Robert Bellarmine was a cardinal in the Catholic Church who lived from 1542 to 1621. Robert Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit Priest. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church. He is one of only 37 doctors of the church. Robert Bellarmine was one of the most important figures in the Counter-Reformation. He was a professor of theology and later rector of the Roman College, and in 1602 became Archbishop of Capua. He supported the reform decrees at the famous Council of Trent. Robert Bellamine lived from 1542 until 1621. He wrote several books and treatises, including the book To Live Well and Die Holy. Do you know him?
Saint Robert Bellarmine, Biography
Robert Bellarmine was born in 1542 and was ordained in 1569. He was ordained in Rome, where he stayed for three years in a Jesuit house. Robert Bellarmine’s studies of theology began at Padua, Italy, in 1567 and 1568. In 1569, he was sent to finish his studies at the University of Leuven in Brabant. There he was ordained and obtained a great reputation both as a professor and as a preacher.
He was the first Jesuit Priest to teach at the university. The subject of his course was the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Robert Bellarmine stayed in Leuven for seven years. He had to cut his residency short because of poor health. In 1576, he made a journey to Italy. Here he remained, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII to lecture on polemical theology in the new Roman College, now known as the Pontifical Gregorian University. He would also promote the cause of the beatification of Aloysius Gonzaga there, who had been a student at the college during Bellarmine’s tenure. His lectures were published under the title De Controversias in four large volumes.
Robert Bellarmine retired to Sant’Andrea degli Scozzesi, the Jesuit college of Saint Andrew in Rome. He died on 17 September 1621, aged 78. He was buried in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. Robert Bellarmine was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930; the following year, he was made a Doctor of the Church. His remains, dressed in his Cardinal’s robe, are displayed behind glass under a side altar in the Church of Saint Ignatius, the chapel of the Roman College, next to the body of his student Aloysius Gonzaga, as he wished.
His books included:
Disputationes, 1581–1593
Responsio
The Mind’s Ascent to God, 1614, also called Jacob’s Ladder
The Art of Dying Well
The Seven Words on the Cross
Sermons from the Latins
Commentary on the Book of Psalms
Conclusion
Robert Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit priest, a Cardinal, and a Doctor of the Catholic Church, one of only 37. He is not one of the most well-known saints, but is worthy of being known. If the reader made it to this point in the article, they should know him a bit better. Many of his books are still available. The Art of Dying Well is most recommended as death comes to all of us, some unexpectedly.
