Saint Bonaventure, Bowel Movements, and Administrators

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donbosco

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El Convento de las Capuchinas in #AntiguaGuatemala now has a rather interesting museum. In this photo is an icon of Saint Bonaventure, the #2 Franciscan. Saint Francis himself is said to have cured the child Giovanni di Fidanza (in Bagnoregio) of a serious bowel disorder. At the age of 22 (1243 AD) young Giovanni entered the Franciscan Order and was renamed Bonaventure. He became a beloved teacher at the University of Paris until being moved into administration where he worked with faculty and priests to agreeably define and interpret poverty and the vows associated with that way of living.

Eventually the work of Bonaventure was recognized by the Pope and he was made Cardinal of Albano. In 1274 he died suddenly while attending the Second Council of Lyon. Some believed that he had been poisoned. He probably died of the Plague but poisoning an administrator has no doubt crossed the minds of many over the centuries.

Bonaventure taught with Thomas Aquinas while at the University of Paris and his message was that intellectual pursuits were a path to God but that the physical should not be ignored. Reconciling diverse ways of seeing is considered a strength of his example. He is often thought of as the patron Saint of maladies of the bowels and administrators (Coincidence—I think not.). His feast day is celebrated on July 15, also his death day. Put that on your calendar.

(Apologies to my medievalist and church historian friends — I could not resist)

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