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Information on Maria Celeste, the daughter of Galileo Galilei.

Virginia, Galileo's oldest child, was born in Padua on 12 August 1600. Her mother, Marina Gamba , was Galileo's housekeeper. When Galileo moved to Florence , in 1610, he took Virginia and his other daughter, Livia (1601-1659), with him, leaving his son Vincenzio(only four years old) with his mother for a few years.

After he had settled in Florence, Galileo decided to put his two daughters in a convent for life. It took several years tomake the arrangements. Not the least problem was that the girls were too young to make this important decision forthemselves. Through the offices of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini , one of his admirers, Galileo obtained dispensation on thisscore, and in 1613 both girls were placed in the convent of San Matteo in nearby Arcetri, where the abbess was the sister ofthe secretary of the grand duke of Tuscany. Virginia took the veil in 1616, choosing the name of Sister Maria Celeste, andLivia followed the same course a year later, becoming Sister Arcangela.

Little is known about the life of Sister Maria Celeste until 1623, but about 120 letters to her father, written from 1623 to1634 have survived. From these the picture of a loving daughter, always solicitous of her father's well being,emerges. Her letter to her father of 21 November 1623 is typical:

Most Illustrious Lord Father,
I cannot rest any longer without news, both for the infinite love I bear you, and also for fear lest the sudden cold,which in general disagrees so much with you, should have caused a return of your usual pains and other complaints. Itherefore send the man who takes this letter purposely to hear how you are, and also when you expect to set out on yourjourneyI have been extremely busy at the dinner-napkins. They are nearly finished, but now I come toputting on the fringe, I find that of the sort of which I send you a sample, a piece is wanting for two dinner-napkins:that will be four braccia.I would be glad if you could let me have it immediately, so that I may send you thenapkins before you go; as it was for this that I have been making such haste to get them finished.
As I have no cell of my own to sleep in, Sister Diamanta kindly allows me to share hers, depriving herself of thecompany of her own sister for my sake. But the room is so bitterly cold that with my head so infected, I do not know howI shall remain well, unless you can help me by lending me a set of those white bed-hangings which you will not want now. Iwould be glad to know if you can do me this service. Moreover, I beg you to be so kind as to send me that book of yours whichhas just been published,so that I may read it, for I have a great desire to see it.
These few cakes I send are some I made a few days ago, intending to give them to you when you came to bid usadieu. As you departure is not so near as we feared, I send them lest they should get dry. Sister Arcangela is stillunder medical treatment, and is much tried by the remedies. I am not well myself, but being so accustomed to ill health, Ido not make much of it, seeing, too, that it is the Lord's will to send me continually some such little trial as this. Ithank Him for everything, and pray that He will give you the highest and best felicity. And finally, with all my heart, Igreet you in the name of me and Sister Arcangela.
From San Matteo, the 21st of November 1623
Your most affectionate daughter Sister Maria Celeste Galilei
If you have collars to whiten, you can send them.

The convent of San Matteo was very poor. The nuns did not have the wherewithal to feed themselves and keep the buildings inrepair. Maria Celeste wrote to her father that the bread was bad, the wine sour and that they ate ox meat. Galileo helpedrepair windows and personally took charge of keeping the convent clock in good repair. Maria Celeste often had to appeal to herfather for help, and she was chronically ill. She bore her ill health with dignity and courage, and managed to be a greatcomfort to her father. She worked constantly to mitigate the difficulties between Galileo and her brother Vincenzio.

In 1631 Galileo bought the villa "Il Goiello" in Arcetri, near the convent. From this house he could see San Matteo and hearits bells. It was here that he spent his final years under house arrest. Part of the sentence that Galileo received in1633 read as follows: "As a salutary penance we impose on you to recite the seven penitential Psalms once a week for the nextthree years." Sister Maria Celeste took it upon herself to perform this penance for him. She died, however, on 2 April1634, less than four months after Galileo's return to Arcetri.

Questions & Answers

A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
Aislinn Reply
cm
tijani
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John Reply
what is physics
Siyaka Reply
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Jude Reply
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
David Reply
what is viscosity?
David
what is inorganic
emma Reply
what is chemistry
Youesf Reply
what is inorganic
emma
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
Krampah Reply
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
Sahid Reply
you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
Samuel Reply
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Joseph Reply
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what's motion
Maurice Reply
what are the types of wave
Maurice
answer
Magreth
progressive wave
Magreth
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Muhammad Reply
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
hi
Mujahid
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
yasuo Reply
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
Reofrir Reply
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Source:  OpenStax, Galileo project. OpenStax CNX. Jul 07, 2004 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10234/1.1
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