Part 48 (1/2)

Canon 13. [Text in Kirch, nn. 985 _ff._] Since we know it to be handed down as a rule of the Roman Church that those who are deemed worthy to be advanced to the diaconate and presbyterate should promise no longer to cohabit with their wives, we, preserving the ancient rule and apostolic perfection and order, will that lawful marriage of men who are in holy orders be from this time forward firm, by no means dissolving their union with their wives nor depriving them of their mutual intercourse at a convenient season. For it is meet that they who a.s.sist at the divine altar should be absolutely continent when they are handling holy things, in order that they may be able to obtain from G.o.d what they ask in sincerity.

Canon 48. The wife of him who is advanced to the episcopal dignity shall be separated from her husband by mutual consent, and after his ordination and consecration to the episcopate she shall enter a monastery situated at a distance from the abode of the bishop, and there let her enjoy the bishops provision. And if she is deemed worthy she may be advanced to the dignity of a deaconess.

(B) _Clerical Celibacy in the West_

(_a_) Council of Elvira, A. D. 306, _Canon_ 33. Bruns, II, 6. _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 90, and Kirch, n. 305.

This is the earliest canon of any council requiring clerical celibacy. For the Council of Elvira, see Hefele, 13; A. W. W.

Dale, _The Synod of Elvira_, London. 1882. For discussion of reasons for a.s.signing a later date, see E. Hennecke, art. Elvira, Synode um 313, in PRE, and the literature there cited. The council was a provincial synod of southern Spain.

Canon 33. It was voted that it be entirely forbidden(158) bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and all clergy placed in the ministry to abstain from their wives and not to beget sons: whoever does this, let him be deprived of the honor of the clergy.

(_b_) Siricius, _Decretal_ A. D. 385. (MSL, 13:1138.) Mirbt, nn. 122 _f._; _cf._ Denziger, nn. 87 _ff._

Clerical celibacy: the force of decretals.

In the following pa.s.sages from the first authentic decretal, the celibacy of the clergy is laid down as of divine authority in the Church, and the rule remains characteristic of the Western Church.

See Canon 13 of the Quinis.e.xt Council, above, 78, _c_. The binding authority of the decretals of the bishop of Rome is also a.s.serted, and this, too, becomes characteristic of the jurisprudence of the Western Church.

Ch. 7 ( 8). Why did He admonish them to whom the holy of holies was committed, Be ye holy, because I the Lord your G.o.d am holy? [Lev. 20:7.]

Why were they commanded to dwell in the temple in the year of their turn to officiate, afar from their own homes? Evidently it was for the reason that they might not be able to maintain their marital relations with their wives, so that, adorned with a pure conscience, they might offer to G.o.d an acceptable sacrifice. After the time of their service was accomplished they were permitted to resume their marital relations for the sake of continuing the succession, because only from the tribe of Levi was it ordained that any one should be admitted to the priesthood. Wherefore also our Lord Jesus, when by His coming He brought us light, solemnly affirmed in the Gospel that He came not to destroy but to fulfil the law.

And therefore He who is the bridegroom of the Church wished that its form should be resplendent with chast.i.ty, so that in the day of Judgment, when He should come again, He might find it without spot or blemish, as He taught by His Apostle. And by the rule of its ordinances which may not be gainsaid, we who are priests and Levites are bound from the day of our ordination to keep our bodies in soberness and modesty, so that in those sacrifices which we offer daily to our G.o.d we may please Him in all things.

Ch. 15 ( 20). To each of the cases, which by our son Ba.s.sanius you have referred to the Roman Church as the head of your body, we have returned, as I think, a sufficient answer. Now we exhort your brotherly mind more and more to obey the canons and to observe the decretals that have been drawn up, that those things which we have written to your inquiries you may cause to be brought to the attention of all our fellow-bishops, and not only of those who are placed in your diocese, but also of the Carthaginians, the Btici, the Lusitani, and the Gauls, and those who in neighboring provinces border upon you, those things which by us have been helpfully decreed may be sent accompanied by your letters. And although no priest of the Lord is free to ignore the statutes of the Apostolic See and the venerable definitions of the canons, yet it would be more useful and, on account of the long time you have been in holy orders, exceedingly glorious for you, beloved, if those things which have been written you especially by name, might through your agreement with us be brought to the notice of all our brethren, and that, seeing that they have not been drawn up inconsiderately but prudently and with very great care, they should remain inviolate, and that, for the future, opportunity for any excuse might be cut off, which is now open to no one among us.

(_c_) Council of Carthage, A. D. 390, _Canon 2_. Bruns, I, 117.

See also Canon 1 of the same council.

Canon 2. Bishop Aurelius said: When in a previous council the matter of the maintenance of continence and chast.i.ty was discussed, these three orders were joined by a certain agreement of chast.i.ty through their ordination, bishops, I say, presbyters, and deacons; as it was agreed that it was seemly that they, as most holy pontiffs and priests of G.o.d, and as Levites who serve divine things, should be continent in all things whereby they may be able to obtain from G.o.d what they ask sincerely, so that what the Apostles taught and antiquity observed, we also keep. By all the bishops it was said: It is the pleasure of all that bishops, presbyters, and deacons, or those who handle the sacraments, should be guardians of modesty, and refrain themselves from their wives. By all it was said: It is our pleasure that in all things, and by all, modesty should be preserved, who serve the altar.

(_d_) Leo the Great, _Ep. 14_, _ad Anastasium_; _Ep. 167_, _ad Rustic.u.m_.

(MSL, 54:672, 1204.)