[1544] Michelet, La Sorcière, Chap. X., XI., XII.—After reading the pleadings on both sides (published at the Hague in 1731), I can entertain no doubt as to the guilt of Girard. The case at the time attracted general attention throughout Europe.
[1545] When Grandier was arrested and tried for sorcery, his papers were seized, and among them was found an essay against sacerdotal celibacy. Under torture, he confessed that he had written it for the purpose of satisfying the conscience of a woman with whom he had maintained marital relations for seven years (Hist. des Diables de Loudun, pp. 85, 191). The manuscript was burnt, with its unlucky author, but a copy was preserved, which has recently been printed (Petite Bibliothèque des Curieux, Paris, 1866). In it, Grandier shows himself singularly bold for a man of his time and station. The law of nature, or moral law, he holds to be the direct exposition of the Divine will. By it revealed law must necessarily be interpreted, and to its standard ecclesiastical law must be made to conform. He evidently was made to be burned as a heretic, if he had escaped as a sorcerer. The promise of chastity exacted at ordination he regards as extorted, and therefore as not binding on those unable to keep it; while he does not hesitate to assume that the rule itself was adopted and enforced on purely temporal grounds—“de crainte qu’en remuant une pierre on n’esbranlat la puissance papale; car hors cette considération d’Estat, l’Eglise romaine pense assez que le célibat n’est pas d’institution divine ni nécessaire au salut, puisqu’elle en dispense les particuliers, ce qu’elle ne pourrait faire si le célibat avoit esté ordonné d’en haut” (pp. 34-5).
[1546] Notwithstanding his Sorbonic degree, Du Pin is said to have been secretly married, and to have left a widow, who even ventured to claim the inheritance of his estate. He was engaged in a correspondence with William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, with a view to arrange a basis of reconciliation of the Anglican Church with Rome, and, according to Lafitau, Bishop of Sisteron, in that correspondence he assented to the propriety of sacerdotal marriage.
[1547] I cannot pretend to decide the controversy as to the alleged marriage between Bossuet and Mdlle. Desvieux de Mauléon, nor to determine whether it is true that she and her daughters claimed his fortune after his death. Much has been written on both sides, and I have not the materials at hand to justify a positive opinion, though the extracts from La Baumelle’s “Mémoires de Madame de Maintenon” given by the Abbé Chavard (Le Célibat des Prêtres, pp. 474 sqq.) would seem to show that there were good grounds for asserting the marriage. I believe, however, that there is no doubt of Bossuet engaging with Leibnitz and Molanus in a negotiation as to the terms on which the Lutherans could reënter the Roman communion, and that he promised, in the name of the pope, that Lutheran ministers admitted to the priesthood or episcopate should retain their wives. It is asserted that the proposed arrangement was nearly agreed to on both sides, when the pretensions of the House of Hanover to the English crown caused Leibnitz to withdraw from the undertaking.
[1548] Chavard, Le Célibat des Prêtres, p. 314-5.—Davanzati, Bishop of Canosa, was also in favor of abrogating the rule of celibacy.
[1549] This view of the competence of the temporal power to regulate the question seems to have been widely received at this period. An anonymous work published in 1769 under the title of “Recherches sur l’État Monastique et Ecclésiastique,” written by a good Catholic, asserts (p. 204), “Si le cas de donner des citoyens à la pàtrie devenoit urgent, le législateur, en autorisant le mariage des prêtres, n’entreprendroit rien sur le sacrement de l’Ordre.”
[1550] Zaccaria, in the introduction to his “Nuova Giustificazione” (p. ix.), denies that the papal court entertained any idea of making the concession; but, in considering the question as to the power or duty of the pope to alter the law of celibacy (Diss. IV. cap. 6), his remarks show clearly that the subject was discussed in a tone to afford the partisans of marriage reasonable grounds for hope. Among the threatening proceedings of the emperor was the suppression of no less than 184 monasteries (Lecky, Hist. of Rationalism, chap. vi.).
[1551] Vetus et Constans in Ecclesia Catholica de Sacerdotum Cœlibatu Doctrina. Varsaviæ, 1801.
[1552] “A Modest Apology for the Catholics of Great Britain,” published anonymously in 1800—a work singularly moderate and candid in its tone. Dr. Geddes had been suspended from his functions in consequence of a translation of the Bible which he had published. See Allibone’s Dictionary, I. 657.
[1553] Dupin, Manuel du Droit Pub. Ecclés. Français. 4e Ed. Paris, 1845, p. 274.—Édit de Mars 1768, concernant les Ordres Religieux (Isambert, XXIII. 476).