Gonad amputation by Catholic church.

1. Gelding a donkey.

http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/p51x64.htm

http://www.thesmartset.com/article/article0806070116.aspx

THE CRUEL SIDE OF RELIGIONS.

BOYS WERE CASTRATED BY FORCE IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST WITH THE POPE'S BLESSING.

Italian boys with promising voices would be taken to a back-street barber-surgeon, drugged with opium, and placed in a hot bath. The expert would snip the ducts leading to the testicles, which would wither over time. By the early 1700s, it is estimated that around 4,000 boys a year were getting the operation; the Santa Maria Nova hospital in Florence, for example, ran a production line under one Antonio Santarelli, gelding eight boys at once.

Overview:

A castrato is a male singer with a soprano, mezzo-soprano,

or alto voice. From about 1550 CE to the late 19th century,

most were created by castrating boys before they reaching

puberty. This prevented their vocal cords from lengthening

and their voice from deepening. With the lung capacity

and muscular strength of an adult male and the vocal range

of a prepubescent boy:

"... his voice develops a range, power and flexibility

quite different from the singing voice of the adult female

, but also markedly different from the higher vocal ranges of

the uncastrated adult male. Some castratos were males who

were born with an endoctrinological condition that prevented

them from sexually maturing."

"The term castrato was often used to indicate the high

register created by the young men who sang the castrato

style. The typical register of a castrato was above that of

a 'normal' soprano or alto voice, resulting in the creation

of a temporary range in Italian music." ₄

In Italy, where most of the castrations occurred,

boys were generally drugged with opium. They

were soaked in a hot tub until barely conscious

before the operation. ₅ One source estimates

that the fatality rate due to the amputation

procedure was about 80%. ₆ Another estimates

a death rate of 10 to 80% depending upon the

skill of the practitioner. ₇ Among the survivors,

the vast majority did not become professional

singers because their voice was not of sufficiently

high quality.

J.S. Jenkins writes:

"Boys were castrated between the ages of 7 and 9 years,

and underwent a long period of voice training. A small

number became international opera stars, of whom the

most famous was Farinelli, whose voice ranged over three

octaves. By the end of the 18th century, fashions in opera

had changed so that the castrati declined except in the

Vatican, where the Sistine Chapel continued to employ

castrati until 1903. The last of the castrati was Alessandro

Moreschi, who died in 1924 and made gramophone

recordings that provide the only direct evidence of a

castrato's singing voice." ₈

Obviously, all of the boys who were castrated were not sufficiently mature to give their informed consent.

"Isn't it incredibly sad and pathetic that the society Alessandro [Moreschi] was born into (and all the castintos) was so male dominated (and female phobic) that it would castrate their own male children rather than allow a naturally occurring female voice breech 'their' domain? Who's to say that his own mature (intact) male voice, with all the training he had, wouldn't have been magnificent. Once the child (and they were children) was castrated, what choice did he have? The society settled for a poor imitation of a woman's voice, when their was no need." Denise D., reviewer on Archive.org referring to a recording by Alessandro Moreschi, a singer at the Sistine Chapel, made in 1904. 1,2

History:

The European practice of employing castrated boys in the

Catholic church's choirs started in the mid 16th century.

Castrati were first used during:

	Late 1550s in the chapel choir of the Duke of Ferrara.
	1574 in the court chapel at Munich, Germany.
	1599 in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.
	1610 in Württemberg, Germany.
	1637 in Vienna, Austria.
	1640's in Dresden, Germany. 4

Pope Sixtus V issued a papal Bull in 1589 which approved

the recruitment of castrati for the choir of St. Peter's

Basilica in Rome.

Indian doctors castrating boys to sell as hijra?

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See http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-1-2004_pg7_20 "It makes your flesh creep to think that this could have happened in the name of art. Put in context though, with eunuchs, tail docking for dogs and genital mutilation, it shows that we humans have a fairly unique knack for extreme cruelty based simply on tradition. Steve Brereton. ₃ Petition asks for castration investigation LAHORE: Advocate MD Tahir on Tuesday filed a petition to the Lahore High Court asking it to order an inquiry into reports that a group of doctors in Sheikhupura district was castrating young boys.

Reports of forced castration of boys in India to be sold as slaves to the rich and to brothels.

Mr Tahir said in his petition up to 5,000 boys in Jandiala Sher Khan, Karrryaland Tatley Aali, may have been made eunuchs by the doctors. Relying on a press report, the petitioner said the doctors were selling the eunuch to professionals in the business of arranging dance parties for rich people. The petitioner said even the local Family Planning Department could be involved in the practice. He asked the court to direct higher authorities to hold an inquiry into the reports. —Staff R