Traditional Roman Catholicism
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I have received a question from Juan, one of our list members, as to the Biblical proof of celibacy. First lets understand
why it is not in direct rejection of the command to " increase and multiply." We must also understand that Catholics
believe in Sacred Tradition as well as Holy Scripture as true fonts of Divine Revelation.
" It cannot be urged against celibacy that it violates the divine precept to "increase and multiply"; for this command surly
cannot require all marriageable persons to be united in wedlock. Otherwise, bachelors and spinsters would also be
guilty of violating the law. The number of men and women consecrated to God by vows of chastity forms but an
imperceptible fraction of the human family, their proportion in the United States, for instance, being only one individual
to about every four thousand. Moreover, it is an incontrovertible fact that the population increases most in the countries
in which the Catholic clergy exercise the strongest influence; for there married people are impressed with the idea that
marriage was instituted not for the gratification of the flesh, but for the procreation and Christian education of children. "
( Faith of Our Fathers)
Now let us see what Holy Scripture says:
Our Lord praises most highly the state of virginity. " his disciples say unto him: If the case of a man with his wife be so,
it is not expedient to marry. Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. For there are
eunuchs, who were born so from their mothers womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there
are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.
( Matt. 19: 10-12)
Saint Paul led a life of celibacy and recommended it to all who felt called to that life:
" For I would that all men were even as myself. But every one hath his proper gift from God: one after this manner, and
another after that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they so continue, even as I."
(I Cor. 7:7-8)
Also:
" But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the
Lord: how he may please God. But he that is with a wife is solicitous for the things of the world: how he may please his
wife. And he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord: that she may be
holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world: how she may please her
husband."
(1 Cor.32-34)
Saint John in Apocalypse speaks of those who have preserved their virginity as the special associates of the
Immaculate Lamb of God:
"These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
These were purchased from among men, the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." ( Apoc. 14:4)
" Let no man despise thy youth: but be thou an example of the faithful, in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in
chastity" (I Timothy 4:12)
With all these proofs from Holy Scripture, we must remember that the Priest, when during the Consecration says, " For
This Is My Body" he is Alter Christi. Therefore, we know Christ was not married to any human creature, but to His
Church, so the Priest too must not be married to any human creature but to the Church.
The tradition of clerical celibacy was solemnly proclaimed by the Council of Nicaea, the First Ecumenical Council, in
325. Canon No. 3, unanimously approved by the Fathers, admitted of no exceptions whatsoever. The Council
considered that the prohibition imposed thereby on all bishops, priests, and deacons against having a wife absolute.
All subsequent councils that have addressed the subject have renewed this interdiction.
Not only would it be a violation of Sacred Tradition to blot out a custom decreed for 2,000 years to be absolutely
obligatory, but also one must recognize that clerical celibacy is to be seen not merely as of ecclesiastical institution, but
part of what is more broadly known in Catholic moral theology as "divine positive law," initiated by Christ and His
Apostles. That is, it is not merely disciplinary in nature.
The Council of Carthage in 390 stated that celibacy of is Apostolic origin.
St. Epiphanius of Salamis (ca. 315-403): "It is the Apostles themselves who decreed this law."
St. Jerome (ca. 342-420): "Priests and deacons must be either virgins or widowers before being ordained, or at
least observe perpetual continence after their ordination.... If married men find this difficult to endure, they should not
turn against me, but rather against Holy Writ and the entire ecclesiastical order."
Pope St. Innocent I (401-417): "This is not a matter of imposing upon the clergy new and arbitrary obligations, but
rather of reminding them of those which the tradition of the Apostles and the Fathers has transmitted to us."
St. Peter Damian (1007-1072) wrote: "No one can be ignorant of the fact that all the Fathers of the Catholic
Church unanimously imposed the inviolable rule of continence on clerics in major orders."
There is a reason for this Tradition. The cleric in major orders, by virtue of his ordination, contracts a marriage
with the Church, and he cannot be a bigamist. St. Jerome in his treatise "Adversus Jovinianum," bases clerical
celibacy on the virginity of Christ.
The universal law of clerical celibacy confirmed by the Council of Nicaea applied, and still applies, to the Eastern
Church as well as the Western. It is noteworthy that at that Council, the Easterns (Greeks) made up the overwhelming
majority. Previously, the Council of Neo-Caesarea (314) had reminded all Eastern clerics in major orders of the
nviolability of this law under pain of deposition.
The Eastern Church began at a late date to violate its own law of celibacy. The Quinisext Council of 692, which
St. Bede the Venerable (673-735) called "a reprobate synod," breached the Apostolic Tradition concerning the celibacy
of clerics by declaring that "all clerics except bishops may continue in wedlock." The popes refused to endorse the
conclusions of the Council in the mater of celibacy, and the Eastern Church planted the seeds of its schism.
why it is not in direct rejection of the command to " increase and multiply." We must also understand that Catholics
believe in Sacred Tradition as well as Holy Scripture as true fonts of Divine Revelation.
" It cannot be urged against celibacy that it violates the divine precept to "increase and multiply"; for this command surly
cannot require all marriageable persons to be united in wedlock. Otherwise, bachelors and spinsters would also be
guilty of violating the law. The number of men and women consecrated to God by vows of chastity forms but an
imperceptible fraction of the human family, their proportion in the United States, for instance, being only one individual
to about every four thousand. Moreover, it is an incontrovertible fact that the population increases most in the countries
in which the Catholic clergy exercise the strongest influence; for there married people are impressed with the idea that
marriage was instituted not for the gratification of the flesh, but for the procreation and Christian education of children. "
( Faith of Our Fathers)
Now let us see what Holy Scripture says:
Our Lord praises most highly the state of virginity. " his disciples say unto him: If the case of a man with his wife be so,
it is not expedient to marry. Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. For there are
eunuchs, who were born so from their mothers womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there
are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.
( Matt. 19: 10-12)
Saint Paul led a life of celibacy and recommended it to all who felt called to that life:
" For I would that all men were even as myself. But every one hath his proper gift from God: one after this manner, and
another after that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they so continue, even as I."
(I Cor. 7:7-8)
Also:
" But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the
Lord: how he may please God. But he that is with a wife is solicitous for the things of the world: how he may please his
wife. And he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord: that she may be
holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world: how she may please her
husband."
(1 Cor.32-34)
Saint John in Apocalypse speaks of those who have preserved their virginity as the special associates of the
Immaculate Lamb of God:
"These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
These were purchased from among men, the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." ( Apoc. 14:4)
" Let no man despise thy youth: but be thou an example of the faithful, in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in
chastity" (I Timothy 4:12)
With all these proofs from Holy Scripture, we must remember that the Priest, when during the Consecration says, " For
This Is My Body" he is Alter Christi. Therefore, we know Christ was not married to any human creature, but to His
Church, so the Priest too must not be married to any human creature but to the Church.
The tradition of clerical celibacy was solemnly proclaimed by the Council of Nicaea, the First Ecumenical Council, in
325. Canon No. 3, unanimously approved by the Fathers, admitted of no exceptions whatsoever. The Council
considered that the prohibition imposed thereby on all bishops, priests, and deacons against having a wife absolute.
All subsequent councils that have addressed the subject have renewed this interdiction.
Not only would it be a violation of Sacred Tradition to blot out a custom decreed for 2,000 years to be absolutely
obligatory, but also one must recognize that clerical celibacy is to be seen not merely as of ecclesiastical institution, but
part of what is more broadly known in Catholic moral theology as "divine positive law," initiated by Christ and His
Apostles. That is, it is not merely disciplinary in nature.
The Council of Carthage in 390 stated that celibacy of is Apostolic origin.
St. Epiphanius of Salamis (ca. 315-403): "It is the Apostles themselves who decreed this law."
St. Jerome (ca. 342-420): "Priests and deacons must be either virgins or widowers before being ordained, or at
least observe perpetual continence after their ordination.... If married men find this difficult to endure, they should not
turn against me, but rather against Holy Writ and the entire ecclesiastical order."
Pope St. Innocent I (401-417): "This is not a matter of imposing upon the clergy new and arbitrary obligations, but
rather of reminding them of those which the tradition of the Apostles and the Fathers has transmitted to us."
St. Peter Damian (1007-1072) wrote: "No one can be ignorant of the fact that all the Fathers of the Catholic
Church unanimously imposed the inviolable rule of continence on clerics in major orders."
There is a reason for this Tradition. The cleric in major orders, by virtue of his ordination, contracts a marriage
with the Church, and he cannot be a bigamist. St. Jerome in his treatise "Adversus Jovinianum," bases clerical
celibacy on the virginity of Christ.
The universal law of clerical celibacy confirmed by the Council of Nicaea applied, and still applies, to the Eastern
Church as well as the Western. It is noteworthy that at that Council, the Easterns (Greeks) made up the overwhelming
majority. Previously, the Council of Neo-Caesarea (314) had reminded all Eastern clerics in major orders of the
nviolability of this law under pain of deposition.
The Eastern Church began at a late date to violate its own law of celibacy. The Quinisext Council of 692, which
St. Bede the Venerable (673-735) called "a reprobate synod," breached the Apostolic Tradition concerning the celibacy
of clerics by declaring that "all clerics except bishops may continue in wedlock." The popes refused to endorse the
conclusions of the Council in the mater of celibacy, and the Eastern Church planted the seeds of its schism.
Celibacy
