Perseverance is no less a matter of conscience than of honor.

Father Jandel (1810-1872)
Master General of the Dominican Order

“Having returned to Rome in April 1850, and not wanting to despair about the future of the Order, Pius IX sought a man capable of restoring its life and ensuring its long-term prosperity. He found this man in one of Father Lacordaire’s first disciples, Father Vincent Jandel. Born in Gerbéviller, Lorraine, in 1810, Father Jandel was only forty years old. An upright and deeply religious man, one accustomed to government, and determined, above all, to safeguard Dominican life as the rule prescribed it, Father Jandel presented the necessary guarantees for the goal Pius IX wanted to achieve. On October 1, 1850, Pius IX appointed Father Jandel Vicar General of the Order of Saint Dominic. This is one of the most fruitful and glorious dates in the history of the Dominican family. In his circular letter to the Order, Father Jandel said: In the midst of so many disturbances among things and peoples, we are surrounded by ruins; but we have confidence that they can be restored, according to the words of the Prophet, who speaks of “… the healing of the nations of the earth” (Apoc.22:2). May we thus be permitted to apply to our condition the divine words: “This sickness is not unto death; thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s.” This was Father Jandel’s cry of hope in the midst of the universal desolation of the Order. But he was not a man to merely lament over ruins. He carried in his heart the spirit of life, and this spirit which resurrects the dead, he would breathe into the Order for twenty-two years. Father Lacordaire was chosen by God to be the inspired initiator of this resurrection: Father Jandel, to carry it throughout the world. The work accomplished during his twenty-two years of government, from 1850 to 1872, was prodigious. The Order of Saint Dominic took on a new life. What a journey we have made since April 9, 1839! On that date, the Order of Saint Dominic seemed close to its final ruin. By 1872, most of the provinces had been restored, and the unity of the Order assured. Father Jandel’s successors would only have to consolidate and develop the work so admirably established.”

Father Mortier (1882-1945)
Dominican