FIRST CENTURY
PETER -first pope - and apostles chosen by Jesus were, for the most part, married men
SECOND/THIRD CENTURY
Age of gnosticism -light/ spirit = GOOD
darkness / material things = EVIL
A person cannot be married and be perfect; HOWEVER, 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 Lnodicea; women are not to be ordained (suggesting that 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-S t. 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 Gregan; 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-Cha pelle openly admitted that abortions and infanticide took place in convents and monasteries to cover up activities of uncelibate clerics
S t. 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
- Council of Trent states that celibacy and virginity are superior to marriage
1517 - M artin 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 M anifesto
1858 - Freud
1869 - First Vatican Council; infallibility of the pope
TWENTIETH CENTURY
1930 -Pope Pius X I: sex can be good and holy
1951-Pope Pius X II: married Lutheran pastor is ordained a Catholic priest in Germany 1962 - Pope John X X III: Vatican Council II; vernacular; marriage is equal to virginity
1966 -Pope Paul VI: celibacy dispensations
1970's - Ludmilla Javorova and several other Czech women ordained to serve needs of women imprisoned by Communists
1978 -Pope John Paul II: puts freeze on dispensations
1980 - married Anglican/ Episco pal pastors are ordained as Catholic priests in the USA; (also in Canada and England in 1994)
1983 - New Canon Law
POPES WHO WERE MARRIED
• St Peter, the 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)
POPES WHO WERE SONS OF OTHER POPES, CLERICS
Name of Pope
St Damascus
Papac y
Son of ...
St Lorenzo, priest
St Innocent I
401-417
Anastaius 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 VIII
1572-1685
1son
Oxford Dictionan; of Popes
H.C. Lea, History of Sacerd otal Celibacy in the Christian Clzurch, 1957
The Churclz With A Human Face, E. Schillebeeckx, 1985
J. McSorely, Outline Histon; of tlze Church by Centuries, 1957, F.A. Foy (ed.),1990
Catholic Almanac 1989
D.L. Carmody, The Double Cross - Ordination, Abortion and Catholic Feminism, 1980
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. Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 1984
P. DeRosa, Vicars of Christ, 1988
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 Latern Council in 1139.
Fact: Priests and even popes still continued to marry and have children for several hundred years after 1139. The Eastern Catholic Church still has married priests.
In the Latin Church, one may be a married priest if:
a) one was a Protestant clergy first and joins the Catholic Church; or
b) if one is a lifelong Catholic and promises never again to have sexual relations with one's wife
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