Pope Sixtus V bestowed on Saint Bonaventure the title “Angelic and Seraphic Doctor of the Church” in recognition of his unfathomable love for God and outstanding theological writings.
Pope Leo XIII and Saint Bernard called him “The Prince Par Excellence.” His brother Franciscans agreed that he is the second founder of the friars minors.
“Exceptionally gifted in soul and personality,” is how he is described in Vatican II Weekday Missal.
But this saint, an astounding model of mental giftedness, humility and charity, made Pope Gregory X legates wait. When the papal officials were sent to the convent near Florence to present him the red hat plus insignia of office as Cardinal Bishop of Albano, Italy, he opted to finish washing the dishes and requested that the Cardinal’s hat and other insignia be hang on a tree, “not wanting to interrupt his work.”
O buona ventura
Giovanni di Fidanza was born in Bagnorea, Tuscany, not far from the province of Viterbo, then part of the papal state. His parents, Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria Ritella, belong to a wealthy family in Orvieto in Umbra, Italy.
He was named Bonaventure, which means “Happy Future.” His name originated from an exclamation of his mother in response to a recovery from a dangerous illness when he was young. She cried out. “O buona ventura! [Oh good fortune!].”
While studying in the University of Paris, the exemplary life of the Franciscans and his professor, Fr. Alexander of Hales, inspired him to join the Franciscan Order. He believed that the Order “was not invented by human providence but by Christ.”
Bonaventure “was decidedly one of the learned Franciscans in contrast to the simplicity of Saint Francis of Assisi,” wrote Robert Ellsberg in All Saints.
However, he respected the search for knowledge if this is subordinated to the pursuit of a virtuous life. Thus, Bonaventure received the support of the Order to continue his studies.
As a student, he devoted long hours in formal prayer. He thought of Christ as the “one true master who offers human knowledge that begins in faith, is developed through rational understanding and perfected by the mystical union with Christ,” The Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, described him and commented on his profound learning and spirituality.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, a good friend and contemporary in the university, once asked him for the source of his knowledge and wisdom. Bonaventure led Thomas to his room and pointed to a crucifix.
“It is He who tells me everything. He is my only teacher,” Bonaventure said.
He was a professional lecturer at the University of Paris for seven years. He also wrote many of his ideas about theology and spirituality to integrate faith and reason, holiness and doctrine.
His writings were described by Fr. Nil Guillemette, SJ, as “overflowing with profound learning, scholarly and full of fervor, which also betray a poetic soul and lively imagination.”
In 1257 he received his doctorate degree in theology. His good friend Thomas, did too. In the same year, he was elected the seventh Minister General of the Franciscan Order.
As Prior of the Order, the challenge was to reconcile the spirituals or observants, and the conventuals or relaxed group. The spirituals favored a literal observance of the rule of poverty, while the conventuals proposed certain mitigations, deviations as a practical approach toward property and requirement in the Order.
Balance and prudence personified by Bonaventure restored discipline and order in the community. He was successful in establishing the rules for the second generation of Franciscans.
Writer par excellence
His major work is the Commentary on the Sentences, which was written at the command of his superiors when he was 27 years old. The most influential among his writings, however, was the Journey of the Mind to God, which he wrote in 1259 during a retreat on Mount Alveria, the site were Saint Francis received his stigmata.
The Threefold Way to God was a compendium on mysticism, while Breviloquim dealt with Catholic dogmas. The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi was declared by the Pisa Chapter in 1263 as the standard biography of the saint.
The Commentary of the Senses includes the entire field of scholastic theology in over 4,000 folio pages.
Saint Bonaventure was blessed with a twofold gift in communication—expressing his spiritual ideas in an enlightening and inspiring manner.
Of his mystical union with God in his poetic and exegetical expositions in the interplay of doctrine and holiness, he said: “If you ask how such things can occur, seek the answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research.”
Many writings during the middle ages, which were believed to be his, were now being collected under the title Pseudo Bonaventura.
The saint, who ordered that bells be rung at nightfall in every monastery to honor the Annunciation of the Blessed Mother while Hail Mary is recited, died on July 15, 1274.
He was unable to participate in the execution of the second Council of Lyons, which he helped plan on the year of his death. The Council of Lyons described him as “a man of eminent learning and eloquence and outstanding holiness, beloved by God and man.”
He was canonized on April 14, 1482, by Pope Sixtus IV and declared Doctor of the Church in 1588 by Pope Sixtus V.
His feast day is July 15.
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Damo-Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.