Nicolaus was not a priest.  Erik Kwakkei (@erik_kwakkei) drew my
attention to a rather nice short video from Prager University by
Anthony Esolen of Providence College explaining that the Middle
Ages were anything but Dark and should actually be called the
bright ages. This is a very well done little piece managing to
correct a whole series of myths in a very short time span.
However I can’t resist taking a pot shot at his completely
inaccurate description of Nicolaus Copernicus.  Esolen says:
Nicolaus Copernicus was, “a priest astronomer at a Polish
university”.  The only part of this brief statement that is
correct is that Copernicus was an astronomer.  However, it is
important to point out that he was only ever an amateur
astronomer; astronomy was his hobby so to speak. He never taught
it at a university.  Copernicus started his undergraduate
studies at the University of Kraków in Poland but left without
taking a degree. He continued his studies a various universities
in Northern Italy, where he studied la