Order of Preachers

The Order of Preachers, identified in the novel with the Dominican community, is presented through its former member Régis D’Anjou and in contrast with Cuban Santería. Rather than describing the order’s structure or doctrine in detail, the narrative emphasizes that leaving its priesthood did not extinguish Régis’s Christian faith, while Catholic clergy in Cuba encountered Santería with suspicion tempered by local cultural familiarity.

Régis D’Anjou and Dominican Formation

Régis had left both the priesthood and the Dominican community, but his departure did not amount to a loss of religious conviction. He retained a profound passion for God and the living Christ, and his thinking brought Christian teachings into conversation with theology, cosmic evolution, philosophy, and music. His characterization therefore distinguishes institutional belonging from continuing faith: the former Dominican remained deeply shaped by Christian spirituality after leaving the community.

In his later relationship with Loïc, Régis’s former religious identity is part of his authority as a confidant. He confronts Loïc with a pointed question about his political convictions, and the conversation develops into a confession of their incompatible views of Canadian federalism. The novel does not present this political disagreement as a consequence of Dominican teaching; rather, Régis’s clerical past and enduring faith form part of the broader portrait of a learned, spiritually committed man whose bond with Loïc survives serious conflict.

Catholic Clergy and Santería

The order’s Dominican community is not described as directing the Catholic Church’s response to Santería. The narrative instead depicts a Catholic priest in Cuba who initially bars Rodrigo Lerbier, a babalao, from entering a home while the police are awaited. Although wary of rites associated with African religions, the priest is himself Cuban and was raised with respect for older beliefs. When Rodrigo asks to enter because he senses that something malign has occurred, the priest recognizes him and permits him to come in.

That accommodation is not presented as doctrinal agreement. It is a local encounter in which caution and cultural familiarity coexist, and in which Rodrigo’s role as a religious officiant is acknowledged by the gathered community. At a separate Santería ceremony attended by Loïc and Laurence, Rodrigo appears as Manuel’s cousin and as a respected babalao. The scene places Catholic and Yoruba-derived religious identities in the same social world without making them interchangeable.

Limits of the Institutional Portrait

The Order of Preachers remains a biographical and interpretive presence rather than a fully described organization. The book supplies no account of its hierarchy, internal practices, or formal position on Santería. Its clearest connection is personal: Régis’s departure from the Dominican community and the persistence of his Christian devotion. The Cuban scenes broaden the religious context, but their tensions and accommodations belong to the depicted clergy, babalao, and communities, not to an explicitly stated policy of the order.

This limited portrayal makes religious affiliation consequential without treating it as a complete explanation of character. Régis’s Dominican past helps situate his intellectual and spiritual life, while the Cuban encounters show that religious boundaries are lived through particular relationships and circumstances. The order’s significance lies chiefly in that contrast between community membership and enduring faith.