Tommaso Caccini - Reaction To The Sermon

Reaction To The Sermon

The reaction to Caccini’s sermon ranged from vocal opposition to praise. Galileo himself is said to have described Caccini as an individual “of very great ignorance, no less a mind full of venom and devoid of charity.” Within the Church itself, there was substantial disagreement over how to address Caccini’s scathing sermon. Matteo Caccini, Tommaso Caccini’s own brother and former prior of a monastery in Cortona, was appalled by Caccini’s sermon in Florence. He stated “I am so angry that I could not be more... revealed such dreadful plans I could scarcely control myself. In any event, I wash my hands of him forever and ever.” The preacher general of the Dominican order echoed Matteo Caccini’s sentiments in a letter he issued to Galileo. Apologizing on behalf of the order, he lamented that “ to answer for all the idiocies” that his fellow brothers perpetrated.