The Sleepwalkers (220 page)

"Galileo
has
relied
more
on
his
own
counsel
than
on
that
of
his
friends.
The
Lord
Cardinal
del
Monte
and
myself,
and
also
several
cardinals
from
the
Holy
Office,
had
tried
to
persuade
him
to
be
quiet
and
not
to
go
on
irritating
this
issue.
If
he
wanted
to
hold
this
Copernican
opinion,
he
was
told,
let
him
hold
it
quietly
and
not
spend
so
much
effort
in
trying
to
have
others
share
it.
Everyone
fears
that
his
coming
here
may
be
very
prejudicial
and
that,
instead
of
justifying
himself
and
succeeding,
he
may
end
up
with
an
affront.

As
he
felt
people
cold
toward
his
intention,
after
having
pestered
and
wearied
several
cardinals,
he
threw
himself
on
the
favour
of
Cardinal
Orsini,
and
extracted
to
that
purpose
a
warm
recommendation
from
Your
Highness.
The
Cardinal,
then,
last
Wednesday
in
Consistory,
I
do
not
know
with
what
circumspection
and
prudence,
spoke
to
the
Pope
on
behalf
of
said
Galileo.
The
Pope
told
him
it
would
be
well
if
he
persuaded
him
to
give
up
that
opinion.
Thereupon
Orsini
replied
something,
urging
the
cause,
and
the
Pope
cut
him
short
and
told
him
he
would
refer
the
business
to
the
Holy
Office.

As
soon
as
Orsini
had
left,
His
Holiness
summoned
Bellarmine;
and,
after
brief
discussion,
they
decided
that
the
opinion
was
erroneous
and
heretical;
and
day
before
yesterday,
I
hear,
they
had
a
Congregation
on
the
matter
to
have
it
declared
such.
Copernicus,
and
the
other
authors
who
wrote
on
this,
shall
be
amended
or
corrected
or
prohibited;
I
believe
that
Galileo
personally
is
not
going
to
suffer,
because
he
is
prudent
and
he
will
feel
and
desire
as
the
Holy
Church
does.
[March
4]."
⁴⁰

The
Tuscan
Ambassador
was
evidently
sorely
tried
by
his
guest
and
ward's
antics,
and
his
report
is
not
entirely
reliable,
because
"last
Wednesday
in
Consistory"
places
the
episode
on
2
March,
whereas
the
papal
decree
to
summon
the
theologians
of
the
Holy
Office
to
give
a
formal
opinion
on
the
Copernican
theory
is
dated
19
February.
But
the
confusion
about
dates
may
have
some
trivial
explanation;
the
fact
that
Orsini,
armed
with
Galileo's
"final
proof",
interceded
with
the
Pope
is
not
disputed;
and
whether
it
was
this
particular
incident,
or
something
of
a
similar
kind,
which
brought
matters
to
a
head
is
not
very
important.
⁴¹
Galileo
had
done
everything
in
his
power
to
provoke
a
showdown.

7.
The Decree of the Holy Office

Thus
it
came
about
that
on
23
February,
A.D.
1616,
four
days
after
they
had
been
summoned,
the
Qualifiers
(i.e.
theological
experts)
of
the
Holy
Office
met
to
give
their
opinion
on
the
two
following
propositions
submitted
to
them:

The
Qualifiers
unanimously
declared
the
first
proposition
to
be
"foolish
and
absurd,
philosophically
and
formally
heretical
inasmuch
as
it
expressly
contradicts
the
doctrine
of
Holy
Scripture
in
many
passages,
both
in
their
literal
meaning
and
according
to
the
general
interpretation
of
the
Fathers
and
Doctors".

The
second
proposition
was
declared
"to
deserve
the
like
censure
in
philosophy,
and
as
regards
theological
truth,
to
be
at
least
erroneous
in
faith".
⁴²

But
the
Qualifiers'
verdict
was,
for
the
time
being,
overruled
under
pressure
of
the
more
enlightened
Cardinals;
it
was
only
published
a
full
seventeen
years
later.
Instead
of
it,
on
5
March,
the
General
Congregation
of
the
Index
issued
a
more
moderate
decree,
in
which
the
fatal
word
"heresy"
does
not
appear:

"...
And
whereas
it
has
also
come
to
the
knowledge
of
the
said
Congregation
that
the
Pythagorean
doctrine
–
which
is
false
and
altogether
opposed
to
the
Holy
Scripture
–
of
the
motion
of
the
Earth,
and
the
immobility
of
the
Sun,
which
is
also
taught
by
Nicolaus
Copernicus
in
De
revolutionibus
orbium
coelestium
,
and
by
Diego
de
Zuniga
[in
his
book]
on
Job,
is
now
being
spread
abroad
and
accepted
by
many
–
as
may
be
seen
from
a
certain
letter
of
a
Carmelite
Father,
entitled
Letter
of
the
Rev.
Father
Paolo
Antonio
Foscarini,
Carmelite,
on
the
Opinion
of
the
Pythagoreans
and
of
Copernicus
concerning
the
Motion
of
the
Earth,
and
the
Stability
of
the
Sun,
and
the
New
Pythagorean
System
of
the
World,
at
Naples,
Printed
by
Lazzaro
Scoriggio,
1615:
wherein
the
said
Father
attempts
to
show
that
the
aforesaid
doctrine
of
the
immobility
of
the
sun
in
the
centre
of
the
world,
and
of
the
Earth's
motion,
is
consonant
with
truth
and
is
not
opposed
to
Holy
Scripture.
Therefore,
in
order
that
this
opinion
may
not
insinuate
itself
any
further
to
the
prejudice
of
Catholic
truth,
the
Holy
Congregation
has
decreed
that
the
said
Nicolaus
Copernicus,
De
revolutionibus
orbium
,
and
Diego
de
Zuniga,
On
Job
,
be
suspended
until
they
be
corrected;
but
that
the
book
of
the
Carmelite
Father,
Paolo
Antonio
Foscarini,
be
altogether
prohibited
and
condemned,
and
that
all
other
works
likewise,
in
which
the
same
is
taught,
be
prohibited,
as
by
this
present
decree
it
prohibits,
condemns,
and
suspends
them
all
respectively.
In
witness
whereof
the
present
decree
has
been
signed
and
sealed
with
the
hands
and
with
the
seal
of
the
most
eminent
and
Reverend
Lord
Cardinal
of
St.
Cecilia,
Bishop
of
Albano,
on
the
fifth
day
of
March,
1616."
⁴³