Mystical Opuscula
Overview
This volume contains five works that cemented Bonaventure’s reputation as a mystical theologian: The Journey of the Mind to God, The Triple Way, Tree of Life, Mystical Vine, and On the Perfection of Life. This edition of José de Vinck’s translation of these texts is considered the authoritative, critical edition.
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This product is part of The Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.).
Key Features
- Provides the authoritative text of Bonaventure’s five main mystical works
- Offers insight into the Middle Ages
Product Details
- Title: The Life of Saint Francis
- Author: St. Bonaventure
- Translator: José de Vinck
- Publisher: St. Anthony Guild Press
- Publication Date: 1960
- Pages: 266
- Christian Group: Catholic
- Resource Type: Collected Works
- Topic: Medieval Church
About the Author
Bonaventure (1221–1274) born John of Fidanza, was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church in the year 1588 by Pope Sixtus V. He is known as the “Seraphic Doctor”. Many writings believed in the Middle Ages to be his are now collected under the name Pseudo-Bonaventura. He is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
About the Translator
Baron José M.G.A. de Vinck is a publisher, editor, translator, writer, and owner of Alleluia Press. He has written and translated books on philosophy and theology.
This product is part of The Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.).
- Provides the authoritative text of Bonaventure’s five main mystical works
- Offers insight into the Middle Ages
Top Highlights
“First, therefore, I invite the reader to cry out in prayer through Christ crucified,* by whose blood we are cleansed from the filth of sin. Let us not believe that it is enough to read without unction, to speculate without devotion, to investigate without wonder, to observe without joy, to act without godly zeal, to know without love, to understand without humility, to strive without divine grace, or to reflect as a mirror without divinely inspired wisdom.” (Page 7)
“Nor is one prepared in any way for divine contemplation that leads to the ecstasies of the mind unless he is, like Daniel,* a man of desires. Such desires are aroused in us in two different ways: the first is through the outcry of prayer,* which makes us roar with anguish of heart; the second, through the flash of intuition, by which the mind turns itself most directly and intently toward the light.” (Page 7)
“Corresponding to this triple movement, our mind has three principal powers of perception. One is aimed at the material world and is called animal or sensorial; the other is aimed inward and acts within itself, and is called spiritual; the third one is aimed above itself, and is called supernatural. By these triple means, we should dispose ourselves for the knowledge of God,* and love Him with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, and with our whole mind. In this consists the perfect observance of the Law, as well as full Christian wisdom.” (Pages 10–11)
“Parallel to the six steps of the ascent to God, the powers of the soul also have six degrees through which we rise from the depths to the heights, from the external to the internal, from the temporal to the eternal. They are the following: senses, imagination, reason, understanding, intelligence, and, at the tip of the mind, the spark of moral discernment.3 These powers, implanted in us by nature, were distorted by sin, and are reformed by grace. They must be cleansed by righteousness, trained by learning, and perfected by wisdom.” (Page 11)
- Title: The Life of Saint Francis
- Author: St. Bonaventure
- Translator: José de Vinck
- Publisher: St. Anthony Guild Press
- Publication Date: 1960
- Pages: 266
- Christian Group: Catholic
- Resource Type: Collected Works
- Topic: Medieval Church
Bonaventure (1221–1274) born John of Fidanza, was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church in the year 1588 by Pope Sixtus V. He is known as the “Seraphic Doctor”. Many writings believed in the Middle Ages to be his are now collected under the name Pseudo-Bonaventura. He is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
About the Translator
Baron José M.G.A. de Vinck is a publisher, editor, translator, writer, and owner of Alleluia Press. He has written and translated books on philosophy and theology.
