Here is a post from Frank Zapatka about Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the great pro-lfe champion–
A ceremony and Mass marking the completion of the diocesan investigation of the Beatification and Sainthood Cause of the Servant of God, Jerome Lejeune (1926-1994) was celebrated on April 11, 2012 in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. His Cause had been opened on June 28, 2007 by Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris.
Jerome Lejeune was a member of the UFL Advisory board and was a featured speaker at
the 1992 UFL conference, Life and Learning II held at Georgetown University
An indefatigable pro-life champion, he was a Medical Doctor, a Doctor of Science and an internationally recognized geneticist who in 1958 discovered the chromosomal abnormality that causes Down syndrome (trisomy 21). For this discovery, President Kennedy in 1962 presented him with the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation Award in Mental Retardation. In 1969, he received from the American Society of Human Genetics, the most prestigious award in the world in genetics, the William Allan Memorial Award. He was the first Professor of Fundamental Genetics at the University of Paris Medical School, and taught at the California Institute of Technology. He held memberships in several academic and professional organizations such as the Pontifical Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Medicine (London), and the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of the Institut de France.
He died on Easter Sunday, April 3 1994. The next day, Blessed John Paul II, a personal friend, wrote to the late Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, Jean Marie Lustiger, describing Lejeune as “an ardent defender of life….[a] Great Christian of the 20th century, a man for whom the defense of life became an apostolate.” In the same letter, John Paul II also called attention to Lejeune’s important role in the founding of the Pontifical Academy for Life and for his serving as its first president (Quoted in April 11, 2012 program for the completion of diocesan investigation).
In the United States in addition to speaking at our conference, he testified before congressional committees and in several American court cases. In May 2004, William Colliton M.D., one of our earliest members, wrote of him: “The right to life movement has lost a mighty warrior. No blazing fire or blaring trumpets accompanied him into battle. He approached the fray with a gentleness and humility that were consuming. His greatest weapon was an intellectual acuity that delivered the truth with telling force. His Christ-like demeanor in no way hampered his effectiveness” (UFL Pro Vita: May 1994, p.2).
Frank Zapatka