JULY 14TH, ST. BONAVENTURE, BISHOP, CONFESSOR, AND DOCTOR

Month in honor of the Most Precious Blood of OLJC.

Bonaventure was born at Bagnarea in Tuscany, in the year of our Lord 1221. In his infancy he was dangerously ill, and his mother made a vow that, if he recovered, she would dedicate him to the Order of Blessed Francis. While he was still a young man he entered the Order by his own wish. Under the teaching of Alexander of Hales he advanced so quickly in learning, that in seven years he lectured publicly at Paris on the Books of the Sentences, with great applause. He afterwards explained the same Books by a brilliant Commentary. After six years he was made General Master of his Order at Rome, in which office he did his duty with such wisdom and holiness as caused all men to talk of him and marvel at him. He was the author of many books, in which the depth of his learning and the earnestness of his godliness affect the reader and teach him at the same time. Gregory X., moved by his reputation for wisdom and holiness, created him a Cardinal and Bishop of Albano. Blessed Thomas of Aquino gave him the title of Saint even during his life -time. It fell on this wise. Thomas found him writing the Life of St. Francis, and said, Let us leave one Saint to work for the other. He departed this life at the Council of Lyons, upon the 14th day of July 1274, being of the age of 53 years, and having worked many miracles. Pope Sixtus IV. numbered him among the Saints. Summoned to the Council of Lyons by blessed Gregory X and created cardinal bishop of Alba, he carried out an excellent work in the difficult affairs of the council; by which the schisms were settled and the ecclesiastical dogmas vindicated. In the midst of these labors, in the fifty-third year of his age, and in the year of his death one thousand two hundred and seventy-four, he died with the greatest sorrow of all, and was honored with a funeral by the entire council, in the presence of the Roman Pontiff himself. Sixtus IV, famous for his many and greatest miracles, ranked him among the saints. He wrote many things, in which, combining the greatest learning with the ardor of piety, he moves the reader by his teaching: for which reason he was deservedly awarded the name of Seraphic Doctor by Sixtus V.