Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/24

 INFESSURA

INFIDELS

Among the ancient philosophers and medieval theo- logians there was considerable discussion as to when the human embryo could be said to possess human life. This is no longer a question among modern biologists. At the very moment of conception a human being comes into existence. At any time after this the deprivation of life in this living matter, if done delib- erately, is murder. The laws of most States in the Union are so framed that conditions may not be de- liberately created which would put the hfe of the foetus in danger, or which would bring about an abor- tion before the foetus is viable, unless it has been de- cided in a consultation of physicians that the lives of both mother and child are in danger and only one of them can be saved. The comparative safety of the Cffisarean section has also worked in the direction of safeguarding the life of the unborn child. The killing of a viable child because it is impossible to deliver it by the natural birth passages is now condemned by physicians all over the world. Craniotomy, that is, the crushing of the skull of a living child in order to facilitate its delivery, where great difficidty was en- countered, was a common teaching in medical schools a generation ago, but the stand taken by the Church has had its effect in gradually bringing about a change of teaching and a recognition of the right of the child to life. Craniotomy on the living child is now never considered justifiable. When it is definitely known that the foetus is dead, crushing methods may be em- ployed to extract it piecemeal, but this procedure is much more dangerous for the mother than Cesarean section.

Many drugs are purchased by women with the idea that they will protluce abortion without endangering the mother's life. No such drugs are known to modern medical science. There are drugs in the pharmaco- pceia which produce abortions, but only by alifecting the mother very seriously. Abortion sometimes oc- curs after the taking of certain drugs supposed to pro- duce it; but the premature birth is not due to the drug, it is caused by other influences. Twenty per cent of all pregnancies end in premature births. The unfortunate woman who has had recourse to the drug then imagines that she has committed infanticide, and in intention she has; but the actual event has not been the result of the drug, unless that drug was one of the poisonous kind known as "abortifacients" and abor- tion took place in the convtdsion which followed. It is absolutely certain that no known drug will produce abortion without producing very serious effects upon the mother, and even gravely endangering her life.

(For the teaching of the Church on pre-natal infan- ticide, see Abortion.)

Brouardel, L'Infanticide (Paris, 1907); TAHDiEn, Vlnfan- ticide (Paris, 1868); Ryan, Infanticide, its Prevalence, Preven- tion and History (Fothergill Gold Medal S. A.), (London, 1862) ; JiovROON.U Infanticide dans les legislations anciennes et modernes (Douai. 1896). — All the standard works on medical jurispru- dence have chapters on this subject.

James J. Walsh.

Infessura, Stefano; b. at Rome about 14,35; d. about 1500. He devoted himself to the study of law, took the degree of Doctor of Laws, and acquired a solid legal knowledge. He was for a while judge in Orte, whence he came to the Roman University as professor of Roman law. Under Sixtus IV (1471- 84) his office was affected by the financial measures of that pope, who frequently withheld the income of the Roman University, appUed it to other uses, and reduced the salaries of the professors. Infessura was also for a long time secretary of the Roman Senate. He was entangled in the conspiracy of Stefano Porcaro against Nicholas V {li!>',i), which aimed at overturn- ing the papal Government and making Rome a repub- lic (Pastor, "Gcsch. dcr Papste", 4th ed., I, 550 sq.). Infessura also belonged to the antipapal faction, formed among the paganizing Humanists of the Roman

Academy under Pomponio Leto (op. cit., II, 322 sqq.). He is particularly well known as the author of a work, partly Latin and partly Italian, the " Diarium urbis Romae " (Diario dellaCitta di Roma), a chronicle of the city from 1294 to 1494. The historical information is not of special value until the time of Martin V and Eugene IV, or rather until the pontificates of Paul II (1464-71), SLxtus IV (1471-84), Innocent VIII (1484-1492), and the first part of the reign of Alex- ander VI. The antipapal and republican temper of the author, also his partisan devotion to the Colonna, and his personal animosity, led him to indulge in very severe charges and violent accusations of the popes, especially Sixtus IV. He put down in his chronicle every fragment of the most preposterous and malevo- lent gossip current in Roman society; even obvious falsehoods are attributed to him. He is therefore not considered a reliable chronicler. It is only with the greatest caution and after very careful criticism that his work can be used for the papal history of his time. The "Diarium" was first edited by Eccard (Corpus historicum medii a;vi, II, 1863-2016) ; afterwards, with omission of the most scandalous parts, by Muratori (Scriptores rerum Italicarum, III, ii, 1111-1252); a critical edition of the text is owing to Tommasini, " Diario della Citti di Roma di Stefano Infessura scribasenato " (Fonti per la storia d'ltalia, VI, Rome, 1890).

Tommasini, II diario di Stefano Infessura in Archivio della So^ cietci romana di storia pairia, XI (Rome, 1888), 481-640: Idem. Nuovi documenti illustralivi del Diario di Stef. Infessura. XH (Rome, 1889), S-36 ; Pastor, Geschichte der Piipste, 4th ed., II, passim, especially 646-649.

J. P. IVIRSCH.

Infidels (Lat. in, privative, and fidelis). — As in ecclesiastical language those who by baptism have received faith in Jesus Christ and have pledged Him their fidelity are called the faithful, so the name infidel is given to those who have not been baptized. The term applies not only to all who are ignorant of the true God, such as pagans of various kinds, but also to those who adore Him but do not recognize Jesus Christ, as Jews, Mohammedans; strictly speaking it may be used of catecliuinens also, though in early ages they were called Christ iaus; for it is only through baptism that one can enter the ranks of the faithful. Those however who have been baptized but do not belong to the Catholic Church, heretics and schis- matics of divers confessions, are not called infidels but non-Catholics. The relation in which all these classes stand to the Catholic Church is not the same; in principle, those who have been baptized are subjects of the Church and her cliildren even though they be rebellious children; they are under her laws or, at least, are exempt from them only so far as pleases the Church. Infidels, on the contrary, are not members of the ecclesiastical society, according to the words of St. Paul: "Quid mihi de liis qui foris sunt, judicare? " (I Cor., v, 12); they are entirely exempt from the canon law; they are presumed ignorant, not rebel- lious; they need to be enlightened and converted, not punished. Needless to say, infidels do not belong to the supernatural state; if they receive super- natural graces from God, it is not through the channels established by Jesus Christ for Christians, Init by a direct personal inspiration, for histancc, the grace of conversion. But their condition is not morally bad; negative infidelity, says St. Thomas (II-II, q. x, a. 1), does not partake of the nature of sin, but rather of punishment, in the sense that ignorance of the Faith is a consequence of original sin. That is why the condemnation l)y the Church of proposition Ixviii of Baius: "Infidelitas pure negativa, in his quibvis Christus non est pra;dicatus, iiccc:Ltum est" (purely negative infidelity in those to wliuni Christ has not been preached is a sin), was fully justified. But it .'s different with regard to positive infidelity, which is a