Saint Robert Bellarmine

Robert Bellarmine was born in Montepulciano on October 4, 1542, the third of five children in a noble family that had fallen on hard times. His mother, Cinzia Cervini, was the sister of Pope Marcellus II. He joined the Jesuits and became the most important theologian of the Church in his day. His *Controversies* — the systematic presentation of Catholic doctrine in response to the Reformation — were studied for three centuries; in England and Germany, university chairs were founded for the sole purpose of refuting them. He was rector of the Roman College, archbishop of Capua, cardinal. And he was a poor cardinal: he even sold the tapestries in his residence to give to the poor, saying that walls don’t catch cold. His name, though, is tied to two trials. In 1600 he was part of the Holy Office that sent Giordano Bruno to the stake. And in 1616 it was he who personally delivered to Galileo Galilei — his friend, whom he admired — the decree declaring the Copernican doctrine untenable. He advised him to treat it as a mathematical hypothesis. These are two chapters the Church later acknowledged as its own faults, and no honest biography can skip them. He also wrote a catechism that spread enormously, and on his deathbed he asked to be buried at the feet of Aloysius Gonzaga, who had been his student. He died in Rome on September 17, 1621. Pius XI made him a saint in 1930 and a doctor of the Church in 1931. If your name is Robert, today is your name day.