A Brief History of Celibacy in the Catholic Church

First Century
Peter, the first pope, and the apostles that Jesus chose were, for the most part, married men.

Second and Third Century
Age of Gnosticism: light and spirit are good, darkness and material
things are evil. A person cannot be married and be perfect. However, most
priests were married.

Fourth Century
306-Council of Elvira, Spain, decree #43: a priest who sleeps with his
wife the night before Mass will lose his job.
325-Council of Nicea: decreed that after ordination a priest could not
marry. Proclaimed the Nicene Creed.
352-Council of Laodicea: women are not to be ordained. This might suggesthat before this time there was ordination of women.
385-Pope Siricius left his wife in order to become pope. Decreed that
priests may no longer sleep with their wives.

Fifth Century
401-St. Augustine wrote, ”Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a
man downwards as the caresses of a woman.”

Sixth Century
567-2nd Council of Tours: any cleric found in bed with his wife would be
excommunicated for a year and reduced to the lay state.
580-Pope Pelagius II: his policy was not to bother married priests as
long as they did not hand over church property to wives or children.
590-604-Pope Gregory ”the Great” said that all sexual desire is sinful in  itself (meaning that sexual desire is intrinsically evil?).

Seventh Century
France: documents show that the majority of priests were married.

Eighth Century
St. Boniface reported to the pope that in Germany almost no bishop or
priest was celibate.

Ninth Century
836-Council of Aix-la-Chapelle openly admitted that abortions and
infanticide took place in convents and monasteries to cover up activities
of uncelibate clerics.
St. Ulrich, a holy bishop, argued from scripture and common sense that
the only way to purify the church from the worst excesses of celibacy was to
permit priests to marry.

Eleventh Century
1045-Pope Boniface IX dispensed himself from celibacy and resigned in
order to marry.
1074-Pope Gregory VII said anyone to be ordained must first pledge
celibacy: ’priests [must] first escape from the clutches of their wives.’
1095-Pope Urban II had priests’ wives sold into slavery, children were abandoned.

Twelfth Century
1123-Pope Calistus II: First Lateran Council decreed that clerical
marriages were invalid.
1139-Pope Innocent II: Second Lateran Council confirmed the previous
council’s decree.

Fourteenth Century
Bishop Pelagio complains that women are still being ordained and hearing
confessions.

Fifteenth Century
Transition; 50% of priests are married

Sixteenth Century
1545-63-Council of Trent states that celibacy and virginity are superior
to marriage.
1517-Martin Luther.
1530-Henry VIII.

Seventeenth Century
Inquisition. Galileo. Newton.

Eighteenth Century
1776-American Declaration of Independence.
1789-French Revolution.

Nineteenth Century

1804-Napoleon.
1882-Darwin.
1847-Marx, Communist Manifesto.
1858-Freud.
1869-First Vatican Council; infallibility of pope.

Twentieth Century

1930-Pope Pius XI: sex can be good and holy.
1951-Pope Pius XII: married Lutheran pastor ordained catholic priest in
Germany.
1962-Pope John XXIII: Vatican Council II; vernacular; marriage is equal
to virginity.
1966-Pope Paul VI: celibacy dispensations.
1970s-Ludmilla Javorova and several other Czech women ordained to serve
needs of women imprisoned by Communists.
1978-Pope John Paul II: puts a freeze on dispensations.
1983-New Canon Law.
1980-Married Anglican/Episcopal pastors are ordained as catholic priests
in the U.S.; also in Canada and England in 1994.

Popes who were married
St. Peter, Apostle
St. Felix III 483-492 (2 children)
St. Hormidas 514-523 (1 son)
St. Silverus (Antonia) 536-537
Hadrian II 867-872 (1 daughter)
Clement IV 1265-1268 (2 daughters)
Felix V 1439-1449 (1 son)

Popes who were the sons of other popes, other clergy
Name of Pope Papacy Son of
St. Damascus I 366-348 St. Lorenzo, priest
St. Innocent I 401-417 Anastasius I
Boniface 418-422 son of a priest
St. Felix 483-492 son of a priest
Anastasius II 496-498 son of a priest
St. Agapitus I 535-536
Gordiaous, priest
St. Silverus 536-537 St. Homidas, pope
Deusdedit 882-884 son of a priest
Boniface VI 896-896 Hadrian, bishop
John XI 931-935 Pope Sergius III
John XV 989-996 Leo, priest

Popes who had illegitimate children after 1139

Innocent VIII 1484-1492 several children
Alexander VI 1492-1503 several children
Julius II 1503-1513 3 daughters
Paul III 1534-1549 3 sons, 1 daughter
Pius IV 1559-1565 3 sons
Gregory XIII 1572-1585 1 son

History sources:
Oxford Dictionary of Popes; H.C. Lea History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in
the Christian Church 1957; E. Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face 1985;
J. McSorley Outline History of the Church by Centuries 1957;

F.A.Foy (Ed.)
1990 Catholic Almanac 1989; D.L. Carmody The Double Cross – Ordination,
Abortion and Catholic Feminism 1986; P.K. Jewtt The Ordination of Women
1980; A.F. Ide God’s Girls – Ordination of Women in the Early Christian &

Gnostic Churches 1986; E. Schüssler Fiorenza In Memory of Her 1984; P.
DeRosa Vicars of Christ 1988.

Myths and Facts
Myth: All priests take a vow of celibacy.
Fact: Most priests do not take a vow.(religious orders only) It is a
promise made before the bishop. (secular priests)

Myth: Clerical celibacy has been the norm since the Second Lateran
Council
in 1139.
Fact: Priests and even popes still continued to marry and have children
for
several hundred years after that date. In fact, the Eastern Catholic
Church
still has married priests.

In the Latin Church, one may be a married priest if:

a.. one was a Protestant pastor first; or
b.. if one is a life-long Catholic but promises never again to have
sexual
relations with one’s wife.

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