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Cardinal Bellarmine, Attack on
the Copernican Theory
Cardinal
Bellarmine to Foscarinin (12 April 1615)
My very
Reverend Father,
I have
read with interest the letter in Italian and the essay in Latin which Your [Reverence] sent me; I thank you for the one and
for the other and confess that they are full of intelligence and erudition. You ask for my opinion, and so I shall give it
to you, but very briefly, since now you have little time for reading and I for writing…
First,
. . . to want to affirm that in reality the sun is at the center of the world
and only turns on itself without moving from east to west, and the earth . . . revolves with great speed around the sun .
. . is a very dangerous thing, likely not only to irritate all scholastic philosophers and theologians, but also to harm the
Holy Faith by rendering Holy Scripture false. For your [Reverence] has well shown many ways of interpreting Holy Scripture,
but has not applied them to particular cases; without a doubt you would have encountered very great difficulties if you had
wanted to interpret those passages you yourself cited.
Second,
I say that, as you know, the Council [of Trent] prohibits interpreting Scripture against the common consensus of the Holy
Fathers; and if Your [Reverence] wants to read not only the Holy Fathers, but also the modern commentaries on Genesis, the
Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Joshua, you will find all agreeing in the literal interpretation that the sun is in heaven and turns
around the earth with great speed, and that the earth is very far from the heaven and sits motionless at the center of the
world. Consider now, with your sense of prudence, whether the Church can tolerate giving Scripture a meaning contrary to the
Holy Fathers and to all the Greek and Latin commentators. Nor can one answer that this is not a matter of faith, since if
it is not a matter of faith "as regards the topic," it is a matter of faith "as regards the speaker"; and so it would be heretical
to say that Abraham did not have two children and Jacob twelve, as well as to say that Christ was not born of a virgin, because
both are said by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of the prophets and the apostles.
Third, I say
that if there were a true demonstration that the sun is at the center of the world and the earth in the third heaven, and
that the sun does not circle the earth but the earth circles the sun, then one would have to proceed with great care in explaining
the Scriptures that appear contrary, and say rather that we do not understand them than that what is demonstrated is false.
But I will not believe that there is such a demonstration, until it is shown to me . . .
and in case of doubt one must not abandon the Holy Scripture as interpreted by the Holy Fathers. I add that the one
who wrote, "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose," was Solomon, who not only
spoke inspired by God, but was a man above all others wise and learned in the human sciences and in the knowledge of created
things; he received all this wisdom from God; therefore it is not likely that he was affirming something that was contrary
to truth already demonstrated or capable of being demonstrated.
Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies (1543)
To His Holiness, Pope Paul III,
Nicholas Copernicus' Preface
to His Books on the Revolutions
I can readily imagine, Holy Father, that as soon as some people hear that in this volume, which
I have written about the revolutions of the spheres of the universe, I ascribe certain motions to the terrestrial globe, they
will shout that I must be immediately repudiated together with this belief. For I am not so enamored of my own opinions that
I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary
person's, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet
I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned. Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned
the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heaven as its center would, I reflected, regard it as an
insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves. Therefore I debated with myself for a long time
whether to publish the volume which I wrote to prove the earth's motion or rather to follow the example of the Pythagoreans
and certain others, who used to transmit philosophy's secrets only to kinsmen and friends, not in writing but by word of mouth....
And they did so, it seems to me, not, as some suppose, because they were in some way jealous about their teachings, which
would be spread around; on the contrary, they wanted the very beautiful thoughts attained by great men of deep devotion not
to be ridiculed by those who are reluctant to assert themselves vigorously in any literary pursuit unless it is lucrative;
or if they are stimulated to the nonacquisitive study of philosophy by the exhortation and example of others, yet because
of their dullness of mind they play the same part among philosophers as drones among bees. When I weighed these considerations,
the scorn which I had reason to fear on account of the novelty and unconventionality of my opinion almost induced me to abandon
completely the work which I had undertaken.
But while I hesitated for a long time and even resisted, my friends [encouraged me]. . . . Foremost
among them was the cardinal of Capua, Nicholas Schönberg, renowned in every field of learning. Next to him was a man who loves
me dearly, Tiedemann Giese, bishop of Chelmno, a close student of sacred letters as well as of all good literature. For he
repeatedly encouraged me and, sometimes adding reproaches, urgently requested me to publish this volume and finally permit
it to appear after being buried among my papers and lying concealed not merely until the ninth year but by now the fourth
period of nine years. The same conduct was recommended to me by not a few other very eminent scholars. They exhorted me to
no longer refuse, on account of the fear which I felt, to make my work available for the general use of students of astronomy.
The crazier my doctrine of the earth's motion now appeared to most people, the argument ran, so much the more admiration and
thanks would it gain after they saw the publication of my writings dispel the fog of absurdity by most luminous proofs. Influenced
therefore by these persuasive men and by this hope, in the end I allowed my friends to bring out an edition of the volume,
as they had long besought me to do. . . .
But you are rather waiting to hear from me how it occurred to me to venture to conceive any motion
of the earth, against the traditional opinion of astronomers and almost against common sense. . . .
For a long time, then, I reflected on this confusion in the astronomical traditions concerning
the derivations of the motions of the universe's spheres. I began to be annoyed that the movements of the world machine, created
for our sake by the best and most systematic Artisan of all, were not understood with greater certainty by the philosophers,
who otherwise examined so precisely the most insignificant trifles of this world. For this reason I undertook the task of
rereading the works of all the philosophers which I could obtain to learn whether anyone had ever proposed other motions of
the universe's spheres than those expounded by the teachers of astronomy in the schools. And in fact first I found in Cicero
that Hicetas supposed the earth to move. Later I also discovered in Plutarch that certain others were of this opinion. . .
.
Therefore, having obtained the opportunity from these sources, I too began to consider the mobility
of the earth. . . . I thought that I too would be readily permitted to ascertain whether explanations sounder than those of
my predecessors could be found for the revolution of the celestial spheres on the assumption of some motion of the earth.
Having thus assumed the motions which I ascribe to the earth later on in the volume, by long and
intense study I finally found that if the motions of the other planets are correlated with the orbiting of the earth, and
are computed for the revolution of each planet, not only do their phenomena follow therefrom but also the order and size of
all the planets and spheres, and heaven itself is so linked together that in no portion of it can anything be shifted without
disrupting the remaining parts and the universe as a whole. Accordingly in the arrangement of the volume too I have adopted
the following order. In the first book I set forth the entire distribution of the spheres together with the motions which
I attribute to the earth, so that this book contains, as it were, the general structure of the universe. Then in the remaining
books I correlate the motions of the other planets and of all the spheres with the movement of the earth so that I may thereby
determine to what extent the motions and appearances of the other planets and spheres can be saved if they are correlated
with the earth's motions. I have no doubt that acute and learned astronomers will agree with me if, as this discipline especially
requires, they are willing to examine and consider, not superficially but thoroughly, what I adduce in this volume in proof
of these matters. However, in order that the educated and uneducated alike may see that I do not run away from the judgment
of anybody at all, I have preferred dedicating my studies to Your Holiness rather than to anyone else. For even in this very
remote corner of the earth where I live you are considered the highest authority by virtue of the loftiness of your office
and your love for all literature and astronomy too. Hence by your prestige and judgment you can easily suppress calumnious
attacks although, as the proverb has it, there is no remedy for a backbite.
Perhaps there will be babblers who claim to be judges of astronomy although completely ignorant
of the subject and, badly distorting some passages of Scripture to their purpose, will dare to find fault with my undertaking
and censure it. I disregard them even to the extent of despising their criticism as unfounded. For it is not unknown that
Lactantius, otherwise an illustrious writer but hardly an astronomer, speaks quite childishly about the earth's shape, when
he mocks those who declared that the earth has the form of a globe. Hence scholars need not be surprised if any such person
will likewise ridicule me. Astronomy is written for astronomers. To them my work too will seem, unless I am mistaken, to make
some contribution.
[Source: Nicholas Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, translated by Edward
Rosen, (London: Macmillan, 1972), pp. 3-5.]
More Information
The Copernican Model
Copernican System (Rice, Galileo Project)
Nicolaus Copernicus (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Nicolaus Copernicus (MacTutor)
Nicolaus Copernicus (brief biography)
Nicolaus Copernicus (biography)
Texts
De Revolutionibus (online version of manuscript)
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies (excerpt, Modern History Sourcebook)
On The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies
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