Book of Gomorrah: An Eleventh-Century Treatise against Clerical Homosexual Practices

XVII. A Mournful Lament for the Soul Who Is Given Over to the Filth of Impurity75

XVII A MOURNFUL LAMENT FOR THE SOUL WHO IS GIVEN OVER TO THE FILTH OF IMPURITY75 O, I weep for you unfortunatesoul, and from the depths of my heart I sigh over the lot of your destruction. I weep for you, I say, miserable soul who aregiven over to the filth of impurity. You are to be mourned indeed with a whole fountain of tears. What a pity! "Who will give to my head waters and my eyes a fountainof tears?"76 And this mournful voice is not now less suitably drawn from my sobbing self than was then spoken out of the prophetic mouth. I do not bewail the stone ramparts of acity fortified with towers, not the lower buildings ofa temple made by hands; I do not lament the progress of a vile people taken into the captivity of the rule of the Babylonian king. My plaint is for the noble soul made in the image and likeness of God and joined with the most precious blood of Christ. It is brighter than many buildings, certainly to be preferred to all the heights of earthly construction. Therefore I especially lament the lapse ofthe soul and the destruction ofthe temple in which Christ had resided. O eyes wear yourselves out in crying aloud, overflow the rivers full of tears, water with continuous tears my sad, mournful face! With the prophet, "let my eyes stream with tears 75 Sectionsof chapters, 17, 18, and 23 may be found in an Italian translationin C. Mazzotti, "II celibato e la castita del clero in S. Pier Damiano," Studi su S. Pier Damiano in onore del Cardinale Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (2nd ed.; Faenza, 1970), 352-54. 76 Jer. 8:20. 66 Lament for the Soul Given to Impurity 67 day and night and not be silent since with a great sorrow the virgin daughter of my people is contrite over her incurable wound."77 In fact the daughter of my people was struck with the worst blow because the soul, which was the daughter of holy Church, was cruelly wounded with the spear of impurity by the enemy of the human race. She who was nourished tenderly and softly with the milk of sacred teaching in the hall of the eternal King now is infected as by a plague with the poison of lust, buried in the sulphurous ashes of Gomorrah, and isseen lying out rigid. "Those accustomed to dainty food perish in the streets; those brought up in purple now cling to a dung heap."78 Why? The prophet continues, saying, "For the punishment of the daughter ofmy people is greater than the penalty of Sodom, which was overthrown in»7Q an instant. In fact, the iniquity of a Christian soul surpasses the sin of the Sodomites because each one now falls in a worseway insofar as he defies the very commands of evangelical grace. The knowledge of divine law vehemently accuses him, lest he find relief in a plan to excuse himself. Alas! Alas! why, unhappy soul, do you not consider from what heights of dignity you have been cast, and of how much charming splendour and glory you have been stripped? "How the Lord in his wrath covered daughter Zion with darkness. He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel."80 "Gone from daughter Zion is all her beauty."81 1sympathize with your calamity and weep bitterly over your shame, saying, "Worn out from weeping are my eyes, within me all is in ferment; my gall is poured out on the ground because of the downfall of the daughter ofmy people. "82 And you, pretending to take thought of your wickedness, and yet acquiring souls through crime,83 say, "I sit enthroned as a queen, no widow am I."84 Saddened at your captivity I exclaim, "Why is Jacob led away as a slave by birth and Israel become booty?"85 "You keep saying: I am rich and have grown 77 Jer. 14:17. 78 Lam. 4:5. 79 Lam. 4:6. 80 Lam. 2:1. 81 Lam. 1:6. 82 Lam. 2:11. 83 See Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.474, trans, by J. F. Miller (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA, 1916). 84 Rev. 18:7. 85 SeeJer. 2:14. 68 Book of Gomorrah wealthy and want for nothing. Little do you realizehow wretched you are, how pitiable and poor, how blind and naked."86 Consider...