AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF CLERICAL CELIBACY IN WESTERN EUROPE TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT BY EARL EVELYN SPERRY, Ph. B. SOMETIME UNIVERSITY FELLOW IN HISTORY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. INSTRUCTOR SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE SYRACUSE, N. Y.: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 1905 90666 DEC 1 1905 CXM PREFACE The purpose of this thesis is to review the essential facts concerning the origin of clerical celibacy, its development and effects in western Europe to the time of the Council of Trent, and to present such extracts from the sources as are of special interest and importance in the history of this subject. Mr. Henry C. Lea's "Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church" has been used as a guide throughout, and in exhaustiveness and scholarship stands preeminent among the works upon the subject. SYRACUSE, N. Y., Mar. 1, 1905. E. E. SPERRY. INTRODUCTORY NOTE At the outset it may be well to warn the reader that in forming an opinion concerning clerical morality there are certain important facts which should be kept constantly in mind. The written evidence upon the subject which has been preserved seems to indicate that during the Middle Ages and the opening centuries of the modern period the clergy as a class were very immoral. It must be remembered, however, that the period of time under discussion is a long one, extending from the fourth to the sixteenth century, and while the sources of information are comparatively abundant, it is unreasonable to suppose that they give us a fair and adequate picture of the clergy of all Europe for more than a millennium. Further, these sources consist largely of conciliar enactments and of the utterances of those engaged in reform. It is evident that they must be used with caution, for a future student who judged the nineteenth century only by its codes of criminal law and the denunciatory writings of social reformers would obtain a grotesque idea of its current morality. Moreover, although the principal sources consist of the writings of the friends of the church they must not be given full credence, 1 because their authors were in the habit of resorting 'To illustrate: Peter of Blois, who had vainly endeavored to compel the clergy of his English benefice to obey the rule of celibacy, wrote thus to Innocent III. concerning them: Ipsi vero publice et aperte fornicantes prædicebant, sicut Sodoma peccatum suum, et in palpebris popularis infamiæ ducebant uxores, alter alterius filiam, sive neptem, tantaquerat cognationis connexio inter eos ut colligationes impietatis eorum nemo dissoluere prævaleret. . . . Erant enim quasi squamæ Behemoth, quarum una uni coniungitur, et spiraculum vitæ non incedit per eas. Terra proinde clamabat adversus eas, et cæli revelebant iniquitates eorum. Exactissima diligentia laborabam vitiorum in eis propagines venenosos excidere, sed facilius converterem lupos in oves, et feras in homines. Petri Blesensis, Ep. 152. Bib. Max. Pat. 24, 1064. Yet the only specific charge which Peter brings against these men of whom he uses such strong terms of objurgation is that they were married. |