BONAVENTURE, Saint. - Doctor of the Church.
SUMMARY:
I. Life
II. His Writings
III. The Doctrine of the Seraphic Doctor
IV. Iconography.I. LIFE
St. B. was born in 1221 at Bagnoregio (now a suburb of Bagnoregio, in ruins, near Viterbo). His father, probably a physician, was named Fidanza Giovanni, and his mother Ritella. Seeing the child gravely ill, she obtained his healing through a vow made to St. Francis of Assisi. The event, attested by St. B. himself, had no small influence on his religious and intellectual orientation.Sent to the Faculty of Arts in Paris around 1236, he donned the Franciscan habit in the convent of the Friars Minor around 1243 and studied theology under the direction of Alexander of Hales (d. 1245), ROCHELLE, LA (v.), d. 1245, Eudes Rigault (d. 1275), and perhaps also William of Melitona (v.), d. 1257. In 1248, he began his teaching by commenting on the Gospel of St. Luke, and from 1250 onward, the Sentences of Peter Lombard. After 1253, he composed his Quaestiones disputatae and the Breviloquium, a small theological summa. Around that time, a crisis erupted that was to pit the secular clergy against the Dominicans and Franciscans, first over the issue of the University and later over the more vital question of the legitimacy of the two new mendicant Orders. They were directly attacked by William of St-Amour (v.) in his Tractatus de periculis novissimorum temporum (1256). St. B. responded on behalf of the Friars Minor in his Quaestiones disputatae de perfectione evangelica. With the intervention of Alexander IV, the conflict was momentarily calmed, and among other measures, the University was ordered to officially receive among its doctors Friar B. and Friar Thomas Aquinas. The ceremony took place on October 23, 1257, by which time St. B. had already had to resign from teaching, having been elected Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor on February 2, 1257.
This Order had experienced prodigious growth and at that time likely counted more than 20,000 religious. It was in the midst of a developmental crisis, disturbed by dangerous doctrines such as Joachimism and the extremist tendencies of the Spirituals. It was necessary to temper the zeal of some, encourage others toward a more regular life, and perfect the administrative organization of the new institution. The new Minister General, a balanced and firm spirit, was the providential man. His seventeen years of governance so profoundly, happily, and stably influenced the future of the Order that he is justly considered its second founder. Though his administration encountered misunderstandings, the great majority paid homage to his virtue and talent.
One of the most memorable acts of his generalship was the publication of the general constitutions at the Chapter of Narbonne (1260), whose text later served as the basis for the content and form of subsequent constitutions of the Friars Minor. At the request of the same chapter, B. wrote the life of St. Francis of Assisi to put an end to endless disputes about the ideal of the founder. Though this concern led him to omit certain aspects or deeds of the Poor Man of Assisi, St. B. is nonetheless recognized for his great care to be objective, having wished, before writing, to visit the places where the Saint had lived and to question his early companions. He took it upon himsel
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Bonaventure, Saint - Bible of St. B., 13th-century codex with later added coat of arms - Bagnoregio, Sacristy of the Cathedral.
f to defend studies within the Order against some Spirituals who deemed them contrary to the spirit of St. Francis, demonstrating through his own example that they could serve to love God and make Him loved.
St. B. habitually resided in Paris, which at the time was like the brain of Christendom, but he often traveled throughout France, Italy, England, Germany, and Flanders. Living so close to the University, he could not remain indifferent to the movement of ideas. For ten years, he refrained from intervening openly, but then the spread of the doctrines of the Averroists induced him to deliver two series of Lenten conferences against them: De decem praeceptis (1267) and De donis Spiritus Sancti (1268). Almost all the theses he denounced were later condemned in 1270 by the Bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier.
A new attack against the mendicant Orders was launched in 1269 GERARDO D'ABRÉVILLE (v.), and St. B. was among the first to counter it with his Apologia pauperum (1270), “the most perfect work of Franciscan literature” (E. Longpré).
Seeing how, despite the intervention of Stephen Tempier and the Holy See, Averroist doctrines continued to spread, B. decided to return to the pulpit. From April 9 to May 28, 1273, he delivered his conferences on the Hexaemeron before a large audience of masters, bachelors, and
Soon after, four Friars Minor sent by the Pope arrived in Lyon, having previously been sent to the Greek Church to prepare for the union of the Churches, accompanied by delegates from the Greeks. The union was realized on June 28 and was the last great joy experienced by B., for shortly thereafter, due to his always delicate health, he succumbed to exhaustion caused by so many journeys and labors. He died in the night between July 14 and 15, 1274, assisted by the Pope himself, who ordered priests throughout the world to celebrate a Mass for the repose of his soul.
He was canonized by Sixtus IV in 1482 and proclaimed “Doctor of the Church” by Sixtus V in 1588. His feast is celebrated in the universal Church on July 14. The title of “Devout Doctor,” which he received after his death, was later replaced, beginning with Gerson, by that of “Seraphic Doctor.” B. left the memory of a naturally amiable and kind man: *Ecce vir bonus et benignus, verecundus visu, modestus moribus et eloquio decorus* (Breviarium Romanum-Seraphicum, ant. I ad I Vesp. July 14); even his enemies were compelled to acknowledge the holiness of his life. He possessed the gifts of prudence and counsel to a high degree, so much so that the cardinals, gathered to elect a successor to Clement IV, unable to agree, resorted to his guidance and elected the candidate he recommended. What most astonishes us is that this perfect superior, who had to live amidst so many human contingencies, was also an eminent metaphysician, a profound thinker, and a prolific writer.
II. WRITINGS
The works of B. were often transcribed and many mystical pamphlets were attributed to him. Complete or partial editions of the original texts in Latin and translations into modern languages number in the hundreds, but their list has only historical value since the appearance of the critical edition, commissioned by Fr. Bernardino da Portogruaro in 1871 and prepared by Fr. Fedele di Fanna (d. 1881). It was completed by the Friars Minor of the College of St. Bonaventure in Quaracchi near Florence from 1882 to 1902, under the direction of Fr. Ignazio Jeiler. It is a distinguished work, judged from its first appearance as a model of its kind. Despite the difficulties that such work presented at the time it was undertaken, it has only undergone minor criticisms, revisions, or additions of secondary importance. It consists of 10 volumes in-folio (plus 1 volume of plates for the Commentary on the Sentences [I–IV], unnumbered). Here only the most important or most characteristic works are mentioned, and the critical edition to which reference is made will be corrected where necessary, noting the works omitted in it and the various manual editions published by editors, as well as the most important studies and translations.I. Theological Works
The Commentaries on the Four Books of the Sentences of Peter Lombard (vols. I–IV) were written from 1250 to 1254 and are generally considered his best; here he reveals both the speculative power of his mind and his doctrinal tendencies. However, a beginner, even if gifted, is not a mature man, and it is useful to check and, where necessary, correct the Commentary with his later theological works.
The Breviloquium, written around 1257, is a very brief theological summa (vol. V, pp. 199–201; manual ed., literal commentary in vernacular by Fr. Teodoro Barbalisica, 2 vols., Pompei 1934). Master of his plan and method, the Seraphic Doctor reveals here his high conception of speculative theology, and some of his favored theses are expounded with greater clarity than in the Commentary.
The large edition has published several disputed questions: seven On the Knowledge of Christ, eight On the Mystery of the Trinity, four On Evangelical Perfection (vol. V, pp. 1–198). Others have been discovered subsequently: two On the Existence of Angels and On Begging (identified and published by Fr. Ferd. Delorme in S. Bonaventurae Collationes in Hexaemeron and Certain Bonaventurian Selections, Florence–Quaracchi 1934, pp. 205–327 and 328–56); ten On Charity and On the Last Things (rediscovered by Canon P. Glorieux and in the process of publication in France Franciscaine, 1936 ff., document II). Moreover, Fr. Vittorino Doucet (Descriptio codicis 172 bibliothecae communis Assisiensis, in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 25 [1932], pp. 514–15; and Quaestiones centum ad scholam franciscanam saec. XIII ut plurimum spectantes, ibid., 26 [1933], pp. 474–96) and Fr. Francesco M. Henquinet (Un brouillon autographe de s. Bonaventure sur le Commentaire des Sentences, in Études Franciscaines, 44 [1932], pp. 635–55 and 45 [1933], pp. 59–82) attribute to B., with varying degrees of certainty, a collection of theological questions sufficient to form a new in-folio volume of the critical edition. These, however, remain unpublished.
The text of the conferences on the Ten Commandments (1267), on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1268), and on the Hexaemeron (1273) was not written by St. B. himself but by his hearers (vol. V, pp. 327–503). Fr. Ferd. Delorme, op. cit., has published a text of the Hexaemeron conferences that allows for the verification and, at times, correction of that published by the editors of Quaracchi (vol. V, pp. 327–454).
The small treatise On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology (vol. V, pp. 317–26: mss.) has been judged by one scholar (G. Rabeau, Introduction à l'étude de la théologie, Paris 1926, p. 365) as “the most important medieval contribution to the introduction to theology.”
2. Exegetical Writings
The most important is the Commentary on St. Luke (1248), an early work, probably revised later, especially useful for preachers (entire vol. VII).3. Ascetical or Mystical Writings
The most famous is the Itinerarium mentis in Deum (vol. V, pp. 293–316), written at La Verna in October 1259, widely read, translated, and commented upon.Almost as celebrated is the De triplici via (1259; VIII, pp. 3–27), in which St. B. concisely sets out the broad lines of his mystical doctrine (J. Fr. Bonnefoy, Une somme bonaventure de théologie mystique, le «De triplici via», Paris 1934).
Devoted to the holy Humanity of Christ, B. wrote of it with tenderness in the Lignum vitae (VIII, pp. 68–87), in the Vita mystica (VIII, pp. 159–220)—from which the liturgy drew the proper lessons for the Office of the Sacred Heart—and in the De quinque festivitatibus pueri Iesu.
Though the famous Meditations on the Life of Christ are not, as we possess them, the work of B., it seems that he provided their original core and spirit (Fr. Col. Fischer, Die «Meditationes Vitae Christi». Ihre handschriftliche Überlieferung und die Verfasserfrage, in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 25 [1932], pp. 3–35, 175–209, 305–48). The considerable influence it exerted on spirituality and art, especially on religious theater, must therefore be partly attributed to him. The Sermons of St. B. (V, pp. 532–74 and IX) were delivered before very diverse audiences and especially in learned settings: clergy, religious, universities, which explains the richness of their doctrinal content (G. Cantini, S. B. da Bagnoregio, in Antonianum, 15 [1940], pp. 29–74, 155–88, 245–74).
III. THE DOCTRINE OF THE SERAPHIC DOCTOR
4. Origin of His Doctrine
The considerable list of authors cited by B. was compiled by the editors (X, pp. 265–77) and bears witness to the extraordinary richness of his documentation.Miraculously healed by St. Francis of Assisi, B. became his humble disciple. More learned than his seraphic father, he would translate into formulas, and where necessary justify and defend, the ideal of the Poor Man of Assisi. Like him, he distrusted “Greek and Latin glories” and sought the imprint of God not only in the visible world but also in the invisible. Like him, he condemned any science that did not teach one to love and go to God with all one’s soul. He is the “Franciscan doctor” par excellence. The doctrine of St. Augustine admirably suited the Franciscan ideal, and B., more than any other contemporary, spoke of him with the greatest reverence. He considered him the doctor “maxime authenticus inter omnes expositores sacrae Scripturae” (Disputed Questions on the Knowledge of Christ, q. 4, vol. V, p. 23), and it has been calculated that in the Quaracchi critical edition he is cited no fewer than 2,625 times. B. did not content himself with compiling the usual florilegia or “chains” of texts but drew directly from the works themselves, assimilating their doctrine so thoroughly that his own work appears as the finest synthesis of Augustinian thought in the Middle Ages (E. Longpré, S. Augustin et la pensée franciscaine, in La France Franciscaine, 15 [1932], pp. 5–76).
Among the authors especially favored by B. should also be numbered Dionysius, i.e., the Pseudo-Areopagite, Boethius, St. Gregory, St. John Damascene, St. Anselm, and Alexander of Hales, whom he respectfully called “my master and my father.” The principal source of his inspiration remained Sacred Scripture; it could largely be reconstructed from the quotations scattered throughout his works, so much so that their enumeration occupies 84 pages (in three columns) of the critical edition. When citing a text, he usually gives the reference by indicating the book and chapter.
2. General Characteristics of the Doctrine of St. Bonaventure. — The unity of doctrine. — This is the most striking feature. According to the felicitous expression of Fr. Monnot, “philosophy, theology, and mysticism are systematically fixed, but not confused.” The Seraphic Doctor knew how to make proper distinctions, yet this vivisection of the real world, necessary in laboratory experiments, did not cause him to lose sight of the whole. The only world that exists, in which we move and which we must know, is that of a humanity founded on Christ, redeemed by Him, and oriented toward Him. A purely natural order is merely hypothetical; we know very little about it and can only reconstruct it through conjecture. As a true Franciscan, Bonaventure does not believe he should waste time on futile inquiries but, keeping the end to which we are destined in view, resolutely orients all lower sciences, including philosophy, toward theology, and indeed toward mysticism and even ecstasy. This same sense of the real and the concrete explains the importance he attributed to experience, which he calls “the principle of science” (III Sent., d. 24, a. 2, q. 3, f. 4, p. 522), and the expression *ut patet per experientiam* recurs frequently. The most subtle reasoning, like the most splendid demonstrations, fails to convince him if their conclusions clash with experience. He takes every kind of experience—scientific, historical, or religious—into account, which explains his respect for tradition and his tendency, in cases of doubt, to favor the opinion that is most in accord with piety. His respect for authority, even purely human authority, has often been noted, and rightly so; yet in this we see his fidelity to truth. Whenever he can, he carefully explains an erroneous proposition, and at times his charity appears almost too ingenious. But ultimately, he insists that the truth must be spoken: *“ne amore hominis veritati fiat praeiudicium”* (II Sent., d. 44, dub. 3, p. 1016 b). He urges that Aristotle be followed, but only when Aristotle speaks the truth (Coll. in Hex., ed. Fr. Delorme, p. 92).
5. The Christian Philosopher
Bonaventure is the Christian philosopher par excellence. Philosophy, which in a world without grace would be an end in itself, in the present order can attain its goal only by submitting to faith and accepting its guidance; it is but the handmaid of theology, yet an indispensable one. Bonaventure’s philosophy is clearly situated within the Platonic tradition; however, he knew Plato only indirectly, while he read Aristotle directly and without prejudice, judging and correcting him freely. He prefers the Augustinian theory of illumination to Aristotelian abstraction and adopted from St. Augustine the theory of seminal reasons—formal seeds that God has placed in matter. Unlike other scholastics, he does not share the interpretation of Aristotelian hylomorphism and thus explains why he attributes the composition of matter and form, equivalents of potency and act, even to spiritual beings. Such peculiarities, along with others noted in discussions of Bonaventure’s philosophy, do not constitute his philosophy as a whole. In *La philosophie de s. Bonaventure* by E. Gilson (Paris, 1924; German ed. by Böhner), regarded as the most profound doctrinal study of the Seraphic Doctor, the solidity, richness, and depth of this genius are illuminated—a genius constantly striving toward union with God and judging all things in the light of the sanctuary. This concern for the constant search for God corresponds to the exaltation of universal analogy and the doctrine of exemplarism that explains it (J.-M. Bissen, *L’exemplarisme divin selon s. Bonaventure*, ibid., 1924).4. The Theology of St. Bonaventure. — His theology, like his philosophy, draws its inspiration from St. Augustine, while remaining authentically scholastic. In the medieval world, he was among the first to draw a clear distinction between Sacred Scripture, which at the time was what positive theology is for us, and speculative theology, the fruit and glory of human reason, yet a fallible science (*Proem. in I Sent.*, q. 2, ad 4, p. 11 b). With sure hand, in the *Breviloquium*, he outlined the ideal he formed of the theologian: to explain, through deductive reasoning, starting from a divine attribute, both what God is in Himself and what He has done outside Himself (J. Fr. Bonnefoy, *De synthesi operum Dei ad extra ad mentem s. Bonaventurae*, in *Antoniarum*, 18 [1943], pp. 17-28). Various authors (notably A. Stohr, *Die Trinitätslehre des heiligen B.*, Münster in W., 1923) have sought to trace the sources of Bonaventure’s Trinitarian theology, mentioning St. Augustine, the Pseudo-Dionysius, St. John Damascene, Richard of St. Victor, Alexander of Hales, Eudes Rigaud, and others. Yet although his thought incorporates elements from all of these, and although the influence of Greek theology is particularly evident, Bonaventure remains entirely original. In keeping with his theological conception, while not neglecting St. Augustine’s psychological analogies, he prefers *a priori* demonstrations of the Trinity to mystical explanations (J. Fr. Bonnefoy, *Le St-Esprit et ses dons selon s. Bonaventure*, Paris, 1929, pp. 12-57).
His theology is distinctly Christocentric and finds its fullest expression in the *Collationes in Hexaemeron*; it may be said that he paved the way for the Scotist doctrine of the absolute and universal primacy of Christ.
Bonaventure, like almost all his contemporaries, denied the Immaculate Conception; yet, as happened with others, this error did not obscure his theology of Mary in other respects. Thus, with effective expressions and particular insistence, he affirmed the universal mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (P. Di Fonzo, *Doctrina s. Bonaventurae de universali mediatione B. Mariae Virginis*, Rome, 1936; E. Chiettini, *Mariologia s. Bonaventurae*, ibid., 1941).
5. The Mystical Theology of St. Bonaventure. — In mystical theology, Bonaventure occupies a preeminent and uncontested place: “After ascending the most arduous heights of speculation,” wrote Leo XIII, “he discoursed on mystical theology with such perfection that by the common consent of the most learned men he is easily regarded as its prince.” “The doctrine of St. Bonaventure represents, in our view, the highest point attained by Christian mysticism and constitutes the most complete synthesis ever realized” (E. Gilson, *La philosophie de s. Bonaventure*, p. 472). This will come as no surprise when one considers that he systematically directed all sensible, intellectual, and supernatural knowledge toward the peace of ecstasy: this is the program of his *Itinerarium mentis in Deum*, a perfect manual of mystical contemplation. It is also the realization of the first commandment, for it prescribes not only to love God with all one’s heart but also “with all one’s soul and with all one’s mind” (Mt 22:37). Like his seraphic father, Bonaventure was a man of the Gospel, and from it he drew all his strength and power of attraction.
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St. Bonaventure — Painting by Cavazzola (16th c.). Verona, Civic Museum.
St. Bonaventure — Painting by Cavazzola (17th c.), Verona, Civic Museum.
6. *The Influence of St. Bonaventure* – His influence was and remains considerable. His works were widely read during his lifetime, and St. Thomas [Aquinas] repeatedly made use of extensive passages taken from certain disputed questions of his friend (P. Glorieux, *De quelques «emprunts» de s. Thomas*, in *Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale*, 8 [1936], p. 166). Many authors have commented upon or summarized Bonaventure’s *Commentary*, or drawn inspiration from it (ed. of Quaracchi, I, pp. LXIV–LXXIII). Among the Franciscan families, the Capuchin Friars Minor were the most faithful to St. Bonaventure, since both the Friars Minor and the Conventual Friars, in their great majority, adhered to the Scotist school.
The best-known follower of Bonaventure is Bartholomew of Barberino (v.), who left, among other works, a course in theology and a course in philosophy *ad mentem Seraphici Doctoris Bonaventure*. The voice of St. Bonaventure was not heard only at the Council of Lyons (1274), where he acted as the Pope’s vicar, but has been invoked in later Councils: Vienne (1311), Constance (1414–17), Basle (1431), Florence (1439), the Lateran (1512), Trent (1545–63), and the Vatican (1869–70) (cf. Ludovicus de Castropolano, *Seraphicus doctor s. Bonaventura in oecumenici catholicae ecclesiae conciliis cum Patribus dogmata definiens*, Rome 1874). When restoring Scholasticism under the high patronage of St. Thomas, Leo XIII did not fail to recall the name of Bonaventure and praised the Minister General of the Friars Minor for having undertaken the critical edition of his works.
The influence exerted by his mystical doctrine is even more extensive. It operated directly through the incredible spread of his “divine little works,” as St. Francis de Sales used to call them; indirectly through the many preachers, orators, and saints who were formed in his school and propagated his spirit. The great number of anonymous writings that circulated under his name are largely due to his disciples. Nor was his influence lacking in Gothic art (R. Boving, *Bonaventura und die französische Hochgotik*, Werl in V. 1929); in the art of Giotto, with his life of St. Francis; or in the painters and stained-glass masters who drew inspiration from his writings on the Passion (E. Gilson, *S. Bonaventure et l'iconographie de la Passion*, in *Revue d'Histoire Française*, 1 [1924], p. 420).
His memory endures in the Greek Church and among dissenters eager for Church unity, such as Arsenjew and Kobilinski; there are converts, like Denissen, who believe that only the Platonic philosophy of St. Bonaventure and his circumspect theology can provide a basis for agreement with dissenters on doctrinal questions. It may be that Bonaventure will be called upon, in the near future, to play the role of conciliator, as he already did at the Council of Lyons.