The Corrupter of Boys: Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy PDF
Preview The Corrupter of Boys: Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy
The Corrupter of Boys THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor Edward Peters, Founding Editor A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher. The CORRUPTER OF BOYS Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy DYAN ELLIOTT university of pennsylvania press philadelphia Copyright (cid:2) 2020 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112 www.upenn.edu/pennpress Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A Cataloging-in-Publication record is avaiable from the Library of Congress isbn 978-0-8122-5252-1 This book is dedicated to all those, living or dead, who have suffered sexual abuse. contents Introduction 1 PART I Chapter1.TheScandalofClericalSin 17 Chapter2.TheTroublewithBoys 37 Chapter3.TheProblemwithWomen 58 Chapter4.SodomyontheCuspoftheEleventhandTwelfthCenturies 85 Chapter5.Confession,Scandal,andthe“SinNotFittobeNamed” 110 PART II Prologue 135 Chapter6.TheMonastery 147 Chapter7.TheChoir 171 Chapter8.TheSchools 189 Chapter9.TheEpiscopalCuria 211 Conclusion 230 viii contents ListofAbbreviations 239 Notes 243 Bibliography 331 Index 367 Acknowledgments 377 Introduction Whileeachchurchdistricthaditsidiosyncrasies,thepattern wasprettymuchthesame.Themainthingwasnottohelp children,buttoavoid“scandal.”Thatisnotourword,but theirs;itappearsoverandoveragaininthedocumentswe recovered....Specialagentstestifiedbeforeusthattheyhad identifiedaseriesofpracticesthatregularlyappeared,in variousconfigurations,inthediocesanfilestheyhadanalyzed. It’slikeaplaybookforconcealingthetruth. —Pennsylvaniagrandjuryreport,August2018 I suspect most historians have moments when the past becomes overly present —so much so that it seems more than mere coincidence; it seems uncanny. In May2002,thenewsbrokethatCatholicpriestsinBostonwereguiltyofmulti- ple incidents of child abuse. As if this was not horrific enough, it turned out that the ecclesiastical authorities were aware of this abuse but did nothing to punish theoffenders.Instead theykeptsilentabouttheseoffenses,coercingthe victims and their families into doing likewise, and simply moved the offending clerics to different parishes.1 I remembered that a similar solution had been anticipatedbythethirteenth-centuryscholasticHenryofGhent,whoraisedthe questionofwhatasuperiorshoulddointheeventthathelearnsthroughconfes- sion that one of his subordinates is a threat to his parishioners. The answer: keep silent and, when the opportunity arises, move him. I began to wonder if this degree of ecclesiastical subterfuge in concealing clerical vice had been in place long before the multiple scandals that rocked the Boston church and the world.Thiswastheuncannymomentthatledtothewritingofthisbook.2 As I was completing my research, more and more instances of abuse came to light, and the members of the public were aghast. Catholics and non- Catholics alike kept asking what could have gone so horribly wrong, or, as a recent editorial in the New York Times put it: “How have so many pedophiles been allowed into the priesthood? How could bishops have so consistently
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