RICCARDO RUFO of CORNWALL. — Franciscan theologian, born in England, died at Oxford ca. 1260.
He entered the Franciscan Order, already a magister artium, at Paris ca. 1238, but in 1239 moved to England. Having obtained the bachelor’s degree in theology, he commented on the Sentences first at Oxford (1250), then at Paris (1253), until in 1256 he became regent master of the Franciscan Studium at Oxford. Roger Bacon, perhaps for personal reasons, attributes several errors to him, but other contemporaries, such as Adam Marisco and Thomas Eccleston, speak of him as a pious man and philosopher of great renown. R.’s writings confirm this judgment. At Oxford he wrote a commentary on the first three books of the Sentences, in which, in his personal style, he criticizes Alexander of Hales (v.), Hugh of Saint-Cher, and Richard Fishacre; at Paris, on the other hand, he produced a critical abbreviation of St. Bonaventure’s commentary on the Sentences. He also wrote various Quaestiones.