Burned Alive: Bruno, Galileo and the Inquisition

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by Alberto A. Martinez


  appreciated the Sacrament of Penance.248

  10. Bruno had a previous criminal record with the Roman

  Inquisition in 1576. In his first deposition, in 1592, he said

  that in 1576 the Inquisition processed him merely for parting

  with religious images while keeping only a crucifix. Later,

  in his fifth deposition, Bruno said he original y didn’t know

  why the Inquisition wanted to process him.249

  11. Two accusers said that Bruno listened to heretical sermons in England, Geneva and Germany. Bruno replied that he only went to Protestant cities for his safety and that he

  only consorted with heretics out of curiosity, not by sharing

  beliefs.250

  12. He read prohibited books by Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon

  and other heretics. Bruno admitted this, but not to adopt

  their doctrines, he said, just out of curiosity.251

  13. Bruno rejected the Catholic restriction against eating

  meat on prohibited days. He admitted eating meat with

  heretics on such days.252

  14. Allegedly Bruno said that if he were captured and forced

  to rejoin the Dominican order, he would burn down the

  monastery and escape. However, in his ninth deposition, he

  denied this allegation.253

  ii. Bruno’s Alleged Heresies against the Bible and

  Catholic Dogma

  15. Two accusers claimed that Bruno denied that the Church’s

  dogmas are credible; saying that all about the Church was

  vanity, which could not be proved. However, in his thirteenth

  deposition, Bruno denied having criticized the Church.254

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  16. Those two accusers also complained that Bruno held

  erroneous opinions about Cain and Abel, saying that Cain

  was a good Pythagorean man for killing his carnivorous

  brother Abel. Yet Bruno replied that he was just joking in

  saying that Cain had a ‘Pythagorean zeal’.255

  17. Mocenigo and Celestino complained that Bruno held

  erroneous opinions about the Trinity, that he did not

  recognize three persons in God, saying the Trinity is an

  impossibility. In depositions, Bruno admitted that he had

  failed to understand what is meant by ‘the Holy Spirit as a

  third person’, except in the sense of the Pythagorean doctrine

  explained by Virgil: as soul of the universe. He said he didn’t

  intend to doubt the Trinity, but speaking philosophically he

  had wondered how the Son (the Word) became incarnate;

  he said he didn’t know how divinity became united with

  human nature.256

  18. One accuser claimed that Bruno said that the cross that

  Christians placed above altars was original y a sign etched on

  the chest of the goddess Isis, venerated since antiquity, and

  that Christians stole it from the ancients, pretending that it

  had been used to crucify Jesus. When interrogated, Bruno

  did not entirely confirm this, but he said (tenth deposition)

  that the cross was an ancient symbol that pre­dated Christ:

  it was known in Egypt during the times of Moses, and was

  used on the chest of Serapide.257

  19. Two accusers said that Bruno denied that people are punished for their sins. But in turn, Bruno (fourth deposition) didn’t admit having said that, and he said he had ‘always

  believed that good deeds are necessary’.258

  20. Five accusers said that Bruno held erroneous opinions

  about Hell, saying there is no eternal punishment because

  God is not angry at anyone forever. However, in his ninth

  deposition, Bruno replied that he did not understand what

  these accusers had testified.259

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  21. Three of these accusers also claimed that Bruno said that

  at the end of the world even demons would be saved, because

  ‘God saves men and beasts.’ However, in his ninth deposition,

  Bruno denied this accusation. He said that demons would

  not be saved, and that infernal punishment lasts forever.260

  22. Schoppe claimed that Bruno said that scriptures were

  just a dream.261

  23. Schoppe also complained that Bruno wrote that human

  beings existed before Adam and Eve; only the Hebrews

  originated from Adam and Eve. Indeed, Bruno wrote this

  in his book On Monads.262

  iii. Bruno’s Alleged Heresies against the Prophets and Church

  Fathers

  24. Two accusers claimed that Bruno spoke ill of Moses,

  saying that Moses was a wise magician who only pretended

  to talk to God on Mount Sinai, and that Moses contrived

  his laws by magical arts, not from God, because they were

  tyrannical and bloodthirsty laws. Yet Bruno (tenth deposition) argued that Moses was an expert in all the Egyptian sciences, including magic, and that before Moses spoke with

  God, he could have used magic, which is not illegal since it

  is founded on the careful observation of nature and purely

  physical operations, not evil.263

  25. Next, Bruno allegedly spoke ill of the prophets, saying

  that they were men who lied, did bad deeds and were rightly

  condemned. However, in his tenth deposition, Bruno denied

  having criticized the prophets.264

  26. Mocenigo also accused Bruno of having said that the

  prophets and the apostles were magicians. However, Bruno

  (fourth deposition) denied that the apostles performed their

  miracles by magic, and he (tenth deposition) denied having

  criticized the prophets.265

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  27. Three accusers also said that Bruno disapproved of praying to the Saints, that he mockingly said that it was vain and ridiculous to invoke them because they cannot intercede for

  us. However, Bruno (in an unspecified deposition) denied

  having criticized the invocation of Saints.266

  28. Some accusers also complained that Bruno spoke ill of

  the Catholic Church and its officials, for example, saying

  ‘that the Church was governed by ignorant men and asses’.

  In contrast, Bruno repeatedly denied having criticized the

  Church (in his fourth, ninth and thirteenth depositions). 267

  29. Also Mocenigo claimed that Bruno, in his book Cantus

  Circeus, insulted the Pope by depicting him as a pig. But

  Bruno denied it in his sixteenth deposition.268

  30. Furthermore, two accusers claimed that Bruno spoke ill

  of theologians, the Doctors of the Church, for example by

  saying that St Thomas Aquinas and others knew nothing

  compared to himself. To the contrary, Bruno (fourth deposition) replied that he didn’t criticize theologians and that he especially admired Thomas.269

  iv. Bruno’s Alleged Heresies and Blasphemies against Christ and

  God

  31. Mocenigo alone further claimed that Bruno denied the

  virginity of Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, by mockingly

  saying that it’s impossible for a virgin to give birth. But

  again, Bruno defended himself, saying (in an unspecified

  deposition) that he didn’t speak against Mary’s virginity,

  and that she certainly conceived Jesus thanks to a miracle

  of the Holy Spirit.270

  32. Another accuser said that Bruno denied that the Three

  Kings paid homage to baby Jesus. Yet Bruno (unspecifi
ed

  depos ition) admitted only that he heard a sermon in which

  someone discussed whether the ‘Three Kings’ were not really

  kings.271

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  33. A couple of accusers also said that Bruno held erroneous

  opinions on Christ’s divinity and incarnation. In contradistinction, Bruno (eighth deposition) replied that he had just wondered how Jesus became incarnate; and Bruno (tenth de pos ition) also

  denied having criticized doctrines about Christ.272

  34. Four accusers testified that Bruno held erroneous opinions about the life and death of Jesus; for example, saying that Jesus was not crucified, but was hanged from two logs.

  To the contrary, in his tenth deposition, Bruno said that he

  always believed in Christ’s passion and death. He said the

  four branches of the cross were not equally long, and he

  denied that Christ hung from a gallows.273

  35. Two accusers claimed that Bruno had said that Jesus

  was a magician who forged his miracles with magic and

  necromancy. In his defence, Bruno (fourth deposition) said

  he did not deny Jesus’s miracles; he denied that Jesus did

  miracles by magic.274

  36. Next, reportedly Bruno said that Jesus had sinned mortally by refusing God’s will, in particular when Jesus said:

  ‘Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me’ (Matthew

  26:39). However, in his ninth deposition, Bruno denied

  having said that Christ sinned.275

  37. Also, Bruno allegedly held erroneous opinions about

  transubstantiation: reportedly he said that the bread does

  not become the body of Christ, and he discussed this with

  heretics. Yet Bruno (fifth deposition) denied having doubted

  transubstantiation.276

  38. Six accusers said that Bruno angrily and repeatedly voiced

  blasphemies against Jesus, especially in prison, saying, ‘­­­­

  of Christ’, ‘Christ ­­­­­, dog ­­­­­’, ‘Christ is a ­­­­­­­ dog’,

  ‘­­­­­­­ ­­­­­, ­­­­­ of God’, and so on. Consequently, in his

  tenth deposition Bruno only admitted that sometimes he

  had said Christ’s name in anger, but said he never directly

  sinned against His name.277

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  39. Reportedly, Bruno also said blasphemies about God, such

  as ‘God is a traitor, who doesn’t govern the world well.’ Bruno

  (tenth deposition) admitted that sometimes when angry he

  had improperly mentioned God, but that he never directly

  sinned against God’s name; he denied saying that God is a

  traitor governing the universe.278

  v. Bruno’s Heretical Beliefs about Substance, Worlds

  and Souls

  40. The consultors of the Inquisition complained that Bruno

  argued that substance cannot be created or destroyed, but

  only transforms, in accord with the teachings of Pythagoras.

  Bruno then admitted it, replying that there exists no true

  generation, but only transformation, because ‘there is nothing

  new under the Sun. ’279

  41. The consultors also complained that Bruno denied

  Solomon’s statement in Ecclesiastes 1:14, that the true being

  of individuals is vanity, because Bruno held that the underlying substance of all things is eternal, not illusory. Bruno had asserted this in his books. And then apparently Bruno

  insisted that the underlying substance of all matter is not

  vanity, but ‘really is what it is’.280

  42. Also, five accusers testified that Bruno believed that the

  universe is eternal, not created by God. Subsequently, Bruno

  (third deposition) argued that whether the world is eternal

  or temporal, the ‘caused or produced world’ depends on the

  First Cause, thus he did not reject the word ‘Creation’.281

  43. The consultors seemed to complain (second proposition)

  that Bruno believed that the universe is spatially infinite.

  Bruno replied that since God’s power is infinite, it must

  produce infinite things. Accordingly, Bruno (third and fourteenth depositions) affirmed the infinity of empty space. 282

  44. Six accusers plus the consultors and the Inquisitors

  also complained that Bruno believed that many worlds

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  exist, infinitely many, and that all the stars are worlds;

  another necessary consequence of God’s infinite power.

  Consequently, Bruno repeatedly affirmed (third, twelfth,

  fourteenth and seventeenth depositions) such Pythagorean

  beliefs: Earth is a star, stars are worlds, infinitely many

  worlds exist.283

  45. Also, two accusers plus the consultors said that Bruno

  believed that the other worlds are similar to ours and are

  inhabited by rational beings. Indeed, in his fourteenth

  depos ition, Bruno said that other worlds resemble Earth,

  with animals, plants and rational beings.284

  46. The consultors of the Inquisition further complained

  that Bruno argued, against Aristotle and Catholic dogma,

  that the soul is not the form of the body, but that instead it

  is a spiritual substance that inhabits the body, ‘as a captive

  in a prison’, and controls it like a ship. Yes, Bruno had said

  such things, and he said that the false claim that the soul is

  the body’s form is not in the Bible. In his fifth deposition,

  Bruno said that the human soul subsists outside the body,

  against Aristotle’s claim that it is the body’s form.285

  47. Three accusers said that Bruno believed in the transmigration of souls, between human bodies, even into other distant worlds. Bruno (second and eleventh depositions) replied that

  the soul is immortal and ‘speaking in a Catholic way’ it goes

  to Paradise, Purgatory or Hell, but that ‘reasoning philosophically’, a soul possibly can go from one body to another, in accord with Pythagoras’ opinion. Bruno insistently denied

  saying that in fact the soul transmigrates between bodies, but

  said instead, ‘I posit this only as a possibility.’286

  48. Two accusers said that Bruno also believed that human

  souls can transmigrate into animal bodies; and that the souls

  of some of his own friends might presently inhabit animal

  bodies. But Bruno (eleventh deposition) denied that human

  souls can inhabit animal bodies.287

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  49. One accuser claimed that Bruno himself said he remembered having lived previously in another body, and that his soul ‘in another time in the world had been a swan’, which

  made the other prisoners laugh. Another accuser twice

  testi fied that Bruno claimed to recall living in another

  body, whether human or animal. However, in his eleventh

  depos ition, Bruno denied ‘having been someone else in

  this world’.288

  50. The consultors of the Inquisition twice complained that

  Bruno believed that the Earth has a soul, that Earth is a living

  and rational animal. Bruno then admitted that he believed

  that God created the soul of the world. He quoted the Bible,

  ‘Producat terra animam viventem’ (Genesis 1:24), which is

  often translated as ‘Let the land produce living animals’, but

  might be rendered as ‘the Earth produces living souls�
�, which

  Bruno interpreted as meaning that Earth produces animals

  and animates them with its worldly soul. He said Earth is a

  rational animal, as evinced by its regular motions.289

  51. The consultors also complained that Bruno said that

  the Earth moves, which he said shows the Earth’s rational

  mind. Indeed, Bruno insisted that the Earth spins and moves

  but the firmament does not, and he added that this doesn’t

  undermine the authority of divine scriptures.290

  52. The consultors complained that Bruno said that stars are

  angels: visible and animated rational bodies that convey the

  divine voice. And indeed, in his fourteenth deposition, Bruno

  quoted ‘the Heavens declare the glory of God’ (Psalms 19:1)

  and said that therefore the heavenly bodies are animated,

  rational, sensible beings, or angels, that interpret God’s

  voice.291

  53. The Inquisitors interrogated Bruno about his belief that

  the Holy Spirit is the soul of the universe, what he called

  ‘the Pythagorean doctrine’. Yet Bruno reasserted this belief

  in his third, fourteenth and seventeenth depositions.292

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  54. Finally, the consultors also complained about Bruno’s

  claims about how human souls originate. And again, Bruno

  admitted it: he replied that just as the earth in our bodies

  came from the world, so too our spirit comes from God and

  returns to God, while ‘the universal spirit’ always subsists.293

  This list of accusations is remarkable. It shows that hearsay about

  Bruno was deeply offensive to Catholic officials. The accusers portrayed Bruno partly as a recklessly angry and embittered enemy of Catholicism, yet his replies show that he consistently denied any

  disagreements with Catholicism, to the best of his knowledge. At

  times he seems merely to have exercised intellectual curiosity.

  I have grouped the accusations into five categories: departures

  from Catholic practices, heresies against the Bible and dogma, heresies against prophets and Church Fathers, blasphemies against Christ and God, and fifth, beliefs about substance, worlds and souls.

  It is striking that under interrogation Bruno directly denied nearly

  all charges in the first four categories, but he refused to recant most

  of the accusations listed in the fifth: beliefs about substance, worlds

  and souls. Of the fifteen accusations in that category, Bruno apparently denied only two: having said that human souls can be reborn in animal bodies, and he denied that previously he had lived as a

 

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