De arte bene moriendi, libri duo.Venice, Giovanni Tibernino, 1746. Agenda 12mo (16 x 8 cm). Contemporary sheepskin parchment.

216 pp.A charming little agenda 12mo edition, in the original Latin, of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino's most famous and most popular work, known in English as The art of dying well. Roberto Bellarmino (1542-1621) or Robert Bellarmine, a learned and pious Italian Jesuit had a great reputation with Catholics and Protestants alike. He joined the Jesuits in 1560 and completed his studies at Louvain beginning in 1569, then served as professor of theology there until he returned to Italy in 1576. He became professor of theology at the new Roman College and was appointed Cardinal in 1598/99. Though a member of the committee that condemned Galileo's theses, when Galileo was much troubled by the fact that people thought he was under some severe penance, Bellarmino wrote him a certificate stating that Galileo was under no penance whatsoever, but only had signed a declaration that his theses were in contradiction with the words of the scripture. One of his famous sayings was "an ounce of peace is better than a pound of victory".With a small corner of 1 leaf restored, not approaching the text, and an occasional tiny foxed spot, but still in fine condition. The spine label is slightly damaged, but the binding is otherwise very good.l ICCU, TO0E 148488 & NAPE 01308.