Details
BELLARMINI, Roberto [SAINT ROBERT BELLARMINE] (1542-1621). Autograph letter signed to his brother Tommaso, Ferrara, 4 July 1598, 2 pages, folio, with integral address leaf, papered IHS seal.
Bellarmine has nothing particular to say so that he will write whatever occurs to him. They are suffering from the heat and the Pope Clement VIII is in bed with gout. The Archduke Ferdinand, the Venetian ambassadors, the duke of Mantua and the duke of Parma, 'chi ancora e qua', have all been to see the Pope. There are about 24 cardinals in attendance but some are trying to get permission to leave before the Pope, who plans to stay until September. Bellarmine has been busy with his usual occupations and with work for his own order and with the public examining of candidates for bishoprics. He does not envy his brother the fish from Trevignano (?) because there are better here; he sends greetings to Tommaso's wife and other friends.
Tommaso was still in the family home of Montepulciano and the joking tone of some of the references to friends and family continues into the address where 'Alla scala' is accompanied by a small sketch of a ladder. Clement VIII was in Ferrara in 1598 to consolidate papal authority after his troops had repossessed the duchy on the death of the childless Alsonso I. Famed for his writings against Protestantism, Robert Bellarmine had been appointed Clement's personal theologian and Examiner of Bishops in 1597; he was made a cardinal in 1599. He had been educated at the Jesuit College in Montepulciano and joined the Order in 1560; their IHS monogram is on his seal. His beatification was first advanced in 1627 but he was not canonised until 1930 and declared a Doctor of the Church in the following year. Bellarmine is often seen as a rigid papalist, who received Galileo's submission among other duties in his fight againt heresy; this letter reveals a more light-hearted attitude to the Pope and his duties.
Bellarmine has nothing particular to say so that he will write whatever occurs to him. They are suffering from the heat and the Pope Clement VIII is in bed with gout. The Archduke Ferdinand, the Venetian ambassadors, the duke of Mantua and the duke of Parma, 'chi ancora e qua', have all been to see the Pope. There are about 24 cardinals in attendance but some are trying to get permission to leave before the Pope, who plans to stay until September. Bellarmine has been busy with his usual occupations and with work for his own order and with the public examining of candidates for bishoprics. He does not envy his brother the fish from Trevignano (?) because there are better here; he sends greetings to Tommaso's wife and other friends.
Tommaso was still in the family home of Montepulciano and the joking tone of some of the references to friends and family continues into the address where 'Alla scala' is accompanied by a small sketch of a ladder. Clement VIII was in Ferrara in 1598 to consolidate papal authority after his troops had repossessed the duchy on the death of the childless Alsonso I. Famed for his writings against Protestantism, Robert Bellarmine had been appointed Clement's personal theologian and Examiner of Bishops in 1597; he was made a cardinal in 1599. He had been educated at the Jesuit College in Montepulciano and joined the Order in 1560; their IHS monogram is on his seal. His beatification was first advanced in 1627 but he was not canonised until 1930 and declared a Doctor of the Church in the following year. Bellarmine is often seen as a rigid papalist, who received Galileo's submission among other duties in his fight againt heresy; this letter reveals a more light-hearted attitude to the Pope and his duties.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium