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sues threatening the Order. Above all, these early writings clearly show Bonaventure's profound grasp of the mystical tradition and his sensitivity to the unique place of Francis's vision within it.45 Within the Order, therefore, Bonaventure strove to address various crises confronting the Order, to articulate the unique character of its Gospel ideals, and to re-enkindle it among the brothers. His two surviving encyclical letters to the Order, written ten years apart, show the intensity of his efforts, the depth of his comprehension, and the simplicity of his solution: a return to the rule and life of the Lesser Brothers, that is, to the Later Rule.46
Bonaventure's Portraits of Francis
Three years after his election, the Lesser Brothers gathered for the Chapter of Narbonne, France. An important item on their agenda was the codification of the decisions made at the eleven previous general chapters. The legislative activity that preceded the Chapter of Narbonne, in 1239 after the dismissal of Elias, and in 1240 and 1242, the period of Haymo, was in need of organization. The research of Rosalind Brooke, Cesare Cenci and Dominic Monti have shown that Bonaventure inserted little that was new in the Constitutions of Narbonne.47 His major contribution at that chapter was to codify the existing legislation around topical quotations from Francis'sRule.48
The Chapter of Narbonne became famous for another reason: the brothers commissioned Bonaventure to compile "one good" legend of Saint Francis based on those already in existence.49 Even a cursory glance at The Major Legend reveals how faithful Bonaventure was to his mandate to compile one good legend from all the existing ones. The largest number of episodes contained in the first fifteen chapters of The Major Legend come from The Life of Saint Francis by Thomas of Celano, refined by the writings of Julian of Speyer, and from The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul. The influence of The Legend of the Three Companions and The Assisi Compilationare evident, although it is difficult to determine whether or not these influences were transmitted by way of Thomas's Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul. For the most part, Bonaventure contributes little to the biographical data provided by his predecessors. In fact, in the second section of The Major Legend, the consideration of Francis's miracles, the texts come almost entirely from Thomas's Treatise on the Miracles of Saint Francis.50
Bonaventure crafted his portrait according to the overall structure of his theology. Francis had become for him a symbol of the workings of grace. To understand the unfolding of his life was to perceive the inner dynamics of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus Bonaventure developed the first fifteen chapters of The Major Legend, those that treat of Francis's life, virtues, death and canonization, in a carefully thought out manner, maintaining that the human mind works from the visible to the invisible. At the same time, however, each chapter has a structure of its own as Bonaventure articulates through the use of stories the theologies of different virtues. As a result Bonaventure crafts a brilliant synthesis of Thomas's trilogy, The Life of Saint Francis, The Remembrance of
- Moorman, History, 115.
- Bernard McGinn notes: "Bernard of Clairvaux and Bonaventure—the doctor mellifluous and the doctor seraphicus—may be justly described as the two premier mystical teachers of the Medieval West. Both were important ecclesiastical officials who were forced to be men of action, as well as of contemplation. Both wrote on a variety of theological and church-political topics, as well as on how the soul attains God in this life." Bernard McGinn, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism, The Flowering of Mysticism (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998), 87.
- Both of these letters can be found in Works of Saint Bonaventure: Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order, edited and translated by Dominic Monti (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 1994), 57-62, 225-229.
- Monti’s edition of the text not only offers an excellent translation; it provides critical apparatus that enables readers to see how the Narbonne statutes occur in the earlier edition of the constitutions produced by Cesare Cenci.
- Cesare Cenci, "De Fratrum Minorum constitutionibus praenarbonensibus," Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 83 (1990): 50-95 (hereafter AFH); "The Constitutions of Narbonne" (1260), in Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order, Works of Saint Bonaventure V, introduction and translation by Dominic Monti (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 1994), 71-135.
- The source of this mandate is obscure. It cannot be found in either the Constitutions of Narbonne nor in its Definitiones. Giralomo Golubovich notes that the Ceremoniale ordinis minorum vetutissimum or Ordinationes divini officii issued in 1254 during the generalate of John of Parma contains this phrase: Item ordinetur de legenda beati Francisci, ut de omnibus una bona compiletur [Likewise it is ordained concerning the legend of blessed Francis, that one good one be compiled from all the others]. Golubovich and Desbonnets maintained that the decision referred to the composition of The Minor Legend (hereafter LMn) because of difficulties in reconciling the liturgical texts with the data provided by later texts. Michael Bihl, on the other hand, was convinced that the decree was appended to the Ceremoniale at a later date and, in reality, was directed at the composition of The Major Legend (hereafter LMj). Cf. Ceremoniale ordinis minorum vetutissimum seu "Ordinationes divini officii" sub Ioanne de Parma ministro generali emanatae an. 1254, a cura di Giralomo Golubovich, in AFH 3 (1910): 76.
