THE LIFE AND WORK
OF
BLESSED ROBERT FRANCIS CARDINAL BELLARMINE
1542—1621
BY
JAMES BRODRICK
CHAPTER I
THINGS OF A CHILD (IS42-IS57)
Montepulciano. — 2. Blessed Robert Bellarmine’s ancestors.— 3. His family and birth. — 4. He begins his pilgrimage .
CHAPTER II
AT SCHOOL (1557-1560)
Blessed Robert Bellarmine studies Virgil and Cicero and has his first controversy. — 2. Fynes Moryson, Tom Coryat and Richard Lassels praise Italy. — 3. Blessed Robert decides to become a Jesuit. — 4. He takes a holiday in the woods and rides away to Rome
CHAPTER III
THE SILENT YEARS (1560-1569)
Three years of Aristotle at the Collegio Romano. — 2. Blessed Robert is ill the whole time and takes holidays in hospitals but not as a to patient. — 3. He is sent to Florence to write verses, deliver lectures, and make speeches. — 4. He teaches boys and climbs up Vallombrosa and Mount La Verna. — 5. He is changed to Piedmont and has adventures by land and sea. — 6. He preaches in the manner of Friar Gerund, and tells of a ‘ merry thing ’ that happened to him one Christmas. — 7. He goes to Padua, prays for a toothache, denounces the carnival of Venice, gives an academic display at Genoa, and purloins a B sermon from St. Basil
CHAPTER IV
LEARNED LOUVAIN (1569-1576)
Blessed Robert is ordered to Louvain, whereupon there is much remonstrance in Lombardy but not from him. — 2. He begins a celebrated series of conferences and it is rumoured in Bel¬ gium that a giant has come forth out of Italy to preach the Word of God.— 3. He is made a priest and lectures on the Summa of St. Thomas with great applause. — 4. He fights Dr. Michael Baius in his lectures but without mentioning his name
CHAPTER V
EX ABUNDANTIA CORDIS
Blessed Robert gives some advice to preachers. — 2. He delivers a course of sermons on ‘ My Lady Tribulation.’ — 3. And a great discourse on the Blessed Eucharist. — 4. Some of his thoughts on the subject of eloquence. — 5. His liking for stories and parables in the pulpit. — 6. He makes fun of the carnival and says strong things about strong drink
CHAPTER VI
THE BURDEN OF THE DAY
Blessed Robert wrestles with the angel of learning. — 2. He teaches himself Hebrew, writes a Hebrew grammar, and begins a profound study of the Bible. — 3. He plunges into the un¬ charted sea of the Fathers, and composes his manual, De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis — 4. He delivers an exhortation showing how to combine the love of books with the love of God. — 5. St. Charles Borromeo tries to secure Blessed Robert for work in Milan but does not succeed because the Pope wants him for Rome ...
CHAPTER VII
PROFESSOR IN ROME (1576-1588)
Blessed Robert unfolds his plan of campaign. — 2. He lectures to English students and volunteers to go to England to engage in open controversy with Queen Elizabeth’s divines. — 3. He is so overwhelmed with work that he falls seriously ill, but never¬ theless soon produces the first and second volumes of his controversial lectures. — 4. He becomes very famous, defends PAGE 61 ... ... ... ... ... 76 95 the vow of obedience, makes puns, washes dishes after dinner, and is loved by everybody
CHAPTER VIII GOOD REPORT AND EVIL REPORT Blessed Robert’s Controversies reach Cambridge and Oxford and cause a sensation.— 2. Bishops, Deans, and Archdeacons enter the fray. — 3. Some English estimates of Blessed Robert’s quality. — -4. The Controversies are given an amazing reception on the Continent
CHAPTER IX
THE SPIRIT AND INFLUENCE OF THE CONTROVERSIES
Protestants praise Blessed Robert for his fair dealing.— 2. He is attacked by a fellow-Jesuit and answers vigorously. — 3. The polemical methods generally in use in those days. — 4. Blessed Robert is a striking exception of a man who did not call his opponents devils, asses, dunghills, and other things. — 5. St. Francis de Sales and Cardinal du Perron speak in glowing terms about the Controversies , and some Jesuits wish to have a in law passed that the young theologians of their Society shall future be made to learn Blessed Robert’s definitions and chief conclusions by heart. — 6. Blessed Robert makes many xix PAGE converts and especially a lovable Englishman who was the favourite preacher of King James I. — 7. The Controversies at the Vatican Council. — 8. The real and enduring greatness of Blessed Robert’s work
CHAPTER X
THE WAR OF TURMOIL OF FRANCE (1589-1590)
the three Henrys. — 2. Pope Sixtus V reluctantly excom¬ municates Henry of Navarre, but Henry of Navarre does not mind. — 3. The Pope decides to send a legate to France and Blessed Robert is appointed his theological adviser. — 4. Paris is reached after many adventures, and Blessed Robert is then instructed to draw up an admonitory letter for presentation to the Bishops of France. — 5. Henry of Navarre lays siege to Paris, whereupon Blessed Robert has ‘ a very miserable time ’, narrowly escapes being shot dead in a procession, and proves himself a very sound moral theologian. — 6. During the siege he spends his time praying, attending the sick, writing poems, browsing among the manuscripts of the Paris libraries, trying unsuccessfully to learn French, and starving
CHAPTER XI
PRINCES AND PEOPLES A
. tale of two cities. — 2. Blessed Robert’s views on the origin of poli¬ tical authority and the .sovereignty of the people. — 3. He denounces the iniquities of printers, and denies vigorously that rulers are the mere delegates of the people whom they rule. — 4. He shows himself a strong monarchist but, in view of ‘ the corruption of human nature ’, thinks that a regime com¬ bining monarchy, aristocracy and democracy is the most useful for mankind. — 5. His book on The Duty of a Christian Prince. — 6. In modern times he is discredited as an opportunist in politics, and acclaimed as a prophet of the United States of America. — 7. His views are criticized by some Catholic writers as being unhistorical. — 8. And by others as being con¬ tradictory to the teaching of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X. — 9. The value of such criticism
CHAPTER XII
THE TWO SWORDS
direct temporal power of Popes and the divine right of Kings. — 2. Blessed Robert combats both extreme theories, but a famous German professor contends that he was wrong in supposing that the theory of direct temporal power was never widely held by Catholic theologians and canonists. — 3. He is fiercely attacked by a champion of the direct power and defends himself with plenty of spirit. — 4. Blessed Robert’s own theory of the indirect power of the Pope in temporals. — 5. He dis¬ courses on ‘ perfect ’ societies and shows how his theory follows from such a conception. — 6. He maintains stoutly that in certain circumstances the Pope has the power and the right to depose kings. — 7. His theory of the indirect power is to-day ‘ tout & fait & la mode but the deposition of kings is no longer a part of it ... ...
CHAPTER XIII
SIXTUS THE FIFTH
Pope Sixtus does not like Blessed Robert’s theory of the indirect power and decides to put the Controversies on the Index. — 2. Father Aquaviva champions Blessed Robert, who is absent in France, but the Pope remains obdurate and the Controversies are saved only because he dies before the Index is ready for publication. — 3. Sixtus as an editor of the Vulgate. — 4. He discards the work of his commission, proves a very unsatis¬ factory editor, and draws up a very emphatic Bull. — 5. Gre¬ gory XIV, not knowing what to do about the Bible and the Bull of Sixtus, asks advice from Blessed Robert on his return to Rome. — 6. Clement VIII, at Blessed Robert’s suggestion, orders the recall of the Sixtine folios and issues a fresh revision of the Vulgate with a preface by Blessed Robert himself. — 7. One of the Sixtine folios escapes to England and is bought by Bodley’s first librarian, Dr. Thomas James, who enjoys him¬ self immensely in the study of it. — 8. Blessed Robert’s preface to the Clementine revision causes a great deal of excitement, and so does the Bull of Pope Sixtus. — 9. The charges against Blessed Robert are not proven
CHAPTER XIV
A RULER WHO DID NOT HINDER MUSIC (1590-1596)
Blessed Robert is spiritual director to St. Aloysius Gonzaga. — 2. And to two hundred other young men. — 3. He is made Rector of the Roman College and introduces promenade concerts. — 4. He is visited by Fynes Moryson and discovered by that gentleman to have ‘ a countenance not very grave’. — 5. He is appointed Provincial of the Neapolitan Jesuits and is attacked by a Spanish nobleman. — 6. He does not like the imperative mood, and allows a grand feast on one occasion, for which he is reprimanded by Father Aquaviva. — 7. He travels all over the south of Italy, meets Blessed Bernardino Realini, and becomes involved in an extraordinary affair. — 8. Another specimen of his exhortations
CHAPTER XV
THE SHADOW OF THE PURPLE (1596-1599)
It is alleged by some German scholars that Blessed Robert was very anxious to obtain a cardinal’s hat.— 2. Some of Blessed Robert’s letters dealing with this point. — 3. He is recalled from Naples, appointed theologian to Clement VIII, and gives his brother advice how to deal with wizards. — 4. The Pope has the gout and Blessed Robert recommends certain pills for that malady. — 5. Thomas Bellarmine of Montepul- ciano receives some letters. — 6. Blessed Robert writes a great treatise on Indulgences. — 7. He lodges for a while at the Roman College and is given ‘ una cameretta mol to piccola ’. — 8. The Pope takes him to Ferrara where he does the Society of Jesus great services. — 9. He has much trouble over a certain Brief, and goes for a holiday tramp with his great friend Baronius. — 10. He is made Rector of the Penitenzieria of St. Peter’s
CHAPTER XVI
ESSAYS IN CRITICISM
Blessed Robert defends the orthodoxy of Dante against a Frenchman who tries to show that the poet was a herald of the Reforma¬ tion. — 2. He also defends Petrarch and Boccaccio. — 3. The Society of Jesus and St. Thomas Aquinas. — 4. Blessed Robert’s part in the making of the Ratio Studiorum and his attitude with regard to St. Thomas. — 5. Some rules for which he was directly responsible. — 6. He makes suggestions for the revision of the Martyrology and Breviary and wins a metrical competition with a hymn on St. Mary Magdalene. — 7. His two famous Catechisms. — 8. They are translated into sixty different languages and go into four hundred editions. — 9. The Emperor Joseph II does not like them and has them suppressed ...
CHAPTER XVII
CARDINAL BELLARMINE (1599)
Blessed Robert is raised to the cardinalate and weeps all through the ceremony. — 2. He receives letters of congratulation and makes certain resolutions. — 3. His order of the day. — 4. He soon becomes known as ‘The Father of the Poor’. — 5. His hard dealings with himself. — 6. Some letters to a friend in which there is talk of a mule and other things
CHAPTER XVIII
ONE THING AND ANOTHER
Blessed Robert and Baronius dine together under interesting circum¬ stances. — 2. Blessed Robert delivers an exhortation in praise of Ignatius Loyola at the Gesu. — 3. And works might and main to procure his canonization.— 4. The story of John Baptist de la Barrifere. — 5. A curious letter from Germany. — 6. Blessed Robert’s document on ‘ The Primary Duty of the Sovereign Pontiff’. — 7. His zeal in the cause of ecclesiastical reform. — 8. Some letters that reveal his great preoccupation
CHAPTER XIX
THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT GRACE (1585-1607)
Scylla and Charybdis. — 2. Blessed Robert explains. — 3. The con¬ troversy in Belgium and Blessed Robert’s efforts on behalf of Leonard Lessius. — 4. The theory of Fray Domingo Banes. — 5. Luis Molina publishes his Concordia , and Blessed Robert makes his own position clear in answer to the challenge of a Belgian Jesuit. — 6. Lively happenings in Spain, followed by an address to the Pope which His Holiness submits to Blessed Robert for criticism. — 7. Banes edits a second memorial, and this too is p laced by the Holy Father in Blessed Robert’s hands. — 8. The cause of Molina goes from bad to worse in Rome, but Blessed Robert does not despair. — 9. He speaks his mind very plainly to the Pope, and writes him a famous letter, where¬ upon the Pope makes him Archbishop of Capua. Clement dies without having decided anything, and Paul V ends the controversy in the way originally suggested by Blessed Robert. — 10. Blessed Robert and the Dominicans
CHAPTER XX
PASTOR BONUS (1602-1605)
Blessed Robert goes to Capua and receives a very hearty welcome from his flock. — 2. Sermons again, one of which is sadly mis¬ understood. — 3. Gamblers find Blessed Robert troublesome, but thieves are gently dealt with when he himself is the object of their attentions. — 4. Blessed Robert and his priests. — 5.
His zeal for the beauty of God’s House. — 6. And for rever¬ ence and exactitude in the Divine Services. — 7. He reforms a convent of nuns. — 8. Operarius inconfusibilis. — 9. — The sick and poor are Blessed Robert’s chief concern. — 10. His deal¬ ings with the civil authorities and with his relatives. 11.
Letters to the Pope and to various friends. — 12. He is re¬ called to Rome
CHAPTER XXI
CONCLAVES AND CONFLICTS
(1605-1607)
Blessed Robert’s first Conclave.— 2. A second follows in which there is serious question of his election as Pope. — 3. Cardinal de Joyeuse gives a vivid account of the proceedings. — 4. Blessed Robert is retained in Rome by the new Pope, Paul V. — 5. His anxiety for the welfare of Capua. — 6. Pope Paul proves a less diplomatic statesman than Pope Clement. — 7. Trouble with the Republic of Venice.- — 8. The Pope places it under inter¬ dict, whereupon a pamphlet warfare begins, captained on the Venetian side by Fra Paolo Sarpi. — 9. Blessed Robert replies to Giovanni Marsilio. — 10. And to Fra Paolo. — 11. The end of the struggle
CHAPTER XXII
THE AFFAIRS OF ENGLAND (1602-1608)
The question of the King of Scotland’s succession to the throne of England and Blessed Robert’s letter to that monarch. — 2.
James disappoints the hopes of the English Catholics, and cer¬ tain desperate men contrive the Gunpowder Plot. — 3. The genesis of the King’s political theories. — 4. Blessed Robert writes his Hieraticon Doron in answer to the King’s Basilikon Doron. — 5. He criticizes therein various unfriendly allusions to the Catholic Church. — 6. And also the theory of Divine Right championed by James
CHAPTER XXIII
CARDINAL VERSUS KING
The Oath of Allegiance. — 2. Pope Paul V condemns the Oath. — 3.
Blessed Robert remonstrates with George Blackwell for taking it. — 4. The Cardinal’s letter falls into the hands of King James, who thereupon writes his Triplici Nodo Triplex Cuneus, or an Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance.— 5. The Pope directs Blessed Robert to answer the King’s book, which he does under the name of his almoner, Matthew Torti. — 6. King James then issues a new edition of his Triplici Nodo, with a Premoni¬ tion to all most Mighty Monarchs, Kings, Free Princes and States of Christendom. — 7. Bishop Andrewes is invited by James to assist, and publishes his Tortura Torti, which proves to be a singularly abusive book. — 8. The famous trial of Lord Balmerino and Blessed Robert’s connection therewith. — 9. The King’s Premonition meets with a mixed reception on the Con¬ tinent.— 10. Blessed Robert answers it under his own name, and with considerable vigour
CHAPTER XXIV
CARDINAL'S MEN AND KING'S MEN
Andrewes writes a second reply to Blessed Robert, and Isaac Casau- bon is enlisted on the side of the King — 2. Mark Antonio de Dominis arrives in England to serve his Majesty. — -3. Blessed Robert’s allies, and a story that illustrates the dangers of face¬ tiousness. — 4. Blessed Robert replies to Dr. William Barclay. — 5. And his answer causes a great commotion in Paris. — 6. Roger Widdrington and Adolf Schulcken. — 7. Peace between Cardinal and King
CHAPTER XXV
EVERYBODY'S COUNSELLOR
Blessed Robert and the Franciscans. — 2. Augustinians and Benedic¬ tines. — 3. A new Benedictine Breviary. — 4. The Celestines are given Blessed Robert as their Cardinal Protector.— 5. English friends, and the question of a bishop for England. — 6. Letters to German princes. — 7. To various learned men. — 8. And to many bishops, including St. Francis de Sales. — 9. Blessed Robert is appointed administrator of the diocese of Monte- pulciano.- — 10. He reconciles the Republic of Lucca with its bishop and with the Holy See. — 11. Relations with Robert de Nobili and the Christians of China
CHAPTER XXVI
THE FIRST TROUBLES OF GALILEO
(l6ll-l6l6) Blessed Robert is accused by certain writers of enmity against science. — 2. Ptolemy’s astronomy.— 3 . Blessed Robert’s private views on the mechanism of the heavens. — 4. Galileo’s dis¬ coveries and his campaign against the Aristotelians. — 5. He visits Rome and is lionized by the Cardinals and the Jesuits. — 6. The counter-campaign of the Aristotelians, and Galileo’s letter to Castelli. — 7. Caccini denounces him in the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, and he is delated to the Inquisition. — 8. Blessed Robert’s attitude in the controversy, and the praise bestowed on it by a famous modern scientist. — 9. Galileo’s fiery temper and provocative methods. — 10. The theologians of the Inquisition pronounce against him, and Blessed Robert is directed to notify him of their decision
CHAPTER XXVII
A FINAL SURVEY
Blessed Robert and the Society of Jesus. — 2. He writes his Commen¬ tary on the Psalms. — 3 . An account of his De Ascensione Mentis in Deum, which is the most characteristic of his spiritual works. — 4. A treatise on Heaven and the way thither. — 5. Some other ascetical treatises, including a small manual for bishops. — 6.
Blessed Robert’s patience and good humour. — 7. The origin and curious history of his ‘ A utobiography ’.— 8. Letters to friends in which the goodness of his heart is revealed ...
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE ART OF DYING WELL (1621)
Blessed Robert sits in another Conclave, and expresses a great longing to be allowed to retire from public life. — 2. He goes to St.
Andrea, and there his last illness comes upon him. — -3. Pope Gregory XV visits him, whereat he is very glad, thinking it to be an omen of his approaching end. — 4 His last will and testament in which he bequeaths his poverty to the Society of Jesus. — 5. The Englishman, Father Coffin, describes the scenes that took place in the Cardinal’s room. — 6. And the last scene of all in Blessed Robert’s history
CHAPTER XXIX
IN MEMORIA AETERNA
Honour after death. — 2. Blessed Robert’s funeral. — -3. The striking testimony of an English witness. — 4. Blessed Robert’s cause of beatification is introduced, and suffers many vicissitudes. — 5. The curious history of Domenico Passionei. — 6. His oppo¬ sition to Blessed Robert’s cause, and the policy of Pope Bene¬ dict XIV. — 7. Blessed Robert is raised to the altars by Pope Pius XI, to the very great joy of the City of Rome
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