Nicholas Bonet

Friar Minor, theologian, and missionary, date of birth uncertain; d. 1360

Friar Minor

,

theologian

, and missionary,

date

of birth uncertain; d. 1360. Probably a

Frenchman

by birth, he taught

theology

with great success at

Paris

, where he received the title of "Doctor Pacificus" (The Peaceful Doctor) on account of his suave and tranquil mode of lecturing. Bonet took an important part in the dispute concerning the

beatific vision

which was warmly discussed during the pontificate of

John XXII

and finally settled by the

decree

of his successor,

Benedict XII

, "Benedictus Deus". As a member of the

papal

embassy sent by

Benedict XII

to Kublai Khan, grandson of the famous conqueror Genghis Khan, Bonet exchanged the comparative ease and comfort of the professor of

theology

for the arduous and perilous labours of the missionary. The

Franciscan

missions in Tatary were founded as early as the year 1245 by the

zealous

apostles of the Faith, Lorenzo da Portogallo and Giovanni da Pian Carpino; and in his desire to see the great work which was inaugurated by them and continued by the saintly Archbishop John of Monte Corvino kept up and extended, the great khan was induced to send an embassy to

Benedict XII

to petition for new labourers in the missions of

Asia

. The

pope

received the

legates

with every mark of

honour

and acceding to the wish of the Mongolian monarch, commissioned four religious of the order of

Friars Minor

as his

legates

, on whom he conferred all the Apostolic faculties and privileges

necessary

for their missionary labours. These were John of Florence, afterwards

Bishop

of Bisignano in Calabria, Nicholas Bonet, Nicolas da Molano, and Gregory of

Hungary

. The embassy bearing letters from the

pope

to the khan left

Avignon

towards the end of the year 1338, and after a long and arduous journey arrived at Peking in

China

, the residence of the Tatar emperor at the beginning of 1342. The missionaries were encouraged in their apostolic labours by the kindly attitude of Kublai Khan and succeeded in founding numerous

Christian

settlements throughout the vast Mongolian empire. About the year 1346 they set out again for

Italy

. Part of the homeward journey they made by sea and the remainder, from the Kingdom of

Persia

, by land, arriving in

Avignon

at the beginning of the year 1354. Shortly after the return of the missionaries, Bonet was

consecrated

titular

Bishop

of

Mileve

in Africa in recognition of his devoted services while on the mission of

Mongolia

. Among the writings of Nicholas Bonet, the "Tractatus de conceptione B. Mariæ Virginis jussu Clementis V scriptus", the "Formalitates e Doctrinâ Scoti" and his "Commentarius in IV libros sententiarum" deserve special mention.

Sources

CUSACK, St. Francis and the Franciscans (New York, 1867), XIV, 470-472; SBARALEA, Suppl. et castig. ad script. ord. min., 552; DA CIVEZZA, Storia delle missioni Francescane (Rome, 1859), III, xv, 599-617; WADDING, Annales Minorum, VII, 213-219; DE GUBERNATIS, De missionibus antiquis (Rome, 1689), I, 399; Analecta Franciscana (Quaracchi, 1887), II, 178.