Copernicus reburied with honors

The remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th-century Polish Catholic astronomer, were reburied last weekend with honors in Frombork Cathedral in northern Poland.



Copernicus’ remains, which had been buried in an unmarked grave when he died in 1543, were discovered five years ago at the cathedral and conclusively identified through DNA testing.

In an interview nearly two years ago with Catholic News Service, Auxiliary Bishop Jacek Jezierski of Warmia, Poland, who had supervised the search for Copernicus’ remains, said re-interring his bones in a fitting way was an important sign of reconciliation between science and religion.

“Unfortunately, many people have made the mistake of absolutizing one philosophical vision without reflecting on new insights and discoveries,” the bishop said in December 2008. “Preparing a new grave for Copernicus will thus also say something about us — that we recognize his genius and greatness and have come to terms with the progress of knowledge.”

The church condemned Copernicus' theory that the Earth revolved around the sun in 1616, and his book advocating the theory, "De revolutionibus," was on the papal index of forbidden books until 1822.

The reburial coincides with the cathedral’s 750th anniversary.