Originally posted by lucifershammer
When I get my facts wrong, I'm the first one to admit it. In this case, however, you've been going on about how Galileo responded to Lorini's "PUBLIC" criticisms when your source does not actually say it was public. Two other sources explicitly say there was a private criticism in 1612 (and one of them uses the phrase "from the pulpit" - which is simi mazon.com/gp/product/0226734811/002-7724011-1002437?v=glance&n=283155
One last point about this Lorini attack: I read in the Linder piece that Lorini preached it at a Mass on All Souls Day, 1613. I made the following assumptions which seemed (and still seem reasonable):
1) That Linder wouldn't make a factual error concerning the date and circumstances of the attack:
2) That preaching meant speaking to a group about a religious subject;
3) That a Mass held on All Souls Day (a Holy Day as I am aware) would have been open to the public.
It is plausible that one or more of these assumptions was incorrect, but the evidence to the contrary is so far unconvincing to me. I'll try to locate the Santanelli book where a direct cite is given to a page concerning the Lorini attack. If the evidence is such that it is shown to me that the Lorini attack was not at a public Mass than I'll issue a correction.
As I have pointed out several times though, whether the attack was made at a public Mass or not is largely irrelevant to the issue at hand i.e. whether Galileo's use of theological arguments in the letter to Castelli was defensive (as I claim) or offensive (as LH claims - offensive in the sense of being part of his trying to "coerce and force" the Church to adopt heliocentric theory).