September 17 - Robert Bellarmin, born in Montepulciano in Tuscany (Italy) on October 4, 1542, came from a rich and numerous Tuscan family. Robert was the son of Vincenzo Bellarmino. His mother Cinthia Cervini was the sister of Cardinal Marcello Cervini, future Pope Marcel II.
After joining the brand new college opened by the Jesuits in Montepulciano and wondering if he would become a doctor, Robert Bellarmino chose to enter the Society of Jesus on September 20, 1560. He was dispensed from the novitiate and was immediately sent to study at the Roman College. In 1567 he began his theology in Padua but was sent in 1569 to the newly opened Jesuit theologate in Louvain to finish his studies. He became a teacher there the following year. Called to Rome (1576) to hold the Chair of Controversies at the Roman College, he distinguished himself by his theological competence in the defense of the Catholic faith and even more by his courtesy towards Protestants. At the Collège romain, Robert Bellarmin received in spiritual direction the Jesuit student Saint Louis de Gonzague, who died shortly afterwards, victim of his service to the plague patients. Bellarmin expressed the wish to be buried next to him.
He was the theologian of Pope Clement VIII who ordered parishes to use Bellarmine's catechism "Doctrina christiana breve" (1597). The same Clement VIII made him a Cardinal in 1599. He became a cardinal-priest with the title Cardinalice Santa Prassede in 1620. Appointed Archbishop of Capua in 1601, the curialist and great theologian also felt at ease in pastoral work: he organized regular synods in his diocese and systematically visited all the parishes. Paul V, the new Pope, immediately called him back to Rome where he was influential in various Roman congregations (Index, Holy Office, Propagation of the Faith...). He was strongly committed to the defense of the rights and temporal power of the Papacy. Several times he asked the Pope to be allowed to withdraw from Vatican affairs. This was refused because, as Paul V said, "the Church cannot do without him!". Having become completely deaf, he was finally able to finish the few months that remained of his life at the Jesuit novitiate of St. Andrew of the Quirinal (Rome), where he died on September 17, 1621. He will be remembered as someone who, out of love for the Church, spent his entire life defending Catholic doctrine against heretics and writing forcefully in favor of the temporal power of the Popes.
Robert Bellarmin was beatified in 1923, canonized in 1930 after a long trial and finally proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1931 by Pope Pius XI. His mortal remains are in the church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Rome, under the altar of the chapel dedicated to him.
