“Galileo” -- Indigo Girls
We all remember the story of the remarkable Florentine polymath who reshaped forever the way humanity will view the arts and science toward the end of the Italian Renaissance. The tale of a reactionary Roman Catholic Church seeking to repress his observations on natural law is the stuff from which legends are made. But this is not the story of the pioneering musician Vincenzo Galilei. Rather, today we discuss Galileo Galilei, his eldest child.
The fruit seldom falls far from the tree, it is said, and this son did indeed tread a path similar to that of the father. Both men were talented lutenists with a penchant for annoying and questioning authority. Father and son alike were innovators and skeptics, prone to doubt tradition and explore the unknown. Both are reknown for any number of remarkable accomplishments, but, as we shall see, I intend to focus on a single matter of overriding interest to the son.
Seventeenth-Century Europe was the era of a revolution in science and thinking. Even so, it was not an especially safe time to run against the grain of traditional thought. The recent Protestant Reformation had divided the continent into hostile camps divided along religious lines. In an age in which no clear delineation between science and religion existed, every new idea challenging old beliefs of natural science was a threat to religious authority.
Let’s flash back a bit to Nicolaus Copernicus, a strikingly bright Polish fellow who famously popularized the outlandish theory of heliocentrism -- the notion that the earth and her fellow planets orbit the sun -- only a generation before Galileo’s birth. It sparked considerable debate at the time, virtually all of it secular. Pope Clement VII and several Church cardinals listened to his theories, and then pronounced both Copernicus and his ideas interesting and deserving of further study.
Let’s flash back a bit to Nicolaus Copernicus, a strikingly bright Polish fellow who famously popularized the outlandish theory of heliocentrism -- the notion that the earth and her fellow planets orbit the sun -- only a generation before Galileo’s birth. It sparked considerable debate at the time, virtually all of it secular. Pope Clement VII and several Church cardinals listened to his theories, and then pronounced both Copernicus and his ideas interesting and deserving of further study.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Artist Unknown, 1850
But the Reformation dampened much of the receptive attitude that greeted Copernicus. Martin Luther and John Calvin and others thought the Church insufficiently protective of scientific orthodoxy. Luther is reputed to have opined negatively when informed of Copernican theory:
So it goes now. Whoever wants to be clever must agree with nothing others esteem. He must do something of his own. This is what that fellow does who wishes to turn the whole of astronomy upside down. Even in these things that are thrown into disorder I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still and not the earth.
Luther’s and Calvin’s disciples not only criticized the Catholic Church for indulging and encouraging Copernicus, but for not silencing him while the opportunity existed.
The Reformation triggered the Counter Reformation. The Church sought to reform the outrageously corrupt policies provoking Luther’s insurrection, and educate those sheep remaining within the flock. But a strong conservative reaction also found its voice within the Church as well, and Galileo Galilei planted himself dead in their sights.
As a young man, Galileo thought to enter the priesthood, but his father directed him to the study of medicine. But it was mathematics and the sciences, both applied and natural, which captured and owned his imagination. And so, after one day apparently accidently attending a geometry lecture, Galileo elected to abandon the study of medicine for that of mathematics. His love of mathematics, combined with his pursuit of science would result his becoming the most famous defender of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory.
The Reformation triggered the Counter Reformation. The Church sought to reform the outrageously corrupt policies provoking Luther’s insurrection, and educate those sheep remaining within the flock. But a strong conservative reaction also found its voice within the Church as well, and Galileo Galilei planted himself dead in their sights.
As a young man, Galileo thought to enter the priesthood, but his father directed him to the study of medicine. But it was mathematics and the sciences, both applied and natural, which captured and owned his imagination. And so, after one day apparently accidently attending a geometry lecture, Galileo elected to abandon the study of medicine for that of mathematics. His love of mathematics, combined with his pursuit of science would result his becoming the most famous defender of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory.
Portrait of Galileo Galilei
Justus Sustermans, 1636
Galileo was a most brilliant man, but he was also a rather prickly one who needlessly made enemies and heedlessly offended allies. His propensity for transforming allies into enemies would be his downfall.
In 1614, Father Niccolo Lorini, an obscure Dominican priest remembered only for his machinations against Galileo, urged the Roman Inquisition to look into the great scientist’s promotion of heliocentrism. Copernicus was the primary target of Father Lorini’s ire, but by being dead for some seven decades, the great Polish thinker eluded the Inquisition’s grasp. But Galileo remained among the quick. After lengthy thought and study, the Inquisition proclaimed, in February 1615, heliocentrism "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture." By instruction of Pope Paul V, Galileo was commanded “to abandon completely ... the opinion that the sun stands still at the center of the world and the earth moves, and henceforth not to hold, teach, or defend it in any way whatever, either orally or in writing.”
In 1614, Father Niccolo Lorini, an obscure Dominican priest remembered only for his machinations against Galileo, urged the Roman Inquisition to look into the great scientist’s promotion of heliocentrism. Copernicus was the primary target of Father Lorini’s ire, but by being dead for some seven decades, the great Polish thinker eluded the Inquisition’s grasp. But Galileo remained among the quick. After lengthy thought and study, the Inquisition proclaimed, in February 1615, heliocentrism "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture." By instruction of Pope Paul V, Galileo was commanded “to abandon completely ... the opinion that the sun stands still at the center of the world and the earth moves, and henceforth not to hold, teach, or defend it in any way whatever, either orally or in writing.”
Galileo obeyed … for a while.
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini advanced to the throne of Saint Peter as Pope Urban VIII in 1623. Cardinal Barberini had been friend and benefactor to Galileo. He had even attempted to block the Inquisition’s censor of Galileo. Now as Pope Urban, he encouraged Galileo to again write about heliocentrism, but do so carefully. The Jesuit Order had once been among Galileo’s strongest defenders within the Catholic Church, but the great scholar had needlessly antagonized many of the order’s finest minds by gratuitous insults when writing of their own astronomical observations. Galileo’s 1632 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems -- a work create by Urban’s urging and permission -- cast the pope as a simpleton. And so again Galileo found himself before the Inquisition charged with promoting heliocentrism once more, and Urban, now a former friend, would not be coming to his aid.
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini advanced to the throne of Saint Peter as Pope Urban VIII in 1623. Cardinal Barberini had been friend and benefactor to Galileo. He had even attempted to block the Inquisition’s censor of Galileo. Now as Pope Urban, he encouraged Galileo to again write about heliocentrism, but do so carefully. The Jesuit Order had once been among Galileo’s strongest defenders within the Catholic Church, but the great scholar had needlessly antagonized many of the order’s finest minds by gratuitous insults when writing of their own astronomical observations. Galileo’s 1632 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems -- a work create by Urban’s urging and permission -- cast the pope as a simpleton. And so again Galileo found himself before the Inquisition charged with promoting heliocentrism once more, and Urban, now a former friend, would not be coming to his aid.
Galileo Facing the Roman Inquisition
Cristiano Banti, 1857
Cristiano Banti’s famous Galileo Facing the Roman Inquisition depicts the great man as defiantely staring down his accusers, but the truth is somewhat less inspiring. Galileo was in risk of torture, even death, and so he might be excused for exercising caution that might have been better displayed before discarding his defenders and allies. Throughout his entire trial, he rather implausibly insisted that he had renounced Copernican heresy since 1616. His protestations availed him little.
The Inquisition rendered it verdict on 22 June 1633. Beyond his escaping torture or death, Galileo must have found very little comfort in their ruling. He was, he learned, "vehemently suspect of heresy." He was required to "abjure, curse and detest" all heliocentric teachings. Any publication of his writings, be they past or future, were henceforth banned. And finally, Galileo was to spend the remainder of his life under house arrest.
Galileo would shed his life and his troubles on 8 January 1642 at the age of 77. The Catholic Church was slow to make peace with their wayward son. The reconciliation is nearly complete, but even today some conservative elements within the Church resist any unqualified apology.
Enough of that. On to the music.
Among the many innovations advanced by Galileo during his life was an improved refracting telescope, crude by modern standards but sufficiently advanced to perform the celestial observations that would invoke the full fury of an angry and reactionary religious backlash. Emily Saliers of the fabulous Indigo Girls when writing about the perils of reincarnation, wishes she possessed the clarity that crude telescope granted Galileo, making him “King of Night Vision” and making possible his probing the mysteries of the universe.
Among the many innovations advanced by Galileo during his life was an improved refracting telescope, crude by modern standards but sufficiently advanced to perform the celestial observations that would invoke the full fury of an angry and reactionary religious backlash. Emily Saliers of the fabulous Indigo Girls when writing about the perils of reincarnation, wishes she possessed the clarity that crude telescope granted Galileo, making him “King of Night Vision” and making possible his probing the mysteries of the universe.
“Galileo” -- Indigo Girls
Galileo's head was on the block
The crime was lookin' up the truth
And as the bombshells of my daily fears explode
I try to trace them to my youth
And then you had to bring up reincarnation
Over a couple of beers the other night
And now I'm serving time for mistakes
Made by another in another lifetime
How long 'til my soul gets it right
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light
I call on the resting soul of Galileo king of night vision
King of insight
And then I think about my fear of motion
Which I never could explain
Some other fool across the ocean years ago
Must have crashed his little airplane
How long 'til my soul gets it right
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light
I call on the resting soul of Galileo king of night vision
King of insight
I'm not making a joke
You know me I take everything so seriously
If we wait for the time 'til all souls get it right
Then at least I know there'll be no nuclear annihilation in my life time
I'm still not right
I offer thanks to those before me
That's all I've got to say
'Cause maybe you squandered big bucks in your lifetime
Now I have to pay
But then again it feels like some sort of inspiration
To let the next life off the hook
Or she'll say look what I had to overcome from my last life
I think I'll write a book
How long 'til my soul gets it right
Can any human being ever reach the highest light
Except for Galileo, God rest his soul
King of the night vision, king of insight
How long (until my soul gets it right)
How long (until my soul gets it right)
How long
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