BONA, GIOVANNI. - Cardinal, a most learned ascetical and historical-liturgical writer, b. at Pian della Valle near Mondovì on 10 Oct. 1609, d. in holiness at Rome on 28 Oct. 1674.
He descended from a branch that had emigrated to Piedmont of the Bonne de Lesdiguières, a noble family of the Dauphiné. At the age of fifteen he became a Cistercian monk of the Congregation of the Feuillants, which guarded 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 study theology at Rome, in that of St. Bernard of the Baths, where he was ordained priest in 1633.
Having returned to Piedmont, he held the chair of theology for three years in the monastery of Vico (1636), was twice elected prior at Asti, then abbot of St. Mary of Vico of Mondovì. In 1651 he was elected abbot general of his Congregation; in 1654 he resigned that office in order to retire to Vico for study and prayer. By the will of his great friend and admirer Alexander VII, in 1655 he had to resume the generalship, and he was elected consultor of the Congregations of Rites, of the Index and of the Holy Office. A most balanced theologian, he was benevolent in the heated controversy over the Monita salutaria B. M. Virginis ad cultores suos indiscretos (placed on the Index on 19 June 1674). Clement IX named him cardinal in 1669. His life, both as a religious and as a cardinal, was poor and austere, devoted to prayer and study. In his studies he always sought «not knowledge for knowledge's sake, but knowledge for the glory of God and the salvation of souls» (Pius X, Lettera al vescovo di Mondovì in occasione del tricentenario). He remained in repute of holiness (cf. F. Tonelli, Si può sperare la canonizzazione del card. G. B.? in Riv. storica bened., 5 [1910], p. 253 ff.).
He published: Psallentis Ecclesiae harmoniae, tractatus historicus symbolicus asceticus de divina psalmodia ejusque causis mysteriis et disciplina etc. (Rome 1653, republished by the Benedictines of St. Maur at Paris 1663). The treatise, defined by Marfone as «singularia et aureus» (De antiqua ecclesiae disciplina in divinis celebrandis officiis, Lyons 1706, preface), is the best that had appeared 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 testimonies.
Manuductio ad coelum continens medullam sanctorum Patrum et veterum philosophum (Rome 1658), is his best-known ascetical treatise, reissued in 1660 and innumerable other times (17 during the author's lifetime). The work, translated into several languages, was compared by his contemporaries to the De imitatione Christi. A methodical and profound study, which after demonstrating the necessity of a good spiritual director for attaining man's ultimate end and having listed his qualities, sets out the doctrine of the three ways, purgative, illuminative, and unitive. The Rerum liturgicarum libri duo is a treatise on the history and liturgy of the Mass, of great historical value, published in 1671; it had numerous editions, among which those of Sala (Turin 1747 and 1753) are notable. The spiritual value of the Sacrifice of the altar is instead studied in the De sacrificio Missae tractatus asceticus (Rome 1658, Rouen 1663 etc.).
Among the numerous other works of B., published and unpublished, we recall: Via compendii ad Deum per motus anagogicos et orationes facultati (Rome 1657, Paris 1662). Union with God is brought about through the frequent ejaculations and aspirations that form almost a glue binding the soul to God.
Principia et documenta vitae christianae (Rome 1673, and numerous other editions) is a golden treatise of ascetics, which teaches all Christians the moderation of the passions and the practice of the virtues: De discretione spirituum in vita spirituali deducendorum (Brussels 1671, 1672; Rome 1672, etc.); Testamentum sive praeparatio ad mortem (Florence 1675); Hortus coelestium deliciarum, a spiritual florilegium published for the first time by Msgr. Vattasso in 1918.
Cursus vitae spiritualis facili ac perspicua methodo perducens hominem ab initio conversionis usque ad apicem sanctitatis (Rome 1674, numerous reissues listed by J. de Guibert, Theologia ascetica et mystica, ibid. 1926, p. 55) under the name of Carlo Giuseppe Morozzo, who edited it, to whom it was subsequently falsely attributed; Italian trans. by A. Tisi, Corso di Vita spirituale (2 vols., Rome - Alba 1942).
B. is an eminent liturgist and a profound master of ascetics and mysticism. As a liturgist he actively sought out sources (manuscripts etc.); because of his offices as consultor, abbot and cardinal, he could not extend his research much beyond the Roman libraries, limiting himself for other sources to second-hand reports drawn from the very extensive literature he consulted. Despite these gaps, «his criticism of the sources marks a progress over 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 escapes him of the literature of his subject» (ibid., col. 997). The controversy aroused by his *De rebus liturgicis**, concerning the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the Latin Church, is well known. B. has a theory of his own, derived from Sirmond, and his thesis, although it does not attain the evidence, which is still lacking today, is the most plausible. For B. the absolute perpetuity of the use of unleavened bread in the Latin Church is not to be admitted. This opinion raised contrasts among the scholars of the time; Mabillon, at first an opponent, later adhered to it almost entirely (De pane eucharistico azymo et fermentato, Paris 1674). More obstinate was the Portuguese Francesco Macedo (v.), who branded B.'s doctrine as heresy.
In the ascetical field it is a great merit of B. to have been faithful to traditional doctrine; he harmonizes ancient and modern spirituality. His doctrine is the classical one that starts from a clear and central concept of perfection, conceived as an actual and loving union of the soul with God, in order to descend to the description of the means of sanctification. Mystical union, the ultimate term of contemplation and of the soul's ascent to God, is brought about through frequent and ardent ejaculations. Perfection, after the divine, is generally granted to one who pursues the ascetical way with love and fidelity: it is an almost normal law. B.'s ascetics insists greatly on the mastery of the passions, on the practice of the virtues, on the necessity of a good and sure spiritual direction, on the complete victory over oneself. B. also composed an excellent course of spiritual exercises, on the model of the Ignatian ones: Phoenix redictiva, annua spiritus renovatio per anachoresim et exercitia spiritualia (1st ed. Paris 1847, French trans. by De Boissieu, La renaissance du Phénix, ibid. 1922).
Bibliography9 works
Umile Bonzi da Genova