Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann July 15 is the memorial of St. Bonaventure, O.F.M., who is known as "Seraphic Doctor" because of his burning love for God and his great zeal to do God's work. Born Giovanni di Fidanza, he was an Italian medieval Franciscan, a scholastic theologian, and a philosopher. He was appointed as Cardinal and Bishop of Albano by Pope Gregory X. St. Bonaventure was born in the small town of Bagnoregio, Tuscany, Italy in 1221 and received the baptismal name of John. An event that occurred when he was a boy profoundly influenced his life. He had a serious illness and not even his father, who was a physician, believed that he would survive. His mother prayed for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, who had been canonized a short time earlier. And John was cured. He went to the University of Paris when he was 14, where he studied theology under the English Franciscan, Alexander of Hales. After he had received the diploma of Master of Arts, John asked...

By Jean M. Heimann July 15 is the memorial of St. Bonaventure, O.F.M., who is known as"Seraphic Doctor" because of his burning love for God and his great zeal to do God's work. St. Bonaventure was born in the small town of Bagnoregio, Tuscany, Italy in 1221 and received the baptismal name of John. An event that occurred when he was a boy profoundly influenced his life. He had a serious illness and not even his father, who was a physician, believed that he would survive. His mother prayed for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, who had been canonized a short time earlier. And John was cured. He went to the University of Paris when he was 14, where he studied theology under the English Franciscan, Alexander of Hales. After he had received the diploma of Master of Arts, John asked himself an important question: "What must I do with my life?" Captivated by the witness of the zeal of the Friars Minor in Paris, John asked to be received into the fami...

By Jean M. Heimann Today, July 15, is the memorial of St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church. Bonaventure was born in the small town of Bagnoregio, Tuscany, Italy in 1221 and received the baptismal name of John. An event that occurred when he was a boy profoundly influenced his life. He had a serious illness and not even his father, who was a physician, believed that he would survive. His mother prayed for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, who had been canonized a short time earlier. And John was cured. He went to the University of Paris when he was 14, where he studied theology under the English Franciscan, Alexander of Hales. After he had received the diploma of Master of Arts, John asked himself an important question: "What must I do with my life?" Captivated by the witness of the zeal of the Friars Minor in Paris, John asked to be received into the family of the followers of St. Francis. At the age of twenty-two, John entered the Franciscan Order and w...