"Francis, go and build up My house, which as thou seest, is falling into ruin." To fulfill this command of Our Lord, St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) began by restoring physical churches and continued by building up the spiritual Church. Francis' humility, purity, and true joy inspired many men and women to conversion and a deeper faith. Others joined with him in serving God and the poor; thus began the Franciscan Order.
Never ordained to the priesthood, St. Francis nonetheless was a preacher of great renown and a miracle-worker of the first order curing, prophesying, casting out devils, turning water into wine, and raising people from the dead. Indeed, though not arranged in typical biographical form, The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by St. Bonaventure conveys a picture of the Saint through his miracles, his sayings, and his holy life that renders an indelible impression of a man totally transformed in God and by God.
St. Bonaventure was born, with the given name of John, to Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria Ritella in 1221 at Bagnoregio, Italy. His life was so pure that it was said that he seemed not to have inherited Original Sin. According to legend, he received the name of Bonaventure ( bona ventura good fortune) at a very young age from St. Francis of Assisi and was cured of an illness through the saint s intercession. In 1243 he became a Franciscan (considered the Order's second founder) and later earned the position of Master of Theology with St. Thomas Aquinas at Paris in 1257. He was made a Cardinal by Pope Gregory X and later presided at the Council of Lyon in 1274, where he died suddenly. He was canonized by Pope Sixtus IV in 1484 and is known as the Seraphic Doctor of the Church.
