118 



CELIBACY. 



houses, as he said, might well be considered as 

 brothels. Soon afterwards, a great number of can- 

 ons and priests were dismissed, whose places were 

 iven to monks. In the comicil at Erliam, in 1009, 

 le clergy were directed anew to dismiss their wives. 

 To those who abstained, it was even promised, tliat 

 they should be treated like nobles by birth. Leo IX. 

 ordered that women at Rome, transgressing with 

 yriests, should be slaves in the Lateran for life. 

 Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg, excommunicated 

 the concubines of priests, and had them ignominious- 

 ly turned out of the city. Pope Victor II. dismissed 

 beveral bishops on account of their irregularities. 

 Notwithstanding all such prohibitions, it appeared 

 impossible to maintain the law of celibacy in force. 

 In 10(51, the Lombard bishops, most of whom had 

 concubines, themselves elected Nodolaus, bishop of 

 Parma, afterwards Honorius II.,antipope, merely be- 

 cause he did not live in celibacy ; and it was, there- 

 fore, hoped that he would not insist on the observ- 

 tince of the prohibitory law. Add to this, that most 

 of these clergymen, living with concubines, hi viola- 

 tion of canonical laws, obtained their places by simo- 

 ny, and you have a true picture of the church in those 

 days. The necessity was urgent tliat a reformer of 

 the church should arise. He appeared in Gregory 

 VII., who, like all men of great genius, has a right 

 to be judged in reference to the spirit of his age. In 

 order to reform the corrupted discipline of the church, 

 he was obliged to encounter the simony and licentious- 

 ness of the clergy. The former he checked by oppos- 

 ing the emperor's right of investiture, and enforced the 

 laws of celibacy by new regulations. In the council 

 of 1074, at Rome, he ordered, that all married cler- 

 gymen, and all laymen who should confess to them, 

 near mass of them, or be present at any divine ser- 

 vice performed by them, should be excommunicated. 

 When the bishop of Coire began to read this decree 

 to the synod in Mentz, the clergy assailed him with 

 reproaches and blows, so that he narrowly escaped 

 with liis life. They declared that they did not pre- 

 tend to be angels, and would rather give up their 

 priesthood than their wives. Gregory, nevertheless, 

 succeeded, as he was supported by the most ancient 

 and most undoubted canons. After Gregory's de- 

 cease, the church continued in the same course. 

 The prohibitions were repeated, as well as the rules 

 of caution concerning domestic life. Yet transgres- 

 sions of this hard commandment were very frequent, 

 particularly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

 In Petrarca's works are many complaints of the 

 licentiousness of the clergy at the pope's court in 

 Avignon, where Petrarca lived for some time. In 

 the accounts of the council of Basle, it is stated that 

 many cardinals present there lived openly with their 

 concubines. In one of the chronicles of the mark of 

 Brandenburg, we are informed tliat, at a feast, a 

 question arose whether the bishop's concubine should 

 precede the other ladies or not.* 



The reformation followed. It recognised no sa- 

 crificing priests ; virginity was esteemed no higher 

 than conjugal fidelity ; vows of cliastity were con- 

 sidered no longer obligatory ; and, as the Protestant 

 clergy were subject either to the state or the religi- 

 ous communities, it was no longer to be feared that 

 they would, by their own authority, make the bene- 

 fices hereditary. Luther did not at first go the whole 

 length of these clianges. He thought the prohibi- 



* In Abbot's Letters from Cuba (Boston, 1829, p. 15), it 

 is stated, that most of the priests on that island have fami- 

 lies, and speak of their children without scruple, and will 

 ppmetiraes eren reason on the subject, anil defend the prac- 

 tice. The case is much the same in a great part of South 



America. 



tion of matrimony unjust ; yet he believed that the 

 monks, who were bound to celibacy by their vows> 

 ought to observe them. He wrote to Spalatin, Aug. 

 6, 1521, " Our Wittenbergians intend, too, to give 

 wives to the monks ; but I shall not suffer myself to 

 have one forced upon me." Bartholomew Bernliardi, 

 a monk, head of the religious establishment of Kcm- 

 berg, was the first of the clergy who married (in 

 1521), and most of the Lutheran divines imitated 

 him. When the papal legate, cardinal Campeggio, 

 recommended the punisliment of the married priests, 

 this only widened the breach between the old and 

 new church. Luther declared, in 1524, that he was 

 not made of wood and stone, and, in 1525, married 

 the nun, the consecrated virgin, Catliarine von Bora 

 (q. v.). 



Celibacy was the weak side of the Catholic church 

 as many divines went over to the reformed church 

 under pretence of a change in their religious senti- 

 ments, but, in reality, to be enabled to marry. The 

 reformed princes offered their clergy the alternative, 

 either to marry their concubines, or to put them 

 away. The latter supposed a self-denial, which 

 could not be expected from one who had lived in 

 concubinage, and a change of religion was the ne- 

 cessary consequence of marriage. Some Catholics 

 wished this weak spot in their church to be removed. 

 At the council of Salzburg, in 1562, the bishops de- 

 liberated wliat measures ought to be proposed at the 

 council of Trent, and resolved to vote for the mar- 

 riage of the clergy. The duke of Bavaria likewise 

 insisted upon the marriage of the priests. The em- 

 peror, the electors, and many other princes, directed 

 their envoys to demand it. The king of France also 

 desired the marriage of the clergy, or, at least, a 

 maturer age for consecration. But the majority at 

 Trent (sess. 24, can. 9) decided for celibacy, observ- 

 ing that God would grant the prayers of those who 

 prayed earnestly for chastity, and would not suffer 

 them to be tempted beyond their strength. Tiie 

 provisions, in regard to celibacy, are as follows : 

 The clergy of the Greek church, who were married 

 before their consecration, are allowed to continue in 

 a state of matrimony. The priest, however, must 

 abstain from his wife three days before every cele- 

 bration of the mass. Of the Roman clergy absolute 

 celibacy is required ; yet the four lower orders are 

 permitted, on giving up their benefices, to quit the 

 clerical profession, and to marry. But, from the 

 subdeacons upwards, celibacy is commanded abso- 

 lutely ; except that the pope may give permission to 

 retire from the clerical office, and, in consequence, 

 to marry. The penalties for transgressing the rules 

 of celibacy are numerous. The wife must be dis- 

 missed, and penance undergone for the offence. The 

 offender is forbidden to perform the ecclesiastical 

 functions belonging to his degree, and cannot receive 

 the higher consecration, as he becomes what is called 

 irregular. Yet, after penance, this irregularity may 

 be removed by dispensation from the bishop. Final- 

 ly, he becomes excommunicated by the very act of 

 his marriage, and must, on this account, also, have 

 recourse to the bishop, to be received again into the 

 communion. In Germany, by the terms of the peace 

 of Westplialia, a Catholic clergyman who marries, 

 loses his benefice and his rank in the church, without 

 loss of reputation, however, if his marriage be only 

 a previous step to his adoption of the Protestant 

 faith. Persons already married can be consecrated 

 as clergymen only on condition of their taking a vow 

 of chastity, to which the wife has given her consent. 

 She must also enter some religious order. 



The rule of celibacy has been more strictly ob- 

 served in the Catholic church since the reformation 

 than it was before. One reason of this is, tliat many 



