The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-11
WOMAN AND CHRIsTIANITY.
An Argument rms Christianity Has Ma
Elevated WOmen.

To TINE EDITOR OF THE SuS-Sir; l read.
with much surprise. Thomas J. shnhnn's de-
fence OF Cardinal Gibbons in THE SuS Of Feb.
%. and. as Mrs. Gamble has only partially
answered Mr.. Shahan's surprising paper. ] beg
to offer the following for his consideration. | am
sure hat the Cardinal writing in his own de-
fence would not have larded his manuscript
with so much Latin and German. nor have left us
40 much in the dark regarding the writingsof
the authors cited. nor made such n vague gen
eralizatIon 10 the German writers Of the last
twenty years. He speaks OF the admirable
essay OF the French Iurist Troplong. but Trop-
I long wrote several admirable essays. He men
tons the classical work" OF D6llinger. but
: D0Ilinger wrote any classical works. most OF
them refutlng each Other
From the beginnin g the Church has degraded
woman both mentally and morally and dragged
her down from the comparatively exalted posi-
ton she occupied, not only in pagan Rome. but
even among many savage tribes. Paul. wheE
he forbade her 10 pray or prophesy or even
open her mouth in the Church. and com manded
her to wear a vel as "A badge OF her inferiority
and subordination to mans authority. gagged
! for all coming time her status in the Church.
I The Christian Fathers were quick TO take the
cue. Tertullian says to woman: You are
the devils gateway: you are the first
deserter Of the divine law, you are
she who persuaded him whom the devil
was not valiant enough to attack: you
destroyed so easily Gods image. man, On
account OF your deserts even the Son OF God
: hal 10 die Clement tells us that the female
'prophesying deceit and antiquities and
obloquies decelves those who believe in her !"
and, again. THE male Ia wholly truth. the
female wholly talsehood. The holy" Chrysos-
tom wrote. What Is woman but an enemy to
friendship. an unavoidable punishment. a nee
.ssary evil. a natural TEN rtation, a constantly
flowing source Of tears. a wicked work OF ma
ture, covered with a shining varni.h. Hor
very name. femlno. means wanting in faith. for
! ye means faith and minus less. and since she is
formed Of a crooked rib her entire spiritual
nature has been distorted ami inclined more
toward sin than virtue That this feeling WAS
rampant in the sixth century we have evidence
In the Christian Provincial Council Of Macon
where the question whether woman had even
a soul was de batet. and fortunately Tor our
female kin the decision was that she had.
MIR. Shahan himself shows her degradation in
such Of the canonical laws as he discusses.
which all his hlandishment OF commentary
fails to disguise; but he passes over in discreet
silence the cauons in which women were for
hidden to recel We the Eucharist with bare
hands or under a black veil. Nor does he men
ton the canon where under the pain OF anath-
ema A Woman IL forbidden to cut her hair. or
H. write Il letter except under her husbands
nam =, or to teach or even to indulge in private
v.gI-. President Charles +. Thwing Of the
Western Reserve University. a scholar OF crit
ical acumen, writes. The Church deprived
49,. Ill ..cht. arJ rrFyiI,1.a hof,ra ,ba
law. OF all power in the family and by a
legal fiction oven robbed her OF her
own existence. As the civil rule Of the
Church Increased the canon law gradually
came TO he regarded as the common law upon
all matters on which 1t treated. This law. the
product Of the d~ecretals OF ropes and decisions
OF councils for twelve centuries. defined the
legal status OF woman and the family. II linn
tied the sphere OF her activity AZ home II for
babe her all Offices and duties which belong ac-
cordlng to common conception % men. Tho
publicists and canonists emphasize her frlyol-
tiles, her possession Of the defects OF avarice
and prodigality. OF obatinacy and laxity. Of
peridy and nckleness. In its dealing with
marriage the canon law was on the prin-
ciple that marriage is a necessary evil.
IL was to be tolerated. but the usage.
as far as possible. was to he restrained"
Wright t"Womankind." z tells us that tho
Bishops assumed the right OF annulling mar
riages at their own will for any cause they
might assign. They discountenanced matri-
mony. When Pope Sextus III. was tried for
seduclng a nun he repeated to the synod as
semblei to try him the story OF Christ and the
woman caught in adultery and bade the one
without sin to cast the first stone. Salyianus
DE Gubernatione Del" 222 seq } writing In
the fth century. comparing pagan and
Christian. tells us that with the former licen-
tiousness Ia a crime. with the latter an honor.
According TO SchaY History o! the Christian
Church." ~, 6O2) from the seventh to the
tenth century the corruption OF morals went
hand in hand with ignoranca: there was
scarcely a person in Rome who knew tho first
element OF letters. and some priests did not
know the LCrd'S PRAYER. William OF Tyre
(Iib. L. paints in the blacklist co'ors the
morals OF the Church in the eleventh century.
Milman r"LatIn Christianity." VIII. 1879 tells
vs. that In the twelfth century the number OF
the clergy detected OF incontinence was ap.
palling. and speaks OF a convent OF females
which would almost have put Boccaccio 10
blush. Flagg Venice l., 40, writing OF
Venice in the fourteenth century. tells VA that
the honor OF wives and daughters became
a marketable commodity and the vile
contracts legally made and authenticated
we're formally recorded. Aware Pelayo.
writing Of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, gives a description OF prtestly i'm
! morality which he tells us fire and birthstone
from heaven alone could purify Myers. 10 his
Annals OF Flanders" snder date 1870. says
that in the territory Of Client within the space
OF ten months no less than fourteen hundred
murders had been committed In brothels.
Draper "Intellectual DEVELOPMENT" H.. pa.
/ says that it was openly asserted that there
were more than one hundred thousand women
in England made dissolute by the clergy. To
one who IL fairly familiar with the romantic
literature OF tho middle ages. with the In Inward
history Of chivalry. with the true lives OF the
troutadours. Mr.. ShChan's allusion to the
sem%l-angeiic tyne OF wnman'I perfection that
l. peculiar 20 the medieval ages Ia most
amusing. Millions OF these "semi-angels" the
Church roastedat the stake: millions OF them
were subject 10 the clerical jus primo noctis.
Mr.. Shnhan draws upon the pictures OF ths
novelista Sienkiewicz and Crawford The latter
acknowledges that he writes down TO the capac-
fly OF schoolgirls and colors his facts 50 as 10
mantle their cheeks with no bushes. But OF
all the corrupt ages OF the Christian Church
the centuries that Witnessed the Crusades are
among the blackest. Alexis. writing to the
Count Of Flanders. names as among the objects
that took him to the Holy Land amor d,rt 1t
or1enn II pulchp,rtdrum fontpdrUnl ~rOluptds.