QUOTE: Observe, O man, and
see whether the dog goes after the bitch after she has conceived. Look at the
cow or certainly at the mare, and notice whether the bulls or stallions bother
them after they are with young. Obviously, they forego the pleasure of
intercourse when they sense that they are unable to produce offspring.
Therefore, since bulls and dogs and other kinds of animal show such regard for
their young, it is men alone, whose teacher was born of the Virgin, who have no
fear of destroying and killing their little ones, made in the image of God,
just so that they can satisfy their lust. This is the reason why many women
practice abortion before their term is complete, or certainly why they discover
means of mutilating or damaging the tiny and still fragile limbs of these
little ones. And thus, as they are impelled by their incentives to lust, they
are first murderers before they become parents. [Letter 96, Letters 91-122, Fathers of the Church: Medieval
Continuation, Owen J. Blum, O.F.M., 1998, Catholic University of America
Press, pp. 62-63, ISBN 0813208165 ISBN 9780813208169. Editor's note: “Here we
have one of the few references, perhaps the only explicit one, in Damian's letters,
to the practices of abortion. And to the horror of post-modern feminists he
puts the blame on ‘the many women who practice abortion,’ charging them ‘with
being murderers before they became parents.’ This discussion and its context
are important evidence from the Central Middle Ages, reflecting the constant
opposition of the Church to abortion from the Council of Elvira (ca. 302) to
the present.”]
AUTHOR: Saint Peter Damian, O.S.B. (Petrus Damiani, also Pietro Damiani or Pier Damiani; c. 1007 – February
21/22, 1072) was a reforming monk in the circle of Pope Gregory VII and a
cardinal. In 1823, he was declared a Doctor of the Church. Dante placed him in
one of the highest circles of Paradiso as a great predecessor of Saint
Francis of Assisi.
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