in
the Age of Faith
Sex
is like a modern air-conditioning system in which no exhausts or returns are
provided: built-up pressure crushes the doors and breaks the windows.
It is like the mighty
The
official teachings of sex and the unenforceable law of celibacy have throughout
Roman Catholic history been the most direct and the greatest single cause of
immorality and crime among the clergy.
In
his detailed and exhaustive Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal
Celibacy in the Christian Church, Lea proves that celibacy was never
accepted or practiced by the bulk of the Roman Catholic clergy or their nuns
from the founding of the Church up until 1907, when the book was last revised.'
Some
examples of the startling historical facts unearthed by Lea will illustrate the
tremendous importance of this study for those priests or laymen who, in the
light of the growing power and influence of Roman Catholicism in
In
the early centuries ecclesiastical councils issued contradictory decrees
regarding celibacy. Some endorsed
marriage of the clergy. Some
condemned it. The severity of
penalties of councils opposing clerical marriage indicated the prevalence of
violations.
In
381 the council of
So
strong were the temptations, so widespread the violations, that in the ninth
century St. Theodore Studita forbade even female animals on monastery property 1
In
836 the council of Aix-la-Chapelle complained that many nunneries were brothels
rather than houses of God, and it decreed that fornication was so prevalent
among nuns that all nunneries built should have "no dark corners in which
scandals may be perpetrated out of view."'
The
Chancellor of Emperor Charlemagne, who ruled over a large part of Christendom,
stated that the licentiousness of nuns was exceeded only by one other crime.
Driven to destruction of the fruits of their violations, the nuns
committed the serious crime of infanticide.'
In
the tenth century celibacy and chastity seem almost to have been forgotten.
Pope Sergius III died in the year 911, and left a bastard son by his
wife's daughter. This son, who later
ascended the throne, became John XI, under whom the sacred palace of the Lateran
was turned into a brothel. In 952
St. Ulric of Augsburg, arguing for the recognition of priestly marriage, wrote
that celibacy produced greater crimes than clerical marriage, and that those who
sought to enforce celibacy by the Bible strained ,, the breast of Scripture
until it yielded blood in place of milk."'
A
bishop of the period for thirty-three years, Segenfried of Le Mans, took a wife
named Hildeberga, who stripped the church for the benefit of their son Alberic,
the survivor of their numerous progeny.'
After
A.D. 1000 the scandals did not lessen. One
Rainbaldo, Bishop of Fiesole, had numerous concubines plus a wife.
With their children, they became a widespread and powerful family."
The good bishop was also gifted with the power of working miracles.
Desiderius
(Pope Victor 111) stated that many bishops and priests were publicly married,
particularly in the holiest of cities,
Albert
the Magnificent, Archbishop of Hamburg, exhorted his clergy "si non caste,
tamen caute" (if you can't be chaste, at least be careful),
In
The
romance of the priest Abelard and Helise (later a nun) is mentioned even in some
Roman Catholic textbooks. But it is
dismissed, as is the marriage of priests now, as one of the rare scandals of the
Church’s history. The truth is
that their "affair" was typical of what occurred during many centuries
of priestly life. It is better known
than others because both the romance and the ensuing tragedy (the castration of
Abelard by tools of He'loise's uncle, himself a priest) have been immortalized
in literature.
Will
Durant, in his Age of Faith, has not only confirmed the findings of Lea but treats
the story of Abelard and He'l6ise in much more detail."' Although he was a
priest, the couple were married in the Church. After
his torture
49
all
Their
love letters are classics and as passionate as anything since the Song of
Solomon in the Old Testament. Abelard
wrote: "We were united, first in the dwelling that sheltered our love, and
then in the hearts that burned within us. Under
the pretext of study, we spent our hours in the happiness of love.
Our kisses outnumbered our reasoned words; our hands sought less the book
than each other's bosoms; love drew our eyes together."
At
the suggestion of Abelard, He'loise became a nun.
From the convent, she wrote letters of passion:
mind....
If the name of wife appears more sacred and valid, sweeter to me is ever the
word "friend," or if you be not ashamed "concubine" or
"whore." . . . What wife, what maiden did not yearn for thee in the
thine absence, nor burn in thy presence? What
queen or powerful lady did not envy me my joys and my bed? 13
excommunication
and prison if they lived with women. The
women were also to be excommunicated during life, and even after death would
receive the burial of asses. The
threats and penalties failed to stem the passions.
Priest's
wives in
Pope
Gregory X, in dismissing the second council of
Before
the council of
Roman
Catholics are wont to ridicule the plural marriage of the early Mormons.
They don't know their own Church history.
The Bishop of Liege at one time had 65 children-not all from the same
wife." Cardinal PierLeone was elevated to the papacy (in a disputed
election) in spite of his children by
his own sister Tropea and the fact that he took his concubine along when he
traveled as a papal legate.16
When
the popes were at
The
bishops of
Pope
Nicholas V forbade members of the clergy from keeping concubines unless they had
previously obtained letters of indulgence from the Holy See.
Since these letters were not given without monetary compensation, they
provided a fine source of revenue for the
A
Spanish priest and canon law doctor, a contemporary of Luther, fell in love with
several young nuns at once,
and
sought to convince them that since he and they were alike spouses of Christ,
sexual intercourse between them
was
their duty.
Lea
points out that in Luther's day concubinage among the Catholic clergy was so
common that in many dioceses the sale of licenses forgiving priests took the
form of an annual tax imposed on all the clergy by the bishop.
During
the famous council of Trent August Baumgartner told the assembled cardinals and
bishops that ninety-six per cent of all priests were either married or had
concubines.
Lea
stresses the important point that throughout the early centuries and the middle
Ages, while marriage of the clergy was perennially or sporadically condemned as
sinful, it was still considered valid. There
was no basic doctrinal conflict between the sacrament of marriage and the
sacrament of holy orders. Nevertheless,
the Church maintains that it has never changed its principles on "faith and
morals."
Roman
Catholics are taught that the council of
The
civic leaders wanted the Church to abolish celibacy and permit priests to marry.
They were beset by their subjects' constant complaint of the immorality
of the clergy, their seduction of young women to the point that Catholic men
feared for the safety and virtue of their wives and daughters.
The situation was universal.
The
papacy resisted until it could withstand the pressure no longer.
Finally the pope made an empty gesture by calling the council in
The
emperor of
They
took the opposite approach and made celibacy a matter of doctrine.
Before
The
violations of celibacy plagued the early councils of
As
late as 1899, Lea reports, in the plenary council of
These
are merely a few highlights in the story of the futility of the efforts of the
Church, from its rather hazy
historical
beginnings up to the twentieth century, to enforce the ideal
and later the law of celibacy. During
these centuries many Church leaders, including popes, themselves openly
disregarded celibacy and encouraged its violation throughout Christendom.
Some popes gave lip service to the law but encouraged its violation by
freely granting dispensations and forgiveness-for a price.
Other popes and prelates struggled sincerely to enforce the law.
Catholics
are taught that celibacy and its attendant self-sacrifices are spiritual
in motive. The abstinence from
sexual intercourse is said to place priests and nuns on the level with angels
who have no carnal desires or relationship.
It is also the following of Jesus and Mary, both of whom are alleged to
have been virgins. They are taught
that Christ meant chastity as well as poverty when he told the young man,
"Go, sell what thou hast, give it to the poor and come follow me."
They are reminded that John was the "beloved disciple" because he was
chaste. The point is not emphasized
that the other apostles were married-in a ratio of eleven to one.
Celibacy,
it is also taught, frees the spirit from the distractions of the flesh and the
time-consuming problems of a wife and family.
Priests can concentrate on things spiritual, on the salvation of souls.
No
impartial observer can deny, however, that the most cogent reasons against
marriage of priests are financial and political.
Such marriages are forbidden in order to preserve and increase the
Church's wealth and property. When
priests were permitted to marry, it was only natural that they should share
their revenue with their wives and spend it on their children.
On their deaths, it was natural that they should will their personal
wealth and as much of the wealth of the Church as they could corral to spouse
and offspring. The decrees of
repeated councils of all European countries and of the popes forbade priests
from bequeathing any Church property or money to their children, legitimate or
illegitimate. The frequency and
stringency of these regulations indicate the widespread prevalence of the
custom.
The
issue of celibacy persisted through subsequent centuries.
Many of the clergy hoped that the problem might be taken up in the
Of
all material in this book, this chapter will be condemned most vigorously and
dismissed most superficially by Catholic columnists and reviewers, and
especially by priests. They will
call it bigoted, on the one hand, and historically untrue, on the other.
Unfortunately, the priest wants to believe that this is all bigotry,
lies, and distortion, or that it existed only in a buried past.
For if it be otherwise, each celibate priest must see himself as a rather
benighted fool, sacrificing his years and his manhood at the altar of a dead
horse-or rather a horse that never lived.
As
he reads the truth about a way of life that he believed was observed by the
great majority of his spiritual ancestors in the Roman Catholic priesthood-when,
if he is a Franciscan, he recalls the exhortation of St. Francis, "Great
things have we promised, greater still are promised to
us"-when he thinks of the normal sexual expression and the physical and
mental companionship of legitimate marriage and family life which he has
willingly sacrificed -when he realizes in its historical fullness how he has
been ruthlessly deceived and has been an indoctrinated puppet of a power-hungry
and money-seeking clique then the words of his sacred vows taste like ashes in
his mouth. His youthful ideals and
the image of a privileged eternity crumble into dust like a once beautiful but
now decaying body.
that
they should will their personal wealth and as much of the wealth of the Church
as they could corral to spouse and offspring.
The decrees of repeated councils of all European countries and of the
popes forbade priests from bequeathing any Church property or money to their
children, legitimate or illegitimate. The
frequency and stringency of these regulations indicate the widespread prevalence
of the custom.
The
issue of celibacy persisted through subsequent centuries.
Many of the clergy hoped that the problem might be taken up in the
Of
all material in this book, this chapter will be condemned most vigorously and
dismissed most superficially by Catholic columnists and reviewers, and
especially by priests. They will
call it bigoted, on the one hand, and historically untrue, on the other.
Unfortunately, the priest wants to believe that this is all bigotry,
lies, and distortion, or that it existed only in a buried past.
For if it be otherwise, each celibate priest must see himself as a rather
benighted fool, sacrificing his years and his manhood at the altar of a dead
horse-or rather a horse that never lived.