poor.

And he was blamed on earth by men whose thoughts were given over to
riches. But he was found praiseworthy in the sight of the Divine
Goodness.


III

THE SERAPHIC DOCTOR

Fra Giovanni was not proficient in the knowledge of letters, and he
rejoiced in his ignorance as being an abundant source of humiliations.

But after watching one day in the Cloister of Santa Maria degli Angeli a
number of Doctors of Theology in meditation on the perfections of the
Most Holy Trinity and the Mysteries of the Passion, he began to doubt
whether they did not possess the love of God more fully than he, by
reason of their wider knowledge.

He was afflicted in his soul, and for the first time in his life fell
into melancholy. But sadness was unnatural to one in his estate; for joy
is the inheritance of the poor.

He resolved to carry his difficulty to the General of the Order, to be
rid of it as of a galling burden. Now Giovanni di Fidanza was General of
the Order in those days.

In the cradle he had received from St. Francis himself the name of
Bonaventure. He had studied Theology at the University of Paris; and he