of the soul to God, amongst other thoughts there occurred
to me the miracle which happened to Blessed Francis in this place,
viz. the apparition of the Crucified Seraph. On reflection it
instantly seemed to me that the vision signified the lifting up of St.
Francis by contemplation and the manner in which it was accomplished."

[Footnote 30: "Opera Omnia," Tom. V, Prologus, p. 295.]

Unfortunately the biographers of Bonaventure give us no definite
insight into his interior spirit. There is no attempt at depicting
that inner life which by words and actions, by trains of thought,
lines of policy and personal habits, is always revealed to observant
contemporaries. We have innumerable vague, though glowing,
appreciations of his virtues and character in general. We are told
most emphatically that he was a saint, but what kind of a saint we are
not informed. In this dearth of particulars we must fall back upon the
Saint's writings. We can justly hope to find in them some revelation
of his spirit--of those particular ideas that guided and animated him.
We can take it for granted that what he taught he practised. The fact
that he is a canonized Saint forbids us to think otherwise. Hence, in
his numerous descriptions of those interior virtues that should adorn
the spiritual life in general, we may see a reflection of those
virtues which flourished in his own soul.

There is a small work on the spiritual life written by our Saint in
which he depicts the virtues that {67} make for religious perfection.
The book is entitled "The Perfection of Life," and it reveals the
spirit of Bonaventure more simply and, for our present purpose, more
suitably than his greater works. It was written at the request of the
Mother Abbess of some Community of Poor Clares. He refers to this fact
in his introduction, and his words breathe such a deep spirit of
humility that I cannot refrain from quoting them.

"Wherefore, Reverend Mother, devoted to God and dear to me, you have
asked me out of the poverty of my heart to write something whereby,
for the time being, you may instruct your soul in the way of devotion.
I sincerely confess that rather do I stand in need of such instruction
myself, seeing that my life is not adorned with virtue outwardly, nor
is it inflamed with devotion inwardly, nor is it enhanced by learning.
Nevertheless, moved by your pious wish, even as you have requested I
have obeyed. But I ask your blessedness, most holy mother, t