St. Bonaventura

Saint Bonaventure
Friar, Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Born	1221 Bagnoregio, Province of Viterbo, Latium, Papal States
Died	15 July 1274 (aged 52–53) Lyon, Lyonnais, Kingdom of Arles
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Canonized	14 April 1482, Rome by Pope Sixtus IV
Feast	15 July 2nd Sunday in July (1482–1568) 14 July (1568–1969)
Attributes	Cardinal's hat on a bush; ciborium; Holy Communion; cardinal in Franciscan robes, usually reading or writing

Bonaventure
Born	1221 Bagnoregio, Province of Viterbo, Latium, Papal States
Died	15 July 1274 Lyon, Lyonnais, Kingdom of Arles
Other names	"Giovanni di Fidanza" ("John of Fidanza"), "Doctor Seraphicus" ("Seraphic Doctor")
Alma mater	University of Paris
Era	Medieval philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Scholasticism Medieval realism
Institutions	University of Paris
Influences Alexander of Hales, Aristotle, Augustinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Anselm of Canterbury, Avicebron, Stoicism (through Cicero)
Influenced Nicholas of Cusa among others

Saint Bonaventure (Italian: San Bonaventura; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian medieval Franciscan, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonised 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" (Latin: Doctor Seraphicus). Many writings believed in the Middle Ages to be his are now collected under the name Pseudo-Bonaventure.

He was born at Bagnorea in Umbria, not far from Viterbo, then part of the Papal States. Almost nothing is known of his childhood, other than the names of his parents, Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria Ritella.

He entered the Franciscan Order in 1243 and studied at the University of Paris, possibly under Alexander of Hales, and certainly under Alexander's successor, John of Rochelle. In 1253 he held the Franciscan chair at Paris. A dispute between seculars and mendicants delayed his reception as Master until 1257, where his degree was taken in company with Thomas Aquinas. Three years earlier his fame had earned him the position of lecturer on The Four Books of Sentences—a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the twelfth century—and in 1255 he received the degree of master, the medieval equivalent of doctor.