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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
FEAST OF ROBERT BELLARMINE, BISHOP, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

The influences of church and state

A church window at St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Andover, Massachusetts includes a series of quotations from the saint paralleled with parts of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Historians do not propose that Thomas Jefferson read Bellarmine (1542-1621), but he did have books with underlined passages referring to Bellarmine’s disputes with King James I of England over the “divine right of kings.” Bellarmine wrote: “In a commonwealth, all men are born naturally free and equal” while our Declaration of Independence says, “All men are created equal.” The link between the two has not been proven definitively, but some find a “marriage of true minds” and even a reason to consider Robert Bellarmine as a patron saint of the United States.

TODAY’S READINGS: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 8:1-3

“Soon afterwards [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.”


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