264 HISTOEICAL EACES 



human race exist ? Would that all would thus ; . . . much more 

 speedily would the City of God be filled and the end of the world 

 hastened.' ^ There are many decrees of the early Council regarding 

 celibacy. It was first enjoined by the Popes in 385. ^ Gregory VII 

 was very zealous on behalf of celibacy, and owing to his efforts it 

 became very general in Europe in the eleventh century though 

 it was not rigidly enforced until the thirteenth century among 

 the clerg3^3 Much earlier, however, in certain countries celibacy 

 had come, under the influence of Christian teaching, to be of 

 importance. It was initiated by Paul the Theban and St. Antony 

 after the Decian persecution * and according to Schonberg there 

 were at one time in a single diocese in Egypt 20,000 men and 

 10,000 women cehbates.^ It was felt to be necessary to take 

 steps to limit the extent of the practice, and in 381 the Council 

 of Saragossa forbade virgins to take the veil unless over forty 

 years of age.^ Thus under the influence of Christianity cehbacy 

 became for the first time in human history a factor of importance. 

 That the celibate is to be preferred to the married state is 

 emphasized by the Council of Trent.'' 



Also in this period for the first time in the history of the world 

 postponement of marriage became of importance. The evidence 

 as to the age at marriage is unfortunately far from exact. There 

 is, however, a very large amount of evidence which shows that, 

 at least in the society typical of most European countries from 

 the tenth century onwards, marriage was, except among the 

 privileged classes, always somewhat, and often very long, postponed 

 both for men and women, though more for the former than the 

 latter. This postponement was brought about by the pressure 

 of social conditions, customs, and laws. To these conditions and 

 customs it will be necessary to refer in the next chapter, and it 

 will suffice to say here that, generally speaking, in the country 

 there was a limited number of households and that, until death 

 made vacancies, there was no house for those wishing to marry, 

 who in consequence had to wait, and that in the towns guild 

 restrictions bound apprentices for a large number of years during 



* Augustine, On the Good of Marriage, p. 285. * Lea, Sacerdotal Celihacy, 



vol. i, p. 62. ^ Ibid., pp. 260 and 301. * Ibid., p. 105. « Schon- 



berg, Volkswirtschaftslehre, p. 868. * Lea, loc. cit., p. 107. 



' Concilium Tridentinum, Sessio 24, Can. 10. ' Si quis dixerit statum coniugalem 

 anteponendum esse statui virginitatis vel coelibatus, et non esse melius ac beatus 

 mancre in virginitato aut coelibatu, quam iungi matrimonio, anathema sit ' 

 (quoted by Lea, loc. cit., vol. ii, p 204). 



