July 15 St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church

St. Bonaventure

1218-1274

July 15

Bonaventure was born at Bagnorea in Tuscany and was baptized "John." As a child he was cured by St. Francis. Bonaventure studied at the University of Paris and became a Franciscan there. At the same time Thomas Aquinas was teaching at Paris, Bonaventure was also a distinguished teacher there.

His academic career was cut short by his election as minister general of the friars in 1257. Bonaventure immediately dedicated his energies to restoring harmony among the friars, who were plagued by various factions.

The Church in the 1260’s closely linked ordination and the permission to preach. This presented a problem for the friars whose style, since Francis’ time, had been that of itinerant preachers—few of whom were ordained. Bonaventure, wanting to ensure the friars’ preaching vocation, moved them in a clerical direction. And accepting ordination meant establishing large houses of study near universities like Paris and Oxford.

Though some people have criticized Bonaventure for this redirection of the friars, others have argued convincingly that he was simply following the mind of the Church—which, they say, is what Francis would have wanted. Bonaventure ably defended the friars against those who said that the friars’ form of life, with its provisions for begging, was condemned by the gospel.

Among Bonaventure’s most famous writings are his life of St. Francis (Legenda Major) and the equally brilliant Journey of the Soul to God.  Bonaventure attributed his knowledge to meditation on the cross [of Jesus Christ, something he wrote of in The Tree of Life].

Bonaventure worked hard not to be named a bishop but was finally made Bishop of Albano and then cardinal. At the Second Council of Lyons (1274), he worked for the reunion with the Greek Church. He died before the Council ended. Bonaventure was canonized in 1482.

QUOTE: “For this passover (to God) to be perfect, we must suspend all the operations of the mind and we must transform the peak of our affections, directing them to God alone. This is a sacred mystical experience. It cannot be comprehended by anyone unless they surrender themselves to it; nor can they surrender themselves to it unless they long for it; nor can they long for it unless the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent into the world, should come and inflame their inmost soul.  Hence the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit” (Bonaventure in Journey of the Soul to God, Chp. 7).

COMMENT: Bonaventure’s goal was “wisdom”—knowledge in the light of faith. His various publics—students, friars, Church officials—knew him as a man who fulfilled the Franciscan educational motto: In holiness and learning. Like St. Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure knew that poverty and humility are the natural allies of the gospel.

from McCloskey, Patrick. Franciscan Saint of the Day. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1981.