Abstract
Jérôme Lejeune, Servant of God, is a man for our season. Like Saint Thomas More, the “Man for all Seasons,” who gave his life rather than compromise his convictions, Venerable Jérôme Lejeune, at the cost of great sacrifice, kept his eye on a higher goal.
This work provides a detailed account of Jérôme Lejeune's heroic life story. Dr. Lejeune is credited with detecting, in 1958, the underlying cause of Down syndrome. He showed that the presence of a third “extra” chromosome #21 was the culprit. He was on a fast track to winning the Nobel Prize, but he sacrificed his chances in deference to a greater prize—his chance to be an outspoken, unshakable advocate for his little patients who could not defend themselves.
Reading this biography has caused me to reflect on how the example of his heroic sacrifices might have a direct bearing on my own professional commitment. He paid a great personal and professional cost for upholding his Hippocratic commitment to his Down syndrome patients. Today, more than ever, in this season of cancellation culture, many of us Catholic physicians find ourselves pressured to avoid any discussion of faith, morals, or political issues. If ever we were confronted, would any of us hold as openly and unflinchingly to our core beliefs, no matter the cost?
As a committed Catholic, Dr. LeJeune was a “triple hitter”—devoted husband and father of five, compassionate practitioner, and world-class scientist. In this biography, we learn how his discovery that a chromosomal aberration was the cause of Down syndrome had rocketed his reputation to worldwide acclaim. However, Professor Lejeune was aghast at the realization that his discovery, facilitating the prenatal detection of this condition, could lead to the categorical abortion of these little unborn children whose only crime was that they would be born unwanted.
This biographic account highlights the fact that Dr. Lejeune's concern for the lives of children with Down syndrome was more than theoretical. Long before the term “translational research” was coined, Dr. Lejeune had been combining his scientific investigations with a lively medical practice focused on the care of these very patients. Their expressions of reciprocal affection for him were open and easy.
The turning point in Dr. Lejeune's research career came with his acceptance speech in San Francisco, in 1969, as the recipient of the prestigious Allen Memorial Prize. Awarded to him by the Congress of the American Society of Genetics, it was considered an important stepping stone to receiving the Nobel Prize itself. Confidantes, aware of Dr. Lejeune's pro-life convictions, urged him to focus his speech on the scientific aspects of his ground-breaking research, avoiding divisive ethical considerations. However, Dr. Lejeune chose the high road, at great personal and professional cost. Before a packed ballroom of international medical experts, Dr. Lejeune publicly declared his disagreement with eugenic practices: To kill or not to kill, that is the question. For millennia, medicine has striven to fight for life and health and against disease and death. Any reversal of the order of these terms of reference would entirely change medicine itself … Our duty has always been, not to inflict the sentence, but to try to commute the penalty; the pain. (p. 144)
His presentation was met with stunned silence and many cold shoulders. On the flight home, Dr. Lejeune wrote his wife to share that, if he had ever had a chance of winning the Nobel Prize, this presentation had killed it. However, he would rather have made a speech that killed his chances, than to have remained silent, while so many little Down syndrome babies were being killed before they were born.
Dr. Lejeune paid dearly in his native France, where his opposition to the legalization of abortion made him the target of street riots and death threats. His presentations were interrupted by pro-abortion agitators, shouting “Boo, Boo! Bastard Lejeune!. Death to Papa Lejeune and his little monsters!” (p. 160).
Rescue of his reputation came via acclaim from the Vatican—first from Pope Paul VI, who appointed Dr. Lejeune to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and then from Saint Pope John Paul II, who chose him to take the lead in the foundation of the Pontifical Academy for Life. On January 21, 2021, twenty-seven years after his death, Professor Lejeune was declared venerable by Pope Francis, not for his academic accomplishments, but for his “heroic virtues” in staying true to his Catholic faith.
Beyond reading this book simply for its value as a good read—and it is that—I would propose it as an opportunity for us to reflect on our own hesitancy to speak out, as Catholic physicians, on the values that we hold as fundamental and sacrosanct. We need not necessarily look for confrontation, but always be ready to proudly defend our Faith. Rather than shrinking from such discussions, let us look forward eagerly to occasions when we can listen patiently, then respond with kindness and clarity. Let us champion with persuasive reasoning and contagious enthusiasm our pro-life point of view. Dr. Lejeune encourages us: “Do not be afraid. It is you who pass on the words of life.” 1
