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It may, perhaps, appear to the reader of these few extracts, that the punishment inflicted upon the philosopher was, in his estimation, not quite so gentle as is sometimes represented. It will appear, likewise, that they recognise two different, but harmonious, proceedings, by two principal organs of authority in his own Church — the Congregation of the Index, and the Congregation, or Tribunal, of the Inquisition, at the head of both of which is his holiness himself, of the latter as sole prefect.[1] It is with the latter we are now concerned, and the extracts which have been given plainly enough prove, that the real charge against Galileo was, his assertion and publication of the Copernican system, and that
- ↑ Michele Ghislieri, before he ascended the Papal throne, under the name of Pius V., "was appoiuted and named Supreme Inquisitor; a title and prerogative he was both the first and the last to bear, the popes having ever after reserved that distinction to themselves." — Life and Pontificate of St. Pius V. p. 16.
dove mi trasporta la passione? Tomo ai cristalli, &c. The author has availed himself of former inquiries on this subject, in an article which may be read in the Protestant Journal for 1834, pp. 65 and following — a periodical which, with a few exceptions, contains more well-founded discussion of matters in controversy between the Churches of England and Rome than is to be found in any other periodical devoted to that subject.
