The Journey of the Mind into God — Mystics

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The Book

In 1259, some thirty-three years after Francis of Assisi died, Bonaventure — by then the minister general of Francis's order — climbed the same mountain, La Verna, where Francis had received the stigmata. There he saw, in his mind, the vision Francis had seen: a six-winged Seraph fixed to a cross. He took the six wings for the six stages of the soul's ascent to God, and wrote them down. This is that book.

The ascent climbs by three pairs. First God is seen outside us, in the created world — through its vestiges, its traces (I), and in it as in a mirror (II). Then within us, in the soul that is God's image — in its natural powers (III), and in that image reformed by grace (IV). Then above us, as the mind is lifted past itself — to God as Being (V), and as the self-giving Good that is the Trinity (VI). And at the summit, a seventh step that is not a seeing at all but a passing over: the intellect falls silent, and love carries the soul across into God. Chapter VII is the oldest apophatic tradition — Dionysius's darkness — set at the top of a Franciscan ladder and lit by the fire of the Crucified.

It is short, tightly built, and meant to be prayed rather than only read. Bonaventure says as much in the prologue: he writes for the one who is ready to groan in prayer, not for the one who only wants to look.

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The Text

8 parts

Prologue Written on Mount La Verna, where Francis received the stigmata. The six wings of the Seraph in Francis's vision become the six stages of the soul's ascent; the book is offered as a way of prayer, not a piece of speculation. On the Steps of the Ascent into God, and on Seeing God through His Vestiges in the World The stages of the ascent, and the first of them: God seen through his vestiges -- his traces -- in the created universe, in its weight and number and measure, its power and wisdom and goodness. On Seeing God through His Vestiges in This Sensible World God seen in the sensible world as in a mirror: through the five senses, and through the delight, the judgment, and the proportion by which the world is taken in. On Seeing God through His Image Imprinted in Our Natural Powers The turn inward. God seen through his image stamped on the soul's own powers -- memory, understanding, will -- and the Trinity mirrored in them. On Seeing God in His Image Reformed by the Gifts of Grace The image reformed by grace: the soul, fallen and turned outward, restored through Christ and through faith, hope and love, and made able again to see God within. About Meditating on God’s Unity by Using God’s Primary Name, Which Is ‘Being’ The ascent above the soul. God contemplated through his first name -- Being itself, pure act -- in which the mind is dazzled as the eye is by the sun. About Meditating on God’s Most Blessed Trinity by Using God’s Name ‘The Good’ God contemplated through his name the Good: the self-diffusing Good that is the Trinity, and the coincidence of opposites met in Christ, the union of the first and the last. About the Mystical Transport of the Mind, in Which Rest Is Given to the Intellect after Our Affection Passes Over Totally into God through Ecstasy The passing over. The intellect falls silent, and through the burning love of the Crucified the affection is carried over wholly into God. “Let us die, then, and enter into this darkness.”

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The Translation

Oleg Bychkov is a scholar of medieval philosophy and aesthetics at St. Bonaventure University, the Franciscan school in western New York. He made this English for students of the Itinerarium and posts it freely from the university's site. It is a plain, close, readable rendering — the numbered sections are Bonaventure's own, kept here for reference.

It is chosen because it is both faithful and freely available to read. It is not public domain: the copyright in a translation belongs to its translator, and Bychkov has posted this one for study, not released it. So it is set out here for personal study — the same footing on which this shelf keeps the in-copyright Hesychios — while the underlying Latin, which is free, is held beside it in the study sources.

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This Edition

Text: Bonaventure, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum (1259), in the English of Oleg Bychkov — The Journey of the Mind into God — posted by the translator at St. Bonaventure University. All 17,132 words, the prologue and seven chapters entire.
Rights: Modern translation, © Oleg Bychkov (St. Bonaventure University), posted by the translator for study. Reproduced here for personal study, not released to the public domain — the underlying Latin is. Reproduced here for personal study, and marked as such rather than presented as free to copy.
The Latin: The Quaracchi critical Latin (Bonaventure's own words, public domain) is held in the study sources beside this English, so the translation can be checked against it.
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