Today the Church commemorates one of two Jesuits to whom I have a special devotion, St. Robert Bellarmine. (The other is St Peter Canisius, the original German Shepherd.)

It seems providential that St. Robert's middle names were Francis Romulus. Firstly he was born on the feast of St Francis of Assisi and died on the feast of the Stigmata of St Francis, which he was instrumental in having celebrated universally. Secondly he labored tirelessly in defense of the Bishop and Church of Rome against protestant heresy and regal oppression, which the collect of his feast expresses so eloquently:

Deus, qui ad errorum insidias repellandas et Apostolicae Sedis jura propugnanda, beatum Robertum Pontificem tuum atque Doctorem mira eruditione et virtute decorasti ; ejus meritis et intercessione concede, ut nos in veritatis amore crescamus et errantium corda ad Ecclesiae tuae redeant unitatem.

[O God, who didst adorn blessed Robert, thy Bishop and Doctor, with marvelous learning and virtue to expose the deceptions of error and to defend the rights of the Apostolic See, grant by his merits and intercession, that love for the truth may increase in us, and the souls that do wander may return to the unity of thy Church.]