Was the Vatican hiding secret knowledge about other worlds? Why did Giordano Bruno burn

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Scientists recently found an unpublished article by Winston Churchill. In it, he talks about exoplanets and the high probability of the appearance of living beings in other star systems. In 1939 and 2017, the scientifically grounded belief in aliens only aroused admiration, but 417 years ago it led to the stake.

In February 1600, Giordano Bruno was executed. Someone considers him a martyr of science, who died for his loyalty to the new astronomy of Copernicus, someone - a magician and pagan, far from rational thinking. But what exactly was Giordano Bruno burned for? Life understands previously unknown evidence and documents of the Inquisition.

Secrets of the Vatican

For some, Bruno is a great martyr of science, who gave his life for the idea of the Earth's movement, for others - an admirer of magic and hermeticism, a pagan who abandoned his monastic vocation and Christianity in general. The latter point of view is now generally accepted, including in Russia. "The legend of Bruno's persecution for his bold ideas of endless worlds and the movement of the Earth can no longer be considered true," wrote the main authority on early European science, Frances Yates. The deification of the world, the denial of the creation of the world by God and the redemptive mission of Christ, as well as magical practices - this is what is considered the main "fault" of the heretic philosopher.

The desire to expose the myth of Bruno as a martyr of science (and the Inquisition as the absolute enemy of scientists!) Is true and commendable. But recently, historians have finally hit the trail of several secret documents from the time of the burning of Bruno and came to the conclusion that the main reason for his execution was something else - not science or magic. It was only in 1925 that the prefect of the Vatican's Secret Archives found out that Bruno's inquisition file was found 37 years ago, but then Pope Leo XIII ordered that the case be handed over to him personally and hid the documents. It took another 15 years to find the folders, and only during the Second World War the case was published. Then it became clear for the first time that Bruno's greatest "heresy" was the idea of a multitude of inhabited worlds in the Universe - a very urgent question for the 21st century!

Reincarnation on the Moon

But what is this idea and why is the Catholic Church so hostile to it? To understand this, the author of the latest investigation into the execution, Giordano Bruno, suggests recalling ancient philosophy and religion.

The existence of an infinite set of worlds was also admitted by Democritus and Epicurus - many lands, moons and suns. The heroes of Plutarch's dialogue "On the face visible on the disc of the Moon" argued whether there are plants, trees and animals on the Moon, or whether it represents an afterlife where the souls of people find peace after death (similar to how their bodies are buried on Earth). However, Cicero and Pliny, among others, considered this nonsense. They were joined by the first church fathers, for whom many worlds were not an abstract philosophical truth, but an attribute of pagan beliefs - for example, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. So, the Pythagoreans taught that the souls of people come from the region of the Milky Way, and animals - from the stars (and that heavenly bodies also have souls).

As Christian orthodoxy was established in the 4th-6th centuries, disputes about the uniqueness of the world (that is, the Earth) or the plurality of worlds flared up with renewed vigor. Athanasius of Alexandria insisted that the world is one, because God is one. To think otherwise was impious, absurd and dishonorable, but not yet heretical. The trouble happened because of the great theologian Origen, some of whose thoughts the church rejected - just the thoughts about the transmigration of souls between different countries and worlds. And the final formulation was given by Saint Isidore of Seville (VI century), who listed the main heresies in his encyclopedia. At the end of the list of Christian heresies, before the pagan ones, he remarked: “There are other heresies that do not have a founder and a recognized name … someone thinks that the souls of people fall into demons or animals; others argue about the state of the world; someone thinks that the number of worlds is infinite."

The position of the church in the Middle Ages can be seen in the example of Rupert of Deutz (13th century). Praising God, who created a world full of beautiful creatures, he writes: "Let the heretics-Epicureans, who speak of many worlds, and all who lie about the transfer of the souls of the dead to other bodies perish. Pythagoras, according to their invention, became a peacock, then Quintus Annie, and after five incarnations - Virgil. " The idea of many worlds was also rejected by Thomas Aquinas, the chief theologian of the Latin Middle Ages. Yes, the power of God is infinite, and, therefore, he can create an infinite number of worlds (Giordano Bruno will then resort to this argument):

The church considered these accusations serious enough to transfer the case to Rome. The proceedings dragged on for seven and a half years - primarily because the inquisitors were not at all eager to destroy Bruno (who, by the way, was a Dominican priest who became a Calvinist, but also fled from Protestants). Therefore, it is extremely important which of the accusations the philosopher rejected, and in which he persisted. For example, Bruno angrily denied that he had ever rejected belief in miracles performed by the church and the apostles, or that he taught something contrary to the Catholic faith.

On the contrary, Bruno eagerly defended the idea of many worlds created by the almighty God (worlds the same as Earth), the idea of the infinite space of the Universe in the face of his accusers during many interrogations - not considering these ideas heretical! For Bruno, these were philosophical ideas, in no way challenging the truths of faith. In part, he had reason to believe so: the Inquisition treated philosophers relatively softly. So, a certain Girolamo Borri was arrested for a year (for teaching about the mortality of the soul and keeping forbidden books), but then he was released; Francesco Patrizi was interrogated by the church authorities and released, even allowed to teach Platonic philosophy at the University of Rome.

However, the inquisitors considered Giordano Bruno not a philosopher, but a Catholic monk who had renounced his faith, and treated him more harshly. Having studied his works, on January 14, 1599, they presented a list of eight heretical statements (it has not survived to this day) and demanded that they renounce. Bruno refused. In April and December, they again turned to Bruno - and he again declared that "he has nothing to repent of." After the last attempt at enlightenment (January 20, 1600), his works were banned, and the thinker himself was condemned as a heretic who persisted in his delusions.

Dangerous philosophy

So, the statement about the many worlds, in contrast to doubts about the sacrament, the virgin birth, or the divine-human nature of Jesus Christ, is found in all charges brought against Giordano Bruno. And he never gave it up, as all the witnesses say. By the way, an interesting confirmation of the seriousness of this accusation is a letter from the imperial envoy in Rome Johann Wackler to astronomer Kepler. "On Thursday, Giordano Bruno was adopted into the family of Baron Atoms. When the fire broke out, an icon of Christ crucified was brought to his face for a kiss, but he turned away from her, frowning. Now, I think he will tell the endless worlds … how things are in our ".

And the final indication of the seriousness of this idea is the statistics of executions carried out in Rome from 1598 to 1604 (it was led by members of the brotherhood of St. John the Beheadless, who accompanied the executed on their last journey). In total, 189 people were killed: 169 of them were hanged, 18 quartered or beheaded after severe torture, and only two were burned alive - such a punishment was considered the most painful. So, according to recently discovered documents, only heretics were burned - Bruno and a certain Father Celestino from Verona. But even more remarkable is that this Capuchin monk believed "in many suns"! According to modern scholars, this fact proves the fear of the Roman Inquisition of this heresy.

So, despite the tendency of modern historians of science to look at Giordano Bruno as an occultist, esotericist and a fan of magic (for which there are very good reasons), he died as a martyr of his cosmological views. However, the conflict between Bruno and the Inquisition was not a conflict between science and religion - rather, between philosophy and religion.

The Church did not treat Bruno cruelly just because he gave up his dignity and faith. The reason is that in his views the inquisitors and cardinals saw not glimpses of a new science, but the resurrection of ancient pagan beliefs. Thoughts about the rotation of the Earth were "fastened" by Bruno to the Pythagorean postulates about its animality. The philosopher connected the idea of a multitude of worlds inhabited by living beings like ours with the belief that souls of people enter these beings after death … It was the connection with beliefs that radically erode the Christian picture of the world that sent the philosopher to the stake.