1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: Imagine having a debate about any topic in the universe, 7 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: from politics or sports teams to which type of pizza 8 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: is better New York or New Haven, and then someone 9 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 1: says those frustrating words, Hey, I'm just playing Devil's advocate. 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: With that, your light hearted jabs about the best pizza 11 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: toppings and cheese to tomato sauce ratios. I'll die in 12 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: your throat. You'll be all night, and by the time 13 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: you're done, you won't even be sure if you like 14 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: pizza anymore. These days, the phrase devil's advocate refers to 15 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: someone who will take a position they may not necessarily 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: agree with, just for the sake of argument. But the 17 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: favorite phrase of the worst person in your debate club 18 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: actually used to be a real job. You see. Back 19 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century, the advocatus diaboli was the person 20 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: who literally took the side of the devil against the 21 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: saints for over a thousand years. Becoming a saint in 22 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: the Roman Catholic Church was kind of up to individual bishops. 23 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: It wasn't until the eleven hundreds that the process of 24 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: becoming a saint, called canonization, was formalized by the pope. 25 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: To become a saint, someone would have to fit very 26 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: specific parameters. First, the candidate would have to be dead 27 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: for at least five years. Next, the church would launch 28 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: an investigation to ensure that they lived a holy life 29 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: full of virtue. After that, the church confirmed that people 30 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: were drawn to prayer because of the candidate's actions. And finally, 31 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: the church needed to prove that the can that it 32 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: performed two verified miracles, complete with witnesses and evidence. If 33 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: all those points could be checked off the list, then 34 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: the candidate could officially become a saint. Well. In fifteen 35 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: eighty seven, Pope Sixtus the Fifth decided the canonization process 36 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: needed to be stricter to prove a potential saint's holiness 37 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: beyond a shadow of a doubt. They needed to treat 38 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: the whole thing like a legal trial. They had to 39 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: argue for and against canonization, and present evidence to a 40 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: jury on a saint's holiness. If the church was going 41 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: to argue in favor of a saint, then the opposition 42 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: needed counsul as well. The devil would need an advocate, 43 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: also called promatorre fidae, which means promoter of the faith. 44 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: It was the devil advocate's job to question the evidence 45 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: supporting a saint's case. The devil's advocate would cross examine 46 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,399 Speaker 1: witnesses and call for expert testimony. They posited logical questions 47 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: to the court. For example, if it was claimed that 48 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: a candidate had cured a believer's disease ease, the devil's 49 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: advocate would look for other explanations, like if the believer 50 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: had taken medicine or if their condition had merely passed 51 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: on its own. If the saints' claim stood up to 52 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: the questioning, it would be allowed to be added as evidence. 53 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: The saints in question also needed representation, which came in 54 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: the form of a god's advocate. The god's advocate would 55 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: defend their clients and try to plead the case proving 56 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: their miracles. Now you might be questioning why the church 57 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: had a devil's advocate at all. Why wouldn't it just 58 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: be simpler for the pope to decide whether someone was 59 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: a saint and call it a day. If only it 60 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: were that easy. You see, in fifteen eighty seven, the 61 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: Catholic Church was in a crisis. Protestantism was on the rise, 62 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: and whole countries like England and France had broken with 63 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,119 Speaker 1: the pope. In just two short decades, the Puritans would 64 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: leave England to set up their own religious utopia in Massachusetts. 65 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: The Vatican would no longer depend on its congregants to 66 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: follow its decisions unquestioningly. Therefore, they wanted to present themselves 67 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: as authority who took opposing viewpoints into account. By giving 68 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: the space for the Devil's Advocate to argue against sainthood, 69 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: the Church's decision to make someone a saint was that 70 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: much stronger. If the Catholic Church had questioned the saint's 71 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: miracles but still found them credible, it was much harder 72 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: for the Protestant faction to poke holes in the Church's integrity. 73 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: The Devil's Advocate was part of the canonization process for 74 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: nearly four hundred years until Pope John Paul the Second 75 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,479 Speaker 1: streamlined the process in nineteen eighty three. However, the Church 76 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: still invites critics to weigh in on candidates for sainthood. 77 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: In two thousand and three, for example, they had atheist 78 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:42,039 Speaker 1: Christopher Hitchins testify against the canonization of Mother Teresa. The 79 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: process certainly has its uses today, nearly four hundred and 80 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: fifty years after it was first introduced, But that's just 81 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: my opinion. You can take it or leave it. After all, 82 00:04:52,600 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: I'm just playing devil's advocate here. In our modern day, 83 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: we're familiar with hot shot tech moguls, CEOs with backgrounds 84 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: in stem known for having egos and personalities equal in 85 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: size to their fortunes. But in sixteenth century Europe, when 86 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: science itself was new, public intellectuals looked very different. They 87 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: still had the wealth, and they still had the egos, 88 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,479 Speaker 1: but there was no Internet, no computers, no cars or 89 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: rocket ships for them to invent. That was all hundreds 90 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: of years away. No, the thinkers of the Renaissance started 91 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,239 Speaker 1: with the most fundamental of innovations, observing and mapping the stars. 92 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: It was the astronomers who ruled the headlines in the 93 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: fifteen hundreds, and among them there was one who was 94 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: more curious than all the others Ticobrahe was born into 95 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: Danish nobility, so from the start he had a fortune. 96 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: In fact, at one point he owned one percent of 97 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: all the wealth in Denmark, and he was a genius 98 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: in college. While other boys fought over girls, he fought 99 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: over math problems. Tko and his cousin once got into 100 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: such a heated mathematical debate that they settled it with 101 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,119 Speaker 1: a duel, and Tiko lost the tip of his nose 102 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: to his cousin's sword. After that, our budding astronomer took 103 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: to wearing a golden nose, which he would reapply with 104 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: a special adhesive he kept in a pouch on his belt. 105 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: And it was around this time that Tico started to 106 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: take an interest in astronomy. After witnessing a solar eclipse, 107 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: the arrogant young man thought that perhaps he was the 108 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: one to get to the bottom of such a cosmic phenomena. 109 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: His passion for math had made him a natural fit 110 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: for astronomy, as he was able to accurately calculate the size, distance, 111 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: and speed of various heavenly bodies. He quickly came to 112 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: the public's attention as he was the first man to 113 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: witness and correctly identify a supernova he observed and measured 114 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: as the star spent a whole year blinking out of existence, 115 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: and thus he was able to put forth that stars 116 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: are not permanently fixed in space, but so lustial bodies 117 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: with unique movements and life spans. As he came into 118 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: the public eye, Tico's flamboyance kept up with his genius. 119 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: If his golden nose wasn't enough to remember him by, 120 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: his two lifelong companions definitely did the trick. The first 121 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: was a dwarf named Yeepey. How Yepay and Tico met 122 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: is a mystery lost to time, but they became inseparable. Tico, 123 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: despite being a man of science, believed that Yeepey was 124 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: psychic and always wanted him on hand to predict the future. 125 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: His second strange companion was a moose that he kept 126 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: as a pet. And you heard that right. He simply 127 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: thought it was a more attractive and noble creature than 128 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: any other animal he had encountered, and as with Yepey, 129 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: he took the moose everywhere he went. It slept inside 130 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: his house and followed his carriage as he traveled. But 131 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: there was one infamous occasion where Tiko's love for his 132 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: pet got them both into trouble. You see, he brought 133 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: the moose with them to a dinner party, where he 134 00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: wowed the guests with its size and friendliness. Even more interesting, though, 135 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: he showed the guests how the moose had a love 136 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: for Danish beer, and the moose kept drinking throughout the night, 137 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: either to amuse the guests or because it really did 138 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: love beer. And while a moose may have a higher 139 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: tolerance than a human, it can still succumb to intoxication. 140 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: Such was the case at that fateful dinner party, where 141 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: after a long night of imbibing, the moose tried to 142 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: climb a flight of stairs. Unfortunately, that is one obstacle 143 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: for which a moose is not well suited, let alone 144 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: a drunk one. It slipped, tumbling down the stairs in 145 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,119 Speaker 1: what must have been a one of a kind calamity. 146 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: Tiko rushed to its side, horrified to find that his 147 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: moose companion was injured. The exact nature of its injuries 148 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: is lost to time, but soon the moose succumbed, Tico's 149 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: companion was dead. It's a strange chapter in a strange life. 150 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: Tiko would go on to many adventures, including owning his 151 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: own island and having an affair with a queen. Some 152 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: even believe that he was ultimately murdered, potentially by mercury poisoning. 153 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: While fact in fiction get harder to separate with the 154 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: passage of time, Tico Brahe's flamboyant personality still calls attention 155 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: to itself, flickering like a curious supernova from the deep 156 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: distant past. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 157 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,679 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 158 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 159 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:33,320 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey 160 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 161 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 162 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 163 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: over at the Worldolore dot com. And until next time, 164 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:50,720 Speaker 1: stay curious.