St. Bonaventure and the Mother of God

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St. Francis, the founder of the Order of Friars Minor, was known to have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother.  Obviously, that devotion was a quality bequeathed to his spiritual posterity, and a compiled list of such heritage would include many friars in various communities of Franciscan lineage throughout the past eight centuries (e.g., Capuchin Friars of the Renewal, Third Order Regulars, et al).  One name, however, seems to reside near the top of that long list: St. Bonaventure, the "Seraphic Doctor."

If Christ was at the center of St. Bonaventure's rich mystical theology and writing, Mary certainly occupied a place of near-equal importance (as should be the case with great catechesis and theology).  On many occasions, St. Bonaventure spoke or wrote with great passion and conviction about the blessedness and "excelling sublimity of the Virgin."  In fact, it was through one of his passionate exhortations that the Angelus prayer appeared in the Church's Marian treasury.

A notable passage from a sermon on the Annunciation went as follows:
"Let us go to the Virgin with great confidence, and we will tranquilly find her in our necessities.  Therefore this tabernacle is rightly to be honored, and to this tabernacle flight should be made, in which the Lord rested so familiarly..." (IX, 673).

St. Bonaventure didn't explicity state the idea, but he probably would agree: if Jesus found acceptable Mary's protective mantle, then all generations of disciples ought to find it infinitely valuable.  Indeed, Mary is to be honored, and she is to be sought out for her consolation, protection, intercession, and grace.

Other words of St. Bonaventure remind readers of the benefits of an intimate relationship with the Mother of God.  He said that "many who were thorns have been made--because of their confidence in the Blessed Virgin--trees of election.  The sinner is never so thorn-choked that he may not become a healthy tree, if he goes to her" (IX, 697).

As a disciple of Christ, as an apostle sent by Christ, and as a sinner, it is necessary for anyone who wishes to fulfill his/her vocation to run into the arms of her who is "full of grace."  It is in Mary's arms, with her intercession, and close to her Immaculate Heart that we will come to know Truth and the Divine Will most perfectly.

For more information on St. Bonaventure, click here, here, or here.  For access to a sample of his writings, click here or here.

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