BONA, GIOVANNI. — Cardinal, most learned ascetical and liturgical-historical writer, born at Pian della Valle near Mondovì on 10 Oct. 1609, died a holy death in Rome on 28 Oct. 1674.
He was descended from a branch of the Bonne de Lesdiguières family, nobles of the Dauphiné, who had emigrated to Piedmont. At the age of fifteen he became a Cistercian monk of the Feuillant Congregation (Fogliesi), which had custody of the sanctuary of St Mary of Vico (Mondovì), beginning his novitiate in the monastery of St Mary of Pinerolo on 19 July 1625.
He devoted himself to the study of philosophy and the sciences at Turin, in the monastery of the Consolata; then he was sent to Rome to study theology at St Bernard of the Baths, where he was ordained priest in 1633.
Returning to Piedmont, he held the chair of theology for three years in the monastery of Vico (1636), was twice elected prior at Asti, and then abbot of St Mary of Vico at Mondovì. In 1651 he was elected abbot general of his Congregation; in 1654 he resigned that office to retire to Vico for study and prayer. At the wish of his great friend and admirer Alexander VII, in 1655 he was obliged to resume the generalship, and was elected consultor of the Congregations of Rites, the Index, and the Holy Office. A most balanced theologian, he acted with kindness in the heated controversy surrounding the Monita salutaria B. M. Virginis ad cultores suos indiscretos (placed on the Index on 19 June 1674). Clement IX created him cardinal in 1669. His life, both as a religious and as a cardinal, was poor and austere, devoted to prayer and study. He always sought in his studies “not science for science’s sake, but science for the glory of God and the salvation of souls” (Pius X, Letter to the Bishop of Mondovì on the occasion of the tricentenary). He remained in repute for holiness (cf. F. Tonelli, Si può sperare la canonizzazione del card. G. B. in Riv. storica bened., 5 [1910], pp. 253 sqq.).
Works: Psallentis Ecclesiae harmoniae, tractatus historicus symbolicus asceticus de divina psalmodia ejusque causis mysteriis et disciplina etc. (Rome 1653, reprinted by the Benedictines of St Maur at Paris 1663). The treatise, described by Martène as “singularis et aureus” (De antiqua ecclesiae disciplina in divinis celebrandis officiis, Lyons 1706, Preface), is the best work of its kind to appear up to that time on the divine office: after some introductory chapters on psalmody, it studies the various canonical hours in their historical development with extraordinary erudition and wealth of testimony.
Manuductio ad coelum continens medullam sanctorum Patrum et veterum philosophorum (Rome 1658), his best-known ascetical treatise, reissued in 1660 and countless times thereafter (17 during the author’s lifetime). The work, translated into several languages, was compared by his contemporaries to the Imitation of Christ. A methodical and profound study, it demonstrates the necessity of a good spiritual director for attaining man’s ultimate end, lists the qualities required, and expounds the doctrine of the three ways—purgative, illuminative, and unitive. Rerum liturgicarum libri duo is a treatise on the history and liturgy of the Mass of great historical value; published in 1671, it went through many editions, including notable ones by Sala (Turin 1747 and 1753). The spiritual value of the Sacrifice of the Altar is instead studied in De sacrificio Missae tractatus asceticus (Rome 1658, Rouen 1663 etc.).
Among his numerous other published and unpublished works we may mention: Via compendi di Deum per motos anagogicos et orationes iaculatorias (Rome 1657, Paris 1662). Union with God is effected through frequent ejaculatory prayers and aspirations which form almost a glue binding the soul to God.
Principia et documenta vitae christianae (Rome 1673, and many other editions) is a golden treatise of ascetics, teaching all Christians the moderation of the passions and the practice of the virtues; De disceptione spirituum in vita spirituali deducendorum (Brussels 1671, 1672; Rome 1672 etc.); Testamentum sive praeparatio ad mortem (Florence 1675); Hortus coelestium deliciarum, a spiritual florilegium first published by Msgr. Vattasso in 1918.
Cursus vitae spiritualis facili ac perspicua methodo perducens hominem ab initio conversionis usque ad apicem sanctitatis (Rome 1674, many reprints listed by J. de Guibert, Theologia ascetica et mystica, ibid. 1926, p. 55) was published under the name of Carlo Giuseppe Morozzo, who edited it and to whom it was later falsely attributed; Italian tr. by A. Tisi, Corso di Vita spirituale (2 vols., Rome – Alba 1942).
He was an eminent liturgist and a profound master of ascetical and mystical theology. As a liturgist he actively sought out sources (manuscripts etc.); owing to his offices as consultor, abbot, and cardinal, he could not greatly extend his researches beyond Roman libraries, confining himself for other sources to second-hand reports drawn from the vast literature he consulted. Despite these limitations, “his criticism of sources marks an advance on all who preceded him” (H. Dumaine, s.V. in DACL, II, col. 998). B. was an indefatigable reader of the authors who treated the subjects he studied: “It may be said that nothing escaped him of the literature on his subject” (ibid., col. 997). Notorious was the controversy aroused by his De rebus liturgicis on the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the Latin Church. Bona advanced his own theory, drawn from Sirmond, and though his thesis did not attain to evident proof, which is still lacking today, it remains the most probable. For Bona the absolute perpetuity of the use of unleavened bread in the Latin Church is not to be admitted. This opinion provoked controversy among contemporary scholars; Mabillon, initially opposed, later adhered to it almost entirely (De pane eucharistico azymo et fermentato, Paris 1674). Closely MACEDONIA (v.) who accused Bona’s doctrine of heresy.
In the ascetical field Bona’s great merit lies in his fidelity to traditional doctrine; he harmonizes ancient and modern spirituality. His doctrine is the classic one which starts from a clear and central concept of perfection, conceived as an actual and loving union of the soul with God, and proceeds to describe the means of sanctification. Mystical union, the final term of contemplation and the soul’s ascent to God, is effected through frequent and ardent ejaculatory prayers. Perfection, a divine gift, is generally given to those who pursue the ascetical way with love and fidelity: it is almost a normal law. Bona’s ascetical teaching insists greatly on the mastery of the passions, the practice of the virtues, the necessity of good and sure spiritual direction, and complete victory over self. He also composed an excellent course of spiritual exercises in the Ignatian manner: Phoenix rediviva, annua spiritus renovatio per anachoresim et exercitia spiritualia (1st ed. Paris 1847, French tr. by De Boissieu, La renaissance du Phénix, ibid. 1922).