Celibacy and the Gregorian Reform
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 4-1973 Celibacy and the Gregorian Reform Raymond M. Rademacher Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Medieval Studies Commons Recommended Citation Rademacher, Raymond M., "Celibacy and the Gregorian Reform" (1973). Master's Theses. 2722. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/2722 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CELIBACY AND THE GREGORIAN REFORM by Raymond M« Rademacher A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan April 1973 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CELIBACY AND THE GREGORIAN REFORM Raymond M. Rademacher, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1973 Included in the Gregorian Reform of the eleventh century was the clerical discipline of celibacy. Even though celibacy was not a new discipline at that time, Pope Gregory VII vigorously enforced the canons on celibacy. In a matter of such intimacy there was bound to be opposition to the enforcement of these canons. Tradition offered ample support to both parties of the conflict. The long standing tradition of married clergy served as a strong support to those who opposed the Gregorian enforcement. However, the tradi tional canons in favor of celibacy gave impetus to the reformers of the eleventh century. Pope Gregory VII did not have to legislate a new discipline but rather carry out the existing canons. The long standing neglect of the canons provided a custom that caused strong opposition to the Gregorian reform movement. The main thrust of the eleventh century reform was of course freedom of the church from the dominance of the state. In seeking a way out of the investitute conflict, the pope vigorously pursued a course of clerical reform that included mandatory clerical celibacy. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In writing this thesis, I have benefited from the encourage ment, advice, and constructive criticism of my advisor, Professor John Sommerfeldt. My thanks go to him and the other professors who gave much inspiration and valuable aid. I wish to thank the Medieval Institute for making the course of studies possible. Rev. Raymond M. Rademacher Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I I MASTERS THESIS M-4497 RADEMACHER, Rev. Raymond M. CELIBACY AND THE GREGORIAN REFORM. Western Michigan University, M.A., 1973 History, medieval University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CONTENTS Chapter Page I Celibacy in the Fathers................. 1 II Celibacy in the Councils of theChurch . 37 III Celibate and non-Celibate Clergy in the Eleventh Century.................... 106 IV Hildebrandian R e f o r m ................... 148 V Resistence to Gregorian R e f o r m ........... 190 Bibliography ......................... 221 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER ONE CELIBACY IN THE FATHERS The struggle in the eleventh century to establish celibacy as a universal and mandatory discipline for clerics in the western church had its beginnings in the early church, even though in only a skeletal form. The progress of the evolution of this discipline is an important part in the understanding of the total picture of the conflicts that rocked the western church during the Hilde— brandian reform. The eleventh century councils and papal reformers which de manded conjugal celibacy consistently maintained that their posi tion was rooted in the past traditions of the Fathers of the church. However, those who advocated normalization of married life for clerics also looked to the Fathers and sacred scripture for justification of their arguments. Unfortunately, little research is available in English to give us a complete picture of the early church*s attitude on celibacy.'*' In English there is Peter Harkx* s small work which has been trans- 2 lated from the original Dutch. There are, however, some studies •*Tn French we have Roger Gryson* s Les Origines de celibat Ecclesiastique du Premier au Septieme SIECLE, (Gemblous, 1970) ^Harkx, Peter, The Fathers on Celibacy, (DePere, Wise., 1968) hereafter referred to as Fathers. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of a general nature^ that give us some insights into the Fathers* view of celibacy. Recent studies on the Fathers .have opened new directions in understanding the meaning of celibacy according to these early church writers. Even a superficial perusal of the early eras of church history shows an evolutionary development of vir ginity and conjugal celibacy. What is meant by celibacy during the first few centuries of our era? In the early church, celibacy generally meant that one refrained from sexual activity with one's wife. Most celibate clerics composed only a small minority of the clergy. It was during the fourth and fifth centuries that clerical celibacy became recog nized as a higher calling when council after council and several popes proposed celibacy among clergy as an ideal.^ It was In the twelfth century that celibacy finally took on the meaning we reserve for it today when celibacy means a virginal discipline. In this work celibacy will generally have its early meaning of separation of man and wife— namely, conjugal celibacy. ^Quasten, Johannes, Patrology, (Westminster, Md., 1951- ) Martyrdom and Virginity, author not given, unpublished private paper in the library of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky. ^See Chapter II of this thesis, pp. 46-72 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 Sacred Scripture Whenever any of the Fathers used Sacred Scripture as a source for the justification of celibacy they generally referred to the fol lowing verses: Matthew 19:12; 1 Cor 7:8, 25-35; and Rev 14:1-5."* Those Fathers who opposed mandatory celibacy generally referred to 1 Tim 3:2-5; 1 Tim 3:12; Tit 1:5-8; 1 Cor 9-5; and 1 Cor 7:9-11. Both groups refer to the Old Testament priests' custom of sep arating from their wives during their time of temple service,*’ but no texts were cited. Because many of the supporters and opponents of mandatory celibacy in all centuries referred to one or more of these texts, some explanation of these ^ is in order. What follows is a general exegesis accepted by most scholars today. The follow- g ing three verses follow the divorce pericope. It is not clear whether these texts are part of the above pericope or are separate 9 from it. "His disciples said to him, 'If that is the case between ^Only Methodius of Olympus (c. 310) makes a direct reference to this text in his epistle Symposium in which ten virgins speak in dialogue form about the state of virginity. ^Jacques Paul Migne, ed., Patrologiae Cursus Completus; Se ries Latina. (Paris, 1842-92) 221 vols. 18,32. Hereafter referred to as PG. Texts are from the New American Bible (NAB), St. Joseph Ed ition, (New York, 1970). NAB contains the Confraternity of Chris tian Doctrine text, a recent translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts. 8 Matthew 19:2-9 contains the prohibitions of remarriage. Christ abrogates the Hebrew privilege of divorce and remarriage in favor of the permanency of the marriage bond. 9 "That” refers to Christ insisting on one man and one wife for life.