An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church

by Henry Charles Lea

[1467] Concil. Avenionens. ann. 1594 can. xxxii. (Ibid. p. 1854).

[1468] Concil. Burdigalens. ann. 1624 cap. xiii. § 2. (Harduin. XI. 96).

[1469] Synod. Tornacens. ann. 1574 Tit. xii. c. 5, 6, 7 (Hartzheim VII. 780).—Synod. Audomarens. ann. 1583 Tit. xvi. c. 2 (Ibid. VII. 947). Concil. Burdigalens. ann. 1583 can. xxi. (Harduin. X. 1360).—Concil. Bituricens. ann. 1584 Tit. xlii. can. 1-4 (Ibid. X. 1503-4).—Concil. Aquens. ann. 1585 cap. de Vit. et Honestate Cleric. (Ibid. X. 1547).—Concil. Narbonnens. ann. 1609 cap. xli. (Ibid. XI. 96).

[1470] Du Fail, whose high official position in the Parlement of Rennes precludes the supposition of any tendency to Calvinism, devotes one of his discourses (Contes et Discours d’Eutrapel No. xx.) to the evils entailed by celibacy on the church and on society, quoting the exclamation of Cardinal Contarini to Velly the French ambassador, “O quæ mala attulit in ecclesia cœlibatus ille!” It is true that such stories as “Frater Fecisti” are not historical documents, yet they have their value as indicating the drift of public feeling and the convictions forced upon the minds of the people by the irregularities of the clerical profession. The same lesson is taught by Boccaccio, Piers Ploughman, Chaucer, Poggio, the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, and all the other records of the interior life of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

[1471] Le Plat, Monument. Concil. Trident. VII. 136.—Collect. Synod. Mechlin. Tom. I. pp. 39, 57.—Synod. Mechlin. ann. 1570 Tit. xiv. (Ibid. I. 118).—Synod. Lovaniens. ann. 1574 (Ibid. I. 191).—Synod. Provin. Mechlin. ann. 1607 Tit. XVIII. c. viii. (Ibid. I. 395).—Synod. Diœces. Mechlin. ann. 1607 Tit. XVII. c. vi. (Ibid. II. 237).—Congregat. Archipresbyt. ann. 1613 (Ibid. II. 271).—Tertia Congregat. Episc. ann. 1624 (Ibid. I. 466).—Ibid. I. 514.

Synod. Augustan. ann. 1567 P. III. c. ii. (Hartzheim VII. 182).—Synod. Constant. ann. 1567 P. II. Tit. i. c. 9 (Ibid. VII. 541).—Synod. Ruremond. ann. 1570 (Ibid. VII. 653).—Synod. Boscodunens. ann. 1571 Tit. xiv. c. ii. (Ibid. VII. 723).—Synod. Warmiens. ann. 1577 c. i. (Ibid. VII. 871).—Synod. Mettens. ann. 1604 c. xlviii., liii., lxii. (Ibid. X. 768-70).—Synod. Brixiens. ann. 1603 De discip. cler. c. xviii. (Ibid. VIII. 576).—Synod. Namurcens. ann. 1604 Tit. VIII. c. vi. (Ibid. VIII. 623).—Synod. Constant. ann. 1609 P. II. Tit. xvii. c. 7 (Ibid. VIII. 906).—Synod. Mettens. ann. 1610 Tit. XI. c. xi. (Ibid. VIII. 962).—Synod. Antverp. ann. 1610 Tit. XVII. c. vi. (Ibid. VIII. 1003).—Statut. Visitat. Salisburgens. ann. 1616 Tit. I. c. vi. (Ibid. IX. 266).—Synod. Iprens. ann. 1629 c. xx. (Ibid. IX. 496).—Synod. Namurcens. ann. 1639 Tit. XIX. c. ix., x. (Ibid. IX. 592-3).—Synod. Audomar. ann. 1640 Tit. XIV. c. vii. (Ibid. X. 802).—Synod. Colon. ann. 1651 P. II. c. ii. § 1 (Ibid. IX. 742).—Synod. Hildesheim. ann. 1652 (Ibid. IX. 805-6).—Synod. Colon. ann. 1662 P. III. Tit. ii. c. 1, 2, 3 (Ibid. IX. 1008-11).—Statut. Synod. Trevirens. ann. 1678 c. xi., xii., xiii., xiv. (Ibid. X. 60).—Statut. Synod. Argentinens. ann. 1687 De clericis addit. I. (Ibid. X. 180).—Synod. Brugens. ann. 1693 Tit. v. § 2 (Ibid. X. 202).—Cod. Canon. Mettens. ann. 1699 Tit. x. c. xviii. (Ibid. X. 245).—Synod. Bisuntin. ann. 1707 Tit. II. c. xxv. (Ibid. X. 291).—Synod. Culmens. et Pomesan. ann. 1745 c. ix. (Ibid. X. 517).

Concil. Toletan. ann. 1565 Act. II. cap. xxii.; Act. III. cap. xix., xxv. (Aguirre V. 396, 405-6).—Concil. Valentin. ann. 1565 Tit. II. cap. xviii., xix. (Ib. 425).—Concil. Toletan. ann. 1582 Act. III. Decret. xxxv. (Ib. VI. 12).—Concil. Tarraconens. ann. 1591 Lib. I. Tit. viii.; Lib. III. Tit. ii. (Ib. 256, 271-3).—Synod. Oriolan. ann. 1600 cap xxxiii. (Ib. 456).

[1472] Ratio est quia tunc non dimittit habitum ut periculose vagetur, sed ut commodius fornicetur, vel liberius furetur.—Apud C. Chabot, Encyclopédie Monastique p. 24 (Paris, 1827).

[1473] Spatharius, Aurea Methodus corrigendi regulares, 1625, p. 57—“atque mea sententia, in totalem ordinis ruinam et destructionem singularum religionum” (Apud Chabot, op. cit. p. 95).

[1474] Concil. Mexican. I. ann. 1555 cap. lvii.—The first and second Mexican Councils are not contained in Aguirre’s collection, but were printed, together with the third, by Archbishop Lorenzana, in two folio volumes, Mexico, 1769. The Third Council has also been reprinted in Mexico, in 1858, as a manual of existing local ecclesiastical law.