In Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel includes 21 of these letters written from Maria to her father.
Maria clearly loved her father, and shared the pain of his prosecution for putting forward the Copernican view of the universe. Galileo was also clearly devoted to Maria Celeste. He once wrote a friend that his daughter Maria was "of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and most tenderly attached to me." Her letters to him really show what life was like during the time period and a lot about how social problems affected both her, and Galileo; such as the bubonic plague, finances, and the difficulties of monastic life. .
When Galileo proceeded with his argument about the Sun being the center of the universe, it must have been difficult for Suor Maria Celeste-to accept her role as a nun with her father being perhaps the greatest enemy of the Catholic Church. But instead, she approved of his theories because she knew the extent of his faith. She accepted her father's judgment that God had dictated the Holy Scriptures to guide men's spirits, but wanted them to unravel the universe as a challenge to their intelligence. .
Understanding her father's huge involvement in this argument, she prayed for his health, for his longevity, and for the fulfillment of his "every just desire." She made elixirs and pills to keep him strong for his studies and protect him from diseases. Her .
letters helped her father through the ordeal of his biggest confrontation with Urban and the Inquisition in 1633. Maria Celeste never left her convent, but it is clear that she suffered a great deal, knowing that terrible things were being done to her father because of his theories. She did what she could to help him and his cause. She transcribed his writings, copying over the "Dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems", in addition to managing convent affairs. She also served as nurse, baker, pharmacist, and seamstress. Galileo was often bed-ridden with sickness, and he loved the medicines as well as the sweets and cakes his daughter made for him.