Abstract
How did the Catholic church envisage the ‘plague’ of birth control? This chapter looks at modern Catholic discourse as it unfolded in relation to rising interest in and uptake of birth control. The private practice that in France was earlier codified in terms of ‘the use of Onan’ thus later became a ‘plague’ in the United States in the 1920s. The Italian State and the Catholic Church fought the mentality of birth control together. Catholic authorities saw an unavoidable link between contraception and the subversion of gender roles. Vatican departments collected information on the International Birth Control Movement. These sources pointed to the ‘pretext of science’ used to justify birth control ‘doctrines’. The scientific discourse about sex could not simply be opposed as obscene, as physicians acted as moralists. It was therefore a matter of distinguishing between good and bad medical discourses.
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Notes
- 1.
Langlois , Le crime d’Onan, 55.
- 2.
Noonan , Contraception, 472.
- 3.
Langlois , Le crime d’Onan, 56.
- 4.
Whenever someone believes that a specific course of action is legitimate, whether because of their own reasoning or because of the counsel of trusted authorities, they can always take this course regardless of whether the alternative is potentially safer; see Tutino, Uncertainty in Post-Reformation Catholicism, 30 and 352.
- 5.
Tutino , Uncertainty in Post-Reformation Catholicism, 33.
- 6.
Langlois , Le crime d’Onan, 178.
- 7.
Langlois , Le crime d’Onan, 237.
- 8.
Alfieri , Nella camera degli sposi, 58 and 143.
- 9.
See for example Joshua Cole, The Power of Large Numbers: Population, Politics, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century France (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2018), 180 and ff.
- 10.
R. Scott Appleby, ‘Between Americanism and Modernism: John Zahm and Theistic Evolution’. Church History 56, no. 4 (1987): 474–490; Roger Aubert, Storia della Chiesa (Milan Jaca Book, 1993), vol. 9, 402.
- 11.
Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, Rerum Variarum, 1936, 2 (407/1934). Some of this material is also located in the Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a.
- 12.
Nota d’Ufficio, 17 February 1934, ACDF, Rerum Variarum, 1936, 2 (407/1934).
- 13.
Pietro Fumasoni Biondi’s report enclosed with the letter from the Concistorial Congregation to the Holy Office, 17 June 1925, ACDF, Rerum Variarum, 1936, 2 (407/1934).
- 14.
ACDF, Rerum Variarum, 1936, 2 (407/1934).
- 15.
Ellen Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007).
- 16.
Patrick Hayes, ‘Archbishop Hayes on Birth Control’. New York Times (18 December 1921), 16.
- 17.
Kathleen A. Tobin, The American Religious Debate over Birth Control, 1907–1937 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001).
- 18.
Margaret Sanger, ‘Mrs Sanger replies to Archbishop Hayes’. New York Times (20 December 1921), 24.
- 19.
ACDF, Rerum Variarum, 1936, 2 (407/1934).
- 20.
Letter from Pietro Fumasoni Biondi to Rafael Merry del Val, 31 January 1927, ACDF, Rerum Variarum, 1936, 2 (407/1934).
- 21.
John Montgomery Cooper, Birth Control (Washington, DC: National Catholic Welfare Conference, 1923). See also Elizabeth McKeown, ‘From Pascendi to Primitive Man: The Apologetics and Anthropology of John Montgomery Cooper’. U.S. Catholic Historian vol. 13, no. No. 2 (1995): 1–21, 6.
- 22.
McKeown , ‘From Pascendi to Primitive Man’, 13.
- 23.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 26r.
- 24.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a.
- 25.
Carroll Quigley, Constantine McGuire: Man of Mystery, Courier, December 1965, pp. 16–20. The original is available at http://www.carrollquigley.net/Articles/constantine_McGuire man_of_mystery.htm (retrieved in April 2020).
- 26.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 41r.
- 27.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 41r.
- 28.
Edward Roberts Moore, The Case Against Birth Control (New York: Century Company, 1931). On Moore, see Leslie W. Tentler, Catholics and Contraception: An American History (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004), 125.
- 29.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 4r.
- 30.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 4r.
- 31.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 6r.
- 32.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 10r.
- 33.
Vatican Apostolic Archive, ‘Prevalence of Contraceptive Practices among Catholics of the United States’, Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti Sezione II, pos. 345a, 10r.
- 34.
Moore , Case Against Birth Control, 19–20.
- 35.
See Carl Ipsen, Dictating Demography: The Problem of Population in Fascist Italy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992); Francesco Cassata, ‘A ‘Scientific Basis’ for Fascism: The Neo-Organicism of Corrado Gini’. History of Economic Ideas 16, no. 3 (2008): 49–64.
- 36.
On urban lifestyle and birth decline, see G. David Horn, Social Bodies. Science, Reproduction, and Italian Modernity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001). On Gini, see Francesco Cassata and Erin O’Loughlin, Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2011), 36.
- 37.
Maria Sophia Quine, ‘The First-Wave Eugenic Revolution in Southern Europe: Science sans Frontières’. In The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics, edited by Alison Bashford and Philippa Levine (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
- 38.
See Pozzi, The Regulation of Public Morality and Eugenics.
- 39.
Blätter des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes, Wohlfahrt und Sozialhygiene, October 1930. Quoted in Archivio degli Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari, Stati Ecclesiastici 1926–1935 pos. 385–388, 22.
- 40.
Atina Grossmann, Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform, 1920–1950 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
- 41.
Ingrid Richter, Katholizismus und Eugenik in Der Weimarer Republik und Im Dritten Reich: Zwischen Sittlichkeitsreform und Rassenhygiene (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2001).
- 42.
Albertina Vittoria, I Diari di Luigi Federzoni. Appunti per una Biografia. Studi Storici 36, no. 3 (1995): 729–60, 733.
- 43.
La vita del popolo, 18 settembre 1926, a. 34, n. 38, p. 1.
- 44.
Guido Verucci, La Chiesa Nella Società Contemporanea: Dal Primo Dopoguerra al Concilio Vaticano II. (Rome: Editori Laterza, 1988), 51.
- 45.
See Pozzi, The Regulation of Public Morality and Eugenics.
- 46.
Archivio Romanum Societatis Iesu, Tacchi Venturi, Fondo 7, Fascicolo 405 Maltusiano, Movimento neo Maltusiano, Minuta della lettera a Federzoni.
- 47.
Archivio storico della Sacra Congregazione degli Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari, Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267.
- 48.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 5.
- 49.
Norman Haire, Birth Control, Abortion and Sterilization, (London: Kegan Paul, 1930).
- 50.
André Armengaud, Mouvement ouvrier et Néo-Malthusianisme au début du XXe siècle. Annales De Démographie Historique, (1966): 7–21.
- 51.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 5–6.
- 52.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 5.
- 53.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 6.
- 54.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 11.
- 55.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 12.
- 56.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 13.
- 57.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 7 and 13.
- 58.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 7–8; see Angus Mclaren, A History of Contraception. From Antiquity to Present Day (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), 182 and ff; Robert Jütte, Contraception. A History (Malden, MA: Polity, 2008), 107 and ff.
- 59.
On Humphrey Noyes see Linda Gordon, The Moral Property of Women, 45.
- 60.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 14.
- 61.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 14.
- 62.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 14.
- 63.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 9 and 14.
- 64.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 9.
- 65.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 14.
- 66.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 9.
- 67.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 17.
- 68.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 18–19.
- 69.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 17.
- 70.
Francesco Cassata, Il Fascismo Razionale: Corrado Gini Fra Scienza e Politica (Roma: Carocci, 2006), 26 and ff.
- 71.
AA.EE.SS. Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti II 354A, controllo delle nascite, f. 51r.
- 72.
AA.EE.SS. Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti II 354A, controllo delle nascite, f. 51r.
- 73.
AA.EE.SS. Archivio Delegazione Stati Uniti II 354A, controllo delle nascite, f. 51r.
- 74.
Matthew J. Connelly, Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009).
- 75.
Carl Ipsen, Dictating Demography, 205.
- 76.
Henri Brenier, ‘Le congrès de la population mondiale à Genève et la conspiration néo-malthusienne’. Correspondant n. 10, Ottobre (1927), 1–16; AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, IV periodo, anno 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O., fasc. 283, p. 89–96.
- 77.
Brenier , Le congrès de la population mondiale à Genève et la conspiration néo-malthusienne, 15.
- 78.
Brenier , Le congrès de la population mondiale à Genève et la conspiration néo-malthusienne, 15.
- 79.
Brenier , Le congrès de la population mondiale à Genève et la conspiration néo-malthusienne, 15.
- 80.
Attacks Paris Modistes, New York Times, 28 March 1922 (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/03/28/99002953.pdf retrieved in May 2020).
- 81.
AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, anno 1926–1935, pos. 385 P.O., fasc. 267, 28.
- 82.
Archivio Romanum Societatis Iesu, Tacchi Venturi, Fondo 7, Fascicolo 405 Maltusiano, Movimento neo Maltusiano, Minuta della lettera a Federzoni.
- 83.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 397 P.O., fasc. 283, 3.
- 84.
Francesco Cassata, Il Fascismo Razionale, 10.
- 85.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 397 P.O., fasc. 283, 4.
- 86.
Marcello Boldrini, La conferenza mondiale della popolazione a Ginevra, Vita e pensiero, novembre (1927): 648–658. See AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 397 P.O., fasc. 283, 60.
- 87.
Boldrini , La conferenza mondiale della popolazione a Ginevra, 652.
- 88.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 13.
- 89.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 12.
- 90.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 16.
- 91.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 17.
- 92.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 18.
- 93.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 18.
- 94.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 20.
- 95.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 19.
- 96.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 21.
- 97.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 21.
- 98.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 21.
- 99.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 21.
- 100.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 23–24.
- 101.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 24.
- 102.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 24.
- 103.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 22.
- 104.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 22.
- 105.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 23.
- 106.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 24.
- 107.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 24.
- 108.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 27.
- 109.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 27.
- 110.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 28.
- 111.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 28–29.
- 112.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 28.
- 113.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 28.
- 114.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 40.
- 115.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 29–30.
- 116.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 42.
- 117.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 42.
- 118.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 43.
- 119.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 44.
- 120.
AA.EE.SS., Stati ecclesiastici, 1927–1932, Pos. 397 P.O. fasc. 283, 44.
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Pozzi, L. (2021). Responding to the ‘Plague of Birth Control’. In: The Catholic Church and Modern Sexual Knowledge, 1850-1950. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79786-7_8
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