Bellarmino, Roberto - De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, liber unus. - 1684

Bellarmino, Roberto, De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, liber unus. With supplementary indexes eleven & brief chronological order from the world’s creation up to the year MDCXII. Cologne, [Leipzig]: Wohlfart, 1684. [8] leaves, 256, [8] leaves, 127 pages. 4°, parchment of the period (binding cords preserved only fragmentarily).

VD17 1:053326M; De Backer/Sommervogel I, 1227, 32. - Later 1684 edition of the work first published in 1613, one of the fundamental bio-bibliographical reference works of Catholic learning in the early modern period. In alphabetical or chronological order, Roberto Bellarmino lists numerous Christian authors from the Ancient Church to his own time and combines bibliographic information with church-historical and theological remarks. The attached indexes and the chronological overview up to 1612 underscore the encyclopedic character of the work.

The Jesuit, cardinal, saint and Doctor of the Church Bellarmino ranks among the most important Catholic theologians of the Counter-Reformation. As a leading controversy-theologian of the Roman Church, he profoundly influenced the confessional disputes of the late 16th and early 17th centuries; his writings were especially directed against reformatory doctrinal positions and exerted a far-reaching influence on Catholic dogmatics and church history writing.

The present edition documents Bellarmino’s enduring significance for Catholic theology, scholarly culture, and confessional historiography well beyond his death. Especially in the milieu of Catholic universities and monastic libraries, the work was among the central tools for theological and patristic studies.

Binding somewhat stained and browned, external hinges somewhat worm-eaten in places. Binding firm, text clean. From a properly dissolved monastery library, with corresponding markings (stamp, spine signature). Still in good condition."