["[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-01 00:00]\n<User>I have some fresh insights to share:\nIn the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, the music performed in the liturgies is exclusively sung without instrumental accompaniment. Bishop Kallistos Ware says, \"The service is sung, even though there may be no choir... In the Orthodox Church today, as in the early Church, singing is unaccompanied and instrumental music is not found.\" This a cappella behavior arises from strict interpretation of Psalms 150, which states, Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. In keeping with this philosophy, early Russian musika which started appearing in the late 17th century, in what was known as khorov\u00efye kontsert\u00ef (choral concertos) made a cappella adaptations of Venetian-styled pieces, such as the treatise, Grammatika musikiyskaya (1675), by Nikolai Diletsky. Divine Liturgies and Western Rite masses composed by famous composers such as Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Arkhangelsky, and Mykola Leontovych are fine examples of this.\n\nPresent-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, Doukhobors the Byzantine Rite and the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites. Certain high church services and other musical events in liturgical churches (such as the Roman Catholic Mass and the Lutheran Divine Service) may be a cappella, a practice remaining from apostolic times. Many Mennonites also conduct some or all of their services without instruments. Sacred Harp, a type of folk music, is an a cappella style of religious singing with shape notes, usually sung at singing conventions.\n\nInstruments have divided Christendom since their introduction into worship. They were considered a Catholic innovation, not widely practiced until the 18th century, and were opposed vigorously in worship by a number of Protestant Reformers, including Martin Luther (1483\u20131546), Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin (1509\u20131564) and John Wesley (1703\u20131791). Alexander Campbell referred to the use of an instrument in worship as \"a cow bell in a concert\". In Sir Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian, the heroine, Jeanie Deans, a Scottish Presbyterian, writes to her father about the church situation she has found in England (bold added):\n\nThose who subscribe to this interpretation believe that since the Christian scriptures never counter instrumental language with any negative judgment on instruments, opposition to instruments instead comes from an interpretation of history. There is no written opposition to musical instruments in any setting in the first century and a half of Christian churches (33 AD to 180AD). The use of instruments for Christian worship during this period is also undocumented. Toward the end of the 2nd century, Christians began condemning the instruments themselves. Those who oppose instruments today believe these Church Fathers had a better understanding of God's desire for the church,[citation needed] but there are significant differences between the teachings of these Church Fathers and Christian opposition to instruments today.\n\nWhile worship in the Temple in Jerusalem included musical instruments (2 Chronicles 29:25\u201327), traditional Jewish religious services in the Synagogue, both before and after the last destruction of the Temple, did not include musical instruments given the practice of scriptural cantillation. The use of musical instruments is traditionally forbidden on the Sabbath out of concern that players would be tempted to repair (or tune) their instruments, which is forbidden on those days. (This prohibition has been relaxed in many Reform and some Conservative congregations.) Similarly, when Jewish families and larger groups sing traditional Sabbath songs known as zemirot outside the context of formal religious services, they usually do so a cappella, and Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations on the Sabbath sometimes feature entertainment by a cappella ensembles. During the Three Weeks musical instruments are prohibited. Many Jews consider a portion of the 49-day period of the counting of the omer between Passover and Shavuot to be a time of semi-mourning and instrumental music is not allowed during that time. This has led to a tradition of a cappella singing sometimes known as sefirah music.\n\nThe popularization of the Jewish chant may be found in the writings of the Jewish philosopher Philo, born 20 BCE. Weaving together Jewish and Greek thought, Philo promoted praise without instruments, and taught that \"silent singing\" (without even vocal chords) was better still. This view parted with the Jewish scriptures, where Israel offered praise with instruments by God's own command (2 Chronicles 29:25). The shofar is the only temple instrument still being used today in the synagogue, and it is only used from Rosh Chodesh Elul through the end of Yom Kippur. The shofar is used by itself, without any vocal accompaniment, and is limited to a very strictly defined set of sounds and specific places in the synagogue service.\n\nA strong and prominent a cappella tradition was begun in the midwest part of the United States in 1911 by F. Melius Christiansen, a music faculty member at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. The St. Olaf College Choir was established as an outgrowth of the local St. John's Lutheran Church, where Christiansen was organist and the choir was composed, at least partially, of students from the nearby St. Olaf campus. The success of the ensemble was emulated by other regional conductors, and a rich tradition of a cappella choral music was born in the region at colleges like Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota), Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois), Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa), Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota), Augustana College (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), and Augsburg College (Minneapolis, Minnesota). The choirs typically range from 40 to 80 singers and are recognized for their efforts to perfect blend, intonation, phrasing and pitch in a large choral setting.\n\nIn July 1943, as a result of the American Federation of Musicians boycott of US recording studios, the a cappella vocal group The Song Spinners had a best-seller with \"Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer\". In the 1950s several recording groups, notably The Hi-Los and the Four Freshmen, introduced complex jazz harmonies to a cappella performances. The King's Singers are credited with promoting interest in small-group a cappella performances in the 1960s. In 1983 an a cappella group known as The Flying Pickets had a Christmas 'number one' in the UK with a cover of Yazoo's (known in the US as Yaz) \"Only You\". A cappella music attained renewed prominence from the late 1980s onward, spurred by the success of Top 40 recordings by artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, Bobby McFerrin, Huey Lewis and the News, All-4-One, The Nylons, Backstreet Boys and Boyz II Men.[citation needed]\n<Assistant>Thanks for the update. I've recorded these facts.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-02 00:00]\n<User>I have some fresh insights to share:\nContemporary a cappella includes many vocal groups and bands who add vocal percussion or beatboxing to create a pop/rock/gospel sound, in some cases very similar to bands with instruments. Examples of such professional groups include Straight No Chaser, Pentatonix, The House Jacks, Rockapella, Mosaic, and M-pact. There also remains a strong a cappella presence within Christian music, as some denominations purposefully do not use instruments during worship. Examples of such groups are Take 6, Glad and Acappella. Arrangements of popular music for small a cappella ensembles typically include one voice singing the lead melody, one singing a rhythmic bass line, and the remaining voices contributing chordal or polyphonic accompaniment.\n\nA cappella has been used as the sole orchestration for original works of musical theater that have had commercial runs Off-Broadway (theaters in New York City with 99 to 500 seats) only four times. The first was Avenue X which opened on 28 January 1994 and ran for 77 performances. It was produced by Playwrights Horizons with book by John Jiler, music and lyrics by Ray Leslee. The musical style of the show's score was primarily Doo-Wop as the plot revolved around Doo-Wop group singers of the 1960s.\n\nThe a cappella musical Perfect Harmony, a comedy about two high school a cappella groups vying to win the National championship, made its Off Broadway debut at Theatre Row\u2019s Acorn Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City in October, 2010 after a successful out-of-town run at the Stoneham Theatre, in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Perfect Harmony features the hit music of The Jackson 5, Pat Benatar, Billy Idol, Marvin Gaye, Scandal, Tiffany, The Romantics, The Pretenders, The Temptations, The Contours, The Commodores, Tommy James & the Shondells and The Partridge Family, and has been compared to a cross between Altar Boyz and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.\n\nThe fourth a cappella musical to appear Off-Broadway, In Transit, premiered 5 October 2010 and was produced by Primary Stages with book, music, and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth. Set primarily in the New York City subway system its score features an eclectic mix of musical genres (including jazz, hip hop, Latin, rock, and country). In Transit incorporates vocal beat boxing into its contemporary a cappella arrangements through the use of a subway beat boxer character. Beat boxer and actor Chesney Snow performed this role for the 2010 Primary Stages production. According to the show's website, it is scheduled to reopen for an open-ended commercial run in the Fall of 2011. In 2011 the production received four Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Outstanding Musical, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League nominations, as well as five Drama Desk nominations including Outstanding Musical and won for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.\n\nBarbershop music is one of several uniquely American art forms. The earliest reports of this style of a cappella music involved African Americans. The earliest documented quartets all began in barbershops. In 1938, the first formal men's barbershop organization was formed, known as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A), and in 2004 rebranded itself and officially changed its public name to the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). Today the BHS has over 22,000 members in approximately 800 chapters across the United States, and the barbershop style has spread around the world with organizations in many other countries. The Barbershop Harmony Society provides a highly organized competition structure for a cappella quartets and choruses singing in the barbershop style.\n\nIn 1945, the first formal women's barbershop organization, Sweet Adelines, was formed. In 1953 Sweet Adelines became an international organization, although it didn't change its name to Sweet Adelines International until 1991. The membership of nearly 25,000 women, all singing in English, includes choruses in most of the fifty United States as well as in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, Wales and the Netherlands. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the organization encompasses more than 1,200 registered quartets and 600 choruses.\n\nThe reasons for the strong Swedish dominance are as explained by Richard Sparks manifold; suffice to say here that there is a long-standing tradition, an unsusually large proportion of the populations (5% is often cited) regularly sing in choirs, the Swedish choral director Eric Ericson had an enormous impact on a cappella choral development not only in Sweden but around the world, and finally there are a large number of very popular primary and secondary schools (music schools) with high admission standards based on auditions that combine a rigid academic regimen with high level choral singing on every school day, a system that started with Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm in 1939 but has spread over the country.\n<Assistant>Thanks for the update. I've recorded these facts.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-03 00:00]\n<User>I've gathered some additional data to share:\nIt is not clear exactly where collegiate a cappella began. The Rensselyrics of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (formerly known as the RPI Glee Club), established in 1873 is perhaps the oldest known collegiate a cappella group.[citation needed] However the longest continuously-singing group is probably The Whiffenpoofs of Yale University, which was formed in 1909 and once included Cole Porter as a member. Collegiate a cappella groups grew throughout the 20th century. Some notable historical groups formed along the way include Princeton University's Tigertones (1946), Colgate University's The Colgate 13 (1942), Dartmouth College's Aires (1946), Cornell University's Cayuga's Waiters (1949) and The Hangovers (1968), the University of Maine Maine Steiners (1958), the Columbia University Kingsmen (1949), the Jabberwocks of Brown University (1949), and the University of Rochester YellowJackets (1956). All-women a cappella groups followed shortly, frequently as a parody of the men's groups: the Smiffenpoofs of Smith College (1936), The Shwiffs of Connecticut College (The She-Whiffenpoofs, 1944), and The Chattertocks of Brown University (1951). A cappella groups exploded in popularity beginning in the 1990s, fueled in part by a change in style popularized by the Tufts University Beelzebubs and the Boston University Dear Abbeys. The new style used voices to emulate modern rock instruments, including vocal percussion/\"beatboxing\". Some larger universities now have multiple groups. Groups often join one another in on-campus concerts, such as the Georgetown Chimes' Cherry Tree Massacre, a 3-weekend a cappella festival held each February since 1975, where over a hundred collegiate groups have appeared, as well as International Quartet Champions The Boston Common and the contemporary commercial a cappella group Rockapella. Co-ed groups have produced many up-and-coming and major artists, including John Legend, an alumnus of the Counterparts at the University of Pennsylvania, and Sara Bareilles, an alumna of Awaken A Cappella at University of California, Los Angeles. Mira Sorvino is an alumna of the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones of Harvard College where she had the solo on Only You by Yaz.\n<Assistant>I understand. I'll keep this in mind.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-04 00:00]\n<User>I just discovered some interesting information:\nA cappella is gaining popularity among South Asians with the emergence of primarily Hindi-English College groups. The first South Asian a cappella group was Penn Masala, founded in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. Co-ed South Asian a cappella groups are also gaining in popularity. The first co-ed south Asian a cappella was Anokha, from the University of Maryland, formed in 2001. Also, Dil se, another co-ed a cappella from UC Berkeley, hosts the \"Anahat\" competition at the University of California, Berkeley annually. Maize Mirchi, the co-ed a cappella group from the University of Michigan hosts \"Sa Re Ga Ma Pella\", an annual South Asian a cappella invitational with various groups from the Midwest.\n\nIncreased interest in modern a cappella (particularly collegiate a cappella) can be seen in the growth of awards such as the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (overseen by the Contemporary A Cappella Society) and competitions such as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella for college groups and the Harmony Sweepstakes for all groups. In December 2009, a new television competition series called The Sing-Off aired on NBC. The show featured eight a cappella groups from the United States and Puerto Rico vying for the prize of $100,000 and a recording contract with Epic Records/Sony Music. The show was judged by Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman, and Nicole Scherzinger and was won by an all-male group from Puerto Rico called Nota. The show returned for a second and third season, won by Committed and Pentatonix, respectively.\n\nIn addition to singing words, some a cappella singers also emulate instrumentation by reproducing instrumental sounds with their vocal cords and mouth. One of the earliest 20th century practitioners of this method were The Mills Brothers whose early recordings of the 1930s clearly stated on the label that all instrumentation was done vocally. More recently, \"Twilight Zone\" by 2 Unlimited was sung a cappella to the instrumentation on the comedy television series Tompkins Square. Another famous example of emulating instrumentation instead of singing the words is the theme song for The New Addams Family series on Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family). Groups such as Vocal Sampling and Undivided emulate Latin rhythms a cappella. In the 1960s, the Swingle Singers used their voices to emulate musical instruments to Baroque and Classical music. Vocal artist Bobby McFerrin is famous for his instrumental emulation. A cappella group Naturally Seven recreates entire songs using vocal tones for every instrument.\n\nThe Swingle Singers used nonsense words to sound like instruments, but have been known to produce non-verbal versions of musical instruments. Like the other groups, examples of their music can be found on YouTube. Beatboxing, more accurately known as vocal percussion, is a technique used in a cappella music popularized by the hip-hop community, where rap is often performed a cappella also. The advent of vocal percussion added new dimensions to the a cappella genre and has become very prevalent in modern arrangements. Petra Haden used a four-track recorder to produce an a cappella version of The Who Sell Out including the instruments and fake advertisements on her album Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out in 2005. Haden has also released a cappella versions of Journey's \"Don't Stop Believin'\", The Beach Boys' \"God Only Knows\" and Michael Jackson's \"Thriller\". In 2009, Toyota commissioned Haden to perform three songs for television commercials for the third-generation Toyota Prius, including an a cappella version of The Bellamy Brothers' 1970s song \"Let Your Love Flow\".[citation needed]\n\nThe Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum, hence the abbreviation OP used by members), more commonly known after the 15th century as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Saint Dominic de Guzman in France and approved by Pope Honorius III (1216\u201327) on 22 December 1216. Membership in this \"mendicant\" order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries, though recently there has been a growing number of Associates, who are unrelated to the tertiaries) affiliated with the order.\n\nFounded to preach the Gospel and to combat heresy, the teaching activity of the order and its scholastic organization placed the Preachers in the forefront of the intellectual life of the Middle Ages. The order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers. The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, who is currently Bruno Cador\u00e9. Members of the order generally carry the letters O.P., standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers, after their names.\n<Assistant>I've successfully recorded all of this data.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-05 00:00]\n<User>Here are some facts I recently discovered:\nThe Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when religion began to be contemplated in a new way. Men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they travelled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this ideal emerged two orders of mendicant friars: one, the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi; the other, the Friars Preachers, by Dominic of Guzman. Like his contemporary, Francis, Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization, and the quick growth of the Dominicans and Franciscans during their first century of existence confirms that the orders of mendicant friars met a need.\n\nDominic sought to establish a new kind of order, one that would bring the dedication and systematic education of the older monastic orders like the Benedictines to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of cities, but with more organizational flexibility than either monastic orders or the secular clergy. Dominic's new order was to be a preaching order, trained to preach in the vernacular languages. Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the monasteries had done, the new friars would survive by begging, \"selling\" themselves through persuasive preaching.\n\nDominic inspired his followers with loyalty to learning and virtue, a deep recognition of the spiritual power of worldly deprivation and the religious state, and a highly developed governmental structure. At the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a \"mixed\" spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer and meditation. The brethren of the Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and mystical in their spirituality. While these traits had an impact on the women of the order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter characteristics and made those characteristics their own. In England, the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a spirituality and collective personality that set them apart.\n\nAs an adolescent, he had a particular love of theology and the Scriptures became the foundation of his spirituality. During his studies in Palencia, Spain, he experienced a dreadful famine, prompting Dominic to sell all of his beloved books and other equipment to help his neighbors. After he completed his studies, Bishop Martin Bazan and Prior Diego d'Achebes appointed Dominic to the cathedral chapter and he became a regular canon under the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions for the cathedral church of Osma. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five, he was ordained to the priesthood.\n\nIn 1203, Dominic joined Prior Diego de Acebo on an embassy to Denmark for the monarchy of Spain, to arrange the marriage between the son of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and a niece of King Valdemar II of Denmark. At that time the south of France was the stronghold of the Cathar or Albigensian heresy, named after the Duke of Albi, a Cathar sympathiser and opponent to the subsequent Albigensian Crusade (1209\u20131229). Dominic was fired by a reforming zeal after they encountered Albigensian Christians at Toulouse.\n\nPrior Diego saw immediately one of the paramount reasons for the spread of the unorthodox movement: the representatives of the Holy Church acted and moved with an offensive amount of pomp and ceremony. On the other hand, the Cathars lived in a state of self-sacrifice that was widely appealing. For these reasons, Prior Diego suggested that the papal legates begin to live a reformed apostolic life. The legates agreed to change if they could find a strong leader. The prior took up the challenge, and he and Dominic dedicated themselves to the conversion of the Albigensians. Despite this particular mission, in winning the Albigensians over by persuasion Dominic met limited success, \"for though in his ten years of preaching a large number of converts were made, it has to be said that the results were not such as had been hoped for.\"\n\nDominic became the spiritual father to several Albigensian women he had reconciled to the faith, and in 1206 he established them in a convent in Prouille. This convent would become the foundation of the Dominican nuns, thus making the Dominican nuns older than the Dominican friars. Prior Diego sanctioned the building of a monastery for girls whose parents had sent them to the care of the Albigensians because their families were too poor to fulfill their basic needs. The monastery was at Prouille would later become Dominic's headquarters for his missionary effort there. After two years on the mission field, Prior Diego died while traveling back to Spain. When his preaching companions heard of his death, all save Dominic and a very small number of others returned to their homes.\n<Assistant>Received. I'll store this information.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-06 00:00]\n<User>The following are some new knowledge:\nIn July 1215, with the approbation of Bishop Foulques of Toulouse, Dominic ordered his followers into an institutional life. Its purpose was revolutionary in the pastoral ministry of the Catholic Church. These priests were organized and well trained in religious studies. Dominic needed a framework\u2014a rule\u2014to organize these components. The Rule of St. Augustine was an obvious choice for the Dominican Order, according to Dominic's successor, Jordan of Saxony, because it lent itself to the \"salvation of souls through preaching\". By this choice, however, the Dominican brothers designated themselves not monks, but canons-regular. They could practice ministry and common life while existing in individual poverty.\n<Assistant>I've processed this information and will remember it.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-07 00:00]\n<User>Here are some new facts I learnt just now:\nDominic's education at Palencia gave him the knowledge he needed to overcome the Manicheans. With charity, the other concept that most defines the work and spirituality of the order, study became the method most used by the Dominicans in working to defend the Church against the perils that hounded it, and also of enlarging its authority over larger areas of the known world. In Dominic's thinking, it was impossible for men to preach what they did not or could not understand. When the brethren left Prouille, then, to begin their apostolic work, Dominic sent Matthew of Paris to establish a school near the University of Paris. This was the first of many Dominican schools established by the brethren, some near large universities throughout Europe.\n\nIn 1219 Pope Honorius III invited Saint Dominic and his companions to take up residence at the ancient Roman basilica of Santa Sabina, which they did by early 1220. Before that time the friars had only a temporary residence in Rome at the convent of San Sisto Vecchio which Honorius III had given to Dominic circa 1218 intending it to become a convent for a reformation of nuns at Rome under Dominic's guidance. In May 1220 at Bologna the order's first General Chapter mandated that each new priory of the order maintain its own studium conventuale thus laying the foundation of the Dominican tradition of sponsoring widespread institutions of learning. The official foundation of the Dominican convent at Santa Sabina with its studium conventuale occurred with the legal transfer of property from Honorius III to the Order of Preachers on June 5, 1222. This studium was transformed into the order's first studium provinciale by Saint Thomas Aquinas in 1265. Part of the curriculum of this studium was relocated in 1288 at the studium of Santa Maria sopra Minerva which in the 16th century world be transformed into the College of Saint Thomas (Latin: Collegium Divi Thom\u00e6). In the 20th century the college would be relocated to the convent of Saints Dominic and Sixtus and would be transformed into the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.\n\nThe Dominican friars quickly spread, including to England, where they appeared in Oxford in 1221. In the 13th century the order reached all classes of Christian society, fought heresy, schism, and paganism by word and book, and by its missions to the north of Europe, to Africa, and Asia passed beyond the frontiers of Christendom. Its schools spread throughout the entire Church; its doctors wrote monumental works in all branches of knowledge, including the extremely important Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Its members included popes, cardinals, bishops, legates, inquisitors, confessors of princes, ambassadors, and paciarii (enforcers of the peace decreed by popes or councils). The order was appointed by Pope Gregory IX the duty to carry out the Inquisition. In his Papal Bull Ad extirpanda of 1252, Pope Innocent IV authorised the Dominicans' use of torture under prescribed circumstances.\n\nThe expansion of the order produced changes. A smaller emphasis on doctrinal activity favoured the development here and there of the ascetic and contemplative life and there sprang up, especially in Germany and Italy, the mystical movement with which the names of Meister Eckhart, Heinrich Suso, Johannes Tauler, and St. Catherine of Siena are associated. (See German mysticism, which has also been called \"Dominican mysticism.\") This movement was the prelude to the reforms undertaken, at the end of the century, by Raymond of Capua, and continued in the following century. It assumed remarkable proportions in the congregations of Lombardy and the Netherlands, and in the reforms of Savonarola in Florence.\n\nAt the same time the order found itself face to face with the Renaissance. It struggled against pagan tendencies in Renaissance humanism, in Italy through Dominici and Savonarola, in Germany through the theologians of Cologne but it also furnished humanism with such advanced writers as Francesco Colonna (probably the writer of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) and Matteo Bandello. Many Dominicans took part in the artistic activity of the age, the most prominent being Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo.\n\nDuring this critical period, the number of Preachers seems never to have sunk below 3,500. Statistics for 1876 show 3,748, but 500 of these had been expelled from their convents and were engaged in parochial work. Statistics for 1910 show a total of 4,472 nominally or actually engaged in proper activities of the order. In the year 2000, there were 5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows, 917 student brothers, and 237 novices. By the year 2013 there were 6058 Dominican friars, including 4,470 priests.\n\nIn the revival movement France held a foremost place, owing to the reputation and convincing power of the orator, Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire (1802\u20131861). He took the habit of a Friar Preacher at Rome (1839), and the province of France was canonically erected in 1850. From this province were detached the province of Lyon, called Occitania (1862), that of Toulouse (1869), and that of Canada (1909). The French restoration likewise furnished many laborers to other provinces, to assist in their organization and progress. From it came the master general who remained longest at the head of the administration during the 19th century, P\u00e8re Vincent Jandel (1850\u20131872). Here should be mentioned the province of St. Joseph in the United States. Founded in 1805 by Edward Fenwick, afterwards first Bishop of Cincinnati, Ohio (1821\u20131832), this province has developed slowly, but now ranks among the most flourishing and active provinces of the order. In 1910 it numbered seventeen convents or secondary houses. In 1905, it established a large house of studies at Washington, D.C., called the Dominican House of Studies. There are now four Dominican provinces in the United States.\n\nThe province of France has produced a large number of preachers. The conferences of Notre-Dame-de-Paris were inaugurated by P\u00e8re Lacordaire. The Dominicans of the province of France furnished Lacordaire (1835\u20131836, 1843\u20131851), Jacques Monsabr\u00e9 (1869\u20131870, 1872\u20131890), Joseph Ollivier (1871, 1897), Thomas Etourneau (1898\u20131902).[citation needed] Since 1903 the pulpit of Notre Dame has been occupied by a succession of Dominicans. P\u00e8re Henri Didon (d. 1900) was a Dominican. The house of studies of the province of France publishes L'Ann\u00e9e Dominicaine (founded 1859), La Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Theologiques (1907), and La Revue de la Jeunesse (1909). French Dominicans founded and administer the \u00c9cole Biblique et Arch\u00e9ologique fran\u00e7aise de J\u00e9rusalem founded in 1890 by P\u00e8re Marie-Joseph Lagrange O.P. (1855\u20131938), one of the leading international centres for Biblical research. It is at the \u00c9cole Biblique that the famed Jerusalem Bible (both editions) was prepared.\n<Assistant>Thanks for letting me know. I'll keep track of this.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-08 00:00]\n<User>I'd like to share some important information:\nDoctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration of the Preachers. Several institutions, besides those already mentioned, played important parts. Such is the Biblical school at Jerusalem, open to the religious of the order and to secular clerics, which publishes the Revue Biblique. The faculty of theology at the University of Fribourg, confided to the care of the Dominicans in 1890, is flourishing, and has about 250 students. The Pontificium Collegium Internationale Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum established at Rome in 1908 by Master Hyacinth Cormier, opened its doors to regulars and seculars for the study of the sacred sciences. In addition to the reviews above are the Revue Thomiste, founded by P\u00e8re Thomas Coconnier (d. 1908), and the Analecta Ordinis Pr\u00e6dicatorum (1893). Among numerous writers of the order in this period are: Cardinals Thomas Zigliara (d. 1893) and Zephirin Gonz\u00e1lez (d. 1894), two esteemed philosophers; Alberto Guillelmotti (d. 1893), historian of the Pontifical Navy, and Heinrich Denifle, one of the most famous writers on medieval history (d. 1905).[citation needed]\n\nToday, there is a growing number of Associates who share the Dominican charism. Dominican Associates are Christian women and men; married, single, divorced, and widowed; clergy members and lay persons who were first drawn to and then called to live out the charism and continue the mission of the Dominican Order - to praise, to bless, to preach. Associates do not take vows, but rather make a commitment to be partners with vowed members, and to share the mission and charism of the Dominican Family in their own lives, families, churches, neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities. \n\nThe spiritual tradition of Dominic's Order is punctuated not only by charity, study and preaching, but also by instances of mystical union. The Dominican emphasis on learning and on charity distinguishes it from other monastic and mendicant orders. As the order first developed on the European continent, learning continued to be emphasized by these friars and their sisters in Christ. These religious also struggled for a deeply personal, intimate relationship with God. When the order reached England, many of these attributes were kept, but the English gave the order additional, specialized characteristics. This topic is discussed below.\n\nDominic's search for a close relationship with God was determined and unceasing. He rarely spoke, so little of his interior life is known. What is known about it comes from accounts written by people near to him. St. Cecilia remembered him as cheerful, charitable and full of unceasing vigor. From a number of accounts, singing was apparently one of Dominic's great delights. Dominic practiced self-scourging and would mortify himself as he prayed alone in the chapel at night for 'poor sinners.' He owned a single habit, refused to carry money, and would allow no one to serve him.\n\nThe spirituality evidenced throughout all of the branches of the order reflects the spirit and intentions of its founder, though some of the elements of what later developed might have surprised the Castilian friar. Fundamentally, Dominic was \"... a man of prayer who utilized the full resources of the learning available to him to preach, to teach, and even materially to assist those searching for the truth found in the gospel of Christ. It is that spirit which [Dominic] bequeathed to his followers\".\n<Assistant>Perfect. I've stored this information in my memory.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-09 00:00]\n<User>Here's some more information I came across:\nHumbert of Romans, the master general of the order from 1254 to 1263, was a great administrator, as well as preacher and writer. It was under his tenure as master general that the sisters in the order were given official membership. Humbert was a great lover of languages, and encouraged linguistic studies among the Dominicans, primarily Arabic, because of the missionary work friars were pursuing amongst those led astray or forced to convert by Muslims in the Middle East. He also wanted his friars to reach excellence in their preaching, and this was his most lasting contribution to the order. The growth of the spirituality of young preachers was his first priority. He once cried to his students: \"... consider how excellent this office [of preaching] is, because it is apostolic; how useful, because it is directly ordained for the salvation of souls; how perilous, because few have in them, or perform, what the office requires, for it is not without great danger ... , vol. xxv. (Lyon, 1677)\n\nHumbert is at the center of ascetic writers in the Dominican Order. In this role, he added significantly to its spirituality. His writings are permeated with \"religious good sense,\" and he used uncomplicated language that could edify even the weakest member. Humbert advised his readers, \"[Young Dominicans] are also to be instructed not to be eager to see visions or work miracles, since these avail little to salvation, and sometimes we are fooled by them; but rather they should be eager to do good in which salvation consists. Also, they should be taught not to be sad if they do not enjoy the divine consolations they hear others have; but they should know the loving Father for some reason sometimes withholds these. Again, they should learn that if they lack the grace of compunction or devotion they should not think they are not in the state of grace as long as they have good will, which is all that God regards\".\n<Assistant>Appreciated. I'll retain these important details.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-10 00:00]\n<User>Here's some more information I came across:\nAnother who contributed significantly to the spirituality of the order is Albertus Magnus, the only person of the period to be given the appellation \"Great\". His influence on the brotherhood permeated nearly every aspect of Dominican life. Albert was a scientist, philosopher, astrologer, theologian, spiritual writer, ecumenist, and diplomat. Under the auspices of Humbert of Romans, Albert molded the curriculum of studies for all Dominican students, introduced Aristotle to the classroom and probed the work of Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus. Indeed, it was the thirty years of work done by Thomas Aquinas and himself (1245\u20131274) that allowed for the inclusion of Aristotelian study in the curriculum of Dominican schools.\n\nOne of Albert's greatest contributions was his study of Dionysus the Areopagite, a mystical theologian whose words left an indelible imprint in the medieval period. Magnus' writings made a significant contribution to German mysticism, which became vibrant in the minds of the Beguines and women such as Hildegard of Bingen and Mechthild of Magdeburg. Mysticism, for the purposes of this study, refers to the conviction that all believers have the capability to experience God's love. This love may manifest itself through brief ecstatic experiences, such that one may be engulfed by God and gain an immediate knowledge of Him, which is unknowable through the intellect alone.\n\nAlbertus Magnus championed the idea, drawn from Dionysus, that positive knowledge of God is possible, but obscure. Thus, it is easier to state what God is not, than to state what God is: \"... we affirm things of God only relatively, that is, casually, whereas we deny things of God absolutely, that is, with reference to what He is in Himself. And there is no contradiction between a relative affirmation and an absolute negation. It is not contradictory to say that someone is white-toothed and not white\".\n\nAlbert the Great wrote that wisdom and understanding enhance one's faith in God. According to him, these are the tools that God uses to commune with a contemplative. Love in the soul is both the cause and result of true understanding and judgement. It causes not only an intellectual knowledge of God, but a spiritual and emotional knowledge as well. Contemplation is the means whereby one can obtain this goal of understanding. Things that once seemed static and unchanging become full of possibility and perfection. The contemplative then knows that God is, but she does not know what God is. Thus, contemplation forever produces a mystified, imperfect knowledge of God. The soul is exalted beyond the rest of God's creation but it cannot see God Himself.\n\nAs the image of God grows within man, he learns to rely less on an intellectual pursuit of virtue and more on an affective pursuit of charity and meekness. Meekness and charity guide Christians to acknowledge that they are nothing without the One (God/Christ) who created them, sustains them, and guides them. Thus, man then directs his path to that One, and the love for, and of, Christ guides man's very nature to become centered on the One, and on his neighbor as well. Charity is the manifestation of the pure love of Christ, both for and by His follower.\n\nThe Dominican Order was affected by a number of elemental influences. Its early members imbued the order with a mysticism and learning. The Europeans of the order embraced ecstatic mysticism on a grand scale and looked to a union with the Creator. The English Dominicans looked for this complete unity as well, but were not so focused on ecstatic experiences. Instead, their goal was to emulate the moral life of Christ more completely. The Dartford nuns were surrounded by all of these legacies, and used them to create something unique. Though they are not called mystics, they are known for their piety toward God and their determination to live lives devoted to, and in emulation of, Him.\n\nAlthough Albertus Magnus did much to instill mysticism in the Order of Preachers, it is a concept that reaches back to the Hebrew Bible. In the tradition of Holy Writ, the impossibility of coming face to face with God is a recurring motif, thus the commandment against graven images (Exodus 20.4-5). As time passed, Jewish and early Christian writings presented the idea of 'unknowing,' where God's presence was enveloped in a dark cloud. These images arose out of a confusing mass of ambiguous and ambivalent statements regarding the nature of God and man's relationship to Him.\n\nAlthough Dominic and the early brethren had instituted female Dominican houses at Prouille and other places by 1227, some of the brethren of the order had misgivings about the necessity of female religious establishments in an order whose major purpose was preaching, a duty in which women could not traditionally engage. In spite of these doubts, women's houses dotted the countryside throughout Europe. There were seventy-four Dominican female houses in Germany, forty-two in Italy, nine in France, eight in Spain, six in Bohemia, three in Hungary, and three in Poland. Many of the German religious houses that lodged women had been home to communities of women, such as Beguines, that became Dominican once they were taught by the traveling preachers and put under the jurisdiction of the Dominican authoritative structure. A number of these houses became centers of study and mystical spirituality in the 14th century. There were one hundred and fifty-seven nunneries in the order by 1358. In that year, the number lessened due to disasters like the Black Death.\n\nFemale houses differed from male Dominican houses in a lack of apostolic work for the women. Instead, the sisters chanted the Divine Office and kept all the monastic observances. Their lives were often much more strict than their brothers' lives. The sisters had no government of their own, but lived under the authority of the general and provincial chapters of the order. They were compelled to obey all the rules and shared in all the applicable privileges of the order. Like the Priory of Dartford, all Dominican nunneries were under the jurisdiction of friars. The friars served as their confessors, priests, teachers and spiritual mentors.\n\nWomen could not be professed to the Dominican religious life before the age of thirteen. The formula for profession contained in the Constitutions of Montargis Priory (1250) demands that nuns pledge obedience to God, the Blessed Virgin, their prioress and her successors according to the Rule of St. Augustine and the institute of the order, until death. The clothing of the sisters consisted of a white tunic and scapular, a leather belt, a black mantle, and a black veil. Candidates to profession were tested to reveal whether they were actually married women who had merely separated from their husbands. Their intellectual abilities were also tested. Nuns were to be silent in places of prayer, the cloister, the dormitory, and refectory. Silence was maintained unless the prioress granted an exception for a specific cause. Speaking was allowed in the common parlor, but it was subordinate to strict rules, and the prioress, subprioress or other senior nun had to be present.\n<Assistant>Appreciated. I'll retain these important details."]
[{"question": "What a cappella group rose to popularity in 1943?", "answer": "The Song Spinners"}, {"question": "What is the Order of Preachers known for?", "answer": "its intellectual tradition"}, {"question": "According to Humbert, what is all that God regards?", "answer": "good will"}, {"question": "What did Dominic enjoy doing?", "answer": "sing"}, {"question": "What well-known musician was once part of the college a capella group The Counterparts?", "answer": "John Legend"}, {"question": "What was boycotted by American musicians in 1943?", "answer": "US recording studios"}, {"question": "Before coming to New York, at what theater had Perfect Harmony previously been successful?", "answer": "Stoneham Theatre"}, {"question": "What title did Pere Vincent Jandel hold during this time?", "answer": "master general"}, {"question": "What historical period gave the Dominican Order a challenge?", "answer": "the Renaissance"}, {"question": "What did subject did Humbert love very much?", "answer": "languages"}, {"question": "In 1203, what area was a stronghold of the Cathar?", "answer": "south of France"}, {"question": "How many student brothers were there in the year 2000?", "answer": "917"}, {"question": "When did the Sweet Adelines change their name to acknowledge their international reach?", "answer": "1991"}, {"question": "What were the nuns tested on?", "answer": "intellectual abilities"}, {"question": "What type of man was Dominic?", "answer": "a man of prayer"}, {"question": "In what year were there 4,470 priests in the Dominican Order?", "answer": "2013"}, {"question": "Why did Dominic sell his books?", "answer": "to help his neighbors"}, {"question": "During the Middle Ages, who was no longer expected to stay behind walls away from the common man?", "answer": "Men of God"}, {"question": "What do some a capella groups do other than sing words?", "answer": "emulate instrumentation"}, {"question": "What a capella competition is hosted at UC Berkeley?", "answer": "Anahat"}, {"question": "What is another term for beatboxing?", "answer": "vocal percussion"}, {"question": "What friar helped to spread Dominican mysticism to Italy?", "answer": "Savonarola"}, {"question": "What did Humbert use to teach even weak members of the Dominican Order?", "answer": "uncomplicated language"}, {"question": "What did Dominic greatly struggle with?", "answer": "relationship with God"}, {"question": "The search for mysticism in the Dominican Order goes back to what?", "answer": "Hebrew Bible"}, {"question": "In 1910, how many Dominicans were actively engaged in Order work?", "answer": "4,472"}, {"question": "In what month was Perfect Harmony's Off-Brodway debut?", "answer": "October"}, {"question": "What is a tool that God uses to speak to the average man?", "answer": "understanding"}, {"question": "What did the Europeans of the Dominican Order bring to the group?", "answer": "ecstatic mysticism"}, {"question": "The Dartford Nuns are similar to what group?", "answer": "mystics"}, {"question": "On what day is using musical instruments not allowed?", "answer": "Sabbath"}, {"question": "Who describes the many reasons for Sweden's heavy involvement in a cappella?", "answer": "Richard Sparks"}, {"question": "What country has produced a large number of preachers?", "answer": "France"}, {"question": "What group of nuns are used all aspects of the Dominican Order for their work?", "answer": "Dartford"}, {"question": "What type of veil must the sisters wear?", "answer": "black"}, {"question": "How long after his mission did Prior Diego die?", "answer": "two years"}, {"question": "Among which group is a capella becoming more prominent?", "answer": "South Asians"}, {"question": "Why did families send their girls to Diego's monastery?", "answer": "too poor"}, {"question": "What did Philo's views on the absence of instruments clash with?", "answer": "Jewish scriptures"}, {"question": "In what country did Dominican Order nuns thrive in?", "answer": "England"}, {"question": "What is the name of the group that won The Sing-Off?", "answer": "Nota"}, {"question": "What helps define the work of the Dominican Order?", "answer": "charity"}, {"question": "If someone contemplates God forever, what type of knowledge will they obtain?", "answer": "imperfect"}, {"question": "How did the Dominican Order earn money?", "answer": "by begging"}, {"question": "Who is quoted for saying instruments in religious services are like \"A cow bell in a concert\"", "answer": "Alexander Campbell"}, {"question": "What was prepared at the Ecole Biblique?", "answer": "Jerusalem Bible"}, {"question": "During what time period did the Dominican Order do its best work?", "answer": "the Middle Ages"}, {"question": "What is the name of another French Dominican friar during this time?", "answer": "Thomas Etourneau"}, {"question": "Who did some early Dominican followers have trouble reconciling?", "answer": "female Dominican houses"}, {"question": "How many female Dominican houses were there in Germany?", "answer": "seventy-four"}, {"question": "Who did the St. Olaf Choir influence?", "answer": "other regional conductors"}, {"question": "In order to change to a better way of life, what did the legates request of Diego?", "answer": "a strong leader"}, {"question": "What genre best describes Perfect Harmony?", "answer": "comedy"}, {"question": "What was it about the Renaissance that gave the Dominican Order problems?", "answer": "pagan tendencies"}, {"question": "What is the name of the Swedish man known for being a large influence to a cappella across the world?", "answer": "Eric Ericson"}, {"question": "Who wanted to put mysticism into the Dominican Order?", "answer": "Albertus Magnus"}, {"question": "What virtue guides Christians in their understanding of God?", "answer": "Meekness"}, {"question": "Dominic's education helped him to overcome who?", "answer": "the Manicheans"}, {"question": "What popular a capella competition is not specific to college groups?", "answer": "Harmony Sweepstakes"}, {"question": "How many works of a cappella in musical theater have been successful in Off-Broadway productions?", "answer": "four"}, {"question": "According to Christianity, who is the \"One\"?", "answer": "God/Christ"}, {"question": "Where did Dominic want his followers to look for truth?", "answer": "gospel of Christ"}, {"question": "How many days are counted between Passover and Shavuot?", "answer": "49"}, {"question": "What did previous religious orders do for a living?", "answer": "farms"}, {"question": "In the modern day, what broad religious group is most known to implement a cappella?", "answer": "Christian religious bodies"}, {"question": "What type of a cappella music is specific to American culture?", "answer": "Barbershop music"}, {"question": "Who did Dominic pray for?", "answer": "poor sinners"}, {"question": "Who did Dominic entrust to start his school?", "answer": "Matthew of Paris"}, {"question": "What did the Dominican Order fight against?", "answer": "paganism"}, {"question": "What were the nuns allowed to minimally do?", "answer": "Speak"}, {"question": "In The Sing-Off, where did the groups not from the United States come from?", "answer": "Puerto Rico"}, {"question": "What cannot see God itself?", "answer": "The soul"}, {"question": "How many Dominican friars were there in 2013?", "answer": "6058"}, {"question": "In what style do Jewish families typically sing Sabbath songs?", "answer": "a cappella"}, {"question": "What draws many people into following the Dominican Order?", "answer": "charism"}, {"question": "What is one role that the friars served as to the nuns?", "answer": "teachers"}, {"question": "What country held a prominent place in the revival movement?", "answer": "France"}, {"question": "Dominican mysticism also spread to what European country?", "answer": "the Netherlands"}, {"question": "Who did Albert Magnus introduce to Dominican Order students?", "answer": "Aristotle"}, {"question": "Who was Dionysus?", "answer": "a mystical theologian"}, {"question": "The tradition of the Dominican Order includes what?", "answer": "charity"}, {"question": "What was a discipline of Albert the Great?", "answer": "ecumenist"}, {"question": "What a cappella vocal style is implemented in many of In Transit's songs?", "answer": "beat boxing"}, {"question": "How many Lucille Lortel Awards was In Transit nominated for?", "answer": "four"}, {"question": "What did Humbert instruct the students not to be?", "answer": "sad"}, {"question": "What is one branch of knowledge that the Dominican Order created works in?", "answer": "Thomas Aquinas"}, {"question": "Who did Prior Diego admire more than the Holy Church?", "answer": "the Cathars"}, {"question": "What group are older than the Dominican Friars?", "answer": "Dominican nuns"}, {"question": "After what age could women become members of the Dominican Order?", "answer": "thirteen"}, {"question": "What does the rejection of instruments in Christian music likely stem from?", "answer": "an interpretation of history"}, {"question": "Albert Magnus studied Dionysus during what historical period?", "answer": "medieval"}, {"question": "Where is the Sweet Adelines HQ?", "answer": "Tulsa, Oklahoma"}, {"question": "What did the Swingle Singers primarily use to emulate musical instruments?", "answer": "nonsense words"}, {"question": "What is the name of the first South Asian a capella group to accept both men and women?", "answer": "Anokha"}, {"question": "Where does a cappella still maintain a heavy presence?", "answer": "Christian music"}, {"question": "When was the province of France canonically erected?", "answer": "1850"}, {"question": "How many singers are typically in the choirs?", "answer": "40 to 80"}, {"question": "In what year did Dominic order his followers into an institutional life?", "answer": "1215"}, {"question": "What is a cappella music occasionally called among those of Jewish faith?", "answer": "sefirah music"}, {"question": "The theologians of what German city gave the Dominican Order resistance?", "answer": "Cologne"}]