LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



curring the displeasure of his superiors. His particu- 

 lar offense was that he had declared, " The infallibility 

 of the Pope is only in matters spiritual, and does not 

 apply to the science of material things." 

 Strangely enough these words of Bruno are almost 

 identical with words recently expressed by Cardinal 



- / 



Satolli. The difference in their reception is owing to a 

 mere matter of a few hundred years. Truth is a ques- 

 tion of time and place. Bruno was banished for his 



* 



temerity, and Satolli wears the red hat. Verily the 

 heresy of yesterday is the orthodoxy of to-day. 



'HE Churchly attitude toward the teaching 

 of Copernicus, after the death of the man, 

 was one of patronizing pity. Instead of 

 putting his book, "Revolutions of the Heav- 

 enly Bodies " on the Index, the wiser plan 

 was adopted of paying no attention to it. 

 Occasionally, however, the subject was broached by 

 some incautious novitiate and then the custom was to 

 treat the Copernican Theory as a mere hypothesis, 

 and its author as a mental defective. 

 Bruno would not have it so. To him it was a very im- 

 portant matter whether the sun revolved around the 

 earth as the priests taught, or the earth revolved around 

 the sun as set forth in the work of Copernicus. He 

 came to the conclusion that Copernicus was right, and 

 said so. It was ordered that he should cease lecturing 

 on astronomy and apply himself to spiritual matters. 

 32 



