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The Authenticity of Two Sermons of Saint Bonaventure

1968; St. Bonaventure University; Volume: 28; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/frc.1968.0005

1945-9718

Ignatius Brady,

Medieval European Literature and History

THE AUTHENTICITY OF TWO SERMONS OF SAINT BONAVENTURE Undoubtedly the sermons of Saint Bonaventure contained in the fifth and ninth tomes of the Quaracchi edition need fresh examination, both to establish their authenticity and to classify or group them, if possible, in some chronological order. To this end one must have recourse anew to the manuscripts and (a point perhaps too often overlooked ) to a comparison between the sermons and other works, including other sermons, of the Seraphic Doctor. Such a comparison, seldom made by the Patres Editores, is often surprisingly fruitful, since we may thus discover that one sermon is a more mature expression of what is quite apparently an earlier sermon. Thus, the famous sermon Christus unus omnium magister1 is a more perfect form of Sermo I in Dominica XXII post Pentecosten.2 Moreover, as we shall see, at least two sermons prove to be sources for the De perfectione vitae ad sórores.3 Hence one cannot reject a sermon out of hand without very solid proof — though we grant that one does not necessarily accept a sermon simply because it is found in the Opera omnia of Bonaventure.4 Here we shall restrict ourselves to two sermons, the authenticity of which has recently been called into doubt, to give fresh grounds for accepting them not only as genuine, but indeed as the productions of Saint Bonaventure while he was magister regens at Paris: the fifth sermon on Saint Francis, and the sermon on Saint Anthony.6 I. THE FIFTH SERMON ON SAINT FRANCIS A remarkable sermon based on the text of the Gospel of the Mass of October fourth: Discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde, with the 1 Opera omnia S. Bonaventurae (ed. Quarracchi, 1882—1902), torn. V, V, 567—574· 2 Tom. IX, 441—444. 3 Tom. VIII, 107—127. 4 We should like here candidly to acknowledge one error in reprinting Sermo VI in Dom. XXII post Pent. (IX, 446—449) as De imagine Dei, in S. Bonav. Opera theologica selecta, torn. V (Quaracchi, 1964), 368—374. In retrospect, there seems little basis for its authenticity, whether from the manuscript used or from the style of the sermon. 6 To be found respectively in torn. IX, 590—597, and 535—538. Two Sermons of St. Bonaventure? incipit: Verbum istud est summi Doctoris, in which Saint Francis is presented as the true disciple of Christ in the period of his conversion and, in his later saintliness, as a good teacher of the ways of Christ,6 it has all the marks of belonging to Saint Bonaventure. Yet to a recent observer, Father Joseph Abate, it seems strongly suspect, fortemente dubbia ci appare l'attribuzione a S. Bonaventura, because it is to be found in several versions or at least with several changes, and is almost always anonymous, and because in an unnamed codex of the Biblioteca Antoniana of Padua it is included among the sermons of Servasanto of Faenza.7 Gratis asseritur! We could just as readily add: Gratis negatur, save that the question seems important enough to warrant some study not only of the manuscripts but also of the contents of the sermon as compared to acknowledged works of Bonaventure. A. The Manuscripts Whether the sermon is found variamente rimaneggiato, variously retouched, we cannot say at present. For the version published by the Quaracchi Editors three codices were used and two others cited, with but two variants offered in the whole sermon. Our knowledge of the manuscripts is, unfortunately, second-hand, to be improved eventually, we hope, by a fresh study of the whole ninth volume as a contribution to the seventh centenary of Bonaventure in 1974. i. Munich, Bayrische Staatsbibliothek, CIm 7776, ff. 224V—227V.8 The last collection of sermons in this codex (ff. 190c—250) contains, according to Father Fedele da Fanna, 76 sermons, some fifty of which are attributed by the Editors to Bonaventure. In origin, the sermons are obviously from the University of Paris; and were we to deny the • Thus, in the opening paragraph the text is applied to Francis: ,,Discite a me, id est, formam discipulorum a me assumite; vel discite a me, id...