Bl. Gualtier (Walter) of Bruges

Walter of Bruges (Gualterus Brugensis OFM), was a Franciscan theologian, who flourished at the University of Paris in 1267-69. He entered the Franciscans in Bruges in about 1240 and was sent to Paris for his studies. A student of Bonaventure, he was regent master at Paris from 1267 to 1269. He was elected Minister Provincial of the French province in 1269, then became bishop of Poitiers in 1279, a post which he held until 1306, when he retired because of ill health. He died the following year. His family name was probably Van den Zande. He wrote Sermones per totum annum and Excerpta ex sanctis Patribus (Augustine, Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose, Hilary, Isadore and others) but was not widely known until the publication of Quaestiones Disputatae. With Bonaventure, he was a teacher of Matthew of Aquasparta. He died in 1307. His feast day is January 21.