BRUNO - THE FORGOTTEN HERETIC

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)

Before Galileo there was Filippo Bruno, born in 1548. He took the name Giordano upon entering the Dominican order. Bruno was instructed in Aristotelian philosophy. His exceptional expertise in the art of memory brought him to the attention of patrons, and he was brought to Rome to demonstrate his abilities to the Pope. Bruno was also drawn, fatally, to new dangerous streams of thought.

He attracted attention by the originality of his views and by his outspoken criticism of accepted theological doctrines. After his ordination his ideas brought a formal accusation of heresy. He fled to Rome but did not mend his manner on the mysteries of faith; for the accusations were renewed against him. Within a few months of his arrival he fled the city and cast off all allegiance to his order. He was a man without a country and finally without a church.

He wandered from country to country ending up in Geneva, where he adopted the Calvinist faith. But years later, before the ecclesiastical tribunal at Venice, he steadfastly denied that he had ever joined the Reformed Church. He was excommunicated by the Calvinist Council on account of his disrespectful attitude towards the heads of that Church and was obliged to leave the city.

In Paris he published several works on the art of memory-training. Bruno had made a reputation for himself as a magician who could inspire greater memory retention. That reputation reached King Henry III who was curious to find out if Bruno's art was that of magician or sorcerer. Bruno satisfied the king that his system was based upon organized knowledge. Bruno found a real patron in Henry Ill and it had much to do with the success of his short career in Paris. He wrote that Christianity is entirely irrational, that it is contrary to philosophy and that it disagrees with other religions. And that we accept it through faith, that revelation, so called, has no scientific basis.

He crossed over to England and enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth. He objected to Oxford's blind scholastic reverence to the authority of Aristotle. He published his "Ash-Wednesday Supper", in which he attacked the Oxford professors, saying that they knew more about beer than about Greek. The book also spread the Copernican doctrine. A new astronomy that people were laughing at heartily, because it was at variance with the teachings of Aristotle. It was not the methods of Aristotle nor the mind of Aristotle which he questioned, it was the authority granted Aristotle. A thing must be believed because Aristotle said so. He objected to the cramming down one's throat, as statements of fact because Aristotle made them, when they were plainly at odds with the fresh knowledge science was producing. Bruno was carrying on a spirited propaganda war in a fighting mood. There was hardly a teacher in Europe who persistently, openly and actively spread the news about the universe which Copernicus had charted, except Bruno. A little later on, a more famous character was to take up the work: Galileo.

He returned to France and made several attempts to reconcile with the Catholic Church, all of which failed because of his refusal to accept the condition imposed, namely, that he should return to his order. In Germany, he showed the same spirit of insolent self-assertion and was excommunicated by the Lutherans. He wrote of an infinite universe which left no room for that greater infinite conception which is called God. He could not conceive that God and nature could be separate and distinct entities as taught by Genesis, the Church and by Aristotle. He preached a philosophy which made the mysteries of the virginity of Mary, the crucifixion and the mass, meaningless. He was so naive that he didn't think these ideas were heretical. He thought the Bible was a book only the ignorant could take literally. The Church's methods encouraged ignorance from the instinct of self-preservation. "Everything, however men may deem it assured and evident, proves, when it is brought under discussion to be no less doubtful than are extravagant and absurd beliefs." He coined the phrase "Libertes philosophica" The right to think.

He moved to Venice at the invitation of Mocenigo, who professed to be interested in his system of memory-training. Failing to obtain from Bruno the secret of his "natural magic", Mocenigo denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested, and in his trial before the Venetian inquisitors first took refuge in the principle of "two-fold truth", saying that the errors imputed to him were held by him "as a philosopher, and not as an honest Christian"; later, however, he solemnly abjured all his errors and doubts in the matter of Catholic doctrine and practice. At this point the Roman Inquisition intervened and requested his extradition.

Bruno was sent to Rome, and for six years was kept in the prison of the Inquisition. After he had been granted several terms of respite in which to retract his errors, he refused and was finally condemned to death by burning. Bruno answered the sentence of death by fire with the threatening: "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it." He was given eight more days to see whether he would repent. But it was no use. He was handed over to the secular power, and burned at the stake. As he was dying a crucifix was presented to him, but he pushed it away with fierce scorn.

Bruno was not condemned for his defence of the Copernican system of astronomy, nor for his doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds, but for his theological errors, among which were the following: that Christ was not God but merely an unusually skilful magician, that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the world, and that the Devil would one day be saved. Martyred for his enthusiasm.

In the latter part of the 19th Century Italian scholars began to be intrigued with Bruno and for a while "Bruno Mania" reigned. Bruno became a symbol to represent the forward-looking free-thinking type of philosopher and scientist, and a symbol of scientific martyrdom. Bruno was a pioneer who roused Europe from its long intellectual sleep. His life was important because he is in the direct line of modern progress. He has become the Church's most difficult alibi. She can explain away the case of Galileo with suave condescension. Bruno sticks in her throat.

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Thanks to blog reader Steve, Hollywood Hills, CA for bringing Bruno to my attention.