BONA, JOHN (1609-1674), Italian cardinal and author, was born at Mondovi in Piedmont, on the 10th of October 1609. In 1624 he joined the Congregation of Feuillants and was successively elected prior of Asti, abbot of Mondovi and general of his order. He was created cardinal in 1669 by Clement IX., and during the conclave, which followed that pope's death, was regarded as a possible candidate for the papacy. He died on the 27th of October 1674. Bona's writings are mainly concerned with liturgical and devotional subjects. Of the numerous editions of his works, the best are those of Paris (1677), Turin (1747) and Antwerp (1777). Stores of interesting rubrical information, interspersed with verses and prayers, are to be found in the _De Libris Liturgicis_ and the _Divina Psalmodia_; recent advances in liturgical studies, however, have somewhat lessened their value. The _De Discretione Spirituum_ treats of certain higher phases of mysticism; the _Via Compendii ad Deum_ was well translated in 1876 by Henry Collins, O. Cist., under the title of _An Easy Way to God_. Sir Roger L'Estrange's translation (_The Guide to Heaven_, 1680) of the _Manuductio ad Coelum_ was reprinted in 1898, and a new edition of the _Principia Vitae Christianae_, ed. by D. O'Connor, appeared in 1906. The devotional treatise _De Sacrificio Missae_ is the classical work in its field (new edition by Ildephonsus Cummins, 1903). The chief source for the life of Bona is the biography by the Cistercian abbot Bertolotti (Asti, 1677); the best modern study is by A. Ighina (Mondovi, 1874).