Blog Archives

August 9: The Terrible Sixtus

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Ronald Bruce Meyer — Leave a comment

Sixtus IV (1471) It was on this date, August 9, 1471, that Franciscan Friar-turned-Cardinal Francesco della Rovere was elevated to the Papacy as Sixtus IV. A pious man, Sixtus also loved his family – he had a brother, three sisters,…

Tagged with: and Giovanni Colonna, Ascanio Sforza, Battista Orsini, Catholic Encyclopedia, Christoforo della Rovere, Francesco della Rovere, Giovanni Cibo, Giuliano de'Medici, Giuliano della Rovere, Infessura, Inquisition, Jacob Burckhardt, Lorenzo the Magnificent de'Medici, Louis XI, Pazzi conspiracy, Pietro Riario, Pope Sixtus IV, Sanseverino, Savelli, Sclafenati, Sistine Bridge, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Library, Venier
Posted in History, Religion

July 29: Galileo’s Pope

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Ronald Bruce Meyer — Leave a comment

Urban VIII (d. 1644) It was on this date, July 29, 1644, that the pope who will be remembered throughout history as the persecutor of Galileo, Urban VIII, died at Rome. It had been 18 months since his victim had…

Tagged with: astronomy, Catholic Encyclopedia, Copernican system, Dialog, Dialogo, Galileo, Gregory XV, Ignatius of Loyola, Inquisition, Jesuits, Maffeo Barberini, mathematics, nepotism, Papal Infallibility, Paul V, Pope Urban VIII, Thirty Years War
Posted in History, Religion, Science, Theology

July 3: Churches v. Scholarship

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Ronald Bruce Meyer — Leave a comment

His one achievement was to drive out of the Church what was left of Catholic scholarship.

Tagged with: Committee of Vigilance, errors, Inquisition, Lamentabili sane, Leo XIII, Modernism, Modernist intellectual movement, scholarship, syllabus
Posted in History, Religion, Theology

January 6: Joan of Arc

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Ronald Bruce Meyer — Leave a comment

Since those who believed Joan a witch and those who believed her a messenger of God subscribed to the same superstitions, it is of little consequence whose side is right.

Tagged with: Baron de Rais, Charles VII, delusion, Duke of Burgundy, Gilles de Laval, Hundred Years War, Inquisition, Margaret Murray, Marshall Gilles de Rais, Religion of Joan of Arc, Robert Baudricourt, schizophrenia, St. Catherine, St. Margaret, St. Michael, witchcraft
Posted in History, Religion, Theology

December 31: Andreas Vesalius

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Ronald Bruce Meyer — Leave a comment

Andreas Vesalius died at age 49 in Zakinthos, Greece. He had reached Jerusalem, but never made it back home. You could say Vesalius died for the church that persecuted him.

Tagged with: Andrew D. White, Augustine, Boniface VIII, Catholic Encyclopedia, Charles V, Dante, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, De Sepulturis, dissection, Encyclopedia Britannica, Galen, Inquisition, Jerusalem, Philip, pilgrimage, Religion of Andreas Vesalius, resurrection bone, rib, Tertullian, Warfare of Science with Theology
Posted in History, Religion, Science, Theology

December 13: Council of Trent

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Ronald Bruce Meyer — Leave a comment

What is seldom admitted is that the Church was hurting from the loss of income to the Protestant churches, and stipulated a meeting in an Italian town — so that the Inquisition could finish off the heretics.

Tagged with: Alexander VI, Benedictus Deus, Catholic Encyclopedia, Clement VII, Counter-Reformation, Inquisition, Julius III, Medici, Paul III, Pius IV, Religion and the Council of Trent, Thirty Years War, Trento
Posted in History, Religion, Theology

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