When you’ve been named by a saint, it’s hard not to imagine becoming one yourself.

 

St. Bonaventure, who was baptized with the name John, was born in 1221 in the Italian town of Bagnoregio.  Very little is known of his early life other than his parent’s names and the fact that his father was likely a physician.  It’s ironic then, that when the boy contracted a serious illness, it was St. Francis of Assisi who his mother pleaded with for a cure.  When the child was healed, the saint, foreseeing the boy’s eventual greatness, exclaimed of him “O Buona ventura!” or “O good fortune”. At the age of twenty, Bonaventure entered the Franciscan Order and was subsequently sent to Paris to study.  There, he distinguished himself for his virtue and his academic brilliance.  He also became a good friend of another student, St. Thomas Aquinas; although they both eventually earned the degree of Doctor, Bonaventure insisted that his friend Thomas be the first upon whom it was conferred.

 

Bonaventure went on to become a senior faculty member at the University of Paris.  His teaching was marked not only by his academic prowess; his entire demeanor as a Franciscan and his obvious love of Jesus and the Church contributed to the fact that his students respected and honored him for his virtues.  As such, Bonaventure acquired another title, “Seraphic Doctor.” Bonaventure’s teaching career ended abruptly when he was chosen to be the General of the Franciscan Order. From the age of thirty-five till the end of his life, Bonaventure’s unenviable task was to unify an Order that was in grave danger of fracturing due to internal dissensions, particularly over the interpretation of the vow of poverty.  Some of the friars went so far as to proclaim heresy, claiming that the Franciscans, along with the Holy Spirit, would replace not only the Church and Scripture, but Jesus Himself.

Bonaventure, who was a man of deep prayer, wisdom and charity, managed, through adept administration, to quell and unite the disparate groups.  He was able to structure the Franciscan Order in such a way that the spirituality of St. Francis, as well as the practical matter of how to live out that vision, came together with the teachings of the Church.

 

His gifts did not go unnoticed.  Pope Clement IV wanted Bonaventure to be the Archbishop of York, but he begged to be “excused” from the honor.  It was Pope Gregory X who insisted that he become a Cardinal as well as the Bishop of Albano. He had to abdicate his position as General of the Franciscans in order to comply and within a year, he ended up presiding at the Second Council of Lyons.   Bonaventure, along with another theologian, St. Albertus Magnus, managed to temporarily end the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches; the agreement they reached, however, came to an end soon after.

 

St. Bonaventure died in Lyon in 1274.  His feast day is celebrated on July 15.