Galileo's middle finger

[1] Authorities from the Catholic Church did not want him to be buried on consecrated grounds given his views on Copernican heliocentrism, which were considered heretical at the time.

[4] Ninety-five years after his death, on 12 March 1737, Galileo's remains were transferred from an unconsecrated box underneath the Santa Croce bell tower to a memorial tomb inside the church, near Michelangelo's fingers and bones.

In a ceremony resembling the transfer of a saintly relic, Galileo's remains were taken from his heretic's grave to the mausoleum of the Basilica di Santa Croce.

[7] The tooth, index finger, and thumb were placed in a handblown glass base[1] and remained with the Capponi family until the beginning of the 20th century.

The Latin inscription of Tommaso Perelli: Leipsana ne spernas digiti quo dextera coeliMensa vias nunquam visos mortalibus orbesMonstravit, parvo fragilis molimine vitriAusa prior facinus cui non Titania quondamSuffecit pubes congestis montibus altisNequidquam superas conata ascendere in arces.

[b] Spurn not the remains of the finger by which the right hand measured out paths of the sky, pointed to orbs[c] never before seen by mortals; with the aid of a small pile of fragile glass[d] first dared the deed to which Titania, in full vigor, on mountains heaped high, was once inadequate, having tried in vain to ascend into the loftiest heavens.

[12] Galileo's middle finger is a rare example of a secular relic, the preservation of body parts being a practice usually reserved for saints within the Catholic Church.

[1] Galileo's index finger, the thumb of his right hand, and a tooth were sealed in a glass jar that disappeared sometime after 1905 and remained lost to the public until 2009.