On the appearance of the immortal work of Copernicus, in which it was taught that the earth rotated on its axis, and that the earth, like the other planets, revolved round the sun, orthodoxy stood aghast.  The Holy Roman Church submitted this treatise, which bore the name “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium,” to the Congregation of the Index.  After due examination it was condemned as heretical in 1615.  Galileo was suspected, on no doubt excellent grounds, of entertaining the objectionable views of Copernicus.  He was accordingly privately summoned before Cardinal Bellarmine on 26th February 1616, and duly admonished that he was on no account to teach or to defend the obnoxious doctrines.  Galileo was much distressed by this intimation.  He felt it a serious matter to be deprived of the privilege of discoursing with his friends about the Copernican system, and of instructing his disciples in the principles of the great theory of whose truth he was perfectly convinced.  It pained him, however, still more to think, devout Catholic as he was, that such suspicions of his fervent allegiance to his Church should ever have existed, as were implied by the words and monitions of Cardinal Bellarmine.

In 1616, Galileo had an interview with Pope Paul V., who received the great astronomer very graciously, and walked up and down with him in conversation for three-quarters of an hour.  Galileo complained to his Holiness of the attempts made by his enemies to embarrass him with the authorities of the Church, but the Pope bade him be comforted.  His Holiness had himself no doubts of Galileo’s orthodoxy, and he assured him that the Congregation of the Index should give Galileo no further trouble so long as Paul V. was in the chair of St. Peter.

On the death of Paul V. in 1623, Maffeo Barberini was elected Pope, as Urban VIII.  This new Pope, while a cardinal, had been an intimate friend of Galileo’s, and had indeed written Latin verses in praise of the great astronomer and his discoveries.  It was therefore not unnatural for Galileo to think that the time had arrived when, with the use of due circumspection, he might continue his studies and his writings, without fear of incurring the displeasure of the Church.  Indeed, in 1624, one of Galileo’s friends writing from Rome, urges Galileo to visit the city again, and added that—­

“Under the auspices of this most excellent, learned, and benignant Pontiff, science must flourish.  Your arrival will be welcome to his Holiness.  He asked me if you were coming, and when, and in short, he seems to love and esteem you more than ever.”

The visit was duly paid, and when Galileo returned to Florence, the Pope wrote a letter from which the following is an extract, commanding the philosopher to the good offices of the young Ferdinand, who had shortly before succeeded his father in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.