He was twenty-two when St. Bonaventure joined the Franciscans. Having made
his vows, he was then sent to Paris to complete his studies. His main tutor
was the celebrated doctor Alexander of Hales, who was an Englishman and a
Franciscan. While he was in Paris, St. Bonaventure became a close friend of
the great St. Thomas Aquinas. They received their doctoral degrees together,
but St. Bonaventure, always a very humble man, insisted that at the
ceremony Thomas Aquinas should have the honour of receiving it first. Both
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure became well known throughout the
Church for their great scholarship and brilliance, and both even became
quite close to the holy king of France, St. Louis.
At the age of thirty-five St. Bonaventure was chosen to be the General of
the Franciscan Order. It was a difficult time for the Franciscans, because
of internal dissension. The friars had argued about the meaning and practice
of poverty. Already they were straying from the vision and teaching of
their Founder, but St. Bonaventure restored peace to the Order. He worked
tirelessly for the Franciscan Order, and composed an important work, The
Life of St. Francis. He was nominated Archbishop of York in England by Pope
Clement IV, but he begged the pope not to force him to accept. The next
pope, Gregory X, obliged Bonaventure to take upon himself an even more
difficult position, that of the Cardinal Archbishop of Albano, one of the
six suffragan Sees of Rome, while still being General of his Order. However,
before his death he resigned his office of General of the Franciscan Order.
He died while he was at the Second Council of Lyons, on July 15, 1274,
working for the good of the Church until his very last breath. How right St.
Francis was when he exclaimed “O buona ventura” – “O good fortune!” It was
certainly good fortune for the Church when St. Bonaventure gave his life in
service to Christ.
It was said of St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) that he was "...a
unique personality. He was unsurpassed in sanctity, wisdom, eloquence, and
gifted with a remarkable skill of accomplishing things, a heart full of
love, a winning disposition, benevolent, affable, pious, charitable, rich in
virtue, beloved by God and man. . . . The Lord endowed him with such a
charming disposition that everyone who saw him was immediately attracted to
him."
Considered to be a "second founder" of the Franciscans, he was an outstanding
teacher and a spell-binding preacher. He was known for
his virtue and wisdom. He is known as the "Seraphic Teacher"
because of his deeply mystical understanding of the Faith.
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O God, by whose providence blessed Bonaventure was sent to guide thy people in
the way of everlasting salvation: grant, we beseech thee; that as we have
learned of him the doctrine of life on earth, so we may be found worthy to
have him for our advocate in heaven; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one
God, world without end. Amen.
Prayer of St. Bonaventure.
Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and
healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic
charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing
for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and
to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment
of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and
savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to
look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor;
may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and
knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the
fullness of the house of God; may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee,
run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for
the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and
delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou
alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure,
my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my
refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my
treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted
immovably. Amen.
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Painting: "St. Bonaventure holding the Tree of the Redemption"
by Vittorio Crivelli, born ca. 1440, died ca. 1502
