Bl. Niels Stenson
Posted on December 24, 2018 by admin No comments
Birth name: Niels Steensen
Born: 1 January 1638 [NS: 11 January 1638] Copenhagen, Denmark-Norway
Died: 25 November 1686 (aged 48) [NS: 5 December 1686] Schwerin, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Buried: Basilica of San Lorenzo, Italy
Nationality: Danish Denomination Roman Catholic
Parents, father: Steen Pedersen Mother: Anne Nielsdatter
Occupation: Scientist: anatomy, paleontology, stratigraphy, geology Clergyman: Counter-Reformation in Northern Germany
Previous post: Auxiliary Bishop of Münster (1680–1683)
Feast day: 5 December
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified: 23 October 1988 Rome, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Nicolas Steno 1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686 was a Danish scientist, a pioneer in both anatomy and geology who became a Catholic bishop in his later years. Steno was trained in the classical texts on science; however, by 1659 he seriously questioned accepted knowledge of the natural world. Importantly he questioned explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grew in the ground and explanations of rock formation. His investigations and his subsequent conclusions on fossils and rock formation have led scholars to consider him one of the founders of modern stratigraphy and modern geology.
Born to a Lutheran family, Steno converted to Catholicism in 1667. After his conversion, his interest for natural sciences rapidly waned giving way to his interest in theology. At the beginning of 1675, he decided to become a priest. Four months after, he was ordained in the Catholic clergy in Easter 1675. As a clergyman, he was later appointed Vicar Apostolic of Nordic Missions and Titular Bishop of Titopolis by Pope Innocent XI. Steno played an active role in the Counter-Reformation in Northern Germany. The canonization process for him was begun in 1938. Pope John Paul II beatified Steno in 1988.
Early life and career
Nicolas Steno was born in Copenhagen on New Year’s Day 1638 (Julian calendar), the son of a Lutheran goldsmith who worked regularly for King Christian IV of Denmark. He became ill at age three, suffering from an unknown disease, and grew up in isolation during his childhood. In 1644 his father died, after which his mother married another goldsmith. In 1654–1655, 240 pupils of his school died due to the plague. Across the street lived Peder Schumacher (who would offer Steno a post as professor in Copenhagen in 1671). At the age of 19, Steno entered the University of Copenhagen to pursue medical studies. After completing his university education, Steno set out to travel through Europe; in fact, he would be on the move for the rest of his life. In the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany he came into contact with prominent physicians and scientists. These influences led him to use his own powers of observation to make important scientific discoveries.
At the urging of Thomas Bartholin, Steno first travelled to Rostock, then to Amsterdam, where he studied anatomy under and lodged with Gerard Blasius, focusing on the lymphatic system. Within a few months Steno moved to Leiden, where he met the students Jan Swammerdam, Frederik Ruysch, Reinier de Graaf, Franciscus de le Boe Sylvius, a famous professor, and Baruch Spinoza. At the time Descartes was publishing on the working of the brain, and Steno doubted Descartes’s explanation of the origin of tears as produced by the brain. Invited to Paris by Henri Louis Habert de Montmor and Pierre Bourdelot, he there met Ole Borch and Melchisédech Thévenot who were interested in new research and in demonstrations of his skills. In 1665 Steno travelled to Saumur, Bordeaux and Montpellier, where he met Martin Lister and William Croone, who introduced Steno’s work to the Royal Society.
After travelling through France, he settled in Italy in 1666 – at first as professor of anatomy at the University of Padua and then in Florence as in-house physician of Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando II de’ Medici, who supported arts and science and whom Steno had met in Pisa. Steno was invited to live in the Palazzo Vecchio; in return he had to gather a cabinet of curiosities. Steno went to Rome and met Pope Alexander VII and Marcello Malpighi, whom he admired. On his way back he watched a Corpus Christi procession in Livorno and wondered if he had the right belief. In Florence Steno focused on the muscular system and the nature of muscle contraction. He became a member of Accademia del Cimento and had long discussions with Francesco Redi. Like Vincenzo Viviani, Steno proposed a geometrical model of muscles to show that a contracting muscle changes its shape but not its volume.
Scientific contributions
Anatom
During his stay in Amsterdam, Steno discovered a previously undescribed structure, the “ductus stenonianus” (the duct of the parotid salivary gland) in sheep, dog and rabbit heads. A dispute with Blasius over credit for the discovery arose, but Steno’s name remained associated with this structure known today as the Stensen’s duct In Leiden, Steno studied the boiled heart of a cow, and determined that it was an ordinary muscle and not the center of warmth as Galenus and Descartes believed. Steno was the first to describe that lateral-line system “Lateral Line” in fishes.
Religious studies
Steno’s questioning mind also influenced his religious views. Having been brought up in the Lutheran faith, he nevertheless questioned its teachings, something which became a burning issue when confronted with Roman Catholicism while studying in Florence. After making comparative theological studies, including reading the Church Fathers and by using his natural observational skills, he decided that Catholicism, rather than Lutheranism, provided more sustenance for his constant inquisitiveness. In 1667, Steno converted to Catholicism on All Souls’ Day when Lavinia Cenami Arnolfini, a noblewoman of Lucca, insisted.
Steno traveled to Hungary, Austria and in Spring 1670 he arrived in Amsterdam. There he met with old friends Jan Swammerdam and Reinier de Graaf. With Anna Maria van Schurman and Antoinette Bourignon he discussed scientific and religious topics. The following quote is from a 1673 speech: Fair is what we see, Fairer what we have perceived, Fairest what is still in veil.
It is not clear if he met Nicolaes Witsen, but he did read Witsen’s book on shipbuilding. In 1671 he accepted the post of professor of anatomy in the University of Copenhagen, but promised Cosimo III de’ Medici he would return when he was appointed tutor to Ferdinando III de’ Medici.
At the beginning of 1675, Steno decided to continue his theological studies, which he had begun even before his conversion, toward his ordination to the priesthood. After only 4 months, he was ordained priest and celebrated his first mass on 13 April 1675 in the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence at the age of 37. Athanasius Kircher expressly asked what were the reasons why he decided to become priest. Steno had left natural sciences for education and theology and became one of the leading figures in the Counter-Reformation. Upon request of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover, Pope Innocent XI made him Vicar Apostolic for the Nordic Missions on 21 August 1677. He was consecrated titular bishop of Titiopolis on 19 September by Cardinal Barbarigo and moved to the Lutheran North.
In the year after he was made bishop, he was probably involved in the banning of publications by Spinoza,[41] There he had talks with Gottfried Leibniz, the librarian; the two argued about Spinoza and his letter to Albert Burgh, then Steno’s pupil. Leibniz recommended a reunification of the churches. Steno worked at the city of Hannover until 1680.
After John Frederick death’s, Prince-Bishop of Paderborn Ferdinand of Fürstenberg appointed him as Auxiliary Bishop of Münster (Church Saint Liudger) on 7 October 1680. The new prince-elector Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover was a Protestant. Earlier, Augustus’ wife, Sophia of Hanover, had made fun of Steno’s piousness; he had sold his bishop’s ring and cross to help the needy. He continued zealously the work of counter reform begun by Bernhard von Galen.
In 1683, Steno resigned as auxiliary bishop after an argument about the election of the new bishop, Maximilian Henry of Bavaria and moved in 1684 to Hamburg. There Steno became involved again in the study of the brain and the nerve system with an old friend Dirck Kerckring. Steno was invited to Schwerin, when it became clear he was not accepted in Hamburg. Steno dressed like a poor man in an old cloak. He drove in an open carriage in snow and rain. Living four days a week on bread and beer, he became emaciated. When Steno had fulfilled his mission, some years of difficult tasks, he wanted to go back to Italy. Before he could return, Steno became severely ill, his belly swelling day by day. Steno died in Germany, after much suffering. His corpse was shipped to Florence by Kerckring upon request of Cosimo III de’ Medici and buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo close to his protectors, the De’ Medici family. In 1946 his grave was opened, and the corpse was reburied after a procession through the streets of the city.
Beatification
After his death in 1686, Steno was venerated as a saint in the diocese of Hildesheim. Steno’s piety and virtue have been evaluated with a view to an eventual canonization. His canonization process was begun in Osnabrück in 1938. In 1953 his grave in the crypt of the church of San Lorenzo was opened as part of the beatification process. His corpse was transferred to a fourth-century Christian sarcophagus found in the river Arno donated by the Italian state. His remains were placed in a lateral chapel of the church that received the name of “Capella Stenoniana”. He was declared “beatus” — the third of four steps to being declared a saint — by Pope John Paul II in 1988. He is thus now called by Catholics Blessed Nicolas Steno. His feast day is 5 December.