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 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...

St Bonaventure Receiving the Banner of St Sepulchre from the Madonna Solimena, Francesco 1710 — Oil on canvas, 240 x 130 cm (Cathedral, Aversa: Caserta, Italy) "In Bonaventure we meet a unique personality. He was unsurpassed in sanctity, wisdom, eloquence, and gifted with a remarkable skill of accomplishing things, a heart full of love, a winning disposition, benevolent, affable, pious, charitable, rich in virtue, beloved by God and man. . . . The Lord endowed him with such a charming disposition that everyone who saw him was immediately attracted to him." In these words the historian of the Council of Lyons concludes his account on St. Bonaventure. St. Bonaventure, known as "the seraphic doctor," was born at Bagnorea, Italy in 1221. He received the name of Bonaventure as a result of an exclamation of St. Francis of Assisi, when, in response to the pleading of the child's mother, the saint prayed for John's recovery from a dangerous illness, and, foreseei...

St Bonaventure Receiving the Banner of St Sepulchre from the Madonna Solimena, Francesco 1710 — Oil on canvas, 240 x 130 cm (Cathedral, Aversa: Caserta, Italy) St. Bonaventure, known as "the seraphic doctor," was born at Bagnorea, Italy in 1221. He received the name of Bonaventure in consequence of an exclamation of St. Francis of Assisi, when, in response to the pleading of the child's mother, the saint prayed for John's recovery from a dangerous illness, and, foreseeing the future greatness of the little John, cried out "O Buona ventura"-O good fortune! Because of the spirit that filled him and his writings, he was initially called the Devout Doctor; but in more recent centuries he has been known as the Seraphic Doctor after the “Seraphic Father” Francis because of the truly Franciscan spirit he possessed. At the age of twenty-two, St. Bonaventure entered the Franciscan Order. Having made his vows, he was sent to Paris to complete his studies under the ...