How I found my place in the Order: A Dominican brother’s story
Brother Jacques Ambec, OP, is a Dominican cooperator brother whose vocation was shaped by preaching, the Rosary, and the humble witness of Saint Martin de Porres. From Lourdes to the convent of Toulouse, his life has been marked by service, fraternity, and a quiet fidelity to the Gospel. In this interview, he reflects on his calling, his ministry, and the often little-known vocation of cooperator brothers in the Order of Preachers.
Can you tell us how your vocation as a Dominican cooperator brother was born, and what led you to choose this particular form of religious life?
My vocation was born in 1960 in Lourdes, during the Rosary Pilgrimage, where I was deeply impressed by the preaching of the Dominicans. I was 14 years old, and my grandmother was with me. Two years later, in 1962, I read a special issue of La Revue du Rosaire dedicated to Martin de Porres on the occasion of his canonization, and I discovered this holy brother (not a priest!). My grandmother was a faithful reader of this magazine. I read another issue of La Revue du Rosaire devoted to cooperator brothers in 1966. I was 20 years old and said to myself: This is my place in the Dominican Order. I am originally from Millau, in Aveyron, a town located about 200 km from Toulouse, so I went to the convent in Toulouse to contact the Order and see. I began my novitiate in 1968 at the convent of Toulouse, followed by the formation that came afterward.
What does it mean for you, concretely, to be a cooperator brother today in the Order of Preachers?
To answer this question, I wanted to live in a community of preaching and prayer with the Rosary, and of service without being a priest, remaining simply and humbly in my proper place in the manner of Martin de Porres. I would also emphasize two other important traits for me: fraternal life lived and shared in charity.
Your ministry leads you to travel with a relic of Saint Martin de Porres. How was this mission entrusted to you, and how did you receive it spiritually?
During the encounters where I bring the relic, there is always a time of prayer, a presentation, and a teaching on Saint Martin de Porres, along with the presentation of my books. The faithful are moved by the testimony; they also want to see, even to touch, and that is important. I believe that cooperator brothers are the best ambassadors to witness to this vocation, as our Father, Saint Dominic, intended.
How does the figure of Saint Martin de Porres shed light on your own fraternal life, your humility, and your daily service?
Martin de Porres is a model for responding to the needs of the brothers through his presence as a porter and an infirmarian. He was present to all the brothers without drawing attention to himself, since he wanted to occupy the last place. But today in Lima, he occupies the first place: this is in the Gospel—“the last shall be first.”
How does your ministry, in your view, help make the vocation of cooperator brother better known, a vocation sometimes little known in the Church?
Many people, many of the faithful, upon discovering the relic, the books, and the testimonies, say that they were unaware of the vocation of cooperator brothers in the Order.
What would you say to a young man who feels drawn to Dominican life but hesitates to consider the vocation of cooperator brother?
To a young man who is asking questions, I would say: “Come and see” the place that cooperator brothers hold in our communities—as porter, bursar, librarian, archivist, sacristan, catechist, and as ministers in health care pastoral work, which is what I do by visiting the sick and the elderly. Each person has talents with which he can serve in a community of brothers where each member has his proper place in charity, prayer, and what we ask for at the taking of the habit and at profession: God’s mercy.
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