s of mineabout the revolutions of the spheres of the universe I attribute some sort of motion to theEarth, some persons will immediately raise a cry of condemnation against me and mytheories." (Adamczewski, p.152) Ironically, Copernicus' forward in De Revolutionibusstates that "...Copernicus' conveys to his contemporaries and to generations to come hisnew ideas which were to prove to be so dangerous to the order then extant."(Adamczewski, p.137) Little did he know how true his words were. De Revolutionibusconsists of six volumes: 1)General survey of Copernicus' system, and plane and sphericaltriangles. 2)Spherical astronomy. 3)The precession and motion of the Earth. 4)The Moon.5)Planets in longitude. 6)Planets in latitude. Despite Copernicus' book being six volumesit is still similar to Ptolemy's book, Almagest. (North, p.286) The Church did not take anydefinite stand with Copernicus' book—since it was dedicated to the Pope and thought ofonly as an "hypothesis" due to the false forward by Osiander—until the Reformation andscientific discoveries like Galileo's, was it seen as a threat to the power of the Church.(Adamczewski, p.158) In 1620, Cardinal of St. Cecilia and Bishop Albano, the Secretaryof the Congregation placed Copernicus' book on the Index of Prohibited Books, whichresulted in Orthodox Catholics not being allowed to read it for two centuries.(Adamczewski, p.159) This time period was not a safe time for any "scientific novelties"which were in opposition to the teachings of the Church. Any contradiction to the HolyScripture were "subject to judgement by the Inquisition." The Inquisito HaereticaePravitatis, Sanctum Officium was established in 1215. It's mission was to "combat allviews and trends which were considered heretical and anti-church. All opposers were toface the dungeon, torture, and burning at the stake. The onset of the Reformationweakened the Inquisition, but only for a short time until the Church began ...
