This saint wrote not one but two catechisms

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	St. Robert Bellarmine When: Oct. 4, 1542-Sept. 17, 1621 Where: Italy What: Theologian, Doctor of the Church Feast: Sept. 17 Patron: Catechists

In our disposable society, where at times it seems no one has more than 15 minutes of fame, it may be hard for many to believe that St. Robert Bellarmine wrote a catechism that was used for more than 300 years.

Robert Bellarmine was born at Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy. As a youth, he wrote Latin verses and played the violin. Despite protests from his father, Robert joined the Jesuits and was ordained to the priesthood in 1570. He was the first Jesuit professor at the Louvain University where he was known as a great teacher and preacher.

In 1576, he became the professor of controversial theology at the Roman College (founded in 1551 by St. Ignatius of Loyola) now known as the Pontifical Gregorian University.

He developed his lectures into a multi-volume book that refuted Protestant arguments against Catholicism. Unlike some defenders of the faith of that time and since, he used well-reasoned arguments, not personal attacks or rhetorical flourishes, to answer his critics. He said he prayed daily for his opponents.

Often, he was a voice of moderation. For example, in 1610, Robert was told to silence Galileo, who held that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the solar system. Robert convinced him to present his ideas as hypotheses, rather than proven facts.

Still, some of his beliefs were controversial. He angered the French and British royalty by denying the divine right of kings. He alienated Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) by saying that popes may act only in those secular affairs that affect the spiritual order. His book nearly ended up on the Index of forbidden writings.

In 1592, Robert became rector of the Roman College and helped prepare a revised version of the Vulgate Bible. Two years later, he was appointed provincial of the Jesuits' Naples province.

Pope Clement VIII called him back to Rome in 1597 to serve as his theologian, which is when he wrote two catechisms. The pope named Robert a cardinal in 1599 because, the pope said, he was the best educated man available.

Robert, who had always lived simply, refused to change his habits, despite his new position. He lived on a diet of bread and garlic and gave the curtains from his Vatican apartment to the poor for use as clothing because "The walls won't catch cold."

Robert was named Archbishop of Capua, near Naples, in 1602. He began visiting the people, teaching children and helping the poor. But three years later, the newly elected Pope Paul V (1605-21) called him back to Rome to head the Vatican Library and serve in several Vatican Congregations.

Robert spent his final years writing devotional books on the Psalms and his Art of Dying Well.