The Church refused Galileo a tomb for 95 years, and when his body was moved in 1737 admirers cut off three fingers and a tooth

In 1633 the Inquisition in Rome condemned Galileo Galilei for heresy and made him say he "abjured, cursed and detested" it. He spent his last eight years under house arrest near Florence and died on 8 January 1642. His disciples and the Grand Dukes of Tuscany asked for an honoured burial. Church authorities refused a consecrated tomb for a man condemned by the Holy Office "for an opinion so false and so erroneous". His remains were kept in a storage room. His last disciple, Vincenzo Viviani, worked for a monument. With the backing of Grand Duke Gian Gastone, the body was moved to a monumental tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce on 12 March 1737, 95 years after his death. While the coffin was open, people present cut off three fingers of the right hand, a vertebra and a tooth. The middle finger went to the collection that became the Museo Galileo, where it is inventory number 2432. Marchese Capponi kept two fingers and the tooth in a glass vase, and their trail was lost in 1905. In 2009 a wooden case topped with a bust of Galileo was sold at auction. Inside was an eighteenth-century vase holding two fingers and a tooth. A collector bought it, and experts led by Paolo Galluzzi authenticated the remains. They went on display at the Museo Galileo in 2010^†.