.P

(6) St. Louis Bertrand.
By the Rev. Mother MARY REGINALD,

_Franciscan_.

(1) St. Bonaventure.
By Fr. LAURENCE COSTELLOE. O.F.M.

(2) St. Antony of Padua.
By C. M. ANTONY.

(3) St. John Capistran.
By Fr. VINCENT FITZGERALD, O.F.M.

(4) St. Bernardine of Siena.
By Miss M. WARD.

(5) St. Leonard of Port-Maurice.
By Fr. ALEXANDER MURPHY, O.F.M.

(6) St. Peter of Alcantara.
By Fr. EOBERT CARROL, O.F.M. O.S.D.

{vi}

The "Friar Saints" Series, which has received the warm approval of the
authorities of both Orders in England, Ireland, and America, is
earnestly recommended to Tertiaries, and to the Catholic public
generally.

The Master-General of the Dominicans at Rome, sending his blessing to
the writers and readers of the "Friar Saints" Series, says: "The Lives
should teach their readers not only to know the Saints, but also to
imitate them ".

The Minister-General of the Franciscans, Fr. Denis Schuler, sends his
blessing and best wishes for the success of the "Lives of the Friar
Saints".

F. OSMUND. O.F.M., PROVINCIAL,
F. BEDE JARRETT, O.P.,
C. M. ANTONY,
_Editors_.

{vii}

FOREWORD.

The life of Saint Bonaventure, the "Seraphic Doctor," is now
appropriately presented to the public as the first of the Franciscan
lives in this "Series of the Lives of the Friar Saints". Till the days
of this "Second Founder of the Franciscan Order," the simplicity of
our Holy Father St. Francis had been the salient feature of his
institute: no successful effort had hitherto been made to organize the
growing Order unto the full measure of its efficiency. Speaking
generally, everything so far had been left to individual initiative,
and the keynote of those early days is struck in the liberty enjoyed
by the individual--a liberty which, though charming to contemplate and
of irresistible appeal to a democratic age, is yet incompatible with
the distinctive work a corporate body must perforce fulfil if its
deeds are to justify its {viii} existence. To effect this purpose a
certain amount of that rigid uniformity attendant on all organization
was imperatively demanded.

Under the influence of St. Bonaventure this was successfully
accomplished. Among the many elements that entered into this process
of development we must, perhaps, assign the most conspicuous place to
the systematic pursuit of learning which our Saint engrafted on St.
Francis' id