Sunday, February 17 was the Feast of Saint Giordano Bruno, a martyr who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition. According to The Invisible Basilica of Sabazius, “During his lifetime, he managed to be excommunicated by the Catholics, Calvinists and Lutherans for his unorthodox ideas. …He is widely considered to be a martyr for early scientific views regarding cosmology; particularly the ideas of heliocentrism and the infinity of the universe.” was born near Mount Vesuvius, which
In Scientific American, Alberto A. Martínez notes: “In 2014, millions of people watched the first episode of the updated version of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, in which Neil deGrasse Tyson declares that Bruno courted danger when he insisted on the existence of innumerable planets. ‘The penalty for doing so in his world,’ Tyson says, ‘was the most vicious form of cruel and unusual punishment.’ Many critics complained. Without having even read Bruno’s books, many bloggers echoed the popular sentiment that he was a mystic Hermeticist whose temperament and blasphemies led to his death.”
Giordano Bruno was born outside of Naples, near Mount Vesuvius. Here’s a cocktail to enjoy in remembrance of the saint and his explosive birthplace.
The Flaming Volcano
Ingredients
- crushed ice
- 1 oz vodka
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 1 oz falernum
- lemon-lime soda
- ¼ oz blue curaçao
- 151-proof rum
Instructions
- In a hurricane glass filled with crushed ice add vodka, simple syrup, and falernum.
- Top off with lemon lime soda and blue curaçao.
- Using a manual juicer, hull out a lime half and fill it with 151-proof rum.
- When the tip is lit with a match, the top of the drink is engulfed in flames.(Source: Thrillist)
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