The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-04-30
NEWS IN BRIEF
A Budget of Interesting Items Gathered
by a Caucasian Representative.

IN the early part Of the seventeenth
century, Bellarmine, a man Of great en-
ergv. earnest, jealous, sincere and
learned showed that If the Copernician
theory should prevail, it would be the
obsclute undoing Of the Bible, and the
destruction of the church, rendering the
| death of Christ futile If the earth is
only one of the many planets. AMI not
the center Of the universe, and the other
planets arc inhabited, the whole plan of
salvation fails, since the inhabitants of
the other spheres are without the Bible.
and Christ did not die for Them
| This was the argument of Father Le-
care, and many others who took their
cue from him.
Calico was denounced as "atheist.
and ''inhdel.' epthets that do not fright
en- us much now, since they have been
applied to most Of the really great and
good men who have ever lived. But
then such words set fire to masses of in
hammable prejudces, and there were
CONGREGATIONS of wrath and hate against
which it were vain to argue. The Arch
bishop of Pisa felt it incumbent upon
him TO bring Calico to justice Cali
leo was born at Pisa, educated there,
taught in the university, and now he
had disgraced the place and brought it
into dlsrepute.
In 1910 Calico received a formal
summons from Pope Paul V. to come
to Rome and purge himself Of hereSies
that he had expressed in letters which
were then in the hands of the Inqrisi-
ton Calico appealed to his friends at
Florence, when the Pope issued an or
der it could not be waived The great
est thinker of the time journeyed to
Rome and faced the greatest theologian
Of his day, Cardinal Bellarn1ine. The
cardinal firmly and clearly showed Cali
leo the error of his way. Calico offered
to prove for the cardinal by astrononn
cal observations that the Copernician
theory was true. Cardinal Bellarmine
said there was only one truth and that
was spiritual truth. That the Bible was
true, or it was not. If not, then was
religion fallacy and our hope of heav-
en- a delusion
Calico contended that the death of
Christ had nothing to do with the truth,
so science and these things should not
be shufaed and confused This attitude
of mind greatly shocked the inquisitors,
and they made haste to inform the Pope
who at once issued an order that the
astronomer should be placed in dun
geon until he saw fit to disavow that
the sun was the center of the universe,
and the earth moves.
He was kept at Rome under surveil-
lance for some months, but was finally
allowed to return to Florence, and cau-
toned that he must cease all public
teaching, speaking and writing on as
tronomy. On March 5, 1916, the con-
sulting theologians of the holy Office re-
iterated that the two proposition of
Calico that the sun is the center of the
universe and that the earth has rotary !
motion, were absurd in philosophy, |
heretical and contrary to scripture"
The works of Copernicus were then
placed upon the index, and Paul issued
a special decree, warning all churchmen
to "abjure, shun and forever abstain
from giving encouragement, support,
succor or friendship to any who be-
lieved or taught that the earth revolves'
So the years went by, and Calico was.
81 years old, impoverished and forgot
ten, yet in his proud heart burnt the
enbers of ambition. He believed in
HIMSELF he believed in the sacredness
of his mission. Calico emerged from
his secusion and again began teaching
and speaking in Florence. He also fitted
up an observatory and invited scholars
to make use of his telescope Father
Melchoir here put forth a general de-
aimed especially at Calico
to this effect: "The opinion of the
earth's motion is, of all heresies, the
most abomirable, the most pernicious,
the most scandalous; the Immortality
Of the earth is thrice sacred. An argu-
Inent against the existence of God and
the immortality of the soul would be
sooner tolerated than the idea that the
earth moves"
In reply to this fusillade, in 1892, GAL
leo put forth his book entitled "The
Dialogue" which was intended to place
the ideas of Copernicus in popular form.
A copy of Galileo's book reaching the
Pope, his silence was broken. The book
was condemned and all the copies found
we're ordered to be burned by the hang
nan in the public streets. But the book
1ad met with a wide sale and many
copies had been carried to Germany,