Saint Rober Bellarmine - cardinal, doctor of the Church, father of the counterreformation.

St. Robert Bellarmine, brilliant follower of St. Ignatius of Loyola, has been credited with being one of the most outspoken critics of the heresies of Martin Luther and John Calvin. He focused the church of his time on the true teachings of the Catholic faith, which were contradicted by the Protestant Reformation.

He is one of the powerful men discussed in this book whom the Lord sent to construct a suit of spiritual armor to defend his Church in this crucial time of crisis. He was so brilliant that the Pope would not, could not allow him to retire to a small Jesuit novitiate of Sant’Andrea toward the end of his life. He was too needed. The Holy See was not ready yet for him to back off from his defense of the Church. He was put in our midst in our great hour of need, and he fought valiantly to defend and protect the people of God.

St. Robert was born in the picturesque mountain town of Montepulciano of noble parents, Vincenzo Bellarmino and Cynthia Cervini, who was Pope Marcellus II’s half sister. He was sent down from heaven on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4, 1542.

The family was noble, but they were poor all their lives. The Lord had great plans for Roberto. He would not allow his mind to be cluttered up with desires for material possessions, so from the very beginning of his life, he kept these temptations away from our future powerful man in the Church.