Part 111: Doctors of the Church and Perfection: Bellarmine

Sadly, I cannot find a copy of the great book On the Mind's Ascent to God on the Ladder of Created Things, which is a seminal work by Bellarmine. The old series of the Classics of Western Spirituality had a volume which included this work in pieces, but that series is out of print. The footnotes are horribly liberal as well as the commentary.

However, I can briefly share three overview points about his work, which he purposefully modeled on Bonaventure's great work, The Ascent of the Mind to God. That Bellarmine was also influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, we have seen here already.

Three quick points. One, Bellarmine is follows the via affirmativa not the via negativa. This is a departure from Bernard and to me, a very Baroque ideal. God is to be found in the beauty of Creation and the world around us as well as in ourselves.

Secondly, the soul, the anima, holds the will and imagination, which we would see in St. Ignatius of Loyola's writings. The soul is the seat of the intellectual, which is an important point to Bellarmine. Also, as an Aristotelian, Bellarmine used Aristotle to help the reader understand humanity and how to become more human, that is, more holy or spiritual.

Thirdly, Bellarmine in good Jesuit fashion, sees God in the world, working out our salvation with what comes our way. God is ever-Present to us Catholics in grace and we only need to see.this.

A very cursory look at a huge work, but I cannot get to the libraries this week.

Next, I shall look at St, Peter Canisius.