Patronage
2 saints are venerated as patrons of catechists, led by Robert Bellarmine (feast day September 17).
October 4, 1542 — September 17, 1621 · Feast day: September 17
Robert Bellarmine, the Jesuit theologian whose Disputationes de Controversiis was so formidable that Protestant universities established professorships solely to refute it, remained convinced that charity matters more than argument. Pope Clement VIII declared the Church 'had not his equal in learning,' yet Bellarmine insisted the final examination will ask only about love.
Approx. 125 AD — Approx. 202 AD · Feast day: June 28
Born in Smyrna and schooled at the feet of Bishop Polycarp — who had known the Apostle John — Irenaeus of Lyon became the second century's great bulwark against Gnosticism, writing the first comprehensive defense of orthodox Christian doctrine. When his predecessor died a martyr, Irenaeus took up the bishop's staff and held the Church of Lyon together against heresy, persecution, and division.