St. Robert, Our Parish Patron

    Robert Francis Romulus Bellarmine, the son of Vincent Bellarmino and Cynthia Cervini, was born on October 4, 1542 in the small town of Montepulcino in Tuscany, only a few miles north of Rome.  As a schoolboy, he was an excellent scholar and deeply devout: thus, at 18 years of age he was encouraged by his teachers to enter their Society – the Jesuits – in Rome.  During his completion of Studies for the priesthood he was sent to the University of Louvain, and while studying there he also preached to the undergraduates.  He was ordained a Priest in 1570, and immediately was given a full professorship at the University of Louvain.
    The labor of teaching, lecturing, preaching and intense study of Holy Scripture, and the writing of a Hebrew grammar took its toll on his health and he was recalled from Louvain to the Jesuit Roman College.  There he prepared his four great volumes called “Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith” – a work in which he showed such a profound acquaintance with the Bible and also of the writings of heretics that his challengers thought it was the work of a syndicate – far too much for one man to write and publish.
    At the request of Pope Clement VIII, he wrote the first catechism.  In recognition of his zealous labor for the Church, this same Pope made Fr. Robert Bellarmine a Cardinal in 1598 and stationed him in the Vatican.  Four years later, in 1602, he was appointed Archbishop of Capua and although 60 years old, he put aside his books and undertook teaching children catechism, helping the poor, making visitation of souls, winning love of everyone – a true Shepherd, a real Pastor.
    After a number of years at that Prominent post, and being nearly 80 years old, the life of Cardinal Archbishop Robert Bellarmine came to a close in 1621.  In 1930, Pope Pius XI declared him a Saint and one year later proclaimed Saint Robert Bellarmine – “as he had not equal for learning” – to be a Doctor of the Church.  His Feast Day is September 17th.