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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Saint: Robert Bellarmine, S.J.

Robert Bellarmine is a theologian, bishop and Doctor of the Church. He entered the Jesuits in 1560 and did his ecclesiastical studies in Rome, Padua, and Louvain. As professor of the University of Louvain, he became the professor of Controversial Theology and garnered much respect from Protestants as he carefully and systematically defending the Catholic faith in a rational manner. This was a time in which the Reformation doctrines of Luther and Calvin were quickly spreading throughout Europe. He civilly taught his classes to answer the objections the Reformers brought against the Church.

In 1577 he was transferred to Rome where he again taught theology, which became the basis for his book Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics of this Age. He also helped to revise the Latin Bible, prepared two catechisms, directed the Roman College, supervised the Vatican library, and acted as the Pope’s theologian.

He was appointed Cardinal (1599) and Archbishop of Capua (1602). Pope Pius XI declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1931.

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