The Dominican friars at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., belong to the eastern United States Dominican Province of St. Joseph. We invite you to learn more about our worldwide Dominican family, the Order of Preachers.

The Friars Preachers were founded almost 800 years ago by St. Dominic de Guzman as an order dedicated to the proclamation of the Word of God for the salvation of souls. The Dominican way of life is comprised of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, study, and the daily common celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours. By these means a life of preaching and teaching is advanced. As the great Dominican teacher, St. Thomas Aquinas, expressed it, the goal of the Order of Preachers is to contemplate and to give to others the fruits of their contemplation. As God comes more and more to occupy the center of the preachers life, so he comes to be at the center of his preaching and ministry to others.

Since the time of St. Dominic, Dominicans have been living and sharing the message of the Gospel. Today thousands of sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates, and laity, minister in more than 100 countries around the globe.