Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Seraphic Doctor

 Today is the feast of St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Doctor of the Church. From his Breviloquium, Part V, Chapter 8:

The First Principle, being first, is supreme; being supreme, it is supremely good; being supremely good, it is supremely happy and supremely delighting; being supremely delightful, it is supremely to be enjoyed. Therefore, because it is to be supremely enjoyed, we must totally cling to it with love and rest in it as our final end. Now a right and ordered love, called charity, bears us principally to that good in whom it finds its enjoyment and repose. This good is itself our reason for loving. Thus it follows that charity loves that good above everything else as that which will make it happy, and as a consequence it loves all other things which through that good are also suited for happiness. Now, our neighbor was created to reach that happiness along with ourselves -- which includes our body as well, for it was made to share that happiness together with our spirit. That is the reason why charity has but four objects: God, our neighbor, our spirit, and our body.

[St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Monti, tr., The Franciscan Institute (St. Bonaventure, New York), p. 201.]