He was first a shepherd. He later became a priest and lived as a hermit under the Rule of Saint Benedict. He was appointed Abbot of Saint Sebastian’s at Silos in Spain. He miraculously delivered more than three hundred prisoners taken by the Mohammedans shortly after his death. It was because of the intercession of Saint Dominic of Silos that Blessed Jane of Aza brought into the world, in 1170, the great Saint Dominic who founded the Order of Friars Preachers. All the queens of Spain used to keep his staff in their room when they were giving birth to a child.
Bartolomé Bermejo (Bartolomé de Cárdenas), Saint Dominic of Silos enthroned as a Bishop (1474–1477). Oil on panel, 242 × 134 cm. Prado Museum
