Showing posts with label bishop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bishop. Show all posts
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Paul of Middelburg
A scientist and bishop, born in 1446 at Middelburg, the ancient capital of the province of Zealand, belonging then to the German Empire, now to Holland; died in Rome, 13 December, 1534. After finishing his studies in Louvain he received a canonry in his native town, of which he was afterwards deprived. The circumstances of this fact are not known, but in his apologetic letter on the celebration of Easter he calls it a usurpation, and shows great bitterness against his country, calling it "barbara Zelandiæ insula", "vervecum patria", "cerdonum regio", etc. He then taught for a while in Louvain, was invited by the Signoria of Venice to take a chair for sciences in Padua (1480), travelled through Italy, became physician to Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, and friend to Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, afterwards emperor. By the former he was endowed with the Benedictine Abbey St. Christophorus in Castel Durante (1488), and by the latter he was recommended to Alexander VI for the Bishopric of Fossombrone (Moroni, LXXXV, 314). Being nominated to that see, in 1494, he destroyed some of his former publications; first "Giudizio dell' anno 1480", in which he had censured a number of mathematicians; then a "Practica de pravis Constellationibus", and a defence of that work against the nephew of Paul II (1484); and finally an "Invectiva in superstitiosum Vatem". He chose for himself an astronomical coat of arms, and, in 497, enlarged and embellished the episcopal palace. Besides some smaller treatises against usurers and against the superstitious fear of a flood in 1524 (Fossombrone, 1523), he wrote important works on the reform of the Calendar, which procured for him invitations by Julius II and Leo X to the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1518). His "Epistola ad Universitatem Lovaniensem de Paschate recte observando" (1487) was followed by an "Epistola apologetica" (1488), and finally by his principal work "Paulina, de recta Pasch celebratione" (Fossombrone, 1513). The contents and result of the work are described under the article LILIUS. He died while assisting at the Divine Office in Rome, and was buried in S. Maria dell' Anima. His family name is unknown, but in one place he is called Paolo di Adriano (Moroni, XLIV, 120). Scaliger, who calls him "Omnium sui sæculi mathematicorum . . . facile princeps", was his godson.
Nicolas of Cusa
German cardinal, philosopher, and administrator, b. at Cues on the Moselle, in the Archdiocese of Trier, 1400 or 1401; d. at Todi, in Umbria, 11 August, 1464. His father, Johann Cryfts (Krebs), a wealthy boatman (nauta, not a "poor fisherman"), died in 1450 or 1451, and his mother, Catharina Roemers, in 1427. The legend that Nicholas fled from the ill-treatment of his father to Count Ulrich of Mandersheid is doubtfully reported by Hartzheim (Vita N. de Cusa, Trier, 1730), and has never been proved.
Of his early education in a school of Deventer nothing is known; but in 1416 he was matriculated in the University of Heidelberg, by Rector Nicholas of Bettenberg, as "Nicholaus Cancer de Coesze, cler[icus] Trever[ensis] dioc[esis]". A year later, 1417, he left for Padua, where he graduated, in 1423, as doctor in canon law (decretorum doctor) under the celebrated Giuliano Cesarini. It is said that in later years, he was honoured with the doctorate in civil law by the University of Bologna. At Padua he became the friend of Paolo Toscanelli, afterwards a celebrated physician and scientist. He studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and, in later years, Arabic, though, as his friend Johannes Andreæ, Bishop of Aleria, testifies, and as appears from the style of his writings, he was not a lover of rhetoric and poetry. That the loss of a lawsuit at Mainz should have decided his choice of the clerical state, is not supported by his previous career.
Aided by the Archbishop of Trier, he matriculated in the University of Cologne, for divinity, under the rectorship of Petrus von Weiler, in 1425. His identity with the "Nicolaus Trevirensis", who is mentioned as secretary to CardinalOrsini, and papal legate for Germany in 1426, is not certain. After 1428, benefices at Coblenz, Oberwesel, Münstermaifeld, Dypurgh, St. Wendel, and Liège fell to his lot, successively or simultaneously.
His public career began in 1421, at the Council of Basle, which opened under the presidency of his former teacher, Giuliano Cesarini. The cause of Count Ulrich of Manderscheid, which he defended, was lost and the transactions with the Bohemians, in which the represented the German nation, proved fruitless. His main efforts at the council were for the reform of the calendar and for the unity, political and religious, of all Christendom. In 1437 the orthodox minority sent him to Eugene IV, whom he strongly supported. The pope entrusted him with a mission to Constantinople, where, in the course of two months, besides discovering Greek manuscripts of St. Basil and St. John Damascene, he gained over for the Council of Florence, the emperor, the patriarch, and twenty-eight archbishops. After reporting the result of his missions to the pope at Ferrara, in 1438, he was created papal legate to support the cause of Eugene IV. He did so before the Diets of Mainz (1441), Frankfort (1442), Nuremberg (1444), again of Frankfort (1446), and even at the court of Charles VII of France, with such force that Æneas Sylvius called him the Hercules of the Eugenians. As a reward Eugene IV nominated him cardinal; but Nicholas declined the dignity. It needed a command of the next pope, Nicholas V, to bring him to Rome for the acceptance of this honour. In 1449 he was proclaimed cardinal-priest of the title of St. Peter ad Vincula.
His new dignity was fraught with labours and crosses. The Diocese of Brixen, the see of which was vacant, needed a reformer. The Cardinal of Cusa was appointed (1450), but, owing to the opposition of the chapter and of Sigmund, Duke of Austria and Count of the Tyrol, could not take possession of the see until two years later. In the meantime the cardinal was sent by Nicholas V, as papal legate, to Northern Germany and the Netherlands. He was to preach the Jubilee indulgence and to promote the crusade against the Turks; to visit, reform, and correct parishes, monasteries, hospitals; to endeavour to reunite the Hussites with the Church; to end the dissensions between the Duke of Cleve and the Archbishop of Cologne; and to treat with the Duke of Burgundy with a view to peace between England and France. He crossed the Brenner in January, 1451, held a provincial synod at Salzburg, visited Vienna, Munich, Ratisbon, and Nuremberg, held a diocesan synod at Bamberg, presided over the provincial chapter of the Benedictines at Würzburg, and reformed the monasteries in the Dioceses of Erfurt, Thuringia, Magdeburg, Hildesheim, and Minden. Through the Netherlands he was accompanied by his friend Denys the Carthusian. In 1452 he concluded his visitations by holding a provincial synod at Cologne.
Everywhere, according to Abbot Trithemius, he had appeared as an angel of light and peace, but it was not to be so in his own diocese. The troubles began with the Poor Clares of Brixen and the Benedictine nuns of Sonnenburg, who needed reformation, but were shielded by Duke Sigmund. The cardinal had to take refuge in the stronghold of Andraz, at Buchenstein, and finally, by special authority received from Pius II, pronounced an interdict upon the Countship of the Tyrol. In 1460 the duke made him prisoner at Burneck and extorted from him a treaty unfavourable to the bishopric. Nicholas fled to Pope Pius II, who excommunicated the duke and laid an interdict upon the diocese, to be enforced by the Archbishop of Salzburg. But the duke, himself an immoral man, and, further, instigated by the antipapal humanist Heimburg, defied the pope and appealed to a general council. It needed the strong influence of the emperor, Frederick III, to make him finally (1464) submit to the Church. This took place some days after the cardinal's death. The account of the twelve years' struggle given by Jäger and, after him, by Prantl, is unfair to the "foreign reformer" (see Pastor, op. cit. infra, II). The cardinal, who had accompanied Pius II to the Venetian fleet at Ancona, was sent by the pope to Leghorn to hasten the Genoese crusaders, but on the way succumbed to an illness, the result of his ill-treatment at the hands of Sigmund, from which he had never fully recovered. He died at Todi, in the presence of his friends, the physician Toscanelli and Bishop Johannes Andreæ.
The body of Nicholas of Cusa rests in his own titular church in Rome, beneath an effigy of him sculptured in relief, but his heart is deposited before the altar in the hospital of Cues. This hospital was the cardinal's own foundation. By mutual agreement with his sister Clare and his brother John, his entire inheritance was made the basis of the foundation, and by the cardinal's last will his altar service, manuscript library, and scientific instruments were bequeathed to it. The extensive buildings with chapel, cloister, and refectory, which were erected in 1451-56, stand to this day, and serve their original purpose of a home for thirty-three old men, in honour of the thirty-three years of Christ's earthly life. Another foundation of the cardinal was a residence at Deventer, called the Bursa Cusana, where twenty poor clerical students were to be supported. Among bequests, a sum of 260 ducats was left to S. Maria dell' Anima in Rome, for an infirmary. In the archives of this institution is found the original document of the cardinal's last will.
The writings of Cardinal Nicholas may be classified under four heads:
The astronomical views of the cardinal are scattered through his philosophical treatises. They evince complete independence of traditional doctrines, though they are based on symbolism of numbers, on combinations of letters, and on abstract speculations rather than observation. The earth is a star like other stars, is not the centre of the universe, is not at rest, nor are its poles fixed. The celestial bodies are not strictly spherical, nor are their orbits circular. The difference between theory and appearance is explained by relative motion. Had Copernicus been aware of these assertions he would probably have been encouraged by them to publish his own monumental work. The collected editions of Nicholas of Cusa's works are: Incunabula (before 1476) in 2 vols., incomplete; Paris (1514) in 3 vols.; Basle (1565), in 3 vols.
Of his early education in a school of Deventer nothing is known; but in 1416 he was matriculated in the University of Heidelberg, by Rector Nicholas of Bettenberg, as "Nicholaus Cancer de Coesze, cler[icus] Trever[ensis] dioc[esis]". A year later, 1417, he left for Padua, where he graduated, in 1423, as doctor in canon law (decretorum doctor) under the celebrated Giuliano Cesarini. It is said that in later years, he was honoured with the doctorate in civil law by the University of Bologna. At Padua he became the friend of Paolo Toscanelli, afterwards a celebrated physician and scientist. He studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and, in later years, Arabic, though, as his friend Johannes Andreæ, Bishop of Aleria, testifies, and as appears from the style of his writings, he was not a lover of rhetoric and poetry. That the loss of a lawsuit at Mainz should have decided his choice of the clerical state, is not supported by his previous career.
Aided by the Archbishop of Trier, he matriculated in the University of Cologne, for divinity, under the rectorship of Petrus von Weiler, in 1425. His identity with the "Nicolaus Trevirensis", who is mentioned as secretary to CardinalOrsini, and papal legate for Germany in 1426, is not certain. After 1428, benefices at Coblenz, Oberwesel, Münstermaifeld, Dypurgh, St. Wendel, and Liège fell to his lot, successively or simultaneously.
His public career began in 1421, at the Council of Basle, which opened under the presidency of his former teacher, Giuliano Cesarini. The cause of Count Ulrich of Manderscheid, which he defended, was lost and the transactions with the Bohemians, in which the represented the German nation, proved fruitless. His main efforts at the council were for the reform of the calendar and for the unity, political and religious, of all Christendom. In 1437 the orthodox minority sent him to Eugene IV, whom he strongly supported. The pope entrusted him with a mission to Constantinople, where, in the course of two months, besides discovering Greek manuscripts of St. Basil and St. John Damascene, he gained over for the Council of Florence, the emperor, the patriarch, and twenty-eight archbishops. After reporting the result of his missions to the pope at Ferrara, in 1438, he was created papal legate to support the cause of Eugene IV. He did so before the Diets of Mainz (1441), Frankfort (1442), Nuremberg (1444), again of Frankfort (1446), and even at the court of Charles VII of France, with such force that Æneas Sylvius called him the Hercules of the Eugenians. As a reward Eugene IV nominated him cardinal; but Nicholas declined the dignity. It needed a command of the next pope, Nicholas V, to bring him to Rome for the acceptance of this honour. In 1449 he was proclaimed cardinal-priest of the title of St. Peter ad Vincula.
His new dignity was fraught with labours and crosses. The Diocese of Brixen, the see of which was vacant, needed a reformer. The Cardinal of Cusa was appointed (1450), but, owing to the opposition of the chapter and of Sigmund, Duke of Austria and Count of the Tyrol, could not take possession of the see until two years later. In the meantime the cardinal was sent by Nicholas V, as papal legate, to Northern Germany and the Netherlands. He was to preach the Jubilee indulgence and to promote the crusade against the Turks; to visit, reform, and correct parishes, monasteries, hospitals; to endeavour to reunite the Hussites with the Church; to end the dissensions between the Duke of Cleve and the Archbishop of Cologne; and to treat with the Duke of Burgundy with a view to peace between England and France. He crossed the Brenner in January, 1451, held a provincial synod at Salzburg, visited Vienna, Munich, Ratisbon, and Nuremberg, held a diocesan synod at Bamberg, presided over the provincial chapter of the Benedictines at Würzburg, and reformed the monasteries in the Dioceses of Erfurt, Thuringia, Magdeburg, Hildesheim, and Minden. Through the Netherlands he was accompanied by his friend Denys the Carthusian. In 1452 he concluded his visitations by holding a provincial synod at Cologne.
Everywhere, according to Abbot Trithemius, he had appeared as an angel of light and peace, but it was not to be so in his own diocese. The troubles began with the Poor Clares of Brixen and the Benedictine nuns of Sonnenburg, who needed reformation, but were shielded by Duke Sigmund. The cardinal had to take refuge in the stronghold of Andraz, at Buchenstein, and finally, by special authority received from Pius II, pronounced an interdict upon the Countship of the Tyrol. In 1460 the duke made him prisoner at Burneck and extorted from him a treaty unfavourable to the bishopric. Nicholas fled to Pope Pius II, who excommunicated the duke and laid an interdict upon the diocese, to be enforced by the Archbishop of Salzburg. But the duke, himself an immoral man, and, further, instigated by the antipapal humanist Heimburg, defied the pope and appealed to a general council. It needed the strong influence of the emperor, Frederick III, to make him finally (1464) submit to the Church. This took place some days after the cardinal's death. The account of the twelve years' struggle given by Jäger and, after him, by Prantl, is unfair to the "foreign reformer" (see Pastor, op. cit. infra, II). The cardinal, who had accompanied Pius II to the Venetian fleet at Ancona, was sent by the pope to Leghorn to hasten the Genoese crusaders, but on the way succumbed to an illness, the result of his ill-treatment at the hands of Sigmund, from which he had never fully recovered. He died at Todi, in the presence of his friends, the physician Toscanelli and Bishop Johannes Andreæ.
The body of Nicholas of Cusa rests in his own titular church in Rome, beneath an effigy of him sculptured in relief, but his heart is deposited before the altar in the hospital of Cues. This hospital was the cardinal's own foundation. By mutual agreement with his sister Clare and his brother John, his entire inheritance was made the basis of the foundation, and by the cardinal's last will his altar service, manuscript library, and scientific instruments were bequeathed to it. The extensive buildings with chapel, cloister, and refectory, which were erected in 1451-56, stand to this day, and serve their original purpose of a home for thirty-three old men, in honour of the thirty-three years of Christ's earthly life. Another foundation of the cardinal was a residence at Deventer, called the Bursa Cusana, where twenty poor clerical students were to be supported. Among bequests, a sum of 260 ducats was left to S. Maria dell' Anima in Rome, for an infirmary. In the archives of this institution is found the original document of the cardinal's last will.
The writings of Cardinal Nicholas may be classified under four heads:
- Juridical writings: "De concordantia catholica" and "De auctoritate præsidendi in concilio generali" (1432-35), both written on occasion of the Council of Basle. The superiority of the general councils over the pope is maintained; though, when the majority of the assembly drew from these writings startling conclusions unfavourable to Pope Eugene, the author seems to have changed his views, as appears from his action after 1437. The political reforms proposed were skilfully utilized by Görres in 1814.
- In his philosophical writings, composed after 1439, he set aside the definition and methods of the "Aristotelean Sect" and replaced them by deep speculations and mystical forms of his own. The best known is his first treatise, "De docta ignorantia" (1439- 40), on the finite and the infinite. The Theory of Knowledge is critically examined in the treatise "De conjecturis" (1440-44) and especially in the "Compendium" (1464). In his Cosmology he calls the Creator the Possest (posse-est, the possible- actual), alluding to the argument: God is possible, therefore actual. His microcosmos in created things has some similarity with the "monads" and the "emanation" of Leibniz.
- The theological treatises are dogmatic, ascetic, and mystic. "De cribratione alchorani" (1460) was occasioned by his visit to Constantinople, and was written for the conversion of the Mohammedans. For the faithful were written: "De quærendo Deum" (1445), "De filiatione Dei" (1445), "De visione Dei" (1453), "Excitationum libri X" (1431-64), and others. The favourite subject of his mystical speculations was the Trinity. His concept of God has been much disputed, and has even been called pantheistic. The context of his writings proves, however, that they are all strictly Christian. Scharpff calls his theology a Thomas à Kempis in philosophical language.
- The scientific writings consist of a dozen treatises, mostly short, of which the "Reparatio Calendarii" (1436), with a correction of the Alphonsine Tables, is the most important. (For an account of its contents and its results, see LILIUS, ALOISIUS.) The shorter mathematical treatises are examined in Kästner's "History of Mathematics", II. Among them is a claim for the exact quadrature of the circle, which was refuted by Regiomontanus [see MÜLLER (REGIOMONTANUS), JOHANN ].
The astronomical views of the cardinal are scattered through his philosophical treatises. They evince complete independence of traditional doctrines, though they are based on symbolism of numbers, on combinations of letters, and on abstract speculations rather than observation. The earth is a star like other stars, is not the centre of the universe, is not at rest, nor are its poles fixed. The celestial bodies are not strictly spherical, nor are their orbits circular. The difference between theory and appearance is explained by relative motion. Had Copernicus been aware of these assertions he would probably have been encouraged by them to publish his own monumental work. The collected editions of Nicholas of Cusa's works are: Incunabula (before 1476) in 2 vols., incomplete; Paris (1514) in 3 vols.; Basle (1565), in 3 vols.
Peter of Spain, Pope John XXI
Portugal (1215-1277). Born Peter Juliani, the man who would eventually become Pope John XXI earned a well-deserved reputation as the eminent medical author Peter of Spain, an important figure in the development of logic and pharmacology. Peter of Spain taught at the University of Siena in the 1240s and his Summulae Logicales was used as a university textbook on Aristotelian logic for the next three centuries. One of his most important medical works was Liber de oculo (“Concerning the Eye”), possibly written while he was a medical professor at Paris. A copy of this influential book was found three centuries later among the papers of Michelangelo, who had taken the time to copy out the entire book himself. The book’s last paragraph was undoubtedly of deep value to the artist: “When something falls into the eye, make a wash with honey water and rose water and milk.” For a man who spent endless months looking up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as he worked, Michelangelo would certainly have found such a remedy useful.
Peter was Archdeacon of Vermoim (Vermuy) in the Archdiocese of Braga, then became the Master of the school of Lisbon. Peter soon moved to Rome, where he became the physician of Pope Gregory X (1271–76) early in his reign. In March 1273 he was elected Archbishop of Braga, but did not assume that post; instead, on 3 June 1273, Pope Gregory X created him Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum (Frascati).
After the death of Pope Adrian V on 18 August 1276, Peter was elected Pope on 8 September. He is the only physician who has ever been consecrated Pope, and apart from Damasus I (from Roman Lusitania), he has been the only Portuguese pope. Throughout his pontificate, Pope John XXI remained deeply interested in scientific matters. He directed the bishop of Paris, Tempier, to investigate the controversy surrounding the teachings of Aristotle, a directive which resulted in the Parisian bishop issuing a list of 219 condemned propositions. The historian and scientist Pierre Duhem believed that Bishop Tempier, with his insistence of God’s absolute power, liberated Christian thought from the dogmatic acceptance of Aristotelianism, and in this way marked the birth of modern science.
Pope John XXI’s maintained strong interest in his personal scientific studies even after his consecration. Indeed, to secure the necessary quiet for his medical studies, he had an apartment added to the papal palace at Viterbo, to which he could retire when he wished to work undisturbed. On 14 May 1277, while the pope was working in this laboratory, it collapsed; John was buried under the ruins and died on 20 May in consequence of the serious injuries he had received. He was buried in the Duomo di Viterbo, where his tomb can still be seen.
Peter was Archdeacon of Vermoim (Vermuy) in the Archdiocese of Braga, then became the Master of the school of Lisbon. Peter soon moved to Rome, where he became the physician of Pope Gregory X (1271–76) early in his reign. In March 1273 he was elected Archbishop of Braga, but did not assume that post; instead, on 3 June 1273, Pope Gregory X created him Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum (Frascati).
After the death of Pope Adrian V on 18 August 1276, Peter was elected Pope on 8 September. He is the only physician who has ever been consecrated Pope, and apart from Damasus I (from Roman Lusitania), he has been the only Portuguese pope. Throughout his pontificate, Pope John XXI remained deeply interested in scientific matters. He directed the bishop of Paris, Tempier, to investigate the controversy surrounding the teachings of Aristotle, a directive which resulted in the Parisian bishop issuing a list of 219 condemned propositions. The historian and scientist Pierre Duhem believed that Bishop Tempier, with his insistence of God’s absolute power, liberated Christian thought from the dogmatic acceptance of Aristotelianism, and in this way marked the birth of modern science.
Pope John XXI’s maintained strong interest in his personal scientific studies even after his consecration. Indeed, to secure the necessary quiet for his medical studies, he had an apartment added to the papal palace at Viterbo, to which he could retire when he wished to work undisturbed. On 14 May 1277, while the pope was working in this laboratory, it collapsed; John was buried under the ruins and died on 20 May in consequence of the serious injuries he had received. He was buried in the Duomo di Viterbo, where his tomb can still be seen.
St. Albertus Magnus
A German Dominican friar, Catholic bishop, and one of only 36 Doctors of the Church, St. Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280) was renowned not only for his sanctity but also for his learning. He was a lecturer at Cologne, as well as in Regensburg, Freiburg, Strasbourg, and Hildesheim before taking the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James at the University of Paris, where he taught another Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas. Albert was not only the first to comment on virtually all of the writings of Aristotle, he also composed extensive commentaries on both Averroes and Avicenna. He was bishop of Regensburg from 1260-1263, but was then recalled by the Pope to preach the eighth Crusade. He helped found both the Angelicum in Rome, and the University of Cologne, the oldest university in Germany.
His encyclopedic knowledge led to writings on logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, astrology, mineralogy, alchemy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, economics, justice, law, friendship, and love. He wrote extensively on proportions in music, particularly on the importance of silence as an integral part of music. He digested, interpreted, and systematized the whole of Aristotle’s works: most modern knowledge of Aristotle was preserved and presented by Albert.
His love of experimental science was so great that contemporaries sometimes accused him of neglecting theology. He laid down basic scientific principles: in De Mineralibus [lib. II, tr. II, I] Albert points out that “The aim of natural science is not simply to accept the statements of others, but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature.” Similarly, in his treatises on plants, he states “Experiment is the only safe guide in such investigations” [De Veg., VI, II, I]. “In studying nature we have not to inquire how God the Creator may, as He freely wills, use His creatures to work miracles and thereby show forth His power: we have rather to inquire what Nature with its immanent causes can naturally bring to pass” [Coelo et Mundo, I, tr. IV, X].
He is named the discoverer of the element arsenic and experimented with photosensitive chemicals, including silver nitrate. He also makes one of the first references to sulfuric acid. Humboldt praised his knowledge of physical geography (Cosmos, II, vi). Meyer writes (Gesch. der Botanik): “No botanist who lived before Albert can be compared with him... and after him none has painted nature in such living colours, or studied it so profoundly, until the time of Conrad, Gesner, and Cesalpini. All honour, then, to the man who made such astonishing progress in the science of nature as to find no one, I will not say to surpass, but even to equal him for the space of three centuries.” Albert gives an elaborate demonstration of the sphericity of the earth; his knowledge arguably led to the eventual discovery of America (cf. Mandonnet, in “Revue Thomiste”, I, 1893; 46-64, 200-221).
As the Encyclopedia Britannica points out, “Albertus’s works represent the entire body of European knowledge of his time not only in theology but also in philosophy and the natural sciences. His importance for medieval science essentially consists in his bringing Aristotelianism to the fore ... Albertus must be regarded as unique in his time for having made accessible and available the Aristotelian knowledge of nature and for having enriched it by his own observations in all branches of the natural sciences. A preeminent place in the history of science is accorded to him because of this achievement.”
Throughout his life, Albert rejected the idea of the “double truth”— one truth for faith and a contradictory truth for reason. He insisted everything that all truths are joined in harmony. For these reasons and many more, he was declared Doctor of the Church in 1931 and patron saint of natural scientists in 1941.
His encyclopedic knowledge led to writings on logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, astrology, mineralogy, alchemy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, economics, justice, law, friendship, and love. He wrote extensively on proportions in music, particularly on the importance of silence as an integral part of music. He digested, interpreted, and systematized the whole of Aristotle’s works: most modern knowledge of Aristotle was preserved and presented by Albert.
His love of experimental science was so great that contemporaries sometimes accused him of neglecting theology. He laid down basic scientific principles: in De Mineralibus [lib. II, tr. II, I] Albert points out that “The aim of natural science is not simply to accept the statements of others, but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature.” Similarly, in his treatises on plants, he states “Experiment is the only safe guide in such investigations” [De Veg., VI, II, I]. “In studying nature we have not to inquire how God the Creator may, as He freely wills, use His creatures to work miracles and thereby show forth His power: we have rather to inquire what Nature with its immanent causes can naturally bring to pass” [Coelo et Mundo, I, tr. IV, X].
He is named the discoverer of the element arsenic and experimented with photosensitive chemicals, including silver nitrate. He also makes one of the first references to sulfuric acid. Humboldt praised his knowledge of physical geography (Cosmos, II, vi). Meyer writes (Gesch. der Botanik): “No botanist who lived before Albert can be compared with him... and after him none has painted nature in such living colours, or studied it so profoundly, until the time of Conrad, Gesner, and Cesalpini. All honour, then, to the man who made such astonishing progress in the science of nature as to find no one, I will not say to surpass, but even to equal him for the space of three centuries.” Albert gives an elaborate demonstration of the sphericity of the earth; his knowledge arguably led to the eventual discovery of America (cf. Mandonnet, in “Revue Thomiste”, I, 1893; 46-64, 200-221).
As the Encyclopedia Britannica points out, “Albertus’s works represent the entire body of European knowledge of his time not only in theology but also in philosophy and the natural sciences. His importance for medieval science essentially consists in his bringing Aristotelianism to the fore ... Albertus must be regarded as unique in his time for having made accessible and available the Aristotelian knowledge of nature and for having enriched it by his own observations in all branches of the natural sciences. A preeminent place in the history of science is accorded to him because of this achievement.”
Throughout his life, Albert rejected the idea of the “double truth”— one truth for faith and a contradictory truth for reason. He insisted everything that all truths are joined in harmony. For these reasons and many more, he was declared Doctor of the Church in 1931 and patron saint of natural scientists in 1941.
Bishop Robert Grosseteste
Bishop of Lincoln and Oxford’s founder of scientific thought, he showed how to use experiment to verify a theory. A. C. Crombie calls him “the real founder of the tradition of scientific thought in medieval Oxford, and in some ways, of the modern English intellectual tradition”.
Born around 1175 AD, Robert Grossetest (c. 1175-1253) was a deacon by 1225 and Archdecon of Leicester by 1229, when he began lecturing at Oxford. By 1235, he was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln. He taught the Franciscan Roger Bacon, instilling an interest in the scientific method. Grosseteste’s theological writings considered the natural world a major resource for theological reflection. He is best known as an original thinker for his work on the scientific method. From 1220 to 1235 he wrote a host of scientific treatises including:
He also wrote a number of commentaries, including commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, the first western commentary on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, and a thorough analysis of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite’s Celestial Hierarchy.
Grosseteste introduced the notion of controlled experiment as one among many ways of arriving at knowledge. Although he did not always follow his own advice, his work is seen as instrumental in the development of the Western scientific tradition. Grosseteste was the first of the Scholastics to fully understand Aristotle’s vision of the dual path of scientific reasoning: generalising from particular observations into a universal law, and then back again from universal laws to prediction of particulars. Grosseteste called this “resolution and composition”. He asserted both paths should be verified through experiment to verify the principles involved. The tradition he established was popularized five centuries later by Galileo Galilei.
Even more important was Grosseteste’s use of the “heirarchy of goods” to order scientific knowledge. For instance, he argued that optics is subordinate to geometry because optics depends on geometry, making optics a subalternate science. Thus, Grosseteste concluded, championed Boethius in arguing that mathematics was the highest of all sciences, and the basis for all others, since every natural science ultimately depended on mathematics. Groesseteste argued that light was the “first form” of all things, the source of all generation (biology) and motion (physics). Since light could be reduced to lines and points, and thus fully explained by mathematics, mathematics was the highest order of the sciences. The ‘Ordered Universe’ collaboration of scientists and historians at Durham University studies medieval science. This team regards Bishop Robert Grosseteste as a key figure who demonstrates that pre-Renaissance science was far more advanced than previously thought.
Born around 1175 AD, Robert Grossetest (c. 1175-1253) was a deacon by 1225 and Archdecon of Leicester by 1229, when he began lecturing at Oxford. By 1235, he was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln. He taught the Franciscan Roger Bacon, instilling an interest in the scientific method. Grosseteste’s theological writings considered the natural world a major resource for theological reflection. He is best known as an original thinker for his work on the scientific method. From 1220 to 1235 he wrote a host of scientific treatises including:
- De sphera. An introductory text on astronomy.
- De accessu et recessu maris. On tides and tidal movements. (although some scholars dispute his authorship)
- De lineis, angulis et figuris. Mathematical reasoning in the natural sciences.
- De iride. In On The Rainbow, Grosseteste predicts the invention of the telescope (1608): “This part of optics, when well understood, shows us how we may make things a very long distance off appear as if placed very close, and large near things appear very small, and how we may make small things placed at a distance appear any size we want, so that it may be possible for us to read the smallest letters at incredible distances, or to count sand, or seed, or any sort of minute objects.”
- De luce. Four centuries before Isaac Newton proposed gravity and seven centuries before the Big Bang theory, Grosseteste’s Of Light described the birth of the Universe as an explosion and the crystallisation of matter to form stars and planets in a set of nested spheres around Earth. De Luce is the first attempt to describe the heavens and Earth using a single set of physical laws. This is easily the most original work of cosmogeny until Newton.
He also wrote a number of commentaries, including commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, the first western commentary on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, and a thorough analysis of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite’s Celestial Hierarchy.
Grosseteste introduced the notion of controlled experiment as one among many ways of arriving at knowledge. Although he did not always follow his own advice, his work is seen as instrumental in the development of the Western scientific tradition. Grosseteste was the first of the Scholastics to fully understand Aristotle’s vision of the dual path of scientific reasoning: generalising from particular observations into a universal law, and then back again from universal laws to prediction of particulars. Grosseteste called this “resolution and composition”. He asserted both paths should be verified through experiment to verify the principles involved. The tradition he established was popularized five centuries later by Galileo Galilei.
Even more important was Grosseteste’s use of the “heirarchy of goods” to order scientific knowledge. For instance, he argued that optics is subordinate to geometry because optics depends on geometry, making optics a subalternate science. Thus, Grosseteste concluded, championed Boethius in arguing that mathematics was the highest of all sciences, and the basis for all others, since every natural science ultimately depended on mathematics. Groesseteste argued that light was the “first form” of all things, the source of all generation (biology) and motion (physics). Since light could be reduced to lines and points, and thus fully explained by mathematics, mathematics was the highest order of the sciences. The ‘Ordered Universe’ collaboration of scientists and historians at Durham University studies medieval science. This team regards Bishop Robert Grosseteste as a key figure who demonstrates that pre-Renaissance science was far more advanced than previously thought.
Blessed Nicolaus Steno
Convert, Bishop, anatomist, geologist and saint, Blessed Nicolaus Steno is considered one of the founders of modern anatomy and the Father of Stratigraphy, also one of the founders of modern anatomy. Denmark (1638-1686)
“Steno’s general philosophy of science is one of the clearest formulated philosophies of modern science as it appeared during the seventeenth century. It includes (1) separation of scientific methods from religious arguments; (2) a principle of how to seek “demonstrative certainty” by demanding considerations from both reductionist and holist perspectives; (3) a series of purely structural (semiotic) principles developing a stringent basis for the pragmatic, historic (diachronous) sciences as opposed to the categorical, timeless (achronous) sciences; and (4) “Steno’s ladder of knowledge,” by which he formulated the leading principle of modern science, i.e., how true knowledge about deeper, hidden causes (“what we are ignorant about”) can be approached by combining analogue experiences with logic reasoning.” (On the origin of natural history: Steno’s modern, but forgotten philosophy of science, Jens Morten Hansen, Geological Society of America, 1 Oct 2008). Steno’s clear philosophy of science applied equally to anatomy, geology and theology. It is no coincidence that his greatest scientific theories were simultaneous with his theological conversion to Catholic Faith.
Steno began his career as a Lutheran physician. By 1662, he had discovered the excretory duct of the parotid gland (salivary gland in front of ear), which is today known as Stensen’s duct. He was the first to claim the heart is simply a muscle, nothing more. By 1666, he was professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, but soon moved to Florence to be the physician of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando II de’ Medici, a supporter of arts and science whom Steno had met in Pisa. Steno went to Rome and met Pope Alexander VII and Marcello Malpighi, whom he admired. On his way back in June, 1666, he watched the Corpus Christi procession in Livorno: “I was in Livorno for the Corpus Christi feast and when I saw the consecrated wafer carried through the town with such great display of magnificence, this thought arose in me: either this consecrated wafer is a simple piece of bread and those who show so much veneration for it are fools or it is the true body of Christ and why then do I not venerate it myself?” (Nicolaus Steno: Biography and Original Papers of a 17th Century Scientist, edited by Troels Kardel, Paul Maquet, p. 156).
Just four months later, in October 1666, the Grand Duke tasked Steno to dissect a great white shark. As he worked, Steno was struck by the shark teeth’s resemblance to stony objects, called glossopetrae – literally ‘tongue stones’. He contemplated the Eucharist. He contemplated the shark’s teeth and the glossopetrae. He contemplated the contraction and expansion of muscles. His mind was a whirl. But things began to coalesce.
By April 1667, he used geometry to show a contracting muscle changes its shape but not its volume. On November, 3, 1667, Steno joined the Catholic Church. By July 4, 1668, he had written his manuscript explaining how solids (like shark’s teeth) could be found encased in other solids, published under the title De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus, or Preliminary discourse to a dissertation on a solid body naturally contained within a solid. He laid out the laws of stratigraphy, becoming the first man to use solid geometry as a way to measure time. He also showed that crystals would have constant interfacial angles, a fact now known as Steno’s Law. (The Abyss of Time: Unraveling the Mystery of the Earth’s Age, Claude C., Jr. Albritto,, 1980, p. 39) He then turned his attention to the greatest science: theology. By 1675, he felt the call to the priesthood. He was ordained by Easter. Within three years, he was titular bishop, stationed in Hannover, where he lived a life of poverty so extreme, he gave even his pectoral cross and bishop’s ring for the poor.
According to Hansen (2009, p. 21), to his death, Steno considered scientific knowledge to be the highest praise to God. Bishop Steno is largely forgotten because he wrote in a beautiful and poetic Latin. His last major scientific work, a comprehensive lecture entitled Prooemium, was not translated into English until 1994. Because he worked in Italy and converted to Catholicism, even his own countrymen ignored his accomplishments. It was only after Alexander von Humboldt rediscovered his work in 1830 that Charles Lyell, along with other famous geologists, came to regard Steno as the standard authority. With regards to his anatomical results, Steno has always been considered one of the founders of modern anatomy. In 1881, the Second International Geological Congress proclaimed him the Founder of Geology. In January 2012, he received a Google doodle in honor of his 374th birthday.
“Steno’s general philosophy of science is one of the clearest formulated philosophies of modern science as it appeared during the seventeenth century. It includes (1) separation of scientific methods from religious arguments; (2) a principle of how to seek “demonstrative certainty” by demanding considerations from both reductionist and holist perspectives; (3) a series of purely structural (semiotic) principles developing a stringent basis for the pragmatic, historic (diachronous) sciences as opposed to the categorical, timeless (achronous) sciences; and (4) “Steno’s ladder of knowledge,” by which he formulated the leading principle of modern science, i.e., how true knowledge about deeper, hidden causes (“what we are ignorant about”) can be approached by combining analogue experiences with logic reasoning.” (On the origin of natural history: Steno’s modern, but forgotten philosophy of science, Jens Morten Hansen, Geological Society of America, 1 Oct 2008). Steno’s clear philosophy of science applied equally to anatomy, geology and theology. It is no coincidence that his greatest scientific theories were simultaneous with his theological conversion to Catholic Faith.
Steno began his career as a Lutheran physician. By 1662, he had discovered the excretory duct of the parotid gland (salivary gland in front of ear), which is today known as Stensen’s duct. He was the first to claim the heart is simply a muscle, nothing more. By 1666, he was professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, but soon moved to Florence to be the physician of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando II de’ Medici, a supporter of arts and science whom Steno had met in Pisa. Steno went to Rome and met Pope Alexander VII and Marcello Malpighi, whom he admired. On his way back in June, 1666, he watched the Corpus Christi procession in Livorno: “I was in Livorno for the Corpus Christi feast and when I saw the consecrated wafer carried through the town with such great display of magnificence, this thought arose in me: either this consecrated wafer is a simple piece of bread and those who show so much veneration for it are fools or it is the true body of Christ and why then do I not venerate it myself?” (Nicolaus Steno: Biography and Original Papers of a 17th Century Scientist, edited by Troels Kardel, Paul Maquet, p. 156).
Just four months later, in October 1666, the Grand Duke tasked Steno to dissect a great white shark. As he worked, Steno was struck by the shark teeth’s resemblance to stony objects, called glossopetrae – literally ‘tongue stones’. He contemplated the Eucharist. He contemplated the shark’s teeth and the glossopetrae. He contemplated the contraction and expansion of muscles. His mind was a whirl. But things began to coalesce.
By April 1667, he used geometry to show a contracting muscle changes its shape but not its volume. On November, 3, 1667, Steno joined the Catholic Church. By July 4, 1668, he had written his manuscript explaining how solids (like shark’s teeth) could be found encased in other solids, published under the title De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus, or Preliminary discourse to a dissertation on a solid body naturally contained within a solid. He laid out the laws of stratigraphy, becoming the first man to use solid geometry as a way to measure time. He also showed that crystals would have constant interfacial angles, a fact now known as Steno’s Law. (The Abyss of Time: Unraveling the Mystery of the Earth’s Age, Claude C., Jr. Albritto,, 1980, p. 39) He then turned his attention to the greatest science: theology. By 1675, he felt the call to the priesthood. He was ordained by Easter. Within three years, he was titular bishop, stationed in Hannover, where he lived a life of poverty so extreme, he gave even his pectoral cross and bishop’s ring for the poor.
According to Hansen (2009, p. 21), to his death, Steno considered scientific knowledge to be the highest praise to God. Bishop Steno is largely forgotten because he wrote in a beautiful and poetic Latin. His last major scientific work, a comprehensive lecture entitled Prooemium, was not translated into English until 1994. Because he worked in Italy and converted to Catholicism, even his own countrymen ignored his accomplishments. It was only after Alexander von Humboldt rediscovered his work in 1830 that Charles Lyell, along with other famous geologists, came to regard Steno as the standard authority. With regards to his anatomical results, Steno has always been considered one of the founders of modern anatomy. In 1881, the Second International Geological Congress proclaimed him the Founder of Geology. In January 2012, he received a Google doodle in honor of his 374th birthday.
Gerbert of Aurillac, Pope Sylvester II
Born Gerbert of Aurillac, this bishop and scientist reigned as the first French Pope from 999-1003 AD. dying in Rome on 12 May, 1003 (c. 950-1003).
Gerbert read Boethius, Virgil, Cicero, Porphyry, and Aristotle and classified the different disciplines of philosophy. He wrote a series of works concerning the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music). While in Rheims, he constructed a hydraulic-powered organ with brass pipes that excelled all previously known instruments. He authored a description of the astrolabe that was edited by Blessed Hermannus Contractus 50 years later (see April). In 996 Gerbert constructed a weight-driven clock for the University of Magdeburg, thus becoming the first man to make a mechanical clock.
This calendar uses Hindu-Arabic numbers because of Pope Sylvester II, who introduced the use of modern numerals to the West. While he was at it, he also invented his own version of the abacus (the first- hand-held calculator). His new abacus could now represent any number, no matter how large, using only ten symbols, one of them representing zero. This enormously simplified the calculation process and was much more suitable notation for written arithmetic. It had 1,000 characters in all, crafted out of animal horn by a shieldmaker of Rheims. According to his pupil Richer, Gerbert could perform mental calculations that were extremely difficult for people in his day to think through using only Roman numerals. Due to Gerbert’s reintroduction, the abacus became widely used in Europe once again during the 11th century. This makes Gerbert one of the first European computer scientists in history.
Gerbert’s study of astronomy was profound. He used a wooden model of the round earth to teach, and also used the model to correctly calculate the equator and the Tropic of Cancer. He also pioneered the use of the armillary sphere to teach math and astronomy, reintroducing a device which had been lost to Latin (though not Byzantine) Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era. Never one to rest on the work of others, he added sighting tubes to his sphere that allowed the user to locate the north pole, the Tropic of Cancer, the equator, the Arctic Circle, and the Tropic of Capricorn.
But his love of Christ was also deep. While Pope, Sylvester II he wrote a dogmatic treatise, De corpore et sanguine Domini—On the Body and Blood of the Lord. When Stephen (975-1038) became King of Hungary in 997 he wanted to make Hungary a Christian nation, so he sent Abbot Astricus to Rome to petition Pope Sylvester II for royal dignity and for the power to establish episcopal sees. Sylvester acceded to his wishes, recognizing the Magyar nationality and endowing the famous kingly crown on Stephen. His crowning took place on August 17, 1001. The Crown of St. Stephen has become the proud and beloved symbol of Hungarian nationhood and is part of its Coat of Arms.
Gerbert read Boethius, Virgil, Cicero, Porphyry, and Aristotle and classified the different disciplines of philosophy. He wrote a series of works concerning the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music). While in Rheims, he constructed a hydraulic-powered organ with brass pipes that excelled all previously known instruments. He authored a description of the astrolabe that was edited by Blessed Hermannus Contractus 50 years later (see April). In 996 Gerbert constructed a weight-driven clock for the University of Magdeburg, thus becoming the first man to make a mechanical clock.
This calendar uses Hindu-Arabic numbers because of Pope Sylvester II, who introduced the use of modern numerals to the West. While he was at it, he also invented his own version of the abacus (the first- hand-held calculator). His new abacus could now represent any number, no matter how large, using only ten symbols, one of them representing zero. This enormously simplified the calculation process and was much more suitable notation for written arithmetic. It had 1,000 characters in all, crafted out of animal horn by a shieldmaker of Rheims. According to his pupil Richer, Gerbert could perform mental calculations that were extremely difficult for people in his day to think through using only Roman numerals. Due to Gerbert’s reintroduction, the abacus became widely used in Europe once again during the 11th century. This makes Gerbert one of the first European computer scientists in history.
Gerbert’s study of astronomy was profound. He used a wooden model of the round earth to teach, and also used the model to correctly calculate the equator and the Tropic of Cancer. He also pioneered the use of the armillary sphere to teach math and astronomy, reintroducing a device which had been lost to Latin (though not Byzantine) Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era. Never one to rest on the work of others, he added sighting tubes to his sphere that allowed the user to locate the north pole, the Tropic of Cancer, the equator, the Arctic Circle, and the Tropic of Capricorn.
But his love of Christ was also deep. While Pope, Sylvester II he wrote a dogmatic treatise, De corpore et sanguine Domini—On the Body and Blood of the Lord. When Stephen (975-1038) became King of Hungary in 997 he wanted to make Hungary a Christian nation, so he sent Abbot Astricus to Rome to petition Pope Sylvester II for royal dignity and for the power to establish episcopal sees. Sylvester acceded to his wishes, recognizing the Magyar nationality and endowing the famous kingly crown on Stephen. His crowning took place on August 17, 1001. The Crown of St. Stephen has become the proud and beloved symbol of Hungarian nationhood and is part of its Coat of Arms.
St. Anatolius of Laodicea
Born in Alexandria, d. 283, St. Anatolius was a polymath who wrote ten books on mathematics alone. He wrote not only on arithmetic and geometry, but also physics, rhetoric, dialectic, and astronomy. Saint Jerome praised his scholarship and writing. His learning was so renowned, that his Christian faith did not stand in the way of his being appointed head of the Aristotelian school in Alexandria, Egypt.
However, he was known not just as a scholar but as a humble and deeply religious man. Ignorance horrified him. His work with the poor did not just include food, clothing and shelter, but also education. He held a number of government posts in Alexandria. During a Roman siege against a rebellion in the area, in the area, he negotiated a means of escape for the elderly, children and women who had been caught in the siege.
Not only was his learning renowned, his holiness was as well. While on is way to the Council of Antioch, he passed through Laodicea, an area where the bishop had recently died. The people seized him and would not let him proceed until he agreed to be their bishop. He served there faithfully for the remaining fifteen years of his life. He is considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches. His feast day is July 3.
However, he was known not just as a scholar but as a humble and deeply religious man. Ignorance horrified him. His work with the poor did not just include food, clothing and shelter, but also education. He held a number of government posts in Alexandria. During a Roman siege against a rebellion in the area, in the area, he negotiated a means of escape for the elderly, children and women who had been caught in the siege.
Not only was his learning renowned, his holiness was as well. While on is way to the Council of Antioch, he passed through Laodicea, an area where the bishop had recently died. The people seized him and would not let him proceed until he agreed to be their bishop. He served there faithfully for the remaining fifteen years of his life. He is considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches. His feast day is July 3.
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