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The Vatican Observatory () is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the
Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
. Originally based in the
Roman College The Roman College (, ) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level and moved to seve ...
of
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, the Observatory is now headquartered in
Castel Gandolfo Castel Gandolfo (, , ; ), colloquially known as Castello in the '' Castelli Romani'' dialects, is a town located southeast of Rome, in the Italian region of Lazio. Situated on a hilltop in the Alban Hills with panoramic views of Lake Albano, Cast ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and operates a telescope at the
Mount Graham International Observatory Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO) is a division of Steward Observatory, the research arm for the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, in the United States. It is located in southeastern Arizona's Pinaleño Mountains n ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The Director of the Observatory is Brother
Guy Consolmagno Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (born September 19, 1952), is an American research astronomer, physicist, religious brother, director of the Vatican Observatory, and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Life Consolmagno attended ...
, an American
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
. In 2008, the
Templeton Prize The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person, in the estimation of the judges, "whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton's philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest ques ...
was awarded to
cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wor ...
Fr.
Michał Heller Michał Kazimierz Heller (born 12 March 1936) is a Polish philosopher, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, theologian, and Catholic priest. He is a professor of philosophy at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, and a ...
, a Vatican Observatory Adjunct Scholar. In 2010, the
George Van Biesbroeck Prize The George Van Biesbroeck Prize is an award for long-term achievements in the field of astronomy. According to the American Astronomical Society awards website; "The Van Biesbroeck prize is normally awarded every two years and honors a living indi ...
was awarded to former observatory director, the American Jesuit, Fr. George Coyne.


History

The Church has had a long-standing interest in astronomy, due to the astronomical basis of the calendar by which holy days and
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
are determined. For instance, the
Gregorian Calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
, promulgated in 1582 by Pope
Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...
, was developed by
Aloysius Lilius Aloysius Lilius ( 1510 – 1576), also variously referred to as Luigi Lilio or Luigi Giglio, was an Italian physician, astronomer, philosopher and chronologist, and also the "primary author" who provided the proposal that (after modifications) ...
and later modified by
Christoph Clavius Christopher Clavius, (25 March 1538 – 6 February 1612) was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the , and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar invented by Aloysius ...
at the
Collegio Romano The Roman College (, ) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level and moved to seve ...
from astronomical data. The
Gregorian Tower The Gregorian Tower () or Tower of the Winds () is a square tower and early modern observatory located above the Gallery of Maps, which connects the Villa Belvedere with the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The tower was built between 1578 a ...
was completed in 1580 for his purpose, designed by Bolognese architect
Ottaviano Nonni Ottaviano Nonni (1536 – 6 August 1606), called Il Mascherino, was an Italian architect, sculptor, and painter born in Bologna. Apprentice of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, he was active in Emilia and in Rome, where he had been living in the rione ...
. In the 18th century, the Papacy actively supported astronomy, establishing the Observatory of the Roman College in 1774. In 1787–1789, the ''Specola Vaticana'' in the Tower of the Winds within the Vatican was established under the direction of Msgr. Filippo Luigi Gilii (1756–1821). When Msgr. Gilii died, the ''Specola'' was closed down because it was inconvenient for students in the city because the dome of St. Peter's obstructed its view. Its instruments were transferred to the College Observatory. A third facility, the Observatory of the Capitol, was operated from 1827 to 1870. Father
Angelo Secchi Angelo Secchi (; 28 June 1818 – 26 February 1878) was an Italians, Italian Priesthood in the Catholic Church, Catholic priest and astronomer from the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, Emilia. He was director of the observato ...
SJ relocated the College Observatory to the top of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio (Church of St. Ignatius in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
). In 1870, with the
capture of Rome The Capture of Rome () occurred on 20 September 1870, as forces of the Kingdom of Italy took control of the city and of the Papal States. After a plebiscite held on 2 October 1870, Rome was officially made capital of Italy on 3 February 1871, c ...
, the College Observatory fell into the hands of the Italian Government. Out of respect for his work, however, Father Secchi was permitted to continue using the Observatory. After Secchi's death in 1878 the Observatory was nationalized by the Italian government and renamed the ''Regio Osservatorio al Collegio Romano'' ("Royal Observatory at the Roman College"), ending astronomical research in the Vatican. In 1891, however,
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...
issued a ''
Motu proprio In law, (Latin for 'on his own impulse') describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a document issued by the pope on h ...
'' re-founding the ''Specola Vaticana'' (Vatican Observatory) and a new observatory was built on the walls at the edge of the Vatican. The new Vatican Observatory remained there for the next forty years. In the late nineteenth-century the Vatican Observatory was part of a group of top astronomy institutions from around the world which worked together to create a photographic "Celestial Map" ("
Carte du Ciel The Carte du Ciel (; literally, 'Map of the Sky') and the Astrographic Catalogue (or Astrographic Chart) were two distinct but connected components of a massive international astronomical project, initiated in the late 19th century, to catalogue ...
") and an "astrographic" catalog pinpointing the stars' positions. Italian astronomer Father
Francesco Denza Francesco Denza (7 June 1834 – 14 December 1894) was an Italian meteorologist and astronomer. Biography Francesco Denza was born on 7 June 1834 in Naples. He joined the Barnabites at the age of sixteen, and during his theological course at Rom ...
led the Vatican's contribution to the project until his death in 1894. In the early twentieth century, Father John Hagen took over the project and recruited a group of nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary to work on the necessary recording and calculations. The nuns, Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri, helped map and catalog nearly half a million stars. left, Vatican Observatory and pontifical palace, Castel Gandolfo By the 1930s, the smoke and sky-glow of the city had made it impossible to conduct useful observations in Rome.
Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...
relocated the Observatory to Castel Gandolfo, which is southeast of Rome. By 1961, the same problems with
light pollution Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...
made observing difficult at Castel Gandolfo. The Observatory then established the Vatican Observatory Research Group (VORG), with offices at the
Steward Observatory Steward Observatory is the research arm of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona (UArizona). Its offices are located on the UArizona campus in Tucson, Arizona (US). Established in 1916, the first telescope and building were ...
of the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
in
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
,
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
. D.K.J. O'Connell produced the first color photographs of a
green flash The green flash and green ray are meteorological optical phenomena that sometimes occur transiently around the moment of sunset or sunrise. When the conditions are right, a distinct green spot is briefly visible above the Sun's upper limb; ...
at sunset in 1960. In 1993, VORG completed construction of the
Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope The Alice P. Lennon Telescope and its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), is a Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared situated on Mount Graham in sout ...
, which is at
Mount Graham Mount Graham (called in Nnee biyati' (Western Apache) Dził Nchaa Sí'an – 'Big Seated Mountain') is a mountain in Graham County, Arizona, United States, approximately northeast of Tucson. The mountain reaches in height. It is the highest ...
near
Safford, Arizona Safford (Western Apache language, Western Apache: Ichʼįʼ Nahiłtį́į́) is a city in Graham County, Arizona, Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population of the city is 10,1 ...
. Prof Sister
Natalia Zotov Natalia Victorovna Zotov was a physicist and mathematician who combined an academic career with religious life as a nun. She published many papers in theoretical and statistical cosmology. Early life and education Zotov was born in Karori, Wel ...
OP SFCC spent two summers at the observatory, the first woman to work there as an astronomer.Williams, Deborah and Crean, Mike "Scientist devoted to religious faith", ''
The Press (Christchurch) ''The Press'' () is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff (company), Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday t ...
'' 14 Jul 2012" page C15
The Observatory's headquarters remain in Italy at Castel Gandolfo. In early 2008, the Vatican announced that the Observatory would be relocated to a former convent a mile away from the castle as part of a general reconstruction of the Papal residence. Its former space would be used to provide more room for the reception of diplomatic visitors. The old quarters in the castle were cramped and very poorly laid out for the Observatory's use. VORG research activities in Arizona continued unaffected.


Leadership

*
Francesco Denza Francesco Denza (7 June 1834 – 14 December 1894) was an Italian meteorologist and astronomer. Biography Francesco Denza was born on 7 June 1834 in Naples. He joined the Barnabites at the age of sixteen, and during his theological course at Rom ...
, B (1891–1894) *
Giuseppe Lais Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. The feminine form of the name is Giuseppa or Giuseppina. People with the given name include: :''Note: ...
, CO (1894–1898) * Ángel Rodríguez de Prada, OSA (1898-1905) *
Johann Georg Hagen Johann (John) Georg Hagen (March 6, 1847 – September 6, 1930) was an Austrian Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest and astronomer. After serving as Director of the Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory, Georgetown University Observator ...
, SJ (1906–1930) * Johan Stein, SJ (1930–1951) *
Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell was a seismologist, astronomer and Jesuit priest who is particularly known for his work in observational astronomy. He worked primarily observing binary star systems, and was involved in photographing the Green Flas ...
, SJ (1952–1971) *
Patrick Treanor Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...
, SJ (1971–1978) * George Coyne, SJ (1978–2006) * José Gabriel Funes, SJ (19 August 2006 – 18 September 2015) *
Guy Consolmagno Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (born September 19, 1952), is an American research astronomer, physicist, religious brother, director of the Vatican Observatory, and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Life Consolmagno attended ...
, SJ (18 September 2015 – present)


See also

*
Archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultur ...
* *'' Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action'' *
Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope The Alice P. Lennon Telescope and its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), is a Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared situated on Mount Graham in sout ...
*
List of astronomical observatories This is a partial list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no lon ...
*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have be ...
* Pietro Maffi


Notes


References

*Sabino Maffeo: ''The Vatican Observatory. In the Service of Nine Popes'', Vatican Observatory Publications, 2001.


External links

* {{Authority control Astronomical observatories in Italy Organizations based in Vatican City Science and technology in Vatican City Holy See Catholic Church and science