“In 1540 Copernicus officially announced his theories. In May of 1543, just as his book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was being published, he died after having incurred criticisms, attacks, and hardships inflicted by church authorities and by a minority of scholars blinded by the old doctrines.”

As the monograph states, careful study and analysis are always admirable characteristics, so let us apply them here and examine the facts of Copernicus’s life. The first thing to note is that Copernicus was a devout Catholic for all of his life. In fact, one of his biggest influences was his uncle Lucas Watzenrode, the Bishop of Warmia. Copernicus actually worked as a canon for the bishop for over 30 years, and may even have been ordained as a priest during this time if accounts are to be believed.

This longstanding association with the Church also continued well after the development of the heliocentric model.  Records from the papal secretary Johann Albrecht Widmanstadt, who served under both Pope Clement VII and later Pope Paul III show that Clement was fascinated by Copernicus’s theories and asked for personal instruction on some of the finer points of heliocentricism. Copernicus continued to be held in high-esteem by the religious authorities long after his death, which puts paid to the idea that he lived in any sort of hardship due to his teachings.

This widespread acceptance is largely down to the fact that Copernicus’s theories were nowhere near as revolutionary as one might imagine. Indeed, a large part of Copernicus’s motivation came from the desire reconcile the Ptolemic model of concentric celestial spheres with observable astronomy.

This was largely in keeping with prevailing thought at the time. By the 16^th century, mathematical analysis had become the primary mode of scientific thought at the time, and calculations increasingly pointed out to large inaccuracies in the mystical Greek understanding of the cosmos. Copernicus was far from the first person to point out these discrepancies. In 1518, Celio Calcagnini of Ferrara published an essay entitled That the Heaven Stands Still whereas the Earth Moves which posited the theory that it was in fact the planets were not stationary as many older philosophers imagined. Like Copernicus, Calcagnini received no public backlash as a result of his theories.

So then why did Copernicus wait so long to publish De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium? The answer lies in the preface that he wrote to Pope Paul III in which he stated,

“I debated with myself for a long time whether to publish the volume which I wrote to prove the earth’s motion or rather to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and certain others, who used to transmit philosophy’s secrets only to kinsmen and friends, not in writing but by word of mouth …”

In other words, Copernicus pondered whether knowledge should be kept within esoteric circles and only revealed to a select few or shared with the world. The latter option would mean opening up his works to criticism from competing mathematicians and intellectuals who might well be able to disprove his concepts.

“When I weighed these considerations, the scorn which I had reason to fear on account of the novelty and unconventionality of my opinion almost induced me to abandon completely the work”

Copernicus didn’t fear the rhetoric of the priests and clergy, he feared the skeptical eye of astrologers, quacks and mystics. In other words, those people who lacked a sufficient understanding of science yet claimed a complete understanding of the Universe nevertheless.

“The actuality is quite different in that humanity is still far from having accomplished its cosmic mission. As long as you have not received Cosmic Illumination accompanied by an influx of Supreme Wisdom, you must remain a walking question mark in your understanding of things.”

I will let the readers decide for themselves, which category the Rosicrucians fall under.