maintenance of the
body of the Order in its substantial purity was due to the wise
administration of Bonaventure. A more rigorous General or a less
observant one might have led the Order to some extreme which would
have wrought its ruin. From this point of view our Saint deserves the
title which has widely been bestowed upon him of Second Founder of the
Franciscan Order.

CHAPTER VII.

INCIDENTS OF ADMINISTRATION.

Bonaventure's life, for the ensuing years, is a record of
fast-succeeding events centring mainly round the work of his personal
sanctification and his exertions for the welfare of the Order. On {46}
23 October, 1257, our Saint received the degree of Doctor of Theology.
The differences between the University and the Mendicant Friars had
gradually passed away and a better spirit, prevailed. Still, the
favour bestowed upon our Saint is to be attributed principally to the
letter of the Sovereign Pontiff commanding the University to extend,
all its privileges to the Friars Thomas of Aquin and Bonaventure.

During the Pentecost of 1281 [Footnote 20] we find him assisting at
the foundation of a hospital at Pisa. In the official record of this
institution we read how "Friar Bonaventure, the Minister-General of
the whole Order of Friars Minor, was, at the command of Pope
Alexander, present at the afore-mentioned foundation; at the command
of the same Holy Father he made each and every benefactor of the
hospital a sharer in the prayers said and good works performed by all
the members of the Order".

[Footnote 20: Cf. "Opera Omnia," Tom. X, p. 52.]

Bonaventure celebrated five General Chapters--that of Narbonne in
1260; of Pisa in 1263; of Paris in 1266; of Assisi in 1269; of Lyons
in 1274. These Chapters are the most convincing proofs of his
indefatigable activity. In each of them, apart from the general
efforts made to further regular observance, some special ordination of
a remarkable kind was enacted. Thus, in the Chapter of Pisa, the
suffrages for the dead were regulated, and amongst the Masses and
prayers appointed to {47} be said for deceased benefactors we find the
Solemn Requiem for the parents of the Brethren. In the Chapter of
Assisi in 1269 the recital of the Angelus and the celebration of a
Mass every Saturday in honour of our Lady were prescribed. In the
Chapter of Paris, by the tact and prudence of Bonaventure, a somewhat
serious difference which had arisen between the Franciscans and
Dominican