Saint Bonaventure

My contribution to the Brill Companion to Bonaventure, eds. Jay M. Hammond, J.A. Wayne Hellmann, and Jared Goff (Brill, 2013).  Here I survey Bonaventure's extensive writings in defense of the mendicant vocation amid the various slings and arrows of the outrageous seculars.  I argue for a theological (and not simply a practical, institutional, or legal) rationale that underlies all his arguments.  Mendicancy as a form of life is intimately connected, for Bonaventure, to the metaphysics of exemplarity.

Unlike St Thomas Aquinas – his worthy opponent in this and other questions – St Bonaventure did not write a treatise on the human person. Nevertheless, analysis of his writings indicates that Bonaventure saw the dignity and greatness of man not only in his substantial being as the "image and likeness" of the Triune God, but also in man’s essential relationality in communion with God, other humans and with all creation.

It is not only or primarily his rational nature that defines the human person as such; as
an incommunicable self, the rational human person exists in relationship to others and for others (including the external world). In the writings of the Seraphic Doctor, the relational existence of the Divine Persons reveals the full mystery of the human person as a subject and an unrepeatable "centre"

In his habilitation thesis on "The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure", Joseph Ratzinger observed a striking parallel between the revelation of God in Scripture and that which is found in creation. In both cases the revelation is hidden behind the letters that veil it. [I]n both cases the unveiling of the revelation is the task of the Spirit who transcends the level of the literal in a living, existential movement which penetrates into the realm of the intellectual-spiritual. In both cases, there is also the danger of becoming imprisoned by the letters. It is from this danger that the two basic religious errors arise.  The two errors to which Ratzinger refers are modern man's deafness to God's word and blindness to God's will written in creation. Modern man is thereby impoverished by the inability to discover the wisdom necessary for true progress. Ratzinger develops this insight in subsequent works. In his preface to the document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, he affirms that the task of the exegete is to draw out the meaning of Scripture " in which the human word and God's word work together in the singularity of historical events and the eternity of the everlasting Word, which is contemporary in every age. "  This meaning, comprised of both letter and Spirit, proves elusive to those who seek it with tools of science alone. One must approach the sacred text with the understanding that it comes " not only from the past … but at the same time from the eternity of God and [that] it leads us into God's eternity, but again along the way through time, to which the past, the present and the future belong. "

One reason for modern man's deafness to the word and will of God results from a deliberate refusal to understand reality except in terms of its material and efficient causality, ignoring any formal and final causality. This reductionism is fueled by his quest for progress through technological advancement and has given rise to a technological knowledge of creation, but has lost sight of the original telos, the grand design of the Creator who has entrusted creation to us.  Can we get back to the wisdom of the Middle Ages in which creation is seen as a book reflecting the Creator?

As a moral theologian, from time to time people have asked me how the crisis today came about.  How did moral relativism and the widespread confusion and skepticism we find today, even among Christians, become so dominat?  Why is Christian morality, as an expression of the eternal law of God reflected in the Ten Commandments and the Gospels, rejected today so widely? It is clear that moral relativism rules the day largely because of the culture of autonomy.  Culturally speaking, many no longer fear God.  It is not immediately clear what has led to this widespread confusion even among the faithful, concerning moral truth and the reality of an unchanging moral law. Many also ask, why do the Church's pastors seem so reluctant to teach morality as the Catechism does, and why such teaching so seldom occur from the pulpit? Surely there is ample material in the Gospel and the lectionary for providing the faithful with concrete moral guidance and the formation of conscience. We all recognize that such teaching is difficult as it invariably calls for a judgment about actions and behaviors that are not compatible with our final end, the Beatific Vision. Whether such judgments can be tolerated today, even in the context of Sunday Eucharist, is a large part of the problem.  A culture of permissiveness does not tolerate moral absolutes!

We have lost sight of the objective nature of moral truth as a binding set of principles to which our eternal salvation is closely tied.  Today it is something that is suppressed and surpassed by the subjective expression of individual freedom and one's "right" to choose for the self, even to the point of denying the eternal law of God.  A widespread example is seen in the United States Supreme Court's failure to uphold the dignity and right to life of the unborn child. This failure by the high court has fueled a further erosion of the loss of respect for human life in our society over the past 48 years of legalized abortion. One suspects that the increase in tragic events and shootings that result in the death of so many innocent people is somehow related to this failure to affirm the right to life of the unborn.

Certainly the loss of public recognition of good and evil as unchanging objective realities, and not merely individual preference, is a further result of the rejection of moral truth. If our society is to be brought back to a path that seeks the good and avoids evil, it is clear that some correction is needed. Many suggest that a large part of this correction will be a return to the virtues as habits that perfect human nature and are good for all people everywhere. But we must also be able to recognize how the virtues fit into a larger vision of the person as a moral agent who learns to seek the good and avoid what is evil through moral education. It is also clear that temperance, prudence, justice and fortitude (courage) cannot successfully be taught only in a classroom setting, they must be lived and modeled, and inculcated from a young age in the home.

Restoring the family as a school of virtue and morality must be taken seriously. Once again family life must impart charity and be a school of responsibility. As we turn our attention to the church, it is clear that much of the present confusion began shortly after Vatican II. At least prior to the Council there was a greater unanimity among Bishops and priests concerning the importance of teaching and preaching about moral issues. When we look deeper however we might see that in many cases the approach to teaching morals was either too authoritarian, and therefore not attractive in itself, but something enforced through fear of punishment.  This made the moral law seem "heteronymous" which has been rejected as our culture has moved more and more in the direction of the autonomous self.

The contemporary concept of the human person as a self-determining subject or an atomistic and mechanistic individual with unlimited freedom leads to the dehumanisation of the person.  However, a proper understanding of relationship in the Trinity reveals persons in their interactive nature, their interdependence and life in communion with and for others. My research is based St Bonaventure’s use of the term “person” in reference to the Trinity to allude to divine relations rather than to substance, and also to the human person as distinguished from other subjects by the ability to “be” or “exist” in a relationship. Since Bonaventure never expounded a theory of the human person as such, my research required an analysis of his writings about the Persons of the Trinity, the human nature of Jesus Christ and the personal nature of angels.  My research reveals that Bonaventure added the “property of dignity” to the traditional concept of the person.  The human person is ordered to achieve the greatest dignity through relation to God and to others in the same way that the triune God is related to all creatures.  Bonaventure’s teaching about the human person conforms to contemporary Christian anthropology and offers an antidote to the ills of an increasingly individualistic and fragmented society by providing a basis for a fulfilling life lived in communion with others.

I'm sorry to keep updating this translation, but new finds and new sources call for a new interpretation of the Greek text. As one uncovers Scholarios' sources his real genius comes to life. He reported that his Byzantine and Italian students of Logic and Philosophy in Constantinople were confused by his terminology. Well, I am a case in point. Until Bonaventure and Francis Meyronnes were discovered to be the basis of his metaphysics, nobody was able to agree if Scholarios was Thomist, Scotist, or Palamite. Now that his sources are made clear, we see  in a provisional English translation of Scholarius' mini-polemic against Thomism  (1445) his early departure and disappointment from Florence (June 1439). Features of this work:
(1.) It is a commentary within a commentary on Aquinas by the Thomist, Armandus of Bellovisu, whom Scholarius translated
(2.) It shows Scholarius' justification of Palamas by recourse to Francis Meyronnes who boldly held for a "real distinction" between God's persons, attributes, and essence.
(3.) Translated lines from Bonaventure's 'Qaestiones disputatae de mysterio Trinitatis'
(4.) It is the announcement of a program to write a full fledged treatise on this subject realized in the 1450s
(5.) It is a testimony to Scholarius' fully Palamite pedigree as a simply more subtle and cognizant historian of Latin Scholasticism and its semantics than early 20th century neo-Thomistis, who evaluated this work. Scholarius breaks intellectual moulds of categorizing Byzantine theology as somehow unable to confront the 'awesome' and 'frightening' Latin logic, as it was called, by John Eugenicus after Florence (c. 1440).

NB- I have made a selection of 'energy' or 'attribute' or activity or operation based upon the Scholastic origin of the translation or source that I could detect or the Palamite one. Energy is simply meant to be more ambiguous and can contain any of the translations above.

If you think you know Byzantine logic...Think again!

The central hypothesis of this paper raises the possibility that the mariology of St. Bonaventure maybe could have exercised substantial, direct influence on several of the most significant Marian iconographic themes in Italian art of the Late Middle Ages. After a brief biographical sketch to highlight the prominent position of this saint as a master of Scholasticism, as a prestigious writer, the highest authority of the Franciscan Order and accredited Doctor of the Church, the author of this paper presents the thesis developed by St. Bonaventure in each one of his many " Mariological Discourses " before analyzing a set of pictorial images representing various Marian iconographic themes in which we could detect the probable influence of bonaventurian mariology.

Special combination of allegorical poetic aesthetics, trinitarian metaphysical speculation and sentencial writing, the St. Bonaventure's Itinerarium mentis in Deum (The Journey of the mind into God) presents itself not only as the most appropriate text for an introduction to Boaventurian thought, but also shows one of the most vigorous scholastic developments in rooted Augustinian analog epistemology (to the consummated) in truth as the eternal principle of reason.

Lo studioso interessato a ricostruire la vita e il pensiero del beato Egidio d’Assisi († 1262), a parte le tre biografie e la raccolta dei suoi discorsi intitolati Dicta, non ha a disposizione altre antiche fonti dirette. Per raccogliere ulteriori informazioni sul compagno di san Francesco d’Assisi è necessario fare riferimento a testimonianze indirette che sono incluse nelle opere di autori come: Tommaso da Celano, Enrico d’Avranches, Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, Tommaso da Eccleston, Bernardo da Bes- sa, Salimbene de Adam, Ubertino da Casale, Dante Alighieri, Angelo Clareno e Bartolomeo da Pisa. Tra queste testimonianze più antiche che offrono comunque solo alcuni frammenti d’informazioni biografiche e didascaliche, le opere di Bonaventura risultano più importanti per la relativa abbondanza di notizie e per l’autorevole testimonianza del Dottore Serafico, che conobbe personalmente frate Egidio. L’analisi delle testimonianze bonaventuriane, comprese i testi finora non presi in considerazione dagli studiosi, permette di trarre alcune conclusioni attendibili circa gli aspetti storici della vita di Egidio e l’originalità del suo pensiero

Essays from Frater, Magister, Minister, et Episcopus: The Works and Worlds of Saint Bonaventure, an International Conference hosted by the the Franciscan Institute at S.Bonaventure University

This volume represents an homage by contemporary scholars to the intellectual genius, the spiritual virtues, and the fraternal love that characterized the life and ministry of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. It is also an expression of the marvelous state of the ressourcement of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition now being accomplished in the English-speaking world. For the past several decades, there has been a unique and sustained commitment by Franciscan communities in North America to pursue and support an in-depth study of the sources of the Franciscan movement and to present those findings to the church and world in critical editions, commentaries, books, and journals. The partnership between academic scholars and communities of practice in the Franciscan tradition bears fruit in this important new work.
This text celebrates the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Seraphic Doctor. It arrives during the 80th anniversary of the Franciscan Institute, an academic research, publication, and educational center of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition at the first Franciscan University in the United States, appropriately dedicated to the memory of the friar, teacher, minister and bishop, St. Bonaventure.
Book is available at: https://www.franciscanpublications.com/products/saint-bonaventure-friar-teacher-minister-bishop-a-celebration-of-the-eighth-centenary-of-his-birth?variant=32610297872444

St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, having received the paradoxical teaching of St. Augustine on the divine ideas, seek to give a developed account for their multiplicity that is nonetheless reconcilable with the unity of God’s being, and also with God’s eternal knowledge of creatures. In this paper I examine both of their accounts to see if they succeed in that enterprise, and which of their arguments is the more potent. My argument takes the form of a disputed question where in the first part I give objections for the fittingness of both Bonaventure’s and Aquinas’s account of the divine ideas. After that, in the second part I give my main response in which I attempt to lay out and to apply the principles for determining which is the better position. Finally, in the third part I make a detailed comparison of the objections and try to account for and resolve their differences as far as possible. For the position of Bonaventure, I have chosen to focus primarily on his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and his Disputed Questions on the Knowledge of Christ, while also looking at his Breviloquium, and his Collationes In Hexaemeron. For Aquinas, I have used for the most part his commentary on the Sentences, his Summa Theologica,  and his Summa Contra Gentiles.

After pointing out that St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio conceives his Aesthetics as a free way to be able to ascend contemplatively towards God, this article seeks to explain the surprising and ingenious "arguments" (deeply imbued by faith) that this author proposes to base the second level of the "transcendent" stage of his peculiar Aesthetics. In the first four levels of his Aesthetics, Bonaventure establishes this initial ascent to God by considering the external beings of the material world as vestiges of the Creator (first and second levels), and then by examining our mind as an image of God, in which he can be seen reflected in a mirror (third and fourth levels). St. Bonaventure states that in the third stage of his Aesthetics (the "transcendent" stage), the human mind can look over itself to speculate on God in his essential property as the Supreme Being (fifth level) and in his personal properties as highest Good (sixth level). Our article focuses exclusively on the expression of this sixth level of Bonaventurian Aesthetics. Resumen: Tras señalar que San Buenaventura de Bagnoregio concibe su estética como un camino expedito para poder ascender contemplativamente hacia Dios, el presente artículo busca explicar los sorprendentes e ingeniosos "argumentos" (profundamente imbuidos por la fe) que dicho autor propone para fundamentar el segundo nivel del estadio "trascendente" de su peculiar Estética. En los cuatro primeros niveles de su Estética, Buenaventura fundamenta ese inicial ascenso a Dios mediante la consideración de los seres externos del mundo material como vestigios del Creador (primero y segundo niveles), y luego mediante la consideración de nuestra propia mente como imagen de Dios, en la que este se puede ver reflejado como en un espejo (tercer y cuarto

La teologia del Sermo IV di san Bonaventura

Quest'articolo tratta sulla teologia del Sermo IV, uno dei cinque sermoni sugli angeli di san Bonaventura. II testo, scritto in XIII secolo, è stato tradotto dal latino in polacco. La prova della traduzione nella lingua moderna rende piu comprensibile l'angelologia del Serafico Dottore.
La sua dottrina fu sviluppata sulle basi bibliche e patristiche. In caso dei sermoni essa fu consegnata in modo caratteristico per i predicatori medievali (con tema, divisione e conclusione del sermone).
L´autore dell'articolo ha provato ad analizzare l´insegnamento bonaventuriano sugli spiriti puri, nei loro riferimenti al Dio Creatore, agli uomini e a se stesso (in mezzo alla società angelica con le loro gierarchie, i compiti etc.). In tale prospettiva il Sermo IV può essere riconosciuto come un´esempio della angelologia ,,prattica", contenuta nella predicazione francescana medievale.

The article analyses Carlos Esteban Salto Solá’s doctoral dissertation on the function of desire in the spiritual life according to the teaching of St Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. In the Appendix, as completion of the monograph, the texts of two of Bonaventure’s sermons on desire are given, namely, a heretofore unknown version of the sermon on St Thomas the Apostle, dealing with the link between spiritual senses and desire, and three variant Reportationes of the sermon for the feast of St Andrew composed on the basis of the verse Lignum vite desiderium veniens (Prov 13, 12).

L’articolo analizza la tesi dottorale di Carlos Esteban Salto Solá, dedicata alla funzione del desiderio nella vita spirituale secondo il pensiero di san Bonaventura da Bagnoregio. Nell’appendice − come completamento della monografia − vengono pubblicati i testi di due sermoni bonaventuriani pertinenti al desiderio, ossia: una redazione sconosciuta del sermone su san Tommaso Apostolo, che parla del legame tra i sensi spirituali e il desiderio; e tre varie reportationes del sermone per la festa di sant’Andrea costruito sulla base del versetto Lignum vite desiderium veniens (Prov 13, 12).

No período escolástico (séculos XI – XIV), a analogia triádica e a ontologia relacional desenvolvidas no De Trinitate de Agostinho constituem a influência comum junto aos construtos filosófico-teológicos de autores diversos, sobretudo em suas reflexões trinitárias, do que constitui exemplo o Itinerarium mentis in Deum de Boaventura de Bagnoregio (1217-1274), onde o reflexo triádico da essência relacional divina na existência criada, com base na primazia ontológica do uere esse tornado primum datum epistemológico, constitui mote recorrente por todo o seu desenvolvimento, a par de amplo lastro textual agostiniano, celebrizando-se pelo uso que Boaventura faz do axioma aviceniano esse est quod primo cadit in intellectu. Conjugação única de estética poética alegórica, especulação metafísica trinitária e escrita sentencial, o Itinerarium apresenta-se não somente como o texto mais apropriado para uma introdução ao pensamento boaventuriano, como também se mostra um dos mais vigorosos desenvolvimentos escolásticos da epistemologia analógica agostiniana radicada (ao mesmo tempo consumada) na verdade como princípio eterno da razão.

Bonaventure's "Questiones disputatae de mysterio Trinitatis" is both a misunderstood and undervalued treatise of the Seraphic Doctor. Its late rediscovery at the end of the 19th century marked a revolution in the understanding of Bonaventure's thought and the subtlety of his metaphysics.

This Afterword attempts to alert the reader of the inestimable value of Dr. Goff's contribution in order to begin the process of coming to terms with the total vision of the Seraphic Doctor

It is surprisingly difficult to justify private property. Two questions are at stake: (a) a metaphysical and juridical one concerning the nature of property and (b) an ethical one concerning our attitude toward wealth. This issue reached an unprecedented importance during the 12 th and 13 th centuries as a new moral ideal emerged. This essay analyses the controversy (with emphasis on Bonaventure's Defense of the Mendicants) by first locating it in relation to the philosophical and theological authorities as well as Roman law. It argues that the dispute between the defenders of paupertas altissima and their opponents concerns the limit of the law. Gerard of Abbeville and John XXII saw a contradiction in a right to use that would exclude ownership. Yet, what the Franciscans were seeking was use without right. To relate to the world as something that is essentially inappropriable is to seek a form of life (a rule) prior to the law. Centuries after, such a possibility remains to be discovered. For most contemporaries, private property is so unquestionable a principle that the idea of probing its validity or inquiring into its foundation seems sacrilegious. As for the possibility of voluntarily renouncing it, it is barely imaginable. Yet, although it is difficult to imagine life without private property, it is surprisingly difficult to justify it. It is often assumed that property is natural and necessary for the well-being of individuals and the maintenance of social order. This alleged naturalness would turn it into an inalienable right while its alleged necessity would turn its effects into social goods. Without it, wouldn't we feel deprived? Wouldn't we lose any motivation to act or work? Wouldn't we lose our sense of responsibility? Wouldn't society cease to function? Yet, the urgency with which we run to the defense of property and proclaim it an undeniable requirement, a just institution, and a moral good betrays some uneasiness. This issue reached an unprecedented importance during the 12 th and 13 th centuries as a new moral ideal appeared, an ethics of dispossession—paupertas altissima. It is often said that the late medieval period saw the birth of claims to individual private rights. 1 While this is probably true, we must also observe that it occurred in a context of profound questioning and contestation. What's more, this was not a purely speculative debate; at least for some, it became a form of life. Finally, the issue had a political impact: it entailed a critique of the clergy's lavish lifestyle and the tendency of the Church, arguably the first international corporation, to amass riches. 2 Marsilius of Padua offers a strong support to the " perfection of poverty " championed by the Franciscan order and a very explicit condemnation of clerical and papal abuses. According to Marsilius, the members of the episcopate " have a burning desire for pleasures, vanities, temporal possessions, and secular rulership, and they pursue and attain these objectives with all their energies not by rightful means, but by wrongdoing both secret and open. " Marsilius of Padua, The Defender of the Peace (Defensor Pacis), trans. A. Gewirth (New York: Harper, 1956), 185.

L’argument anselmien du Proslogion est un acquis parmi les plus vigoureux et féconds de la pensée spéculative occidentale, ainsi qu’en témoigne la tradition des versions soit concordantes soit discordantes, qu’il a engendrée jusqu’à nos jours. Mais les unes aussi bien que les autres reprennent l’argument anselmien, le plus souvent, sous des directives philosophiques, qui sont étrangères aux conditions-mêmes de l’argument pionnier. La version consonante de Bonaventure n’échappe point à cette règle. Il est vrai qu’il y a de la continuité entre la pensée d’Anselme et celle de Bonaventure, étant donné que l’un et l’autre ont agréé l’influence d’Augustin, et, avec celle-ci, la lignée philosophique d’inspiration néoplatonicienne. Mais cette affinité de fond n’efface pas l’originalité de la pensée de chacun des deux philosophes augustiniens, en particulier, au sujet de l’argument du Proslogion.

To Stir a Restless Heart tells for the first time the story of how Thomas Aquinas conversed with his contemporaries about the dynamics of human nature's longing for God, and documents how he deliberately utilized Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin sources to develop a version of Aristotelian natural desire that was uniquely Augustinian: natural desire seeks the complete fulfillment of human nature "insofar as is possible," and so comes to rest in the highest end that God offers to it. Depending on whether God offers the free gift of grace to humanity, one and the same natural desire can come to rest in knowing God through creatures or seeing God directly.

Tracing the reception of Aquinas in the centuries that follow, Jacob Wood argues that Aquinas's student from among the Augustinian Hermits, Giles of Rome, consciously transformed Aquinas's understanding of human nature. By insisting that every nature has a positive aptitude for one, specific end, Giles tied our natural desire positively and directly to the vision of God, setting up a 700-year challenge among the Augustinian Hermits to explain the integrity of a nature with a supernatural end, as well as the gratuity of the grace which perfects it. Showing how de Lubac's early discovery of that tradition served as a principal source for his "natural desire for a supernatural end," To Stir a Restless Heart argues that many recent criticisms of de Lubac's theological anthropology find ready answers among the Augustinian Hermits, but that a renewed understanding of Aquinas's Augustinianism offers a more complete way forward: it preserves Aristotle's commitment to the integrity of human nature, de Lubac's commitment to the transcendence of human perfection, and Augustine's insistence on the priority and gratuity of divine grace in the work of redemption.

This is the First Edition of our Annuario Academico for 2016-17, which we are sharing on Academia.edu to solicit interest from prospective students to study with us. Note that the edition is Polyglot, but the canonical version is the English.

The ScholastIcum is an institute for the study of Scholastic Theology and Philosophy, headquartered at Rome, dedicated to the promotion of the greater appreciation and understanding of Medieval Theology and Philosophy as it was taught at the University of Paris in the mid 13th century.

For that purpose, the Scholasticum focuses its attention on three fields of study, Medieval Philosophy, Medieval Biblical Studies and Scholastic Theology, offering graduate courses of Specialization in Medieval Studies, at Rome and via video-conferencing to students throughout the world, of the following kinds:

a) Preparatory courses in Latin, Philosophy, History and Medieval Studies, aimed at orientating the students for the three principle course-work.

b) Baccalaureatus Philosophicus: 2 year Course on medieval
Philosophy focusing on the Scholastics and pre-Scholastics
authorities and texts in Philosophy.

c) Baccalaureatus Biblicus: 2 year Course on medieval scriptural studies, based on the Glossae and Commentaries of that age.

d) Baccalaureatus Sententiarius: 2 year course on the Four Books of sentences of master Peter, taking as its text books, the Commentaria of Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio on the same.

e) Magister Sacrae Doctrinae: 1-2 year specialization program for Doctoral students, seeking to fully grasp the Scholastic method of theological instruction.

In the study of which, the Institute has the following academic objectives:

a) To impart to the student an authentic historical understanding of the authors, language and methods used at the University of Paris, in the mid 13th century.

b) To educate students with profound and complete knowledge of Peter Lombard’s Four Book of Sentences, in Latin and in translation.

c) To give the student a profound and practical experience in the understanding, formulation, crafting and argumentation of the Scholastic Method, as employed by Sts. Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.

d) To form students and instructors capable of Scholastic argumentation, analysis and research.

The faculty is to comprise full and part-time positions, with a frequency of visiting professorships, to provide a wide and broad exposure to the current research on the topics
treated of in this general description of the Institute.

Patristic and Medieval Atonement Theory takes a close look at the doctrines that depend on and influence views of atonement in order to make clear what place atonement occupies within the larger system of Christian theology. Johnson also considers key concepts and tensions within the doctrine of atonement itself, which may be emphasized or glossed over to create the shape of particular doctrines. Johnson's guide briefly discusses major figures in the development of Christian doctrines of atonement to the end of the Middle Ages. Johnson then turns to the major primary and secondary sources and provides an orientation to the rich literature existing on this topic.

A critique of the Scholium of the Quaracchi editors of Bonaventure's critical edition of 1882 AD, wherein they deny Bonaventure set forth a doctrine concerning the Ratio Formalis Personae, & a proposed solution to the historical debate on the question, derived from a close reading of Bonaventure's Commentaria on Lombard, with principles used to arrive at said solution.

E' una raccolta di alcune preghiere (o inviti alla preghiera) tratte dagli scritti di San Bonaventura, francescano e dottore della Chiesa, santo che ha vissuto e insegnato un cammino cristiano ricco di armonia e sapienza.
La bellezza e densità teologica di queste parole hanno suggerito di rendere più vicini a noi questi testi raccogliendoli insieme in questa pubblicazione. Si tratta di testi particolarmente adatti per accompagnare la riflessione e lo studio, per introdurre lezioni e incontri comunitari, offrendo la possibilità di entrare in un clima spiritualmente vivo e ardente.

« Art de la mémoire et voyage mental. Le motif iconographique de l’arbre comme invitation au voyage », in Itinérances spirituelles : mises en récit du voyage intérieur (XVe-XVIIIe siècle), Françoise Poulet et Inès Kirschleger (dir.), Paris, Champion, 2020, p. 377-394.

Au Moyen Âge, notamment sous l’impulsion du Lignum Vitae de Saint Bonaventure (vers 1260), de nombreux arbres répartiteurs sont peints à fresque, sur bois ou dans des manuscrits, afin de stimuler la mémorisation de la Passion. Notre publication se concentre sur l’une d’entre elle, l’Albero della vita réalisé par le peintre florentin Pacino di Buonaguida dans les années 1305-1310, et expose comment la structure de l’arbre permet d’effectuer une itinérance méditative guidée d’une branche à l’autre et d’un fruit à l’autre pour atteindre la sagesse.

Theology of Sermo II and Sermo Ill "De Angelis" of Saint Bonaventure

Both the contents and form of preaching of Saint Bonaventure are rich. The sermons enlisted in the title are on the world of angels and their help for a human being. They come from Trecenci Codex. The author summarized them, analysed the theological sources and presented their theological contents.
The first sermon was written in accordance with all requirements of that epoch - the Middle Ages. It has a long introduction, an interestingly developed topic and a proper, conclusive ending. The other sermon is not written in that way.
The author divided the theological sources into biblical and extra-biblical. The biblical sources are numerous quotations taken from the Bible and next put in the table. The other are references to patristic ideas and those dating back to the early period of the Middle Ages.
The sermons describe issues relating to God, angels and man. By introducing an image of a tenstring harp Bonaventure visually makes questions of dogmatic and moral nature easier to understand. He characterizes the three persons of the Holy Trinity. He stresses the cult of the Trinity. Performing the cult may be facili- tated when we know the angelic community.
While teaching about angels Bonaventure does not give a lecture on angelol- ogy, but the Saint interestingly gets a listener acquainted with spiritual beings. They are gloriously elevated, perfect and full of charitable love.
While teaching about man he stresses the need to have theological and cardinal virtues. They are: faith, hope, love and fortitude. They should always be present in a believer. But a man cannot do without the help of angels, especially when he wants to overcome vices such as: covetous desire, jealousy, vanity, obstinacy. The collaboration with an angel brings all people spiritual benefits.
The second part of the work is the author's translation of both the sermons from Latin into Polish.

A Legenda Maior, escrita por São Boaventura no século XIII, ocupa um lugar central dentre as hagiografias medievais que narram à vida de São Francisco de Assis e foi por muito tempo considerado a biografia oficial do fundador, responsável, pois, pela visão do santo mantida até o século XIX, quando estudos inovadores foram iniciados por Paul Sabatier. Apesar disso, são poucos os trabalhos que se dedicam à análise literária do texto hagiográfico boaventuriano, mais explorado pela História e pela Filosofia, ciências que não deixaram de apresentar recortes importantes sobre a obra. A primeira nos dá suporte para entender o conturbado momento interno da Ordem dos Frades Menores, o qual influenciou decisivamente a construção da narrativa; a segunda nos ajuda a compreender o pensamento místico do autor, influenciado, sobretudo, por Santo Agostinho e a pensar as Vidas de santos enquanto adoção de um "modo de vida" moldado pela ascese. Nesse sentido, procuramos analisar a personagem santoral à luz do pensamento de Pierre Hadot, principalmente no que diz respeito à associação entre "vida filosófica" e "vida cristã". Através de uma leitura interdisciplinar, desvendamos uma maneira específica de organização da narrativa, em que a construção da vida de Francisco é espelhada na teoria mística de Boaventura, narrando o itinerário da personagem em sete degraus de ascensão, partindo das criaturas até chegar à união com o criador, quando ocorre a estigmatização do santo. Para finalizar, analisamos os conceitos de figura, sermo humilis e gloria passionis, largamente explorados por Erich Auerbach, como recursos retórico-literários importantes para a economia da narrativa e para a construção da personagem Francisco.

Legenda Maior, written by St. Bonaventure in the thirteenth century, occupies a central place among the medieval hagiographies that tell the life of St. Francis of Assisi and was considered for a long time the official biography of the founder, responsible, therefore, for the saint’s image kept until the nineteenth century, when innovative studies were started by Paul Sabatier. However, not many papers focus on the literary analysis of Bonaventure’s hagiographic text, more explored by History and Philosophy, sciences that presented important views on this book. The former helps us understand the troubled internal situation of the Order of Friars Minor, which strongly influenced the construction of the narrative; the latter lets us know the author's mystical thought, especially influenced by St. Augustine, and consider the saints’ Lives as the choice of a "way of life" shaped by asceticism. In this sense, we sought to analyze the holy personage from the perspective of Pierre Hadot’s thought, especially with regard to the association between "philosophical life" and "Christian life." With an interdisciplinary approach, we reveal a specific way to organize the narrative in which the construction of Francis' life follows Bonaventure’s mystical theory, narrating the character’s journey in seven levels of ascension, starting from creatures to eventually attain union with the creator, when the saint’s stigmatization occurs. Finally, we analyze the concepts of figura, sermo humilis and gloria passionis, widely examined by Erich Auerbach as important rhetorical and literary devices for narrative economy and for the construction of the figure of Francis.

This Foreword attempt to alert the Reader to the originality and highly innovative features of the first book to show the continuous tradition of the Immaculate Conception in the Byzantine East until the advent and movement of Gregory Palamas (d. 1357). The work also demonstrates the corrupted notion of "purification" of Mary that was inherited in Western handbooks of theology (e.g., the Sentences) that eventually influenced the way the persons such as Alexander of Hales and Thomas Aquinas understood St. John Damascene's description of Mary in the "De fide orthodoxa" as "purgata" or purified at the Annunciation. The book concludes demonstrating the perfect symmetry between the Franciscan thesis of Duns Scotus in comparison to Palamas and especially Gregory Palamas. Unwittingly the definition of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 parallels Mark of Ephesus' argument on behalf of a perfectly immaculate and absolutely sinless Virgin Mary.