Cardinal barberini and galileo thermometer

Vacandard in his Etudes de Critique et dHistoire Vol. He may, if he choose, ask the views of the Congregation, but their opinion is regarded only as a mere consultation; the sentence, properly speaking, is his work. In the trials of and , the Popes order, but the Congregations act; it is they who pronounce the sentence. If, therefore, infallibility be an incommunicable prerogative, it is clear that their decisions cannot be infallible.

That these were not infallible pronouncements was recognized by many scholars and theologians of the time. But our objectors add: At least you must admit that the Galileo condemnation proves that the Catholic Church is hostile to science. It proves nothing of the kind. The scientists of the day were as bitter against Galileo as the theologians.

The majority of scientists in the seventeenth century believed firmly in the Ptolemaic theory, and were convinced, and rightly, too, that Galileo had not brought forward a single proof for his views. The theologians who condemned him rejected his views as scientifically false as well as dogmatically heretical. Blame them if you will for believing too strongly in a current scientific theory, but do not accuse them of any hostility to science.

Some have asserted that the condemnation of Galileo hindered the progress of scientific studies in Europe. That these Roman decrees retarded for a time the special researches that were one day to make the Copernican theory morally certain, we willingly admit. But to say that they hindered the general progress of science is absolutely false, for the Italy of that period swarmed with scientists and scientific academies.

De Jaugey writes in the Le Proces de Galilee p. This institution counted among its members Rinaldi, Oliva and Borelli. At Bologna, a pontifical city, were two famous mathematicians, Ricci and Montalbani; the Jesuit Grimaldi who discovered the diffraction of light; Cassini, who later on was to make the Paris Observatory famous; Castelli, Davisi, and a number of other scholars.

At Rome, Cassini discovered the satellites of Saturn, Megalotti studied the comets, and Plati made his remarkable discoveries on the eclipses of the sun. Some non-Catholics are honest and well-informed enough to admit that the Catholic Churchs doctrine of infallibility is not involved, and that she is in no way hostile to science. But they maintain nevertheless that she encouraged hypocrisy by compelling Galileo to abjure his own convictions, and made an egregious blunder by stamping his theory heretical.

If we are to judge by the official documents Galileo was not called upon to abjure what he believed to be certain. He wrote letter after letter to his friends stating that he would rather pluck out his eyes than give scandal; that he would not resist his superiors and injure his soul by holding against them an opinion, which seemed to him evident and worthy of credence.

At the trial he strongly maintained that after he had never proposed the Copernican theory as objectively true. And yet despite these positive statements we must admit that they contradict the general tone of his writings and his conversations with friends. How reconcile this evident contradiction? Was he an unwilling martyr for the truth?

The Abbe Vacandard writes Etudes de Critique. I, page : This is a question very hard to answer. We think it presumptious for any one to assert that Galileos solemn disavowal of his writings was insincere. We have good reason, however, to think that his mind was not always calm when he thought of his condemnation. It seems very probable that at times his mind reverted to the opinions which had been condemned.

It is reported that his friend the Archbishop of Siena assured him that he had been unjustly treated by the Congregation, and that one day his ideas would prevail. Such a suggestion was calculated to make him feel bitter against his opponents, and to manifest this bitterness at least in secret. In fact we have some notes of his discovered a few years ago in the library of the Seminary of Padua Ms.

These notes prove, says De Vregille Dict. They do not, however, prove that he regretted his abjuration. He was, moreover, excusable, for the interior assent required of him by the Roman decrees was neither complete nor absolute, but was based solely on motives of prudence. We must not forget that while Galileo thought that he had demonstrated his theory, there is no scholar today who admits that he did.

The only three scientific arguments he used: the movement of the solar spots, the phenomenon of the tides, and the phases of Venus, either proved nothing in favor of the Copernican theory, or were in absolute contradiction to the facts. It has been frequently alleged that the Jesuits were chiefly responsible for Galileos condemnation. Ward wrote in The Dublin Review , p.

What are the facts? Galileo counted many Jesuits among his best friends — Bellarmine, Clavius, Grienberger, Guldin, von Maelcote —and his opponents were chiefly Grassi and Scheiner. The Jesuits, we must remember, were bound to defend Aristotle in view of the order issued by their fiftieth General Congregation of As for Bellarmine he was to the end a firm believer in the Ptolemaic theory, basing his opinion on the traditional interpretation of Josue and other Old Testament texts.

By a strange paradox Galileo in his letter to Castelli showed himself a better Scriptural expert than Bellarmine, whereas Bellarmine, echoing Grienberger in his denial of Galileos so-called proofs, proved himself a better scientist. Career [ edit ]. Patronage [ edit ]. Palazzo Barberini [ edit ]. Churches [ edit ]. Episcopal succession [ edit ].

Notes [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani in Italian. Patrons and Painters , Yale University Press, , p. Paris: Gallimard, p. Vol 3: Werke. Henze - Massine. Magnuson, Torgil. Rome in the Age of Bernini , volume 1, Stockholm, , p. David M. Retrieved June 24, Further reading [ edit ]. Nevertheless it was a churchman , Nicholas Copernicus , who first advanced the contrary doctrine that the sun and not the earth is the centre of our system, round which our planet revolves, rotating on its own axis.

It was dedicated by permission to Pope Paul III in order, as Copernicus explained, that it might be thus protected from the attacks which it was sure to encounter on the part of the "mathematicians" i. He added that he made no account of objections which might be brought by ignorant wiseacres on Scriptural grounds. Indeed, for nearly three quarters of a century no such difficulties were raised on the Catholic side, although Luther and Melanchthon condemned the work of Copernicus in unmeasured terms.

Neither Paul III , nor any of the nine popes who followed him, nor the Roman Congregations raised any alarm, and, as has been seen, Galileo himself in , speaking of the risks he might run by an advocacy of Copernicanism , mentioned ridicule only and said nothing of persecution. Even when he had made his famous discoveries, no change occurred in this respect.

On the contrary, coming to Rome in , he was received in triumph; all the world, clerical and lay , flocked to see him, and, setting up his telescope in the Quirinal Garden belonging to Cardinal Bandim, he exhibited the sunspots and other objects to an admiring throng. It was not until four years later that trouble arose, the ecclesiastical authorities taking alarm at the persistence with which Galileo proclaimed the truth of the Copernican doctrine.

That their opposition was grounded, as is constantly assumed, upon a fear lest men should be enlightened by the diffusion of scientific truth , it is obviously absurd to maintain. On the contrary, they were firmly convinced, with Bacon and others, that the new teaching was radically false and unscientific, while it is now truly admitted that Galileo himself had no sufficient proof of what he so vehemently advocated, and Professor Huxley after examining the case avowed his opinion that the opponents of Galileo "had rather the best of it".

But what, more than all, raised alarm was anxiety for the credit of Holy Scripture , the letter of which was then universally believed to be the supreme authority in matters of science , as in all others. When therefore it spoke of the sun staying his course at the prayer of Joshua , or the earth as being ever immovable, it was assumed that the doctrine of Copernicus and Galileo was anti-Scriptural; and therefore heretical.

It is evident that, since the days of Copernicus himself, the Reformation controversy had done much to attach suspicion to novel interpretations of the Bible , which was not lessened by the endeavours of Galileo and his ally Foscarini to find positive arguments for Copernicanism in the inspired volume. Foscarini, a Carmelite friar of noble lineage, who had twice ruled Calabria as provincial, and had considerable reputation as a preacher and theologian , threw himself with more zeal than discretion into the controversy, as when he sought to find an argument for Copernicanism in the seven-branched candlestick of the Old Law.

Above all, he excited alarm by publishing works on the subject in the vernacular, and thus spreading the new doctrine, which was startling even for the learned, amongst the masses who were incapable of forming any sound judgment concerning it. There was at the time an active sceptical party in Italy , which aimed at the overthrow of all religion , and, as Sir David Brewster acknowledges Martyrs of Science , there is no doubt that this party lent Galileo all its support.

In these circumstances, Galileo, hearing that some had denounced his doctrine as anti-Scriptural, presented himself at Rome in December, , and was courteously received. He was presently interrogated before the Inquisition , which after consultation declared the system he upheld to be scientifically false , and anti-Scriptural or heretical , and that he must renounce it.

This he obediently did, promising to teach it no more. Then followed a decree of the Congregation of the Index dated 5 March , prohibiting various heretical works to which were added any advocating the Copernican system. In this decree no mention is made of Galileo, or of any of his works. Neither is the name of the pope introduced, though there is no doubt that he fully approved the decision, having presided at the session of the Inquisition , wherein the matter was discussed and decided.

Cardinal barberini and galileo thermometer

In thus acting, it is undeniable that the ecclesiastical authorities committed a grave and deplorable error , and sanctioned an altogether false principle as to the proper use of Scripture. Galileo and Foscarini rightly urged that the Bible is intended to teach men to go to heaven , not how the heavens go. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that, while there was as yet no sufficient proof of the Copernican system, no objection was made to its being taught as an hypothesis which explained all phenomena in a simpler manner than the Ptolemaic, and might for all practical purposes be adopted by astronomers.

What was objected to was the assertion that Copernicanism was in fact true , "which appears to contradict Scripture ". I say that if a real proof be found that the sun is fixed and does not revolve round the earth, but the earth round the sun, then it will be necessary , very carefully, to proceed to the explanation of the passages of Scripture which appear to be contrary, and we should rather say that we have misunderstood these than pronounce that to be false which is demonstrated.

By this decree the work of Copernicus was for the first time prohibited, as well as the "Epitome" of Kepler, but in each instance only donec corrigatur , the corrections prescribed being such as were necessary to exhibit the Copernican system as an hypothesis, not as an established fact. We learn further that with permission these works might be read in their entirety, by "the learned and skilful in the science " Remus to Kepler.

Galileo seems, says von Gebler, to have treated the decree of the Inquisition pretty coolly, speaking with satisfaction of the trifling changes prescribed in the work of Copernicus. He left Rome , however, with the evident intention of violating the promise extracted from him, and, while he pursued unmolested his searches in other branches of science , he lost no opportunity of manifesting his contempt for the astronomical system which he had promised to embrace.

Nevertheless, when in he again visited Rome , he met with what is rightly described as "a noble and generous reception". He conferred on his visitor a pension, to which as a foreigner in Rome Galileo had no claim, and which, says Brewster, must be regarded as an endowment of Science itself. Urban VIII had argued that an all-powerful God could make the Sun and other heavenly bodies do as he pleased--notwithstanding the laws of physics.

In his Dialogue , Galileo provided a response that must have made the Pope feel foolish: "Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh heavier than lead, and with thier wings exceedingly small. He did not, and that ought to show something. It is only in order to shield your ignorance that you put the Lord at every turn to the refuge of a miracle.

Upset with what he saw as ridicule of his argument and convinced that the Dialogue was nothing but a thinly-veiled brief for the Copernican model, the Pope swung the machinery of the Church into motion against Galileo. The Pope insisted upon a formal sentence, a tough examination of Galileo, public abjuration, and "formal prison. Benedetto Castelli, a monk of Montecassino, ranked as Galileo's favorite disciple.

The two often exchanged warm letters on matters ranging from scientific topics to the quality of wine and cheese. One letter from Galileo to Castelli in , offering his views on matters theological and Copernican, became key evidence leading to his admonition. That same year, Castelli received an appointment as a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa.

Castelli had a first-rate mind. He understood Galileo's thought as few men of the time did, and wrote his own treatise on The Motion of Water. He served as chief consultant on hydraulic projects beginning in and, later, as "Father Mathematician of His Holiness. Before Galileo arrived in Rome to stand trial, Castelli was sent to Brescia.

He was allowed to return to Rome only after Galileo's departure. Galileo had a trusted friend in Giovanni Ciampoli. A brilliant Latinist, Ciampoli adored the older scientist: "It seems impossible to me that one should frequent you and not love you To hear you is to be convinced of the truth, and whatever I can do, I will always be at your service.

During Galileo's troubles of , Ciampoli, under the allegiance of the Duke of Tuscany, corresponded regularly his hero, advising him of developments and intrigues within the Catholic Church hierarchy. When Galileo reading the Dialogue for publication in , Ciampoli concluded that the Pope's had only the warmest feelings for Galileo, writing from Rome to tell him: "You are awaited here more than any most beloved damsel.

The Pope considered himself deceived by Ciampoli--previously thought an excellent candidate for cardinal-- and exiled him to the village of Montalto della Marca, where he served as governor. Ciampoli accepted his situation gracefully. In , he wrote to Galileo: "Come to see me, my persecuted Socrates, we shall take good care of your health here As for myself, I have found my consolation in study, and I still hope to write something whereby I will be remembered.

Barberini led a faction of cardinals that sought lenient treatment for Galileo. He persuaded Commissary-General Firenzuola to visit Galileo in March, and discuss with him a compromise solution to the compromise.