45
Although there were some minority currents in Catholicism that viewed scientific culture with distrust, especially because of the tension between some scientific
circles and the Church that arose from the historical consequences of the Galileo
affair, the positive contribution of the Catholic Church to the practice and promotion
of astronomy in Italy is undoubted. On a smaller scale, something similar happened
in other European countries and even further, as witnessed by the heritage of Matteo
Ricci (1552–1610) in China.
The connection between science and the Catholic Church, implicitly reinforced by the fact that even a large fraction of nonclergy scientists in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries were believers, becomes highly significant given the number of priest-scientists active throughout the entire nineteenth century, only declining in the twentieth century. Among Angelo Secchi’s contemporaries we find a
number of priests working in sciences other than astronomy: Gregorio Mendel
(1822–1884), Antonio Stoppani (1824–1891), Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825–1888),
and Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914) are just a few worth recalling here. We know
that Secchi read the works of the Italian geologist Stoppani, both his strictly scientific ones and his essays on Bible and science, explicitly mentioning him and using
his thought as a source of inspiration (Secchi 1879: 1, 80, 95). We also possess correspondence between Secchi and Faà di Bruno concerning projects to popularize
astronomy and concerning how priests and scientists ought to behave before political authorities with respect to the autonomy of the Church (Palazzini 1980).
3.2 The Historical and Cultural Context
Consider two major circumstances within the historical and cultural context in
which Angelo Secchi lived and worked. The first is the new situation that Secchi and
his Jesuit confreres experienced in Rome after 1870. They had all been citizens of
the former Pontifical State, which was formally dissolved after the Piedmont troops
entered the Pope’s city and declared Rome to be the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.
The second circumstance was the tension between some conservative Catholic circles and other Catholic scholars, like Secchi, who developed innovative syntheses
among Biblical exegesis, theology, and science. Threatened by the events that had
led the papacy to oppose a number of modern European trends, more than a few
Catholics were inclined to look at all cultural novelties, science included, with a
sense of suspicion.
Both circumstances affected the way the relationship between science and religion was understood in Europe for many decades. The political contrasts between
the Pontifical States and other European countries were seen as paralleling a contrast between the contents of Catholic faith and the knowledge brought about by the
new political and cultural order. It is precisely in these years that in Italy the socalled Galileo affair took on a new life, through the publishing of critical essays
and the building of monuments implicitly denouncing the Church’s role. Meanwhile,
the suspicions of conservative Catholics hampered the development of a theology
3 Between Science and Religion: Angelo Secchi and his Time
Although there were some minority currents in Catholicism that viewed scientific culture with distrust, especially because of the tension between some scientific
circles and the Church that arose from the historical consequences of the Galileo
affair, the positive contribution of the Catholic Church to the practice and promotion
of astronomy in Italy is undoubted. On a smaller scale, something similar happened
in other European countries and even further, as witnessed by the heritage of Matteo
Ricci (1552–1610) in China.
The connection between science and the Catholic Church, implicitly reinforced by the fact that even a large fraction of nonclergy scientists in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries were believers, becomes highly significant given the number of priest-scientists active throughout the entire nineteenth century, only declining in the twentieth century. Among Angelo Secchi’s contemporaries we find a
number of priests working in sciences other than astronomy: Gregorio Mendel
(1822–1884), Antonio Stoppani (1824–1891), Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825–1888),
and Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914) are just a few worth recalling here. We know
that Secchi read the works of the Italian geologist Stoppani, both his strictly scientific ones and his essays on Bible and science, explicitly mentioning him and using
his thought as a source of inspiration (Secchi 1879: 1, 80, 95). We also possess correspondence between Secchi and Faà di Bruno concerning projects to popularize
astronomy and concerning how priests and scientists ought to behave before political authorities with respect to the autonomy of the Church (Palazzini 1980).
3.2 The Historical and Cultural Context
Consider two major circumstances within the historical and cultural context in
which Angelo Secchi lived and worked. The first is the new situation that Secchi and
his Jesuit confreres experienced in Rome after 1870. They had all been citizens of
the former Pontifical State, which was formally dissolved after the Piedmont troops
entered the Pope’s city and declared Rome to be the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.
The second circumstance was the tension between some conservative Catholic circles and other Catholic scholars, like Secchi, who developed innovative syntheses
among Biblical exegesis, theology, and science. Threatened by the events that had
led the papacy to oppose a number of modern European trends, more than a few
Catholics were inclined to look at all cultural novelties, science included, with a
sense of suspicion.
Both circumstances affected the way the relationship between science and religion was understood in Europe for many decades. The political contrasts between
the Pontifical States and other European countries were seen as paralleling a contrast between the contents of Catholic faith and the knowledge brought about by the
new political and cultural order. It is precisely in these years that in Italy the socalled Galileo affair took on a new life, through the publishing of critical essays
and the building of monuments implicitly denouncing the Church’s role. Meanwhile,
the suspicions of conservative Catholics hampered the development of a theology
3 Between Science and Religion: Angelo Secchi and his Time