The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-02-09
Beneactors Of Mankind Who Labored Under the Sceptr
of the Old Apostolic Church.
Nicholas Copernicus the Of Frauenberg founded
Modern System Of Astronomy
Louis Pasteur Eminent French Bacterologist
the Creator Of a New Science.

If we were to give credence to all
that has been said and written by
antagonists, it would appear that
science is the heel of Achilles in the
body of Catholicism. Jaundiced pub
lie opinion stigmatizes the Church as
the stereotyped opponent of enlight-
.ened progress, oppugning all advance,
which is being made by prosecuted
sayants in spite Of her. That great
modern NIinotaur the press, has, in
ponderous tome and tiny pamphlet,
aided in this misrepresentation, placing
this opposition as a natural outcome OF
that "potpourri of MEDIEVAL absurdl-
ties" saws G. Brengeuzer, in st. Vim
cents Journal.
The great scientist, st. George Mi
yart, seems to have been of the same
mind, and his separation from the
Church has undoubtedly been noted as
"a triumph.
The piece de resistance, however, IS
Calico Galilei-an oft told tale, almost
as familiar as Don Quixote's charge on
the windmills-Gallileo, the theme OF
the paean with which Protestant po-
lemics have greeted our ears, usque ad
nauseam for cycle of years. With
pity and shudder we read of this un-
fortunate Catholic scientist whose per-
sistent land it still moves" sent him
loaded with chains, to languish in the
horrible dungeons of the 1nquisition.
1noculated with the virus of bigotry'
our adversaries hardly see in the
Church a soil prolific Of scientific pro-
gression; to say the least, the investl-
gator subjects himself to the danger
of popish anathemas. Leaving these
ouagmires of conjecture, these dlstort-
ed mirrors of popular belief, and COM
ing on to the solid ground of demon
stration, retrospective view of the
nart that Catholics have taken in
the matter of science will show the
patent fallacy of these opinions, Will
proye that the Church has galaxy OF
talent in the advanced rank OF
thought that many of her sons have
unearthed intellectual nuggets in fields
over which many brain ploughs have
furrowed; will go so far as to show
that Catholics are pioneers of science
men whose names are linked with
progress in Astronomy, Mathematics
Mechanics, Electricity, Chemistry, Op-
tics, Thermotics, Mineralogy, and
Botany; that such men as Gassendi'
De Vico, Piazzi and host of others
have succeeded in travelling the scien-
tific path with that of piety.
Is it shining against logic to say that
an exact study of the laws governing
the cosmos should have a tendency to
enhance our reverence for the Al
mighty Creator? That the Church
whose dogmas are based on Eternal
Truth, should fear a truthful eXposi
ton of the laws of nature? Truth is
the object of science; hence distinc
ton is necessary between science an6
speculation. This plant and admirine
world of ours has often looked up tt
foundationless speculation in scientific
theories, as is sufficiently testified by
the many fragments which lay along
the beaten path of progress. Many
are called sciences which are but mert
bundles Of theory, which are tied ant
unbound by new discoveries. Science
can classify only facts, a deduction
which necessarily follows from it,
definition, viz: Science is body Of
organized knowledge, whose phenome
ma are arranged so as to exhibit thu
reasons or causes by which they are
Influenced in their legitimate connec
ton and interdependence." If one
therefore, be not among the first by
whom the new are tried" can he b.
justly accused of being an opponent tt
science?
In support of the assertion tina
Catholics have representative men, le
us but examine the annals of science
The pages of the history of tina
great and noble science, Astronomy
which penetrates the depths of ether
gauges the universe and counts tn
q myriads of stars, watts us to othe
d worlds amid the void nebulae, and de
4 fines the ingredients Of the sun, stars
u comets and nebuln, scarcely record
q more beautiful character than that o
q the canon of Frauenberg, Nicolaus Co
q pernicus. The genesis of the moderl
N system Of the world dates back to thi
ecclesiastic, whose ingenuity frs
IN caused him to follow those landmark
of simplicity and symmetry which ma
4 ture places along the highway o