Venerable Robert Bellarmine

What he had been until the moment when so many honors came to surround him, he remained always in his heart; he had nothing, apart from the marks of his dignity, that distinguished him from a simple Jesuit. He kept as faithfully as possible the rules of the Company, and he wished to render his soul to God in the novitiate of the Gesù. Indeed, having had himself carried there at the beginning of his illness, he laid down the weight of his body there, and flew toward the purest radiance of the divine sun, from that very place where he had consecrated himself entirely to God. Gregory XV wished to visit the dying cardinal; the latter, gathering his strength, addressed to him these words which prove the veneration he had for the Vicar of Jesus Christ:

*Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum*; then he asked the Reverend Father André, his intimate friend, to record in writing that he was dying, by the mercy of God, in the bosom of the Catholic Church and in the true faith, and that he thought no differently at his final hour than when he wrote his Controversy and defended the Church; and, as soon as his strength failed, he recited the Apostles' Creed, the fiftieth Psalm, the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, tenderly pressed the Crucifix to his arms, and, assisted by the prayers of all the Fathers of the Company, very gently rendered his soul to his Creator, on September 17, 1621, at the age of seventy-nine.

His funeral, by order of the Sovereign Pontiff, was conducted with all the splendor displayed for that of the Princes of the Church; but what surpassed all the religious pomp were the tears, the regrets, and the veneration of the people, which the pontifical guard, called to moderate such eagerness, could not contain in the explosion of their grief. Let this suffice to give an idea of his reputation for holiness.

The tomb of the learned and pious cardinal is placed near the altar of t he Church of t he Gesù, in Rome, on the Gospel side. This magnificent mausoleum, which is the work of Bernini, was ere cted by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, based on the designs of Girolamo Rainaldi. One sees there, besides several other figures, two statues of great beauty, one of which represents Religion and the other Wisdom; both are carved by Pietro Bernini. Here is the inscription that one reads on the mausoleum:

*Roberto cardinali Bellarmino Politiano è societate Jesu Marcelli II. P. M. Sororis filio Odouardus Cardinalis Farnesius Sui erga virum, quem Patris loco semper coluit Amoris numquam morituri Monumentum pos. Obdormivit in Domino Anno sal. MDCXXI. Ætatis sive LXXIX.*

Bellarmine enriched the Church with a great number of scholarly works. The most widespread is his *Course of Cont roversy*, a vast arsenal where one finds weapons of the finest temper for both attack and defense. Never did P rotestantism h ave a more formidable jouster, nor Catholicism a more successful champion. Dissidents have agreed that he presented their difficulties in all their strength and knew how to destroy them with skill and solidity. The best editions of his controversy are those of Paris, which are called the *Triadelphes*, and that of Prague, in 1721, all in 4 volumes in-folio.

We also have from the learned Cardinal a *Commentary on the Psalms*, which is highly esteemed; *Sermons* that are somewhat ordinary in style, but strong in reasoning and touching in their unction; a *Treatise on Ecclesiastical Writers*; another *On the Temporal Authority of the Pope*; a *Writing on the Obligations of Bishops*; a *Hebrew Grammar*; some *Letters* and *Hymns*, among which one distinguishes that of the head of Saint Mary Magdalene, *Pater superni luminis*, etc.

His works of piety form five booklets which are: 1st *De ascensu mentis in Deum*, or *Degrees for Raising the Mind to God*; 2nd *On the Eternal Happiness of the Saints*; 3rd *On the Groaning of the Dove or the Happiness of Tears*; 4th *The Seven Words of Jesus Christ on the Cross*; and 5th *On the Good Death*.

Bellarmino's style is neither pure nor elegant; but it is concise, clear, precise, and quite noble: it abounds in citations from Holy Scripture, of which he had a profound knowledge. The cardinals his contemporaries regarded him and spoke of him as a Father of the Church and a man consumed in holiness; thus Pope Clement X h ad the le gal inquiries for his beatification begun in the year 1674.

The principal editions of his complete works are those of Cologne, 1617-1620; Venice, 1721-1728; and Naples, 1858.

Excerpt from the *Esprit des Saints*, by M. Unibé Grimes. — Cf. Goschler, *Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la théologie catholique*; and Godescord, Brussels edition, 1854.