THE HISTORICAL PRELUDE TO, THE HISTORICAL FACTS AND THE AFTERMATH OF THE GALILEO AFFAIR

Part three

The Facts of the matter

An alternate view to the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic one that the
universe was geocentric and geostatic came in 1543 with the
publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by Nicolas
Copernicus, a canon 0f the cathedral of Krakow. Only astronomers of
the day mostly clerics like Copernicus appreciated and understood its
potential to overturn 2000 years of astronomical theory.

THE 1 ST PHASE of the Affair 1613 to 1616
 The affair innocently started in 1613 when the mother of Galileo’s
patron the Grand Duchess Christina asked Fr. Benedetto Castelli, an
astronomer and university colleague of Galileo, if the story in the old
testament of Joshua stopping the rotation of the sun to lengthen the
day conflicted with Copernican theory. He deferred to Galileo who then
wrote her a letter pointing out that St. Augustine’s Doctrine of
Accommodation applies and requires that biblically expressed ideas or
those of any time are subject to the limitations of the knowledge then
available and open to amendment as new knowledge is gained

2. In 1614 a Benedictine Friar Tommaso Caccini preached a
sermon in Santa Marie Novella severely criticizing Copernicus
Astronomers, Mathematicians and Galileo. Another friar Nicolo Lorini
then wrote a letter to the Inquisition claiming that he had written
evidence of heretical beliefs expressed by Galileo in a letter to Castelli.
Both friars were in search of promotions and totally unschooled in
science. Their “examples” were not in the letter and the accusations of
heresy dismissed. But the Index suspended circulation of Copernicus’
book to stave off personal interpretations of scripture advocated by
reformers. The leading and most brilliant scholar of his day Roberto
Cardinal Bellarmino, later Saint, was asked to meet with Galileo who
agreed

3. Bellarmino respected Galileo greatly and willingly wrote for him
a letter stately that he was not being reprimanded or censured. He
acknowledged the reasons obtained by observation behind Galileo’s
views of heliocentrism (very true) and earthy axial rotation as
evidenced by the tides (untrue). His view was that even though a
theory “saves the phenomena” by allowing results consistent with what
we see it may not be completely accurate. Was this not true for
Ptolomy’s geocentric view used for over a 1000 years? He knew Galileo
believed his view were more consistent with reality but asked him not
to offer them as true until supported by more evidence. A unsigned document in Bellarmino’s files produced at his trial in 1633 indicated
that Galileo agreed. This ended the 1 st phase of the Affair.