Which Daughter's the Best? Maria Celeste

Maria Celeste was the daughter of the famous Galileo Galilei and received the name Maria Celeste when she joined a Catholic Convent in Florence, Italy. Despite her humble and difficult lifestyle, Maria was a monumentally important figure in the process of publishing her father's famous book, The Dialogo. She cared for her father with an admirable sincerity, helping him in any way possible.

Galileo was an old sickly man who cared more for his work and garden than his own well-being. Maria would always send him medicine and support from the convent in order to help her father survive even the harshest of times. While writing his book, Maria helped her father by editing his manuscripts, fixing basic errors as well as taking out any excess information. She put it all together and then gave it back to her father to publish it. All seemed well as Galileo waited for his manuscripts to reach the papacy, until the outbreak of the deadliest epidemic in recorded history. The Bubonic plague, or Black Death, swept through Europe like a wildfire and killed over one third of the European population. Worried for her father's health, Maria continued to send medications to fight off the plague. Her father survived the epidemic thanks to her help and support. After the epidemic had passed over, The Dialogo finally reached the papacy. It was not received well and Galileo was summoned for a trial by the Inquisition. Maria Celest just could not leave her father alone. She told her father to simply agree with the demands of the church and convinced him to renounce his works as false. She was more concerned about her father's well being than his works. She saved him from going to his death as a heretic and because of that, he wrote a book on physics and greatly contributed to the scientific field.

Maria Celeste was an amazing person who cared for her father with the utmost sincerity and affection. That affection is what fueled Galileo Galilei's works, and thus changed the world and it's view of the Heavens.