Robert Bellarmine Research Articles

Pastor Aeternus, Robert Bellarmine, and the Possibility of a Heretical Pope

In a recent article, Emmet O’Regan has argued that the First Vatican Council not only defined dogmatically that the papal Magisterium is infallible under certain conditions but also “definitively excluded the possibility of a heretical pope” by elevating St. Robert Bellarmine’s “fourth proposition” to the “dignity of a dogma.” This article argues that when Pastor Aeternus is read in light of the official Relatio, it is clear that the council was not intending to exclude the possibility of a heretical pope, that is, the opinion of Albert Pighius. Instead, Gasser makes it clear that the council was intending to define what Bellarmine called the “most common and certain opinion,” which is “whether the pope is able to be a heretic or not, he is not able in any way to define a heretical proposition that must be believed by the whole Church.” O’Regan has misidentified which view of Bellarmine the council intended to define.

Bodies Behaving Badly: The Eucharist and the New Philosophy

ABSTRACT Cardinal Bellarmine's defense of Roman Catholic eucharistic doctrine in his Disputationes de controversiis huius temporis focuses not on transubstantiation but on such questions as whether one body can simultaneously occupy two places or two bodies a single place. The Protestants to whom he is replying (Calvin and Peter Martyr) seem similarly invested in such matters. These are topics central to early modern philosophy, but Bellarmine and his respondents predate Descartes by decades, so why, in the sixteenth century, are theologians debating the physics (rather than metaphysics) of the Eucharist?

Hagiographic Discourse as a Long-Term Historiographic Model: Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit Cardinal, the Society of Jesus, and the Catholic Church

Hagiographic Discourse as a Long-Term Historiographic Model: Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit Cardinal, the Society of Jesus, and the Catholic Church

Did Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa cross a seventeenth-century line of decorum?

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa is arguably the most controversial work created by the Roman Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680). The debate surrounding the statue centers on the question: did the artist’s radically non-traditional depiction of Teresa’s transverberation transgress the boundaries of decorum as understood by seventeenth-century Catholicism? This debate has lasted for many years and is likely to endure for many more to come, for, as the mass of, at times, contradictory documentation leads us to conclude, the line of decorum that Bernini did, or did not, cross would seem to resist any firm pinpointing, that is was, indeed, fluid and subjective, even when seen through seventeenth-century eyes. The aim of this article is not to deny the subjective fluidity of that line of decorum, but rather to propose that it was perhaps far less fluid and subjective than some examiners of the issue today seem inclined to believe. At the same time, and perhaps more importantly, its aim is also to disabuse the staunch defenders of Bernini’s decorum of the belief that no matter where that line of decorum might have been located in the seventeenth century, there cannot possibly be any reasonable grounds for suggesting that Bernini may have crossed it. Defenses of Bernini’s decorum rest on three claims: (1) Bernini faithfully followed the literal description of Teresa’s transverberation as described by the saint herself; (2) the Church understood that mystical union often entailed erotic elements and thus had no problem with religious art depicting that reality; and (3) since there is no nudity in Bernini’s statue, it cannot be accused of violating decorum. Through detailed analysis of Roman Catholic catechetical teaching (from Augustine to Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino), Teresa’s writings and other primary texts relating to the saint’s transverberation, and an extremely close examination of the statue itself, this article argues that none of these defenses is completely accurate and thus unassailable in its conclusion, while, however, not claiming to resolve the decorum debate once and for all.

The Redefinition of Clandestine Marriage by Sixteenth-Century Lutheran Theologians and Jurists

Abstract Within the medieval Catholic Church, the term ‘clandestine betrothal’ was associated with the absence of witnesses, solemnities, and other formalities. Parental consent was not a legal requirement for betrothal or marriage, which was based on the free decision of the spouses. However, Martin Luther held that the will of the parties was not sufficient, because the couple was joined by God, and God’s will was reflected in parental consent. Luther intended the parents to be a public authority, and he therefore proposed a different definition of clandestine marriage that combined the absence of witnesses with the lack of parental approval. Medieval canonists had enumerated numerous types of clandestine betrothal. However, in their treatises, the jurists Johannes Schneidewin, Conrad Mauser, and Joachim von Beust translated Luther’s definition into legal terms, reducing the types of clandestine betrothal to only two. The first type, absence of witnesses, continued to be regulated by canon law, with some exceptions. The second, lack of parental approval, was governed by Roman law reinterpreted according to Scripture. Cardinal Bellarmine criticized this definition as confused, prompting the Lutheran theologians Paul Tarnov and Johann Gerhard to reply that ‘clandestine’ had acquired a new meaning: violation of the law imposing parental approval.

Jesuit Attitudes Toward Printers and Printing in Early Modern Italy

Abstract The Society of Jesus engaged with the medium of print almost from its inception and, as in other fields, according to its own way of proceeding. This article studies two aspects of Jesuit engagement with print, using its Italian assistancy as a case study. In the first part, Jesuit attitudes towards printing technology—its dangers and opportunities—are examined, focusing especially on the relationship between Robert Bellarmine and some of his printers. What emerges is an overriding concern for accuracy: the need to disseminate texts without typographical errors in order to avoid misinterpretations and possible accusations of heresy. The second part of the article analyzes one possible solution to this difficulty: Jesuit attempts, at the Roman College and elsewhere, at managing their own printing presses. As these efforts regularly ended in economic failure, they bring into question the traditional view of Jesuits as skilled administrators.

Resources of Intellectual Legitimacy in Italian Cosmological Affairs: Cremonini and Bellarmine’s Authority Conflict (c.1616)

AbstractThis essay deals with two seventeenth-century intellectuals, the Aristotelian philosopher at Padua, Cesare Cremonini, and the Jesuit controversist, Robert Bellarmine. In the years of the cosmological affair of 1616, both defended their cosmological conceptions by relying on the principle of authority. However, they embraced different sources of legitimation in matters of natural philosophy. While the Padua professor stick to (what he considered to be) the letter of Aristotle, basically a secular interpretation of his world conception, Cardinal and Inquisitor Bellarmine understood the cosmos against a theological background. In particular, Bellarmine subordinated natural philosophy to exegesis and the authority of the Scriptures, and this allowed him to depart from Aristotle to some extent (for instance on the fluidity and possibly the corruptibility of the heavens). Yet, the two thinkers also shared the criticism of the major astronomical novelty of their time, namely the planetary system of Copernicus and his followers. But their objections rested on different worldviews and authorities (Aristotle and the Scriptures, respectively). Cremonini also supported a vision of celestial animation which was received with much preoccupation by religious authorities as they feared that his views might revive forms of astral worshipping. This essay discusses the manner in which Cremonini and Bellarmine received geocentrism and cosmology in very different, even opposite, manners, especially concerning the relation between natural philosophy and theology, and the reconcilability of cosmology with the Scriptures.

Robert Bellarmine and His Controversies with the Reformers.

Summary Roberto Bellarmino was the defender of Roman Catholic orthodoxy as it was re-affirmed at the Council of Trent over against the critical claims made by the various strands of the Protestant Reformation. This paper will provide a brief introduction to Bellarmine’s life, especially as far as his early engagements with Protestantism are concerned. Then it will sketch the apologetic import of his critical interaction with Protestant theology as it is presented in his magnum opus, namely the Controversies. The question will be asked if, and in which ways, articles 9 and 10 of the Apostles’ Creed are the central points of conflict between Rome and the Reformation. Until now this issue has not received sufficient attention and the present paper will try to address it. Bellarmine worked hard to achieve his objectives by way of winning the ‘war’ with theological arguments. For him it was either Rome or the Reformation (aut-aut).

The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture by R. W. L. Moberly

Reviewed by: The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture by R. W. L. Moberly Catherine Petrany r. w. l. moberly, The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020). Pp. xiv + 333. $34.99. This book comprises extended versions of the Hulsean Lectures that R. W. L. Moberly delivered at Cambridge University in the 2019–2020 academic year. Those familiar with M.'s rich body of work will recognize here the hallmarks of his theological approach, developed in previous books such as Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013). As in that volume, M. here eschews any claims to a systematic biblical theology in favor of localized interpretations of "significant and representative" texts attached to broader theological themes (p. 2). Overall, M.'s approach straddles the boundary between theological ambition and interpretive restraint. His introduction begins with the statement that "[t]his is a book about God," but he qualifies this intention by clarifying his aim to draw out "aspects" of a "grammar" of God (p. 1). In other words, M. wants to articulate what it means for contemporary Christians to respond in word and practice to the sacred texts of ancient Israel, guided by the imperative of Ps 100:3, namely, to "Know that the Lord is God." Hermeneutically astute, M. presents his claims as text-based and partial, set within living contexts that constantly change. As in his other works, M. here shows a particular sensitivity to Jewish–Christian dialogue, evident in his rich interactions with Jewish scholars as well as in his claim that his exegesis is not "the way" but "a way" (p. 3; emphasis original). In all this, one can sense M. deftly, but perhaps also guardedly, tiptoeing around the well-established potholes of any "biblical theology" project, while also affirming his commitment to make qualified claims about the theological implications of these texts as Christian Scripture. The six chapters of the book are arranged neither chronologically nor canonically, but rather in a sequence that seems personally intuitive to M. The topics are as follows: (1) "The Wise God" (Proverbs 8); (2) "The Mysterious God" (Exodus 3); (3) "The Just God" (Psalm 82); (4) "The Inscrutable God" (Genesis 4); (5) "The Only God" (2 Kings 5); and (6) "The Trustworthy God" (Psalm 46; Jeremiah 7; Micah 3). Each chapter begins with a captivating and thematically relevant scene, drawn from contexts as varied as the Parisian storm that transformed Blaise Pascal's life (chap. 2) to the contemporary television show Homeland (chap. 3). A close reading of the selected text follows and is variously supplemented with traditional Jewish and Christian interpretations, modern readings of the text or theological issue at stake, and hermeneutical reflections. M. thus weaves together disparate strands of history and interpretive tradition, with contemporary voices both religious and secular, to [End Page 117] create illuminating readings of these texts, some well loved (e.g., Exodus 3) and others perhaps less familiar to nonspecialists (e.g., Psalm 46). This does lead to chapters that, at times, seem a bit uneven. M.'s approach is highly selective not only in his choice of texts but also in his engagement with past and present voices. For example, in his reading of the history of interpretation of Exod 3:14, M. briefly looks at its iterations in the LXX, the NT, and Hilary of Poitiers's De Trinitate. In his reading of Psalm 82, his historical interlocutors include John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and Robert Bellarmine. While M. acknowledges this selectivity, it is not always clear why this or that voice is heard except that M. himself finds it compelling. Perhaps this is reason enough! Certain omissions, however, such as the lack of any sustained interaction with feminist interpreters, might be a barrier for some readers. Two standout and loosely connected chapters engage the related themes of divine justice (chap. 3) and divine "inscrutability" (chap. 4). M.'s choice of the enigmatic Psalm 82 over more obvious prophetic or legal texts to raise questions of divine justice elevates his discussion. M. sees in the psalm...

A Defense of St. Robert Bellarmine's Definition of Sacrifice

A Defense of St. Robert Bellarmine's Definition of Sacrifice

Literary Spoils of War in Uppsala in Practice – Controversial Theology

Religious conflicts did not only take place on battlefields in the 17th century, but in far wider contexts. We see them also in propaganda, poetry, sermons and academic discourse. When the literary spoils of war were taken by the Swedish from Catholic libraries in Poland to the Lutheran Uppsala University, many books were not highly valued. These Catholic books ended up stored separately from the ‘sound and pure’ volumes found in the first library building in Uppsala. In this article, it is shown how these Catholic books did at times prove useful, at least in the field of polemical theology. In fact, teaching at the university took an increasingly anti-Catholic direction after the arrival of the collections from Braniewo and Frombork to Uppsala, with the main confessional enemy apparently being Robert Bellarmine.

Conciliar Infallibility and Error in the Thomistic Ecclesiology of St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.

Abstract In the sixteenth century, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) in his Disputationes de controversiis Christianae fidei adversus huius temporis haereticos defended the authority of the conciliar magisterium. Bellarmine, like other sixteenth-century Thomists, held that there were conditions under which God necessarily protects a general council from teaching error, but he did not deny that councils can and have erred. This article explains Bellarmine’s classification of the different types of councils. It also examines the conditions under which he believes that God necessarily protects a council from teaching error. It then discusses Bellarmine’s teaching on what kinds of councils can err and under what conditions a council can do so. Finally, the article will discuss his historical examination of various alleged conciliar errors.

«Piccola, ma sufficiente per li miei studi»: the library of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino. First investigations and census of annotated books

The article presents the first results of a research about the library of the Jesuit Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542-1621). The starting point are some unpublished works dedicated to this topic compiled by two Jesuit scholars in the first half of ‘ 900: Francois Xavier Le Bachelet and Sebastian Tromp. In particular, Tromp’s work had concerned the identification of the editions cited in the library inventory, without however proceeding with the identification of the items actually belonging to the cardinal, today mainly preserved at the National Central Library of Rome and the Historical Archive of the Pontifical Gregorian University. In addition to providing a first analysis of the composition of the Bellarminian collection, the article examines the events related toits conservation at the Roman College, to which Bellarmino donated it after his death and where on several occasions it was subject to spoliations – even if today it is difficult to evaluate their extent. These episodes testify to the problematic intellectual legacy left by Bellarmino and how it influenced not onlyhis long process of canonization (which lasted three centuries) but also the conservation of his books. In the appendix, the inventory of the library is published for the first time, as well as a catalog of 122 books with the provenance note of the Bellarmine’s private collection and, in several cases, containing his autograph annotations.

Kempgen , Sebastian Springfield Tomelleri , Vittorio Slavic Alphabets and Identities (review)

Slavonic and East European Review, 99, 3, 2021 Reviews Kempgen, Sebastian and Springfield Tomelleri, Vittorio (eds). Slavic Alphabets and Identities. Bamberger Beiträge zur Linguistik, 19. University of Bamberg Press, Bamberg, 2019. xiii + 297 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Figures. Tables. Bibliographies. Notes. €24.50 (paperback); open access e-book. ThiscollectionofarticlesfollowsafirstvolumethatdealtwithSlavicalphabets in contact, which was reviewed by this author in 2017 (SEER, vol. 95, no. 2, pp. 341–44). As the editors write, the topic of this second volume continues their previous work and focuses on the ideological connection between the choice of writing system and linguistics as well as ethnic identity among Slavs and their neighbours (p. vii). Consisting of eleven articles written in German, English and Russian by German, Austrian, Swedish and Belarusian authors, the present collection looks into the ‘multifarious alphabetic world of the Slavs’, concentrating on both concrete cases and socio-linguistic aspects of the use of Slavic alphabets by primarily the South and West Slavs. Although arranged in alphabetical order by author, the articles tend to fall into two groups, one covering both historical and sociolinguistic aspects of Slavic alphabets, the second discussing individual cases of their use in multiethnic Slavic societies. The volume opens with Per Ambrosiani exploring Slavic alphabets and languages in publications by the Propaganda Fide during the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies(pp.1–27).AmbrosianidiscussestheGlagolitic,Cyrillicand Latin orthographies of the Slavic books prepared by the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith in Rome. Ambrosiani compares eight versions of the Slavic text of the Apostles’ Creed, three (Glagolitic-, Cyrillic- and Latin-based) editions of Robert Bellarmine’s Nauk karstjanski kratak, as well as parallel Glagolitic and Cyrillic texts of Matej Karaman’s Bukvar (1753). He concludes that these publications, prepared in both Cyrillic and Glagolitic, demonstrate in their orthographies a clear development from Central South Slavonic features to the admixture of East Slavic orthographic models. Peter Bunčić, author of the well-known sociolinguistic typology of writing systems, explores the use of scripts in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the help of different scenarios of biscriptality discerned at three levels: scripts, glyphic variations and orthographies (pp. 29–53). For centuries, while using varieties of Serbo-Croatian, Bosnia and Hercegovina has been situated in the spheres of Slavia Orthodoxa, Slavia Romana, Slavia Islamica and Slavia Iudaica. Bunčić examines the interconnection of religions and the use of four scripts, Glagolitic, Cyrillic, Arabic and Latin, and three variants of Cyrillic script (commonly called Eastern Cyrillic, hrvatska ćirilica, and Begovica) (p. 35). Of interest in this respect is the gradual replacement of Cyrillic, originally used as the traditional Bosnian script, with the Latin script (p. 50). REVIEWS 545 Roland Marti discusses the so-called ‘non-linguistic’ aspects of Slavic scripts (pp. 95–127) which, according to him, convey also symbolic information. Marti argues that symbolism is inherent in the shape of Glagolitic letters, allegedly modelled on Christian symbols (pp. 97–103), the choice or creation of particular alphabets instead of Latin and Greek, as well as the forms of writing like Church Slavonic Cyrillic vs. civil script (Russian graždanskij šrift) (pp. 104–112). In his comprehensive survey of Cyrillic orthographies, Marti, however, omits the case of Ukrainian; he also maintains that the use of Latin by the Slavs did not have any symbolic function which clearly contradicts the practice of script switching among the Ruthenians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and even later under the pressure of Catholic culture. Anna-Maria Meyer looks into the creation of orthographies for Romani with the help of Slavic alphabets (pp. 129–60). While speaking about Romani culture as intrinsically an oral one, she mentions ten attempts at creating such orthographies in Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Poland. All the attempts show the trend for a regional rather than ‘pan-Romani’ approach toward the creation of a script and orthography for Romani (p. 156). The history of biscriptality within the ‘Carpatho-Rusyn speech community’ is the focus of Achim Rabus’s study (pp. 161–93). Based on Bunčić’s typology, Rabus considers different historical and sociolinguistic factors of the use of Rusyn scripts, glyphic variants and orthographies, such as the Cyrillic script and Church Slavonic...

Galileo Between Jesuits: The Fault Is in the Stars

In the middle of the seventeenth century, Andr\'e Tacquet, S.J. briefly discussed a scientific argument regarding the structure of a Copernican universe, and commented on Galileo Galilei's discussion of that same argument -- Galileo's discussion in turn being a commentary on a version of the argument by Christoph Scheiner, S.J. The argument was based on observations of the sizes of stars. This exchange involving Galileo and two Jesuits illustrates how through much of the seventeenth century, science -- meaning observations measurements, and calculations -- supported a view of the Copernican universe in which stars were not other suns, but were dim bodies, far larger than the sun. Johannes Kepler emphasized this, especially in arguing against Giordano Bruno. Jesuit astronomers like Tacquet and Scheiner understood this. Those who might have listened to Jesuit astronomers would likewise have understood this -- Robert Bellarmine, for example, whose role in the debate over Copernicanism is well known. To many, such a universe was, in the words of Galileo's Dialogue character Sagredo, "beyond belief," and no modern view of a universe of many distant suns would be scientifically supportable until after Tacquet's death in 1660. The Copernican universe of the seventeenth century looked radically different from the universe as modern astronomers understand it, and recognizing this fact allows for interesting questions to be asked regarding the actions of those, such as Bellarmine, who were responding to the work of Copernicus.

Dying and the Virtues by Matthew Levering

Reviewed by: Dying and the Virtues by Matthew Levering Craig Steven Titus Dying and the Virtues. By Matthew Levering. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2018. Pp. xi + 260. $45.00 (cloth). ISBN: 978-0-80287548-8. In Dying and the Virtues, Matthew Levering affirms that dying leaves indifferent neither nihilists, who see death as a disaster, nor optimists, who expect the afterlife to be familiar. Levering's approach is a thoroughly Christian response to the tragedy of death and its meaning. He draws from Hans Urs von Balthasar (2-4), who offers three essential ways to find sense in dying. First, there is the incomprehensibility and absurdity of death. It insults meaning, undermines the whole of life, and unsettles the very permanence of love. Second, there is the New Testament affirmation that believers need not worry about death. They have already died with Christ in baptism and will also be resurrected and live forever with Christ (John 6:58). Third, union with Christ and his redemptive suffering is the source of new life. For Levering, these three angles—death as absurd, death as conquered, and union with Christ's death as the source of becoming a new creation—combine to illuminate the Christian call to a virtue-informed preparation for dying. Levering provides a compelling approach that pairs the virtues with themes and exemplars: (1) love and Job's challenge to God, (2) hope and meditation on the nature of dying, (3) faith in Jesus and the fulfillment of desire, (4) penitence and the witness of the protomartyr St. Stephen, (5) gratitude and St. Macrina, (6) solidarity through divine mercy and redemptive suffering, (7) humility as evidenced in Jesus' dying and in our own, (8) surrender and the sacrament of the sick, and (9) courage to say goodbye to the world as we know it. His matching of the virtues with such themes and models, practices and goals becomes enriched as throughout the book he draws out insights through careful study of its sources. [End Page 339] In the first five chapters, Levering addresses the three theological virtues and their effects in a unique way. Chapter 1 employs the Book of Job to reveal the urgency of the question about whether God loves Job, which is especially pertinent in the face of Job's loss of family and his anguish about the annihilation of his personal existence. Levering's interpretation of the narrative of Job identifies the pattern of the encounter between God and Job: God's definitive response to the painful course of events opens up a silence through which God responds with divine love to queries about life after death (27). Chapter 2 offers narratives that demonstrate how to bolster hope by meditating on dying (meditatio mortis) as a preparation for death. Christian examples include Josef Pieper, Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, and Jean-Pierre de Caussade, who contribute to a philosophy and theology of death, the spiritual soul, and the existence of God. There is a vivid contrast to the Christian approach in the way philosophical materialists, such as Susan Sonntag and Oliver Sacks, suffer despair due to their denial of meaning in life and in death (31). They suffer from an expectation that their desire for eternal interpersonal communion will be met with everlasting nothingness. However, the believer's imagination is marked by the ultimate end of life (37). Christ offers a way to die well, to be patient in suffering (Rom 12:12), and to hope on one's deathbed. Chapter 3 addresses the questions of what the greatest and most persistent desire of people is when they are dying, and whether Jesus responds to this desire. Levering compares a Christian perspective with interreligious and New-Age perspectives on the experience of dying. In particular, Kathleen Dowling Singh (The Grace in Dying) and David Kuhl (What Dying Persons Want) identify the main human desires in the face of death: eternal "existence, communion, and unity" (59). Beyond these three desires, however, Levering rightly recognizes the need for reconciliation with God. Although expressed through self-giving love, reconciliation is not usually included in such non-Christian approaches. Nonetheless in basic human experience, we do find that...

St. Robert Bellarmine, Conciliarism, and the Limits of Papal Power

Abstract This article will examine Bellarmine’s first anti–conciliarist work, found in the Disputationes de controversiis Christianae fidei adversus huius temporis haereticos, emphasizing his theological treatment of the pope’s authority relative to the authority of a council and his repudiation of conciliarism. Bellarmine sees the conciliarists as attacking the divinely instituted Petrine structure of the Church. He does not advocate for an absolute papal monarchy in which there are no ‘constitutional’ limitations on the papacy. For Bellarmine, Christ and his Word, as found in Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, have supreme authority in the Church: one which the magisterium, whether papal or conciliar, must accept in humility and pass on unsullied. Only Christ has a true fullness of power; the pope has a fullness only relative to that of the bishops. Nevertheless, Christ immediately instituted the pope as the supreme head of the Church on earth, and as such, the pope has supreme ecclesiastical power over the whole Church on earth. Lastly, the article examines Bellarmine’s position on papal heresy.

Lapurtera klasikoaren oinarriez: E. Materraren "Doctrina christianaren" iturriak

Lan honetan Esteve Materraren Doctrina christiana lanaren lehenengo bi edizioen (1617, 1623) iturriak ditugu aztergai. Kontrarreformasasoian Lapurdiko irakurleentzat argitaratutako lehenengo dotrina izan zen Materrarena, eta oraintsu arte galdutzat jotzen zen lehenengo edizioaren ale bat aurkitzeak ikuspegi berria ekarri du egileaz eta obraz. Bada, XVI. Eta XVII. mendeetan Europan argitaratutako hainbat katixima aztertu eta Materrarenarekin erkatu ondoren, argudioak bildu ditugu proposatzeko azken horren iturri direla Roberto Bellarmino italiarraren lanak. Hemen aurkezten den obren arteko konparazio sistematikoak bidea ematen du baieztatzeko Materrak Bellarminoren lanak baliatu eta egokitu zituela, eta argia dakar, beraz, lapurtera klasikoaren obra aitzindariaren sortze-prozesuaz. In this paper we analyze the sources of the irst two editions of Esteve Materra’s Doctrina christiana. Materra’s doctrine was the irst catechism published in Labourd during the Counter-Reformation, and the recent discovery of a copy of the irst edition has brought new information on the author and his work. After having analyzed and compared several catechisms published in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, we have arguments to propose that the main source were the works of the Italian Roberto Bellarmino. The comparisons presented here show that Materra used and adapted Bellarmino’s books, which shed light on the creation process of the precursor of Labourdin literature.

V. Balance and Imbalance: The Papacy and the Contested Legacies of the Vatican Councils

Toward the end of his magisterial study of Catholic ecclesiological struggles spanning 1300 to 1870 CE, Francis Oakley employed a striking image to illustrate the victory of papalism over conciliarism. After Vatican I, the “solitary horseman” left on a desolate “ecclesiological battlefield” many centuries in the making was “none other than the resilient ghost of Bellarmine.” By this image, Oakley meant that Pastor Aeternus’ twin definitions of papal infallibility and jurisdictional supremacy represented the definitive triumph of the ultramontane school, as typified by the counter-reformation Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. For Oakley—and in this point he echoed a common interpretation—Vatican I consigned conciliar and constitutionalist Catholic ecclesiologies to “oblivion.”

Ex Meritis Praevisis: Predestination, Grace, and Free Will in intra-Jesuit Controversies (1587-1613)

Abstract This article retraces the intra-Jesuit theological debates on the theology of salvation, including the relationship between the elements of predestination, God’s foreknowledge, Grace, and free will, in the delicate passage between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, and within the debates on Augustine’s theological legacy. Specifically, it explores the Flemish Jesuit Leonard Lessius’ theology and the discussions raised by it within the Society of Jesus, in order to show how soteriology has been central in the process of self-definition of the Jesuit identity in the Early Modern Age. This is particularly clear from the internal debates developed between Lessius, on the one hand, and General Claudio Acquaviva and curial theologian Roberto Bellarmino, on the other hand. Not only does the article investigate little known aspects of intra-Catholic theological debate in the post Tridentine period, but it also shows how deep pastoral and moral concerns strongly contributed to the rise of Lessius’ open-minded theology of salvation, which seemed to deprive God’s sovereign authority in favour of humankind’s free will, and human agency in the process of salvation.