BELLARMINE, bePhir-min or -men. The name of a jug devised by the Dutch Protestants in ridicule of Cardinal Bellarmino. Its form was after the churchman's figure, and his face was on it.
BELLARMINE, 1)61111r-ruin or -men. In Italian form, BELLARMINO, bil'IliT-BW114. ROBERTO FRANCESCO ROMOLO. A Roman Catholic theo logian. He was born at Monte Pulciano, in Tus cany, October 4, 1342. He entered the Order of Jesuits in 1560. and was distinguished among his confreres by the zeal with which he studied theology, the Church Councils, the Fathers, He brew history, and the canon law. In 1563 he gave lessons in polite literature and astronomy at Florence, and in rhetoric at Mondovi, t564 67. In 1569, when he went to Louvain as pro fessor of theology, he began that long contro versy with 'heretics' which formed the main business of his life. From 1576 to 1589 he was professor at the Roman College. Then he went to France, and was in Paris at the time of the siege by Henry IV. In iroi he was hack in Rome and shared in the revision of the Vulgate. In 1592 he became rector of the Roman Col lege. In 1599 he was madz, a cardinal against his own inclination, and though himself a Jesuit, be honorably sided with the Dominicans against Molina's view in a noted controversy. From 1602 to 1605 be was Archbishop of Capita. After the death of Clement VTIL (1603) he declined promotion to the Papal chair, but was induced by Paul V. to hold an important place in the Vatican, where he remained until the time of his death, which took place in the no vitiate-house of the Jesuits, September 17, 1621.
In his work, De Potestute Pontificis in Tempo. rabbits (On the Pope's Power in Secular Mat ters), he advocated the doctrine of the spiritual supremacy of the Pope over all kings. On this account the book was condemned as treasonable in Paris, Venice, and Mainz.
His chief work contains the disputations held in the Jesuits' College in Rome, 1570-81, Dispu tationes de Controversiis Fidel adrersus hajus Temporis Herelicos (3 vols., Rome, 1581; 4 vols.,
Prague, 1721; 4 vols., Mainz, 1842). These disputations are regarded by Catholics as the best arguments for their tenets. There can be no question of their merits with regard to eru dition and adroitness in controversy; but such Protestant opponents, and he had many of them, as Gerhard., in his Bellarminns Orthodoxias Testis (Jena, 1631-33), and Dalimas tried to show that many of the conclusions are far from being sound or logical. Industry, clearness, and acuteness are the chief merits of Bellarmine's great work. Ile was also conspicuously fair and complete in his statement of his opponents' positions. Among his other writings the most able is the Christiana. Doct•inte Applicatio, origi nally written in Italian, and now translated into all the European languages. Pope Urban VIII., at the instigation of the Jesuits. declared Bel larmine to be a 'faithful servant of God;' but his canonization as a saint has hitherto been opposed. Curiously enough, his autobiography (Rome, 1675; Louvain, 1753; Ferrara, 1762) stood in the way. The book had become very scarce when J. I. von D5Ilinger and F. H. Reusch reprinted it, Die Relbstbiographie des Kardina Beltannin, lateiniseh turd dentsch, mit geschicht lichen Erlituterungen (Bonn, 1887). Among his famous controversies were those with James 1. of England and the Scotch jurist William Bar clay, of Aberdeen. His works, edited by Justin Fevre, were published in Paris (1873-74, 12 cols.). Some of his writings have been trans lated into English, e.g. The Neren Words front the Cross (London, 1870). For his biography, consult J. B. Couderc (Paris, 1893).