Saint Bonaventure

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Saint Bonaventure 

Doctor of the Church & Second Founder of Franciscan Order
St. Bonaventure was born in Viterbo, only about 60 miles from Assisi, in 1221, just five years before the death of St. Francis.  There is a tradition that he was re-named by St. Francis when he was healed of a serious illness by the little Poverello, or poor one. His birth name was John, but the tradition, or Fioretti, tells us that when St. Francis healed him, he proclaimed "O buona ventura" or good fortune.  There's nothing to base that on, other than tradition, but St. Bonaventure himself, tells us that he was spared from death by the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi. 

He was destined to be clothed in the tunic of St. Francis and the friars all his life.  He loved Francis and everything Franciscan, except the bitter infighting in the Franciscan community that had been going on for as long as he could remember, actually since before the death of St. Francis.  One of his greatest ambitions in life was to bring the dissident factors of the Franciscan community, which had grown so far apart, together as a family.  But his attempt to unite the Franciscans didn't happen until later on in his life.

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Open by Steve Bailey

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