21/01/2022
Today we celebrate the feast day of Venerable Jerome Lejeune.
Lejeune was a world renowned French geneticist who received many awards for his work in genetics and is credited with the discovery of Trisomy 21, the genetic anomaly that results in Down Syndrome. Once he realized that this discovery would be used to target these children in the womb for selective abortions, he spoke out against that.
Blacklisted from the medical community, he dedicated the rest of his life to advocating for the protection of the unborn while continuing his research and care for those with Down Syndrome. He developed a close relationship with Pope St. John Paul II and was appointed the first chairman of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life.
It is fitting that today, his feast day, is also the day of March for Life in Washington, D.C.