Castrati in the papal choir of the Sistine Chapel from 1601

In Italy boys were castrated so that their voices would not break and they could sing as adult sopranos. Although the mutilation was forbidden, at times on pain of death, from 1601 the first castrato, the priest Girolamo Rosini, sang in the papal choir of the Sistine Chapel; according to Grove, such voices were always found there from then on, in the late 19th century even in the director of the choir. The Britannica calls them "the musical glory and moral shame of the papal choir" until the accession of Leo XIII.

Period

1601-1878 (277 years)

Country

Italy, Vatican City

Institutions

Papal Chapel (Sistine Choir)
Holy See

Category

Violence

Level of evidence

B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?

Persons

Girolamo Rosini (priest, admitted to the papal choir in 1601 as the first castrato)
Leo XIII (Pope, according to the Britannica removed the castrati from the papal choir)

Background

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

1. The reason was the demand for high male voices. After 1441 the records no longer mention boys in the papal choir; soprano and alto were sung by adult men, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia "natural (and occasionally unnatural)" sopranos.
   Evidence: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Wikisource, Artikel Sistine Choir

   „After the year 1441 the records no longer mention the presence of boys in the choir, the high voices, soprano and alto, being thenceforth sung by natural (and occasionally unnatural) soprani falsetti and high tenors respectively.“

Response of the Church

1. The first such singer permitted to sing in the Sistine Chapel was the priest Girolamo Rosini of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, admitted in 1601. According to Grove (around 1880), such voices were always found in the choir from then on, including in the then director Mustafa. By its own account, the choir only admitted voices that had arisen "accidentally".
   Evidence: A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, hrsg. von George Grove (Macmillan, 1879–1889), Wikisource, Artikel Sistine Choir

   „The first Soprano Singer of this kind permitted to sing in the Sistine Chapel, was a Priest named Girolamo Rosini, a member of the Congregation of S. Philip Neri, who was received into the College in 1601, and died in 1644. Since his time, such Voices have always been found in the Choir: and such a Voice is now actually possessed, by its present head, Signer Mustafa.“

   Evidence: A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, hrsg. von George Grove (Macmillan, 1879–1889), Wikisource, Artikel Sistine Choir

   „In these purely accidental cases, no Singer, with a good Voice, has ever been refused admission into the Pontifical Choir“

2. According to the Britannica, the castrati remained "the musical glory and moral shame of the papal choir" until Pope Leo XIII (accession 1878) removed them as one of his first acts.
   Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Wikisource, Artikel Eunuch

   „they remained the musical glory and moral shame of the papal choir till the accession of Pope Leo XIII., one of whose first acts was to get rid of them“

   Evidence: Heiliger Stuhl (vatican.va), Nr. 256

   „Leo XIII 20.II, 3.III.1878“

Original documents to read

1. Church document
   Heiliger Stuhl (vatican.va): Liste der Päpste (Holy Father). Original (retrieved 11 Oct 2026)

Scholarly literature and reference works

1. Reference work
   Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Wikisource: Eunuch, 1 January 1911. Original (retrieved 15 Oct 2026)
2. Reference work
   A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, hrsg. von George Grove (Macmillan, 1879–1889), Wikisource: Sistine Choir (William Smyth Rockstro). Original (retrieved 15 Oct 2026)
3. Reference work
   Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Wikisource: Sistine Choir, 1 January 1913. Original (retrieved 15 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 22 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.