Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T17:12:26.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Origins of Clerical Celibacy in the Western Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Charles A. Frazee
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the present discussion within the Roman Catholic Church over the requirement of clerical celibacy, the arguments generally center on the ascetical value of the practice. Pope Paul VI speaks of celibacy as a “precious jewel” leading to a life of selflessness for the man who seeks to follow Jesus Christ in the priesthood. When priests themselves talk about the subject, it is often in terms of its symbolic value as a total commitment to the service of the Lord. It is further seen as a practical measure, following Saint Paul's view that the unmarried state frees the ordained minister from the cares of personal family life so that he may devote himself entirely to the concerns of the whole Christian community.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 57 , supplment S1 , March 1988 , pp. 108 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1932

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. “The unmarried man cares for the Lord's business; his aim is to please the Lord. But the married man cares for worldly things; his aim is to please his wife, and he has a divided mind.” I Corinthians 7:32–3.

2. It is not the purpose of this article to discuss the scriptural texts concerning celibacy. This has been done by Bunnik, R. J., “The Question of Married Priests,” Cross Currents, XV, 4 (Fall, 1965), 407–414Google Scholar; Joseph, Blenkinsopp, Celibacy, Ministry, Church (New York, 1968)Google Scholar, and Quentin, Quesnell, “Make Themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 19:12),” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, XXX (07, 1968), 335–358.Google Scholar The only major English work on the history of celibacy to date is unfortunately very biased. See Lea, Henry C., History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church (London, 1907).Google Scholar

3. On this subject see Ronald, Knox, Enthusiasm (New York 1950)Google Scholar, and Hans von, Campenhausen, Tradition and Life in the Church, trans. by Littledale, A. V. (London, 1968), p. 233.Google Scholar

4. Irenaeus, , Against the Heresies 1.28 in Migne, J. P., ed., Patrologiae cursus completus: series graeca (Paris, 1857–1866), VII, Pt. 1, 690.Google ScholarHereafter, PG. Rigorist ideas later passed into Montanism and Manichaeism.Google Scholar

5. Clement of Rome, , Epistle to the Corinthians 38.2, in PC, I, 283Google Scholar; Ignatius, of Antioch, , Epistle to Polycarp 5.2 in PC, V, 273.Google Scholar See also Adolf von, Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, trans. by James, Moifatt (London, 1908), pp. 212–13Google Scholar, and Edward, Schillebeeckx, Celibacy (New York, 1968), pp. 21 ff.Google Scholar

6. Dodds, E. R., Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety (Cambridge, 1965), pp. 7–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar; MauriceGoguel, , The Primitive Church, trans. by Snape, H. C. (New York, 1964), p. 539Google Scholar; Grant, Frederick C., Roman Hellenism and the New Testament (New York, 1962), pp. 51–75.Google Scholar

7. Exhortatzon to Chastity 13, conclusion, in Migne, J. P., ed., Patrologzae cursos completus: scriptores latini (Paris, 1844–1864), II, 978. Hereafter PL.Google Scholar

8. This development is traced in Hans von, Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries, trans. by Baker, J. A. (Stanford, 1969), pp. 76–123.Google Scholar

9. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter to the priests, deacons and people abiding in Furni 1. 1: “… everyone honored by the divine priesthood and consecrated for the clerical ministry ought only to serve the altar and the sacrifices and to have time for prayers and petitions.” Cyprian: Letters, trans. by SrRose, Donna. Vol. 51 of The Fathers of the Church, ed. by Joseph, Deferrari (Washington, 1964), 3.Google Scholar

10. Didascalia Apostolorum, IV, ed. by Connolly, R. Hugh (Oxford, 1929), p. 32.Google Scholar On Ephesus, see Eusebius, , The History of the Church, 5.24.6–7 in PG, XX, 493Google Scholar and on Egypt, Clement, of Alexandria, , Stromata 3.12.90 in PC, VIII, 1188.Google Scholar

11. Adolph, Harnack, History of Dogma, trans. by Neil, Buchanan (New York, 1958), I, 176.Google Scholar

12. Ex. 19.15; Lev. 7.19–20; 15.16; 22.4 ff; I Sam. 21.4; Ezk. 44.9. The Jewish priesthood went through its “sacralizing” period after its return from the Babylonian captivity; see Martin, Noth, The History of Israel (New York, 1958), pp. 314ff.Google ScholarThe best presentation on this subject is the chapter “La sacralisation du service pastoral et les origines de la loi du célibat ecciesiastique,” in Jean-Paul, Audet, Manage et Célibat dans le service pastoral de l'Eglise (Paris, 1967), pp. 117–137Google Scholar; see also Hödl, L., “Die lex continentiae—Eine Problem geschichtliche Studie über dem Zölibat,” Zeitschrift flr Katholische Theologie, LXXIII (1961), 325–344.Google Scholar

13. James, Hastings, ed., Dictionary of the BibleGoogle Scholar; rev. ed. by Grant, F. C. and Rowley, H. H. (New York, 1963), p. 166Google Scholar; McKenzie, John L., Dictionary of the Bible (Milwaukee, 1956), p. 141Google Scholar; James, E. O., The Nature and Function of Priesthood (New York 1955), pp. 177–78.Google Scholar

14. Williams, George H., “The Ministry of the Ante-Nicene Church” in The Ministry in Historical Perspective, Niebuhr, R. and Williams, D., eds. (New York, 1956), p. 28.Google Scholar

15. Emile, Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, trans. by Swain, J. W. (London, 1915), p. 309.Google Scholar See also Mircea, Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, trans. by Sheed, R. (New York, 1958), pp. 14–15.Google Scholar

16. Robertson Smith, W., Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (New York, 1889), pp. 435–436Google Scholar; Raphael, Patai, Sex and Family in the Bible and the Middle East (New York, 1959), pp. 152–64. Muslims must abstain from sex on the pilgrimage to Mecca.Google Scholar

17. A collection of these temple inscriptions can be found in Nock, Arthur D., Early Gentile Christianity and Its Hellenistic Background (New York, 1964), pp. 17–20.Google Scholar

18. Rose, H. J., Ancient Roman Religion (London, 1948), p. 36. Numen compares to the Polynesian mana.Google Scholar

19. Rose, H. J., “The Bride of Hades,” Classical Philology, XX (01–10., 1925), 241.Google Scholar See also Cook, A. B., Zeus (Cambridge, 1940) I, 394–95.Google Scholar

20. George H. Williams Comments on the forms of Christian ministry: “We know that these three kinds of ministry of the New Testament epoch were modeled in part on Jewish and pagan precedent and we shall take note of the extent to which they were elaborated in self conscious polemical parallelism alongside these rival institutions on the assumption that Christians were the militia of Christ under the heavenly emperor and the true or new or ongoing Israel of God.” (Williams, op. cit., p. 37).

21. Mansi, Joannes D., ed., Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectto, New, ed. (Paris, 1901–1906), II, 2, 406Google Scholar; Hefele, K. J. and Leclercq, H., Histoire des Conciles (Paris, 1907–1921), I, 1,212–64.Google Scholar

22. Audet, , op. cit., pp. 27–33Google Scholar; Blenkinsopp, , op. cit., p. 48.Google Scholar

23. Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, ed. Centro di Documentazione Istituto per le Scienze Religiose (Basel, 1962), p. 5Google Scholar; Socrates, , Historia ecclesiastica 1.11, in PG LXVII, 101–104Google Scholar; Sozomen, , Historia Ecclesiastica 1.23, in PG, LXVII, 925.Google Scholar

24. Bailey, Derrick S., The Man-Woman Relation in Christian Thought (London, 1959), p. 33. The women were called subintroductae.Google Scholar

25. Jean, Decarreaux, Monks and Ciuilization, trans. by Haldane, C. (London, 1964), 70–117.Google Scholar See also Helen, Waddell, The Desert Fathers (Ann Arbor, 1957)Google Scholar; David, Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius (Oxford, 1966), p. 5.Google Scholar

26. Hefele-Leclercq, , op. cit., I, 2, 1029–49.Google Scholar

27. Basil of Caesarea, , On Virginity 2. app., in PG, XXX, 671.Google Scholar

28. Gregory, the Great, Dialogues 2.2, in FL, LXVI, 132.Google Scholar

29. Ambrose, , Concerning the offices of the ministers 1.50, in PL, XVI, 97–8.Google Scholar

30. Eusebius, , Demonstration of the Gospel 1.9, in PG,XXII, 81.Google Scholar

31. Jerome, , Against Jovinianum 1.20, in PL, XXIII, 249.Google Scholar

32. Cyril, of Jerusalem, Catechism 13.25, in PG. XXIII, 758.Google Scholar

33. Bailey, , op. cit., p. 73.Google Scholar

34. Petro, Bilaniuk, “Celibacy and the Eastern Tradition” in Celibacy, Frein, G. H., ed. (New York, 1968), pp. 44 ff.Google Scholar

35. Delhaye, P., “Celibacy,” New Catholic Encyclopedia, III, 374Google Scholar; Philip, Hughes, A History of the Church (New York, 1949), II, 199–201.Google Scholar

36. Gregory, , Letter to Peter, Subdeacon of Sicily, in PL, LXXVII, 506.Google Scholar

37. Schillebeeckx, , op. cit., p. 42Google Scholar; Bunnik, , op. cit., p. 418Google Scholar; Bailey, , op. cit., p. 148.Google Scholar

38. David, Knowles and Dimitri, Obolensky, The Middle Ages. Vol. 2 of The Christian Centuries (London, 1969), pp. 51 ff.Google Scholar

39. Ulrich, Stutz, “The Proprietary Church as an Element of Medieval Germanic Ecclesiastical Law,” in Geoffrey, Barraclough, ed., Medieval Germany, 911–1250 (Oxford, 1948), pp. 35–70.Google Scholar

40. Emile, Arnann and August, Dumas, L'Eglzse au pouvozr des laīques. Vol. 7 of Histoire de l'Eglise, ed. by Fliche, A. and Martin, V. (Paris, 1948), p. 268Google Scholar; Thompson, James W., Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages (New York, 1928), II, 650 ff.Google Scholar

41. Knowles, , op. cit., pp. 17–20.Google Scholar

42. Ratlier of Verona, Letters, in PL, CXXXVI, 585–86.Google Scholar

43. Mansi, , op. cit., V, 19, 503.Google Scholar

44. Horace, Mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages, 590–1304 (London, 1902–1932), VI, 89.Google Scholar

45. Anselm, , History of the Dedication of the Church of St. Remigius, in PL CXLII, 1417–20Google Scholar; Southern, R. W., The Making of the Middle Ages (New Haven, 1953), pp. 125–27Google Scholar; and Brian, Tierney, The Crisis of Church and State, 1050–1300 (Englewood Cliffs, 1964), pp. 31, 32.Google Scholar

46. Adam, of Bremen, Deeds of the Bishops of the Church of Hamburg, in MGH, VII, pp. 346–347.Google Scholar

47. Peter, Damian, Various Works, in PL, CLIV. His books are found in PL, CLV, 159–90; 379–88.Google Scholar

48. Blum, Owen J., St. Peter Damian: His Teaching on the Spiritual Life, in Studies in Mediaeval History, New Series: Catholic University of America (Washington, 1947), 87–97, 175–;76.Google Scholar

49. Peter, Damian, Letters, 7.18, in PL, CXLIV, 45.Google Scholar

50. Mansi, , op. cit., V, 19, 907.Google Scholar

51. Alexander, II, Historical Works, in PL, CXLVI, 1383.Google Scholar

52. Walter, Ullman, The Growth of Papal Government in the Middle Ages (London, 1955), p. 297 n.Google Scholar; Cantor, Norman H., “The Crisis of Western Monasticism, 1050–1130,” American Historical Review, LXVI (10, 1960), 55 ff.Google Scholar

53. Southern, R. W., op. cit., p. 141.Google Scholar For another view, see Gerd, Tellenbach, Church and State at the Time of the Investiture Contest (Oxford, 1959), pp. 166 ff.Google Scholar

54. Gregory, , Letter to Bishop Otto of Constance, in Ephraim, Emerton, ed., The Correspondence of Pope Gregory VII (New York, 1932), p. 53.Google Scholar

55. Mansi, , op. cit., XX, 437–38.Google Scholar

56. Robert, Benson, ed., Imperial Lives and Letters of the Eleventh Century, trans. by Mommsen, T. and Morrison, K. F. (New York, 1962), p. 149.Google Scholar

57. Brooke, C. N. L., “Gregorian reform in action: Clerical marriage in England, 1050–1200,” Cambridge Historical Journal, XII (1956), p. 11.Google Scholar

58. Southern, , op. cit., pp. 128–30.Google Scholar

59. Ullman, , op. cit., pp. 306–09Google Scholar; Geoffrey, Barraclough, The Medieval Papacy (New York, 1968), pp. 88–90.Google Scholar

60. Mansi, , op. cit., XX, 906.Google Scholar

61. Odericus, Vitalis, Church History, in Ross, V. B. and McLaughlin, M., Portable Medieval Reader (New York, 1960), p. 75.Google Scholar

62. Canon 7 in Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, p. 167.

63. Canons 6 and 7, ibid., p. 174; Mansi, , op. cit., XXI, 715.Google Scholar