author

Laurence Costelloe

1870–1909

A Franciscan priest and early 20th-century Catholic writer, he is best known for a concise life of Saint Bonaventure that reflects both scholarship and devotion. His work was published after his death, giving it the feel of a thoughtful final contribution.

1 Audiobook

Saint Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor Minister-General of the Franciscan Order

Saint Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor Minister-General of the Franciscan Order

by Laurence Costelloe

About the author

Born in 1870, Laurence Costelloe was a Franciscan priest, usually identified in print as Fr. Laurence Costelloe, O.F.M. The surviving records tied to his books are sparse, but library and archive listings consistently connect him with Catholic religious writing and with the Franciscan tradition.

He is chiefly known for Saint Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor, Minister-General of the Franciscan Order, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, published in 1911. The prefatory note preserved in archive copies says the book was written by the late Fr. Laurence Costelloe, O.F.M., based on a critical life of Bonaventure, and that he had intended to revise it for publication before his sudden death frustrated that plan.

That makes his best-known book both a biography of a medieval saint and, in a quiet way, a memorial to its own author. Costelloe died in 1909, leaving behind a small but lasting place in Catholic devotional and historical literature.