The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-02-12
THE VATICAN GARDENS
THE SCENE OF MANY IMPORTANT
EVENTS WHICH HAVE A DIRECT
BEARING ON THE ATTITUDE
OF THE PAPACY TOWARDS
SCIENCE.

BEAHtNG ON l HE iii UDE
or THE PAPAcY TOWARDS
SCIENCE.
How many glorious memories float
through the mind of a Catholic as he
wanders through these time-honored
gardens, says writer in the Pitts
burgh observer" Here, indeed, the
Catholic, be he brown, black or white,
feels proud of his Church, her Popes,
her traditions for the furtherance Of
Science, Art, Craftsmanship. How he
should like that these stones and
trees had golden tongues to cry OF.
from the heights Of the Vatican
in the Old and New World, charge
the Roman Pontiffs with trying TO
put back the hands of the clock. Since
speech is not vouchsafed to them, let
us recall a few of the memories that
hover like Respondent angels over the.
gardens.
When ST. Leo w (847-S5S) built the
fortified walls around the Vatican
gardens against the Saracens, he
acted wisely for posterity, inasmuch
as we know exactly our ground: his
torians and archaeologists cannot split
straws as to where this or that event
connected with them occurred-the
stout old walls that kept out the
Saracen hordes guard the extent OF
the gardens. And hence it is one can
point out today the spot on which
Pope Leo X C513-152D used to
gather round him poets, painters, his
torians and encouraged them in arts
as it was the tradition to do in the
great Medici family.
Tt is a long cry from 1916 back to
1888. But it is worth travelling. Let
us go into the Vatican Gardens III
1888 and assist at a scene, the memory
of which should put to shame would
be critics of the Papacy in 1916.
Tt is a balmy evening in June, and
Clement VII, who has now occupied
the throne of Peter for ten years, sits
under an awning in the beautiful gar
den. Around him sit Cardinals, Arch
bishops, Bishops, savants of many
branches in Science and Art, great
warriors and polished courtiers. They
are listening to a lecture from Wild
manstadt on Astronomy. What doc
trine is this savant unfolding? He is
expounding the heliocentric theory,
that of the movement of the earth
around the sun. And what will
Clement VII do at the end of the
lecture? He came of determined
stock. He fought emperors and kings;
he suffered siege in Castel st. Angelo;
he fed from Rome; he returned in
triumph; he bent the necks of Rome's
| turbulent barons. Would you expect
such man to tolerate anything which
| he considered to be nonsense or
worse from Wimanstadt? But hun
dred years hence there will come to
Rome from Pisa an astronomer named
Calico Galilei who will put forward
the same theory. And because the
be misunderstood, and because the
Pisan himself will not be able to give
certain proofs of his conclusions, the
Church will be wrongfully accused for
ages of hostility to Science!
In 1910 Pope Plus X was present at
the ceremonious inauguration Of the
Vatican Observatory in the little villa
which Leo XIII had built in the gar
den for summer use, at which Cardinal
Maffi, Archbishop of Pisa, delivered
an address in the course of which he
said:
In these gardens and perhaps on
this spot, in 1888, surrounded by. Car
dinals, Bishops and Prelates, your
predecessor, Pope Clement VII
| listened to lecture of Widmanstadt
who expounded, one hundred years
before the trial of Calico 1888, the
| heliocentric doctrine and the move
ment of the earth around the sum- He
did not find himself received by cor
rections or in silence; for the Pope
bestowed upon him a Greek Codex OF
Alexandria of Afrodesia-now pre-.
served in the library of Munich
Bavaria-and gave him the title OF
private secretary and of friend.
Human passions, on account oil
which the disciples of both Ptolemy
and Copernicus we're guilty of errors
deprived the sky for a time Of its
serenity. But the Church, the Pom
tiffs, always superior, did not touch
and were not touched by the dust
that the wind had scattered. After
four centuries the scene of Clements
Gay, is renewed, and today with JOY
and applause, you, Holy Father, put
it in the power of another astronomer
a German, as was Widmanstadt, tt
write:
In the Vatican Gardens taught
the doctrine of the motion of the
earth
And, Holy Father, you have done
even more than did Clement the Sew
enth, because you have made him one
of your household, supplied him will
books and instruments, and you have
given him your house"
Reference is made here, needless t.
say, to Father Hagen. s. j., Director
of the Vatican Observatory.