Notre Dame Scholastic, Vol. 31, No. 22
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•PlSQE-QV^Sl •SEr\PLf^-\/ig"\/F^S . ' x-rx/t - ' • -^ VOL. XXXI. NOTKE DAME, INDIANA, MARCH 5, 1898, No. 23. in Stuttgart. The text of these two publican: Winter. tions is, with some, slight verbal variations, JOHN F. FEXNESSEY, 99. indentical. M^-. de I'Epinois is.a Cathplip, Mr. Von Gebler is not. ^ence the^e qa^i npt be I^AS winter come?" The falling snow the least doubt that we have the exact AyprdA <: Gives answer o'er the world below. of the process; and the lovers of history inus^ No longer red the leaflets flare; rejoice that Rome has thias given to the wofM. The maple lifts its branches bare, A refuge for a storm-blown crow. an additonal proof of her love for truth. Great was the excitement created by these two pub A time will come when all must know lications, and great is the number of books, That the string of life must snap on the bow; Then let him ask, if he may dare, pamphlets, and articles that have been written -"Has winter come?" since on the question; but the quarrel about Galileo is far from-being at an end. The fables I hope that when my steps are slow, of his incarceration and tortures give pabulum And the winds of eighty round me blow. And time's white rime is on my hair,— for objectioiTs that have been refuted time and I hope that then I iiiay not care, again; whilst the horrors of the Inquisition, As round me murmur voices low, the supposed cruel deeds of Rome, and her, : " Has winter come? " alleged opposition to science, are repeated with nauseating effect. • Galileo, the greatest of Italian naturalists, was The Truth about Galileo.* born at Pisa, February 18, 1564. His father was Vincent de Michelangelo .Galilei, a Florentine BV THE REV.^J. B. SCHEIER, C. S. C. nobleman, possessed of an extraodinary knowl edge of mathematics and music. His mother N-the whole range, of; human was Julia of the family Amanati from Pescia. knowledge there is perhaps^ no Galileo received his first lessons in Pisa where question that has been more he.reriiained until 1574, when the whole family persistently studied with the moved to Florence. " hope of antagonizing th?. Church Young Galileo had a,keen intellect and was than the condemnation of the a good student. His progress in science and J > Copernican system as advocated by, virtiie was especially marked, and this deter ^^ Galileo* and the Infallibility of the mined the father. to allow his first-born to Pope. .The acts, of Galileo's pi-ocess have be .pursue higher studies, although his children come known through Henry de I'Epinois who were numerous and his nieans limited. Galileo^ copied them in the library of the Vatican made a solid; and broad preparatory classical and published, part of them in the Reviezv course, and entered the University of Pisa, of Historical Questions, July, i, 1867. In May, (September 5,1581) as a student of medicine. 1877, he published the full proceedings of the Contrary to the wishes of his father, Galileo famous trial. Two months later, Charles Von devoted most of his time to mathematics^ and Gebler copied the same: manuscriptr-at-the in 1589 he was appointed professor of mathcr Vatican and published the result'of. his.labors rnatics. in the. university of his native "town. * Lecture delivered before the GplumbianCathplici : He at once rejected the book of Aristotle and Sumnder School last year. - ' : .; studied the' book of nature. Galileo's was a 37^ NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. ^evolution,ary mind in the eyes of the philos Both propositions were condemned by the ophers and naturalists, of his day.. For that Consultors, and on Feb, 25, Galileo was advised season he soon left Pisa, but failed to receive a not to teach that doctrine any more. Galileo, professorship either at Bologna or at Venice. in presence of Ca^dipal Bellarmihe, promised Jle had moije success, ho\j^ever, at Padya, where to abide by the decision. He seemed satisfied in 1592, he was appointed professor of 'mathe with the result, because the decision declared matics. In a letter to Mazzoni, at that time in only that the opinion of Copernicus was not Rome, Galileo declared himself (1597) in favor in accordance with holy Scripture, and con of the sj'^stem of the Pythagoreans and of demned only those books which taught ex Copernicus as more probable than that of professo that the opinion was not contradictory Aristotle. At the same time he wrote to Kepler to holy Scripture. Some false reports, were that he had been an ardent adherent to the spread at the time by the enemies of Galileo new S3''stem for a number of years. that he was punished, and that his doctrine was The discovery of a new star in 1604 offered, repudiated by the Church. Galileo besought the occasion to attack the Aristotelian prin his friends in Rome to make the facts known, _ ciple of the immutability of the heavens. The and Cardinal Bellarmine wrote. May 26, 1616, telescope opened a new world for investigation that Galileo need not retract anything, that no- to consolidate the new - theories. The most punishment was inflicted upon him; and that brilliant discoveries were the result of Galileo's the Congregation pronounced the opinions of labors with this new instrument. Beyond de Copernicus contrary to holy Scripture and not scription is the impression made on the world to be defended. of learned men when they heard of the moun In the meantime Cardinal Barberini had been tains and valleys in the moon, of the four elected Pope. Counting on the friendship of satellites of Jupiter, of the number of stars in the new Pontiff, Galileo made an unsuccessful the Pleiads advanced from seven to forty, of attempt to have the unfavorable decree of the the abnormal form of Saturn and the phases of Index annulled. The decree, however, was not Venus. Some would not believe what they saw removed; but the Pope gave Galileo great through the glass, others were full of admi encouragement, saying that the Chwxh had ration. Kepler himself had his doubts; but the not condemned the opinion. Galileo returned reading of the new book "Nuntius Sidereus" to his studies, and in 1630, his " Dialogue," a convinced him, and in a letter dated October 25, labor of thirty years, was ready for publication 1610, Kepler writes: Ncviiiicjn liabcs qiicjii metuas He applied to Rome for permission to print (BniiibtJH,—"You have no rival to fear." Thus the book. The limits of treating the questions the immutability of the heavens had received as mere hypotheses were frequently trans a death-blow; the doctrine of the peripatetic gressed, and the work was subjected to correc school was trampled under foot, and the fol tion. The book was finally printed in its lowers of the old school swore vengeance, uncorrected form, and Galileo's friends were against Galileo. The new theory made steady jubilant. No?i est factum tale opus in wiivei'sa and rapid progress. The old a priori definitions terra—" Such another work does not exist in the and law^s had to yield before undeniable tacts. whole world." But the book when printed did The analogy between the earth and the satel not contain the.doctrine for which the Impriyn- lites of Jupiter made Galileo proclaim the fact atur was obtained—^the book treated of faith, of which was pronounced before him by Cardinal religion, of holy Scripture, when there .should Nicholas deCusa, "It is evident that the earth have been question only of mathematics; and, moves." Copernicus had already dedicated to juridically speaking, an investigation had be Pope Paul IIL a dissertation entitled Qicod come necessary. cceluffi^stet et terra hioveatur,—"The heavens Great deference was shown Galileo, although stand still; it is the earth that moves." Galileo he had evidently transgressed the positive vvas" accused in Rome. orders received. A special committee was The two propositions placed before the Con- appointed to exaiiiine the book, and Galileo suitors of the Sacred Office for deliberation on was found guilty of having transgressed the February 19, 1616, were as follows: (i)"The limits set for him. Sickness delayed Galileo, isun is the central point of the universe, and and he did not reach Rome until February 13, consequently has nbmotion:" (2) "The earth 1633." His plan was to get out of the trouble is hot the centre of the universe, is not immov as easily as possible; hence he made some able, but mov^s about itself in daily rotation." contradictory statements. This was far from^ NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. 379 honorable. However, it must not be forgotten such are writing for- the sake of sensatio'nalismj;, that the man broken down by age and infirmity not for the sake of truth. The spreading .of.; had an earnest desire to remain a faithful Galileo's scientific views was certainly morcp^;:: child of the Church; and. in his own interior less retarded by the condemnation. But the '. there was a terrible contest to maintain both astronomers kept on busily atwo^k. The ne\y;/ the scientific stand he had taken and also, his . science was pei^fected; all doubts as to .its faith. Nothing was more evident to him than correctness have long since disappeared. What his scientific yiews;; and in his heart he believed was but a theory has developed into a solidly- that his faith did not ifun cauriter to, these established scientific truth.