It's the Feast of
St. Bonaventure,
3rd Class, with the color of
White. In this episode: the meditation: "The Difficulty of Obedience", today's news from the Church: "The Oblates and the Episcopal Consecrations", a preview of this week's episode of The SSPX Podcast: "Audiobook: Chapter 7: The Battle of Mortain", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- "The Difficulty of Obedience" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
- "The Oblates and the Episcopal Consecrations" (FSSPX.news)
- The SSPX Podcast: "Audiobook: Chapter 7: The Battle of Mortain" (SSPX Podcast)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook!
Saint Bonaventure is sometimes called the "Seraphic Doctor," but if you had met him, you probably would have remembered him first for his humility.
He was born around 1221 in central Italy and given the name Giovanni di Fidanza. According to a long-standing tradition, he became seriously ill as a small child, and his mother brought him to Francis of Assisi, asking the saint to pray for him. After the boy recovered, Francis is said to have exclaimed, "O buona ventura!" "What good fortune!" Whether the story is exact history or a cherished tradition, it gave rise to the name by which the world would know him: Bonaventure.
As a young man, Bonaventure studied at the University of Paris, one of the greatest centers of learning in Europe. There he quickly gained a reputation as a brilliant theologian. Yet unlike some scholars who delighted in winning arguments, Bonaventure believed that learning should always lead a person closer to God. He once wrote that no amount of study could replace prayer and holiness.
His career could have been spent comfortably in the lecture hall.
Instead, he accepted one of the most difficult jobs in the Church.
The Franciscan Order had grown at an astonishing pace after the death of Saint Francis. Thousands of friars had entered, and disagreements were beginning to appear over how faithfully they should follow Francis's ideals of poverty and simplicity. At only thirty-five years old, Bonaventure was elected Minister General of the entire order.
Imagine being asked to lead an organization that had expanded across Europe almost overnight.
Bonaventure brought unity where division was beginning to grow. He traveled constantly, visited friaries, encouraged the brothers, and helped preserve the spirit of Saint Francis while giving the order the stability it needed to flourish. It was Bonaventure who wrote the official biography of Saint Francis, a work that shaped how generations of Catholics would come to know the beloved saint of Assisi.
He never stopped writing.
His books explored theology, Scripture, and the spiritual life, but they always retained a warmth that reflected his conviction that the goal of theology was not simply to know about God, but to know God Himself.
Later, Pope Gregory X named Bonaventure a cardinal and asked him to help prepare for the Second Council of Lyons. According to one charming tradition, when the pope's messengers arrived to present him with the cardinal's red hat, they found Bonaventure washing dishes. He asked them to hang the hat on a nearby tree until he had finished his work.
Whether every detail of that story is historical or not, it perfectly captures the man generations have remembered.
Visitors to the Franciscan sites of Italy still encounter his legacy everywhere, from Assisi to Paris, where his writings continue to shape students of theology around the world.
Saint Bonaventure, Seraphic Doctor and lover of divine wisdom, pray for us.
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The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
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The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it.
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