Produced by Don Kostuch
[Transcriber's Notes]
This text is derived from a copy in the Ave Maria University
library, catalog number "B 765 .B74 C678 1911"
Footnotes have been renumbered to avoid ambiguity.
[End Transcriber's Notes]
THE FRIAR SAINTS SERIES
_Editors for the Franciscan Lives_
The Very Rev. Fr. OSMUND. O.F.M., Provincial, and C. M. ANTONY
_Editors for the Dominican Lives_
The Rev. Fr. BEDE JARRETT. O.P., and C. M. ANTONY
ST. BONAVENTURE
Nihil Obstat:
D. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B.,
_Censor Deputatus_
Imprimatur:
EDM. CAN. SURMONT,
_Vicarius Generalis_
WESTMONASTERII,
_die 30 Martii, 1911._
[Illustration;
ST. BONAVENTURE.
_From an engraving by Eitel after the painting by
Cavazzola (P. Morando)_]
SAINT BONAVENTURE
THE SERAPHIC DOCTOR MINISTER-GENERAL OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER
CARDINAL BISHOP OF ALBANO
BY THE REV. FR. LAURENCE COSTELLOE, O.F.M.
[Illustration:
Herald. "DEUS MEUS ET OMNIA"]
WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
LONDON, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA
1911
{v}
PREFATORY NOTICE.
The first two volumes of the "Friar Saints" Series now published will
be followed at short intervals by four more "Lives," two at a time,
Dominican and Franciscan together. Should the first six "Lives" prove
successful they will be followed by a second set of six. The order of
publication will probably be as follows:--
_Dominican_.
(1) St. Thomas Aquinas.
By Fr. PLACID CONWAY, O.P.
(2) St. Vincent Ferrer.
By Fr. STANISLAUS HOGAN, O.P.
(3) St. Pius V.
By C. M. ANTONY.
(4) St. Antoninus of Florence.
By Fr. BEDE JARRETT, O.P.
(5) St. Raymond of Pennafort.
By Fr. THOMAS SCHWERTNER, O.P
(6) St. Louis Bertrand.
By the Rev. Mother MARY REGINALD,
_Franciscan_.
(1) St. Bonaventure.
By Fr. LAURENCE COSTELLOE. O.F.M.
(2) St. Antony of Padua.
By C. M. ANTONY.
(3) St. John Capistran.
By Fr. VINCENT FITZGERALD, O.F.M.
(4) St. Bernardine of Siena.
By Miss M. WARD.
(5) St. Leonard of Port-Maurice.
By Fr. ALEXANDER MURPHY, O.F.M.
(6) St. Peter of Alcantara.
By Fr. EOBERT CARROL, O.F.M. O.S.D.
{vi}
The "Friar Saints" Series, which has received the warm approval of the
authorities of both Orders in England, Ireland, and America, is
earnestly recommended to Tertiaries, and to the Catholic public
generally.
The Master-General of the Dominicans at Rome, sending his blessing to
the writers and readers of the "Friar Saints" Series, says: "The Lives
should teach their readers not only to know the Saints, but also to
imitate them ".
The Minister-General of the Franciscans, Fr. Denis Schuler, sends his
blessing and best wishes for the success of the "Lives of the Friar
Saints".
F. OSMUND. O.F.M., PROVINCIAL,
F. BEDE JARRETT, O.P.,
C. M. ANTONY,
_Editors_.
{vii}
FOREWORD.
The life of Saint Bonaventure, the "Seraphic Doctor," is now
appropriately presented to the public as the first of the Franciscan
lives in this "Series of the Lives of the Friar Saints". Till the days
of this "Second Founder of the Franciscan Order," the simplicity of
our Holy Father St. Francis had been the salient feature of his
institute: no successful effort had hitherto been made to organize the
growing Order unto the full measure of its efficiency. Speaking
generally, everything so far had been left to individual initiative,
and the keynote of those early days is struck in the liberty enjoyed
by the individual--a liberty which, though charming to contemplate and
of irresistible appeal to a democratic age, is yet incompatible with
the distinctive work a corporate body must perforce fulfil if its
deeds are to justify its {viii} existence. To effect this purpose a
certain amount of that rigid uniformity attendant on all organization
was imperatively demanded.
Under the influence of St. Bonaventure this was successfully
accomplished. Among the many elements that entered into this process
of development we must, perhaps, assign the most conspicuous place to
the systematic pursuit of learning which our Saint engrafted on St.
Francis' ideal of contemplation and zeal, and which, under the
guidance of God's Providence, has been destined to render the
Franciscan Order an effective force in dealing with the world's most
vital problems. Together with this pursuit of learning came the
introduction into the Order of a uniform exterior observance; an
observance inculcated and fostered by a systematized code of
Constitutions and ordinances which remain substantially the same
to-day as when first framed centuries ago.
The life of St. Bonaventure may, accordingly, be considered as the
ideal to which the modern Franciscan tends: an ideal in which the
simplicity of St. Francis is blended with a thorough grasp of the
latest developments in scientific thought: in which personal holiness,
because cognizant of self-weakness, is {ix} large-hearted and generous
in its sympathy with others: in which the multitudinous details of
active and administrative life are raised by a strong interior spirit
from what might be a fertile source of distraction into a means of
closer union with God.
We have now but to add that the following pages on the life-work of
St. Bonaventure, written by the late Fr. Laurence Costelloe, O.F.M.,
are based on the critical life of the Seraphic Doctor contained in the
tenth volume of his works (Quaracchi, 1902). At the request of his
superiors he intended to revise and publish his work, but sudden death
frustrated his design. This revision has now been undertaken by the
Rev. Fr. Leo, O.F.M., who has verified the sources, and introduced
such changes as were demanded by the prescribed length of this work.
OSMUND COONEY, O.F.M.,
_Provincial_.
THE FRIARY, FOREST GATE, LONDON,
_Feast of the Annunciation, 1911_
{x}
{xi}
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 1
II. SANCTITY AND LEARNING 8
III. THE MENDICANT ORDERS ASSAILED 17
IV. THE MENDICANTS VINDICATED 23
V. MINISTER-GENERAL 30
VI. DISCIPLINE AND OBSERVANCE 37
VII. INCIDENTS OF ADMINISTRATION 45
VIII. ST. FRANCIS' BIOGRAPHER 56
IX. INTERIOR SPIRIT 64
X. LOVE OF GOD 72
XI. THE ARCHBISHOPRIC OF YORK 82
XII. MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES OF THE SAINT 88
XIII. THE CARDINALATE 97
XIV. DEATH 104
XV. CANONIZATION 115
{xii}
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
ST. BONAVENTURE _Frontispiece_
_From an Engraving by Eitel,
after the painting
by Cavazzola (P. Morando)_.
THE CORONATION OF OUR LADY To face _To face p. 36_
_From a Photograph by Alinari of the picture
by Pinturichio in the Vatican, Rome._
ST. BONAVENTURE IN ECSTASY WHILE
WRITING THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS IS
VISITED BY ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
_From a Fresco by Giacomelli in the
Franciscan Church at Cimiex_ _To face p. 62_
THE PAPAL ENVOY PRESENTING
ST. BONAVENTURE WITH THE CARDINAL'S HAT _Page 73_
ST. BONAVENTURE
_From Raphael's Disputa in the Vatican_. _Page 105_
ST. BONAVENTURE. _Church of S. Maria
degli Angeli, Dintorni
(Tiberio d' Assisi)
From a Photograph by Alinari_. _To face p. 114_
{1}
CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
It is refreshing to turn from the depressing materialism of the
present time to the inspiring faith of the Middle Ages. The change of
outlook is invigorating; it has on the soul the effect which a bracing
atmosphere has on the body.
The temper of modern times tends to enfeeble our sense of the
supernatural. If we would maintain undiminished our spiritual vigour
we must withdraw occasionally from its influence and endeavour to
dwell for a time in a more healthy religious atmosphere.
This is why I would take my readers back to the thirteenth century--a
period glowing with the faith and fervour of the great spiritual
revival effected by St. Francis and St. Dominic. I do not intend to
treat of that epoch and its characteristics generally; a field so wide
could be but very imperfectly surveyed in these pages. I think we
shall receive a clearer and more forcible impression of it if we study
it as exemplified in the life of one {2} of those great saints who
personified its spirit in themselves. Of course we should find this in
all its fulness in St. Francis, but there are so many works treating
of the Seraphic Patriarch that only the discovery of some entirely new
aspect of his marvellous life would fully justify another. I do not
pretend to this; but I consider that we shall achieve our purpose by
studying the life of one of Francis' most remarkable sons, viz. the
Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventure. This great man presents to us an
aspect of the Franciscan spirit which those who study the life of St.
Francis in all its literal simplicity may fail to discover. For actual
pre-eminence in learning and the establishment of means to secure its
continuance amongst his followers do not at first sight appear to
receive either approval or support from the life of St. Francis.
Learning and the honour naturally attaching to it seem to savour of
temporal greatness, but direct and absolute opposition to this was the
dominant note in Francis' life. He would have his brethren called
"Friars Minor," or lesser brethren, and he directly says in his Rule:
"Let those who are unlearned not seek to learn". Yet we find St.
Bonaventure--deeply imbued with the spirit of St. Francis, and seventh
General of his Order--bearing the high dignity of Master of Theology
and Arts, and as Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, occupying one of
the most exalted stations in Christendom.
{3}
In the course of our survey we shall discover the secret of this
apparent anomaly. No one appears to have been more fully alive to its
existence than St. Bonaventure himself, as frequent references to it
in his writings testify. It is from these references and the
explanations they contain that we receive the truest insight into the
development of the spirit of learning in the Franciscan Order.
St. Bonaventure was born in the year 1221, at Balneumregis, the modern
Bagnorea, in the vicinity of Viterbo. His parents were John and
Ritella Fidanza. Their station in life is a matter of conjecture. One
historian asserts that John Fidanza was descended from the noble house
of Fidanza of Castello, and was a Master of Medicine. We are in no way
concerned to prove the nobility of Bonaventure's ancestors. His
personal eminence in learning and holiness, with which alone we are
concerned, was not the inheritance of rank or station. It may have
been otherwise with those instincts of piety and virtue that developed
in his soul even as a child. To the fostering care of a devout mother
the presence of these may justly be attributed. Experience teaches us
that the mother's influence, if it be good, and well and prudently
directed, is paramount in the life of the child for all time,
determining it for good according to the degree of its own excellence.
Of the early years of our Saint only one striking episode is preserved
to us, which is thus recorded {4} by himself in his introduction
[Footnote 1] to the Life of St. Francis. Lamenting his "inability and
unworthiness to relate that life most worthy of all imitation," he
feels himself bound, "through the love he is compelled to feel for our
Holy Father," to undertake the task which the General Chapter so
urgently laid on him. "For," he continues, "through his invocation and
merits I was snatched from the jaws of death while yet a child--as I
remember with fresh and vivid memory. Were I then to refrain from
publishing his praises I should fear to incur the crime of
ingratitude." In his smaller life of St. Francis,[Footnote 2] he again
refers to this incident, but adds a further detail. "God does not
cease," are his words, "to glorify his servant by numberless miracles
wrought in various parts of the world, as I myself can vouch from
personal experience. For as I lay dangerously ill as a child, I was
snatched from the very jaws of death and restored to healthy life
owing to a vow my mother made to the Blessed Father Francis."
[Footnote 1: "Legenda Major Sti Francisci," Prolog. No.3.]
[Footnote 2: "Legenda Minor Sti Francisci," Lectio Octava.]
Around this incident, thus simply recorded, the legend has grown up
that our Saint owes his name to a prophecy uttered by St. Francis on
the occasion of his cure. We are told that the sick child was
presented to Francis by the anxious mother who with tears besought his
intercession. The Saint took the child in his arms and, raising his
eyes to {5} Heaven, prayed earnestly for its restoration. Assured that
his petition was granted, he restored it to its mother, and regarding
it with prophetic gaze, exclaimed, _O buona ventura--_"Oh good luck!"
We cannot vouch for the authenticity of this narrative, but it has the
support of a fairly reliable tradition. One thing is certain, that
prior to the time of our Saint, the name Bonaventure was in existence.
From his father he appears to have received the name of John, and in
many MSS. he is frequently referred to under that name. He has also
been referred to as Eustachius, Jacobus, Eutychius. This must be
attributed partly to errors in transcription and partly to the Saint's
intercourse with Greek theologians who adapted the Greek form of his
name. Bonaventure, however, is the name by which he was commonly known
to his contemporaries, and it is the one under which his fame has come
down to us.
As has been said, the story of his boyhood is lost to us. We might
sketch a fanciful portrait of it, to harmonize with the holiness and
learning of his subsequent life, but conjecture is not history. In the
absence of recorded facts we are condemned to silence. The biographers
to whom we might look for enlightenment on this matter are silent.
They seem so intent on proclaiming the world-wide fame of his mature
years and recording his great achievements on behalf of the Church and
the Franciscan Order, that they have overlooked the {6} comparatively
obscure period of his youth. This was no uncommon fault with the
chroniclers of that period. We have another very striking example of
it in the insoluble obscurity in which the biographers of the renowned
Duns Scotus have left the question of his birthplace and nationality.
We do not know where Bonaventure acquired the rudiments of learning;
we do not know with anything like certainty the name of the convent in
which he made his novitiate. Our certain knowledge of him dates from
his appearance in Paris in the year 1242.
Certain of our Saint's words, however, lift the veil, though somewhat
slightly, from the shadows that obscure his early years. Writing in
after years against a detractor of the Rule he professed, Bonaventure
thus gave expression [Footnote 3] to the trend of his earlier
thoughts: "Do not take offence," he wrote, "that in the beginning, the
brethren were simple and unlettered. This ought rather to raise the
Order in your esteem. For my part I acknowledge as before God that
what chiefly drew me to love the life-work of Blessed Francis was that
it bore so close a resemblance to the beginning and growth of the
Church. As the Church began with simple fishermen and afterwards
numbered renowned and skilled doctors, so too did it happen in the
Order of the Blessed Francis. In this way God makes it {7} evident
that the Institute was founded not by the prudence of men but by
Christ."
[Footnote 3: "Epistola de tribus Quaestionibus,"
Tom. VIII, p. 336. No. 13.]
With his mind penetrated with that miracle of his early years we can
readily conceive how the spiritual awakening started by the Franciscan
movement seized on Bonaventure's thoughts. His mother's vow,
harmonizing with his youthful desires, would clothe those impulses
with the glamour of the virtue of religion. It is certain that our
Saint entered the Franciscan Order as a youth; all the ancient
chroniclers testify to this. The precise year of his reception,
however, is a debatable question. To the learned editors of our
Saint's works [Footnote 4] it seems almost established that he entered
the Order in the year 1238. We know authoritatively that it was in the
novitiate of the Roman Province St. Bonaventure received the habit,
but the name of the friary has not come down to us. The three years
following on his profession in 1239 were spent in the study of
philosophy at some quiet house of the Roman Province which tradition
tells us was Orvieto. Wherever these three years were passed, our
Saint's lectors could not but notice his opening powers, and plans
were formed for developing those conspicuous abilities which would
reflect, they were sure--and time has ratified their conviction--such
glory on the Order. Accordingly in 1242 Bonaventure proceeded to the
University of Paris.
[Footnote 4: "Opera Omnia" (Quaracchi, 1902),
Tom. X, pp. 42, 43, 44.]
{8}