Who? You might ask. Ironically, Saint Robert Bellarmine is practically unknown to the Catholics of the United States, even though he is the Patron Saint of Religious Education and a Doctor of the Church.
The 16th century was one of the most difficult in the history of the Church. The attacks on the Church by the original "Reformers" caused tremendous losses to the Church in numbers, property, power and prestige. Whole nations abandoned "mother Church", rejected doctrine after doctrine, denied the validity of the sacramental system and eliminated the central worship of the Church, the Mass. The rejection of the authority of the Church, the personal interpretation of Scripture, the importance of tradition endangered the entire future of Christianity. If the Church had not responded, it would have been destroyed. But respond it did! Some historians use the terms "Counter-Reformation" and "Catholic Reformation" to describe how the Church fought back.
The Council of Trent revitalized the practice and truth of the faith. The Reformers had not been entirely wrong in their criticism. There was much wrong with the Church, especially in its practice. The challenge was to restore the Church to its original purity, especially in the life of the spirit and the people of God. It is the view of the Church today that the Providence of God sent to the Church at that time a man named Robert Bellarmine, who would be a key leader in defending the Church and moving it forward to better days.
Robert Bellarmine ne Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino, was an Italian Jesuit, a cardinal of the Catholic Church and 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 of the Council of Trent. He is al!so widely remembered for his role in the Giordano Bruno affair, the trial of Friar Fulgenzio Manfredi and the Galileo affair - 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. As the San Franciscan Media puts it, this shows that saints are not infallible.
Saint Bellarmine’s major work, Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos ('Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics of this Time'), usually referred to as Disputationes, De Controversiis or Controversiae, is a work on dogmatics in three volumes.
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 systematize Church doctrine against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers. He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain.
Disputationes was written while Bellarmine was lecturing at the Roman College. This work was the earliest attempt to systematize the various controversies of the time, and made an immense impression throughout Europe, the strength of its arguments against Protestantism so acutely felt in Germany and England that special chairs were founded in order to provide replies to it.Thomas Hobbes, Theodore Beza, Conrad Vorstius and John Rainolds were among those who wrote counter-arguments.
Bellarmine 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 he used the hangings of his rooms to clothe poor people, remarking, “The walls won’t catch cold.”
In 1930, Pope Pius XI canonized Robert Bellarmine, and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church.
He is one of the great figures in the era of the Counter- Reformation or the Catholic Reformation. A member of the Roman Curia for most of his active life and a Cardinal of the church, he was not raised to the altars of the Church until 1930.
The 16th century was one of the most difficult in the history of the Church. The attacks on the Church by the original "Reformers" caused tremendous losses to the Church in numbers, property, power and prestige. Whole nations abandoned "mother Church", rejected doctrine after doctrine, denied the validity of the sacramental system and eliminated the central worship of the Church, the Mass. The rejection of the authority of the Church, the personal interpretation of Scripture, the importance of tradition endangered the entire future of Christianity. If the Church had not responded, it would have been destroyed. But respond it did! Some historians use the terms "Counter-Reformation" and "Catholic Reformation" to describe how the Church fought back.
The Council of Trent revitalized the practice and truth of the faith. The Reformers had not been entirely wrong in their criticism. There was much wrong with the Church, especially in its practice. The challenge was to restore the Church to its original purity, especially in the life of the spirit and the people of God. It is the view of the Church today that the Providence of God sent to the Church at that time a man named Robert Bellarmine, who would be a key leader in defending the Church and moving it forward to better days.
Robert Bellarmine ne Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino, was an Italian Jesuit, a cardinal of the Catholic Church and 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 of the Council of Trent. He is al!so widely remembered for his role in the Giordano Bruno affair, the trial of Friar Fulgenzio Manfredi and the Galileo affair - 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. As the San Franciscan Media puts it, this shows that saints are not infallible.
Saint Bellarmine’s major work, Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos ('Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics of this Time'), usually referred to as Disputationes, De Controversiis or Controversiae, is a work on dogmatics in three volumes.
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 systematize Church doctrine against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers. He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain.
Disputationes was written while Bellarmine was lecturing at the Roman College. This work was the earliest attempt to systematize the various controversies of the time, and made an immense impression throughout Europe, the strength of its arguments against Protestantism so acutely felt in Germany and England that special chairs were founded in order to provide replies to it.Thomas Hobbes, Theodore Beza, Conrad Vorstius and John Rainolds were among those who wrote counter-arguments.
Bellarmine 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 he used the hangings of his rooms to clothe poor people, remarking, “The walls won’t catch cold.”
In 1930, Pope Pius XI canonized Robert Bellarmine, and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church.
Prayer for the Intercession of St. Robert Bellarmine, SJ
O Lord, You blessed St. Robert Bellarmine with great wisdom and learning. May we, like him, use well the double gifts of faith and reason. May we grow in understanding our faith, diligence in living it, compassion in our service toward those in need, and in all things, grow toward ever-greater love of You. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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