From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   September 17th - St. Robert Bellarmine   
      
   Roberto Bellarmino was born into a noble family in Montepulciano in Tuscany. In   
   1560, he joined the Jesuit order and began his studies at the Collegio Romano,   
   the Jesuit college in Rome. After finishing his course of studies there and   
   studying Thomistic theology at the university of Padua, Bellarmine became the   
   first Jesuit professor at the university of Louvain (in modern Belgium) in 1569   
   and was ordained as a priest the following year. Situated in the Low Countries   
   where Protestantism was gaining rapidly during this period, the university of   
   Louvain was becomes a bulwark of Catholic orthodoxy. Bellarmine taught theology   
   out of Thomas Acquinas's Summa Theologica and studied the Scriptures and the   
   Church Fathers in preparation for a major work on theology. During his period   
   at   
   Louvain he wrote a Hebrew grammar and a work on the Church Fathers.   
      
    In 1576 Bellarmine was called back to Rome by Pope Gregory XIII to teach   
   theology to English and German missionaries at the Collegio Romano. He taught   
   there until 1588. Toward the end of this period, his most important scholarly   
   work began appearing:   
      
   Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei Adversus Hujus Temporis   
   Haereticos (Disputations about the Controversies of the Christian faith Against   
   the Heretics of this Time) (3 vols, Ingolstadt, 1586-1593). In this work,   
   Bellarmine brought order to the chaos of theological arguments between   
   Catholics   
   and Protestants. Whereas the literature on this subject was marked by heated   
   debates and intemperate statements on both sides, Bellarmine calmly and fairly   
   reviewed the issues. These volumes became a remarkably effective weapon against   
   reform theology, and it has been argued that they occasioned the return of many   
   to the Catholic Church.   
      
    In 1588 Bellarmine became the spiritual director of the Collegio Romano. Among   
   his other duties he taught the catechism to students and lay brothers, and his   
   lessons eventually led to Dottrina Cristiani Breve (Brief Christian Doctrine)   
   Rome, 1597), a small catechism for children, and Dichiarazione piX Copiosa   
   della   
   Dottrina Cristiani (A more copious declaration of the Christian doctrine)   
   (Rome,   
   1598), a catechism for teachers. Approved by Pope Clement XIII, both catechisms   
   became very popular and were translated into many languages. Their popularity   
   lasted well into the twentieth century.   
      
    Bellarmine served as rector of the Collegio Romano in 1592, as provincial of   
   the Neapolitan province of the Jesuits in 1594, and papal theologian in 1597.   
   In   
   1599 he was made a cardinal. From this time forward he was a member of the   
   Roman   
   Congregation and served on many commissions. In 1602 he was consecrated an   
   archbishop and sent by Pope Clement VIII to Capua, where he concerned himself   
   mainly with pastoral duties. In 1605 he was recalled to Rome.   
      
    Bellarmine spent much of his time in theological controversies, mostly   
   involving papal power. He engaged in a public debate, a war of books and   
   pamphlets, concerning the divine right of kings with James I of England. The   
   issue of papal power revolved around the theory of the indirect power of the   
   Pope. His spiritual power is direct and primary; he was not, however, without   
   temporal power because he might have to act with regard to temporal things   
   which   
   affected the spiritual ones. This was the Pope's indirect power, which   
   Bellarmine defended all his adult life.   
      
    In 1616 Bellarmine became involved in the Copernican controversy, which was   
   brought to a head by the publication of Paolo Antonio Foscarini's book   
   defending   
   the Copernican system from the charge that it clashed with the Scriptures. It   
   was he who administered the controversial admonition to Galileo not to hold or   
   defend the Copernican theory.   
      
    In a time when cardinals maintained splendid courts, Bellarmine lived a simple   
   and ascetic life, practicing self-sacrifice, poverty, and disinterestedness.   
   Upon the death of Pope Sixtus V in 1590, the Count of Olivares wrote to King   
   Philip III of Spain about possible candidates for the papacy: "Bellarmine is   
   beloved for his great goodness, but he is a scholar who lives only among books   
   and not of much practical ability . . . . He would not do for a Pope, for he is   
   mindful only of the interests of the Church and is unresponsive to the reasons   
   of princes . . . He would scruple to accept gifts . . . I suggest that we exert   
   no action in his favor." The King agreed.   
      
    The process of canonization was begun in 1627. In 1931 Pope Pius XI finally   
   declared Bellarmine a Doctor of the Church.   
      
   References   
      
   1.   
   Broderick, James. (1961). Robert Bellarmine, Saint and Scholar. Westminster,   
   MD:   
   Newman Press.   
      
   2.   
   di Santillana, Giorgio. (1955). The Crime of Galileo. Chicago: University of   
   Chicago Press.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   I do not care if I have against me all the Bishops; I have with me the Saints   
   and all the doctors of the Church.   
   -St. Thomas More   
      
   Bible Quote   
   8 Be mindful that the Lord Jesus Christ is risen again from the dead, of the   
   seed of David, according to my gospel. 9 Wherein I labour even unto bands, as   
   an   
   evildoer; but the word of God is not bound. 10 Therefore I endure all things   
   for   
   the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in   
   Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory.  (2 Tim. 2:8-10)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer for a Happy Death   
   By St. Charles Borromeo   
      
      
   IN THE NAME of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I, a poor,   
   unhappy sinner, make this solemn declaration before thee, O beloved Angel, who   
   has been given me as a protector by the Divine Majesty:   
      
   1. I desire to die in the Faith which the Holy, Roman and Apostolic Church   
   adheres to and defends, in which all the Saints of the New Testament have died.   
   I pray thee, provide that I may not depart out of this life before the Holy   
   Sacraments of that Church have been administered to me.   
      
   2. I pray that I may depart from this life under thy holy protection and   
   guidance, and I beseech thee, therefore, to assist me at the hour of my death   
   and to propitiate the Eternal judge, whose Sacred Heart was inflamed with most   
   ardent love for sinners upon the Cross.   
      
   3. With my whole heart I long to be made a partaker of the merits of Jesus   
   Christ and His holy Mother Mary, thine exalted Queen, and I pray thee, through   
   the sufferings of Jesus on the Cross, to mitigate the agonies of my death and   
   to   
   move the Queen of Heaven to cast her loving glance upon me, a poor sinner, in   
   that dreadful hour, for my sweetest consolation.   
      
   O my dearest Guardian Angel! Let my soul be placed in thy charge, and when it   
   has gone forth from the prison of this body, do thou deliver it into the hands   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)