The unlucky few were called Castrati. Finally outlawed in Italy around 1870, the last castrato was Alessandro Moreschi who died in 1922.
But Holland's Catholics may still be messing with the gruesome art. Evidence is surfacing that hundreds were castrated for the 'crime' of witnessing priest abuse.
The Dutch government suspects the Roman Catholic Church also did it 'to get rid of homosexuality.'
Henk Heithuis claims he was mutilated in 1956 after he reported two monks to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home. Heithuis died two years after the castration, but Cornelius Rogge, 79, a well-known Dutch sculptor who knew Mr Heithuis said Heithuis showed his mutilated genitals to him before he died.
Some estimates say there could have been 1800 such castrations since 1945 in a country famous for whacky windmills.
