r compartments, from the higher of
which the Licentiates and Doctors lectured, whilst the lower served
for the Bachelors who under the guidance of the former were sometimes
allowed to lecture on Physics and Theology. Each morning there were
two lectures on Theology, and in the evening two on Scripture. An hour
was devoted every day to the discussion by students and professors of
the matter treated of in class. Once a week the public defence of some
thesis was undertaken. Like the other students of the University the
Friars, when necessary, attended lectures outside their own convent.
They underwent examinations and took their degrees publicly. As early
as the year 1234, we find special ordinations, issuing from the
Minister-General of the Order, determining the number of Friars to be
sent to Paris from each Province and regulating the manner in which
they were to be presented for degrees. Two Fathers from each Province
were generally chosen every year for the degree of Doctor. Having
successfully complied with all the tests, public and private, imposed
by the University, they were {10} formally proclaimed Doctors in the
court of the Archbishop of Paris.

[Footnote 6: Tom. II, Anno 1234. Nos. 17-36.]

To this world-famous centre of theological learning Bonaventure came
in 1242, and for three years followed the ordinary University course
which was based mainly on Scriptural Exegesis and on the Exposition of
the "Book of Sentences". This oft-referred-to work was a compendium of
Dogmatic Theology written about the year 1140 by Peter Lombard. It
takes its name from the fact that its doctrine is based upon the
"Sentences," i.e. the views or opinions of the Fathers of the Church.
Divided into four books, it treats respectively of God and the
Trinity; of Creation and the Fall; of the Incarnation; and finally of
the Sacramental system. For years it constituted the recognized
text-book among scholastic theologians whose labours and lectures upon
it are embodied in the immense commentaries bequeathed to us.

At this time the great Franciscan doctor Alexander of Hales occupied
the chair of Theology at Paris. Born in Gloucestershire, he derived
his name from the monastery in that county at which he was educated.
Before his entrance into the Order (1222) he had studied at Paris and
was already one of the most renowned professors of that University. He
was subsequently styled and is now known as "The Irrefragable Doctor,"
and "The