In 1257, the election of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (c. 1217–1274) as leader of the Franciscan Order thrust him from the regulated world of academia into the polarised world of the Order. In his Breviloquium, completed just after his transition from a scholastic to an administrative and pastoral role, exegesis was mainly a form of intellectual contemplation mediated by Scripture. In his Itinerarium mentis in Deum, completed in 1259, exegesis became a form of contemplative encounter with the textual origin, Christ. This transformation of exegetical method in response to changing contexts and audiences manifests a different way of relating to Scripture.

This article presents Augustine's De civitate Dei 11.2 as a valuable but overlooked source of influence on Bonaventure's making of the Itinerarium mentis in Deum. First, a detailed exposition analyzes the structure and content of Augustine's compact mystical treatise on the “ascent of the mind to God” located at the turning points of his magnum opus. Second, a study of the prologue of the Itinerarium mentis in Deum demonstrates how this passage informed Bonaventure's conception of his unique project. Third, the article offers support for his explicit reception of De civitate Dei — and Book 11 in particular — through an annotated summary of Bonaventure's references to the work in his earlier and later written corpus. Initial findings present how Anonymi Contra philosophos appears to have functioned as a privileged point for reception of De civitate Dei 11.2 among the early Franciscans scholastics from Alexander of Hales to Bonaventure and Matthew of Aquasparta. The present research also offers a fresh case study through which to modify the central claims of Lydia Schumacher's scholarship on the Bonaventurean use of Augustine and the nature of early Franciscan theology. The closing section explores some of the possible influences shaping this approach. Finally, this article invites medievalists to expand their expectations of how De civitate Dei 11 may have communicated Augustine's thought through diverse forms of Franciscan reception and wide-ranging applications beyond the academy.