Homily on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Franciscan Institute: July 15, 1990

Abstract

HOMILY ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE JULY 15, 1990 Members of the Franciscan Institute faculty and research staff, students, officials of St. Bonaventure University, friars, and friends—I am honored to be with you this evening to celebrate the feast of St. Bonaventure and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Franciscan Institute. In the name of the minister general and in my own name, I bring our deep gratitude, our best wishes, and the hope for many more fruitful years at the service of the entire Franciscan family. Tonight's first reading from the Book of Wisdom [8.2-7, 16-18] reminds us that wisdom instructs women and men in the ways of the Lord, teaching them the virtues of moderation, prudence, justice, and fortitude and offering immortality to all those willing to learn from her. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Mary, Magdalene, Martha and her sister Mary wants us to grow in divine wisdom, and to reflect the divine image in which we have all been created, to spread the Good News of God's self-revelation in the Scriptures and in the person of Jesus Christ. Such was the challenge which faced Bonaventure of Bagnoregio when, inspired by the holiness and teaching of Alexander of Hales, he asked admission into the Franciscan Order so that he might grow in the divine wisdom, live the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and announce the Good News in the middle of the thirteenth century. Although in the time of Francis of Assisi the Church was willing to authorize holy preachers with little formal education, by the time Bonaventure was elected minister general, the Church was asking for more educated preachers and better-trained confessors. The mission of the Order was being redefined, and Bonaventure saw that many friars would have to give themselves to humble, dedicated study in order to fulfill the mission entrusted to them by the Church. Soon the Order had studio generalia all 2 ROMAIN MAILLEUX, O.F.M. over Europe, and the secular masters began complaining that the Friars Minor and the Friars Preacher were attracting some of the best university students and making it difficult for non-friars to obtain the latest scholarly works. The Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University is part of a long tradition of scholarly research and teaching. The Franciscan pursuit of divine wisdom has spread from Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge, to Rome, Grottaferrata, Olean, and to Berkeley. What we celebrate here today is the Institute's 50 years as a laboratory of Franciscan thought and spirituality, enabling friars, Poor Clares, Franciscan sisters, and members of the Secular Franciscan Order to know the basic documents of our common heritage and to appreciate the richness of that thought from the days of Anthony of Padua and Bonaventure down to our own day. Bonaventure realized that the Church's need for wise and humble preachers meant studies. Two centuries later, Bernardine of Siena and John Capistran emphasized the role of studies in the reform of the Friars Minor. Early in the seventeenth century, apostolic colleges were begun to prepare Franciscans for the evangelization of the Americas and other areas. Today In 23 colleges and universities in the United States alone, Franciscan men and women work to bridge the gap between faith and culture, which Pope Paul VI called an unhappy circumstance of our time (Evangelii nuntiandi 20). All these initiatives reflect a Franciscan educational tradition which has known its ups and downs but has always been blessed with wise and prayerful teachers who never forgot the advice Francis gave Anthony of Padua about the relation of study, prayer, and readiness for apostolic mission. In its 50 years of existence, the Franciscan Institute has been enriched by the scholarly research and the rich teaching of giants such as Philotheus Boehner, Ignatius Brady, Eligius Buytaert, whom I knew at Louvain after his return to Europe in the 1960s, Innocent Dam, Damien Van den Eynde, Gedeon GaT, Kilian Lynch, Gaudens Mohan and Allan Wolter. The present Franciscan Institute staff is both following in their footsteps and breaking new ground by means...