5.19 St. Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor

By Dr. James Papandrea ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 10, 2025 | In Way of the Fathers (Podcast)

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St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) was the friend and colleague of St. Thomas Aquinas. What Aquinas was to the Dominicans, Bonaventure was to the Franciscans. St. Bonaventure is known as the second founder of the Franciscans because he was important for the organization of the order, and for bringing forth and expanding upon St. Francis’ spirituality.

Links

Check out this three-part series on St. Bonaventure by Pope Benedict XVI (from 2010)
Part 1: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=9267
Part 2: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=9271
Part 3: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=9284

The Classics of Western Spirituality volume on St. Bonaventure: https://www.paulistpress.com/Products/2121-2/bonaventure.aspx

Dr. Papandrea’s Homepage: http://www.jimpapandrea.com

Dr. Papandrea’s latest book is The Original Church: What it Meant—and Still Means—to Be a Christian: https://scepterpublishers.org/products/the-original-church-what-it-meant-and-still-means-to-be-a-christian

Dr. Papandrea’s YouTube channel, The Original Church: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOriginalChurch

Theme Music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed: https://www.ccwatershed.org/

Dr. James Papandrea is a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and a Catholic member of the faculty at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. A theological consultant for EWTN’s series The Heresies, he is also the writer and presenter for The Original Church series on YouTube. See full bio.

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