Paul.
Thence came a dread of mutilating the body in such a way that
some injury might result to its final resurrection at the Last
Day, and additional reasons for hindering dissections in the
study of anatomy.
To these arguments against dissection was now added
another--one which may well fill us with amazement. It is the
remark of the foremost of recent English philosophical
historians, that of all organizations in human history the Church
of Rome has caused the greatest spilling of innocent blood. No
one conversant with history, even though he admit all possible
extenuating circumstances, and honour the older Church for the
great services which can undoubtedly be claimed for her, can deny
this statement. Strange is it, then, to note that one of the main
objections developed in the Middle Ages against anatomical studies
was the maxim that "the Church abhors the shedding of blood."
On this ground, in 1248, the Council of Le Mans forbade
surgery to monks. Many other councils did the same, and at the
end of the thirteenth century came the most serious blow of all;
for then it was that Pope Boniface VIII, without any of that
foresight of consequences which might well have been expected in
an infallible teacher, issued a decretal forbidding a practice
which had come into use during the Crusades, namely, the
separation of the flesh from the bones of the dead whose remains
it was desired to carry back to their own country.
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