Saint Bonaventure
Memorial, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A, B, C | Lectionary Cycle: I, II
Introduction
St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, was a peacemaker and unifier within his order and among the political leaders of his time. A learned man, he trusted more in God’s love, which permeates all his writings, than in his science.
Opening Prayer
Lord God,
As we celebrate Saint Bonaventure,
a man of peace and love, we ask you:
Let the Holy Spirit, the bond of love
between you and your Son,
be present here among us.
May he bind us together in peace and love
and help this little church to be
All you want is your universal Church
to signify to all:
the people of your good pleasure,
rich in hope and life and joy
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
First Reading
The Love of Christ
And now, I kneel in the presence of the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth has received its name.
May he strengthen in you the inner self, through his Spirit, according to the riches of his glory;
may Christ dwell in your hearts, through faith; may you be rooted and founded in love.
All of this, so that you may understand with all the holy ones, the width, the length, the height, and the depth—in a word,
that you may know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled, and reach the fullness of God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 119:9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
R. (12) Lord, teach me your statutes.
How shall a young man be faultless in his way?
By keeping to your words.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Within my heart I treasure your promise,
that I may not sin against you.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
With my lips I declare
all the ordinances of your mouth.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have but one Father in heaven;
you have one master, the Christ.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters.
Neither should you call anyone on earth Father, because you have only one Father—he who is in heaven.
You should not be called Master, because you have but one master, the Messiah.
Let the greatest among you be the servant of all.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Prayers of the Faithful
*Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
this piece of bread
and this draught of wine
will bring us the life an joy
of Jesus, your Son.
Let his Holy Spirit unite us closely
with Jesus, head of his body, the Church,
as living stones of his community
of faith and hope.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
*Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
your Son Jesus has spoken his message to us.
By the power of the Holy Spirit
give us the strength to speak it
for all and to all as Good News,
without fear or compromise.
Let him renew and unite us
as your people of hope and joy,
who proclaim with our lives
that you are our Father,
and Jesus, our Lord forever.
REFLECTIONS
On July 15th, the Church commemorates the Feast of Saint Bonaventure. The Seraphic Doctor was born at Tuscany, Italy in 1221. At 22, he joined the Franciscan Order and went to Paris, where he excelled in his theological studies. Fifteen years later, he was made General of his Order, restoring calm amid enormous turmoil and internal dissent. Bonaventure is credited with the Franciscans' resurgence for his work in consolidating an institution that was still ill-defined. Under his guidance, the Franciscans became the most prominent order in the Catholic Church until the coming of the Jesuits.
Bonaventure was renowned for the force of his preaching, writing and scholarship. His Life of St. Francis was one of the most popular works of the Middle Ages. He died at Lyons in 1274 while assisting at the Second Council of Lyons, to reunite the Eastern church with the West. Bonaventure was so revered that Dante had already included him among the inhabitants of his literary "Paradise" (The Divine Comedy). He was canonised on April 14, 1482 by the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church by another Franciscan Pope Sixtus V, in the year 1588. He is among the Church's greatest scholastic theologians and philosophers.
The Life of St. Bonaventure
"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 of St. Bonaventure.
At an early age, he was a celebrated teacher and a powerful preacher. At thirty-six, he was called to the highest post among the Franciscans, the Order which honours him as a second founder. He was an important figure at the Council of Lyons. His virtue and wisdom, his versatility and mildness were major factors in attaining the happy result that the Greeks so easily returned to the unity of the Church.
Bonaventure was a subtle scholastic and a profound mystic. Because of the latter, he is known as the "Seraphic Teacher." In philosophy, he was the principal leader of the Platonic-Augustinian school of Franciscan thought; as such, he stood opposed to the Aristotelianism that was making its way into the schools of the time (Thomas of Aquinas). Bonaventure's Life of St. Francis was a favourite book of the Middle Ages. When St. Thomas was told about Bonaventure's work, he said: "Let us allow one saint to labour for another." His contemporaries are said to have believed that no one was "more handsome, more holy, or more learned" than he.