[THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA]

Nicolaus Copernicus

Latinized form of Niclas Koppernigk, the name of the founder of the
heliocentric planetary theory; born at Thorn, 19 February, 1473, died at
Frauenburg, 24 May, 1543, both places being in what is now Prussian
territory. Whether the family came originally from Silesia or from Poland,
certain it is that his father Niclas, a merchant, emigrated from Krakow to
Thorn, and married the sister of Lucas Watzelrode, later Prince-Bishop of
Ermland. Of the four children the oldest and youngest, Andreas and
Nicolaus, adopted the clerical career, while the older girl became a
Cistercian nun and Abbess of Culm, and the younger married. The whole
family belonged to the Third Order of St. Dominic. Nicolaus was hardly ten
years old when his father died. His uncle, Lucas, however, took charge of
the children and gave the boys a university training.

Nicolaus Nicolai de Thorunia was matriculated in Krakow in 1491, where he
studied classics, mathematics, drawings, and perspective. Professor Blar,
who represented astronomy, belonged to the school of Ptolemy. The bishop,
himself a former student of Bologna, sent the boys to Italy. In 1497
Nicolaus was enrolled in the University of Bologna as of German nationality
and a student in canon law. He also studied Greek and became a disciple of
Novara, then professor of astronomy. To obtain for his nephews the
necessary support, the bishop procured their election as canons by the
chapter of Frauenburg (1497-1498). In the spring of 1500 the brothers went
from Bologna to Rome for the jubilee. According to George Joachim, surnamed
"Rheticus" (because a native of Feldkirch, in ancient Rhaetia) and his
friend Achilles Gasser, Copernicus gave astronomical lectures in the
Eternal City, and it was there that he awoke to his vocation of founding a
new astronomy. The brothers obtained from the chapter of Frauenburg a two
years' leave of absence to continue their studies. From 1501 to 1503
Nicolaus was in Padua and Ferrara studying medicine and jurisprudence. In
Ferrara he took his degree of Doctor of Canon Law but no document is found
of his graduating in medicine. His proficiency in that profession was,
however, later evinced by his renown as a physician at the episcopal court
of Heilsberg, where his uncle resided. After his university studies
Copernicus practised medicine for six years (1506-1512) at Heilsberg, being
sought by bishops and princes, but especially by the poor, whom he served
gratis. There is no document to show that Copernicus ever received higher
orders. His medical practice, which was only private, would not speak
against him being a priest, and the fact that in 1537 King Sigismund of
Poland put his name on the list of four candidates for the vacant episcopal
seat of Ermland, makes it probable that, at least in later life, he had
entered the priesthood. After the death of his uncle, in 1512, Copernicus
went to Frauenburg for the election of the new bishop, and remained there
until 1516, when he was nominated administrator of the diocesan castle of
Allenstein. His term of four years being over, he returned to the chapter
in Frauenburg. Three years later the bishop died, and Copernicus became
administrator of the diocese. While the quiet life at Heilsberg had left
him enough leisure to publish a Latin translation of the Greek letters of
Theophylactus (1509), his public offices gradually drew him into the study
of finance. In 1522 he wrote a memorandum on monetary reforms, which five
years later grew into a Latin treatise. It was so highly thought of that
the King of Poland substantially accepted it (1528), and Copernicus was
nominated deputy counsellor on the financial regulations of Prussia
(1522-29).

These various offices, however, could not distract the genius of Copernicus
from the main thought of his life. The towers of Heilsberg, of Allenstein,
and of Frauenburg became so many observatories, and his great work "on the
Revolutions of the Celestial Bodies" bears testimony to his unremitting
observations of sun, moon, and planets. His reputation was such that as
early as 1514 the Lateran Council, convoked by Leo X, asked through Bishop
Paul of Fossombrone, for his opinion on the reform of the ecclesiastical
calendar. His answer was, that the length of the year and of the months and
the motions of the sun and moon were not yet sufficiently known to attempt
a reform. The incident, however, spurred him on as he himself writes to
Paul III, to make more accurate observations; and these actually served,
seventy years later, as a basis for the working out of the Gregorian
calendar. Twenty-five years after his university career, he had finished
his great work, at least in his own mind, but hesitated a long time,
whether to publish it or to imitate the Pythagoreans, who transmitted the
mysteries of their philosophy only orally to their own disciples for fear
of exposing them to the contempt of the multitude. His friends who had
become interested in the new theory prevailed on him to write at least an
abstract for them, manuscript copies of which have been discovered in
Vienna (1873) and Stockholm (1878). In this commentary Copernicus stated
his theory in the form of seven axioms, reserving the mathematical part for
the Principal work. This was in 1531, or twelve years before his death.
From this on the doctrine of the heliocentric system began to spread. In
1533 Albert Widmanstadt lectured before Pope Clement VII on the Copernican
solar system. His reward consisted in a Greek codex which is preserved in
the State library of Munich. Three years later Copernicus was urged by
Cardinal Schonberg, then Archbishop of Capua, in a letter, dated at Rome, 1
November, 1536, to publish his discovery, or at least to have a copy made
at the cardinal's expense. But all the urging of friends was in vain, until
a younger man was providentially sent to his side.

It was George Joachim Rheticus who quitted his chair of mathematics in
Wittenberg in order to spend two years at the feet of the new master
(1539-41). Hardly ten weeks after his arrival in Frauenburg he sent a