiefs) he further suggested that the legates rid themselves of guards, servants, horses, and even of shoes and sandals. They were to go forth barefoot, in perfect apostolic poverty, having neither purse nor scrip like the original twelve.
Luchaire thinks[30] it improbable that a mere passing bishop, on his own responsibility, would have presumed to urge upon men in the official position of the legates so startling a departure; and that, had he done so, his counsel would almost certainly not have been accepted. He therefore infers that Diego was acting under orders from Innocent. As there is no mention in any of the chroniclers of direction from Innocent at this time, the idea remains mere inference, although probable enough.
From whatever source it came, the new and radical proposition was not easily accepted by the legates. Perhaps they feared ridicule, perhaps insults and bodily harm if they went about unprotected. At any rate they balked, suggested that they would follow if someone set the example, and ended by imitating Diego when he himself put in practice what he had just preached.
With this decision begins the third and last stage of the preliminaries of the Crusade. The preaching apostolate was destined to be continued while the Crusade itself was going on, and was to grow into the great Dominican order. The idea of voluntary poverty in the service of others was to electrify Christendom and remain as a permanent force in the world.
Promptly, the new plan of action once decided on, the legates, Diego, and Dominic, went at it vigorously. Arnaut, who had to return to Citeaux to preside at the approaching chapter general of his Order, departed thither on foot. Meanwhile de Castelnau and Raoul, with the two Spaniards and the other clergy attached to the legation, divided themselves by threes and fours and went here and there throughout the country. Barefoot, begging their bread and carrying with them only staff and breviary, they preached and debated publicly against the heretical “Perfect.” We hear of these formal “theological tournaments,” as it were, lasting a week at Servian near Beziers, for a fortnight at Beziers itself, at Carcassonne for eight days. Certainly there was no lack of energy.
Unfortunately, the effort produced no commensurate result. Peter de Vaux-Cernay says that at Servian the people were so moved by the debate that they would have expelled the heretics had it not been for the opposition of the local lord, and that they escorted the missionaries in triumph along the road when they left the town. But at Beziers there was so much hostile feeling among the inhabitants that Diego and Raoul advised de Castelnau to flee for his life. Evidently it was not altogether without reason that the legates had hesitated to dismiss their armed guards. At Carcassonne we hear of a miracle but no conversions. In the neighbourhood Dominic vehemently reproved certain peasants, possibly Catharists, who were reaping on St. John’s Day. One of them, in reply, threatened the saint, when suddenly he and his companions found the sheaves which they held in their hands red, as with blood. At Verfeil, where St. Bernard had been jeered at sixty years before, the debate is said to have gone completely in favour of the Catholics, without impressing the people in any way. Clearly, although the new tactics had made a certain impression, especially upon the lower classes, there was to be no rapid progress.
In November the Pope formally prescribed the novel methods already adopted. The legates were to choose men of “proved virtue,” who were to go about “dressed humbly and taking for model the poverty of Christ” to make conversions. The new departure was to be tested to the uttermost.
The effort was continued in the same way in 1207. At his chapter general, Arnaut Amalric had recruited many of his Cistercians, including twelve abbots, and these reinforcements gave a new impetus to the work of debate and of preaching. The conferences seem to grow more formal and to take place on a greater scale, attracting more general attention. We hear especially of two, one at Montreal and one at Pamiers.