The Galileo Wars

30 years and 4 centuries

Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ

Vatican Observatory
 Documents
available in
translation:
University of California Press
The cosmology of Genesis (above) was very different
from that of Ptolemy
but this did not lead to any crisis in the Church
in Roman times;
they understood, better than some of us,
that Genesis was speaking of God, not astronomy
 St. Augustine: On the Literal
Interpretation of Genesis

“Even a non-Christian knows something about the

earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this
world… it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for
an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the
meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense about
these things.” (AD 408)
 The modern study of
astronomy began in
the medieval Church
universities
The trivium: grammar, rhetoric,
and dialectic
The quadrivium: arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, and music
13th Century Student notes
The Discarded Image...
Unity of astronomical,
philosophical, and
theological vision of
the universe

Earth is not at the

center, but at the
bottom (one step
above Hell)
 Mars

Earth

Sun

Mercury

Jupiter

Ptolemy vs. Copernicus

The theory of Copernicus could be tested observationally;
if he was right, then one would expect to see phases of
Venus and "parallax" motions in the stars as the Earth
went around the sun. Neither was visible without a telescope.
Galileo's telescope showed that Venus had phases
(though he still could not see parallax) Venus

Moon
 Tycho Brahe's
system could explain
the phases of Venus
without having the
Earth move around
the Sun.
The lead-up
1453 The Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople

1492 Christopher Columbus discovers America

1517 Martin Luther’s 95 theses; Protestant Reformation begins

1543 Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

1545-1563 The Council of Trent called to deal with Protestantism

1564 Galileo is born in Pisa

1571 Johannes Kepler is born

1581-1585 Galileo is enrolled at the University of Pisa in
medicine, studies mathematics privately, and leaves without a
degree (weak in Latin)

1589 Galileo begins teaching mathematics at University of Pisa

1592 …professor of mathematics at the University of Padua

1601 Tycho Brahe dies

1609 Kepler’s New Astronomy; first 2 laws of planetary motion

The Starry Messenger

Fall 1609 Galileo builds an astronomical telescope and

observes the heavens
13 March 1610 Galileo's Starry Messenger is published in Venice
19 April 1610 Kepler sends Galileo: Conversation with the Starry
Messenger
April-June 1610 Galileo named philosopher to the Grand Duke
of Tuscany
June 1610 Horky: A Very Short Excursion Against the Starry
Messenger
November 1610 John Wedderburn: a reply to Horky and
defense of Galileo
1610 or 1611 delle Colombe: Against the Earth's Motion (religious
objections)
1611 Kepler publishes observations of Jupiter's satellites,
supporting Galileo
1611 Roffeni publishes another reply to Horky in defense of Galileo
1611 Sizzi: Dianoia Astronomica, Optica, Physica (religious
objections)
24 April 1611 Replying to Bellarmine, the 4 professors of
mathematics at the Jesuit Collegio Romano (Clavius, Grienberger,
Maelcote, and Lembo) confirm telescopic observations, but avoid
any interpretation
25 April 1611 Galileo is made a member of the Lincean Academy
May 1611 Jesuit Collegio Romano: Fr Maelcote praises The Starry
Messenger
December 1611 Letter to Galileo: malicious, envious
persons at house of the archbishop of Florence plotting
to fault him in re: the earth's motion; one asked a
preacher to attack Galileo from the pulpit, but the
preacher refused to attack Galileo
1612 Lagalla: On the Phenomena in the Orb of the Moon,
disputes Galileo
2 November 1612 In private conversation, a Dominican,
Lorini, attacks Galileo for believing ideas (such as that
the earth moves) which contradict the Bible
5 November 1612 Lorini writes Galileo a letter of apology
Dominicans and Jesuits, 1

Dominicans and Jesuits: disputing for 50

years about the nature of grace...
finally (c1610) the Pope tells them to stop
Dominicans in Florence attack Galileo
Jesuits in Rome fete him
Galileo Fr. Christopher Scheiner SJ
 Actually, Thomas
Harriot saw them first...
Fall 1612 The Lincean Academy decides to publish
writings on sunspots
Fall 1612-Winter 1613 The Sunspot Letters delayed in part
by ecclesiastical censorship; some biblical references,
anti-Aristotelian statements deleted
22 March 1613 Galileo's Sunspot Letters published in
Rome
Fall 1613 Albergotti: biblical criticism of Galileo's theories
21 December 1614 Caccini delivers a sermon against
“heretical mathematicians”
10 January 1615 Caccini's superior apologizes to Galileo
for Caccini’s “excessive zeal”
12 January 1615 Prince Cesi, founder and head of the Lincean
Academy, advises caution and informing Galileo that
“Bellarmine himself… regards it as heretical and that without
doubt the earth’s motion is against the Scripture”
7 February 1615 Lorini files with Inquisition a written complaint
against Galileo
February or March 1615 Foscarini : Copernicanism compatible
with the Bible
20 March 1615 Caccini to Roman Inquisition, charges “suspicion
of heresy”
1615 Galileo: Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
1615 Inquisition consultant reports to the Holy Office that
Galileo's views do not contain any significant errors, conform
essentially to Catholic doctrine
13 November 1615 Ximenes to Inquisition accuses Galileo
of heresy
14 November 1615 Attavanti: he has never heard Galileo
express heresies
25 November 1615 The Inquisition decides to examine
Sunspot Letters
December 1615 After a long delay due to illness, Galileo
goes to Rome
24 February 1616 Eleven consultants reports to Roman
Inquisition: heliocentric and heliostatic thesis is
philosophically absurd and formally heretical; geokinetic
thesis is philosophically absurd and theologically
erroneous
25 February 1616 Pope orders Bellarmine to warn Galileo
26 February 1616 Bellarmine calls Galileo to his house,
gives him the warning
3 March 1616 Bellarmine reports to Inquisition that Galileo
has acquiesced
5 March 1616 The Congregation of the Index condemns
Foscarini's book, suspends until corrected Copernicus's
book and Zuniga's On Job, ordering analogous
censures for analogous works; Galileo is not mentioned
at all
12 March 1616 Galileo reports to Tuscan secretary of
state: the day before he had an audience with Pope Paul
V, spending three-quarters of an hour with him and being
warmly received and reassured
Spring 1616 Rumors: Galileo was tried and condemned by
the Inquisition
26 May 1616 Bellarmine: declaration on Galileo's behalf,
denying rumors
June 1616 Galileo returns to Florence
15 May 1620 The Congregation of the Index issues the
correction of Copernicus’ book On the Revolutions,
promised in decree of 5 March 1616 (according to
Gingerich, half the copies in Italy — and virtually all
those outside Italy — are never “corrected”)
Dominicans and Jesuits, 2
1623: Grassi, a Jesuit, observes and writes
about the Comet of 1618
Galileo, jealous, attacks him in The Assayer
Riccardi, Dominican censor, writes: “I believe
our age is to glorified by future ages…thanks
to the deep and sound reflections of this
author in whose time I count myself fortunate
to be born…”
The Dialogue on Two World System

6 August 1623 Maffeo Barberini, Galileo admirer, elected Pope

Urban VIII
October 1623 Galileo: Assayer, dedicated to the new Pope;
Imprimatur from Dominican Fr. Nicoló Riccardi with fulsome
praise of Galileo
Spring 1624 Galileo visits Rome, warmly received; 6 Papal
audiences
8 June 1624 Galileo to Cesi: Cardinal Hohenzollern says, Pope
said Copernican theory not heretical, only that it could never
be proved
Summer 1624 Galileo: “Reply to Ingoli,” answers 1616
antiCopernican essay
Fall 1624 Galileo begins working on what was to become
the Dialogue
1624 or 1625 Anonymous complaint: Galileo's atomism is
heresy
April 1625 Galileo learns that the investigation led to his
exoneration
16 March 1630 Castelli to Galileo: Cesi says, Pope says: ‘It
was never our intention; if it had been up to us that
decree [re: Copernicus] would not have been issued’.”
April 1630 Galileo completes work on the Dialogue
May-June 1630 Galileo in Rome to obtain the imprimatur
26 June 1630 Galileo leaves Rome with written
endorsement from the Vatican secretary (chief Roman
censor); impression that this is final approval pending
certain minor additions and finishing touches
1 August 1630 Prince Cesi dies; the Lincean Academy is
left leaderless
Summer 1630 Outbreak of plague interrupts travel and
commerce in Italy
Fall 1630 Delays in printing the Dialogue as agreed in
June
7 March 1631 Galileo to the Tuscan secretary of state:
tired of waiting, plus death of Cesi, plague; he wants to
publish his book in Florence
Spring-Summer 1631 Intense negotiations; Vatican
secretary transfers jurisdiction to Florentine inquisitor
with certain instructions (stemming from the Pope)
concerning its title, content, preface, and ending
21 February 1632 Printing of the Dialogue is completed in
Florence.
Summer 1632 Book received with great enthusiasm and
praise; but complaints in Rome lead the Pope to prohibit
further distribution of book and to appoint a special
commission to investigate the matter
Early September 1632 Special commission files report, as
a result the Pope decides to forward the case to the
Inquisition
23 September 1632 Galileo summoned to Rome for month
of October
I October 1632 Florentine inquisitor conveys order;
Galileo promises to obey
13 October 1632 Galileo: can the trial be transferred to
Florence, or can he answer the charges in writing?
11 November 1632 Galileo's plea is refused
17 December 1632 Three physicians: travel poses a
danger to Galileo’s life
30 December 1632 Medical excuses are discounted;
arrest threatened
15 January 1633 Galileo makes his will
20 January 1633 Galileo leaves Florence to go to Rome
13 February 1633 Galileo arrives in Rome, lodged at the Tuscan
embassy
15 February 1633 Galileo ordered not to socialize, to remain in
seclusion
April 1633 Galileo is formally interrogated by the Inquisition
12-30 April 1633 Galileo detained in the chief prosecutor's
apartment
17 April 1633 Inquisition consultants (3) file reports about
Galileo's Dialogue
28 April 1633 Extrajudicial deal: admit wrongdoing, for leniency?
30 April 1633 Galileo statement: admits some wrongdoing, no
malicious intent; allowed to return to Tuscan embassy, with
orders not to discuss the case with anyone, and to return to
Inquisition when summoned again
10 May 1633 Galileo formal defense before Inquisition:
Bellarmine's certificate of 1615 and a formal statement
May or June 1633 A report is made to the Pope by the
Inquisition officials
16 June 1633 Inquisition, presided by the Pope, decides: Galileo
to be examined on his intentions, even to the extent of torture;
that if he sustains it, he is to abjure vehement suspicion of
heresy before the full Holy Congregation, promising never again
to speak or write about the motion of the earth or stability of
the sun; that the Dialogue be prohibited; and that, as an
example, his sentence be sent to apostolic nuncios and
inquisitors to be read in public to gatherings of professors of
mathematics
21 June 1633 Inquisition examines Galileo with the formal
threat of torture
22 June 1633 Galileo is sentenced, (7-3 vote); punishment
involves abjuration, prohibition of the Dialogue, formal
arrest at the pleasure of the Inquisition, and some
religious penances. Galileo recites in public a formal
abjuration at the convent of the Minerva.
24 June 1633 House arrest at the Tuscan embassy
30 June 1633 The pope refuses Galileo's petition to be
allowed to go back to Florence but, as a step in that
direction, permits him to stay under conditions of house
arrest at the residence of the archbishop of Siena
9 July 1633 Galileo arrives in Siena
1 December 1633 The Pope grants Galileo's petition to
return to his villa in Arcetri near Florence, though
conditions of house arrest will continue
17 December 1633 Galileo, home, thanks Cardinal
Francesco Barberini
1638 Galileo publishes in Holland: Discourses and
Mathematical Demonstrations on Two New Sciences
Pertaining to Mechanics and to Local Motion.
8 January 1642 Galileo dies at Arcetri; he is quietly
buried at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, in a
grave without decoration or inscription
Why Galileo's Troubles?
Tragic conflict of worldviews
Church always afraid of new ideas
He was a secret "atomist" heretic
He made too many personal enemies
Philosophers/Jesuits out to get him
His book personally insulted the Pope
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The Thirty Years’ War

1618 Defenestration of Prague.

1620 Protestants defeated at the White Mountain
1623 Bohemia ceded to Hapsburgs; Protestants alarmed;
Denmark intervenes. (French financial support to Prots.)
HREmperor commissions Wallenstein, defeats Danes
1626 N. Germany under Imperial rule. England, France
withdraw
1629 Edict of Restitution; Catholics to be given back
territory, estates taken since 1550s
The Thirty Years’ War

1618 Defenestration of Prague.

1620 Protestants defeated at the White Mountain
1623 Bohemia ceded to Hapsburgs; Protestants alarmed;
Denmark intervenes. (French financial support to Prots.)
HREmperor commissions Wallenstein, defeats Danes
1626 N. Germany under Imperial rule. England, France
withdraw
1629 Edict of Restitution; Catholics to be given back
territory, estates taken since 1550s
 The Medici Political Connections
Ferdinand de’ Medici (1549-1609)
1588 appointed Galileo professor of mathematics at Pisa
married Christina of Lorraine (1565-1637)
Granddaughter of Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France
1615, Galileo "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina”
Cosimo II (1590-1620)
Galileo tutored Cosimo in mathematics during some summers
married Maria Magdalena of Austria, the sister of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II
Galileo dedicated Sidereus Nuncius to him and his family
1610 Galileo made court philosopher and mathematician
Ferdinand II (1610-1670)
Ten years old when his father dies, he inherits rank
Two regents: Grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, and mother, Maria Magdalena
reaches majority, 1630, age 20
soon afterwards, Galileo’s troubles start
 The Medici Political Connections
Ferdinand de’ Medici (1549-1609)
1588 appointed Galileo professor of mathematics at Pisa
married Christina of Lorraine (1565-1637)
Granddaughter of Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France
1615, Galileo "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina”
Cosimo II (1590-1620)
Galileo tutored Cosimo in mathematics during some summers
married Maria Magdalena of Austria, the sister of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II
Galileo dedicated Sidereus Nuncius to him and his family
1610 Galileo made court philosopher and mathematician
Ferdinand II (1610-1670)
Ten years old when his father dies, he inherits rank
Two regents: Grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, and mother, Maria Magdalena
reaches majority, 1630, age 20
soon afterwards, Galileo’s troubles start
 The 30 Years War, 1618 - 1648
A comparison of timelines
1629: Edict of Restitution
1630: May/June, Swedish 1630: April, Galileo completes Dialogue on
intervention (with French support)
the Two World Systems
1630: 26 June, Galileo leaves Rome with
1630: Ferdinand II of Florence written endorsement from the Vatican censor
attains majority
1630: Fall, Delays in printing the Dialogue as
agreed in June
1631: Spring-Summer, Vatican transfers
jurisdiction to Florentine inquisitor

1631: September, Spanish (HRE)

defeated at Breitenfeld
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 A comparison of timelines
1632, 21 February: Printing of the Dialogue
is completed in Florence.

1632, March: HRE defeated at Lech;

Cardinal Borgia attacks Pope
1632, May: Munich falls to Swedes
1632, Summer: Book published; Pope to
prohibit further distribution
1632, Early September: Pope decides to
forward the case to the Inquisition

1632, November: Swedes win at Lützen

but King Gustavus Adolfus killed
1633, June: Galileo Trial, Verdict
1633: Unsettled battles and truces;
Catholic general Wallenstein conspires 1633, July: Galileo goes to Siena
to control Spanish army (finally killed, 1633, 1 December: The Pope grants
Feb 1634)
Galileo's petition to return home
1634: Swedish lose at Nordlingen
Results
Heliocentrism/Keplerian system only
triumphs with Newton’s Physics, 1680s
Astronomy done by mathematicians …
until 1750s, Copernicanism taught in math
classes, Geocentrism in philosophy
Break between theology and natural
philosophy (the “Image” is “Discarded”)
Fr. Riccioli’s 1652 map of the Moon
(based on the observations of Fr. Grimaldi)
 (from Heilbron, The Sun in the Church)

Cassini’s 1655 meridiana,

San Petronio, Bologna
“…the Copernican, even in the opinion of Ricciolus, seems to carry with it a
greater simplicity and concinnity…

“But Tycho, in his epistles, hath vindicated and asserted his own right, and
hath gained for his followers Longomontanus, ( who yet gives the Earth a
motion about its axis) Scheinerus, Blancanus, and generally the
astronomers of the Jesuitical school.

“And the reason of their adherence to this system, rather than to the
Ptolemaick or Copernican… is, that Demonstration condemns the
Ptolemaick, showing it to be impossible and inconsistent with modern
observations; and as for the Copernican, that it stands condemned by a
congregation of Cardinals, who have (if you will believe them) defined the
same to be repugnant to the Sacred Scriptures.”

—Sir Edward Sherburne, 1675

(prominent British Roman Catholic)
1711: Donato Creti; astronomical images by
Raimondo Manzini based on observations
of Eustachio Manfredi, commissioned by
Count Luigi Marsili
1744: Roger
Boscovich SJ
Painting on the Ceiling of
the Jesuit College in
Prague, 1760
Galileo’s status after his death

1729 James Bradley discovers the aberration of starlight

16 June 1734 Roman Inquisition agrees to mausoleum in Santa Croce
1744 The Church allows the Dialogue to be published in Padua as part
of an edition of Galileo's collected works, with qualifications and
disclaimers
16 April 1757 Index withdraws decree against books teaching the earth's
motion; the Dialogue and a few other books explicitly remain on Index
16 August 1820 Holy Office: the Earth's motion is an established fact
1835 Index of Prohibited Books omits the Dialogue from the list.
1893 In the encyclical letter Providentissimus Deus, Pope Leo XIII puts
forth a view of the relationship between biblical interpretation and
scientific investigation that corresponds to the one advanced by Galileo
Fr. Angelo Secchi,
SJ
“War Between Science and Religion”

Deism (God of gaps)/Enlightenment anti-clericalism

Church support of kings /French Revolution

suppression of Church

Triumphalism of "Progress" (steam power, electricity)/

Triumphalism of 19th century Church; Vatican I

Darwinism/Eugenics

19th Century German University/priesthood of science

Andrew White, American “Nativism”/"Great Awakening"

“…that everyone might see clearly that
the Church and her Pastors are not
opposed to true and solid science,
whether human or divine, but that they
embrace it, encourage it, and promote
it with the fullest possible devotion.”
—Pope Leo XIII
The Refounding and Restructuring
of the Vatican Observatory
14 March 1891 Pope Leo XIII
As so, friends, above and beyond the
deep respect which we entertain for all
the sciences and for yours in particular,
this is yet another reason why we are
moved to pray: may the science of
astronomy, founded on the highest and
most universal horizons, the ideal of so
many great men in the past such as
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and
Newton, continue to bear the fruit of
marvelous progress and, through to the
heartfelt collaborations promoted by
such groups as the International
Astronomical Union, bring the
astronomical vision of the Universe to
an ever deeper perfection.
–Pope Pius XII, Address to the IAU,
September 1952
Thus there is a special concept of the
cosmos in Christianity which found its
loftiest expression in medieval
philosophy and theology. In our day
too, it shows interesting signs of a new
flourishing, thanks to the enthusiasm
and faith of many scientists who
following in Galileo’s footsteps
renounce neither reason nor faith;
instead they develop both in their
reciprocal fruitfulness. Christian
thought compares the cosmos to a
“book;” the same Galileo said this as
well, considering it as the work of an
Author who expresses himself in the
“symphony” of the Creation.
– Pope Benedict XVI
January 2009
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