Letters to Father: Sister Maria Celeste to Galileo

Galileo's daughter was her father's greatest source of strength during his most difficult time. Galileo was at the heart of the most dramatic collision between science & religion in history. He was also a loving father who treasured his illegitimate daughter, Virginia, perhaps her father's equal in brilliance & sensibility. Since marriage was impossible, she entered a convent to spend the rest of her days there as Sister Maria Celeste. Her 124 letters span the decade in which a new Pope battled the Reformation; the 30 Years' War embroiled Europe; the bubonic plague erupted; & a new philosophy of science threatened to overturn the order of the universe. Her evocative letters touch on all of these situations, but they dwell in the details of everyday life.