Polemical Preaching at the University of Paris: Bonaventure’S Use of Paul As a Forerunner of Francis

POLEMICAL PREACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS: BONAVENTURE’S USE OF PAUL AS A FORERUNNER OF FRANCIS C. Colt Anderson We have seven surviving sermons on Francis of Assisi that Bonaventure preached from 1255 through 1267 at the University of Paris. These sermons share all of the formal elements of what has come to be classified as the “thematic” or “university sermon.” While such a designation might lead one to suppress a yawn, the form of the thematic sermon grew out of the same polemical context that helped to birth scholasticism. The masters of thematic preaching would raise questions about disputed matters before turning to answer them through the use of reason and the authority of scripture. This was an effective form of preaching for the Catholic Church as it struggled to respond to the critiques of the Cathars, Waldensians, and Muslims in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Normally thematic ser mons were written in the context of conflict, and Bonaventure’s sermons on Francis are no exception. They reveal the mind of a brilliant polemicist who was adept at seizing his opponent’s ground and at tapping into the successful rhetorical strategies of his predecessors. If we look at Bonaventure’s peculiar use of Paul as a type of forerunner for Francis, the rhetorical quality of these sermons stand out in sharp relief. Ignatius Brady, who was a seminal scholar of early Franciscan history, pointed out some of the apologetic elements of several of these sermons and situated them in the context of the Mendicant Controversy. Because the rhetorical quality of the sermons was secondary to his purpose of establishing authenticity, Brady simply identified the way that Bonaven ture associated Francis with Christ, particularly in terms of his defense of the stigmata.1 Bonaventure certainly identified Francis with Christ, but he 1 Ignatius Brady, “The Authenticity of Two Sermons of St. Bonaventure,” Franciscan Studies 28 (1968), 4–13; Ignatius Brady, “St. Bonaventure’s Sermons on Saint Francis,” Franziskanische Studien 58 (1976), 137–140. For more information on Bonaventure and preaching, see Timothy Johnson, “Introduction,” in The Sunday Sermons of St. Bonaventure, ed., intro. and trans. Timothy J. Johnson (St. Bonaventure, 2007). Johnson’s notes lead to a wealth of resources. For a study of Bonaventure’s university sermons, see C. Colt Anderson, A Call to Piety: St. Bonaventure’s Collations on the Six Days (Franciscan Press, 2002). On Paul in Bonaventure’s works, see Aspetti del pensiero di S. Paolo nell’opera di S. Bonaventura in 92 c. colt anderson also identified Francis with the Apostle Paul. Over time he came to the position that Francis is like Christ in the same way that the Apostle Paul is like Christ. St. Paul was a crucial figure for the reformers of the twelfth and thir teenth centuries. The Pauline Epistles and the legendary materials associ ated with St. Paul were used by the reformers to respond to the Pauline polemics of their opponents. The opponents of change used statements from Paul to restrict the field of preaching, to deny the legitimacy of cri tiquing ecclesial authorities, and to suppress the emergence of leadership roles for women.2 Reformers drew upon Pauline passages to defend and to promote the ministerial activities of both the lay men and women, to jus tify correcting superiors, and to make a case for new forms of life within the church.3 Reformers and their opponents cited Pauline materials that highlighted the importance of ritual purity and of asceticism to claim Christian authority. Both sides also used apocalyptic materials from the Pauline Epistles to envision a new age when the church would be reorga nized and purged of corrupt elements, whether the corrupt elements were identified with the new movements or with the antireformers. Doctor Seraphicus, 62 (2010). This collection of papers does not directly address the figure of Paul in Bonaventure’s sermons. 2 Favorite Pauline texts in this regard are 1 Timothy 5:1, Romans 10:15 Romans 13:1–2, Galatians 5:10. Peter Damian responded to this use of these texts in Letter 54. There is a new English translation in the series Peter Damian: Letters, trans. Owen J. Blum and Irven M. Resnick, The Fathers of the Church: Medieval Continuation, 7 vols. (Washington, 1989– 2005). The numbering of the letters in the translation follows the critical edition Die Briefe des Petrus Damiani, ed. Kurt Reindel, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Die Briefe der deutschen Kaiserzeit, 4 vols. (1983–1993). For an early thirteenthcentury example, see the Stella clericorum, ed. Eric H. Reiter, (Toronto, 1997) 21:15–20. As we shall see, William of St. Amour tried to charge the Franciscans with being disrespectful to their elders as well. 3 Some examples of twelfth and thirteenthcentury reformers responding to these Pauline positions can be found in the following: Rupert of Deutz, Quod monacho liceat praedicare, PL 170, p. 541–542; Honorius Augustodunensis, Quod monachis licet praedicare, in Honorius Augustodunensis, ed. J.A. Endres (Munich, 1906); Peter the Chanter, “Gloss on Romans 10:13–16,” in Philippe Buc, “Vox Clamantis in Deserto? Pierre le Chantre et la Prédication Laïque,” Revue Mabillon 4.65 (1993), 36–37. Buc’s article is an excellent study on this issue, but the literature on medieval debates over preaching is voluminous. For more information see J. Leclerq, “La crise du monachisme aux Xle et XIIe siecles,” Bulletin dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo 70 (1958), 47–67; John Van Engen, Rupert of Deutz (Berkeley, 1983); Walter Simons, Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200–1565 (Philadelphia, 2001); Wanda Cizewski, “Guibert of Nogent’s How to Preach a Sermon,” Theological Studies 59 (September, 1998), 406–419; Darleen Pryds, “Preaching Women: The Tradition of Mendicant Women,” in Franciscan Evangelization: Striving to Preach the Gospel, ed. Elise Saggau (St. Bonaventure, NY, 2007), pp. 55–78; William Skudlarek, “Assertion without Knowledge? The Lay Preaching Controversy in the Twelfth Century” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1976)..

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