Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order

Introduction

Introduction Bonaventure as General Minister In February of 1257, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, for the previous three years regent master of the general study house of the Friars Minor at the University of Paris, was unanimously elected general minister of his 30,000 member brotherhood, spread throughout Western Christendom. He would occupy that position for the next seventeen years, finally handing over the reigns of government at a general chapter of the Order held in conjunction with the Second Council of Lyons in May, 1274.1 This was by far the longest tenure of any Franciscan general minister in the thirteenth century, an era when that office was constitutionally much more powerful than i t would become in the future. When one adds to this a strong character and a powerful intellect, it meant that Bonaventure had the opportunity to stamp the Franciscan Order with his own personality in a way that virtually no other leader in its history would enjoy. His Order was young, not quite fifty years old, at the time of his election, and still in the midst of a period of expansion and institutional formation. Within this relatively brief lifetime, the Lesser Brothers of Francis of Assisi had been dramatically transformed from a group of itinerant, socially marginal laborers, hermits, and preachers, mostly laymen, to a vast international organization dominated by clerics, involved in numerous and virtually indispensable pastoral activities in the church. But strangely enough, a truly accurate appreciation and understanding of Bonaventure's role as general minister of the Order has been difficult to attain.2 There are several reasons that account 1There are very few dates in Bonaventure's life known with certitude: these are two of them. For the most commonly accepted chronology, see Jacques G. Bougerol, Introduction to the Works of Bonaventure, trans. José de Vinck (Paterson, N. J.: St. Anthony's Guild Press, 1964), pp. 171-77. Bougerol revised this slightly in light of later research in S. Bonaventura 1274-1974 [hereafter SB] 5 vols. (Grottaferrata: Collegio S. Bonaventura, 1974), 1: 9-16. 2Other than the treatments in the histories which will be discussed below, there are very few studies on Bonaventure's activities as general minister in English. Noteworthy among these are Rosalind B. Brooke, "St. Bonaventure as Minister General," S. Bonaventura francescano, Convegni del Centro di Studi sulla spiritualità medievale 14 (Todi, 1974), pp. 77-105; and Raoul Manselli, "St. Bonaventure and the Clericalization of the Friars Minor," Greyfriars Review 4 (1990): 83-98. As for studies in other languages, the 2 / Dominic Monti, O.F.M. for this. First of all, precisely because the Friars Minor were still deeply engaged in a process of institutional self-definition during his administration,3 it has been hard for later generations to evaluate his own contribution to this process without prejudice. For within a few years after his death, a vocal minority party, the "Spirituals," began expressing vehement disagreement with the directions their Order was taking.4 For them, Bonaventure increasingly appeared as a villain, albeit a devout one, who had betrayed Francis's ideals. Under the guise of moderation, he had permitted laxist tendencies to grow up which led the Order down a self-destructive path. From their vantage point, looking back at Franciscan history after long years of agonizing struggle, Bonaventure provided a striking contrast to his zealous predecessor, John of Parma, whom they idealized as the champion of the brotherhood's primitive charism. This retelling of Franciscan history in Spiritual circles was captured in a powerful vision which became part of later Franciscan mythology: At about the beginning of the ministry of Brother John of Parma, Brother John of Massa was rapt in ecstasy, in which God revealed to him the future of the Order. He saw a certain high and beautiful tree with spreading branches: at the very top was John of Parma, and grouped around him, on all the branches according to their provinces, were all the brothers of the Order. After this he saw Christ give to St. Francis a chalice full of the spirit of life, telling him to offer it to each of his brothers. John of Parma drank of it deeply and devoutly, becoming bright and luminous as the sun. But only a few of the other brothers followed his example. Some even pushed most thorough treatment of Bonaventure's generalate is still that of Gratien de Paris, Histoire de la fondation et de l'évolution de l'Ordre des frères...