Do the Catholics still castrate their choir boys so that they can sing higher notes?

Question

There are at least two very, very good answers here. I am putting this to vote both because I can not decide and because Others should see these two answers before they get buried.

Answer 1

Er.

No.

Not since this practice was condemned by Papal decree in 1878.


But, why, in the first place, were the castrati brought into being? It all goes back a long way, to when the eunuchs of the harem were sometimes found to have sweet singing voices, to entertain their masters' many ladies. Gradually it was realized that early castration of boys around the ages of 8 to 10 (who could already sing) would save their singing voices; first for the church and cathedral choirs, and, after rigorous training, for the opera: to sing male and female roles.

Male roles? The heroes who were the stars of 17th and 18th Century opera had high voices to match their high rank, as it was then conceived. Tenors and basses sang comic parts; old men types.

Female roles? Women were not allowed to tread the boards in many Catholic countries; the Popes would not permit such a thing. St. Paul said, "Let women be silent in churches", following the Judaic pattern of men being the cantors and the women sitting in the gallery!!

Opera?...that was indecent; shocking; the thin edge of the wedge.

The castrati were a strange breed. endowed, some would say with the "voices of angels"; men in size and appearance, but with feminine high voices, so people said. They earned vast sums of money; lived high, wide and handsome...and longer than the average male of the period.

They were boys with outstanding singing voices who were offered by their families for castration, to preserve those voices. Mostly the boys came from very poor families, who saw nothing wrong in the practice, since it would lift them out of poverty, and we are talking what is called "Third World" poverty today.

Answer 2

Probably not, that was an old practice. I wouldn't be surprised if it still secretely went on today, however. Doesn't that sound so evil though, the whole concept of castration?

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure the last one we did was in the twenties and He wasn't that great a falsetto either.

Answer 4

Nope, last castrato was recorded in the early 1900's....can't remember his name but there is a recording of him.

Answer 5

Nope. They haven't done that for some time.
-MM

Answer 6

I don't know what every individual Catholic does, but CATHOLICISM prohibits castration.

"Castration was forbidden under canon law. The church condemned the practice and occasionally excommunicated the person responsible for the surgery."

Answer 7

Umm, no they haven't hit puberty yet, that's why they can sing the higher notes..

Answer 8

Why -- are you volunteering to sing a solo on Easter?

If so, I guess we'd better get out the scalpel. . .time's a'wasting.

Answer 9

I hope not. They probably don't. Now that women are coming of equal status, they could just use them. And plus, the public would be in an uproar if little boys were being castrated. >_>

Answer 10

Nah, priests like to play with them..