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Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine
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Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine
Published on JESUIT CONFERENCE OF SOUTH ASIA
(http://www.jcsaweb.org)
(17/09) Feast/Memorial/of:
Saint Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine (Roberto Bellarmino, 1542-1621) was a scholar,
theologian and intrepid defender of the Faith during the controversies
of the Reformation. As a cardinal he served three popes who counted
on his wisdom and scholarly advice. He was born in central Italy, in the
small hill city of Montepulciano, and was the nephew, on his mother's
side, of Pope Marcellus II. His father initially opposed Bellarmine's desire
to become a Jesuit and requested that he wait a year to test his
vocation. Father General James Laínez decided to count that year as the
young man's novitiate and accepted his vows as soon as he arrived in
Rome. After studying philosophy at the Roman College, he studied
theology first at the University of Padua and then at Louvain. He was
ordained in 1570 in the same year that the Jesuits opened their own
theologate in Louvain where he was appointed the first Jesuit professor
of theology. During his seven years there he became familiar with the
writings of the Reformers, especially Martin Luther and John Calvin,
whose objections against the Roman Church he answered in his
courses.
The Jesuit theologian returned to the Roman College in 1576 to take the
chair of "controversial theology" which meant specializing in those
theological disputes that divided the Christian Church. The success of
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Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine
Published on JESUIT CONFERENCE OF SOUTH ASIA
(http://www.jcsaweb.org)
his lectures during his 11 years there led the pope to name him to papal
commissions on revising the Vulgate (Latin) Bible and preparing a new
edition of the Septuagint (Greek) Bible. In 1586 he published the first of
three volumes of his Controversies, his most important work. In 1598 he
published his Catechism, which became widely used and was translated
into 62 languages. As he devoted himself to writing, Father Bellarmine
stopped teaching but continued spiritual direction of Jesuit students,
including the young nobleman, Aloysius Gonzaga. In 1592 he was
appointed rector of the college, with responsibility for 220 Jesuits; then
in 1594 he was appointed provincial of the Naples province.
Bellarmine was only provincial for two years before Pope Clement VIII
asked him to become his theological adviser. Despite the Jesuit's own
desires, the pope named him a cardinal on March 3, 1599. Being a
cardinal meant that he had to be surrounded by servants and
gentlemen-in-waiting, but he continued to live simply and distribute to
the poor money he did not spend on himself. To Cardinal Bellarmine's
surprise, in 1602 the Holy Father named him Archbishop of Capua, a
diocese north of Naples. When Paul V was elected on May 16, 1605, the
new pope asked Cardinal Bellarmine to remain in Rome, where he was
named to several Vatican congregations.
Cardinal Bellarmine always maintained a Jesuit spiritual life, and used
the annual retreat, which he extended to 30-days per year, as an
opportunity to write books on spirituality. As he progressed into his 70s,
he asked the Holy Father for permission to retire and return to live in
the Jesuit novitiate of Sant'Andrea in Rome. Both Paul V and his
successor, Gregory XV, refused to allow Bellarmine to leave their
service because they so valued his presence. Eventually Pope Gregory
relented, and the Jesuit cardinal moved into the novitiate only days
before contracting a fever from which he never recovered. The simple
funeral he had requested became, by order of the pope, something
much more elaborate as testimony to someone whose service to the
Church had been outstanding. His body was transferred in 1923 to the
church of St. Ignatius.
Originally Collected and edited by: Tom Rochford, SJ
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Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine
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