Today is the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine in the Catholic
Church. St Robert was born in 1542 in
Tuscany and died in 1621. He was a
Jesuit priest and a theologian. Pope
Clement VIII elevated him to the office of cardinal in 1599. He is most famous for his book volumes titled
“Disputations about the Controversies of the Christian Faith against the
Heretics of the Age,” which was a theological response to Protestantism. Protestantism
had taken shape earlier in the same century.
These volumes initiated thousands of pages of response and
counterarguments from Protestants. So
his work was obviously not without controversy.
His life coincided with the life of Galileo (1564-1642), the
famous Italian (and Catholic) astronomer who proved the theory of Copernicus
that the earth revolved around the sun instead of the reverse. Of course, there was a great deal of
controversy over Galileo’s work, since it conflicted with the accepted theory of
the time that the earth was the center of the universe. Galileo’s ideas were seen as in conflict with
especially with the Book of Genesis in the Bible and so he was thought of as a
problem scientist who was not to be believed.
In fact, St. Robert, who was a friend of Galileo, played a role in the
case against Galileo, saying that his ideas were only a theory not to be believed
until proven beyond doubt. He went on to
say that when and if this theory is shown to be absolutely true, then the
Church would have to come up with an alternate explanation of Scripture.
There are all sorts of stories about how Galileo was treated badly
by the Church. In my mind, these are
mostly speculation. Some take the
stories a bit too far, as if we know all there is to know about the conflict
and the personalities involved. These people
seem to enjoy criticizing the Church for the way Galileo was treated. How can we really know how the story came
down without actually being there and making our own personal observations. I prefer to hold both Galileo and St. Robert in high regard in the matter. One wanted
to uphold the dignity of science and the other wanted to uphold the dignity of
the Church. Of course, I am both a
scientist and a devoted Catholic. What
else would you expect from me?
Here in 2015, of course, we know that Galileo was right – the earth
does indeed revolve around the sun and today, there are indeed alternate explanations
of the Scriptures. Today, both men are
held in high esteem, Robert being named a saint and a Doctor of the Church and
Galileo a famous scientist having proven beyond doubt that the earth does
indeed revolve around the sun.
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