Bonaventure the Beloved
Saint Bonaventure, whom we celebrate today, the day of his death in 1274 – a few months after his contemporary, Saint Thomas Aquinas. Both have been proclaimed Doctors of the Church – an elite company, with but 36 members – and both wrote ‘Summas’, or compendia, of theology, even if, for various reasons, it was Thomas’ – the Common Doctor – that the Church officially adopted in her teaching. But Bonaventure, the ‘Seraphic Doctor’, has much to teach us also, in his doctrine on God, His providence, the salvific purpose of all history and creation.
Bonaventure also wrote the first definitive biography of the founder of his Order, Saint Francis of Assisi, and helped to consolidate – even write – the definitive Rule of the Order. He lived the joyful Franciscan charism well, in humility and charity, right up to the end, when he was appointed a Cardinal and deputed to attend the Second Council of Lyons. A visitor to his monastery had trouble finding his Eminence, who was in the back washing dishes with his brethren. Bonaventure died while attending the Council, as his friend Thomas died on the way.
There is much more to say, and for those who would like Pope Benedict’s three addresses on Bonaventure, on whom he completed his doctorate, may find the first of them here.
I will leave you for now with a brief comment from a papal notary who knew Bonaventure, which sums up our saint well: A good, affable, devout and compassionate man, full of virtue, beloved of God and human beings alike…. God in fact had bestowed upon him such grace that all who saw him were pervaded by a love that their hearts could not conceal
as the Pope Emeritus, who completed his doctorate on Bonaventure, writes so eloquently here.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
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My Name is Bernadette
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Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
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The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
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An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→