St. Dominic of Silos

Dominic of Silos was the peasant-born Spanish monk who first learned quietness while tending his father's flocks, then carried that recollected spirit into the monastery of San Millan. There his zeal for reform brought him into conflict with King Garcia of Navarre when Dominic would not surrender monastic property to royal pressure. Driven out, he was welcomed in Castile and set over the decayed monastery of Silos, which under his rule became one of the most famous houses in Spain.

He was restorer, disciplinarian, miracle-worker, and father of a community whose influence long outlived him. The later Dominican devotion also linked him with the family story of St. Dominic, though that connection should not be pressed too hard.