The Journey of the Soul into God: Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Chapter One

101 St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium mentis in Deum Chapter One Subtitle: Incipit speculatio pauperis in deserto, Here begins the speculation of the poor in the desert. The distinctly Franciscan flavor as well as the mystical connotation of the subtitle should be noted.The“poor man”is not the Franciscan vowed to poverty but especially the man in need of union with God, the beggar in the spirit who finds himself in the desert far from his Father and from his eternal home. The term “desert” occurs again in VII, 2, butintheoppositemeaning–adesertwherethehiddenmanna, that is, the mystical union, is found and tasted. 1 Attention should be called to the fact, as Gilson has noted (Les idées et les lettres, Paris, J. Vrin, 1932), that the Itinerarium is cast in the form of a medieval sermon, at least the first part of Chapter I. It opens with the Prothema: Beatus vir…, the function of which is to exhort to prayer and to lead to the main thema: Deduc me....The thema is then broken down into the three main parts of the Itinerarium. 2 In this paragraph the general form of the Itinerarium takes shape. It may be outlined as follows: Psalm text Our movement In reference to us Objects to be led more through the outside of us bodily and in the way vestiges temporal to enter enter into the mind inside us spiritual and into truth (image) aeviternal to rejoice in the pass beyond to the above us most spiritual knowledge of God eternal and eternal in awe before God’s majesty 3 For the analogy of creatures to God, cf. Etienne Gilson, The Philosophy of Saint Bonaventure, Translated by Dom Illtyd Trethowan and Frank J. Sheed (Paterson, NJ: St. Anthony Guild 102 St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium mentis in Deum Press, 1965) 185-214. Cf. also the explanation given by Saint Bonaventure himself in I Sent., 3 (I, 66–94) and II Sent., 16 (II, 393–408). He summarizes the doctrine as follows: Ex praedictis autem colligi potest, quod creatura mundi est quasi quidam liber, in quo relucet, repraesentatur et legitur Trinitas fabricatrix secundum triplicem gradum expressionis, scilicet per modum vestigii, imaginis, et similitudinis; ita quod ratio vestigii reperitur in omnibus creaturis, ratio imaginis in solis intellectualibus seu spiritibus rationalibus, ratio similitudinis in solis deiformibus; ex quibus quasi per quosdam scalares gradus intellectus humanus natus est gradatim ascendere in summum principium, quod est Deus(Fromwhathasbeensaid,wemayconcludethatthecreated world is, as it were, a book that reflects, represents, and describes its Maker, the Trinity, at three levels of expression; namely, as a vestige, as an image, and as a likeness.The quality of the vestige is found in all creatures, the character of the image is found only in the intellectual creatures or in the rational spirits; and the character of likeness is found only in those who are conformed to God.Through these successive grades, which are like steps on a ladder, the human intellect is designed to ascend gradually to the supreme Principle, which is God). – Breviloquium, II, 12 (V, 230). The scheme at the end of this note may help to clarify this doctrine. As the schema demonstrates, every creature is a vestige by the fact that its creation expresses in a remote but distinct manner God’s power, wisdom, and goodness, attributes which are appropriated to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Every spiritual creature – rational souls and angels – is an image of the BlessedTrinity,andbythefactthatithasGodasitsmovingobject and is therefore capable of possessing God in knowledge and love,itexpressesinacloseanddistinctlikenessthethreePersons of the Blessed Trinity. Every spiritual creature which is sanctified bygraceisasimilitudeofGodbecauseitismadedeiformthrough God’s indwelling and hence resembles God most closely. Saint Bonaventure deals with the vestiges of God in chapters I and II of the Itinerarium, with the images of God in chapter III, and with 103 St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium mentis in Deum the similitudes of God in chapter IV. Analogy to God as whose attributes the creatures resemble in various degrees vestige/ Creator attributes all creatures distant but trace appropriated distinctly to the Three Persons image moving attributes proper every close and object to the Three spiritual distinctly Persons creature similitude indwellingGod Himself every most closely Gift sanctified (Donum creature Inhabitativum) 4 Aeviternum, everlasting. This is not easy to translate in its technical meaning. According to Aristotelian and scholastic philosophy, aeviternum refers to created eternity, that is, the duration of a...