CANONIZATION.
From all that has hitherto been said it is evident that Bonaventure
was eminent amongst his contemporaries. He excelled in holiness and
learning. His greatness was religious. The service of God, the
sanctification of his soul and the welfare of the Church were the sole
ends to which his life was devoted. He achieved them with remarkable
success. His contemporaries perceived it and they regarded him as a
saint. A saint is a man whose life is virtuous in a heroic
degree--whose spiritual excellence is indisputable. Such excellence is
worthy of recognition, and the Catholic Church, with its true
appreciation of what is right, has adopted suitable means of
expressing it. These are embodied in the process of canonization. In
the early ages of the Church there was no special form of
canonization. It appears to have consisted in the unanimous belief of
the Faithful--at first merely tolerated, but in time positively
approved of by ecclesiastical authority. In the eighth century we come
across the liturgical ceremony of solemnly enrolling the Saint amongst
the number of the Blessed in Heaven.
This is not the place to discuss the dogmatic significance of such
procedure. Suffice it to say, {116} it would be rash to imagine that
the Church could err in so important and truly religious a matter.
Although the holiness of the Saints was recognized by their
contemporaries, and continued to be the object of devout veneration by
succeeding generations, still the Church's authentic recognition of it
has sometimes been postponed for long centuries. The Church moves
slowly in such matters. She is guided by the attitude of the Faithful.
If these, through successive generations, maintain a traditional
cultus of the Servant of God and eventually demand his canonization,
the process is usually entered upon. The utmost caution is observed in
the procedure. A most careful study is made of the life of the
individual. The heroic nature of his virtues, the constant devotion of
the Faithful towards him, the miracles attributed to him must be
judicially proven. All evidence is carefully sifted by expert
canonists. Every fact calculated to benefit or to prejudice the cause
of the Saint is skilfully adduced. All human means likely to ensure
the truth of the Church's judgment are employed.
In the Middle Ages, even as at the present day, it was the custom to
demand from the Supreme Pontiff the favour of canonization. The cause
had to be put forward, and the Church's definitive sentence formally
solicited. In the case of our Saint the petition was presented by the
Minister-General of the Franciscan Order, Fr. Francis Samson. It was
{117} supported by the following powerful monarchs and nobles: the
Emperor Frederick III, King Louis of France, Ferdinand King of Sicily,
Matthias King of Hungary; the Dukes of Calabria, Venice, Milan, and
Bourbon; also the Municipalities of Florence, Siena, Lyons, Perugia
and Balneumregis.
It is somewhat strange to observe that this petition was not presented
earlier. It was now some one hundred and eighty years since
Bonaventure's death. But, as the Pontiff declared, the delay only
added to the glory of the event. It is a prerogative of the greatness
of the Saints that it appeals so powerfully to the minds of men long
after their death. Herein it contrasts strikingly with worldly
greatness which vanishes so quickly as scarcely to survive the death
of those who possessed it.
When our Saint's canonization was mooted Sixtus IV. occupied the Papal
Chair. He had been a Franciscan, and this circumstance operated in
favour of the undertaking. To the Pontiff the enrolment of a brother
Friar in the Calendar of the Saints was peculiarly agreeable. He
refers to the fact in the Bull of canonization, and he is careful at
the same time to guard against the impression that his judgment might
be influenced by undue partiality. "We have read most diligently," he
writes, "the divine writings of the aforesaid holy man, and from the
time we were capable of understanding them they have been our chief
delight. From the older and more trustworthy Brethren of the Order,
who in {118} their youth had learnt it from their elders, we have
heard of the fame of his sanctity and miracles, and we felt that
whilst he triumphed in Heaven he ought to be venerated on earth.
Moreover, we remembered that, by choice, we had embraced the same
Order and therein by the Divine assistance made some progress in
learning and in the spiritual life--that we had fulfilled the same
ministerial office and had been raised to the dignity of the
Cardinalate and finally to the summit of the Pontificate. So that we
feel we have been raised to those eminences in the Church Militant
through which Bonaventure attained to the glory of the Church
Triumphant. But lest we should appear to be influenced by any personal
motive in this process we have been careful to employ all the
diligence and caution which the importance of the matter demands."
He points out the measures taken to accomplish this. A Commission of
Cardinals was appointed to examine the life and miracles of the Saint.
Their report in the first instance did not satisfy the Pope. It was
not drawn up with sufficient solemnity and it had to be repeated. A
fuller investigation was made, additional witnesses were examined and
new miracles investigated. The result this time was satisfactory, and
the Pontiff felt himself bound to proceed with the canonization.
"Lest," he says, "we should appear to resist the Holy Ghost, who
through the mouth of His Prophet commands us to praise God in His
Saints, we have taken counsel {119} with our venerable Brethren the
Cardinals concerning this canonization and they have approved of it
unanimously." A public Consistory was then held and the Pope enjoined
upon the clergy and Faithful of Rome the observance of three days
prayer and fasting--"so that God might enlighten us as to the correct
course to pursue, and preserve His Church from falling into error".
After this the opinion of the Cardinals was sought once more--it was
entirely favourable.
Thus assured, the Pope proceeded to the canonization. The solemn act
took place in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles on 14 April, 1482. In
the course of the ceremony a very remarkable oration on the Saint was
delivered by the great ecclesiastical orator, Octavianus de Martinis.
[Footnote 49] He insisted particularly on the miracles attributed to
the Saint, of which he enumerated something like twenty-one different
species. In the following singularly eloquent passage he summarizes
the Saint's claims to canonization:--
[Footnote 49: Cf. Wadding, "Annals," Tom. XIV, Anno 1482. No 3.]
"If, therefore, it appear that the Blessed Bonaventure was miraculous
in his works; if his Divine Commentaries show that he possessed the
gift of infused knowledge; if the assiduous fulfilment of the humblest
offices prove that he despised worldly honours, and shook off all
earthly affections; if it appear that he was patient in trials,
steadfast in persecution, that he was profitable to the Order of {120}
St. Francis and that, like St. Paul, he was miraculously called to the
service of religion; if it appear that his future sanctity was
foretold by St. Francis and affirmed by Alexander of Hales, the
Irrefragable Doctor; if it appear that the Sons of St. Francis,
themselves remarkable for holiness but considering him holier still,
made him their chief Superior, and that the Holy See on account of his
renowned merits called him to the administration of the Universal
Church; if, finally, it appear that by the common consent of the
Faithful he is regarded, invoked and worshipped as a Saint and that he
daily succours those who have recourse to him, then your Holiness
without further request might decree him those public honours which
alone he lacks. How much more readily ought you not to do this at the
earnest prayer of so many powerful princes."
At the conclusion of this discourse Peter Rodulph, the
Procurator-General of the Franciscan Order, arose, and addressing the
Sovereign Pontiff, formally besought [Footnote 50] him in the name of
the Most Holy Trinity to enrol Bonaventure in the Calendar of the
Saints. The Pope's reply is embodied in the Bull already mentioned,
from which we quote the following important passage:--
[Footnote 50: Cf. Wadding, "Annals," Tom. XIV, Anno 1482. No.4.]
"Confident that God will not allow us to fall into error in the
canonization of this Saint, by His Divine Authority and that of His
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, we decree that Bonaventure of {121}
Balneumregis, of blessed memory, Professor of Theology, of the Order
of Friars Minor, who was raised from the office of Minister-General to
that of Bishop and Cardinal, is a Saint, and is to be inscribed in the
Catalogue of the Saints and joined and associated with them. By these
letters present we insert him amongst the number of those who are to
be venerated by the Church."
Thus was Bonaventure glorified. But further honours were in store for
him. A hundred years later 14 March, 1582, he was declared a Doctor of
the Universal Church by Sixtus V. This was an authoritative
pronouncement that our Saint was to be regarded as one of the foremost
expounders of the Catholic Faith. He was placed on a level with
Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory. These are the words of the
Pontiff: [Footnote 51] "After mature deliberation with our venerable
Brothers the Cardinals, with their counsel and unanimous consent, and
by our own certain knowledge . . . we inscribe by right the aforesaid
St. Bonaventure amongst the number of Holy Doctors, and we declare and
decree that he is to be regarded and venerated as amongst the chief
and foremost of those who have excelled in the Sacred Science of
Theology."
[Footnote 51: Bull "Triumphantis Jerusalem".]
After more than seven hundred years Bonaventure's greatness is
undiminished and his glory is undimmed. His memory is fragrant in the
Church of God, and those "Divine Commentaries" {122} and other
treasures of Christian thought which he left behind him are still with
us. In the depth and clearness of his dogmatic teaching, but
especially in the ardent outpourings of his seraphic soul in his
devotional works, we are brought into intimate contact with his
marvellous life. From these, rather than from the records of
biographers, we learn its true beauty and holiness. The latter offer
us a portrait of the exterior man, but the former reveal to us the
secret workings of the soul. From his writings we gather what
Bonaventure really was--what he thought, what he aspired to, what he
sought to accomplish. It is in them we may hope to discover the real
man, and to obtain a clearer grasp of that particular development of
the Franciscan spirit with which he is so intimately associated.
ABERDEEN: THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.