The
sufferings and the triumphs were, however, closely connected, and it
is fitting that we should give due consideration to what was perhaps
the greatest drama in the history of science.
On the appearance of the immortal work of Copernicus, in which it was
taught that the earth rotated on its axis, and that the earth, like
the other planets, revolved round the sun, orthodoxy stood aghast.
The Holy Roman Church submitted this treatise, which bore the name
"De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium," to the Congregation of the
Index. After due examination it was condemned as heretical in 1615.
Galileo was suspected, on no doubt excellent grounds, of entertaining
the objectionable views of Copernicus. He was accordingly privately
summoned before Cardinal Bellarmine on 26th February 1616, and duly
admonished that he was on no account to teach or to defend the
obnoxious doctrines. Galileo was much distressed by this
intimation. He felt it a serious matter to be deprived of the
privilege of discoursing with his friends about the Copernican
system, and of instructing his disciples in the principles of the
great theory of whose truth he was perfectly convinced. It pained
him, however, still more to think, devout Catholic as he was, that
such suspicions of his fervent allegiance to his Church should ever
have existed, as were implied by the words and monitions of Cardinal
Bellarmine.
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