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Reflection on Today’s Feast

By Fr. John O’Malley, SJ

Robert Bellarmine was legendary in his lifetime, almost front-page news, and he is still a person who appears in every major history of early modern Europe. He was the best known Catholic theologian of the era and was involved, it seems, in virtually every major religious controversy.  He played an important role in the papal investigation of Galileo’s orthodoxy, became involved in public controversy with King James I of England, and defended papal policy in the infamous interdict of the Republic of Venice. 

Meanwhile, he wrote his Controversies, four volumes that were up to that time the most complete and measured Catholic response to Protestant theology.  He also wrote a catechism, which was an international success, a worthy rival to the more famous catechism of his older Jesuit contemporary, Saint Peter Canisiius.  He was highly influential in the Jesuits’ efforts to secure the canonization of Saint Ignatius.

A nephew of Pope Marcellus II, he owed none of his future prominence to that fact but to his innate talent, his hard work, and his passionate devotion to the church and the Society of Jesus, which he entered at the age eighteen in 1560, just twenty years after the Society’s founding.  His Jesuit superiors almost immediately recognized what a talented young man he was and made sure he received an excellent education.  They sent him first to the University of Padua, one of the two best universities in Italy, and then to the prestigious University of Louvain in present- day Belgium.

Years later, Bellarmine as professor and then rector at the Roman College came to know and admire the young Jesuit scholastic there, Aloysius Gonzaga. According to his wish, he is buried near the tomb of Saint Aloysius in the church of Sant’ Ignazio in Rome.  On my very first visit to Rome, I saw the tombs, which made a deep impression on me.

That is a summary of the highlights of Bellarmine’s public life. As befits a Jesuit, that life was fueled and sustained by a deep spirituality.  We are fortunate in having access to that spirituality in a volume published in 1980 dedicated to it in the Paulist well regarded series, “Classics of Western Spirituality.”

Until I saw Bellarmine’s tomb in Rome, he meant little to me except a name in a history book.  When I saw the tomb and learned it was there because of his admiration for Aloysius, he all at once became for me a person of flesh and blood, a person who could experience affection for another, a person, consequently, who must also, like me, have experienced doubt, fear, and, yes, temptation.

Nonetheless, only when I was asked to write the preface to the Paulist volume did I begin to feel a truly deep affinity for this man who amidst public controversy and intense pastoral activity sustained himself by his love for Christ.  He thus stood for me as the Jesuit ideal, the true “contemplative in action” and man dedicated to the wellbeing of others.

The Paulist volume contains only two of Bellarmine’s writings: “The Art of Dying Well” and the much longer, “The Mind’s Ascent to God by the Ladder of Created Things.” Remarkable in both works is their positive tone, free of castigation of human inconstancy and ingratitude for God’s gifts, and, in an age of such fierce controversy, the absence of any suggestion of polemic.  For me, “The Mind’s Ascent” is the more intriguing and inspiring of the two pieces.

The “Ascent” seems to me to be an elaboration and extended meditation on “The Contemplation for Obtaining Divine Love” in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius.  It is, in essence, a panegyric of God by recounting God’s marvelous works for our good. Its purpose is to arouse in us feelings of awe, gratitude, and love.   What more can one ask of a piece of spiritual literature?

Saint Robert Bellarmine pray for us!

Fr. John O’Malley, SJ, was one of the revered historians in the Society of Jesus. He wrote this reflection shortly before his death in September of 2022.

Previous Reflections

September 17, 2021 – by Fr. Phil Florio, SJ

Electric purple, neon yellow, lime green, and cardinal red, believe it or not these were the colors of the walls on the various floors of one of the academic buildings at my undergraduate institution, Saint Joseph’s University. These colors do exist (google them) and a school newspaper article explained to us that a Jesuit art professor (Fr. Dennis McNally, SJ, RIP) had handpicked these vivid colors to “add some energy” to the building. It was 1984 so these colors perfectly matched some of my own t-shirts and pants. (it was the 80s.) The academic building was named Bellarmine Hall, pronounced differently by just about everyone on campus. Some said “Bell-er-mine,” some Bell-er -mean” and still others called it that building with the funky colored walls named after a dead Jesuit. I wanted to learn who this “dead Jesuit” was and why he had, in his honor, a building with outlandish colored walls.

After speaking with a another Jesuit professor on campus, a historian, ( Fr. Bill King, SJ RIP) I learned that Robert Bellarmine was a 16th century Italian Jesuit and cardinal of the Church. I suppose that is why the fourth floor was painted “cardinal red.” That may not be accurate, but I certainly liked that suggestion! Bellarmine was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 36 others, including another Jesuit, St. Peter Canisius. An outstanding scholar and “defender of the faith”, Bellarmine remains one of the most crucial figures in the Counter-Reformation.

St. Robert Bellarmine was a leading theologian and the rector at the Roman College ( the Jesuits' Gregorian University). Because of his exceptional scholarly work with the reform decrees of the Council of Trent, Pope Clement VIII made him the Archbishop of Capua. Pope Clement said of him, "the Church of God had not his equal in learning.” It is no surprise that Clement later made him a cardinal. Notably, the Rule of the Society of Jesus states that we are “never to seek,” and only under orders from the Holy Father himself, are we to accept any ecclesial offices. Indeed, this gets a little perplexing with Pope Francis, our first Jesuit pope!

St. Robert is distinguished for his book De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, his preface to the new Sixto-Clementine Vulgate and a personal commentary on each of the Psalms. From his research grew Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei (also called Controversiae). This remarkable work was the earliest attempt to regulate the various religious differences between Catholics and Protestants. In 1597 he published a Catechism which was translated in 50 languages, becoming one of the most trusted sources for the official teaching of the Catholic Church in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Finally, after his retirement from active ministry, he wrote several short books intended to help ordinary people in their spiritual life: The Mind's Ascent to God, The Art of Dying Well and The Seven Words on the Cross. These books continue to inspire and guide many. Without a doubt, very few persons in the history of the Church have had such a wide- ranging impact on the religious life of their age as Saint Robert Bellarmine. With that, I think he deserves a building named for him on every Jesuit campus, (but I suspect that we can do without the “cardinal red” walls!).

"On the last day, when the general examination takes place, there will be no question at all on the text of Aristotle, the aphorisms of Hippocrates, or the paragraphs of Justinian. Charity will be the whole syllabus." - St. Robert Bellarmine