Franciscan Studies

BOOK REVIEWS Buytaert, E., O.F.M. (ed.), Saint John Damascene: De fide orthodoxa. Versions of Burgundio and Cerbanus. Franciscan Institute Pubhcations : Text Series No. 8. (St. Bonaventure, N. Y., 1955), pp. LIV & 423. Index. Although it was commonly quoted by the great scholastics, Burgundio's twelfth century version of St. John Damascene's De fide orthodoxa had never been published, so that until now the Latin version most readily available was the 18th century translation of M. Lequien, O.P., in Migne's Patrología (PG 94) . Scholars attempting to check a reference were often disappointed and sometimes were even tempted to suspect that the scholastics were speculating on points never touched by John Damascene. This explains the need for, and the scope of, the critical edition of the Burgundio version now published by the Franciscan Institute and edited by Father Eligius Buytaert, also the general editor of this series. The 54-page introduction has information on a variety of topics of special interest to the Medievalist. The brief biographical sketch of Burgundio is followed by a most interesting discussion on the date of translation. Father Eligius finds that Burgundio made his translation in 1153—54 (not as previously held, 1148—-1150), and in demonstrating thie point he offers new evidence for dating Peter Lombard's Sentences in 1155—1157. Although Burgundio's version was not widely diffused before 1200, after that date its acceptance was steady and lasting, so that the later version of Grosseteste never supplanted it in the centers of learning. The popularity of Burgundio's work is further attested to by the number of medieval manuscripts. This edition, published under the aegis of the Franciscan Institute, is based on eleven of the very best mss. available and was checked against other manuscripts so that in all 117 were utilized in constructing the critical text. The finished product was further checked against the Greek version in Migne. As an added convenience to the student of medievalia, the editor has also appended the fine critical text of the Cerbanus version which he first published in 1951 (Fran. Stud., Comm. vol. [1951], pp. 49—67). At that time, it was pointed out that while it is earlier 20 Franciscan Studies, 1956305 3o6Book Reviews than Burgundio's, the Cerbanus translation is only a fraction of the whole (III, 1—8). Everything about the edition stamps it as the product of an expert. Drawing on his own wide experience in the field, Father Eligius anticipates every imaginable demand of the Medievalist: the three standard divisions of the text are clearly marked to facilitate cross-reference; the critical apparatus at the bottom of each page is clear; abbreviations are not so abbreviated as to become problems for the cryptographer; and four indices aid the student to trace sources, biblical quotes, and names. The editor modestly says that he "only wanted to help editors of scholastic texts and other Medievalists" (p. V), but he has done more. Like the other volumes of this series, this one can well serve as a model for other editors of medieval texts to imitate with profit ------- both for themselves and for scholars alike ! Berard Marthaler, 0. F. M. Conv. Assumption Seminary, Chaska, Minnesota Saint Bonaventure's De reductione artium ad theologiam, A Commentary with an Introduction and Translation by Sister Emma Thérèse HEALY, C.S.J. (Works of Saint Bonaventure, Latin-English, vol. I), St. Bonaventure, N. Y., 1955, pp. 158. Under the title of Works of Saint Bonaventure, a new series of translations of St. Bonaventure's works have made their initial appearence. In volume I, the skillful translation of the De reductione artium ad theologiam is rendered by Sister Emma Thérèse Healy; the second volume, which will be discussed later, contains the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, With an Introduction, Translation and Commentary by the late Philotheus Boehner, O.F.M. (Saint Bonaventure, N. Y., 1956, 132 pp.). In volume I the Latin text of the De reductione, accompanying the English translation, is prefaced by an introduction and followed by a commentary . This volume is divided into four parts: Introduction, Text with Translation and Graph, Commentary on the Four Lights, and the...