Christian Cyclopedia

(Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino; 1542–1621). B. Tuscany; d. Rome; nephew of Pope Marcellus 11; Jesuit 1560; prof. Louvain 1570; prof. controversial theol. Collegium Romanum 1576; cardinal 1599; abp. Capua 1602–05; canonized 1930; doctor of the church 1931.

Bellarmine was an able scholar and controversialist. His chief work, Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidel adversus huins temporis haereticos, is a systematic apology for the RC position. It emphasizes the necessity of the magisterium (teaching office of the church) and tradition. Because its first vol. held that the papacy had only indirect power in temporal matters it was proposed for the Index of Prohibited Books* 1590. Other works include Judicium de libro, quem Lutherani vocant concordiae; De translatione imperil romania Graecis ad Francos, adversus Matthiam Flacium Illyricum; De Christi anima (Book IV of De Christo).

See also Counter Reformation, 8; Roman Catholic Confessions, A 3.

Works in 12 vols. (Paris, 1870–74) and 8 vols. (Naples, 1872); autobiography (Rome, 1676). Primary sources are the biographies of J. Fuligatti (Rome, 1624), D. Bartoll (Rome, 1678) and N. Frizon (Nancy, 1708); I. Brodrick, The Life and Work of Blessed Robert Francis Cardinal Bellarmine, 2 vols. (London, 1928); E. A. Ryan, The Historical Scholarship of Saint Bellarmine (Louvain, 1936).