Category: catechists

Saint of the Day – 13 May – St Robert Bellarmine SJ (1542-1621) Archbishop of Capua, Italy, Rector of the Roman College, Confessor, Cardinal, Doctor of the Church, Theologian, Professor, Writer, Preacher, Mediator. Known as – “The Father of the Poor,” “The Hammer of Heretics,” “The Model of Promoters and Defenders of the Catholic religion.”

St Robert Bellarmine
From the Roman Breviary

Robert, a native of Montepulciano, Italy and of the noble family of Bellarmine, had for his mother, the most pious Cynthia Cervini, sister of Pope Marcellus II. From the first, he was conspicuous for exemplary piety and most chaste manners, earnestly desiring this one thing, to please God alone and to win souls to Christ.

He attended the college of the Society of Jesus in his native town where he was highly commended for his intelligence and modesty. At the age of eighteen, he entered the same Society at Rome and was a model of all religious virtues. Having passed through the course of philosophy at the Roman College, he was sent firstly to Florence, then to Monreale, later to Padua to teach Sacred Theology and afterwards, to Louvain where, not yet a Priest, he ably discharged the office of preacher. After Ordination at Louvain, he taught Theology with such success, that he brought back many heretics to the unity of the Church and was regarded throughout Europe, as a most brilliant Theologian, so much so, that St Charles, Bishop of Milan and others, keenly sought after him.

Recalled to Rome at the wish of Pope Gregory XIII, he taught the science of controversial Theology at the Roman College and there, as Spiritual Director, he guided the angelic youth St Aloysius in the paths of holiness. He governed the Roman College and then the Neapolitan Province of the Society of Jesus, in accordance with the spirit of St Ignatius.

Again summoned to Rome, he was employed by Clement VIII in the most important affairs of the Church, with the greatest advantage to the Christian state. Then, against his will and in spite of opposition, he was admitted among the number of the Cardinals because, as the Pontiff publicly declared, he did not have his equal among Theologians in the Church of God, at the time. He was Consecrated Bishop by the same Pope and administered the Archdiocese of Capua in a most saintly manner for three years. Having resigned this office, he lived in Rome until his death, as a most impartial and trusty Counsellor to the Supreme Pontiff. He wrote much and in an admirable manner.

His principal merit lies in his complete victory in the struggle against the new errors, during which he distinguished himself as a strenuous and outstanding vindicator of Catholic tradition and the rights of the Roman See. He gained this victory by following St Thomas as his guide and teacher, by a prudent consideration of the needs of his times, by his irrefragable teaching and by a most abundant wealth of testimony, well-chosen from the Sacred Writings and from the very rich fountain of the Fathers of the Church. He is eminently noted for very numerous short works, for fostering piety and especially for that golden Catechism, winch he never failed to explain to the young and ignorant, both at Capua and at Rome, although preoccupied with other very important affairs.

A contemporary Cardinal declared, that Robert was sent by God for the instruction of Catholics, for the guidance of the good and for the confusion of heretics. St Francis de Sales regarded him as a fountain of learning; the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XIV called him the Hammer of Heretics and Benedict XV proclaimed him the Model of Promoters and Defenders of the Catholic religion.

He was most zealous in the religious life and he maintained that manner of life after having been chosen as one of the empurpled Cardinals. He did not want any wealth beyond what was necessary; he was satisfied with a moderate household and scanty fare and clothing. He did not strive to enrich his relatives and he could scarcely be induced to relieve their poverty, even occasionally. He had the lowest opinion of himself and was of wonderful simplicity of soul. He had an extraordinary love for the Mother of God; he spent many hours daily in prayer. He ate very sparingly and fasted three times a week. Uniformly austere with himself, he burned with charity towards his neighbour and was often called the Father of the poor. He earnestly strove that he might not stain his baptismal innocence by even the slightest fault.

Almost eighty years old, he fell into his last illness at St Andrew’s on the Quirinal hill and in it, he showed his usual radiant virtue. Pope Gregory XV and many Cardinals visited him on his deathbed, lamenting the loss of such a great pillar of the Church. He fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1621, on the day of the Sacred Stigmata of St Francis, the memory of which, he had been instrumental in having celebrated everywhere. The whole City mourned his death, unanimously proclaiming him a Saint. The Supreme Pontiff Pius XI inscribed his name, firstly, in the number of the Blessed, and then in that of the Saints and shortly afterwards, by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, he declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church.

His body is honoured with pious veneration at Rome in the Church of St Ignatius, near the tomb of St Aloysius, as he himself had desired. Blessed be God in His Holy Saints! Amen.

More of St Robert’s Life here:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/09/17/saint-of-the-day-17-september-st-robert-bellarmine-s-j-doctor-of-the-church/
AND a Podcast here:
St Robert Bellarmine and Galileo
https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/st-robert-bellarmine-doctor-of-the-church-and-of-prudence/

Saint of the Day – 17 September – St Robert Bellarmine SJ (1542-1621) Priest of the Society of Jesus, Bishop, Confessor, Cardinal, Theologian, Professor, Writer, Preacher, Mediator, Doctor of the Church.   Born as Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino on 4 October 1542 at Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy and died on the morning of 17 September 1621 at Rome, Italy of natural causes.      He was buried in Rome and his relics were translated to the Church of Saint Ignatius, Rome on 21 June 1923.    Patronages – Canon lawyer, Catechists, Catechumens, Cincinnati, Ohio Archdiocese of,  Bellarmine University, Fairfield University, Bellarmine College and School.  He was Beatified on 13 May 1923, Rome by Pope Pius XI and Canonised 29 June 1930, Rome by Pope Pius XI – he was named a Doctor of the Church by the same Pope a year later.  He is remembered as one of the most important Cardinals of the Catholic Counter Reformation.

Robert Bellarmine was born to an impoverished noble Italian family.   His early intellectual accomplishments gave his father hope that Bellarmine would restore the family’s fortunes through a political career.   His mother’s wish that he enter the Society of Jesus prevailed.   The young Bellarmine, a very small, frail but lively fellow excelled in his studies, especially Latin and Italian poetry.   It didn’t take long for it to become obvious that he wished to join the Society of Jesus.   The rector of the college described him as “the best of our school and not far from the kingdom of heaven.”   On completion of his studies, Bellarmine taught first at the University of Louvain in Belgium.   In 1576 he accepted the invitation of Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) to teach polemical theology at the new Roman College.   When he was ordained in 1570, the study of Church history and the fathers of the Church was in a sad state of neglect.  He devoted his energy to these two subjects, as well as to Scripture, in order to systematise Church doctrine against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers.   He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain.

Robert Bellarmine spent the next 11 years teaching and writing his monumental Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith., a three-volume defence of the Catholic faith against the arguments of the Protestant reformers.  Particularly noteworthy are the sections on the temporal power of the pope and the role of the laity.   To this day, it is considered one of the most important texts of Catholic theology ever written.   Three hundred years after its publication, it was called “the most complete defence of the Catholic teaching”.  A confidant to the Popes, Bellarmine held a number of positions, including rector of the Roman College, examiner of bishops, Cardinal Inquisitor, Archbishop of Capua, and Bishop of Montepulciano.

Through his writings Bellarmine was involved in the political, religious and social issues of the time.  Bellarmine incurred the anger of monarchists in England and France by showing the divine-right-of-kings theory untenable.   He developed the theory of the indirect power of the Pope in temporal affairs;  although he was defending the pope against the Scottish philosopher Barclay, he also incurred the ire of Pope Sixtus V.  He argued with King James I of England and was a judge at the trial of Giordano Bruno.   Bellarmine also communicated the decree of condemning the Copernican doctrine of the movements of the earth and sun, issued by Congregation of the Index to Galileo Galilei in 1616.   Among many activities, Bellarmine became theologian to Pope Clement VIII, preparing two catechisms which have had great influence in the Church.

Much to the amazement of all, at the height of his career, at the age of 60, Pope Clement VIII appointed Robert Bellarmine the Archbishop of Capua.   Bellarmine had never been in pastoral ministry.   Nevertheless, he began a new dimension of his Priesthood with his usual enthusiasm.   He would spend the next three years introducing the reforms of the Council of Trent in his Archdiocese.   He travelled everywhere, preaching to the people.  He visited his clergy as well as religious men and women to encourage them to renew the Church.   He won the love of everyone.

The last major controversy of Bellarmine’s life came in 1616 when he had to admonish his friend Galileo, whom he admired.   He delivered the admonition on behalf of the Holy Office, which had decided that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was contrary to Scripture.   The admonition amounted to a caution against putting forward—other than as a hypothesis—theories not yet fully proven.

Although he was one of the most powerful men in Rome and was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII on the grounds that “he had not his equal for learning.”   While he occupied apartments in the Vatican, Bellarmine relaxed none of his former austerities.  He limited his household expenses to what was barely essential, eating only the food available to the poor.   He was known to have ransomed a soldier who had deserted from the army and gave most of his money to the poor.   Once he gave the tapestries from his living quarters to the poor, saying that the walls wouldn’t catch cold.   While he took little regard for his own comforts, he always saw to it that his servants and aides had everything they needed.

Robert Bellarmine died at Rome on 17 September 1621 at the age of 79.   If his early career featured brilliant polemics and his middle years gentle, loving, pastoral life, his final years brought him transcendent peace.   His writings turned spiritual.   He wrote several works, the classics being “The Ascent of the Mind to God” and “The Art of Dying.”   He wrote that this was his way of preparing for death and to move closer to his God.   The process for his Canonisation was begun in 1627 but was delayed until 1930 for political reasons, stemming from his writings.   In 1930, Pope Pius XI Canonised him and the next year declared him a Doctor of the Church.