The mountain Democrat., 1864-06-11
GALILEo AND THE CHURCH.


The Dublin Irishman, in refptiOs :
Slander Of the Londonderry Standard up
on the Archbishop Of Dublin, says:
If DR.. Mcknight, the editor, knew al
much Of the history Of science and "Ro
man orthodoxy" as a junior student o.
the Catholic University, he would have
known that learned Protestants reject tht
calumnious statement that the Catholic
Church declared any discoveries made in
science to be ''heresies." lie would have
learned from Brewster and Italian that q
man may be Protestant, and yet do JUS
tice to the Catholic Church. We do not
see why as much mlghtpot be hoped, in
time, from even DerS Presbyterian -
that is, if Darwin's Theory of Develop
ment" be true. The Catholic Church
did not declare Galileo'S discoveries to be
heresies. When Calico attempted to
play the thcologian, as well as the math-
cmatician, his work came in under the
cogniZance of theOlogians. lie had been
repeatedly warned from intcrmeddling in
that way he might have freely pursued
his mathematical studies without intcrrup.
ton. Cardinal Barberini, afterwards Pope
Urban WILL, gave this advice: 'GaliIeo
ought not to travel out of the limits OF
physics and mathematics he should con-
fine himself to such reasonings as Ptoie-
my and Copernicus used. Declaring the
views OF Scripture theologians maintain
to be their particular province A friend
writes to him: i have been this morn.
ing with Monsignor Dini to the Cardinal
Del Monte, who told us he lately had q
long conversation with Cardinal Bellar
mite on the subject of the new opinions,
and the conclusion was, that by confining
himself to the system and its dcmonstra.
ton, without interfering with the Scrip
lures, the Interpretation of which they
wish to have confined to theological pro.
fessors approved and authorized for the
purpose, Galileo would be secure against
any contradiction but that otherwise,
explanations Of Scripture, however ingen-
ious, will be admitted with difficulty, when
they depart from the common opinion Of
the Fathers
Calico persisted in his course, and fell
under condemnation, and was imprisoned.
l have.for my prison the delightful pal
ace of Trinita del Monte he writes, and
there he remained four or FIVE months,
while at Rome; then they sent me to
my best friend, the Archbishop of Sienna,
and have always enjoyed the most de-
lightlul tranquility. Now ! am at Arceta,
in my native country What a contrast
is there between this and the history oi
Galileo's Protestant contemporary-K
ler-whom Dr. Mcknight seems never to
have heard Of
Kepler, distinguished scientific man,
wrote work TO prove the earth's rota-
ton. But living in Protestant State, he
dared not even publish his work until he
had submitted it to the Protestant Theo-
logical Faculty of Tubingen. They
unanimously decided that it contained q
/ damnablc hcrcSy, because it contradicted
the teachings OF the Bible. Keplcr was
not allowed to act on his private judg'
mcnt; ) on the contrary, he was so perse
cuted, that he had to leave his native
land, and take refuge in Catholic coun'
try, where lie was welcomed, and made
Professor in Catholic college, conducted
by the Jc.uits. So, when Pope Gregory
NIL proposed to the world new calen-
der, now in use, and called after him, the
Grcgorian Calender, what happened?-
/ The new calender says the Protestant
historian, llallam, was Immediately re-
ceived in all countries acknowledging the
Pope's supremacy; not so much on thai
account, though Discrepancy in ecclesias
tical reckoning would have been very in
convenient, as of its real superiority oveI
the Julian. The Protestant countrie:
came much slower into the alteration
truth being no longer truth when promul
gated by the Pope In fact. in England
it was looked upon as Papal aggres'
sion ! learned bodies protested, and un.
learned folks were wrathful at the idea ol
the Pope taking ten days off their lives,
as they phrazedit. The Russian Greek
Church still rejects the improvement. So
with the exception of poor prosecuted
Keplcr, the Protestant men Of science
would have nothing to do with what had
been put forth by the Catholic Canon
Copernicus. Tycho Brahe rejected it,
In the middle of the seventeenth century
and long afterwards, there were mathe
maticians who struggled staunchly fol
the immobility Of the earth, says Hallam
1t is well known that Copernicus was
urged to publish his discovery by Church
dignitareS, that the expenses OF publica
ton were betrayed by Cardinal SchOm.
berg, and that the work was dedicated, by
permission, to Pope Paul III.
So little was the decree of the locaI
Court of inquisition looked upon as de-
! cree of the Catholic Church against Cali.
lco's discoveries, that under Pope Urban
VIII. two Jcsnits publicly taught it in a
Roman college. Casteli, the Bcnedictine
monk, disciple Of Galileo's, and main
tainer Of his theory, was invited by Ur'
ban to Rome, and made professor in tbs
Sapienza. Another Of his disciples, thu
Joromltc monk, Cavalicri, was professor
of Mathematics in Bologna. Professor A
de Morgan, (of we believe, the University
adduces the latest testimony. In the
Athen@um, October 81, 1868, reviewing
a work of Fromondus, Cant, Aristarchus
sive orbis tcrrH immobilis, Ant. 1851, ,ht
says: This Book contains the evidence
of an ardent opponent of Calico to tht
fact that Roman Catholics of the day die
not consider the decree of the Index o
the Inquisition as a declaration Of tn,
Church. Fromond would have been glaC
to say as much, and tries to come near it
but confcsscS he must abstain
WHERE'S my wife? inquired our frienC