SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,83

would have attracted other men due to their fertility. But with that they would have endangered their already existing children. It is a fact that among primitive peoples many stepchildren become victims of infanticides.

5. As a matter of fact, cats and Christians should have gotten along very well: They both had immigrated to Europe from the same corner of the world, and they both had made a very good start. The house cats shared the retreats with the first pious hermits and kept the mice away from the food. In the bible itself felines – except for lions – are not mentioned. They are said to have existed in the original transcripts, but were cut out later. As the saying goes, the Jews held the sacral role against the cats, which they played among their foes in Ancient Egypt.

In the beginning early Christianity was in favor of cats. According to a pious legend, in the year 600 a wandering monk received audience by Pope Gregory I. in Rome. In order to test the monk’s obedience, the pope ordered him to kill the most valuable he got. At that the monk pulled a small cat out of the sleeve of his frock. The pope stopped him with a wave of his hand and also pulled a cat out of his sleeve. Above all, the poor people believed to the seal of Mother Mary in the »M« on the forehead of many tabby cats. Also, the cat was the only pet allowed in some nunneries. In pious paintings a kitten always accompanies the Virgin Mary.

But in the early Middle Ages when the influence of the heathen gods finally vanished and Christianity began its historical triumph, a fatal change of mind happened. All of a sudden the churchly thirst for power arose to exterminate all leftovers of atheist folk belief without mercy. The cats were hunted extremely grimly, because they were connected to the proscribed fertility cult. The same animal, which had been the perfect symbol of the female and the maternal, now was charged with the reputation of a »hellspawn«. From this time one the icy wind of persecution blew at her.

In the middle of the 13th century, Brother Bertold of Regensburg, a Franciscan friar, preached from the pulpit that the cats’ breath spread the plague. At the same time he got exited about apostates: »Der Ketzer heißt deshalb Ketzer, weil er in seiner Art keinem Tier so gleicht wie der Katze! (The heretic is called heretic because his behavior reminds a lot of cats – the German word »Ketzer« (heretic) sounds very similar to the German word »Katze« (cat).)« For cats the peaceful times of happy mouse-hunting and the cozy nap at the warm heater were well and truly over, when in 1484 Pope published the fatal bull: »Summis desiderantes affectibus«. With this he mandated the persecution and killing of all cats and those who harbored cats. According to the church’s opinion, the latter were wizards and witches, who were in league with the devil.

Between the 12th and the 14th century all miscreant sects were accused of worshipping the devil in the shape of a big black cat. Faith communities like the Templar and Cathari were villainized, as they were said to be hold unspeakable rituals, which colorably led to cannibalism, sacrifice of infants, excessive orgies and last but not least the solemn anal kiss of a black cat. Together with heretics and »witches« cats were condemned to hell and held up to the inquisition. With the rise of the witch-hunt, which lasted for about 300 years and reached its high-point in the 16th and 17th century, also countless cats lost their lives due to fire, sword or other gruesome acts. Often the possession of a cat was enough to be called a witch and be sentenced, especially when the cat was black and the owner was old and fragile.

On holidays notably sadistic »exorcisms« were done to cats. Alone or together with witches, infanticides, bandits or the wicked they were hung or tied up in sacks and drowned. They were coated with pitch, got their ears and tails cut off and were thrown into boiling water. At the Feast of St. John the Baptist cats often were put into a basket, which was solemnly set on fire by the bishop. In Ypern in Western Flanders it was a common ritual to throw living cats from the steeple during the »cat month« February. At some remote period this spectacle turned into an