Robert Bellarmine

1542-1621. Roman Catholic cardinal and theologian. He entered the Jesuit order in 1560 and studied theology at Padua and Louvain. Ordained in 1570, he taught at Louvain for seven years, then for eleven more he lectured on theological controversies at the New Roman College (later the Gregorian University). Here he produced his famous Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei, which is generally recognized as one of the best statements of Roman Catholic theology as it was defined by the Council of Trent.* In 1589 the pope sent him on an important diplomatic mission to the French court, and in 1592 he took part in the Sistine revision of the Vulgate. In 1597 he became personal theologian to the pope, and in 1608 was involved in a controversy with James I of England over the authority of the Roman Church. Not until 1930 was he canonized and made a Doctor of the Church.