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 400th Anniversary of the Death of Saint Robert Bellarmine Vatican City 2021 Aerogramme September 17 marks the feast day of Saint Robert Bellarmine. The aerogramme shown above was issued on September 8, 2021, marking the 400th anniversary of his death in 1621. The left-hand side of the aerogramme shows a reproduction of the painting of the saint located in the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Rome. The postal indicium is multi-faceted, as described in the release document from 2021: “The postage stamp impression bears the coat of arms of the Gregorian University: in the center is the Madonna and Child with the caption “Sedes Sapientiae”, according to the title used by the Fathers of the Church; underneath is the inscription “Religioni et bonis artibus”, referring to the studies of theology and humanistic culture. On the sides the letters AM and DG stand for “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam”, the motto of the Society of Jesus. The heraldic elements present are those of the Loyola family on the left, with the year 1553 indicating the beginning of courses in Philosophy and Theology at the Roman College, and that of Pope Gregory XIII on the right, associated with the date of inauguration of the new center of the Roman College.”  "Saint Robert Bellarmine" Artist Unknown (from Italian School, 17th Century) From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Born on October 4, 1542, Robert Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He would become one of the most important figures in the Catholic Counter-Reformation. A promising Jesuit scholar, Saint Robert took up the study of two areas of Catholic theology that had fallen out of favor: Church history and the fathers of the Church. His devotion to these two subjects, as well as to the study of Scripture, helped define Church doctrine and withstand attacks from Protestant Reformers. His most famous work is his three-volume Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith. One important part of his Disputations addressed the secular, temporal, or worldly power of the pope. He incurred the wrath of monarchists in England and France who disputed his rejection of the theory of 'the divine-right-of-kings'. But he also upset the sitting pope, Sixtus V, since his writings also theorized that the pope had only 'indirect power' in the temporal affairs of the state. Bellarmine was involved in the controversy surrounding his friend Galileo, who espoused a heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the solar system (as forwarded by Copernicus). Bellarmine admonished Galileo on behalf of the Holy Office, saying the heliocentric theory was contrary to Scripture (which espoused a geocentric or earth-centered solar system). This admonition proved to be incorrect as science came to prove the heliocentric theory in later years. Robert Bellarmine was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI, a process delayed for almost 300 years due to political opposition to his teachings. Following his canonization, he was quickly raised to the status of 'Doctor of the Church', again by Pope Pius XI, in 1931. REFERENCES: |
