The STORY

This page was last revised on 06/07/08 .

St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) served as Bishop of Geneva, with residence in Annecy (France).  At that time, the validity of the experimental method and the autonomy of the natural sciences were not yet fully accepted within religious circles.

To the Savoyard area came a young Barnabite scientist and scholar – John Anthony (Redento) Baranzano (1590-1622) – who was to become friends with the likes of Kepler and Francis Bacon. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop de Sales and taught at the Chappusian College in Annecy (France). 

When his lectures on astronomy were published by two of his students (Uranoscopia, seu de coelo, 1617), the work taught the Copernican theory and some ideas of Galileo. But, since the publication had neither the approbation of the bishop, nor of Baranzano’s religious superiors, and since the Copernican theory had been condemned the previous year by Pope Paul V "until corrected," Baranzano was called back to Milan by his superiors and ordered to publish a retraction.  (This he did, though he kept teaching the Copernican system as a probable hypothesis, thereby protecting his scientific integrity.)

However, Francis de Sales intervened on his behalf and prevailed upon his superiors to arrange Baranzano's return to Annecy in 1618.  Defending him in his scientific work, the bishop gave approbation to a new edition of the book.  As a contemporary Salesian scholar concludes:

The whole relationship of Francis de Sales with Baranzano gives us a fresh and unaccustomed look into the character of the saint.  The fact that he came to Baranzano's defense when he faced a serious threat to his career as a teacher and scholar, not to mention his priestly vocation, by an authoritative decree of the Church indicates very clearly that de Sales acknowledged the autonomy of science and of other secular disciplines as they were beginning to emerge.  The approbation given to the later works of Baranzano shows that (his) scientific writings, though at odds with a Church censure, did not contravene the faith in de Sales' view.  From the position that the saint took in this very delicate and potentially explosive issue, we can justifiably conclude that he maintains the right of the scholar and scientist to pursue the truth by refining his thought and by competently and responsibly handling the methodology of his particular discipline.

The Baranzano Society seeks to continue this tradition, to encourage this pursuit, and to form this character by bringing faith and reason together in responding to significant concerns in the field of bioethics.

Thanks to Fr. Anthony Bianco, C.R.S.P. for historical information on Baranzano.

Quotation from Alexander Pocetto, O.S.F.S., "Francis de Sales, Galileo, and the Autonomy of Modern Science" (link)

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