| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
at Montepulciano (35 km s.w, of Arezzo), in Tuscany, Italy, October 4, 1542; died in Rome September 17, 1621. He is one of only 33 Doctors of the Church.
He was a nephew of Pope Marcellus II, and came of a noble though impoverished family. His abilities showed themselves early; as a boy he knew Vergil by heart, and composed a number of poems in Italian and Latin; one of his hymns, on Mary MagdaleneMary Magdalene which probably means "Mary of Magdala," a town on the western shore of the Lake of Tiberias, is described in the New Testament as a follower of Jesus. Nothing is known about her outside of Scripture, both in the canon and in the apocrypha., is included in the Roman breviaryA breviary (from Latin brevis "short") is a liturgical book containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, and notation for everyday use, especially for priests. It was often richly decorated with initials and miniature illustrations. Breviaries are c.
His father destined him for a political career, hoping that he might restore the fallen glories of the house; but his mother wished him to enter the Jesuit order, and her influence prevailed. He entered the Roman novitiate in 1560Events February 27 The Treaty of Berhick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland The first tulip bulb was brought from Turkey to the Netherlands. July 6 Treaty of Edinburgh between England, France, remained in Rome three years, and then went to a Jesuit house at Mondovi, in Piedmont. Here he learned GreekThe Greek language ( /Elini'k{/) is an Indo-European language which has existed from around the 14th century BC in the Cretan inscriptions called Linear B. Mycenaean Greek of this period is distinguished from later Classical or Ancient Greek of the 8th ce, and taught it as fast as he learned it.
His systematic study of theology began at Padua in 1567 and 1568, where his teachers were Thomists , the Jesuits not yet having had time to develop a theology of their own.
After a visit to Venice, where he increased his renown as a public speaker, Bellarmine was sent by the general, Francis Borgia, in 1569, to Louvain, then the most famous Roman Catholic university. He was ordained priest at Ghent on Palm Sunday, 1570, by the elder Jansenius.
A strict Augustinian theology prevailed among the teachers at Louvain, represented by Bajus , the precursor of Jansenism. Bellarmine had not enough deep knowledge of his own nature or Christian experience to be able to appreciate the Augustinian doctrines of the corruption of man and the necessity of divine grace to any good movement of the will. He contended accordingly against the propositions of Bajus, though his own views and expressions in the great controversy on grace were always a little uncertain.
He was the first Jesuit to teach at the university, where the subject of his course was the Summa of Thomas Aquinas; he also made extensive studies in the Fathers and medieval theologians, which gave him the material for his book De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis (Rome, 1613), which was later revised and enlarged by Sirmond , Labbeus , and Oudin .
In the Netherlands he gained a knowledge of the great controversy with the Protestants which he could hardly have got in Italy, though he seems never to have come into personal contact with the evangelical leaders. Finally he learned Hebrew, and wrote his often reprinted grammar. His genius for teaching, clearness of thought, and adroitness in controversy were indisputable.