RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL
Bulletin # 31
17 February 2000

Editor: Sanal Edamaruku
Address: P.O.Box 9110, New Delhi-110091, India.
Telephone: +91-11-2253255, Fax: +91-11-84539526
E-mail: edamaruk-@yahoo.com


TODAY IS THE 400th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF
GIORDANO BRUNO


Today, 17th February 2000, is the 400th anniversary of
the martyrdom of Giordano Bruno who was burnt alive at
the stake in Campo de' Fiori square in Rome. Bruno was
one of the most famous victims of the Inquisition,
which was responsible for the death of thousands of
heretics. He was killed by an order of the Holy
Office, in the Holy Year of Jubilee under the reign of
Clement VIII, pontiff of the Holy Roman church. Late
in the 19th century, a statue to the cause of
freethought was erected on the site of his martyrdom,
where his death is commemorated every year with a
public demonstration, which was forbidden only during
the period of fascism.

Bruno, Italian renaissance philosopher, scientist and
poet, was born in 1548 at Nola, near Naples.
Originally named Filippo, he took the name Giordano
when he joined the Dominicans, who trained him in
Aristotelian philosophy and Thomistic theology. An
independent thinker, he fled the order in 1576 to
avoid a trial on doctrinal charges, and began the
wandering that characterised his life.

Bruno visited Geneva, Toulouse, Paris, and London,
where he spent two years, from 1583 to 1585, under the
protection of the French ambassador and in the circle
of the English poet Sir Philip Sidney, during which he
composed "Ash Wednesday Supper" (1584) and "On the
Infinite Universe and Worlds" (1584), as well as the
dialogue "On the Cause, Principle, and Unity" (1584).
A major part of his work, however, seems to be lost.
Some believe that it is kept hidden in the Vatican
archives.

In 1585 Bruno returned to Paris, then went on to
Marburg, Wittenberg, Prague, Helmstedt, and Frankfurt,
where he arranged the printing of his many works. It
was on the invitation of a Venetian nobleman, Giovanni
Moncenigo, that Bruno returned to Italy. The same
Moncenigo denounced Bruno to the Inquisition in 1592,
which tried him for heresy. Turned over to the Roman
authorities, he was imprisoned for some eight years
while questioning proceeded on charges of heresy.
Refusing to recant, Bruno was burned at the stake in
Campo de' Fiori, undressed with a nail piercing his
tongue, on February 17, 1600.

Bruno is considered a forerunner of modern philosophy
because of his influence on the Dutch philosopher
Baruch Spinoza and his anticipation of the theories of
17th-century monism.

The Associazione Nazionale del Libero Pensiero
'Giordano Bruno' is organising this year, together
with like-minded organisations united in the Secular
and Libertarian Committee, a three day programme with
speeches, music and theatrical presentations from
today till 19th of February culminating in a great
demonstration at the Campo de' Fiori square.



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