She always insists upon his keeping her fully informed about his studies and discoveries. She is particular, also, about receiving without delay copies of his latest publications. "I beg you," she writes in one of her letters, "to be so kind as to send me that book of yours which has just been published, Il Saggiatore, so that I may read it; for I have a great desire to see it."
On another occasion, after his difficulties with the Holy Office, when she fancies her father is not keeping her fully informed about the subject matter of his writings, she implores him to tell her on what topic he is engaged, "if," she archly adds, "it be something I can understand and you are not afraid that I will blab."
And on still another occasion Sister Celeste reminds her father of a promise of his to send her a small telescope. From this we should infer that she desired to repeat the observations on the heavenly bodies that had created such a sensation in the learned world, and which had given occasion for such acrimonious controversy.
In one of her earlier letters Sister Celeste calls her father's attention to a promise of his to spend an afternoon with her and her sister Arcangela, also a nun in the same convent. And, referring to one of the regulations of the Franciscan cloister, she playfully observes: "You will be able to sup in the parlor, since the excommunication is for the table cloth"—O Sister Celeste!—"and not for the meats thereon."
What would one not give for a stenographic report of the conversations held that afternoon in the convent garden of Arcetri, as father and daughters leisurely strolled through the peaceful enclosure, all quite oblivious of the fleeting hours? How interesting would be a faithful record of the confidences exchanged at the frugal meal in the evening in the humble parlor of S. Matteo! We would willingly exchange many of the famous Dialoghi di Galileo Galilei for a verbatim report of what passed between Sister Celeste and the father whom she so idolized.[243]
Judging from her letters, she had many questions to ask him about his studies, his experiments, his discoveries, his books, as well as about more personal and domestic matters.
Although there is no documentary proof of the fact, yet there is every reason to believe that Galileo had taken personal charge of the education of this, his favorite daughter. She shared his taste for science and inherited not a little of his genius. Such being the case, we may well believe that a faithful account of their conversations of that day would be not only of surpassing interest, but would also throw a flood of light on many questions now ill understood. They would certainly tend to fill up the numerous lacunæ caused by the disappearance of the letters of Galileo, which he wrote in answer to those of his ever-cherished daughter.[244]
They would also show more clearly than any facts now available what an unbounded influence the gentle nun had over the greatest intellect of his time, and would, more clearly than anything in her correspondence, exhibit Sister Celeste as the efficient co-worker and the abiding inspirer of the father of modern physics and astronomy.
But, although we have no record of this soul-communion between father and daughter on the occasion in question; although we are deprived of the invaluable letters which he wrote in reply to hers, we are, nevertheless, from the evidence at hand, justified in regarding this unique pair as being ever one in heart, aspirations and ideals, and comparable in their mutual influence on each other with any of those famous men and women who, through achievement on the one side and inspiration and collaboration on the other, have ever been recognized as the greatest benefactors of their race.