St. Robert Bellarmine, Pray for Us

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If you are a teacher of the catechism, and many Catholic mothers are, ask for prayers from this holy saint, patron of catechists.




"If you are wise, then know that you have been created for the glory of God and your own eternal salvation. This is your goal; this is the center of your life; this is the treasure of your heart." -- St. Robert Bellarmine

Robert was born in Italy in 1542. As a boy, he was not interested in playing games. He liked to spend his time repeating to his younger brothers and sisters the sermons he had heard. He also liked to explain the lessons of the catechism to the little farm children of the neighborhood. Once he had made his first Holy Communion, he used to receive Jesus every Sunday.

Robert's father hoped to make a famous gentleman out of his son. For this reason, he wanted him to study many subjects and music and art, too. Whenever a song had words that were not nice, Robert would make up decent words of his own.

It was his great desire to become a Jesuit priest, but his father had different plans for him. For a whole year, Robert worked to persuade his father. At last, when he was eighteen, he was permitted to join the Jesuits. As a young Jesuit, he did very well in his studies. He was sent to preach even before he became a priest. When one good woman first saw such a young man, not even a priest yet, going up into the pulpit to preach, she knelt down to pray. She asked the Lord to help him not become frightened and stop in the middle. When he finished his sermon, she stayed kneeling. This time, however, she was thanking God for the magnificent sermon.

St. Robert Bellarmine became a famous writer, preacher and teacher. He wrote thirty-one important books. He spent three hours every day in prayer. He had a deep knowledge of sacred matters. Yet even when he had become a cardinal, he considered the catechism so important, that he himself taught it to his household and to the people.

Cardinal Bellarmine died on September 17, 1621. He was proclaimed a saint in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. In 1931, the same pope declared St. Robert Bellarmine a Doctor of the Church.

text by Holy Spirit Interactive

Blessed Jesus, Saint Robert is the patron saint of catechumens because he wrote two catechisms and devoted much of his time to teaching the Faith to children. He also wrote a revised version of the Bible. I ask him to pray for those in my church who teach the Faith, and for their students. Bless the teachers, Lord, and anoint the minds of those receiving instruction to understand it so powerfully that their lives are changed by it forever. Raise up more opportunities-including parish missions-for church members to learn the Faith more deeply, and inspire large numbers of people to attend these events. Saint Robert, pray for us. Amen.

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