[Science History] Reburying Copernicus
-- His body found - reburied properly in Poland
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_poland_copernicus_reburied?AID=10606473&PID=3781606
Quotes:
Wojciech Ziemba, the archbishop of the region surrounding Frombork, said the Catholic Church is proud that Copernicus left the region a legacy of "his hard work, devotion and above all of his scientific genius."
Saturday's Mass was led by Jozef Kowalczyk, the papal nuncio and newly named Primate of Poland, the highest church authority in this deeply Catholic country.
Poland also is the homeland of John Paul II, the late pope who said in 1992 that the church was wrong in condemning Galileo's work.
Jacek Jezierski, a local bishop who encouraged the search for Copernicus, said that he considers Copernicus' burial as part of the church's broader embrace of science as being compatible with Biblical belief.
"Today's funeral has symbolic value in that it is a gesture of reconciliation between science and faith," Jezierski said. "Science and faith can be reconciled."
Copernicus' burial in an anonymous grave in the 16th century was not linked to suspicions of heresy. When he died, his ideas were just starting to be discussed by a small group of European astronomers, astrologers and mathematicians, and the church was not yet forcefully condemning the heliocentric world view as heresy, according to Jack Repcheck, author of "Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began."
The full attack on those ideas came decades later when the Vatican was waging a massive defense against Martin Luther's Reformation.
"There is no indication that Copernicus was worried about being declared a heretic and being kicked out of the church for his astronomical views," Repcheck said.
"Why was he just buried along with everyone else, like every other canon in Frombork? Because at the time of his death he was just any other canon in Frombork. He was not the iconic hero that he has become."
Copernicus had, however, been at odds with his superiors in the church over other matters.
He was repeatedly reprimanded for keeping a mistress, which violated his vow of celibacy, and was eventually forced to give her up. He also was suspected of harboring sympathies for Lutheranism, which was spreading like wildfire in northern Europe at the time, Repcheck said.
Copernicus' major treatise - "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" - was published at the very end of his life, and he only received a copy of the printed book on the day he died - May 21, 1543.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_poland_copernicus_reburied?AID=10606473&PID=3781606
Quotes:
Wojciech Ziemba, the archbishop of the region surrounding Frombork, said the Catholic Church is proud that Copernicus left the region a legacy of "his hard work, devotion and above all of his scientific genius."
Saturday's Mass was led by Jozef Kowalczyk, the papal nuncio and newly named Primate of Poland, the highest church authority in this deeply Catholic country.
Poland also is the homeland of John Paul II, the late pope who said in 1992 that the church was wrong in condemning Galileo's work.
Jacek Jezierski, a local bishop who encouraged the search for Copernicus, said that he considers Copernicus' burial as part of the church's broader embrace of science as being compatible with Biblical belief.
"Today's funeral has symbolic value in that it is a gesture of reconciliation between science and faith," Jezierski said. "Science and faith can be reconciled."
Copernicus' burial in an anonymous grave in the 16th century was not linked to suspicions of heresy. When he died, his ideas were just starting to be discussed by a small group of European astronomers, astrologers and mathematicians, and the church was not yet forcefully condemning the heliocentric world view as heresy, according to Jack Repcheck, author of "Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began."
The full attack on those ideas came decades later when the Vatican was waging a massive defense against Martin Luther's Reformation.
"There is no indication that Copernicus was worried about being declared a heretic and being kicked out of the church for his astronomical views," Repcheck said.
"Why was he just buried along with everyone else, like every other canon in Frombork? Because at the time of his death he was just any other canon in Frombork. He was not the iconic hero that he has become."
Copernicus had, however, been at odds with his superiors in the church over other matters.
He was repeatedly reprimanded for keeping a mistress, which violated his vow of celibacy, and was eventually forced to give her up. He also was suspected of harboring sympathies for Lutheranism, which was spreading like wildfire in northern Europe at the time, Repcheck said.
Copernicus' major treatise - "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" - was published at the very end of his life, and he only received a copy of the printed book on the day he died - May 21, 1543.