Galileo's Daughter (33 page)

At the same time in mid-March, Ambassador Niccolini approached the pope once more, begging him to expedite the trial and let Galileo go home without being brought before the Inquisition. “I reiterated that his old age, ill health, and readiness to submit to any censure might render him worthy of such favor,” Niccolini wrote of this attempt, “but His Holiness again said he thinks there is no way out, and may God forgive Signor Galilei for having meddled with these subjects.”

[XXII]

In the chambers of the

Holy office

of the Inquisition

On tuesday, April 12, 1633, after Galileo had waited two months at the Tuscan embassy, the commissary general of the Holy Office of the Inquisition finally brought him in for questioning. Although several well-known paintings of Galileo standing before the Inquisition portray him ringed by large numbers of churchmen, he gave his actual testimony to just two officials and a secretary. The ten cardinals who were to serve as judges and jury did not attend this stage of the proceedings, which they could read later at their leisure, or be briefed about at one of their regular Wednesday morning meetings.

  MOST BELOVED LORD FATHER

SIGNOR GERI [Bocchineri—Sestilia’s brother and the grand duke’s private secretary] informed me of the conditions imposed on you on account of your affair, Sire, that alas you are detained in the chambers
of
the Holy Office; on the one hand, this gives me great distress, convinced as I am that you find yourself with scant peace of mind, and perhaps also deprived of all bodily comforts: on the other hand, considering the need for events to reach this stage, in order for the authorities to dismiss you, as well as the kindliness with which everyone there has treated you up till now, and above all the justice of the cause and your innocence in this instance, I console myself and cling to the expectation of a happy and prosperous triumph, with the help of blessed God, to Whom my heart never ceases to cry out, commending you with all the love and trust it contains.

The only thing for you to do now is to guard your good spirits, taking care not to jeopardize your health with excessive worry, but to direct your thoughts and hopes to God, Who, like a tender, loving father, never abandons those who confide in Him and appeal to Him for help in time of need. Dearest lord father, I wanted to write to you now, to tell you I partake in your torments, so as to make them lighter for you to bear: I have given no hint of these difficulties to anyone else, wanting to keep the unpleasant news to myself, and to speak to the others only of your pleasures and satisfactions. Thus we are all awaiting your return, eager to enjoy your conversation again with delight.

And who knows, Sire, if while I sit writing, you may not already find yourself released from your predicament and free of all concerns? Thus may it please the Lord, Who must be the One to console you, and in Whose care I leave you.

FROM SAN MATTEO, THE 20TH DAY OF APRIL 1633-

Most affectionate daughter,

An anxious daughter penned these words in a very controlled hand, much smaller than her usual script. But as optimistically as she might have hoped for the crisis to reach a speedy conclusion while a few letters crossed in the mail, the ordeal of her father’s trial had only just begun. Its unfolding is preserved as follows in the testimony recorded verbatim at the time.

Summoned, there appeared personally in Rome at the Palace of the Holy Office, in the usual quarters of the Reverend Father Commissary, fully in the presence of the Reverend Father Fra Vincenzo Maculano da Firenzuola, Commissary General, assisted by Lord Carlo Sinceri, Prosecutor of the Holy Office, etc.

Galileo, son of the late Vincenzio Galilei, Florentine, seventy years of age, who, sworn to testify the truth, was asked by the Fathers the following:

Q:
By what means and how long ago did he come to Rome.

A:
I arrived in Rome the first Sunday of Lent, and I came in a litter.

Q:
Whether he came of his own accord, or was called, or was ordered by someone to come to Rome, and by whom.

A:
In Florence the Father Inquisitor ordered me to come to Rome and present myself to the Holy Office.

Q:
Whether he knows or can guess the reason that this order was given to him.

A:
I imagine that the cause of my having been ordered to come before the Holy Office is to give an account of my recently printed book; and I suppose this because of the order given to the printer and to myself, a few days before I was ordered to come to Rome, not to issue any more of those books, and similarly because the printer was ordered by the Father Inquisitor to send the original manuscript of my book to the Holy Office in Rome.

Q:
That he explain what is in the book he imagines was the
reason for the order that he come to the city.

A:
A It is a book written in dialogue, and it treats of the constitution of the world, or rather, of the two chief systems, that is, the arrangements of the heavens and of the elements.

Q:
Whether, if he were shown the said book, he would recognize it as his.

A:
I hope so; I hope that if it is shown to me I shall recognize it.

And there was shown to him a book printed at Florence in the year 1632, with the title
Dialogue of Galileo Galilei Lyncean
etc. [Exhibit
A
]; and when he had looked at it and inspected it, he said: “I know this book very well, and it is one of those printed in Florence, and I acknowledge it as mine and composed by me.”

Q:
Whether he likewise acknowledges each and every word contained in the said book as his.

A:
I know this book shown to me, for it is one of those printed in Florence; and I acknowledge all it contains as having been written by me.

Q:
When and where he composed the said book, and how
long it took him.

A:
As to the place, I composed it at Florence, beginning ten or twelve years ago; and I was occupied on it about six or eight years, though not continuously.

Q:
Whether he was in Rome another time, particularly in the year 1616, and for what occasion.

A:
I was in Rome in 1616, and afterward I was here in the second year of the pontificate of His Holiness Urban VIII, and lastly I was here three years ago, on the occasion of my wish to have my book printed. The occasion for my being in Rome in the year 1616 was that, hearing questions raised about the opinion of Nicolaus Copernicus concerning the motion of the Earth and stability of the Sun and the order of the celestial spheres, in order to assure myself against holding any but holy and Catholic opinions, I came to hear what was proper to hold concerning this matter.

Q: Whether he came because he was summoned, and if so, for what reason he was summoned, and where and with whom he discussed the said matter.

A:
In 1616 I came to Rome of my own accord, without being summoned, and for the reason I told you. In Rome I treated of this business with some Cardinals who governed the Holy Office at that time, in particular with Cardinals Bellarmino, Aracoeli, San Eusebio, Bonsi, and d’Ascoli.

Q:
What specifically he discussed with the said cardinals.

A:
The occasion for discussing with these cardinals was that they wished to be informed of the doctrine of Copernicus, his book being very difficult to understand for those outside the mathematical and astronomical profession. In particular they wanted to know the arrangement of the celestial orbs under the Copernican hypothesis, how he places the Sun at the center of the planets’ orbits, how around the Sun he places next the orbit of Mercury, around the latter that of Venus, then the Moon around the Earth, and around this Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; and in regard to motion, he makes the Sun stationary at the center and the Earth turn on itself and around the Sun, that is, on itself with the diurnal motion and around the Sun with the annual motion.

Q:
Since, as he says he came to Rome to be able to have the
truth about the said matter, let him state also what was the outcome of this business.

A:
Concerning the controversy that went on about the said opinion of the stability of the Sun and motion of the Earth, it was determined by the Holy Congregation of the Index that this opinion, taken absolutely, is repugnant to Holy Scripture, and it is to be admitted only
ex suppositione,
the way in which Copernicus takes it.

Q:
Whether he was then notified of the said decision, and
by whom.

A:
I was indeed notified of the said decision of the Congregation of the Index, and I was notified by Lord Cardinal Bellarmino.

Q:
Let him state what the Most Eminent Bellarmino told
him about the said decision, whether he said anything else about the matter, and if so what.

A:
Lord Cardinal Bellarmino informed me that the said opinion of Copernicus could be held hypothetically, as Copernicus himself had held it. His Eminence knew that I held it hypothetically, namely in the way Copernicus held it, as you can see from an answer by the same Lord Cardinal to a letter of Father Master Paolo Antonio Foscarini, Provincial of the Carmelites; I have a copy of this, and in it one finds these words: “I say that it seems to me that Your Reverence and Signor Galilei are proceeding prudently by limiting yourselves to speaking hypothetically and not absolutely.” This letter by the said Lord Cardinal is dated 12 April 1615. Moreover, he told me that otherwise, namely taken absolutely, the opinion could be neither held nor defended.

Q:
What decision was made and then notified to him in the
month of February 1616.

A:
In the month of February 1616, Lord Cardinal Bellarmino told me that since the opinion of Copernicus, taken absolutely, contradicted Holy Scripture, it could not be held or defended, but that it might be taken and used hypothetically. In conformity with this I keep a certificate by Lord Cardinal Bellarmino himself, made in the month of May, on the 26th, 1616, in which he says that the opinion of Copernicus cannot be held or defended, being against the Holy Scripture. I present a copy of this certificate, and here it is.

And he exhibited a sheet of paper written on one side, about twelve lines, beginning “We, Roberto Cardinal Bellarmino, having" and ending “This 26th day of May, 1616,” which was accepted as evidence and marked with the letter
B.
He then added: “The original of this affidavit I have with me in Rome, and it is entirely written in the hand of Cardinal Bellarmino.”

Q:
Whether, when he was notified of the above-mentioned matters, there were any other persons present, and who they were.

A:
When Lord Cardinal Bellarmino told me what I have said about the opinion of Copernicus there were some Dominican Fathers present; but I did not know them, nor have I seen them since.

Q:
The said fathers being present at that time, whether they
or anyone else gave him an injunction of any kind about the same subject, and if so what.

A:
As I recall it, the affair came about in this manner: One morning Lord Cardinal Bellarmino sent for me, and he told me a certain particular, which I should like to speak to the ear of His Holiness before that of any one else; but in the end he told me that the opinion of Copernicus could not be held or defended, being contrary to Holy Scripture. As to those Dominican Fathers, I do not remember whether they were there first, or came afterward; nor do I recall whether they were present when the Cardinal told me that the said opinion could not be held. And it may be that some precept was made to me that I might not hold or defend the said opinion, but I have no memory of it, because this was many years ago.