The Clerical Culture

By Ed Raymond
Staff Writer

Our society seems finally to be making the connection between animal abuse and human abuse. Stephen Otto of the Animal Defense Fund says the evidence is overwhelming that those who abuse animals have the latent potential of abusing human beings. Two states are considering bills to create online registries of animal abusers so that they can be checked against possible human abusers. Eight states now have laws requiring child or spousal abuse investigators and animal control officers to inform each other of incidents within a home so they can compare notes. Animal hoarders, who are really classic abusers, can cost local governments huge sums of money. A case where a hoarder had 170 dogs in his home cost a county $1.2 million to clean up and care for the dogs.

Richard Dawkins, an English atheist and perhaps the most famous evolutionary biologist in the world, points out in a short letter, tinged with sarcasm, that many moral ambiguities exist in the world:

“Dear Friend,
If you live in America, the chances are good that your next door neighbours believe the following: the Inventor of the laws of physics and Programmer of the DNA code decided to enter the uterus of a Jewish virgin, got himself born, then deliberately had himself tortured and executed because he couldn’t think of a better way to forgive the theft of an apple, committed at the instigation of a talking snake. As creator of the majestically expanding universe, he not only understands relativistic gravity and quantum mechanics but actually designed them. Yet what he really cares about is “sin,” abortion, how often you go to church, and whether gay people should marry. Statistically, the chances are that your neighbours believe all that–and they can vote.

In other parts of the world, there is a good chance that your neighbours believe that you should be beheaded if you draw a cartoon of a desert warlord who copulated with a child and flew into the sky on a winged horse. In other places, there’s a good chance that your neighbours think their wishes will be granted if they pray to a human figure with an elephant’s trunk.”

There’s not much doubt that Dawkins believes that religions and true believers are really screwing up the world. Well, to each his own.

Was It Really All Eve’s Fault?

Do priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes really believe they are halfway to Heaven and better than anyone else? Why have priests, bishops, cardinals and popes been treating sexual abuse, buggery, and rape of children with the same intensity as running a red light or jaywalking? Why did Irish priests and nuns physically and mentally abuse children for decades before reciting their evening prayers so they could enter the Pearly Gates?

Is there a “clerical culture” that put them on such a higher pedestal that they considered children as sacrificial lambs put on earth for their own relief and amusement? Did a “clerical culture” protect the Wisconsin priest who violated the bodies and souls of over 200 deaf boys?

I think we have to look at history for some of the answers. The Roman Catholic Church authorities between 1500 and 1903 castrated poor young boys so that they could continue to sing soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto parts in church music. Women were denied these singing roles because Saint Paul decreed that females had to be silent in church. Paul said in Corinthians 14:34-35:”Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home:for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” Timothy 2:11-12 reinforces the testosterone crowd: “Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to ursurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” Perhaps castration aroused the interest of church authorities because Leviticus in the Old Testament excluded eunuchs or any males with defective genitals from ever becoming priests, just as all castrated animals could not be sacrificed because it was classified as an insult to God.

Can You Imagine Mel Gibson Losing His “Testimonials?”

Castration has been practiced for thousands of years, dating back to ancient Sumer. The Romans often castrated their enemies to keep them from procreating more enemies. Sima Qian, an early famous Chinese historian, was castrated by his emperor for not agreeing with him. Scottish rebel William Wallace, played to the hilt by Mel Gibson in “Braveheart,” was castrated by the English for committing high treason against the English crown. Revengeful Persians have been castrating each other for centuries. Witness the story of Aqa Mohammad Khan Qajar and his deadly relationship with Lotf Ali Khan of the Zand Dynasty.

In the 12th century, English adventurer Bishop Wimund was castrated because he invaded Scotland. The English and the Scots still don’t like each other. We must remember that stallions become geldings when they become too aggressive and want to increase their territorial imperative. In 1778 our hero Thomas Jefferson wrote a Virginia law containing the punishment of castration for those who committed rape, polygamy, or sodomy. (I would bet there was a pretty good chance that good ol’ Tom probably committed all three on his favorite slave Sally Hemings.)

Castration is still being used to create terror in our world. The Janjaweed rebel forces in the Darfur area of Sudan often castrate male villagers and leave them to die before they rape all the women.

Many Young Boys Lost Their Genitals Through “Tragic Accidents”

First, a few bloody facts. Castration before puberty prevents a boy’s larynx from being fully developed, so the vocal range of children is retained. The lack of testosterone because of the lack of testicles also means his joints do not harden as in the normal adult. A “castrato’s” limbs and rib bones often grow longer. The air capacity of the chest is enhanced while the small, child-sized vocal cords produce sounds of the “super-high” tenor to “super high” soprano. Many castrati had vocal ranges up to three octaves. Try it some time.

The Roman Catholic Church was not the first religion to use castrati in choirs. The practice started in Spain and quickly spread to Italy. Ironically a woman, Empress Aelia Eudoxia of Constantinople, was probably the first to use eunuchs in choirs by 400 A.D. In Arab societies castrati were often used as harem guards (someone had to protect the 72 virgins so alive in Muslim thought today!) And they were often appointed to important positions because they could not produce children who would challenge the power of the current dynasty.

But in the 16th century Pope Clement liked the sounds of the castrati so much he really put the use of “musicos” (the nickname for castrati) on an assembly line basis. Many Vatican power brokers thought they should lift the ban on women serving in church roles instead of castrating young boys, but Clement would have none of it because musicos had such unique sounds and he believed in Paul’s admonition that “Let women be silent in church assemblies.” However, in Italy it was illegal to perform castrations. No matter. The Pope simply required that all castrati applying for singing jobs sign a statement that they had “lost their genitals through “tragic accident.” Was this the beginning of a clerical culture that placed ordained ones on a higher pedestal than the rest of us? Anyway, the number of “accidents” increased dramatically because many poor families wanted their children to have the good life of the castrati. Some castrati became international opera stars.

About 4,000 Accidents a Year Took Place in Italy Alone

Castrati were used in Roman Catholic services for over 400 years until outlawed in 1903. Boys were castrated between the ages of seven and nine, often in “barbershops” that were well-known by the populace for performing such services–by-accident. It was a big entrepreneurial business performed under hazardous conditions. The boys were generally drugged with opium and then soaked in hot tubs until barely conscious. Fatality rates were hard to come by. Estimates of death rates ranged between 10 percent and 80 percent depending upon the skills of the guy creating the “accidents.”

A majority of victims did not become professional singers because they often lacked quality. But Catholic churches in Rome alone employed over 200 musicos, so a tremendous number of Italian boys lost their testimonials, virginity, and innocence in one whack. The Sistine Chapel choir first raised their castrati voices to Michelangelo’s ceiling in 1599. The church officially condemned the practice of castration but then created a huge market for boys who had accidents. It’s somewhat like condemning gambling but offering Bingo every Sunday night. The church banned castrati from marrying because they were unable to procreate—because the church was responsible for this condition in the first place! Sounds reasonable.

By 1870 all castrations were banned in the Papal States–the last political jurisdiction to do so! By 1903 Pope Pius X banned adult male sopranos in Vatican choirs.

The most famous castrati singer of them all was probably Carlo Broschi, known professionally as Farinelli. His voice range was over three octaves and he could hold a note for a full minute without taking a breath. He was so famous in the world that Queen Christina of Sweden temporarily called a cease-fire in a war with Poland so she could borrow him from the Polish king for two weeks of command performances in Sweden.

The Fascinating Life Of Abelard And Heloise

At the age of 22 Abelard was one of the most famous men in France in the 12th century, a child prodigy in the area of philosophy. He first met Heloise when she was 13 and a student of his in his philosophy school in Paris. She was an unusual girl in her day because she could read and write.
Abelard was enthralled with her because “A gift of letters is so rare in women that it added greatly to her charm and had won her renown throughout the realm.” At the age of 16 they became lovers and Heloise bore him a child. He sent her to a convent and secretly married her.
Heloise’s legal guardian discovered the child and the marriage and sought revenge for her loss of honor. (Sound familiar?) He ordered the castration of Abelard. He then became a monk. He and Heloise exchanged letters for a period of ten years on many subjects. After ten years he admitted he had never loved her, but only lusted after her. It did not seem to harm their “philosophical” relationship. Perhaps this was one of the most famous castrations in history because their lives inspired both poetry and prose.

The Roman Catholic Church’s use of castrati to replace women in church services raises an important question about “clerical culture.” Is the Church so male-dominated that it was necessary to castrate thousands of young boys before the age of puberty to keep women off the altar and out of choirs? To silence them? Does only half of the human race have a theological point of view? Did this whole business of the castrati bring on a clerical culture of treating sexual abuse as part of a bizarre “Welcome Wagon” that should be kept a secret by the Vatican?

Do the old gray men in the Vatican and a few other places think that women can’t be trusted in leadership positions? How could England possibly survive Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher governing both men and women in the same decades? Are women lower beings who must be controlled by good Christian men? What other culture besides an all-male clergy feels so privileged that they think they have earned certain entitlements? Why do some male priests feel it is against “women’s nature” to be priests? If male clergy do not change their attitudes they will continue to lead what sheep they have left further down the moral abyss of buggery and rape.

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