St. Robert Bellarmine was born in Montepulciano, Italy, on October 4, 1542. His father was Vincenzo Bellarmino, and his mother was Cinzia Cervini, and was the niece of Pope Marcellus II. Cinzia was dedicated to prayer, almsgiving, meditation, and other practices of the church. As a little boy, St. Robert loved to write poems and hymns. One of his hymns, about Mary Magdalene, is included in the Roman breviary! That means we can sing his hymn during mass if we wanted to. When he was 18 years old, he decided to join the Society of Jesus. That means he became a Jesuit. St. Robert was very interested in theology. He studied it and then became a theologian himself. He even became a professor at the University he studied at – the University at Leuven, in Brabant. He taught there for 7 years. While he was in poor health, he then moved to Italy. The pope at the time, Pope Gregory XIII, asked him to teach at Roman College (which is now known as the Pontifical Gregorian University). One of the students that went to that University and knew St. Robert, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, became a saint! St. Robert, some time after St. Aloysius died, St. Robert promoted his beatification. That means he worked really hard to make sure the Pope knew about this saint, and helped showed everyone that Aloysius met all the criteria to become a saint. St. Robert also knew St. Francis de Sales, and was a good friend of his. That’s pretty cool! When he was 60 years old, he became the Archbishop of Capua. 18 years later, when he was 78 years old, he retired to a Jesuit college in Rome. On September 17, 1621, he died. His body, with cardinal’s red robes, can be seen behind glass in the Church of St. Ignatius, which is the chapel of Roman College. His body is next to his student, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, as he wished. St. Robert was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. The next year, he was declared Doctor of the Church, which means his writings on theology is authoritative in the Church. His feast day is on September 17. St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us!