I can understand the noble families wanting to avoid losing financial status by providing
dowries to their girls. I suppose Galileo put his daughter into a convent because he could
not provide her with a dowry. I didn't know he had a son, until one of the "engines" episodes
mentioned it. At the same time, I'll bet he had to make a substantial gift to the convent.
Incidentally, it is worth remembering that the Church was the first and most important
social agency for many many years. I wonder what that bastard Rousseau would have done
with his unwanted offspring if hadn't had the church doorsteps to dump them on.