1

LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

ATENO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY

THE VIRTUE OF TRUE HUMILITY

IN THE THOUGHTS OF SAINT BONAVENTURE

BY

PHAN ANH LINH, CMC

PROFESSOR: FERNANDO GUILLEN, SCH.P

COURSE: THEO 338.2

QUEZON CITY
14 MARCH 2012
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A. CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

In the Gospels, Jesus Christ strongly exhorts his followers, “Learn from me for I am

meek and humble at heart; and you will find rest for yourselves” (Matthew 11:29). Humility is

the virtue taught through our Savior’s words and deeds, and it is the most common virtue found

in the life and the teachings of holy men and women. Saint Bonaventure (1217-1274), the most

famous Franciscan scholastic, the seventh minister general of the Friars Minor, the cardinal

bishop of Albano, the Serafic Doctor of the Church, leaves us a treasure of his teaching about

this crucial virtue. In the book entitled De perfectione vitae ad sorores – On the Perfection of

Life Addressed to Sisters, the Serafic Doctor composes a wonderful chapter, The Virtue of True

Humility, and puts it just after the first chapter of Self-Knowledge.

Saint Bonaventure wrote De perfectione vitae ad sorores (consisting of eight chapters

concerning the religious life), in the Latin language in the year of 1259.1 He wrote this book as a

spiritual exhortation for the contemplative sisters belonging to the Poor Clares (Ordo Sanctae

Clarae), the second Franciscan Order. In this book, Saint Bonaventure addresses to Blessed

Isabella, the then Mother Superior.2 At that time, both Saint Francis (d. 1226) and Saint Clare (d.

1253) had passed away. Two and a half years after his election as the minister general, in

October 1259, Saint Bonaventure retired to Alverna, the mountain where Saint Francis of Assisi

had received the stigmata, in search of peace and contemplation. While meditating there, he had

an extraordinary insight into the symbolic meaning of the vision Saint Francis had at the time he

received the stigmata: the vision of the six-winged Seraph in the form of the crucified. This

insight he developed in detail in Itinerarium mentis in Deum (1259). The experience at Alverna

made a profound impression on the Serafic Doctor and marked a new direction in his writing.
1
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, ed. Bernard C. Marthaler, 2 nd Edition, vol. 2 (Washington D.C.: Gale & CUA,
2003), s.v. “Bonaventure, St.” 480.

2
Her feast day on 26 February, and she is the sister of Saint Louis, King of France.
 3

From this time on, his writings reflected a greater integration of Franciscan elements with the

content and form of the scholastic tradition he had received at the University of Paris. The

mystical dimensions of his thought emerged more clearly and symbols played a greater role in

his style and his mystical and spiritual treatises: De perfectione vitae ad sorores (1259),3 Lignum

vitae (1260), De triplici via (1260), Soliloquium (1260), Tractatus de praeparatione ad missam

(1260).4

Through the content, the writing style, and especially the profound mystical insights in

the chapter, Saint Bonaventure helps his audience, the sisters of the Poor Clares, and all of us,

realize the importance of the virtue of true humility in the way of perfection, and inspires us to

put it into practice. He discusses about pride versus humility, the three stages of practicing and

acquiring the virtue of humility, and finally, some brilliant examples of this virtue.

I. PRIDE VERSUS HUMILITY

1. Harms and Irrelevance of Pride

Firstly, as a thesis statement of the chapter, Saint Bonaventure quotes a definition of

humility by Saint Bernard, “Humility is a virtue which prompts a man possessing an exact

knowledge of himself to estimate himself and his powers as dross,”5 and then he affirms that

humility is a great virtue. Without it, not only is there no virtue, but that which might have been

virtue is vitiated and turns to pride.

3
This book was translated into English by Father Laurence Costello, O.F.M., with the title Holiness of Life - On the
Perfection of Life Addressed to Sisters. Father Laurence Costello had finished his translation just before he died in
1909, then the original translation was edited by Father Wilfrid, O.F.M., and published in London by B. Herder
Book Co., in 1929.

4
Ewert H. Cousins, Bonaventure and the Coincidence of Opposites, ch. II.

5
St. Bonaventure, Holiness of Life – On the Perfection of Life Addressed to Sisters, trans. Laurence Costello, ed.
Wilfrid, (London: B. Herder Book Co., 1929), 10.
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Saint Bonaventure borrows the teaching from Ecclesiasticus to make a contrast between

humility and pride, “As humility is the foundation of all virtues, so pride is the beginning of all

sins” (10:15). He uses the notorious fall of Lucifer, the first proud creature, to capture his

audience’s attention. Pride not only makes angels become demons, but also makes people, even

the people in convents, become unpleasing to God. The saint admits that there are always on

earth so many children of Lucifer, whom he labels as “apes of Lucifer.” 6 He warns the sisters to

be watchful about the vice of pride because it spoils all virtues, including virginity, and their

consecrated life would become in vain and worthless. The saint points out, “If you are not

humble, do not imagine for a moment that your virginity is pleasing to God.” He also declares,

“Mary would not have been made the Mother of God if she had been a proud woman,” and then

he quotes the words of Saint Bernard, “Without humility, not even Mary’s virginity would have

pleased God.”7

Saint Bonaventure is really a great master of spirituality for those who pursue the

consecrated life when he observes the sharp complaints of Saint Bernard about the regrettable

lifestyle of many religious whose lives contradict with their ideal:

It grieves me very much to see many who trod beneath their feet the pomps of the world, come
into the school of humility the better to learn the ways of pride. Under the aegis of a mild and
humble master, they wax arrogant. They become more impatient in the cloister than they were in
the world. What is still worse, very many will not suffer themselves to be held of little worth in
the house of God, although in their own circle they could not have been anything but lowly, nay
even contemptible.8

Many come into the school of humility to wax arrogant! Many leave all the pomps of the

world to enter religious life to learn the ways of pride! Many devote all their life to God, but

6
Ibid., 13.

7
Ibid., 14.

8
Ibid., 20.
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finally contemptible to Him! It sounds illogical, but it is a fact. Those are hypocrites, humble

merely in appearance, as Ecclesiasticus says, “There is one that humbles himself wickedly and

his interior is full of deceit” (19:23). Under the light of Saint Bonaventure’s teaching, we see

clearly that nobody is immune from pride, including Lucifer, the highest-ranking angel in

heaven, and the consecrated sisters in cloisters. Thus, the saint invites everybody to learn and to

practice true humility, a very up-building virtue.

2. The Beauty, Necessity and Benefits of True Humility

Saint Bonaventure not only explains to his audience the ugliness and harms of pride, but

also describes the extraordinary beauty and values of true humility as an attractive virtue,

worthy of numerable efforts. The Serafic Doctor lists seven reasons to persuade his audience to

practice humility: 1) Humility prepares the way for divine graces; 2) Humility frees the mind

from all vanity; 3) The less the pride, the more the love; 4) The more the heart bends under

humility, the nearer we are to God; 6) The Lord will do the will of the humble who fear Him;

and 7) The Lord will hear their prayers.9

In addition to those reasons through which his audience may see clearly the

incomparable beauty and values of the virtue of true humility, the Scholastic Master advises the

sisters in the Poor Clares to safeguard their virginity by humility, and to keep themselves

humble by the practice of their virginity. Here, the saint once again quotes the words of Saint

Bernard, “Virginity associated with humility is like a precious stone in a gold setting. What is

there as beautiful as the union of virginity with humility! How indescribably pleasing to God is

the soul in which humility enhances virginity and virginity embellishes humility.”10

9
Ibid., 18.
10
Ibid., 20.
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Saint Bonaventure draws a contrast between the proud and the humble. “The proud man

is unbearable. He is too loud in dress, pompous in his bearing, stiff-necked, unnaturally harsh of

countenance, stern-eyed, ever on the look out for the first place, wishful to outstrip his betters,

boastful in everything, and devoid of all idea of respect and proper reverence.” 11 If we do not

read this teaching, it would be hard to expect that Saint Bonaventure, a faithful disciple of Jesus,

the Master of meekness and humbleness, uses such harsh words for the proud. He even likens

them to a viper, or even worse, a devil. The saint, of course, has enough reasons to do so. Pride

is the cause that brings about the fall of Lucifer, and it is the characteristic trait of the viper in

the garden of Eden, tempting Eve and Adam to fall.

II. THREE STAGES TO PRACTICE THE VIRTUE OF TRUE HUMILITY

In this spiritual exhortation, Saint Bonaventure does not forget to include the practical

aspect, and he makes his lesson more applicable by dividing the process of practice into three

logical stages.

1. Thought upon God as the Author of All Good

In the Prologue of Commentary on the Sentences, Saint Bonaventure defines the task of

theology as the teaching of salvation. It involves the study of God, the World Above, as the

Creator of everything and how everything returns to him through grace as an intelligible circle. 12

In this part of his writing, as a leading scholastic philosopher, Saint Bonaventure reminds us to

remember God as the primary cause of all things. In fact, the saint just mentions one idea:

Thought upon God as the Author of all good things, but his idea is so profound because it refers

to the matter of Good.

11
Ibid., 21.

12
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 484.
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Pride is the worst illness of human beings, and only God can cure that illness because

He is the highest Good. In one of his meditations, Saint Bonaventure explains that when Christ,

our Master, wished to lead the young man who had observed the Law to the greater perfection

of the Gospel, he named God principally and exclusively with the name of Goodness. He says,

“No one is good but God alone.” Hence, Good is the first name of God.13

When attributing our every good work to God, not to ourselves, as the source of all our

good, we are following Christ, who says, “I have come forth from the Father and have come

into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father” (John 16:28). We are really

saying, “God, I came out of You, the Supreme Being; I will return to You, and through You, the

Supreme Being.”

The goal of Saint Bonaventure’s theology is the return or reductio of all things to God,

and his understanding of the reduction is decidedly Christocentric. Saint Bonaventure’s logic is

again circular and illustrates his theory of emanation, exemplarity and consummation. Since

everything exists through the Word (emanation) and according to the Word (exemplarity), all

reality can be led back of reduced by the Word (consummation) to its ultimate end, that is, to its

origin within the uncreated Word.”14

2. Remembrance of Christ

In the opening section of the Journey of the Soul into God, Saint Bonaventure invites us

“to moans of prayer through Christ crucified, in whose blood we are cleaned from the filth of

our vices”15 The figure of Christ, especially Christ crucified, is basic in Saint Bonaventure’s

13
Charles Carpenter, Theology As the Road to Holiness in St. Bonaventure, (New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press,
1997), 108.

14
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 490.

15
Saint Bonaventure, Journey of the Mind into God - Prologue. 4 [5:296].
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spirituality and theology. It is the figure of Christ that moves into the very center of saint

Bonaventure’s reflections.16 Christ is the center as exemplar in the emanation from the Father;

on the other hand, Christ is the center as mediator in the consummation of all things in returns

to the Father. That is why he considers remembrance of Christ, especially Christ in his

ignominious passion and death, as the second stage in the process of practicing the virtue of true

humility.

It is clear that not everything that Christ did during his earthly life is to be imitated by

his followers. Christ did not invite us to learn his powers to walk on water, to multiply loaves,

to change water into wine, to revive the dead or to perform all sorts of spectacular miracles.

Those actions relates to Jesus’ exalted power, referring to the light of wisdom, or to the

condescension of mercy. However, Jesus did invite us to learn his humility and meekness

(Matthew 7:24) because these virtues matter and bring more benefits to our salvation. As a

master, Jesus always applies what his teaches, and the disciples can easily follow his path when

admiring his example. Saint Bonaventure asks us to look up to Christ crucified and reminds us

to the words of prophet Isaiah, “We have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by

God” (Is 53:4). “How can we look at the figure on the cross without asking: Who, Why and for

What? Yes, we cannot help but wondering that the Most Highest God became as the least of all,

and the immense God became a little creature, yet I, a filthy worm, a mere handmaid of Christ,

exalt and magnify myself.17

In the garden of Eden, under the tree of knowledge of good and bad, pride brought death

and punishment (cf. Gen 3:12). Christ crucified, Lignum Vitae, brought life and salvation. Saint

16
Carpenter, 114.
17
Saint Bonaventure, Holiness of Life, 15.
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Bonaventure often speaks of the transformative power of love. 18 It is a common human

experience that a person is gradually changed by the persons or things that are most important in

his or her life. We can see this at various levels. Married people who have struggled and worked

and loved over many years are changed by that process. Relations between children and parents

often reflect the same dynamic, as do many other types of relation. We are changed by those

persons and things that enter deeply into our lives. In a real sense, we become like what we

love. If this is true of human relations, may it not also be true of the relation between the human

person and God? The life of grace and the imitation of Christ are a process of responding to the

divine offer and the example of Christ. And the human person is changed in that process. 19

Christ crucified on the cross, the utmost sign of love, will transform proud persons to become

his humble disciples. The Head will transform his body, therefore, “the handmaid of Christ

must be prepared to be despised and humbled.”20

3. Close Acquaintance with Our Own Self

After admiring God as the Author of all good and remembering Christ in his passion and

death, The World Above, we now look at ourselves, The World Within. This is the third stage

Saint Bonaventure recommends to those who want to practice the virtue of true humility.

Saint Bonaventure invites us to ask ourselves, “Whence you have come and whither you

are going.” In other words, we have to realize our real origin and our destiny. He presents firm

arguments, with quotations from the Bible, “Why be proud, you who are but dust and ashes?...

Today you are here, but tomorrow you are gone!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:9,12). Today you are in

good health, but tomorrow you are a mass of ailments! Today you are wise, and tomorrow you

18
Carpenter, 112.

19
Ibid., 121.

20
Saint Bonaventure, Holiness of Life, 15.
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are possibly become an idiot! Now, as you read these lines, you are rich and rich in virtue, but

later it may easily be said that you would turn out to be a miserable wretched beggar! No one

can deny those ruthless realities of human life. With just a little recollection, everyone can see

very clearly his own lowliness, frailness and ephemerality.

However, Saint Bonaventure does not make the practice of true humility a gloomy

option, an unavoidable lot. In his thoughts, the virtue of true humility is really a wide gate

leading to happiness. It is humility that softens God’s anger and renders us fit subjects for His

holy grace. He quotes the Bible, “The greater you art, the more humble yourself in all things,

and you shall find grace before God” (Ecclesiasticus 3:20). According to Saint Bonaventure,

besides knowing God, we need to know ourselves deeply in order to be humble. In reality, not

everyone feels God’s presence or attracted by Jesus’ examples, but they can experience their

own weakness and inability in many aspects of life. That is why he quotes a saying of Saint

Augustine, “O ye bags of carrion, why do you swell yourselves out so? O ye festers, why are

you puffed up?”

4. Applying Humility in Real Life

As a well-experienced master of spirituality, Saint Bonaventure instructs us the way to

practice true humility.

Firstly, “let patience be the test of your humility for humility is perfected by patience.

Indeed there is no humility without patience.” 21 In any community, all members have to undergo

quite a few difficulties. Anyone who is not patient with neighbors, sooner or later, will suffer

badly. The Serafic Doctor reminds his audience, “In thy humiliation, keep patience” (Eccl 2:4).

Whenever suffering humiliation, we should look up to Christ, the example of true humility, and

21
Ibid., 19.
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be patient because Christ was humiliated even to a most ignominious death. Christ is God, but

he was humiliated to such an extent.

Secondly, the saint advises his audience to “have a humble mind and to walk with a

humble mien. Be humble in your tastes and ways and dress.” 22 With a humble mind, we will

consider others better than us. Walking with a humble mien, we will not provoke angry or

unpleasant feelings in others. Thus, we help to make the community life better. Being humble in

our tastes and ways and dress will help us not only save money but also make our relations with

others more harmonious. The humble can make their community become a place full of peace

and joy.

Lastly, Saint Bonaventure urges his audience to avoid the proud, in this case, the proud

sisters. “Avoid a proud sister as you would avoid a viper. Keep clear of the arrogant nun as

though she were a devil. Look upon the companionship of the proud as something that is a

virulent poison.”23 The saint gives us a clear explanation, “The proud man is unbearable. He is

too loud in dress, pompous in his bearing, stiff-necked, unnaturally harsh of countenance, stern-

eyed, wishful to outstrip his betters, boastful in everything, and devoid of all idea of respect and

proper reverence.” He still emphasizes this shunning attitude towards the proud to the end of the

chapter. Some people may feel surprised at such harsh words Saint Bonaventure used for the

proud. In my opinion, the saint holds that because he does not want the vice of pride to spread

more, polluting other good members in the community. Moreover, facing a severe boycott from

the majority of their community, the proud members may re-examine their life and have a

convenient opportunity to amend themselves.

22
Ibid., 17.

23
Ibid., 21.
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III. EXAMPLES OF HUMILITY

1. Christ Crucified

Jesus Christ is the supreme example for all to follow in the journey of perfection. The

formula that sums up Franciscan spirituality is: "I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal

2:20).24 That is why Saint Bonaventure frequently describes the imitation of Christ. Imitation of

Christ is nothing less than an embrace of Christ’s poverty, humility, and charity. For Saint

Bonaventure, the logic of the cross is the logic of love which is both poor and humble: poor

because the cross manifests the absolute self-emptying of God’s love, humble because the cross

reveals the radical condescension of God’s love. Humility refers to the awareness of sin and to

the grateful acceptance of God’s gifts of creation and grace whereby the true identity of the

human person is regained through conformity with Christ.

2. Our Blessed Lady

We all know that Saint Bonaventure, like Saint Francis of Assisi, his spiritual father, has

an ardent devotion to the Mother of God. In Franciscan spirituality, her place must be next to

Christ, after Him and with Him. She is the Mother of Christ the Head by God's choice and her

own consent. She is also the Mother of His Members. 25 Saint Bonaventure writes some classic

works in praise to her, such as The Mirror of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Psalter of the Virgin

Mary…. In the chapter The Virtue of True Humility, Saint Bonaventure three times calls his

audience “handmaid of God,” and then quotes the words of the Blessed Lady on the day of

Visitation, “God has regarded the humility of His handmaid” (Luke 1:48). It seems that he

wants his audience to admire Our Blessed Lady’s shining example and follow her. The saint

24
Valentin Breton, Franciscan Spirituality, http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/FRANSPIR.txt (accessed 21 Feb
2012).

25
Ibid., 15.
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emphasizes that it is due to her humility that Mary found favor with God. 26 Mary’s humility not

only paves the way for God’s grace for herself, but also for the Incarnated Word, the source of

all graces, for the whole fallen human race. The saint earnestly exhorts the Poor Clares, who

have consecrated themselves to God and observed the profession of virginity like the Mother of

God, to follow her steps in the way of perfection, especially in the virtue of true humility.

3. Saint Francis and Saint Clare

Saint Bonaventure also raises another example of true humility: Saint Francis, the one he

considers as the mirror of holiness and the exemplar of all Gospel perfection. In the

Bonaventuran language, Saint Francis was the image or vestige of Christ on earth, physically

and spiritually.

In the opening part of the chapter, Saint Bonaventure affirms that “Our holy father Saint

Francis possessed this virtue. He considered himself the meanest of men. From his entrance into

religion even unto the end he loved and cherished humility.” 27 Then the Seraphic Doctor

elaborates the exemplary actions of Saint Francis: Humility compelled the Father to leave the

world; humility drove him in beggar’s clothing through the streets of Assisi; humility actuated

him to serve the lepers and made him dare to publicize his sins in preaching; and caused him to

ask others to upbraid him for his wrongdoings.

Saint Bonaventure strongly declares: “You have in Jesus Christ, Our Lord, a humble

Master, Your mistress, Our Blessed Lady, and Queen of us all, was humble,” and then exhorts,

“Be humble because Saint Francis, your Father, was humble. Be humble because Saint Clare,

was a model of humility.” 28 He reminds his audience that they have answered the call of Master

26
Saint Bonaventure, Holiness of Life, 18.

27
Ibid., 10.

28
Ibid., 19.
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Jesus to follow his steps, and they have chosen to take the way of perfection after Saint Francis

and Saint Clare, their founders.

4. The Serafic Doctor Himself

Saint Bonaventure, of course, never considers himself as an example for others to

follow. However, thanks to some hagiographists, we can learn many interesting anecdotes of his

virtuous life that turns out to be an inspiration and impetus for others.

Firstly, Saint Bonaventure knows where he acquires his knowledge, not from himself,

but from Christ crucified. One day, father Thomas Aquinas asked father Bonaventure, “I would

like to see your library from which you obtain such great knowledge.” “All right, just follow

me.” He showed father Thomas a few books in his room, but father Thomas begged to see his

other books. Father Bonaventure then pointed to the Crucifix hanging on the wall, “See Father,

here are all my books, and this is the chief book from which I obtain all that I teach and write.” 29

Secondly, Saint Bonaventure deeply respects his lowly neighbors even though they are not

intelligent and talented as him. Brother Giles, the third companion of Saint Francis at

Assisi, says one day to Saint Bonaventure: “Father, God has shown us great mercy and

bestowed on us many graces. But we who are poor and ignorant idiots, what can we do to

correspond to his immense goodness, and to be saved?” Saint Bonaventure answered: “If God

were to bestow on any one no other talents besides the grace of loving him, this alone suffices,

and is every spiritual treasure.” Brother Giles said: “Can a dull idiot love God as perfectly as a

great scholar.” Saint Bonaventure replied: “A poor old woman may love him more than the

most learned master and doctor in theology.” At this, brother Giles - in a sudden fervor and

jubilation of spirit - went into a garden, standing at a gate towards the city of Rome, and cried

29
Alban Butler (1711–73), The Lives of the Saints. Vol. 7: July 1866.
 15

out with a loud voice, “Come, the poorest, most simple, and most illiterate old woman, love the

Lord our God, and you may attain to a higher degree of eminence and happiness than brother

Bonaventure with all his learning.”30

Thirdly, Saint Bonaventure never exalts himself above others, and he is ready to do

lowly and simple work. Pope Gregory X wants to nominate father Bonaventure the title of

cardinal of Albano, one of the six suffragans of Rome. The Pope adds a precept to him to accept

that double charge without alleging any pretext against it, and immediately to prepare to Rome.

The Pope sends two nuncios to meet him. They eventually find father Bonaventure reposing on

his journey in a convent of his Order at Migel, four leagues from Florence, and he is washing

the dishes. Saint Bonaventure asks them to hang the cardinal hat and other ensigns on the bough

of a tree because he cannot decently receive it in his hands, and let them to walk in the garden

until he finishes his work.31

Finally, living up to Saint Paul’s teaching, Saint Bonaventure considers others to be

better than himself, and this is the real mark of a humble person. In 1264, when Pope Urban IV

decided to extend the Feast of Corpus Christi to the entire church, he asked father Thomas and

father Bonaventure to write some new prayers and hymns for the feast. When both appeared

before the Pope with their finished manuscripts, Bonaventure urged Thomas to read his first.

The Pope and father Bonaventure praise Thomas’ masterpiece. Bonaventure says to the Pope,

“Holy Father, listening to father Thomas, it seemed as if I heard the Holy Spirit speak, for only

the Holy Spirit can inspire such beautiful thoughts. It is out of place for me to compare my poor

30
Saint Bonaventure, Holiness of Life, “Editor’s Introduction,” xxvii.

31
Ibid., xxviii.
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essay with such a perfect masterpiece; and this is all that remains of it!” He then showed his

torn up manuscript to the Pope.32

B. SYNTHESIS (PERSONAL SUMMARY OF THE TEXT)

After reading and carefully analyzing the chapter The Virtue of True Humility, we can

find out many wonderful ideas and traits of Franciscan spirituality and Saint Bonaventure’s

character, and now we can partly understand why he is considered one of the most brilliant

authors not only in the Medieval Times but also in the whole history of the Church.

In the first place, we see that Saint Bonaventure’s writing reflect his character. The saint

of humility talks about the virtue of humility, and he talks to our heart more than to our mind, so

his writings have a magnetic power attracting the heart to a desire of higher things. They

conquer, not by force of eloquent language, but by the persuasive attractiveness of a calm and

beautiful spirit. The transparent humility of a great soul puts to shame all the vanity of our

littleness. His thought glows frequently with mystic splendor, which warms and inspires. In his

writings, we see that Saint Bonaventure often quotes the Bible simply because the Word of God

is the point of departure, like a great river irrigating all of his thoughts. In addition, Saint

Bonaventure often quotes sayings of Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard, the two great doctors

of the Church, to support his arguments. Thus, his theology, based on faith and assisted by

human reason, orders everything back to God in a grand circular dynamic of exit and return,

helping us to have a right vision and right place in the presence of God and others, source of our

peace and our happiness. Here, we can totally agree with the remarks of John Gerson, the most

learned and devout chancellor of Paris, about Saint Bonaventure: “Among all the Catholic

doctors, Bonaventure seems to me the most proper for conveying light to the understanding, and

at the same time warming the heart.”

32
Ibid., xxix.
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Next, we see that even in a short composition like the chapter The Virtue of True

Humility, Saint Bonaventure always mentions Christ crucified. That is the Christocentric

character of the spirituality of Saint Francis of Assisi, the holy founder of the Friars Minor. In all

Saint Bonaventure's works, precisely also his scientific works, his scholarly works, we can find

this Franciscan inspiration; in other words, we can notice that his thought starts with his

encounter with the "Poverello" of Assisi. For Saint Bonaventure, there is no doubt: Saint Francis

of Assisi belongs to the Seraphic Order, to the supreme Order, to the choir of seraphim, namely,

he is a pure flame of love. 33 The spirituality of Saint Francis revolves around his discovery of a

Christ different from what was common at his time. Saint Francis focuses his piety more around

the reality of the humanity of Jesus. In Collations on the Six Days, Saint Bonaventure believes

that “It is necessary to begin with Christ if a person wishes to reach Christian wisdom… Our

intention is to show that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and that

he himself is the central of all knowledge.” We can say that Saint Bonaventure looks at Christ

with the eyes of Saint Francis! Christ is everything for Saint Francis: Christ is his only wisdom

and his life. Christ’s death on the cross is an absolute self-emptying and total self-giving of love.

In the love of the cross, we can share in the mystery of Christ’s loving return to the Father in the

unity of the Spirit. In sum, union with God is through and in union with Christ crucified.34

In addition, through this chapter, we find that in the thoughts of Saint Bonaventure, the

root cause of sin is pride, the turning away from the divine light toward darkness. Pride is an

illicit desire in which the sinner not only rejects God, but also deforms itself as the image of the

Trinity. Pride is ultimately against Jesus who alone shares perfect equality and similitude with

33
L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 24 March 2010, 15.
34
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 492.
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God, and pride will be overcome and replaced by Christ’s humility. Any authentic relationship

with Christ must manifest the humility.35

Next, through carefully reading the chapter The Virtue of True Humility, we find that

Saint Bonaventure’s theology is not only a clear theory with strong arguments, but also has

practical aspects. We can recognize some similarities as well as differences between the

thoughts of Saint Bonaventure and his eminent contemporary theologian, Saint Thomas

Aquinas.36 For both of them, theology is theoretical and practical. Theology is theoretical

because it seeks to know God ever better, and it is practical because it seeks to orient our life to

the good. However, in case of Saint Thomas Aquinas, there is a primacy of knowledge: above

all, we must know God and then continue to act in accordance with God. 37 This primacy of

knowledge in comparison with practice is significant to Saint Thomas’ fundamental orientation.

Saint Bonaventure's answer is very similar but the stress he gives is different. Saint Bonaventure

makes a triple distinction. He extends the alternative between the theoretical (the primacy of

knowledge) and the practical (the primacy of practice), adding a third attitude which he calls

"sapiential" and affirming that wisdom embraces both aspects. Then he continues: wisdom

seeks contemplation (as the highest form of knowledge), and has as its intention "ut boni

fiamus" - that we become good, especially this: to become good. 38 Finally, he concludes: "Faith

is in the intellect, in such a way that it provokes affection. For example: the knowledge that

35
Ibid., 490.

36
Benedict XVI, General Audience, Wednesday, 17 March 2010: “The statues of the two in Saint Peter's Square are
parallel, standing right at the beginning of the colonnade, starting from the facade of the Vatican Basilica, one on the
left wing and the other on the right.”

37
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Ia, q. 1, art. 4.

38
Saint Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Prologus, 5.
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Christ died 'for us' does not remain knowledge but necessarily becomes affection, love. 39

Consequently, Saint Thomas and Saint Bonaventure define the human being's final goal, his

complete happiness in different ways. For Saint Thomas, the supreme end, to which our desire

is directed is to see God. In this simple act of seeing God, all problems are solved satisfactorily:

we are happy, nothing else is necessary. Instead, for Saint Bonaventure, the ultimate destiny of

the human being is to love God, to encounter him and to be united in his and our love. For him,

this is the most satisfactory definition of our happiness. We could also say that the loftiest

category for Saint Thomas is the true, whereas for Saint Bonaventure it is the good. It would be

mistaken to see a contradiction in these two answers. For both of them the true is also the good,

and the good is also the true; to see God is to love and to love is to see. Hence, it was a question

of their different interpretation of a fundamentally shared vision. Both emphases have given

shape to different traditions and different spiritualities and have thus shown the fruitfulness of

the faith: one, in the diversity of its expressions

Last but not least, although written primarily for the sisters of The Poor Clares, Saint

Bonaventure’s treatise on De perfectione vitae ad soroes, especially the chapter The Virtue of

True Humility, strongly appeals to every Catholic heart. Its value as a manual of spiritual

reading, at once elevating, inspiriting and practical, can hardly be overestimated. 40 As long as

the virtue of true humility is highly regarded in the presence of God, the lesson given in the

chapter The Virtue of True Humility by Saint Bonaventure is still valuable and deserves for all

of us to put into practice.

39
Saint Bonaventure, Proemium in I Sent., q. 3.

40
Saint Bonaventure, Holiness of Life, “Foreword” by Archbishop John McIntyre, i.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Benedict XVI. “General Audience, 17 March 2010,” L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in
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Bonaventure. Breviloquium, Prologus, 5.

__________. Holiness of Life – On the Perfection of Life Addressed to Sisters, trans. Laurence
Costello, ed. Wilfrid, London: B. Herder Book Co., 1929, 10.

__________ . Journey of the Mind into God - Prologue. 4 [5:296].

__________. Proemium in I Sent., q. 3.

Breton, Valentin, O.F.M.. Franciscan Spirituality. Available at

http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/FRANSPIR.txt (accessed 21 Feb 2012).

Butler, Alban (1711–73). The Lives of the Saints, Vol. VII: July 1866.

Carpenter, Charles. Theology As the Road to Holiness in St. Bonaventure. New York/Mahwah:
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Cousins, Ewert H.. St. Bonaventure and the Coincidence of Opposites, ch. II. Available at
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Ratzinger, Joseph. The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure, trans. Zachary Hayes, O.F.M.
Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1971, 144-145.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia. “Bonaventure, St.,” ed. C. Marthaler, 2 nd edition. vol. 2.
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