The Saints: St. Bonaventure

1221 - 1274 / Feast - July 15
Franciscan doctor of the church, Bonaventure is best known for writing on spirituality and theology. He stressed the importance of emotion in the search for God without denying human reason in examining divine revelation. He became minister general of the Franciscans and demonstrated that simplicity, poverty and the imitation of Christ could be balanced with intellectual pursuits. In 1273 he was made a cardinal. It is said he refused the traditional red hat and asked papal legates to leave it hanging from a tree.       © 2001 CNS