Bonaventure d'Amiens

BONAVENTURE D'AMIENS. - Franciscan missionary, martyr in Languedoc. Born into the Lieurin family, he took the habit of the Reformed Minors in Rome. In 1624, favored by Urban VIII and by Louis XIII, then at war with the factions and with the Calvinists, he went to Languedoc to sustain the faith of his countrymen. In 1626 news reached Propaganda that he had converted the head of Villafort along with the whole town, and other large villages. The following year the Pope granted him extraordinary privileges, commending his mission to the dukes of Montmorency, Vandator and Portez, and to the bishops of Aquitaine. In 1628 and 1629 his successes continued. In his repeated letters to Propaganda he insists on returning to Rome, for reasons of health: but on 6 June 1629, the duke of Montmorency notified the same Propaganda that the father had «died as a martyr», on the day of the Ascension, that is, 24 May. The officials of Propaganda specify that he was killed by the heretics at Privas, while he was hearing the confessions of the soldiers. He wrote: Récit véritable de la conversion générale des héritages des villes et villages de St-Paragoire, Pleissan, Puoget, Vindemian, Cornousec, Coronterrail, Ponzzan et Barleruc à la foy catholique apostolique et romaine, faict et dressé par le p. B. d'A., etc. (Avignon 1629).

Aniceto Chiappini