Born at Bagnoregio north of Rome in 1221, he joined the Franciscan Order and became one of its most distinguished theologians, tending to mystic rather than to 'rational' theology; he is called the 'Seraphic Doctor'. In 1257 he became Minister-General of the Order. As Franciscans preached and ran missions, and thus needed to study, he had to defend the possession of property: books, buildings (including the new Universities). He defended his position against the 'Spirituals', those who rejected all property and claimed that only they were faithful to the Franciscan spirit. Bonaventure's gentleness and courtesy were proof enough of his authentic Franciscan nature, and one only has to see the humble cell he used in the friary at Greccio to see he was no lover of materialism. He was named Archbishop of York in 1265, but declined; in 1273 he was named cardinal-bishop of Albano and ordered not to refuse. In 1274 he was a leading light at the Council of Lyons which sought reconciliation with the East; St. Thomas Aquinas died on the way there, and Bonaventure just after it, before the East rejected the agreed terms. Canonised in 1482, he was declared a Doctor in 1588.