31
August 1274 A.D. Bonaventura
Preaches Before the Pope
Graves, Dan. “Bonaventura Preached Before
the Pope.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/bonaventura-preached-before-the-pope-11629842.html. Accessed 19 May 2014.
Next to St. Francis of Assisi,
St. Bonaventure may have been the most eminent of the Franciscan friars (some
might contend for Francis of Paolo). He was not only Governor General of his
order, but the man who gave them their definitive doctrine and only the sixth
person to be named a primary doctor of the church. At that time he was given
the name "Doctor Seraphicus."
His theology teaches that God cannot be known rationally but must be apprehended
mystically. To be pure of heart is a truer way to God than to have a
razor-sharp mind. Love, he said (following St. Paul), supersedes knowledge.
Bonaventure's teaching was strongly Christ-centered, even his biography of St.
Francis, who taught men "to conform their lives to the life of
Christ."
Bonaventure was no arid scholar
as three examples will show. First, to learn the needs of the Franciscan order
he went out and visited his friars, winning such love from them that there was
much weeping at his death. Second, his theology is not dry but mystical. He did
not load his work down with tedious digressions into subtle points but made
every effort to teach plainly. Third, his biography of St. Francis is an
example of good investigative reporting, for he interviewed many brothers still
living who had known the great saint.
He was zealous for souls and
preached much. An extensive collection of his sermons remains in existence.
Bonaventure taught that man needs grace in order to stand straight. Only
through Jesus Christ can he be put right with God. Christ as the word incarnate
was an important theme in his preaching. The grace of the sacraments heals the
soul of accumulated effects of sin, both deliberate and inherited.
One sermon he preached was on this day August 31, 1264, before Pope Urban IV and his
council. This was on the "Blessed Sacrament." We are made complete by
partaking of the Eucharist with appropriate contemplation. By contemplation he
means a generous, prayerful and even mystical mindset that results in losing
oneself in the adoration of God.
As his apology for varieties of
religious orders, Bonaventure notes that no one order can capture the fullness
of Christ although each tries to capture something of his perfection. Hence
there are many ways of serving Christ and approaching his perfection. Vows are
merely aids to living a life which imitates Christ.
Because of the warmth of his
religious feeling, Bonaventure is highly regarded as a theologian, who managed
to avoid the pitfalls of pagan philosophy. It is owing to him that Franciscan
thought is largely Augustinian in orientation. Aristotle and Augustine (through
intermediaries) were the two strongest influences on his thinking.
Bibliography:
1. "Bonaventura." Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
Editor Charles Coulston Gillispie. New York: Scribner's, 1970.
2. Bonaventure. "Prayer after Communion."
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRAYER/BONAVENT.TXT)
3. Bonaventure. The Privity of the Passion, in Richard Rolle's Minor Works. London:
John M. Watkins, 1923.
4. Cullen, Christopher M. Bonaventure. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2006.
5. Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Edited by Tim Dowley. Berkhamsted, Herts, England:
Lion Publishing, 1977.
6. Fremantle, Anne, ed. The Age of Faith. Great Ages of Man. Time-Life
Books, 1965.
7. McKeon, Richard. Selections from Medieval Philosophers.
New York: Scribners, 1930; p. 111 ff.
8. Potter, Mary Knight. The Art of the Vatican: being a brief history of
the palace, and an account of the principal art treasures within its walls.
Boston, L.C. Page & Co., 1902. Source of the image.
9. Runes, Dagobert D. A Treasury of Philosophy. New York:
Philosophical Library, 1945.
10. "St. Bonaventure." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton, 1908.
11. Various encyclopedia and internet articles, including the Americana,
Britannica, and the New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge.
Last updated April,
2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment