Melchior Inchofer
Melchior Inchofer | |
|---|---|
 Tractatus syllepticus,1633 | |
| Born | 1585 Vienna,Kőszeg |
| Died | 28 September 1648(aged 62–63) Milan |
| Occupation | Theologian,writer |
Melchior Inchoferor Imhofer, in Hungarian: Inchofer Menyhért (c. 1584 – 28 September 1648) was an Austrian-HungarianJesuit.He played an important part in thetrial of Galileo,by his arguments, later published in hisTractatus Syllepticus,that Galileo was an advocate of theCopernican system.His role in the Galileo affair is being reassessed in the light of fresh documentary evidence.[1]
Life
[edit]He was born atKőszeg[2]in 1584[3]and died atMilanon 28 September 1648. He was born toLutheranparents but was converted to Catholicism by Jesuit missionaries.[4]In 1607 he entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, and after the completion of his novitiate went toMessina,where he taught philosophy, mathematics, and theology.
In december 1632 theHoly Officeexamined Galileo'sDialogue of the Two World Systems,and through his link withNiccolò Riccardi,Inchofer was chosen as one of a panel of three theologians appointed to assess the work, the others beingAgostino OreggiandZaccaria Pasqualigo.Inchofer's lengthy report concluded that theDialoguetaught Copernicanism, that Galileo was a Copernican, and that the book was designed as an attack onChristoph Scheiner.[5]There exists in the papers of theCongregation of the Indexan unsigned statement, in Inchofer's hand, reviewing the anonymous denunciation of Galileo following the publication ofThe Assayer,which was undertaken by the panel in 1633.[4]: 307 All three theologians agreed that in publishing theDialogue,Galileo had both taught and defended Copernican beliefs, as he had committed himself not to do in 1616. On the question of whether Galileo actually held these proscribed views himself, neither Oreggi nor Pasqualigo could be sure; only Inchofer asserted unequivocally that he did. Citing twenty-seven passages to support his judgment, he asked: 'What Catholic ever conducted such a bitter dispute against heretics... as Galileo does against those who maintain the earth's immobility?'[4]: 311
In 1634 he resumed his professorship inSicily,where he remained until 1636, when his order called him to Rome that he might devote himself entirely to writing. Here he became a friend ofNicholas Riccardiand a political adviser toFrancesco Barberinifrom 1637 to 1647.[4]: 295 He endorsed strongly the work ofAthanasius Kircheron theCoptic language.[6]His dispute withJoachim Pasqualigoon the immorality of makingcastrati,and his appointment as member of the Congregation of the Index and of the Holy Office dissatisfied him with Rome, and at his own request he was transferred in 1645 to the college atMaceratawhere he intended to devote his leisure hours to the compilation of a history of martyrs. The last few years of his life were troubled, and he was brought to trial by his order in 1648 for contributing to an anti-Jesuit tract.[7]He confessed, received a salutary penance, and was sentenced, as Galileo had been, to indefinite detention.[4]: 320 With the situation unresolved he undertook a journey to theAmbrosian libraryat Milan, but died there.[citation needed]
Works
[edit]In hisEpistolae Beatae Mariae Virginis ad Messanenses veritatis vindicata(Messina, 1629) he endeavored to prove the genuineness of the epistle and the apostolic activity ofSaint Paulat Messina, but the Congregation of the Index summoned him to Rome and suppressed the first edition, although he was permitted to remove all objectionable features from his work and republish it.[8]Following Galileo's trial, Inchofer publishedTractus Syllepticus(Rome, 1633), which argues that belief in an immobile earth and a moving sun were matters of faith for Catholics.[4]: 318
Melchior Inchofer also wroteAnnales ecclesiastici regni Hungariae(Rome, I. 1644), the history of the Hungarian Christian Church; in which he pioneered the science of sources. Working in theVatican Archiveshe collected and systematically analyzed a huge amount of written sources for his work, including many which have since been lost whenNapoleondispersed the archive’s collections among libraries in France. Only the first volume of Inchofer’s work was published. The second volume exists only as a manuscript, held today in theNational Széchényi LibraryinBudapest.He was so exhaustive in his work that the first volume only goes up to the year 1059, and the second volume up to 1159. Besides ecclesiastical history, Inchofer also included some interesting natural phenomena observed in Hungary (earthquakes,meteors,comets,lunar eclipses,andmeteorological phenomena).
InHistoria sacrae Latinitatis(Messina, 1635), Inchofer elevated Latin to the rank of a heavenly court language and regarded it as the speech of the blessed. He also described the history of teaching Latin, drawing heavily on the pioneering work in the history of education,Jakob Middendorp'sAcademiae orbis Christiani,first published in 1567.[7]He was also the author of astronomical works, and in three polemical treatises (1638–1641) he defended the order of the Jesuits and its mode of education, which had been attacked byCaspar Scioppius.He attained his main contemporary fame, however, by the anonymousLucii Cornelii Europaei monarchia Solipsorum, ad virum clarissimum Leonum Allatium(Venice, 1645); the long-accepted view is that ofFrançois Oudinwriting in 1736 for theMémoiresofJean-Pierre Nicéron,namely that it was incorrectly attributed to him and was really byGiulio Clemente Scotti,but recently scholars have re-opened the question.[7]
Notes
[edit]- ^"New light on the Galileo affair".www.unav.es.Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-11.
- ^Magyar Katolikus Lexikon[1]
- ^Chalmers’ Biography / IJ / Melchior Inchofer (1584–1648), vol. 19, p. 232
- ^abcdefHeilbron, John(2010).Galileo.Oxford University Press.p. 294.ISBN9780199655984.
- ^Michael Sharratt,Galileo: Decisive Innovator(1994), pp. 172–3.
- ^"Athanasius Kircher and the Egyptian Oedipus".
- ^abc"Latin as Language of the Blessed".
- ^AsDe Epistola Beatae Virginis Mariae ad Messanenses Conjectatio(Viterbo, 1631).
External links
[edit]- Biography from 1812
- (in French)Scholasticon page
- (in French)Dictionnaire biographique
- (in German)s:de: ADB:Inchofer, Melchior
- Christiane Edelmann (1990). "Melchior Inchofer". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German). Vol. 2. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 1269–1270.ISBN3-88309-032-8.
Further reading
[edit]- Richard J. Blackwell (2006),Behind the Scenes at Galileo's Trial: Including the First English Translation of Melchior Inchofer's Tractatus syllepticus
This article incorporates text from a publication in thepublic domain:Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914).New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge(third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)