Many times I see a priest’s name with “O.P.” at the end. For example, Fr. John Doe O.P.
What does this mean?
Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
Ordinis Praedicatorum (Latin for Order of Preachers). He’s a Dominican.
Members of a Religious community will typically have such designations after their name, indicating in Latin the official nomenclature of their community.
This (although it doesn’t offer the actual Latin for each abbreviation) might prove helpful in the future when you run across such things:
:hypno: :whacky: so many!!!
or sometimes the name of the order is in French or other language of the founder of the order, thus the initials reflect this.
What are the other order abbreviations? I know that S.J. is Society of Jesus (Jesuit) but I am unfamiliar with the others.
Chicago posted a handy (but hard to read) list of close to 800 abbreviations.
catholicdoors.com/misc/abbrev.htm
Here are some:
OSB-Order of St. Benedict (Benedictines)
OFM-Order of Friars Minor (in Latin, Ordem Fratrum Minorum-the Franciscans). The additional abbreviations, ‘Conv.’ [Conventuals] and ‘Cap’ [Capuchins] refer to two divisions within the Order.
OCarm-Order of Carmel [so-called ‘Calced’ Carmelites]. ‘Calced’ meaning ‘wearing shoes’.
OCD-Discalced Carmelite Order [don’t ask me the Latin phrasing :o ]. ‘Discalced’ meaning ‘barefoot’-wearing sandals.
These are the ‘big’ Orders in the Church, and the most familiar.
Does this help?
Yes. Thank you