July 14th: Feast of St. Bonaventure

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Tomorrow, July 14, is the feast of the Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventure, patronal feast of our Father Bonaventure in Brazil. Please remember Father in your prayers.St. Bonaventure was born at Bagnorea in the Papal States in 1221 and was given the name John in Baptism. As a child of four years, he became gravely ill and was given up by the physicians. His mother hastened to St. Francis, who was preaching in the area at that time, and begged him to come and heal her child. The saint acceded to her request; he prayed over the child, and immediately he was cured. St. Francis is said then to have uttered the prophetic words: “O buona ventura – O blessed things to come.” For that reason, the child was called Bonaventure.

Endowed with the most remarkable gifts of nature and grace and reared in the fear of God, Bonaventure entered the order of St. Francis as a young man. During his student years, Bonaventure devoted many an hour to the contemplation of Christ’s suffering, and he was a zealous client of our Blessed Lady. It is reported that once when Bonaventure abstained from Holy Communion for several days from a sense of humility, an angel placed the consecrated Host on his tongue. After his ordination to the priesthood, he devoted himself with extraordinary zeal to the salvation of souls. Because of his extensive and profound knowledge, he was appointed professor of theology at the University of Paris at the early age of twenty-seven. Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas at that time shed the greatest luster on that institution. Gerson, the great chancellor, remarked that the University of Paris had perhaps never had a greater teacher than Bonaventure. He grasped theology with his heart as well as with his mind, and it shed its radiance on his conduct as well as his words.

St. Thomas once visited him while he was engaged in writing the life of St. Francis. He found Bonaventure raised in ecstasy above the earth. He withdrew reverently, saying to his companion: “Let us leave a saint to write about a saint.” On another occasion, Thomas asked Bonaventure from which books he obtained his unparalleled knowledge. Bonaventure pointed to the crucifix as his library. In 1257, Bonaventure was unanimously chosen as the minister general of the Order. He governed the Order for eighteen years with such circumspection and prudence that he has quite generally been considered the second founder of the Order. It was he who prescribed that the Angelus bell be rung daily in all Franciscan churches. This beautiful custom soon spread throughout the Catholic world. In spite of all the duties of his important position, he still found time to preach and write books of great learning and holy unction. He had steadfastly declined all ecclesiastical distinctions. In 1273, however, Pope Gregory X obliged him to accept the bishopric of Albano and the dignity of the cardinalate. The Pope himself consecrated him bishop and then entrusted him with the direction of the Council of Lyons. To the great satisfaction of the Pope and the fathers of the Council, the schismatic Greeks also attended this assembly. Due to St. Bonaventure’s efforts, the Orientals were reunited to the Church of Rome.

Worn out by the heavy strain, he fell ill after the third session of the Council. His end came very rapidly; the Pope himself administered extreme unction. With his eyes directed toward the crucifix, Bonaventure died during the night between the 14th and 15th of July, 1274. Seldom, if ever, was there a grander funeral. The Pope and all the members of the Council attended it. Sixtus IV canonized him in 1482. Sixtus the V gave him the title of Doctor of the Church in 1587. Because of the ardent love which marks his writings, he is called the Seraphic Doctor.