Introduction & History
Villa Bendita Margarita
A Family Retreat Facility
Introduction & History
The Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Preachers, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in the 13th century by a Spanish priest, St. Dominic Guzman. St. Dominic was a mendicant preacher who traveled throughout Europe preaching the gospel and renewing the Christian faith of those who had abandoned it. All Dominicans today -- whether priests, brothers, sisters or professed laity -- embrace a life of devotion to prayer and study, to the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Rosary, and to preaching the gospel through deed and example of character. We are members of the laity within the Dominican order, and are sometimes referred to as Tertiary Dominicans or the Third Order of Preachers. Our chapter began meeting in Boise in 1997 and received official recognition by the order in 1998.
Blessed Margaret of Castello, the patroness of our lay Dominican chapter,
was a Dominican tertiary born of Italian nobility in the 14th century.
Born blind, crippled, hunch-backed and facially disfigured, she was disowned
by her parents at an early age. Quickly she grew to be recognized by the
faithful for her holiness and her close relationship to Christ. She has
since been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church and awaits canonization
as a saint. Blessed Margaret has come to be identified with the unwanted
and rejected, the abandoned and disenfranchised. Blessed Margaret's body
remains incorrupt to this day.
Four years
ago, some of our chapter members purchased a 15-acre parcel of land located
a few miles west of Homedale, Idaho, just off Gulley Road. They held a
vision of one day being able to develop some sort of retreat facility where
Christians and all those seeking rest and spiritual renewal could come
to find respite from the their busy and sometimes troubled lives. The solitude
and serenity of a small rural community like Homedale seemed well suited
to such a vision. Two years later, some other members of our chapter purchased
25 additional acres adjacent to the 15-acre parcel purchased initially.
The 25 acres were gifted to the lay Dominican chapter, and the owners of
the 15-acre parcel have agreed to give use of their land to the chapter
for the purpose of establishing a community retreat facility. With a total
of 40 acres, the lay Dominicans have developed a vision for creating a
religious community where others may come to be spiritually renewed.
VISION STATEMENT
The Blessed Margaret of Castello chapter is interested in forming
a retreat facility on the Homedale property
that would include a chapel, meditation gardens, custodial quarters, quarters
for guests to stay in, and a parcel of ground for maintaining a community
garden and a few farm animals to help support the facility. Blessed Margaret
has inspired us to name this facility after her (Villa Bendita Margarita,
or, Blessed Margaret's House), that it might serve as a beacon to those
who are seeking healing and solitude for the purpose of spiritual renewal.
NEW! Chapter erects a cross on Good Friday, 2002!
NEW! Building gets a floor, October 2002!
NEW! Construction of interior begins, January 2004!
NEW! Donated Garage, July 8, 2006
prayer requests may be sent to blmargaret@integrity.com.
Link to National Shrine
Ave
Maria site History, Novena, links
Photo of National Shrine from prayer
card.
Bl. Margaret of Castello,
Photographs of her incorrupt body under the altar (Ave Maria web site)
Bl. Margaret of Castello Statue (Columbus,
Ohio shrine)
Novena to Blessed Margaret
Blessed
Margaret, Patron of the Unwanted (Priests for Life)
Authoritative Life
Blessed Margaret of Castello, by Fr. Bonniwell, OP (TAN books)
Blessed Margaret, A Pearl of Beauty and Worth
by Mary Jane Owen, OP, MSW, National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities
Blessed Margaret
by Sr. Pauline Quinn OP
Blessed Margaret by Anita Moore, TOP
Blessed Margaret's Cause
Incorruptibles
First trimester abortion pictures
(extremely graphic) from Priests
for Life
What women have to say about abortion, post
abortion testimonies
Abortion holocaust monument: Cemetery
of the innocents
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To Praise * to Bless * to Preach
