CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX.
Works of St. Bonaventure on the Holy Scriptures.
''Sapientiam omnium antiquorum exquiret sapiens, et in prophetis vacabit."—Ecc es, xxxix. 2.
WE have already considered St. Bonaventure as a theologian, a director of souls, as a mystic writer, a zealous preacher, a sweet poet, and as the invincible defender of the Religious Orders ; we have yet to consider his works as a commentator on the Holy Scriptures.
The chief glory of the Doctors of the Church is that they have penetrated more deeply than other men, into the spirit of the Divine Books which have been given by Heaven to human weakness, to guide and console mankind among the dangers of their exile; and that they have contemplated the truth with more clearness than others, and have communicated its precepts with greater illumination and power to the world.
St.
Bonaventure walked in the footsteps of these
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illustrious men; like them, he studied the Holy Scriptures with indefatigable perseverance, sounding their mysterious depths with pious curiosity, and ever gathering new treasures from their exhaustless store.
With his own hand he twice copied the whole Bible, in order the more firmly to impress on his mind its form of words, and to testify his reverence for the Sacred Book ; and when he explains to' us its celestial secrets, we may in all confidence receive what he says, more especially as the Church has honoured his words with her meed of praise.
The first work of the Saint on this subject was written to prove the excellence of the Scriptures.
He speaks of them as the " river of living water" in the Apocalypse, whose waters, clear as crystal, come from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Of this river he says that its abundance is inexhaustible, its value inappreciable, its beauty inviolable, and its extent without limit and without end.
It is a river that abounds in pleasures, a bright and luminous river, a stream whose impetuosity no obstacle can impede.
It proceeds from the garden which was
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planted by the Hand of God, in order that it may water the paradise of the faithful soul and of the Church Militant, and is divided into four branches, according to the different senses of the divine text.
At the side of this river is the tree of life, bearing twelve different fruits, and this tree is Jesus Christ, Who is the end of both the Old and the New Testament.
St. Bonaventure has left commentaries on the Psalms, on Ecclesiastes, on Wisdom, on the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the Gospel of St.
Luke, that of St. John, an abridgment of that same commentary, an explanation of the Lord's
Prayer, and twenty-one discourses on the work of the Six Days.
He also wrote explanations of other books of Holy Scripture, but these last works were lost before the invention of printing.
His book on the Psalms is a work of immense labour, on which the Saint lavished the riches of his genius and piety.
He loved to meditate, and he exhorted his brethren to meditate, on these divine canticles, because, as he said, in the Psalms, Jesus Christ appeared more perfectly and with more clearness than in the other books of the Old Testament, and also, because
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in them the heart finds expressed a great hope of pardon.
In these explanations, St. Bonaventure had in view the needs of his brothers; he knew that the family confided to his care would be great before God and before men, if piety reigned in it, and hence he endeavoured to provide for their souls a strong and substantial food.
The commentary on St. Luke has always been considered one of the most perfect works of St.
Bonaventure.
It is scripture explained by scripture: all the texts he requires seem to come naturally as he wants them; he invokes the inspired Apostles and writers, and makes them once more give their testimony to the truth.
For the Gospel of St. John, he not only wrote a commentary, but he also wrote on the same
Gospel ninety-one '' Conferences" for the use of the young students of his Order.
In this second work he supplied them with inestimable treasures for their meditations, but, in order to enjoy and appropriate them, they would have, in their turn, to apply themselves to the work of developing the thoughts of their master, and penetrating the hidden meaning of his words. No one knew better than the Saint, what was required by the
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2II mind of youth, and how to proportion his instructions to their needs, and the Franciscan Order, for long years after his death, has experienced the benefits of his discretion in the government of minds and in the direction of souls.
Twenty-three discourses he consecrated to a grave and solemn consideration of the work of creation.
The beginning of all our discourses ought, he says, to be Jesus Christ, because He is the Mediator between God and man.
The end of our discourses ought to be in the fulness of wisdom, and wisdom has its origin in divine grace; while grace comes to us through the Word Incarnate, the Word Crucified, the Word
Inspired.
The object of grace is to cause us to advance in goodness, but it must be used faithfully, courageously, and liberally.
The effect of grace is the remission of sin, the fulness of justice, the consummation of bliss.
Grace which heals us is given in the practice of the seven works of mercy, grace which confirms us in the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, grace which consummates our happiness in the seven
Beatitudes.
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But the Saint was stopped in the middle of this course of instructions, and it was not given him to conclude them.
Of these discourses Bonaventure wrote but seven; the others he delivered verbally to a crowd of men, who hung on his words, and were transported out of themselves as they listened to the utterances of his genius.
A hundred and sixty brothers were present.
Many wrote down carefully the words of the Saint, and it is to one of them that we owe the sixteen last discourses of this immortal work.
St. Bonaventure had laboured incessantly to increase the study of the Holy Scriptures in the Order which he governed, and when the members of the University asked him the reason for this, he replied: 'As the office of preacher and confessor is attached to our Order as a regular part of its work, this office requires a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which sometimes need explanation; and if we are not to teach error for truth, it is necessary that we should give ourselves up to the study of these holy Books, and that we should have masters to instruct us in them.
And such science is not only useful for the instruction of others, but also for our
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own; it teaches a man to govern himself, to discern virtue from vice, to have a clearer knowledge of God and of future rewards, to live with more prudence, and to produce more abundant fruit.
Thus the Apostle exhorted Timothy to give himself to such study ; and we frequently hear praises of the zeal with which the saints have meditated on the Sacred Writings.
It is from the Holy Scriptures that we gain the truth of the faith and holiness of life, without which it is impossible to attain to salvation.
Besides, as heretics have found the source of so many of their errors in the misinterpretation of these Books, it behoves us, by profound and diligent investigation, to fit ourselves to overthrow their subtleties, to arm the faithful against their frauds, and to reveal their hidden snares.
Hence these words of St. Jerome:
'A holy ignorance only serves itself, but, as far as it might edifiy the Church by a good example in its life, so in the same degree it is hurtful to her, if it is unable to oppose those by whom erroneous doctrines are spread '."
CHAPTER XX],
Second Chapter at Pisa—St. Bonaventure nominated to the Cardinalate.
'' Nemo lucernam ascendet, et in abscondito ponit, neque sub modio; sed supra candelabrum, ut qui ingrediuntur lumen videant."—S. LUKE xi. 33.
THE Franciscan Order continued to progress with fervour and fidelity under the direction of St.
Bonaventure.
The Brothers edified the world by their virtues, they sanctified it by their examples, and succeeded in silencing envious tongues.
The good Superior, always vigilant and zealous, watched unceasingly over his beloved family, without allowing himself to succumb under the weight of his ever-increasing labours.
The repose he most valued was that of seeing this almost innumerable family of religious employed in various ministrations all over the world, and perseveringly working for God, without a thought of earth.
Such a happy result
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had not been attained without much cost to him who held the reins of government, but he had never looked for a reward in this life.
St.
Francis of Assisi had only lived in his children, and his successor found in their welfare the crown of his hopes and desires.
But the year 1270 brought many sorrows for the tender heart of Bonaventure.
He had not only to lament the death of Louis IX. and of Bela, King of Hungary, the brother of St. Elizabeth, both of whom were sincere and powerful friends of his Order, but many others of his friends were also removed by death.
Among these was Rufino, who had been one of the best loved companions of St. Francis, and after his decease no fewer than twenty others of the religious passed away from earth; and though these men were to be envied, in that they had exchanged the bitter trials of their exile, for the joys of their blessed country, their Superior and father could not part with them without much tribulation and sorrow of heart.
However, in spite of losses and trials, the Order continued to prosper, as we have seen, and to extend far and wide, till it had embraced
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the whole world.
The houses were multiplied, and they brought the blessing of Heaven on the countries in which they were placed; and wherever opportunities of encountering greater difficulty and suffering presented themselves, there the brothers seemed to be attracted by an irresistible vocation.
Missions to the heathen daily received new workers ; distance counted for nothing, or the difficulties of travelling, or ignorance of the language, or the prospect of innumerable privations, or the thought of a cruel death and the most atrocious tortures: these things only served to increase the ardour of their love.
And not only in the battlefield of infidelity and paganism were these religious to be found, but in the less brilliant conflicts with pain and sickness they took a ready part.
They were to be found in all the hospitals and among the lepers, lavishing their tender cares on the afflicted bodies, while they ministered sweet consolation to the souls, of the poor sufferers.
Among these workers Bonaventure was constantly to be seen, and the same hand which had given so many learned and melodious writings to the Church, was ever ready to dress
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the wounds, and minister to the bodily comfort, of the sick.
It is not surprising that under his wise and fatherly sway, the Order of St. Francis should have become the admiration of the world, or that he himself should have been loved and venerated as a Saint.
In spite of the deep humility of St. Bonaventure, which always induced him to withdraw from any prominent position, he was yet ever ready with wise and prudent counsel, when his advice was asked ; and it was now by his wisdom that the Church was rescued from a position of great difficulty in the choice of an occupant for the Holy See.
The Cardinals assembled at Viterbo had not been able to agree upon a successor to Clement IV., and the interests of the Church were beginning to suffer from the long delay.
The Saint, who was at this time in Viterbo, advised the delegates to give their votes to Theobald, Archdeacon of Liége.
This advice was acted upon, and the nominee of St. Bonaventure was unanimously elected under the title of Gregory X.
Theobald was at St. Jean d'Acre, where he had joined the crusade, when the envoys of the
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Sacred College brought him the news of his elevation to the pontificate, and he could not imagine why the Princes of the Church should have turned their eyes on a poor priest like himself, to raise him to so great dignity ; but he submitted himself to the will of God, and prepared at once to leave the Holy Land, and to proceed to Italy.
On his arrival at Viterbo his first care was for the Holy Land, which was so dear to his heart.
He induced the cities of Pisa, Genoa, Marseilles, and Venice, to send out each three armed galleys, and himself presented nine thousand ounces of gold, to help to defray the expenses of the war.
During this same year, 1272, which saw the beginning of the pontificate of Gregory X.,
Bonaventure, for the second time, held a General Chapter of his Order at Pisa.
He regarded these assemblies as a time of rest, where he met many of his brethren; and, being occupied with the care of all his children, he found the burden of government less heavy when assisted, as he then was, by the counsels and experience of old and wise men, and cheered by their reports of the pro-
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gress of the work of salvation in the different places from which they had come.
At this Chapter, he made a regulation which was well worthy of his love to God and man.
The children of St. Francis had now become numerous as the stars of the firmament, and every day saw their numbers increase.
He could not forget that they had left parents in the world, whom they tenderly loved, and who died without the beloved presence and consolation of their sons.
The Saint, therefore, made a regulation that on the first Sunday in Advent _ every year, a Solemn Service should be celebrated in all the houses of the Order, for the repose of the soul of their parents who had died; and this regulation has ever since remained in force.
St. Bonaventure also, at this same Chapter, made known to his brethren the permission he had received from Pope Gregory X. to celebrate, on the 25th day of August, the anniversary of the death of St. Louis, who had been so kind and faithful a protector to the children of St.
Francis; and thus was taken the first step towards the canonisation of the holy king.
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Some months later, Bonaventure was called on to settle an affair which is only important because it proves his earnest desire to preserve the peace, so strongly enjoined by Francis of Assisi on his sons.
A contest had arisen between the Canons of St. Marie de Blois and the Minors, and the Provincial of Touraine had intervened, and had settled the dispute by ceding to the Canons certain possessions which had been the cause of the litigation.
Bonaventure, as soon as he heard of the matter, wrote to the Canons, to confirm the cession which had been made by the Provincial.
"I have always ardently desired, and I still desire," he said in his letter, "to see all the causes of troubles, as far as possible, disappear in the Lord, which have seemed to give you reason to complain of our brothers at Blois.
I desire that these brothers submit to you in all humility, as is. right ; and as formerly they were united to you by ties of friendship and devotion, I also desire that fraternal love should be maintained between you, without the slightest alteration, so as to preserve that peace of Christ which surpasses all other sentiment.
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"Believe, I pray you, that we consider you as our fathers in the Lord, as our friends and our masters ; that we desire, at all times, to be at peace with you."
But while thus occupied in the cares and interests of his Order, St. Bonaventure was thrown into great alarm by a report which grievously troubled his soul.
The new Pope had come to recognise the aptitude of the Saint for business, his dexterous management of difficult questions, his rare prudence under all circumstances ; and he desired to show his appreciation of the great qualities which he admired in him by raising
-him to the dignity of a Prince of the Church, in order that he might keep him near his person, and profit by his wisdom and prudence for the general good.
As soon as St. Bonaventure heard what was proposed, he fled, hoping so to escape the honour, of which he felt himself to be unworthy, and whose burden of obligations he dreaded to incur.
He went to Paris, where he had formerly spent some years of his life, and for some months he hoped he had been forgotten, while in silence and solitude he devoted himself to his work on the
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Creation.
But Gregory had irrevocably resolved that such a man should not be buried for ever in the obscurity of a cloister, for he too well understood the importance of the services he would undoubtedly render to the Church.
Therefore, about the time of the Feast of Pentecost, the Pontiff. wrote to announce to him that he had raised him to the dignity of © a Cardinal, and had nominated him to the Bishopric of Albano, and insisted on his immediate return.
"Since the day of our elevation," the Pope wrote, "' all our care and the desire of our heart has been to restore peace and serenity in the Church, which, with keen sorrow, we see now to be shaken by tempests.
All our sighs and prayers are employed to entreat of the Heavenly Spouse to gather together the stones of Zion, to beautify them, to arrange them in order, and to build its walls, to found them in justice, and for ever to keep far from it injury and harm, fears and alarms.
Hence, being as much moved by the excellence, as terrified by the responsibility, of our ministry, we do not cease to entreat, by night and day, the God, in Whose interests alone we
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live, to open the eyes of our understanding, to cause His light to shine upon us, so that we may only confide His cause to worthy hands, and may only associate with us in our functions, by means of the Cardinalate, men whose pure and innocent life may be, for all the people of God, as a light that is set on a hill, while for us it is a pledge of divine mercy; men whose teaching and knowledge may remove doubts and strengthen our steps.
This is why, after long and mature deliberation on your account, with our brethren, and in consideration of the rare virtues which show us in part with what riches God has adorned your soul, we have thought that you ought to be raised to the Cardinalate and to the Bishopric of Albano... enjoining you, by these presents, to acquiesce in all humility and submission to the Order which calls you, and to come to us at once, without allowing yourself either excuse or delay."
Such was the formally-expressed will of the Pope; and his well-known firmness prevented
St. Bonaventure from entertaining any hope that he might relent as Clement IV. had done.
He was therefore obliged to resign himself with
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a groan, and to accept this new burden, which he felt to be too great for his strength.
Then ensued for him a moment of great anguish, and being full of fear, he wept and prostrated himself before God, Who is the Consoler of all who are in affliction, entreating Him to increase his strength, his light, and his wisdom ; and when he had become more calm, he assembled his children of the house in Paris, and informed them of the contents of the letter of the Pontiff.
A touching spectacle ensued.
The good Superior, full of grief, seemed to implore their pity, while the religious shed bitter tears.
This elevation involved for them the loss of a tenderlycherished Father, a venerated Doctor, a Master of consummate experience ; and they deplored, as a calamity to their Order, the honours which the merits of their beloved Superior had gained forhim.
They conjured him not to léave them, but to continue to be their Father in the purple, as he had been to this day, in the poor and humble habit of a Minor Friar.
The heart of Bonaventure could not fail to be touched by their appeal, and he consented to
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keep his position of Superior-General of the Order of St. Francis.
The Pope was quite ready to consent to this decision, as he did not wish, while gaining the valuable assistance of so clever a man, to deprive his children in the Order of his fatherly care.
St. Bonaventure started for Italy, however, with a heavy heart.
At each of the Franciscan houses which he encountered on his journey, he was received with the same evidences of affection, and everywhere he left an example of deep humility and renunciation of self.
He eagerly betook himself to the humblest work, as in the days of his novitiate, and seemed as if he could not sufficiently humiliate himself, in order to atone, by these acts of self-abnegation, for the honours which he looked upon as so dangerous to his soul.
Meanwhile Gregory X. had sent two legates to meet him and to present him with the Cardinal's hat.
They met him at the little convent of Migel, near Florence.
When they arrived the Saint was occupied in washing the dishes after the manner of the Community, and he refused to interrupt his occupation in order to ,
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receive them; but he ordered the hat to be hung up on a tree in the garden, which he pointed out.
When he had finished his work he assembled his brethren, and said to them, with much sorrow: "I have fulfilled my duty as a Minor Friar; I am about to try an employment which is very much more difficult.
Believe me, my brothers, the first of these two offices is much the more salutary and more safe, for great honours are heavy and dangerous cares."
When he had spoken these words, he went to the envoys of the Pontiff, and welcomed them with the sweet amiability which always characterised him, even among the most serious troubles and pain.
The Pope himself started from Orvieto, and came to Florence in his desire to enjoy the society of the Saint; and he would not allow anyone else to perform the ceremony of his consecration.
He himself called down on the new Bishop the benediction of Heaven, touched his forehead with the holy oil, and received his confession of faith.
It was a joyful occasion for the Pope, and his heart was filled with hopes for the future, while he blessed the Lord Who had
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guided him to choose so good a man.
Alas! he little knew how short a time the Saint would possess the new honours just conferred on him: in less than a year death was to remove him from all earthly dignities, but yet how much was he to accomplish for the Church in that brief time !
The Cardinals shared the joy of their venerated Pontiff.
Bonaventure alone was sad and full of fear; he alone did not share the happiness which filled all hearts but his.
At this solemn time he spoke only by sighs and supplications, but heavenly grace descended all the more abundantly upon his soul, because the sense of his own unworthiness was so great.
St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of his Order, had judged himself to be unworthy of the priesthood at the time when the voice of Heaven and of the whole world declared him to be the most holy of men.
St. Bonaventure, partaking of the spirit of his father, had bitterly lamented his elevation to the rank of Superior-General of his Order, and now he was plunged into the deepest sorrow, because the Church had proclaimed her sense of the merit of his learning and his virtue.
All that was
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passing around him seemed to him as a dream, and he asked himself again and again, what the world could possibly see to admire in a poor religious like himself.
Happy, indeed, is the family in which such men as he deny themselves and sacrifice themselves, without imagining that their self-abnegation is anything sublime!
Heaven has crowned it with benedictions, and its fruits have been fruits of life and salvation to the earth.
CuHaPTER XXII.
Death of St. Thomas of Aquin—Tllness of St.
Bonaventure—Fiis Death.
"In medio Ecclesiz aperuit os ejus, et implevit eum Dominus spiritu sapientiz et intellectus."— EccLEs,
XV. 5.
Grecory X., when he had raised St. Bonaventure to this dignity, wished immediately to make known to the world the rare gifts of him whom he had chosen.
A Council had been convoked at Lyons to consider and to provide for the needs of the Holy Land, and to consummate the union of the Greeks with the Church, and the active efforts of the Pope were well seconded by his ministers.
From the commencement of his pontificate he had requested both the Franciscans and Dominicans to continue to preach in favour of the Crusade, as they had begun to do under St. Louis, and they readily responded to the desire of the Pontiff.
Bona-
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venture had received an order to go to Lyons, and Gregory told him all that the Church expected from him on that occasion.
Among the favoured personages who were summoned to the Council was St. Thomas of Aquin, the prince of theologians.
Honours and dignities had tried to draw him away from the ecstasies of contemplation, but the will of the Pontiff was not so imperious for him as for Bonaventure.
God granted the prayer of Thomas; he died a simple religious, and he had no earthly glory, except that of his genius and his holy life.
The Pope had summoned him to Lyons, and he accordingly had left Naples, where he had resided for many years, carrying nothing with him but the treatise which he had formerly written against the Greeks, at the request of Urban IV.
This was at the end of January, 1274.
St. Thomas fell ill on his way, and was obliged to stop at the Convent of Fossanuova, in the Diocese of Tenacisco.
As he entered the convent he pronounced these words of the Psalmist: 'Here shall be my rest for ever".
.The religious surrounded him with the tenderest cares.
The Abbot gave up his room to him, and lavished on
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him the most delicate attentions.
But all their efforts were in vain, for the time had come when St. Thomas was to enjoy the sight of Him, the thought of whom melted his heart in love.
Before his departure from Naples, he had seen in a dream, a brother of his Order who had lately died, and he had asked him whether the vision of God was what books had described it to be.
"We see Him in a far more noble manner," the religious had answered, "and you will soon know it for yourself."
St. Thomas remained for a month ill at Fossanuova.
His longing for the celestial country increased every day, and the end did not come as quickly as he hoped.
When the Holy Viaticum was brought to him, he insisted on being laid on ashes, in order to receive Jesus Christ with more respect.
At the sight of the Sacred Host he exclaimed: ''I believe firmly that Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, is in this august
_ Sacrament.
I adore Thee, O my God and my Saviour!
I receive Thee, O Thou Who art the price of my redemption, and the viaticum of my pilgrimage!
Thou, for love of Whom I have studied, laboured, preached, and taught!
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hope that I have taught nothing that is contrary to Thy Divine Word, or, if, through ignorance, I have done so, I now publicly retract it, and I submit all my writings to the judgment of the Holy Roman Church."
He was often heard to repeat: 'Soon, soon the God of all consolation will put the crown to His mercies, and will fulfil all my desires.
Soon I shall be satisfied in Him, and I shall drink of the torrent of His delights.
He will fill me with the abundance of His house, and will make me contemplate the true
Light in His Presence, Who is the Source of Life."
Those who watched by the Saint were bathed in tears, but he consoled them by assuring them
_ that for him death was a gain.
P. Renaud, his travelling companion and his confessor, having expressed a regret that he should not be at the Council to see the triumph won over the enemies of the Church, he answered:
''T have always asked God, as a rare favour, to let me die as a simple religious, and I thank Him now for His goodness in granting my request.
In calling me to rest, in ny early age, He has shown a favour to me which He has refused to many of His
ST. AlwcRTS COLLEGE LIBRARY
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servants.
Do not mourn, then, over the fate of a man who is full of joy."
He expressed his gratitude to the Abbot and religious of the Monastery for all the acts of charity they had performed in his behalf, and then—in answer to a brother who had inquired
'what he ought to do in order to remain always faithful to grace—he said:
'' Whoever continues in the presence of God will be always ready to 'render an account of his actions to Him, and will never risk the loss of His love by consenting to sin".
These were the last words of the Saint.
Soon after he had uttered them, he quietly slept in the Lord, on 7th March, 1274, being then only forty-eight years of age.
When the news of his death reached Lyons, it caused the most intense grief.
Everyone deplored the loss of so celebrated a man.
Bonaventure, above all, was filled with grief; for he had hoped, at Lyons, to have met and embraced the great Doctor once more, and to have profited by his counsels at so solemn an epoch of his life.
More than ever he felt his own nothingness, and acknowledged himself to be an unprofitable servant, as he saw that brilliant torch ex-
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tinguished at the very moment when its light promised to illuminate the world.
Meanwhile, the Bishops and Prelates of every Order, and the Deputies of a great number of Princes, assembled at Lyons, in reply to the invitation of Gregory X., and so imposing a gathering had never before been seen in the Church.
More than five hundred Bishops met there, seventy Abbots, and a thousand Prelates of every Order.
The Pope, who had arrived some months before, with Bonaventure, had been actively occupied in preparing for this huge assembly, which was opened on May 7, in the Metropolitan Church of St. Jean.
It had been preceded by a fast of three days.
Before the time of Mass, the Pope descended from his apartments, conducted by two Cardinal-Deacons, and seated himself on an arm-chair in the choir.
After having been attired in his pontifical robes, as if he had been about to celebrate the Mass, he advanced towards the Throne, and sat on it, having a Cardinal for Priest-Assistant, one for Deacon, and four other Cardinal-Deacons. James, King of Arragon, sat next the Pope on the same seat.
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In the middle of the Church raised seats had been placed, and there were to be seen the two
Latin Patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch, the Cardinal-Bishops, of whom Bonaventure was one, the Cardinal-Priests, the Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, and other Prelates, the Master of the Hospital, and the Master of the Templars, with some Brothers of their Orders, the Ambassadors of the Kings of France,
Germany, England, and Sicily and many other Princes, the Deputies of the Chapters and Churches.
Everything passed with admirable order at this first session, in spite of the great number of people.
'The Pope made the sign of the Cross over the Prelates who were placed in front of him.
The prayers chosen for the celebration of the Council were said, and then Gregory addressed the assembly, taking for his text the words of the Lord Jesus—'" With desire, I have desired to eat this Pasch with you" (St. Luke xxii. 15). He explained the motives of this general convocation of Christianity, namely, the succour of the Holy
Land, the reunion of the Greeks, and the reformation of manners.
Finally, he fixed the
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second session for the following Monday.
In the interval, the Pontiff had private interviews with the Archbishop, joined with a Bishop and an Abbot, for each province.
He opened his heart to them, and asked them to come to the help of the Holy Land, which was the object of his predilection; he spoke to them of its tribulations, which he himself had witnessed, the dangers to which it was daily exposed by the fury of the infidels, and he succeeded in obtaining a tenth of the ecclesiastical revenues for six years, to be employed to succour the faithful in the East.
The second session was held on the appointed day, and the Pope again spoke on the same subjects as before.
After this the Constitutions regarding the Faith werepublished.
The Deputies of the Chapters, the Abbots, and the unmitred Princes were then dismissed, and the third session of the Council was fixed for 28th
May. The first point of the Council, for which it was important that so many should meet, was settled, and, as the city of Lyons was hardly able to contain this multitude of Prelates, with their suites, the Pope only detained for the third
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session those men whose rank in the Church gave them a claim to be heard in Council, or whose brilliant talents were likely to be of special use to the assembly.
The greater part of all the work fell on St.
Bonaventure.
The Pope had appointed him President of the Council, and his daily experience convinced him that the fame of the new Cardinal fell short of his real claims to confidence and esteem.
Butall these added cares and responsibilities did not combine well with the government of the Franciscan Order, and it became every day more difficult for the Superior to fulfil its duties with those which the Cardinalate imposed on him.
Therefore he spoke to Pope Gregory, and told him that he contemplated the resignation to other hands of the care of his beloved family. The Pope gave his consent, and, on the zoth May, St. Bonaventure held a General Chapter of the Order.
There he represented to his brothers the impossibility of his directing them properly under his present circumstances, as the spirit of their Institution required; he pleaded the innumerable labours which his new position
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imposed on him, the will of the Sovereign Pontiff, the danger to the Order of losing its fervour under a Superior whose mind was distracted by other affairs.
He therefore invited them to elect a new guide who should be better able to care for their needs.
On his part, though he placed in their hands the government which he had held for eighteen years, he should not less continue to be the child of St. Francis and their brother.
This proposal was received with great sadness, for, at that moment, the thoughts of all were full of the merit and virtue of this great man.
His pure and holy life since his entrance into religion, his wisdom, his affectionate charity, his rare prudence, his indefatigable labours since his elevation to the Generalship—all these virtues which had made him appear to them like a new
Francis, seemed to them, at this moment, to shine more brightly than ever, and now the Order was to be deprived of its incomparable
Father!
But it was impossible to hesitate about an act imposed by duty, and approved by a Pontiff, whose virtue equalled that of Gregory.
The Chapter, therefore, consented to choose
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another Superior-General, and their choice fell on Jerome d'Ascoli, who was at that time in Constantinople ; and about the same time that he was being elected to this new dignity, he wrote to inform the Pope that he had succeeded in his mission, and that ambassadors were to be sent from Constantinople to Lyons.
The third session took place on 7th June.
The Archbishop of Lyons preached on these words of Isaiah:
"Lift thine eyes around, O Jerusalem, and look ; all these gather themselves together and come from far" (Isa. Ix. 5).
This _ session of the Council was occupied with the reform of manners, and it published constitututions on the election of bishops and the ordination of clerks.
Then they retired without settling the time of the fourth session, because they wished to wait for the arrival of the Greeks.
During the interval between this session and the next one, a historical event occurred in which Bonaventure took an active part.
Rodolph of Hapsburg, who had been elected king of the Romans in the preceding year, had sent an ambassador to the Council, to
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swear in his name obedience to the Pope, and fidelity to the Roman Church.
Gregory, by the advice of the Cardinals, received the allegiance of Rodolph as king of the Romans, on 6th June,
1274.
Meanwhile the long-expected Greek deputies arrived on the day of the Festival of St. John the Baptist, and their arrival caused great joy.
The Sovereign Pontiff received them standing, accompanied by Cardinals and Prelates, and gave them the kiss of peace.
They presented him with letters from their master, sealed with a gold seal, and those of the thirty-eight Bishops who had consented to the reunion; and they declared that they had come to render unreserved obedience to the Roman Church, to profess its faith, and to recognise those points which had been controverted by the Greeks— z.¢., the Primacy of the Pope, the insertion of his name in'the prayers, and the appeal to the Holy See.
The Emperor Palzeologus, in this letter, said, among other things:
''We believe that the Holy Spirit is truly God, and that He proceeds from the Father and the Son.
. The
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Holy Roman Church possesses the full and supreme primacy and the principality of the whole Catholic Church.
She has received this principality from the Saviour Himself in the person of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, of whom the Roman Pontiff is the successor.
All questions about the faith ought to be decided by his judgment.
. To this Church should be referred all ecclesiastical causes; and to it the chiefs of all the Churches owe obedience and respect.
We know to be true, holy, Catholic, and orthodox, we accept and confess with heart and mouth, the faith which is kept and faithfully taught, and preached, by the Holy
Roman Church.
We promise to keep inviolably this profession, to persevere in it at all times, and never to forsake it in any way, or to entertain any sentiments but those which are held by her... ."
The letter of the bishops also recognised the position of the Pope as the first and Supreme
Pontiff of all the Churches, and promised to acknowledge no other than he.
It mentions the efforts that had been made by the signataries to bring the other bishops to sign it, and
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the difficulties which they had brought forward as a reason for refusing to do so.
The contents of these despatches caused great joy to Gregory X., and he charged St. Bonaventure to confer with the Greeks on several points connected with the abjuration of their schism. As soon as the Eastern ambassadors and bishops came in contact with the Saint, they were subjugated at once, and consented to all that he demanded of them.
The Pope, to commemorate this happy event, himself celebrated the Mass on the Festival of St. Peter and St.
Paul, on which occasion the Epistle and Gospel were chanted both in Latin and in Greek. Bonaventure, although attacked with illness, mounted the pulpit and spoke in praise of the teaching of the Roman Church, which he so dearly loved and enlarged on the advantages of this union with the Greeks, a union that had been so long desired, and so eagerly pursued, and which now seemed to be on the eve of being accomplished.
After the sermon the Creed was sung, first in Latin, and then the Greek Patriarch Germain chanted it in Greek, accompanied by the Greek
Archbishops and two Religious, one Dominican
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and one Franciscan, who were well versed in that language.
The clause, ' Who proceedeth from the Father and from the Son," was repeated three times, slowly and piously; and then the Pope continued the Holy Sacrifice in presence of all who had assembled on this solemn occasion to praise and bless God.
On 4th July the city of Lyons was the scene of another most impressive spectacle.
This was the arrival of sixteen deputies from Tartary, sent to the Pope by the Khan Abaqu, to form an alliance against the Turks.
The Pope and all the assembly received this embassy with ineffable joy, which St. Bonaventure shared in a very high degree.
How gladly would he have sacrificed all that remained to him of life, in order to bring into the bosom of the Church those nations who were still in the darkness of infidelity ; and he lovingly contemplated the Religious who came from the farthest extremities of the earth with these foreign ambassadors as angels who had been employed to lead these barbarians to the centre of the Catholic world !
The fourth session of the Council was held on 6th July.
There were read the letters from
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the Emperor and the Bishops, of which mention has been made, and afterwards Georges Acropolite, Grand Chancellor of the Emperor Palzologus, pronounced, in the name of his sovereign, the oath of abjuration in these terms: "I abjure the schism for my master and for me; I believe in my heart, and I profess with my mouth, the Catholic, Orthodox, and Roman faith, which has just been read; I promise to follow it for ever, and never to forsake it.
I recognise the Primacy of the Church of Rome, and the obedience which is due to her.
I confirm all by my oath, on the soul of my sovereign and of my own."
The Bishops also made a like profession.
Then the Pope intoned the Ze Deum, and shed tears of joy.
The union so much desired was accomplished, and the great longing of the Pontiff was fulfilled.
After the song of thanksgiving was ended, he addressed some words to the assembly, on the happy event of the day.
The Creed was then sung in Latin and in Greek, and the passage was repeated twice in which the Holy Ghost is declared to proceed from the Father and the Son.
A short time after the
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Pope wrote himself to the Greek Emperor to express to him the happiness of the Holy Church in the return of her children to the house of their mother.
"O my son," the venerable Pontiff wrote, " if only it had been given you to contemplate the transports of joy with which your return is welcomed by the Church!
Oh! if you had heard with your ears the sound of the holy canticles, in which all, and principally the Prelates, praised God, prostrate on the earth, with uncovered heads; if you had seen their tears, you would have recognised in these tears the signs of a grief which is ended, and a joy which is to come.
You would then have understood how joyful for us was the arrival of your ambassadors, how gladly we received them, and, above all, what rejoicing was caused to all hearts by their profession of faith.
Then, O my son, leap for joy, and rejoice in Him who is the splendour of eternal light, the emanation of the divine glory, in Him whose light has shone on your spirit, and who has judged you to be worthy, not only to return to the truth, but also to be the chief and guide of others to bring
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them to such a return.
Rejoice, then, and be glad, now that you see that your efforts have been crowned by so brilliant a success.
. ."
But at the time that the Pope was writing these words, and shedding tears of joy at the fulfilment of his hopes, other tears of bitter sadness were very near his eyes, for at this time he who was truly the man after his heart, the glory of the Council and of the Church—Bonaventure—was dead, and it only remains for us now to relate the manner of his death.
On the day after the fourth session, the Saint was attacked by severe illness, and he did not again appear at the Council.
He soon came to understand the gravity of his state, but it did not disturb his mind.
For a long time he had looked death in the face, with a calm and steadfast mind, for his years had been passed more in meditation on the sufferings of Christ, and the joys of Heaven, than in the things of earth.
Like St. Bernard, in the midst of the most absorbing occupations he never lost sight of the Presence of God, and now he was reaping the fruit of these holy meditations.
The days of his sickness were days of prayer and of sacred retreat,
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days of repose, in which, in his solitude, he could leave his spirit'free to rise to thoughts of Heaven.
"There," he said, " we shall see Him Who is blessed in all ages, we shall love Him, we shall converse with Him, we shall praise Him during all eternity.
There God will be the abundance of peace to our will, the crown of light to our reason, and eternal perseverance to our memory.
He will be our all in all, when all error shall have been removed from our reason, all sorrow from our will, all fear from our memory, and when we shall possess that which we have hoped for: admirable serenity, divine gladness, eternal salvation.
There we shall have a Brother whose sonship is most glorious, whose riches are infinite, whose charity is boundless, whose tenderness is ineffable ; a Brother in all things like ourselves, but of inexhaustible kindness, wisdom, and goodness, a Spouse of incomparable beauty, of unspeakable sweetness, of immeasurable love.
There we shall enter into the joy of our Master.
I will rejoice and be full of gladness in my Lord.
I will give Him thanks for His immense benefits to me.
My lips shall be full of joy
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when I sing His praises, and so will my soul, that He has so gloriously redeemed, at the price of Himself.
Praise thou the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise thy God, O Sion!
Let the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that lives, celebrate His praise.
Henceforth let us sing Alleluia! in all the places of Jerusalem.
Praise thou the Lord, O my soul!
Yes, I will praise my God during my life, and I desire that all creatures, with me, shall praise Him."
But while the Saint thus made of his sick-bed, a sanctuary of supplication and praise, the whole city was filled with consternation and dismay.
The Fathers of the Council trembled for fear of losing him, and the anxiety and sorrow of Pope
Gregory knew no bounds.
There was a house of the Franciscan Order at Lyons, and many Religious of the Order had assembled there in consequence of the Council.
Jerome d'Ascoli, their new Superior-General, had come there with the Greeks, and some of their missionary brothers had accompanied the Tartar embassy.
There were also among the Bishops many who were children of St. Francis.
All were now filled with anxiety and sorrow, for
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in the holy Cardinal who now lay on his deathbed, they were to lose a Father whose tenderness they had experienced, and one who had been the faithful protector of their Order—its rampart and its shield.
Therefore, it was only natural that his devoted children should be in deep affliction, while they prayed and besought the God of Heaven, to be propitious to their supplications.
But the sickness continued to incréase, and soon the news spread that St. Bonaventure was near his end.
Then the Pope announced that he would himself confer on the Saint the last consolations of religion.
His Holiness had consecrated him as a Bishop, and he wished now to give him one last evidence of his paternal love.
He, therefore, came in person to anoint him with the holy oil, and to encourage him in this last supreme crisis of a laborious life, which had been entirely consecrated to the glory of the Church.
The condition of the sick man did not, unfortunately, permit of his receiving the Holy Viaticum.
This caused him much affliction ; but, being full of resignation and love, he patiently submitted to the will of God, only requesting that the Divine Host might be laid on his breast,
Toe
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so that he might once more experience the ineffable emanations of divinity hidden in this august Sacrament.
The great mercy of God, however, gave to His servant more than he had dared to hope for, for, by a miracle, the Saint was enabled to receive the Most Holy Eucharist, and he was thenceforth overwhelmed with joy.
He burst into fervent thanksgiving, and praise, and tender sighs of love, which never ceased till his soul parted from his body, and went to continue in Heaven, the canticle of praise, which, in gratitude for the wonders of divine charity, it had begun on earth.
St. Bonaventure died on Sunday, 15th July, 1274, not having yet completed his fifty-third year.
His funeral took place the same evening in the Church of the Franciscans.
The Pope Gregory X., and all the Sacred College, were present at it, the five hundred Bishops of the Council, the Abbots and Prelates of every Order, and the entire city of Lyons, so that the Church could not contain the multitude who desired to gather round the coffin of the Saint.
After the sacred chants were ended, the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, a friend of St. Bonaventure, ascended the f
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pulpit to pronounce the funeral oration. He took for his text these words: "I weep for you, Jonathan, my brother" (2 Kings i.26). Love made him~ eloquent, as in this discourse, with a voice half stifled with emotion, he enlarged on the empire which the Saint had held over all hearts, the graces which God had lavished on him, the singular prerogatives with which He had enriched him, and the virtues with which He had adorned his soul.
The assembled multitude responded to his words by their sobs, especially at the moment when—in fervent lamentation over the death of the Saint
—he exclaimed that he knew no one in the Church of God who could be compared with him, or who could occupy his place.
On the day after the funeral, the fifth session of the Council was held, and after the business of the meeting had been concluded, Pope Gregory spoke of St. Bonaventure, and endeavoured to console his own grief by calling on the Bishops to share it.
He spoke in touching accents of "this inestimable man, this faithful counsellor, this invaluable assistant," and added that though he believed him to be now
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in possession of glory, he requested the Bishops and Priests who were present to say a Mass for the repose of his soul, and another for all those who should have died during the Council, or in coming to it.
Among these was St. Thomas of Aquin, the other great light 'of the Church, whom the Pope desired now to reunite, in tender commemoration, to his illustrious friend.
Alas!
Gregory X. himself, the great and holy Pontiff, was soon to join those whom he so loved and honoured, in the better life.
He also was soon to leave the earth, and with him ended one of the grandest periods of the history of the Church— the age of St. Louis, of St. Bonaventure, and of St. Thomas of Aquin.
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