Bioethics is one of the few academic disciplines and professions that does not have a patron saint. We at The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) think this may change soon. Jérôme Lejeune, a French medical doctor and world class geneticist, was recently declared venerable — the first step on the road to canonization, by the Church. He led a remarkable life that began with scientific break-through discoveries and continued with decades of faithful work defending the right to life of human embryos and preborn children.

It is remarkable to me that the Vatican declaration of Professor Lejeune’s heroic virtues came on the eve of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that “discovered” a constitutional right to abortion. Lejeune is such an example and inspiration for faithful Catholics. He proved and explained the genetic origins of Down syndrome and then spent the rest of his days defending the sacred dignity and rights of human beings from conception. He opposed with every fiber of his being the tragically common “search and destroy” procedure of prenatal genetic diagnosis followed immediately by the abortion of preborn children with chromosomal defects. It broke his heart that his genetic discovery was used for such an evil purpose.

A brilliant scientific mind was combined in Lejeune with a fervent Catholic faith and a stubborn refusal to accept the logic and rewards of the Culture of Death. When Lejeune published in the 1950s his revolutionary finding that Trisomy 21 (the existence of three rather than the normal two 21st chromosomes) causes Down syndrome, he received an endowed professorship in Paris and international prizes. Abortion was not legal in most countries, but opinion leaders quickly saw the potential for “curing” genetic anomalies by prenatal testing and then killing the patients Professor Lejeune wanted to treat. It is sickening how misleading terminology is frequently used to disguise or sanitize abortion. Some mothers are told there is only one “treatment” when they receive a diagnosis of a genetic anomaly for their preborn child. The intervention recommended is not therapeutic in any way but simply the killing of the baby. Sometimes the deception is so complete that the mother does not even realize that she had an abortion. I heard of a Hispanic woman who did not speak English well and who was told the results of the prenatal test she took meant she had to have a procedure. She only realized afterwards that the procedure was an abortion.

There is every reason to believe that Dr. Lejeune would have received the Nobel Prize and other rewards if he had kept silent about the abortion juggernaut being launched to perversely take advantage of his scientific findings. Instead, he embarked on a passionate and heavily criticized battle to defend our most vulnerable and innocent brothers and sisters. In his medical practice, Lejeune became famous for his warmth and kindly approach that helped so many families with Down syndrome affected children. Lejeune found several treatments, like the use of folic acid during pregnancy, to help prevent birth defects and care for the little babies he loved so much. There are many moving stories of the strong bond that developed between this doctor and his special patients.

The NCBC Vice President for Finance, Don Powers, has a daughter born with Down syndrome, Mary-Ellen. She has a career as the assistant to the CEO of Special Olympics of Rhode Island. Mary-Ellen graduated from Barrington High School and attended university. Dr. Lejeune came to speak to the NCBC Workshop for Bishops and told Don that these children are a treasure and gift from Our Lord to families. I have in fact heard from many people how some families with children born with Down syndrome are filled with love and blessings they attribute to the presence and tenderness of that special child.

Lejeune came to the US frequently and spoke internationally everywhere he could to spread love for and understanding of the miracle of human life that begins at conception. Most famously, his expert testimony convinced a Tennessee judge of the humanity and right to life of tiny human embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization and the unfortunate objects of a custody battle. He wrote his insights in The Concentration Can, a book that exposes the horrors of conceiving and manipulating human embryos in laboratories.

Clara Lejeune-Gaymard wrote a beautiful and very personal short biography of her father, Life Is a Blessing. The NCBC reprinted this edifying story of Catholic bioethics in action. It includes the letter Saint John Paul II sent after Lejeune’s death on Easter Sunday 1994. In it, the holy pope of life, his close friend, gave credit to the man whose heroic virtues have just been recognized as the main initiator for the creation of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Lejeune served as the Academy for Life’s first president for 33 days before his death.

We could all profit by learning more about Lejeune and by pursuing holiness and excellence in our professional lives as he did. We now must pray and wait confidently for the miracles the Church uses as heaven’s confirmation that Jérôme Lejeune should be proclaimed a saint. 

He left a remarkable legacy in the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation that was created after his death to carry on his work. Today it is a flourishing institution and is the top French funding organization for research to treat genetic disorders that affect human intelligence. The foundation that bears his name also provides medical treatment and is a powerful advocate for bioethics and public policies that respect the dignity of the human person. The NCBC collaborated often with Lejeune in his bioethical efforts and encouraged and participated in the creation of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation USA. We are so thrilled to have the holiness and heroism of a close friend of the NCBC recognized and celebrated by the Church.