FERRER, Bonifacio. — Carthusian, brother of St. Vincent, born in Valenza in 1355, died a holy death at the Charterhouse of Vall de Cristo on 29 April 1417. He studied law at Perugia and at Lleida, where he earned a doctorate in both civil and canon law.
After being widowed, he entered the habit at the Charterhouse of Porta-Colei, Valenza, in 1396; there he completed his theological studies before ordination. Of rare virtue and learning, he was made procurator, then prior (1400), and elected prior of the Grande Chartreuse and general of the Order (1402). He supported the antipope Pedro de Luna (Benedict XIII), who entrusted him with confidential missions: legate to the King of France (1401); sent to the Council of Perpignan (1408) and to Pisa (1409). The Carthusian Order urged the generals of the two obediences to resign so as to elect a third by common agreement. Stefano Maconi and B. F. resigned (1410). Pressured by Benedict XIII, F. resumed the office of General, residing at Vall de Cristo (Segorbe), and convening general chapters of his adherents. In 1416 he abandoned Pedro de Luna.
He wrote several treatises: *Volumen epistolarum*; *De aceremoniis quibusdam Ordinis Cartusiensis*; *Quare Ordo Cartusianorum non habeat multos sanctos canonizatos*; *De approbatione et confirmatione Ordinis eiusdem a Romana Sede*; and above all the *Tractatus pro defensione Benedicti XIII*, ed. by Ed. Martène, *Thesaurus novus anecdotorum*, II, Paris 1717, pp. 1435–1528. His major work was the translation of the Bible into Valencian; printed at Valenza in 1478, it was destroyed by the Inquisition before 1500 because of the prohibition on reading the Bible in the vernacular.