The Church will celebrate the feast of St. Bonaventure on July 15th who ranks in the category of St. Thomas Aquinas but who seems to be less known and admired in this generation. Both were prolifc writers and defenders of the faith. As theologians, both hold the title " Doctor of the Church -" St. Thomas as "Angelic Doctor" and St. Bonaventure as "Seraphic Doctor," as they were fondly called.
St. Bonaventure was born in Tuscany, Italy in 1221, entered the Franciscan Order in 1243 and died in 1274. He studied in the University of Paris and later earned a professorial chair in the same school. He preached in Spain, Germany and France and even before Popes and kings. The fertility of his imagination and the originality of his expression was most admired. His renown as a preacher almost surpassed his renown as a writer and teacher.
It is said that no writer was ever more widely read and copied in the Middle Ages as St. Bonaventure. The abiding sense of "God's Presence" which pervades in all his writings is perhaps the greatest mark he has left in the minds of men. In his treatises he aimed in arousing devotion as well as in imparting knowledge. His writings are characterized by its simplicity and directness and be the faithful adherence to the teaching in the Gospel. The perfecting of the soul by the uprooting of vice and the implanting of virtue is the common thread in all his writings. His teaching represents the most profound and acceptable ideas of his age and marks a notable stage in the evolution of knowledge. His writings carried great weight at great council convened and Vatican meetings. He wrote the well -known "De Perfectrone Vitae," a treatise which depicts the virtues that make for religious perfection as well as the exposition on Papal Supremacy and Infallibility. He authored 500 sermons and 48 meditations and the "Vitae Mystica on the Passion." He wrote the approved,"Life of St. Francis" after staying months in Assisi where the great "Saint of Peace" was born.
As a tribute for his all-absorbing love for God, the title of "Seraphic Doctor" was given to St. Bonaventure in 1333.
