Bellarmine, ROBERT, one of the most celebrated Catholic theologians, was born at Montepulciano, near Siena, in 1542. He entered the order of Jesuits at Rome in 1560, and studied theology at Padua and Louvain. Ordained priest in 1569, he was appointed the year after to the chair of theology at Louvain; but he returned to Rome in 1576 to lecture in the Roman College on controversial theology. In 1592 he became rector of the Roman College, was made a cardinal in 1599 against his own inclination, and in 1602 Archbishop of Capua. After the death of Clement VIII., he contrived to escape promotion to the papal chair, but was induced by Pius V. (1605) to hold an important place in the Vatican, where he remained until the time of his death, which took place in the Novitiate-house of the Jesuits,
September 17, 1621. Bellarmine was the chief defender of the church in the 16th century, when its antagonists were mightiest. His ponderous learning, excellent method, and moderation gained him the praise of Bayle, who will not be suspected of any bias in favour of a Jesuit. He gave a conspicuous proof of his fearless honesty in his strenuous opposition to the Pelagian tenets of Molina, a member of his own order. His great work, Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus Temporis Haereticos (3 vols. Rome, 1581), is regarded by Catholics as containing the best arguments for their tenets. There can be no question of the merit of his disputations as regards erudition and dialectic dexterity; but as Gerhard, in his Bellarminus Orthodoxae Testis, has shown, many of the conclusions are far from being sound or logical. Industry, clearness, and acuteness are the chief merits of Bellarmine's great work; but it is seriously lessened in value by a needless subtlety, forced conclusions, and a very defective exegesis—faults which have long been evident to enlightened Catholic writers themselves. Among his other writings the most able is the Christianae Doctrinae Applicatio, which was translated into all the European languages. His book, De Potestate Pontificis in rebus temporalibus, in which he maintains the supremacy of the pontiff's authority over temporal princes, was condemned as treasonable in Paris and Venice. Pope Urban VIII., at the instigation of the Jesuits, declared Bellarmine to be a 'faithful servant of God'; but his canonisation as a saint has hitherto been opposed. Complete editions of his works have been published at Venice in 1721 (5 vols.), Cologne in 1619 (7 vols.), and Paris in 1874 (12 vols.). His Life was written in Italian by the Jesuit Fuligatti (Rome, 1624); an autobiography reaching down to 1613, written in Latin and hitherto withheld by the Jesuits, was edited in 1887, with a German translation, by Döllinger and Reusch. This interesting book somewhat belittles the man, if not the controversialist and theologian.