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Church of St. Ignatius (Tomb of St. Robert Bellarmine)

Saints & Tombs Not Applicable
Rome, Italy 1626–1650 Feast day: September 17

The burial place of St. Robert Bellarmine.

St. Robert Bellarmine →
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The Story

The Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, Rome, built between 1626 and 1650 as the church of the Jesuits' Roman College, is the burial place of St. Robert Bellarmine, one of the great theologians of the Catholic Reformation. At his own request, Bellarmine was laid to rest near the tomb of his young spiritual directee, St. Aloysius Gonzaga; his remains rest beneath a side altar in the church, which also holds the tomb of St. John Berchmans. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) entered the Society of Jesus as a young man and became the foremost Catholic controversialist of his age. His monumental Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith gave a systematic defense of Catholic doctrine in the era after the Council of Trent, and his catechisms formed generations of the faithful. Created a cardinal in 1599, he served the Holy See in some of the most delicate questions of his day while living with notable personal austerity and generosity to the poor. Beatified in 1923, Bellarmine was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931. His tomb in Sant'Ignazio places him at the heart of the Jesuit Rome he helped build — the church itself, famous for Andrea Pozzo's astonishing trompe-l'oeil ceiling and painted false dome, celebrates the missionary reach of the Society of Jesus. Pilgrims today venerate his relics alongside those of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of youth, making Sant'Ignazio a place of prayer for students, teachers, catechists, and all who defend and hand on the faith.

Church Recognition

St. Robert Bellarmine was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931; Sant'Ignazio, where his relics are venerated, is a historic Jesuit church of Rome that also holds the tombs of St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. John Berchmans.

Catholic Teaching

Bellarmine's shrine recalls the Church's charge to guard and transmit the deposit of faith (CCC 84–95) and honors the Doctors of the Church, whose teaching the faithful may trust as a sure guide; veneration of his relics rests on the communion of saints (CCC 946–962, 1674).

Plan Your Visit

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Practical

Additional Information

Pilgrims visit the altars containing the relics of St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Aloysius Gonzaga and admire Andrea Pozzo's celebrated ceiling fresco and painted dome. The church, in Rome's historic center near the Pantheon, is open to visitors, with particular devotion around Bellarmine's feast on September 17 and St. Aloysius's on June 21.

Go Deeper

Visit the church's official website at https://chiesasantignazio.it, which documents the tombs of the Jesuit saints; read Bellarmine's own spiritual classic The Art of Dying Well, and see the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the transmission of the faith (CCC 84–95).

Doctors of the Church

Location

Visit the official website ↗ See it on the interactive map →

In the Area

Other sacred sites within 40 miles.