Author

Giovanni Bona, O. Cist.

1609–1674

Cistercian

Giovanni Bona was an Italian Cistercian, cardinal, liturgist, ascetical writer, and theologian of mysticism. A member and later Abbot General of the Congregation of the Feuillants, he became one of the most influential Catholic spiritual authors of the seventeenth century and an important pioneer in the historical study of the liturgy. His writings synthesized patristic, medieval, and early modern traditions of contemplative theology and helped transmit monastic forms of contemplative prayer into broader seventeenth-century devotional culture.

Works

Texts currently available in the library.

De Sacrificio Missae

1658

Cardinal Giovanni Bona’s De Sacrificio Missae is an ascetical guide to the worthy celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Addressed particularly to priests, it combines an account of the sacrifice, its efficacy, fruits, and application with practical instruction on priestly holiness, intention, devotion, preparation, the celebration itself, and thanksgiving afterward. Bona’s purpose is not merely ceremonial: the work seeks to form the interior dispositions by which the priest may celebrate attentively, devoutly, and reverently. The work first appeared in 1658. This transcription follows the 1810 Waterford edition and contains the author’s Praemonitio and Chapters I–VII, including the prayers and devotional exercises represented in the submitted sections; other appended matter is omitted.