The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day from God.

St. Bonaventure joined theology, Franciscan poverty, prayer, humility, and service to the Church. He teaches that sacred study has not reached its end when the mind can argue; doctrine must lead the soul toward contemplation, obedience, charity, and love for Christ crucified.

Acknowledge your complete dependence upon grace and ask through Mary for the help needed in today's actual duties.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 227: Review and Deepening: Hiddenness and Humility

“…and finally, that the depth of her humility, and of all her virtues and graces, is an abyss which never can be sounded.”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 7

Ora — Begin with Prayer

Offer the day before spending it

Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.

Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.

O God, through St. Bonaventure, purify my study from vanity and let every truth I learn draw me nearer to Thee.

Quote of the Day

“And you shall know the truth: and the truth shall make you free.”
Holy Scripture, John 8:32, Original Douay-Rheims

Keep this word in the Wisdom Treasury

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

The Seraphic Doctor whose learning burned with godliness.

Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor

The verified Breviary witness for this observance is identified below. A complete English transcription has not yet been admitted, so no excerpt or summary is presented as though it were the full appointed text.

Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Bonaventure

“The depth of his learning and the earnestness of his godliness affect the reader and teach him at the same time.”

• The Breviary presents St. Bonaventure as the Franciscan child vowed by his mother to Blessed Francis, later formed in learning under Alexander of Hales.
• His public teaching at Paris, commentary on the Sentences, and governance as Minister General joined doctrine to holiness rather than ambition.
• The office remembers his creation as Cardinal Bishop of Albano, the reverence of St. Thomas Aquinas for his sanctity, his death at the Council of Lyons, and the miracles that followed.

Let study become prayerful and obedient. St. Bonaventure teaches that doctrine should illumine the mind, warm the heart, and serve the Church without vanity.

Walk with the Church

The Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. Receive the observance as the Church gives it: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

July 14

At Lyons, the demise of St. Bonaventure, Cardinal and bishop of Albano, confessor and doctor of the Order of Minorites, most celebrated for his learning and holiness of life. — At Rome, St. Justus, soldier under the tribune Claudius. A miraculous cross appearing to him, he believed in Christ, was baptized, and bestowed his goods on the poor. Arrested afterwards by the prefect Magnetius, he was scourged, had a heated helmet put on his head, and was thrown into the fire, but without injury even to a hair of his head, Finally, he yielded up his soul in the confession of the Lord. — At Sinope, in Pontus, the martyrs St. Phocas, bishop of that city. Under the emperor Trajan, after having been imprisoned, bound, struck with the sword and exposed to the fire for Christ, he took his flight to heaven. His remains were brought to Vienne, in France, and deposited in the church of the holy apostles. — At Alexandria, St. Heraclas, bishop, whose fame was so great that the historian Africanus repaired to Alexandria to see him, as he himself testifies. — At Carthage, St. Cyrus, bishop, on whose festival St. Augustine spoke of him to his people. — At Como, St. Felix, first bishop of that city. — At Brescia, St. Optatian, bishop. — At Daventry, in Belgium, St. Marcellin, priest and confessor. — At Rome, St. Camillus de Lellis, confessor, founder of the Clerks Regular who minister to the sick. Renowned for virtues and miracles, he was numbered among the saints by the Sovereign Pontiff, Benedict XIV.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

St. Bonaventure

Bishop, confessor, Doctor, and contemplative theologian.

St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, was a Franciscan theologian, Minister General of his Order, cardinal bishop, and servant of the Church at the Council of Lyons.

His learning was joined to humility, prayer, and love for Christ crucified. Sacred doctrine in him did not inflate the mind; it became wisdom, contemplation, and service to the Church.

Read and reason beneath the gaze of God. St. Bonaventure teaches that doctrine should warm the heart, not merely sharpen the tongue.

Breviary Witness for the Day

The Seraphic Doctor and the wisdom of holy love.

Matins - St. Bonaventure

• The Breviary honors St. Bonaventure as the Seraphic Doctor: Franciscan theologian, Minister General, cardinal bishop, and servant of the Church.
• His learning was joined to humility and prayer, teaching that sacred study must ascend toward God, not become a display of cleverness detached from charity.

Study the faith on your knees. Knowledge that does not make the soul more humble, obedient, and loving has not yet become wisdom.