Robert Bellarmine

Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmine SJ ( born October 4, 1542 in Montepulciano, † September 17, 1621 in Rome ) was a Jesuit theologian and cardinal. He was a major supporter of Roman Catholicism and the papal supremacy in the 16th century.

Life

Bellarmine was born into impoverished patrician house of Bellarmini to Montepulciano. His mother was Cynthia Cervini, sister of Pope Marcellus II Early on, she tried her son in the newly founded Society of Jesus, whose follower it was to house. He was educated at great piety, modesty and purity of morals. He attended the College of the Jesuits in Montepulciano, at age 18, he joined the Jesuit Order.

After his philosophical studies in Rome he studied first in Florence (including astronomy), then in Monreale and later in Padua theology. He finished his theological training in Leuven, where he was ordained a priest in 1570 and occurred against Michael Bajus. Through his strong charisma, he acquired throughout Europe an excellent reputation as a theologian, which in 1576 resulted that Pope Gregory XIII. appointed him to the Pontifical University in Rome.

There he took over the chair of Roman apologetics at the Collegium and set up a study controversial theology. In Rome he was also ordered " in the spiritual life teacher" to and served as a chaplain Father for the alumni of the college, including Aloysius Gonzaga. Relativistic versions of it to the Pope's power over worldly goods were indexed in 1590, when he was on a diplomatic mission on behalf of Pope Sixtus V. in France. But the background was probably more of a fundamental conflict between the Jesuits and the Franciscans entstamme Pope ends. To his protection Bellarmine was transferred to Naples and determined to head the local province of the order.

When Pope Clement VIII in 1592, was Bellarmine could be rehabilitated and return to Rome. Following the publication of the third volume of his Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis haereticos ( 1593) he was again transferred in 1594 to Naples and led this province of the order to 1597. He returned to Rome and wrote his catechism Christianae doctrinae explicatio.

In 1599 he was picked up by Clement VIII, against his will in the College of Cardinals and then consecrated bishop. He received as a titular church of Santa Maria in Via. In the meantime he had taken over the role of the Grand Inquisitor in Häresieprozess against Giordano Bruno. This was sentenced there to death by burning. In the dispute between the Jesuits and Dominicans because of pelagianisierenden writings of the Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina, he championed the interests of his order in accordance with the Molinism, thereby again fell out of favor and was sent in 1602 as archbishop to Capua. There he directed until 1605 the archdiocese when he. Leo XI was recalled as a theological adviser to Rome. Leo died in 1605; from the conclave had emerged as Pope Paul V almost Bellarmine instead.

In Rome Bellarmine Galileo Galilei had met, he knew how to appreciate as a scientist but also as a devout Christian home. When in 1615 the Carmelite Paolo Antonio Foscarini published a book that should prove that the formulated in De revolutionibus orbium Coelestium Copernican astronomy did not contradict the Scripture, the Roman Congregation of the Index of forbidden books opened an investigation. At the end of this process was in 1616 the prohibition of Foscarini's work, the " suspension" of Nicolaus Copernicus ' De revolutionibus and the clear statement of the Copernican astronomy was " false and contrary to Scripture ". Bellarmine had a leading role as advisor to the Pope in the preparation of this method and also the one that Galileo had made ​​the Vatican's position clearly.

In 1620 he joined the titular church and was Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede. Until his death on September 17, 1621, he remained in Rome, where he was buried in the Church of St. Ignatius next to the tomb of St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

His main work Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis haereticos (Rome 1581) has long been the principal written defense of Roman Catholicism. Therefore, many Protestant writers grappled with the Scriptures to justify the Protestant faith. Not only in theology suggested the Disputationes contradiction, but also the philosopher Thomas Hobbes is concerned almost in the last two chapters of his magnum opus Leviathan exclusively with the rejection of Bellarmine, which he more than any other author cited in this work.

Widely used and translated into all modern languages ​​is his catechism Christianae doctrinae explicatio, published today in 400 editions and 60 languages. Bellarmine has an autobiography written (Ferrara 1761). Collected editions of his works were published in Venice in 1721 (5 vols ), in Cologne in 1619 (7 vols ), Paris 1874 ( 12 vols ). His life described in Italian Jesuit Fuligatti (Rome 1624).

On 13 May 1923 he was instituted by Pope Pius XI. beatified and canonized on 29 June 1930. In 1931 he was elevated to the Church.

Several churches bear his name.

Works in selection

• Judicium de libro, quem Lutherani vocant Concordiae. 1585
• Disputationes de controversiis Christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis haereticos. Ingolstadt 1586-93
• De translatione imperii Romani a Graecis ad Francos, adversus Matthiam Flaccium Illyricum. 1589
• Christianae doctrinae explicatio. 1603
• Tractatus de potestate summi Pontificis in rebus temporalibus. 1610
• Institutiones linguae Hebraicae. Geneva 1616
• Explanatio in the Psalms. - Dusseldorf from 1761 to 1765. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf; Volumes 4, 5 and 6
• De gemitu columbae sive de bono lacrymarum, German edition " The sighing dove ", Vienna 1846

German translations

• Catechisms. Creed. Our Father. Würzburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-429-03046-9.
• Disputations on the issues of the Christian faith. Volume I: From the written and unwritten word of God ( Library of the Church Teacher), Paint box 2012, ISBN 978-3-943506-02-0.
• Disputations on the issues of the Christian faith. Volume II: Christ, the Head of the whole Church ( Library of the Church Teacher), Paint box 2012, ISBN 978-3-943506-03-7.
• Detailed explanation of the Christian faith: For today's use translated and edited. Wurzburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-429-03578-5.
• Thorough evidence for the truth of the Catholic, the one true religion. With a picture of life according to the documents of the Declaration on the Doctor Ecclesiae. ( Library of the Doctors of the Church - small fonts), Kulmbach, 2013, ISBN 978-3-943506-17-4.
• The art of dying well. ( Library of the Doctors of the Church - small fonts), Kulmbach, 2013, ISBN 978-3-943506-18-1.
• Disputations on the issues of the Christian faith. Volume III: About the Pope, the head of the Church Militant, ( Library of the Church Teacher), Kulmbach 2014, ISBN 978-3-943506-04-4.