Saint Who?
Saints Who Taught about Prayer
Saint Robert Bellarmine
Bishop and Doctor († 1621) Feast: September 17
Robert Bellarmine spent almost his entire life defending the teachings of the Church. As a young Jesuit priest, he carefully studied both Catholic and Protestant arguments, and then he publicly explained the Catholic response to Protestant positions and had his lectures printed to reach a wider audience. One of his books, known as the Controversies, was so effective a Catholic apologetic that it was illegal to possess a copy in Elizabethan England.
Robert did not respond to angry opponents with anger. In fact, he was a warm, joyful man with a wide circle of friends. Those friends included many Jesuits who studied in Rome: holy men such as Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, who died before ordination, and English priests who died as martyrs after returning to their home country. He was widely loved and trusted by multiple popes, and he only narrowly escaped being named a pope himself.
One of Robert’s spiritual writings was called The Mind’s Ascent to God by the Ladder of Created Things. In this work, he reminded the reader that all of creation—water, fire, the earth, the stars—speaks to us about God. Signs of God’s power, wisdom, mercy, and justice surround us, and those signs lead us to ascend to him in prayer.
God of truth, may our love for the created world help us to raise our minds and hearts to you.
