If the free consent of the wife had not been obtained, the husband, even if already ordained, was to be reunited with his wife, exercise of his ministry being barred. Hence the irregularitas ex defectu libertatis of a married man, which became a formal impediment impedimentum simplex only in the twentieth century with the promulgation of the Codex Iuris Canonici , was not due to the marriage bond per se. It was due to this assumption of unwillingness and inability to separate.
From , all cases of dispensation from the impediment were reserved to the Holy See. But those receiving dispensation were not authorized by that fact to continue with marital relations. The decretals and other parts of the Corpus Iuris Canonici provided the guidelines for synodal activity, concubinage being a persistent problem for the authorities. Opposition to the law of the Church was not lacking and occasionally well-respected figures argued for a mitigation of the law to help solve the problems of clerical indiscipline Panormitanus, at the time of the Council of Basle [], for example.
The example of the practice of the East was given as a precedent, although it is unlikely that there was a proper understanding of this discipline. The crisis precipitated by the Reformers was doctrinal as well as disciplinary. Zwingli and Martin Luther made the abolition of clerical celibacy a key element to their reform, but this was also related to the dismantling of the traditional theology of the sacramental priesthood.
In the third and final period of the Council of Trent , and despite considerable pressures, all suggestions that the Catholic Church should modify and mitigate its rules of celibacy were rejected. The discipline of continence by this time had meant in practice that only an unmarried man would be ordained. This is also shown in the discussions of the Council, for example when one theologian, Desiderius de S. Martino, concerned by the shortage of priests, suggested the possibility of ordaining married men provided the wives gave consent and that they and their husbands lived in continence.
But the measure was not deemed expedient. The decrees of the Council were not immediately accepted in all nations but with time they did bring about a general observance of the law of celibacy, thanks in no small measure to their provisions for the better training of the clergy. The Enlightenment brought fresh assaults against clerical celibacy and after the First Vatican Council, the Old Catholics, separating themselves from Rome, abolished the rule.
Despite the pressures on the Catholic Church to relax the law of celibacy, it has always resisted. Pope Benedict XV declared, in his Consistorial Allocution of 16 December , that the Church considered celibacy to be of such importance that it could never abolish it.
For example Pope Hormisdas 5 , father to Pope Silverius, his successor. Canons of Gregory the Illuminator, c. Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, X, 2 Rome , p. Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, 1, 2 Ca. Theordoret of Cyrrhus, Ep.
Theodore of Mopsuestia, In Epist. Second marriage was always thought of in the early Church as being a concession to incontinence. Some Fathers also interpreted «man of one wife» as being propter continentiam futuram; Siricius, Cum in unum decretal Ad episcopos Africae ; Ambrose, Ep.
PL 54, 1 a. Jerome, Ep. Useful introductions to this theme include AA. Brown, The body and society: men, women and sexual renunciation in early Christianity, New York — Columbia Canon 20 reads in part: «If there are persons who wish to renounce the world and follow the monastic life along with their relatives, the men should go off to a male monastery and their wives enter a female monastery, for God is surely pleased with this.
Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina, from now on CC , They are, however, matters that have been established by apostolic constitution, and, by a constitution of the Fathers. PL 13, 11 56a.
Coustant, Epistolae Romanorum Pontificum Paris , p. The African Church declared obligatory continence to be « Clement of Alexandria, Stromata. ArIes 11 , cc.
CC , , Tours , cc. CC A, , Auxerre , c. Girona , c. Clermont , c. CC A, Tours , c. Agde , c. CC , Toledo 11 , c. Bruns, 1, Toledo 1 , c. Cf the same law in the Armenian Council of Chahabivan , c. Mai, X, 2, PL 54, a. CSEL 29, De Septem Ordinibus Ecclesiae. PL 30,1 59c-d. Cf Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum, I, Penitential books of the eighth century would regularly use the language of adultery.
Thus, the Parisiense, c. CC A, ; Tours , c. Chabot, Synodicon orientale, Paris , pp. The very balanced work of Cochini, op. Winklemann, «Paphnutios, der Bekenner und Bishof». Beck, in Byzantinische Zeitschrft 62 , p. Gessel in Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 2 , pp. Cochini, Apostolic origins, pp. To the prefect Julian, 18 October Codex Justinianus 1, 3, Cf Novella 6 , chap.
On the canons of the Trullan Synod and subsequent Eastern legislation, cf R. Siricius, Directa decretal, PL 13, 11 38aa, P. Coustant, Epistolae, pp. Coustant, Epistolac, pp.
CSEL 50, The Church becomes a spiritual wife. Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, I, p. For a fuller discussion on the matters raised in this section, cf R. Cholij, Clerical celibacy in East and West, pp. Subscribe Member Benefits Give a Gift. Subscribers receive full access to the archives. CT Editors February 12, What Scripture Says The Bible affirms the value of celibacy for both lay Christians and church leaders, most notably in 1 Corinthians 7.
Celibacy in Church History Priestly celibacy was discussed and debated by Christian leaders during the earliest centuries of the church, including at the Council of Nicaea. CT on Priestly Celibacy Christianity Today has examined the topic of clerical celibacy in a variety of ways throughout the years. Free Newsletters Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! Posted: February 12 , More From: CT Editors.
Already a subscriber? Log in. Cover Story. Americans are rapidly giving up on church. Our minds and bodies will pay the price. Response of Christian Aid Ministries and supporters reveals three Anabaptist distinctives that other Christians should find both familiar and thought provoking.
It was one thing after another, after another, after another…. SHARE tweet email print. But the early Christian Gospels, which told the story of the life of Jesus in the early first century A. And Paul, a Jewish convert whose letters are the earliest books contained in the New Testament, implies that he himself was unmarried when he writes to the earliest Christian communities. The stories of these founder figures, however, do not explain the course of Christian teaching about asceticism — a wide range of practices of self-discipline that include fasting, giving up personal possessions, solitude and eventually priestly celibacy.
By the third and fourth centuries A. They did so by pointing to both Jesus and Paul as models of the ascetic life as well as by carefully interpreting scripture in support of the practice of celibacy. Christianity developed in a complex world of Greco-Roman religious diversity, including Judaism as well as a variety of Greco-Roman religious movements. From Judaism it inherited monotheistic ideas, codes of ethical conduct, ritual practices like fasting, and a high regard for scriptural authority.
Over the course of several centuries, Christian writers — church leaders in many cases — took the moral and scriptural ideals from Judaism and coupled them with Greco-Roman philosophical ideals of self-control to argue for the virtue of celibacy. Simultaneously, and also from a very early stage, Christians viewed themselves as a persecuted minority. This meant that one way Christians could prove their faith was by being resolute during these times of persecution. This victimization could take the form of individuals being called before a judge and possibly executed, or it could be directed against communities as a whole through mocking and slander.
In either case, from the beginning Christians developed a view of themselves as a suffering and persecuted minority. This attitude naturally changed when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the fourth century and issued an Edict of Toleration for all religions.
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