Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1910-02-08
SOME CHURCH HISTORY
STRAIGHTENED.

Editor of the Bisbee Daily Review: -
The Review is. believe. to BE class.
ed with these periodicals that would
not willingly give circulation 10 any,
misstatemSht calculated 20 wound the
feelings OF considerable body OF lbs
readers. Accordingly. when such
misstatemen, and distortion OF history
appears in a leading editorial in yosr
journal. the educated AID dleeriminat
ing reader merely makee mental
rote to the effect that It's editor. pc. I
ing busy man. cannot be expeci cd
to verify everything he reads. and
must, to a great extent, depend upon
the authority OF others for his data.
The generality of readers. however.
are unfortunately inclined 10 put too
great dependence ON the truth CT
Wat appears IL pi' mt
This general statement is prompted
by one paragraph OF your leading ed
itorial Of this morning. in which you
state that In 1456, upon the appear
ance of Halley's comet. the supersti-
tious dread which it aroused led 10
the addition TO the Ave Maria q pre-
sumo you mean 10 the Iitany Unsteady
of the invocation "Lcrd save US from
the devil. the Turk and the comet"
: am hot surprised that you Should
/ nj, -. m fhia fuh ln Nrh ls~
even DIR. Simon Newcomb and Andrew
d. White lend it the weight of their
! authority. And yet it is a myth,
and nothing but a myth.
The October number of La Revue
des Questions Scientifiques prints an
article from the pen of the secretary
/ of the Scientific Society of Brussels.
in which the myth is finally exploded.
The first appearance of the myth in
popular ASTRONOMERS is in a work
of the French astronomer. Laplace.
who states that "Calixtrus ordered
public prayers TO conjure the comet
and the Turks" Next comes Arago.
who tells us that the Pope ''exeom-
municated at the same time the comet
and the Turks" Then Babinet writes
that Calixtus east an anatnema on
the comet and the Turks" Note how
the story grows. Finally Robert Grant
lin his history of physical astronomy
ns52l says, Pope Calixtrus III is
sued a Bull in which he anathema-
thized both the TURKS and the comet
A search of the Bulls of -Calixtus re.
vealed the fact that no mention OF
the comet was made in any of them.
Dr. Andrew D. White and Simon
( Newcomb both reject the story OF
the Bull. but White adds. Then, too,
was incorporated into the Litany the
plea from the Turk and the comet
good Lord deliver us"
Whence comes this myth about the
prayers? Francois Bruys. in his his
tory CT the Popes 1732) first pub
fishes it and gives as his authority
Platinais life of Calixtu4 If We
search this latter authoritive wori
thoroughly. we shall find single per
agraph in which he speaks OF the
comet, of the pestilence then raging
= in Rome. and of the Turks. He ends
! the paragraph by saying that the Pope
ordered prayers that God might he'll
those who fight against the Turks.
When we know, also that St JOIN
! Capistrano. who was preaching tins
, | Crusade at the time, declared tina
the comet was sign of Gods he'll
Ito the Christian host it seems hardly
r likely that the folk who thronged u
' hear him would pray from the Turf
and the comet. good Lord deliver u.s.
Thanking you for your courtesy il
printing this letter, respectfully.
n T p. Connolly.