St. Francis. Lamenting his "inability and
unworthiness to relate that life most worthy of all imitation," he
feels himself bound, "through the love he is compelled to feel for our
Holy Father," to undertake the task which the General Chapter so
urgently laid on him. "For," he continues, "through his invocation and
merits I was snatched from the jaws of death while yet a child--as I
remember with fresh and vivid memory. Were I then to refrain from
publishing his praises I should fear to incur the crime of
ingratitude." In his smaller life of St. Francis,[Footnote 2] he again
refers to this incident, but adds a further detail. "God does not
cease," are his words, "to glorify his servant by numberless miracles
wrought in various parts of the world, as I myself can vouch from
personal experience. For as I lay dangerously ill as a child, I was
snatched from the very jaws of death and restored to healthy life
owing to a vow my mother made to the Blessed Father Francis."

[Footnote 1: "Legenda Major Sti Francisci," Prolog. No.3.]

[Footnote 2: "Legenda Minor Sti Francisci," Lectio Octava.]

Around this incident, thus simply recorded, the legend has grown up
that our Saint owes his name to a prophecy uttered by St. Francis on
the occasion of his cure. We are told that the sick child was
presented to Francis by the anxious mother who with tears besought his
intercession. The Saint took the child in his arms and, raising his
eyes to {5} Heaven, prayed earnestly for its restoration. Assured that
his petition was granted, he restored it to its mother, and regarding
it with prophetic gaze, exclaimed, _O buona ventura--_"Oh good luck!"
We cannot vouch for the authenticity of this narrative, but it has the
support of a fairly reliable tradition. One thing is certain, that
prior to the time of our Saint, the name Bonaventure was in existence.
From his father he appears to have received the name of John, and in
many MSS. he is frequently referred to under that name. He has also
been referred to as Eustachius, Jacobus, Eutychius. This must be
attributed partly to errors in transcription and partly to the Saint's
intercourse with Greek theologians who adapted the Greek form of his
name. Bonaventure, however, is the name by which he was commonly known
to his contemporaries, and it is the one under which his fame has come
down to us.

As has been said, the story of his boyhood is lost to us. We might
sketch a fanciful portrait of it, to