Today is the Feast of Saint Robert Bellarmine, and the 107th anniversary of the first appearance of the Blessed Virgin to the seers at Fatima.
– May 13, 1917. When asked by the children who she was and where she came from, the lady said she was “from heaven” and that she would reveal her identity later. She asked the children to come back to the Cova da Iria on the 13th day of the month for the next six months, and she asked them to pray the rosary every day “in order to obtain peace for the world” and the end of World War I.
Saint Robert Bellarmine battled against the Protestant Revolt of the 16th Century. His rebukes of the heretics through sermons and catechisms earned him the title Doctor of the Church.
When the great Italian Jesuit, Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), was made a cardinal, Pope Clement VIII said of him: “We elect this man because he has not his equal for learning in the Church of God.” Untiring in his powerful opposition to the Protestant enemies of the Church, St. Robert wrote masterpieces of apologetic literature, as well as two famous catechisms. He also won souls through his sermons and lectures, but above all through his ardent prayer and the example of his holy life.
COLLECT
“O God, You fortified Your blessed bishop and doctor Robert with remarkable learning and courage to expose the dangers of error and defend the rights of the Holy See. May we grow in love of truth, and may they who have been led astray by falsehood come back to the unity of Your Church through the intercession of Your saint.”
“O God, You fortified Your blessed bishop and doctor Robert with remarkable learning and courage to expose the dangers of error and defend the rights of the Holy See. May we grow in love of truth, and may they who have been led astray by falsehood come back to the unity of Your Church through the intercession of Your saint.”
Woe to the Prelates of today, with the truth of an obvious antipapacy set before them, yet shunning “may we grow in love of truth,” instead preferring silence and error as souls are led to Perdition. Consider thy Particular Judgment, Cardinals of the Church, your salvation might just depend on it.
Hey – Didn’t Bellarmine advance a doctrine saying, in essence, that a manifestly-heretical Pope is no Pope at all?
Yes, famously.
The great leader to be on 60 Minutes Sunday. Just you wait…