An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church

by Henry Charles Lea

A third document is extant, without date, which was laid before the cardinals of the papal court by the emperor, in which the question was argued at considerable length and with much vehemence. After asserting that from the records of the primitive church celibacy was not then recognized as imperative, it proceeded to declare that if marriage ever were permissible, the present carnal and licentious age rendered it a necessity, for not one Catholic priest out of fifty could be found who lived chastely. All were asserted to be notoriously dissolute, scandalizing the people and inflicting great damage on the church. The request was made not so much to satisfy the priests who desired marriage as to meet the wishes of the laity, for many patrons of livings refused presentation to all but married men. However preferable a single life might be for the clergy, it therefore was thought better to give it up than to leave open the door to the scandalous impurities traceable to celibacy. Another weighty reason was alleged in the great scarcity of priests, caused alone by the prohibition of marriage, in proof of which it was urged that the Catholic schools of divinity were all but empty and the episcopal function of ordination nearly disused, while the Lutheran colleges were crowded by those who subsequently obtained admission into the true church, where they worked incredible mischief. The argument that the temporal possessions of the church would be imperilled by sacerdotal matrimony was met by indignantly denouncing the worldly wisdom which would protect such perishable interests at the cost of innumerable souls sacrificed by the existing condition of affairs. For these and other reasons it asked that marriage should in future be allowed to all the priesthood, whether already in orders or to be subsequently admitted: that married men of good character and education should be ordained to supply the want of pastors: that those who had contracted matrimony, in contravention of the canons, should no longer be ejected, seeing that it was most absurd to turn out men because they were married, while retaining notorious concubinarians, and that if, with equal justice, both classes should be dismissed, the people would be left almost, if not entirely, destitute of spiritual guides. The paper concluded by asserting that if the prayer be granted the clergy could be retained in the church and in the faith, to the great benefit of their flocks, and that the scandal of promiscuous licentiousness, which had involved the church in so much disgrace, would be removed.[1378]

This vivid sketch of the condition of the church, with the evils which were everywhere felt, and the remedies which suggested themselves to clear-sighted and impartial men, was as ineffectual as other similar efforts had been, for to all such arguments the council of Trent was deaf. France, too, was more than willing to see celibacy abolished. M. de Lanssac, the French ambassador, was ordered to place himself in close relations with the representatives of the emperor, and to unite with them in seeking the relaxation of all regulations which tended to prevent the reunion of the Protestants, while the Gallican bishops were commanded to show themselves reasonable and yielding in such matters; and when Lanssac reported the demands of the emperor, comprehending clerical marriage among other changes, Charles IX. assented to them in terms of warm commendation.[1379] The Cardinal of Lorraine, moreover, was instructed to urge some measures efficient to reform the licentious lives of the ecclesiastics which spread corruption and debauchery among the people, while permission for priestly marriage was recommended as one of the means essential to recall the heretics to the bosom of the true church.[1380] As a compromise, however, the French prelates contented themselves with suggesting that none but elderly men should be eligible to the priesthood, and that the testimony of the people in favor of their moral character should be a prerequisite to ordination, in hopes that by such means the necessary purification of the clergy at least could be effected, while the sharpest measures should be adopted to punish their licentiousness.[1381]

All this was useless, and, in fact, it is difficult to imagine how any one could expect a reform of this nature from a body composed of prelates all whom were obliged by Pius IV., in a decree of September 4th, 1560, to solemnly swear to a profession of faith containing a specific declaration that the vows of chastity assumed on entering into holy orders or monastic life were to be strictly observed and enforced.[1382] The question thus was prejudged, and the council was more likely to listen to Bartholomew a Martyribus, the Archbishop of Bracara, who laid before them a paper containing the points which, in his opinion, required reformation, among which were the revival of the canons respecting concubinary bishops and priests, the prohibition of sons succeeding to their father’s benefices, and the excommunication of confessors who debauched their fair penitents[1383]—though when the sturdy archbishop in a stormy debate declared that “illustrissimi cardinales egent illustrissima reformatione,” he doubtless was held to be a most uncourtly and impracticable reformer.

Despite all the urgency from without, it was not until the 8th of February, 1563, after the council had been in session for more than a year, that the theologians at last arranged for disputation the articles on matrimony, and laid them before the council for discussion. They were divided into five classes, of which the fourth was devoted to the bearing of the subject on the clergy, consisting of two propositions artfully drawn up to justify rejection, while preserving the appearance of presenting the subject for deliberation.—That matrimony was preferable to celibacy, and that God bestowed grace on the married rather than on the single.—That the priests of the Western Church could lawfully contract marriage, notwithstanding the canons; that to deny this was to condemn matrimony, and that all were at liberty to marry who did not feel themselves graced with the gift of chastity.[1384]

The disputation on the various questions connected with matrimony commenced the next day, and was continued at intervals for six months. By August 7th all the canons on the subject were agreed to, except the one on clandestine marriages, which gave the fathers much more trouble than the more important decision respecting the retention of celibacy.[1385] This latter, indeed, was a foregone conclusion. In the minute account, transmitted from day to day by Archbishop Calini to Cardinal Cornaro, in which all the details of internal discussion and external intrigue attainable by a quick-witted member of the council were reported, there is no allusion to the subject. No debates or diversity of opinion are mentioned, no intimation that the matter was regarded as open to a doubt, and even the appeals made by the emperor and other potentates are passed over in silence, for the very sufficient reason that the papal legates, who controlled all the business of the council, refused to allow them to be read.[1386] In their reply to the emperor’s remonstrances, indeed, they declared that to have such a subject publicly broached in the council would create a fearful scandal throughout Christendom, and Pius IV. approved of their answer as the best that could be given.[1387] It is no wonder, therefore, that in the correspondence of the nuncio Visconti the only allusion to the matter is a simple reference, under date of March 22, 1563, to the demand previously made by the Duke of Bavaria.[1388]

In fact, when, on March 4th, the 5th and 6th articles were reached, they were both unanimously pronounced heretical without any prolonged debate. Doctor Juan de Ludegna pronounced a “disputation” on the subject, the tone of which showed that the result was already decided, and that the only disposition of the council was to vilify those who desired the abrogation of celibacy.[1389] A discussion, however, then arose as to the power of the pope to dispense the clergy, both regular and secular, from the obligation of celibacy, and on this point there was considerable diversity of opinion, occupying numerous successive meetings in its settlement. The majority were in favor of the papal power; and its exercise in the existing condition of the church was even recommended by those who recognized the evils of the system, but shrank from the responsibility of themselves introducing the innovation. This was promptly rebuked by the conservatives, according to Fra Paolo, with the remark that a prudent physician would not attempt to cure one disease by bringing on a greater.[1390] The legates, indeed, were blamed for allowing any discussion on so dangerous a topic, since, if priests were permitted to marry, their affections would be concentrated on family and country, in place of the church; their subjection to the Holy See would be diminished, the whole system of the hierarchy destroyed, and the pope himself would eventually become a simple Bishop of Rome.[1391] If such consequences as these were anticipated by the able men who represented the papal interests, we may readily believe that Pallavicini speaks the sense of the managers of the council when he remarks, concerning the princes who exerted themselves in favor of sacerdotal marriage, that they seemed to consider that the council had been convoked for the purpose not of condemning but of contenting the heretics, whom they proposed to convert by gratifying in place of repressing their contumacious desires.[1392] If this be so, the Protestants were amply justified in refusing to submit their cause to a body so different in its objects from that free and unbiased œcumenic council to which they had so often appealed from their persecutors.

Yet, notwithstanding that the policy of the church was thus immutable, there seems to have been no hesitation in holding out fallacious hopes to the expectant populations. When, in the spring of 1563, the Bavarians, wearied with endless promises, rose in revolt and demanded the use of the cup and priestly marriage, their duke was obliged to make a promise to his Diet that if the required concessions were not granted in June, by either the council or the pope, he would himself give the desired permission. The threatened defection of this Catholic stronghold caused such alarm that the legates at Trent forthwith despatched Niccolo Ormanetto to the duke, to persuade him to withdraw his promised reforms under a pledge that the council would take such order as would satisfy the demands of his people.[1393]

These promises were soon forgotten, though it was not until the 11th of November that the canons on matrimony were finally adopted and formally published. Of these there are two relating to our subject. The first one pronounced the dread anathema on all who should dare to assert that clerks in holy orders, monks, or nuns could contract marriage, or that such a marriage was valid, since God would not deny the gift of chastity to those who rightly sought it, nor would He expose us to temptation beyond our strength. The other similarly anathematized all who dared to assert that the married state was more worthy than virginity, or that it was not better to live in celibacy than married.[1394]

Thus the church, in endeavoring to meet the novel exigencies caused by the progress and enlightenment of mankind, in place of making the concessions demanded by almost all beyond the narrow pale of the papal court, devoted its energies to the miserable task of separating itself as widely as possible from those who had left it.[1395] Its rulers seemed to imagine that their only hope of safety lay in intrenching themselves behind the exaggerations of those particular points of policy which had afforded to their adversaries the fairest chances of attack. The faithful throughout Germany might suffer from the absence of the ministers of Christ, or might endure yet more from the unrestrained passions of the wolves in sheep’s clothing let loose among their wives and daughters, but the church militant in this conjuncture dreaded even more to lose the aid of that monastic army which, in theory at least, had no earthly object but the service of St. Peter; it selfishly feared that the parish priest who might legitimately see his fireside surrounded by a happy group of wife and children would lose the devotion which a man without ties should entertain for the prosperity and glory of the ecclesiastical establishment; and perhaps, more than all, it saw with terror avaricious princes eager for the secularization of that immense property to which it owed so large a portion of the splendor which dazzled mankind, of the influence which rendered it powerful, and of the luxury which made its high places attractive to the ambitious and able men who controlled its destiny. To put an end, therefore, at once and forever, to the mutterings of dissatisfaction among those who compared the calm and virtuous life of the Protestant pastors with the reckless self-indulgence of the ministers of the old religion, it was resolved to place the canon of celibacy in a position where none of the orthodox should dare to attack it, and to accomplish this the simple rule of discipline was elevated to the dignity of a point of belief. As the church had already been forced, in defending the rule from the assaults of the reformers, to attribute to it apostolic origin, we may not perhaps be surprised that it was made a point of doctrine, but we cannot easily appreciate the reasons that would justify the anathema launched against all who regarded the marriage of those in holy orders as binding. The dissolution of such marriages, as we have seen, was not suggested until the middle of the twelfth century, and the decision of the council thus condemned as heretics the whole body of the church during three-quarters of its previous existence.

Although the doctrinal canon threw the responsibility of priestly unchastity upon God, yet as the council had so peremptorily refused to adopt the remedy urged by the princes of the empire, it did not hesitate to employ human means to remove, if possible, the scandals which God had permitted to afflict the church. The decree of reformation, published in December, 1563, contained provisions intended to curb the vice which the Tridentine fathers, with all their reliance on Divine power, well knew to be ineradicable. These provisions, however, were little more than a repetition of what we have seen enacted in every century since Siricius. Any ecclesiastic guilty of keeping a concubine, or woman liable to suspicion, was admonished; disregarding this first warning, he was deprived of one-third of his revenue; if still contumacious, suspension from functions and benefice followed; and a persistence in guilt was then visited with irrevocable deprivation. No appeal from a sentence could gain exemption; these cases were removed from the jurisdiction of inferior officials and confided to the bishops, who were enjoined to be prompt and severe in their decisions; while guilty bishops were liable to suspension by their provincial synods, and, if irreclaimable, were sent to Rome for punishment. The illegitimate children of priests were pronounced incapable of preferment. Those already in orders, if employed in their fathers’ parishes, were required, under pain of deprivation, to exchange their positions within three months for preferment elsewhere, and any provision made by a clerical parent for the benefit of his children was pronounced to be a fraud.[1396]