This project presents an English translation of the Opera Omniaof St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1221–1274), the Seraphic Doctor — drawn from the Quaracchi critical edition (Vols. I–X, 1882–1902) prepared by the Fathers of the Collegium S. Bonaventurae.
We begin with Volume I, the Commentary on Book I of the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and intend over time to publish all ten volumes — the remaining commentaries on the Sentences (Books II–IV), the Breviloquium, the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, the Collationes in Hexaemeron, and the rest of the opuscula and sermons. No complete English edition of the Opera Omnia has ever been published.
This translation aims for formal academic English suitable for theological scholarship. We maintain a paragraph-for-paragraph correspondence with the Latin text, preserving the structural markers that appear in the source (distinctions, articles, questions) without adding editorial apparatus beyond what the original contains.
Standard scholastic formulae are translated consistently throughout: Videtur quod as “It seems that,” Sed contraas “On the contrary,” Respondeo dicendum quodas “I respond: It must be said that,” and so on. Key philosophical and theological terms are rendered according to established conventions in the English-language study of medieval thought.
Our source text is the Quaracchi critical edition (Opera Omnia S. Bonaventurae, 1882–1902), digitized via OCR from Internet Archive scans. Common OCR artifacts (broken words, letter substitutions, garbled marginal glosses) have been silently corrected. We additionally provide literal English translations of the Quaracchi scholia and apparatus footnotes alongside the original Latin — since these editorial notes form an essential part of the scholarly value of this edition, and have themselves never been translated.
The following scholastic terms are rendered consistently: uti → to use; frui → to enjoy; ratio → account/ground; processio → procession; suppositum → supposit; potentia → potency/power; actus → act/actuality; caritas → charity; exemplar → exemplar; vestigium → vestige; similitudo → likeness; honestum → the honorable; complacentia → complacency; actus quietativus→ quietative act.
This is a working draft and collaborative effort. The translations presented here are provisional and subject to revision as the project continues. We welcome inquiries from scholars interested in contributing to or reviewing this work.
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
“For the perfection of the Christian, I propose a work that pertains to the beginning of learning.”
— Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Prol.