APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 215 



lence, and famine, and by order of the Pope the church 

 bells of Europe were rung to scare the monster away. 

 An additional daily prayer was added to the supplica- 

 tions of the faithful. The comet in due time dis- 

 appeared, and the faithful were comforted by the 

 assurance that, as in previous instances relating to 

 eclipses, droughts, and rains, so also as regards this 

 ' nefarious ' comet, victory had been vouchsafed to the 

 Church. 



Both Pythagoras and Copernicus had taught the 

 heliocentric doctrine that the earth revolves round 

 the sun. In the exercise of her right to determine 

 what true science is, the Church, in the Pontificate of 

 Paul V., stepped in, and by the mouth of the holy 

 Congregation of the Index, delivered, on March 5, 

 1616, the following decree : 



And whereas it hath also come to the knowledge 

 of the said holy congregation that the false Pytha- 

 gorean doctrine of the mobility of the earth and the 

 immobility of the sun, entirely opposed to Holy writ, 

 uhich is taught by Nicolas Copernicus, is now pub- 

 lished abroad and received by many. In order that 

 this opinion may not further spread, to the damage 

 of Catholic truth, it is ordered that this and all other 

 books teaching the like doctrine be suspended, and by 

 this decree they are all respectively suspended, for- 

 bidden, and condemned. 



But why go back to 1456 and 1616 ? ' Far be it 

 from me to charge bygone sins upon Monsignor Capel, 

 were it not for the practices he upholds to-day. The 

 most applauded dogmatist and champion of the Jesuits 

 is, I am informed, Perrone. No less than thirty 

 editions of a work of his have been scattered abroad 

 for the healing of the nations. His notions of physical 

 astronomy are virtually those of 1456. He teaches 



