Comments on Foundlings!

I assumed the "innocent of their father's sin" was an oblique reference back to the comment about the mothers typically having been raped while they were servants. Great article though.

the father's sin is also the abandonment of the baby, who is innocent of that sin.

So Antonio Unwantedito, tell me about your childhood...

"Innocent of their father's sin" because it was once a tenet of theology (I don't know if anyone still believes this) that original sin was passed down through the father's line. So the mothers were not innocent of original sin themselves--they got it from their fathers--but they didn't pass it on to their children. The Virgin Mary was the only female to be born "immaculate," without original sin (hence "the immaculate conception" which refers to the conception of Mary in her mother's womb). Fun with goofy theolgical arcana!