The Role Of Charity In The Ecclesiology Of St. Bonaventure -pontificia Facultas Theologica S. Bonaventurae. Dissertationes Ad Lauream- !!link!! Online

Without charity, the sacrament is a dead rite; with charity, it is a resurrection. Thus, the hierarchical ministry’s most exalted act is not governance but the rekindling of love in the fallen members.

Bonaventure views the Church through a "Dionysian" lens, seeing a hierarchy that mirrors the angelic orders. However, he insists that this hierarchy is not about power, but about the distribution of divine love. Charity facilitates the three-fold path of the soul and the Church: Removing sin through works of mercy. Without charity, the sacrament is a dead rite;

Before analyzing Bonaventure’s doctrine, one must acknowledge the scholarly lineage that made this synthesis possible. The Dissertationes ad lauream published by the Pontificia Facultas Theologica S. Bonaventurae (e.g., works by J. Ratzinger, J.G. Bougerol, and Z. Hayes) have consistently emphasized two methodological keys to Bonaventure’s thought: hierarchia (sacred order) and itinerarium (journey). However, he insists that this hierarchy is not

3.1. Bonaventure’s definition of the Church: faith and charity as constitutive 3.2. The hierarchical structure ordered to love, not merely authority 3.3. Unity of the Church: charity as the bond ( vinculum ) of members among themselves and with Christ The Dissertationes ad lauream published by the Pontificia

Based on Fehlner’s analysis and Bonaventure’s broader theological system, the role of charity in the Church can be summarized through several critical themes:

In his Hexaemeron , a comprehensive work on the six days of creation, Bonaventure develops this idea further, describing the Church as a civitas amoris , a city of love, where all members are bound together by the ties of charity (Hexaemeron, II, 17). This image of the Church as a community of love is not a romantic ideal but a concrete reality that requires effort and commitment from all its members.