[meteorite-list] Catalog of the Vatican State Meteorite Collection

[Martin Horejsi]

Howdy Folks and Others,

Thank you Bernd for the helpful links. And for those who have not yet 
read Brother Guy's books, might I suggest reading 'Brother Astronomer' 
(which I believe O. Richard Norton reviewed for the journal Meteorite 
of which Brother Guy has stared on the cover) and 'Turn Left at Orion'.

The Vatican Meteorite Collection essentially came into formal existence 
in 1905 when Adrien-Charles, Marquis de Mauroy made a donation of 158 
meteorite specimens to Pope Pius X. The Marquis had been instrumental 
in providing the Vatican an extensive collection of minerals prior to 
the first contribution of meteorites.

The first catalogue of the Vatican's meteorites appeared in 1912, and 
the collection has grown over the years primarily through generous 
donations.

I believe the collection is still housed in the Vatican Observatory at 
Castle Gandolfo. And due to the nature of the meteorite's ownership, it 
is, of course, considered a private collection.

I hope this posting helps clarify the misinformation currently in 
circulation.

Cheers,

Martin




On Apr 20, 2005, at 1:44 PM, bernd.pauli at paulinet.de wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> http://utenti.lycos.it/Meteoriteman/index.htmlVATICAN
>
> Just got a private mail from List member Matteo that he is
> the author of that site and that he will publish an updated
> version as soon as possible. Thank you, Matteo!
>
> Hello Tom,
>
> We should refrain from saying or writing things that may or
> might or probably surely will hurt somebody else's feelings, in
> this case religious feelings or religious beliefs. Let's keep
> the "Pope Thread" off this list. I am a Protestant, not Catholic
> but I am with Mike Farmer on this topic: "That is not a meteorite
> topic".
>
> Brother Consolmagno, whom most of us know (not in person), is
> the curator of the Vatican State Meteorite Collection, and we
> may assume that he and / or his predecessors legally acquired
> these meteorites through trades and purchases.
>
>> God is not going to give the pope anything
>
> That's once again a very personal perspective that I won't comment on.
>
> But here's a personal comment from Brother Consolmagno regarding
> meteorites that I like very much because it connects religion and 
> science:
>
> "by seeing how God created the universe I get a flavor of God's 
> personality."
>
> More about Brother Consolmagno here:
>
> http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/R1024/GConsolmagno.html
>
> and about Vatican Science (including meteorites):
>
> http://www.acfnewsource.org/science/vatican_science.html
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Bernd
>
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