Breviloquium

Preface

IX INTRODUCTION PREFACE The origins of this book go back almost a decade. I had recently completed an earlier volume in this series,1 when Brother Edward Coughlin, then Director of the Franciscan Institute, asked me if I would consider translating the Breviloquium. I accepted his invitation, working at it over the past years, amidst countless interruptions due to more immediate tasks and other responsibilities . When I first mentioned this project to my former professor, Bernard McGinn, he remarked: “Great! We really need a good annotated translation of the Breviloquium.” I soon discovered what he meant. After completing a few of the chapters in Part 1, I found myself saying, “I’m translating Bonaventure’s Latin into English, and it’s still all Greek!” I had encountered for myself the remarkable “concentration of word and phrase” that Jacques G. Bougerol felt characterized this work.2 In it Bonaventure’s style is “simultaneously compact and highly complex; his sentences are long and stately, with rhythmically balanced phrases,”3 making it very difficult to render into contemporary English. 1 Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order, The Works of Saint Bonaventure V (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1994). 2 Jacques Guy Bougerol, Introduction to the Works of Bonaventure, trans. José de Vinck (Paterson, N.J.: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1963). 3 Paula Jean Miller, “Marriage: The Sacrament of Divine-Human Communion:Vol. I:A Commentary on St. Bonaventure’s Breviloquium,” (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Press, 1995), 6. X ST. BONAVENTURE’S BREVILOQUIUM Furthermore, the work is packed with technical medieval theological terms that seem like meaningless jargon to many contemporary readers unfamiliar with Scholastic categories. This led me to adopt an approach with which Father Zachary Hayes, who was named general editor of this series while my work was already in progress, fully agreed. And so I have not simply provided a translation, with a few basic notes indicating Bonaventure’s major sources, as did the previous 1962 English translation of José de Vinck4 and the 1996 Italian translation in the Opera di San Bonaventura series .5 Rather, I attempted to compose content notes as well, so that the reader might refer immediately to an explanation of an otherwise problematic passage. In light of the extensive notes in the body of the translation , the introduction to the volume is relatively modest , providing a general orientation to the work, its place in Bonaventure’s overall theological effort, and some interpretative keys for the reader approaching it. This project has taken a long time to reach fruition and I have many people to thank for their assistance over the years. First of all, I acknowledge the Washington Theological Union for generously providing two semester-long sabbaticals, in 1997 and again in 2001, in which I did the bulk of the translation and notes. I am grateful, too, for the encouragement of my colleagues on the Bonaventure Texts in Translation Board, especially for the leadership of Zachary Hayes, who carefully edited the translation. No one knows Bonaventure’s thought better than he, and 4 The Breviloquium, trans. José de Vinck, Works of St. Bonaventure II (Paterson, NJ: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1962). 5 Breviloquio,trans.MarianoAprea,Opera San Bonaventura:Opuscoli Teologici, 2 (Rome: Città Nuova Editrice, 1996). XI INTRODUCTION that fact helped greatly in capturing the most appropriate translation. Over the past several years, a number of scholars have used drafts of this translation in their classes: Ilia Delio of the Washington Theological Union, Michael Blastic and Oleg Bychkov of St. Bonaventure University, and Wayne Hellmann at Saint Louis University .They have detected a number of errors and made some helpful suggestions for which I am most grateful. In particular , I would like to acknowledge Professor James Ginther of Saint Louis for alerting me to Bonaventure’s dependence on a work of Robert Grosseteste in the Prologue . And I must thank the editors of Franciscan Institute Publications for their patience as I brought this effort to completion. This year marks my fortieth anniversary as a professed Franciscan friar.As I look back over these years, my brothers in Holy Name Province deserve my special thanks for their constant affection and support. To them I dedicate this book. In a particular way, I will be ever grateful to those who encouraged my gifts during my formation years: Reginald Redlon, Boniface Hanley, Hugh Eller, Damian McElrath, Alexander DiLella, Regis Duffy, and Vincent Cushing. Iuveni quaerenti lucem Exempla...