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Book Reviews91 With every respect for the study as such, one must confess that the system of referring to the sermons of St. Anthony and other literature as adopted by Fr. Cummings is far from ideal. The sermons are quoted under the abbreviations from A (1) till A (84), other literature has the abbreviations B (1) tillB (76).Butnobodycouldrememberbyheartthemeaningoftheseone hundred and sixty abbreviations; consequently, if a reader wants to know the meaning of a footnote, he always has to torn back to the bibliographical list, and even there he has to go sometimes from one abbreviations to another (e. g. from B 76 to B 4, from B 73 to B 52) before he finds what he wants. It is regretful that such a fine study has been made so difficult to read and to use, just for the benefit of shorter footnotes. E. M. Buytaert, O. F. M. Spargo, Sister Emma Jane Marie, The Category of the Aesthetic in the Philosophy of Saint Bonaventure, (Franciscan Institute Publications, Philosophy Series, 5), St. Bonaventure, N.Y., 1953; XI—162 pp. A seldom-noted aspect of the philosophy of Saint Bonaventure is the subject of Sister Emma Jane Marie's work in which she maintains that "the •category of the aesthetic impregnates the entire thought of Saint Bonaventure " and that the characteristic mark of his works is „best described as a universal aesthetic perception of the entire field of reality." In her introduction she sketches briefly the sources and the influence of Saint Bonaventure's theory of aesthetics. Among those who influenced his thought she mentions Plato, Augustine, Grosseteste and Alexander of Hales, as well as Saint Francis, whose appreciation and love of beauty Saint Bonaventure developed into a metaphysic of beauty. She notes that some modern writers see the influence of Bonaventure's theory in the architecture of the later thirteenth century; for example, in the greater accent on the natural beauty of human beings; in the more rounded and more highly raised figures; and in the increasing number and size of windows, evidence of a greater interest in light developed under the influence of Bonaventure's thought. In the first chapter of the work, frequent reference is made to a recently •discovered manuscript in which Bonaventure makes clear statements of the principles upon which his theory of aesthetics is based. In this manuscript Bonaventure declares that beauty is a fourth transcendental attribute of heing. In his statement of the meaning and purpose of beauty, he follows Saint Augustine. Beauty, he says, delights but does not satisfy. Therefore it leads one to seek further, indeed to seek God Himself, who is perfect Beauty. The material beauty of the world is the subject of the second chapter. The authorpointsout the loveof order and systematization evident throughout Bonaventure's work finds expression in his statement that "beauty consists in order." A thing, he says, is beautiful in so far as it corresponds to ontological truth; that is, in so far as it is what it is supposed to be according to the exemplary idea in the Divine Mind. The third chapter treats of spiritual beauty in creature under three heads : the natural beauty of the soul, the supernatural beauty of the soul, and beauty 92FRANCISCAN STUDIES in angels. The natural beauty of the soul, according to Saint Bonaventure, arises from the harmony of order. The rational creature, that has the power to praise, to know truth, and to turn a gift to its proper use, is "naturally constituted to be ordered to God immediately". The rational soul is capable of attaining to God through its natural powers. Through Christ and His grace the soul, whose natural beauty is damaged by sin, receives new beauties in the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, in the spiritual senses and in the illumination of the intellect which can extend even to ecstasy. An angel, by nature an image of God, receives its beauty from God and manifests the Divine goodness to others. In the chapter on Uncreated Beauty, the author remarks that Bonaventure's aesthetic theory took its rise from a deeply metaphysical source, that of exemplarism, and that he places the principle of the...

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