Chapter XXIX: Part 29

[232] Greg. Mag. Vit. S. Benedicti c. 2.—Juan Cirita, a Spanish saint of the twelfth century, was exposed to the same temptation as St. Benedict, the devil visiting him in the shape of a lovely woman who sought refuge from her pursuers in his cell. During a sleepless night, feeling his resolution giving way, he roused his fire and with a glowing brand burned his arm to the bone, whereupon the devil vanished, loading him with reproaches (Henriquez Vit. Joannis Cirita cap. ii.). Legends of this nature are not uncommon, nor are there wanting those of another class in which the immediate and visible agency of the Evil Spirit is not called into play. Thus the holy Godric, a Welsh saint of the twelfth century, endeavored to subdue his rebellious flesh in the manner which St. Benedict found so effectual, but without success. He then buried a cask in the earthen floor of his cell, filled it with water and fitted it with a cover, and in this receptacle he shut himself up whenever he felt the titillations of desire. In this manner, varied by occasionally passing the night up to his chin in a river of which he had broken the ice, he finally succeeded in mastering his fiery nature.—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. c. x.

[233] Regul. S. Benedicti c. 28, 29, 58.

[234] Tetrad. Regul. c. 1.

[235] Capit. Car. Mag. I. ann. 811 cap. xi. He also asks whether there were any monks in Gaul before the rule of St. Benedict was brought there, and is naturally not a little puzzled when told that St. Martin of Tours was a monk long anterior to the time of Benedict.—Capit. II. ann. 811 cap. xii. (Baluz. I. 331-2, Ed. Venet.).

[236]

Quinquaginta quinque millia quingenta quinque
Omnes canonizati a te sunt translati.
Est monachus sanctus. Caput vero Benedictus.—
(Birck de Monast. Campidonens. c. 25.)

Bishop Trithemius is more moderate, his estimate amounting to only 15,559. (Miræi Orig. Benedict.)

[237] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. I. Epist. 42. Six years later he had to repeat his commands in stronger terms. (Cf. Lib. VII. Epist. 35. Lib. II. Epist. 28. Lib. IV. Epist. 27. Lib. X. Epist. 8.) Yet when the offender was a man of rank and power, as in the case of Venantius, Patrician of Syracuse, Gregory could lay aside the tone of lofty command and condescend to tender entreaty and earnest exhortation (Lib. I. Epist. 34), without even a threat of excommunication, and remain for years on the friendliest terms with him (Lib. XI. Epistt. 30, 35, 36), showing that the rule was as yet by no means firmly established. In another case, however, nothing can be more indignant and peremptory than his commands (Lib. VIII. Epistt. 8, 9).

[238] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. IV. Epist. 42.

[239] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. X. Epistt. 22, 23.—He states “ut etiam monachis ibidem degentibus mulieribus se jungere sine metu sit licitum” which he characterizes as “res ... omnino detestabilis et nefanda.”

[240] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. XI. Epist. 50.

[241] Concil. Parisiens. V. ann. 615 c. xiii.—In the decree of Clotair II., confirming the acts of this council, we find—“Puellas et viduas religiosas, aut sanctimoniales, quæ se Deo voverunt, tam quæ in propriis domibus resident, quam quæ in monasteriis positæ sunt, nullus nec per præceptum nostrum competat, nec trahere nec sibi in conjugio sociare penitus præsumat etc.”—Edict. Chlot. II. ann. 615 c. xviii. (Baluze).

[242] S. Fructuosi Bracarens. Regul. Commun. cap. 1.

[243] De Ecclesiast. Offic. Lib. II. cap. xvi. § 7.

[244] Solutos atque oberrantes, sola turpis vita complectitur et vaga, ... quique dum, nullum metuentes, explendæ voluptatis suæ licentiam consectantur, quasi animalia bruta, libertate ac desiderio suo feruntur, habentes signum religionis, non religionis officium, hippocentauris similes, neque equi neque homines, ... quorum quidem sordida atque infami numerositate satis superque nostra pars occidua pollet.—Ibid. Lib. II. c. iii.

[245] Ludov. Pii de Reform. Eccles. cap. 100. (Goldast. Const. Imp. III. 199.)

[246] Smaragd. Comment. in Regul. Benedict. c. 1.

[247] De Mor. German. c. 18, 19. It is a little singular that Salvianus names the Alamanni as the only exception to the character for chastity which he bestows on the Barbarians in general.

[248] From such chance allusions as are made by Gregory of Tours, this would almost seem to be the general rule, and not the exception. Thus he mentions that Apollinaris obtained the see of Rhodez at the solicitation of his wife and sister (Hist. Franc. Lib. III. c. 2), and shortly afterwards the same episcopate is filled by the appointment of “Innocentius Gabalitanorum comes” (Ibid. Lib. VI. c. 38). Sulpitius, when nominated to that of Bourges, “ad clericatum deductus, episcopatum ... suscepit” (Ibid. Lib. VI. c. 39). Badegisilus, Clotair’s mayor of the palace, received the bishopric of Le Mans “qui tonsuratus, gradus quos clerici sortiuntur ascensus,” was duly installed (Ibid. Lib. VI. c. 9). Indeed, in his catalogue of the Bishops of Tours, Gregory specifies of Euphronius, the eighteenth bishop, that he was “ab ineunte ætate clericus,” showing how unusual it was to be regularly bred to the church.

[249] Hincmari Vit. S. Remigii c. 42, 43.

[250] Greg. Turon. de Glor. Confess. c. 78.

[251] Concil. Matiscon. I. c. 3.

[252] Greg. Turon. Hist. Franc. Lib. IV. c. 4. At this period the church of Britanny was rather British than Frankish. See Haddan & Stubbs, II. 72 sqq.

[253] Concil. Turon. II. c. 19, 20.—A remark of Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc. Lib. VIII. cap 19) has been assumed to indicate that priests could legitimately have commerce with their wives. By comparing it with the canons cited above, however, it evidently can at the most have reference to the lower orders of the clergy.

[254] Concil. Toletan. III. c. 5.

[255] L. Wisigoth. Lib. III. Tit. iv. l. 18. This law is preserved in the Fuero Juzgo, or mediæval Romance version of the code (Lib. III. Tit. iv. ley 18).

[256] L. Wisigoth. Lib. III. Tit. v. l. 2.

[257] Concil. Toletan VIII. ann. 653 can iv. v. vi.—These measures were as fruitless as the preceding. Cf. Concil. Toletan. IX. ann. 655 can. x.

[258] Rex Witiza se effrenate præcipitans per omne genus flagitii, legem nequissimam tulit; ut more sara(ce)norum cuilibet laico et clerico liceret, quotquot posset alere, uxores et concubinas impune domi suæ retinere.—Liutprandi Chron. No. 174 ann. 706.

[259] Liutprandi Chron. No. 181 ann. 709; No. 188 ann. 711. Without entering into the question of the correctness with which this chronicle has been attributed to Liutprand of Cremona, I may say that it has every appearance of being an authentic remnant of antiquity (Cf. Antonii Biblioth. Hispan. I. 585).

[260] Concil. Roman, sub Silvest. can. xix. (Migne’s Patrol. VIII. 840).

[261] Pelagii PP. II. Epist. xiv.

[262] Superstes uxor aut filii, per quos ecclesiastica solet periclitari substantia.—Pelagii PP. I. Cethego Patricio.

[263] L. Wisigoth. Lib. v. Tit. i. l. 2.

[264] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. XIII. Epist. 6.—This rule had come to be very generally neglected. The importance attached to it, however, by strict disciplinarians is well illustrated in the firmness displayed by John, Patriarch of Alexandria, a contemporary of Gregory, whose bountiful charity had earned for him the title of Eleemosynarius. In a time of extreme famine, a wealthy aspirant offered him 200,000 bushels of corn and 100 pounds of gold for the grade of deacon. He had unluckily been twice married, and John refused the dazzling bribe, although the episcopal treasury had been exhausted in relieving the necessities of the suffering people (Thomassin, Discip. de l’Église, Pt. II. Liv. 3, c. 15.)

[265] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. XIII. Epistt. 35, 36.

[266] Ibid. Lib. IV. Epist. 26; Lib. V. Epist. 3; Lib. VIII. Epist. 24.—Similar attempts had previously been made by sundry provincial councils. In the case of Andrew, Bishop of Tarentum, who was accused of maintaining relations with a former concubine, Gregory recognizing the impossibility of obtaining proof, leaves it to his own conscience. If he has had any commerce with her since his ordination, he is commanded at once to resign his position as the only mode of insuring his salvation (Ibid. Lib. III. Epistt. 45, 46).

[267] Ibid. Lib. I. Epist. 44; Lib. IV. Epistt. 5, 36.

[268] Ibid. Lib. XI. Epist. 69.

[269] Ibid. Lib. IX. Epist. 106.

[270] Udalric. Bamberg. Cod. Lib. II. Epist. 10.

[271] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. I. Epist. 52; Lib. IX. Epist. 60.

[272] Gregor. PP. I. Dial. Lib. IV. cap. xi.

[273] In 649 we find Amandus, Bishop of Maestricht, resigning his office on account of the impossibility of enforcing the canons among his priests and deacons. Martin I. endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, and urged his proceeding with the utmost rigor against all transgressors (Hartzheim Concil. German. I. 28).

[274] Concil. Roman. ann. 721.

[275] Chron. Gradensis Supplement.

[276] Capitul. Arechis Benevent. cap. XII. (Canciani I. 262).

[277] Muratori Antiq. Med. Ævi Dissert. LXXIV.

[278] Gregor. PP. II. Epist. 14 cap. 12.

[279] Modo autem maxima ex parte episcopales sedes traditæ sunt laicis cupidis ad possidendum, vel adulteratis clericis, scortatoribus et publicanis sæculariter ad perfruendum.... Si invenero inter illos diaconos quos nominant, qui a pueritia sua semper in stupris, semper in adulteriis et in omnibus semper spurcitiis vitam ducentes, sub tali testimonio venerunt ad diaconatum, et modo in diaconatu concubinas quatuor vel quinque vel plures noctu in lecto habentes, evangelium tamen legere et diaconos se nominare non erubescunt, nec metuunt: et sic in talibus incestis ad ordinem presbyteratus venientes, in iisdem peccatis perdurantes, et peccata peccatis adjicientes, presbyteratus officio fungentes, dicunt se pro populo posse intercedere, et sacras oblationes offerre. Novissime, quod pejus est, sub talibus testimoniis per gradus singulos ascendentes, ordinantur et nominantur episcopi. Si usquam tales invenero inter illos, rogo ut habeam præceptum et conscriptum auctoritatis vestræ, quid de talibus diffiniatis, ut per responsum Apostolicum convincantur et arguantur peccatores.—Bonifacii Epist. 132.

[280] Milo quidam, tonsura clericus, moribus, habitu, et actu irreligiosus laicus, episcopia Remorum ac Trevirorum usurpans insimul, per multos annos pessumdederit.—Hincmar. Epist. xxx. c. 20.—Sola tonsura clerico, qui secum processerat ad bellum.—Flodoard. Hist. Remens. Lib. II. c. 12.—Nihilque in eo de clericali honore vel vita nisi sola tonsura enituit.—Hist. Trevirens. (D’Achery Spicileg. II. 212).

[281] Hist. Trevirens. (D’Achery Spicileg. II. 212).

[282] Bonifacii Epist. 142.

[283] Hist. Trevirens. loc. cit.

[284] Bonifacii loc. cit.

[285] Othlon. Vit. S. Bonifac. Lib. I. c. 44.

[286] Bonifacii Epist. 85.

[287] Flodoard. Hist. Remens. Lib. II. cap. 12.—Capit. Caroli Calvi Tit. XXVII. cap. 7 (Baluze).

[288] Et tam laicorum injusta concubinarum copula partim exhortante sancto viro separata est, quam etiam clericorum nefanda cum uxoribus conjunctio sejuncta ac separata.—Willibald. Vit. S. Bonifac. c. 9.

[289] Capit. Caroloman. ann. 742 c. 1, 3, 6.

[290] Bonifacii Epist. 137.

[291] Ibid. Epist. 132, 142.

[292] Capit. Caroloman. ann. 743 c. 1.

[293] Zachar. PP. Epist. 8, c. 11, 18.

[294] Pippini Capit. ann. 744 c. 4, 8, 9.

[295] Bonifac. Epistt. 135, 139 (Zachar. PP. Epist. 9).

[296] Othlon. Vit. S. Bonif. Lib. II. c. 11.

[297] Bonifacii Epist. 135.—S. Ludgeri Vit. S. Bonifacii.

[298] Bonifacii Epist. 140.

[299] Capit. Pippini ann. 755.

[300] Regul. S. Chrodegangi cap. 29, 56, 68, 70.

[301] Cod. Carolini Epist. lxiv. (Patrolog. T. 98 p. 319). Yet even in 772 we find that a council in Bavaria found it necessary to prohibit the marriage of nuns.—Concil. Dingolving. can. 2 (Hartzheim Concil. German. I. 129).

[302] Capit. Car. Mag. II. ann. 811 cap. iv. (Baluz. I. 329—Ed. Venet.).

[303] Ghaerbaldi Judicia Sacerdotalia de Criminibus c. 13 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 31).

[304] Ludov. Pii. Capit. Ingelenheim. c. 5.

[305] Capit. Aquisgran. ann. 817. Cf. Miræi Cod. Donat. Piar. c. 13.—This Capitulary regulating monastic life was generally adopted as a supplement to the rule of Benedict (Leo. Ostiens. Chron. Cassinens. Lib. I. c. 16).

[306] See ante, p. 123. Cf. Pseudo-Hormisdæ Epist. Encyc. (Migne’s Patrol. T. LXIII. p. 527).

[307] Quid enim est gravius carnale delictum admittere _sine quo in multis pauci inveniuntur_, an Dei filium timendo negare? in quo uno ipsum beatum Petrum apostolorum principem, ad cujus nunc corpus indigni sedemus, lapsum esse cognoscimus, sed post negationem pœnitentia secuta, et post pœnitentiam misericordia data.—Pseudo-Gregor. Epist. ad Secundinum.

Isidor Mercator also includes two canons from the sixth century forgery of the Roman Council said to have been held under Silvester I. (see p. 122). Of these, one prohibits bishops from celebrating the marriage of nuns under seventy years of age; the other forbids priests from marrying, under a penalty of ten year’s suspension, with a threat of perpetual deprivation for contumacy. (Constit. Pseudo-Silvestri cap. x. xix.) The adoption of these in the False Decretals would seem at least to be superfluous.

[308] Capit. Carol. Mag. I. ann. 802 c. 17.

[309] Concil. Aquisgran. ann. 836, de vit. et doc. infer. ordin. can. xii., xiv.—De monasteriis puellarum quæ in quibusdam locis lupanaria potius videntur esse quam monasteria.

[310] Capitul. add. IV. cap. clx. (Baluze, I. 1227).

[311] Bonifacii Epist. 19.

[312] Capit. Aquisgran. ann. 817, c. xi.—Chavard, Célibat des Prêtres, Genève, 1874, p. 35.

[313] Quia, instigante diabolo, etiam in illis scelus frequenter perpetratum invenitur, aut etiam in pedissequis earum. Nec igitur matrem, neque amitam, neque sororem permittimus ultra habitare in domo una cum sacerdote.—Theodulf. Aurelian. Capit. Secund. (Baluz. et Mansi II. 99.)

He had previously (Epist. c. 12) promulgated the prohibition, assigning for it the more decent reason, in imitation of St. Augustin, of the danger arising from female attendants. In this he was imitated, about 850, by Rodolf of Bourges (Capit. Rodulf. Bituricens. c. 16), and about 871 by Walter of Orleans (Capit. Walteri Aurelian. c. 3).

In 889, however, Riculfus of Soissons declares the lamentable truth without reserve: “Nos vero etiam a matribus, amitis, sororibus vel propinquis cavendum dicimus, ne forte illud eveniat quod in sancta scriptura legitur de Thamar sorore Absalon ... de Loth etiam ... Quod si aliquis vestrum matrem, sororem vel amitam ad convescendum vocaverit, expleto convivio ad domos suas vel ad hospitia a domo presbyteri remota, cum luce diei eas faciat remeare; periculosum quippe est ut vobiscum habitent.”—Riculfi Suess. Const. c. 14.

[314] Thus the council of Mainz in 888—“Quod multum dolendum est, sæpe audivimus per illam concessionem plurima scelera esse commissa, ita ut quidam sacerdotum, cum propriis sororibus concumbentes, filios ex eis generassent, et idcirco constituit hæc sancta synodus, ut nullus presbyter ullam feminam secum in domo propria permittat quatenus occasio malæ suspicionis vel facti iniqui penitus auferatur” (Concil. Mogunt. ann. 888 c. 10). In the same year the third canon of the council of Metz repeats the prohibition; while in 895 the council of Nantes declares—“Sed neque illas quas canones concedunt; quia instigante diabolo, etiam in illis scelus frequenter perpetratum reperitur, aut etiam in pedissequis illarum, scilicet matrem, amitam, sororem.”—Concil. Namnetens. ann. 895 c. 3.

It is true that some authorities, including the great name of Pagi, attribute to this council of Nantes the date of 660, but this is unimportant as regards the canon in question, for its necessity during the period under consideration is shown by its insertion in the Capitularies of Benedict the Levite (Lib. VII. c. 376), and in the collection of Regino of Pruhm (Lib. I. c. 104).

[315] Capit. Carol. Calvi Tit. III. cap. 4, 5.

[316] Martene Ampliss. Collect. I. 151.

[317] Hincmari Epist. XXXII. c. 20.

[318] Hincmari Capit. Presbyteris data. cap. XXI.-XXV.

Hincmar repeats his instructions, with some amplifications, in another document, in which he declares them to be the received traditional rules—“a majoribus nostris accepimus” (De Presbyt. criminos. c. XI.-XVIII.). That they were generally practised is shown in their almost literal repetition by the council of Trosley in 909—with the exception that in some cases fourteen or twenty-one witnesses were required for conviction (Concil. Troslei. c. ix.).

[319] Martene Ampl. Collect. I. 151.

[320] Capit. Synod. Remens. ann. 874 c. 3.

[321] Nicholai I. Respons. ad Consult. Bulgar. c. 70.

[322] Efficitur ad hæc uxorius, liberos procreans, et ad suæ damnationis cumulum nil sibi clericale præter tonsuram præferens.—Folcuin. de Gest. Abbat. Laubiens. c. 12.

[323] Mantion. Episc. Catalaun. Epist. ad Fulc. Remens. (Migne’s Patrol. T. 131, p. 23.)

[324] Liutprand. Antapod. Lib. III. c. 43.

[325] Liutprand. Hist. Otton. c. 4, 10.—Chron. Benedict. S. Andreæ Monach. c. 35.

[326] Concil. Turon. ann. 925. (Martene Thesaur. IV. 73.)

[327] Ratherii de nuptu cujusdam illicito c. 4.

[328] Ratherii de contemptu canon. P. I. c. 4.

[329] Atton. Vercell. Epist. ix.

[330] Enarratio eorum quæ perverse gesta sunt, etc. (Muratori, Antiq. Med. Ævi Diss. LXII.).

[331] Institutes of Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical, c. 19, 23 (Thorpe, Ancient Laws, &c. of England, II. 329, 337).

[332] Ratherii Itinerar. c. 5.

[333] Ratherii Synodica c. 15.

[334] Gunzo the Grammarian, in his learned treatise, makes use of the recognized celibacy of the clergy as a comparison. “Non enim una eademque res bona, licet æque omnibus conceditur. Siquidem nuptiæ, laicis concessæ, sacris ordinibus denegantur.”—Gunzonis Epist. ad Augienses.

[335] Leon. PP. VII. Epist. 15.

[336] Constit. Otton. ann. 940, c. 12.

[337] Quod si sacerdotes incontinenter propter ipsam continentiam primam quam sortitus est, separati a consortio cellæ, teneat uxorem; si vere aliam duxerit, excommunicetur.—Concil. Spalatens. ann. 925 c. 15.

The passage is evidently corrupt, but its intention is manifest. The reading suggested by Batthyani may be reasonably accepted. “Quod si sacerdotes incontinentes propter ipsam continentiam quam quis primam sortitus est, separati a consortio cellæ, teneant uxorem, tolerantur; si vero aliam duxerint, excommunicentur.” (Batthyani Legg. Eccles. Hungar. I. 333-4.)

[338] Richeri Hist. Lib. II. c. 81. The canons of the council, however, as they have reached us, are silent on the subject.

[339] Concil. Augustan. ann. 952 c. 1, 4, 11.

[340] Cod. Bamberg. Lib. II. Epist. 10.

St. Ulric is noteworthy as the first subject of papal canonization, having been enrolled in the calendar by the council of Rome in 993. That priestly marriage should be advocated by so pious and venerable a father was of course not agreeable to the sacerdotal party, and his evidence against celibacy has not infrequently been ruled out of court by discrediting the authenticity of the epistle. The compiler of the collection containing it, made in 1125, prefixed the name of Nicholas as that of the pope to whom it was addressed, and as St. Ulric was about equidistant between Nicholas I. in the ninth and Nicholas II. in the eleventh century, it has been suggested that the epistle was addressed to the latter, on the occasion of his reforms in 1059, the use of St. Ulric’s name being assumed as a mistake of the compiler. That this is not so is shown by the fact that already in 1079 it was known as St. Ulric’s, being condemned as such in that year by Gregory VII.—“scriptum quod dicitur sancti Oudalrici ad papam Nicholaum, de nuptiis presbiterorum” (Bernald. Constant. Chron. ann. 1079). The authenticity of the document, I believe, is generally admitted by unprejudiced critics.

[341] Ratherii Discordia c. 1, 6.

[342] Ratherii Epist. XI., XII.—His letter to the Empress Adelaide, announcing his willingness to retire from the contest, and to seek the congenial shades of a monastery, is most uncourtly. (Epist. XIII.)

[343] Ruotgeri Vit. S. Brunonis c. 38.—Ratherius consoled himself epigrammatically by condensing his misfortunes in the Leonine verse—“Veronæ præsul, sed ter Ratherius exsul.”

[344] De Contempt. Canon. P. II. c. 2.—Præloquiorum Lib. V. c. 18.

The existing confusion is well exemplified by another remark—“Expertus sum talem qui ante ordinationem adulterium perpetravit, postea quasi continenter vixit; alterum qui post ordinationem uxorem duxit; et iste illum, ille istum carpebat.”—De Contempt. Canon. P. I. c. 11.

[345] Atton. Vercell. Epist. 9. In another epistle (No. 10) Atto congratulates himself on the reform of some of his clergy, and threatens the contumacious with degradation.

[346] Othloni Vit. S. Wolfkangi c. 15, 16, 17, 23.

[347] “Ad cumulum damnationis suæ, accepit mulierem, nomine Hildeburgam, in senectute, quæ, ingresso illo ad se, concepit et peperit filios et filias, &c.” The chronicler makes the end of this aged sinner an example of poetical justice such as may frequently be found in the monkish annals of those times—“Qui dum esset flebotomatus, nocte insecuta dormivit cum Episcopissa; qua de re vulnus cœpit intumescere, et dolor usque ad interiora cordis devenire.” Finding his end approaching, he assumed the monastic habit and took the vows, after which he immediately expired.—Act. Pontif. Cenoman. c. 29 (Dom Bouquet, X. 384-5).

Fulbert of Chartres has left us a lively sketch of the military bishops of the period.—“Tyrannos potius appellabo, qui bellicis occupati negotiis, multo stipati latus milite, solidarios pretio conducunt, ut nullos sæculi reges aut principes noverim adeo instructos bellorum legibus, totam armorum disciplinam in procinctu militiæ servare, digerere turmas, ordines componere, ad turbandam ecclesiæ pacem, et Christianorum, licet hostium, sanguinem, effundendum.”—Fulbert. Carnot. Epist. 112.

[348] Chron. S. Petri Vivi (D’Achery Spicileg. II. 470).

[349] This singular oath has been published by Muratori (Antiq. Ital. Diss. XX.).—“Ego Andrea presbiter promitto coram Deo et omnibus sanctis, et tibi Guarino episcopo, quod carnalem commistionem non faciam; et si fecero, et onoris mei et beneficio ecclesiæ perdam.”

[350] S. Petri Damiani Epist. Lib. IV. Epist. 8.—Leo Marsicanus (Chron. Cassinens. Lib. II. c. 16) asserts that in his youth he himself had seen and conversed with a priest who had been one of the eye-bearers.

[351] Abbon. Floriac. Epist. 14.

[352] Although Aimoin, who was an eye-witness, does not specially mention the cause that excited the monks to ungovernable fury, yet a casual allusion shows that women were responsible for it.—“Cæterum, tantæ cladis compilatores certissime agnoscentes beatum obiisse Abbonem, certatim cuncti in fugam vertuntur, ita ut, terris reddito die, ne mulieres quidam in universis forensibus ipsius villæ invenirentur domibus”—(Abbon. Floriac. Vit. c. 20)—and the day after his death “una ex his mulieribus quæ clamore suo seditionem concitaverant” became suddenly mad, and was struck with incurable leprosy—(Aimoin. Mirac. S. Abbonis c. 2).

[353] Damian. Carm. ccxxi.

[354] Aimoin. Vit. S. Abbonis c. 9.

[355] Episcopi sui temporis aliqui fastu superbiæ, aliqui simplicitate cordis, filios sæcularium sacerdotum ad sacros ordines admittere dedignabantur, nec ad clericatum eos recipere volentes; hic vero beatus, neminem despiciens, neminem spernens, passim cunctos recipiebat.—Constant. S. Symphor. Vit. Adalberon. II. c. 24.

[356] Dithmar. Merseberg. Lib. VI. c. 24.

[357] S. Heinrici Sentent. de Conjug. Cleric. (Patrologiæ T. 140 p. 231).

[358] A nullo scriptorum qui de illo sive de episcopio ejus locuti sunt, laudatus est. Palam memorant quod habitu non opere monachus fuerit.

Successit Hugo, legis Domini violator
Clara stirpe satus, sed Christi lumine cassus.
—Order. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 41.

[359] About the year 990, for instance, we find Duke Richard reforming the celebrated Abbey of Fécamp and replacing with Benedictines the former occupants—canons whose secular mode of life outraged his pious sensibilities—“contigit Fiscannenses canonicos aliorum canonicorum mores imitari, latas perditionis vias ingredi, et rerum temporalium luxus et desidias voluptuose sectari.”—Anon. Fiscannens. c. 17.

[360] Nam conjugem nomine Herlevam, ut comes, habuit, ex qua tres filios, Richardum, Radulfum et Guillelmum genuit; quibus Ebroicensem comitatum et alios honores amplissimos secundum jus sæculi distribuit.—Orderic. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 42.

So in the Normanniæ Nova Chronica, published by Chéruel in 1850, “Iste Robertus fuit uxoratus, et ex Herleva conjuge sua tres filios habuit, Richardum, Radulfum et Willelmum.”

[361] Bénoit, Chronique des Ducs de Normandie, v. 32427, 24912. We may fairly conclude from these expressions that Robert was educated for the priesthood.

[362] Voluptatibus carnis mundanisque curis indecenter inhæsit, filiumque nomine Michaelem probum militem et legitimum genuit, quem in Anglia jam senem rex Henricus honorat et diligit.—Orderic. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 43.

[363] Concil. Ansan. ann. 990 c. 5.

[364] Concil. Pictaviens. c. ann. 1000 c. 3.

[365] Si clericus superioris gradus, qui uxorem habuit, et post confessionem vel honorem clericatus iterum earn cognoverit, sciat sibi adulterium commisisse, sicut superiore sententia unusquisque juxta ordine suo pœniteat [i. e. diaconus et monachi VII. (annos) III. ex his pane et aqua. Presbyter x. Episcopus XII., V. ex his pane et aqua.] ... Si quis clericus aut monachus postquam se devoverit ad sæcularem habitum iterum reversus fuerit aut uxorem duxerit, X. annos pœniteat, III. ex his in pane et aqua, nunquam postea in conjugium copuletur.—Judicium Pœnitentis ex Sacrament. Rhenaug.

[366] Gerberti Sermo de Informat. Episcopor.

[367] Gerberti Opp. p. 197 sqq. (Ed. Migne).

[368] “Taceo de me quem novo locutionis genere equum emissarium susurrant, uxorem et filios habentem, propter partem familiæ meæ de Francia recollectam.”—Gerberti Epist. Sect. I. No. XI.—Gerbert’s reputation for sanctity is not such as to render scandalous the suspicion that the family thus gathered around him might afford legitimate occasion for gossip, notwithstanding his abbacy and the fact that he had been bred in a convent.

[369] Ita ut clerici (quod non absque dolore cordis fateor) impudici, bilingues, ebrii, turpis lucri cupidi, habentes fidem, et ut verius dicam, infidelitatem, in conscientia impura, non probati in bona, sed in malo opere præsciti ministrantes, et innumera crimina habentes, sacro ministerio adsciscantur.—Gildæ de Excid. Britan. Pt. III. cap. 23—Cf. cap. 1, 2, 3.

[370] “_Unius uxoris virum._” Quid ita apud nos quoque contemnitur, quasi non audiretur, vel idem dicere et virum uxorum?... Sed quid erit, ubi nec pater nec filius mali genitoris exemplo pravatus conspicitur castus?—Gildæ loc. cit.

[371] Modern criticism has raised doubts as to the existence of St. Patrick. Whether they are well-grounded or not is a matter of little importance here, as we are concerned only with the institutions bearing his name, which institutions undoubtedly did exist. Meanwhile I may add that few remote events appear to rest on better authority than the conversion of the Gaeidhil, about the year 438, by a person known to his contemporaries as Patraic, or Patricius; and the name of Cain Patraic applied to the secular code attributed to him, dates from a very high antiquity.—See Senchus Mor, Hancock’s Ed. Vol. I. Dublin, 1865.

[372] Synod. S. Patricii c. 9, 17 (Haddan & Stubbs II. 328-9)—Synod. II. S. Patricii c. 17, 21 (Ibid. 335-6).

[373] Præfat. Gildæ de Pœnitent. cap. 1 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 7).

[374] Lib. de Remed. Peccat. cap. de Fornicat. (Martene IV. 23).—Cf. Synod. Aquilon. Britan. cap. 1 (Ibid. p. 9).

[375] In this long course of penance, three months were to be spent in solitary confinement, with bread and water at night; then eighteen months in fasting on bread and water; then bread and water three days in the week for five years and three months; then bread and water on Fridays for the remaining three years.—Gratian. Dist. LXXXII. c. 5.

[376] Arbedoc et Haelhucar Lib. XXXVIII. cap. 7 (D’Achery I. 500).

[377] Haddan & Stubbs, Councils of Great Britain, I. 112.

[378] Bernardi Vit. S. Malachiæ cap. vi.

[379] S. Columbani Regul. cap. vi.

[380] Reliquit (Columbanus) successores magna continentia ac divino amore regularique institutione insignes ... pietatis et castitatis opera diligenter observantes (Bedæ Hist. Eccles. Lib. III. c. 4, cf. also c. 26). Bede’s orthodoxy on the subject is unquestionable: “Sacerdotibus ut semper altari queant assistere, semper ab uxoribus continendum, semper castitas observanda præcipitur” (In Lucæ Evang. Exposit. Lib. I. cap. 1).—“Quanta sunt maledictione digni qui prohibent nubere et dispositionem cœlestis decreti quasi a diabolo repertam condemnant? ... sed magis honoranda, majore est digna benedictione virginitas.” (Hexæmeron. Lib. I. sub tit. Benedixitque illis.) See also De Tabernac. Lib. III. c. 9, already referred to (p. 65).

[381] See, for instance, the proceedings of the synod of Whitby in 664, where the differences between the Scottish and Roman observances were fully discussed (Spelman. Concil. I. 145). So when, in 633, Honorius I. addressed the Scottish clergy, reproving their false computation of Easter and their Pelagianism, he made no allusion to any want of clerical purity (Bedæ Hist. Eccles. Lib. II. c. 19).

[382] “Opto enim doceri an clerici continere non valentes, possint contrahere; et si contraxerint, an debeant ad sæculum redire”—to which Gregory responds with a long exhortation as to the duties of the “clerici extra sacros ordines constituti”—Gregor. I. Regist. Lib. XI. Epist. lxiv. Respons. 2.

[383] Si episcopi filius sit, sit dimidium hoc (Leg. Inæ c. LXXVI.). The rubric of the law is “De occidente filiolum vel patrinum alicujus” (Thorpe, Ancient Laws of England, II. 472).

[384] Denique promulgatur decretum ... de abdicandis sacerdotum uxoribus.—Spelman. Concil. I. 216.

[385] Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. pp. 424-5 (Ed. 1705).

[386] Theodori Pœnitent. I. ix. 1, 4, 5, 6, 10; II. ii. 12 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 184-5, 192).

[387] See, for instance, St. Aldhelm’ rhapsodies, “De laudibus virginitatis,” and “De laudibus virginum.” The orthodoxy of Bede on this question has already been alluded to.

According to the legend, St. Aldhelm tried his virtue by the same crucial experiments as those resorted to by some of the ardent devotees of the third century, concealing his motive in order that his humility might enjoy the benefit of undeserved reprobation. “Sancti Aldelmi Malmesburiensis, qui inter duas puellas, unam ab uno latere, alteram ab altero, singulis noctibus ut ab hominibus diffamaretur, a Deo vero cui nota fuerat conscientia ipsius et continentia copiosius in futurum remuneraretur, jacuisse describitur.”—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. cap. xv.

[388] Ecgberti Pœnitent. I. II. 3; IV. 2, 7, 8; V. 1-22.—Ejusd. Dialog, V. (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 406, 419-23).

[389] Epist. ad Geruntium.—Aldhelmi Opp. p. 83 (Ed. Oxon. 1844).

[390] Johan. PP. IV. Epist. iii.

[391] Bedæ Epist. II.

[392] Bonifacii Epist. 105.

[393] Can. 20 directs greater strictness with regard to visitors, “unde non sint sanctimonialium domicilia turpium confabulationum, commessationum, ebrietatum, luxuriantiumque cubilia.” Can. 28 orders that nuns after taking the veil shall not wear lay garments; and can. 29 that clerks, monks, and nuns shall not live with the laity. (Spelman. Concil. I. 250-4.—Haddan & Stubbs, III. 369, 374.)

This demoralization of the nunneries is not to be wondered at when Boniface, in reproving Ethelbald, King of Mercia, for his evil courses, could say, “Et adhuc, quod pejus est, qui nobis narrant adjiciunt: quod hoc scelus maxime cum sanctis monialibus et sacratis Deo virginibus per monasteria commissum sit.” This sacrilegious licentiousness, indeed, would seem almost to have been habitual with the Anglo-Saxon reguli for Boniface instances the fate of Ethelbald’s predecessor Ceolred and of Osred of Northumbria who had both came to an untimely end in consequence of indulgence in similar evil courses.—Bonifacii Epist. 19.

[394] Concil. Calchuth. can. 15, 16 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 455-6).

[395] Haddan & Stubbs, Councils, etc., III. 493.

[396] Propter fornicationem fugiendam unusquisque _laicus_ suam uxorem legitimam habeat.—Concil. Calchuth. can. 16.

[397] Concil. Celicyth. ann. 816 can. 4 8 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 580-3).

[398] Goscelini Vit. S. Swithuni c. 1, 2.

[399] Leg. Aluredi c. 8, 18.—Constit. Odon. Cantuar. c. 7.

[400] Leg. Edwardi et Guthrun. c. 3.—Leg. Eadmund. Eccles. c. 1.

[401] Bridfrit. Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 5, 7. Bridfrith was a disciple of St. Dunstan, and composed his biography but a few years after the death of his patron. He does not state what was the position of Dunstan at the time of his betrothal; but Osbern, a hundred years later, asserts that he had acquired the lower orders only, and that he received the priesthood and took the monastic vows simultaneously.—Osberni Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 8, 12.

[402] Osbern. Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 35.—Florent. Wigorn. ann. 964, 973.—Matt. Westmonast. ann. 963.

[403] Vit. S. Æthelwoldi c. 14.

[404] Si ista solerti scrutinio curassetis, non tam horrenda et abominanda ad aures nostras de clericis pervenissent ... dicam dolens quo modo diffluant in commessationibus, in ebrietatibus, in cubilibus et impudicitiis, ut jam domus clericorum putentur prostibula meretricum, conciliabulum histrionum.... Ad hoc ergo exhauserunt patres nostri thesauros suos? ad hoc fiscus regius, detractis redditibus multis elargitus est? ad hoc ecclesiis Christi agros et possessiones regalis munificentia contulit, ut deliciis clericorum meretrices ornentur? luxuriosæ convivæ præparentur? canes ac aves et talia ludicra comparentur? Hoc milites clamant, plebs submurmurat, mimi cantant et saltant, et vos negligitis, vos parcitis, vos dissimulatis.—Oratio Edgari ann. 969 (Spelman. Concil. I. 477).

[405] Vit. S. Æthelwold. c. 12.

[406] “Gif preorst ewenan forlæte and oðre nime, anaþema sit” (Leg. Presbyt. Northumbriens. c. 35). Spelman’s translation of this “Si presbyter concubinam suam dimiserit et aliam acceperit anathema sit” (Concil. I. 498) is perhaps hardly correct. Cwene can be interpreted in either a good or a bad sense, as a wife or a mistress; and the terms of the law show that the connection was a recognized one, the sin consisting in disregarding it. If the priest’s companion were only a concubine, his guilt would not be measurably increased by merely changing his unlawful consort.

[407] Chron. de Abbat. Abbendoniæ (Chron. Abingdon. II. 279).

[408] Osberni Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 36.

[409] Chron. de. Abbat. Abbendon. _loc. cit._

[410] Vit. S. Æthelwold. c. 14, 15.

[411] Johannis PP. XIII. Epist. xxii.

[412] Concil. sub Dunstano (Spelman. I. 480).

[413] Ædgari Charta de Oswalde’s Law (Spelman. I. 433).

[414] Anglo-Saxon Chron. ann. 964.

[415] Monach. Hydens. Leg. c. 8, 9 (Spelman. I. 438).

[416] Canon. sub Edgaro—Mod. imponend. Pœnitent. c. 28, 29 (Thorpe, II. 273).

[417] Oratio Edgari (Spelman. I. 476).

[418] Spelman. I. 479.

[419] Guillel. Malmesbur. Lib. II. c. 8.

[420] Florent. Wigorn. ann. 975.—Matt. Westmonast. Lib. III. c. 18.—Chron. Winton. (Spelman. I. 490-2).

[421] Matt. Westmonast. Lib. III. c. 18. Henry of Huntingdon, however (Lib. V. ann. 978), who, as a secular priest and the son of a priest, did not look upon the labors of St. Dunstan with much favor, insinuates that the accident was intended to foreshow that the assembled wisdom and power of England were about to fall similarly from the grace of God.

[422] Haddan & Stubbs I. 286.

[423] Privileg. Reg. Ethelredi (Spelman. I. 504).

[424] Ælfrici Canon. c. i.-viii. (Thorpe, II. 345). “Quasi periculosum non esset sacerdotem vivere more conjugati. Sed dicetis eum haud posse carere muliebribus servitiis. Respondeo, quonam pacto vitam transegerunt sancti olim viri absque femina vel uxore,” &c. (Spelman I. 573).—Spelman’s MS. was defective; that in Thorpe is perfect.

[425] Ælfric’s Pastoral Epistle, c. 32, 33 (Thorpe, II. 377).

[426] Omnes ministros Dei, præsertim sacerdotes, obsecramus et docemus, ut Deo obedientes, castitatem colant, et contra iram Domini se hoc modo muniant et tueantur. Certius enim norint quod non habeant debite ob aliquam coitus causam uxoris consortium. In more tamen est, ut quidam duas, quidam plures habeat; et nonnullus quamvis eam dimiserit quam nuper habuit, aliam tamen, ipsa vivente, accipit, quod nulla Christianorum lege est permissum. Dimittens autem et castitatem recolens, e cœlo assequetur misericordiam, in mundo etiam venerationem, adeo ut juribus et tributis habeatur Thaini dignus cum in vita tum in funere. Qui autem ordinis sui regulam abdicaverit, omni cum apud Deum tum apud homines gratia exuatur.—Concil. Ænham. c. 2. (Spelman. I. 514-5).

I give the translation of Spelman, as being more faithful in spirit, although less literal than that of Thorpe; for though the expression “wifes gemanan” may not be especially limited to wifely relations, yet the whole tenor of the passage shows that the women concerned were not merely concubines, but were entitled to the consideration of legal wives.

The thane-right promised to those who should reform their lives was one of the recognized privileges of the church. In a list of wer-gilds, anterior to the period under consideration by about a century, the wer-gild for the priest—“mæsse-þegnes” is the same as that for the secular noble—“woruld-þegnes” (Thorpe, I. 187).

[427] “Munecas and mynecena canonicas and nunnan” (Concil. Ænham. c. 1). Spelman thinks that the mynecena were perhaps the wives or concubines of monks (Concil. I. 530). Mynecen is merely the feminine of munuc, a monk; Thorpe translates it as “mynchens,” and suggests that the “mynecena” were merely the younger nuns, not quite so strictly governed as the elder “nunnan.” To this opinion Bosworth (Dictionary, s. v. _nunne_) seems to incline. It would appear to be so from chapter XV. (be Mynecenan) of the “Institutes of Polity” (Thorpe, II. 322).

[428] Cnutes Domas c. VI. (Thorpe, I. 364).

[429] Cnutes Domas c. v. (Thorpe, I. 362). To appreciate the full weight of the privileges thus distributed, we should bear in mind how completely, in those times, the various classes of society were distinguished by the facilities afforded them of acquittal in cases of accusation, and by the graduated scale of fines established for injuries inflicted on them. These were most substantial advantages when the wer-gild, or blood-money, was the only safeguard guaranteed by law for life and limb, and were most important privileges of the aristocracy. This constitutes the thane-right alluded to in the council of Enham, and retained by the laws of Cnut, as attaching to priests who preserve their chastity. Thus “sacramentum presbyteri regulariter viventis tantumdem valeat sicut liberalis hominis” (Cnuti Leg. Sæcul. c. 128—ed. Kolderup-Rosenvinge)—the expression “liberalis homo” being, in this version, used for the “taynus” or thane of the other texts.

[430] Cnuti Leg. Eccles. c. 8, 9. (Kolderup-Rosenvinge, Hauniæ, 1826, p. 12).

[431] Institutes of Polity, &c., c. 16, 19, 23 (Thorpe, II. 325, 329, 337). It is observable that the words _wif_ and _cwene_ are used interchangeably to denote the consorts of priests.

[432] Lives of Edward the Confessor, pp. 60-1 (Chron. & Memor. of Gr. Brit.). In the same curious collection there is another life of Edward by a follower of Queen Edith and dedicated to her, the writer of which freely attributes the worst motives to the intrigues of the Norman monks in separating her from the king. See, for instance, his account of her immurement in the abbey of Wilton (Op. cit. p. 403).

Edward’s virginity is likewise attested by the MS. Monast. Ramesiens. (Spelman. I. 637)—“Cœlibem pudicitiæ florem, quem inter regni delicias et inter amplexus conjugales ... conservarat, virtutemque perpetuo floribus immiscuit paradisi.” In this, however, Edward only imitated the asceticism ascribed to the Emperor St. Henry II. and his Empress St. Cunegunda, half a century earlier.

[433] Chron. Centulens. Lib. IV. c. xxii. (D’Achery II. 345).

[434] Orderic. Vital. P. II. Lib. iv. c. 10.—The testimony of William of Malmesbury (De Gest. Regum Lib. III.) is equally emphatic.

[435] Lives of Edward the Confessor, p. 432.

[436] Burchardi Decret. Lib. III. c. 108-116.

[437] Synod. Ticinens. ann. 1022 c. 1, 2, 3, 4.

[438] Respons Imperatoris in Synod. Ticinens.

[439] Concil. Bituricens. ann. 1031 c. 5, 6, 8, 10.

[440] Quoniam infelicem habuit introitum, infeliciorem persensit exitum. Horrendum quippe referri turpitudo illius conversationis et vitæ.—Rad. Glabri Lib. V. c. 5.

[441] Johann. Chron. Angliæ, c. 47 (Ludewig Rel. Msctorum. XII. 145). Semper enim luxuriæ et carnalibus illecebris deditus fuit.

[442] P. Damiani Opusc. VI. c. 18.

[443] Annal. Barenses, ann. 1035.—Shortly after this, we hear of two bishops killed in battle (Ibid. ann. 1041).

[444] P. Damiani, loc. cit.

[445] Desiderii Dialog. de Mirac. S. Benedict. Lib. III. (Script. Rer. Italicor. V. 396).

[446] John, a disciple of St. Peter Damiani, in alluding to the prevailing twin vices of simony and marriage, says: “Quæ videlicet pestes tam perniciosa consuetudine prævaluerant, tamque impune totam ferme ecclesiam in omni Romano orbe fædaverant, ut vix jam reprehensorem, tamquam licite, formidarent.”—Vit. S. P. Damiani c. 16.

[447] Cosmæ Pragens. Chron. Boem. Lib. III. (Mencken. Script. Rer. German. III. p. 1782).

[448] Batthyani Leg. Eccles. Hung. I. 335.

[449] Adam. Bremens. Gest. Pontif. Hammaburg. Schol. ad cap. 29 Lib. III.

[450] Perhaps as suggestive an illustration of the morals and manners of the age as can well be given is afforded by a deed executed in 1055 by a noble count of Catalonia on the occasion of his marriage. He pledges himself not to cast off his bride, except for infidelity—such infidelity not being plotted for by him—and to secure the performance of this promise he places in the hands of his father-in-law four castles, to be held in pledge, subject to forfeiture in case of his violating the agreement. (Baluz. Capit. Francor. Append. Actor. Vet. No. 148.)

[451] Atton. Vit. S. Johannis Gualbert. c. 31.

[452] The popular feelings which greeted his interposition are well conveyed in the jingling verse addressed to him by a holy hermit—

Una Sunamitis nupsit tribus maritis;
Rex Henrice, Omnipotentis vice,
Solve connubium, triforme, dubium.
(Annalista Saxo, ann. 1046.)

The invitation to interfere, however, was not needed. Henry’s prerogative as the representative of Charlemagne and Otho the Great was sufficient warrant, and his religious ardor an ample motive, without any special reference to his tribunal.

[453] Anon. de Episcop. Eichstett. c. 34 (Patrolog. T. 146, pp. 1021-2).

[454] It would be a work of supererogation to quote the innumerable evidences of this which crowd the pages of contemporary writers. The generalizing remark of Glaber will suffice—“Omnes quippe gradus ecclesiastici a maximo pontifice usque ad hostianum opprimuntur per suæ damnationis precium, ac juxta vocem Dominicam in cunctis grassatur spiritale latrocinium.”—Glab. Rodolph. Hist. Lib. V. c. 5.

[455] Damiani Lib. VIII. Epist. 3.

[456] Johannis Vit. B. P. Damiani c. 1.

[457] Alex. II. Epist. 15.

[458] Learning, on his death-bed, that he was not to be buried as a pope, he requested the prelates around him to place his coffin at the church-door securely fastened, and if the portals opened without human hands, it would be a sign that he should receive papal honors. It was done, when a gust of wind burst open the door and lifted the coffin from the bier (Martin. Fuldens. Chron. ann. 1046).

[459] Martin. Fuldens. ann. 1050.

[460] Damiani Opusc. VII. (Liber Gomorrhianus).—Some ten or twelve years later, Alexander II. obtained the manuscript from Damiani, under pretence of having it copied, but prudently locked it up and refused to return it. The saintly author complained bitterly of the deception thus practised upon him, which he unceremoniously characterized as a fraud (Damiani Lib. II. Epist. 6).

[461] The world can never know the long and silent suffering endured in the terrible self-combat of ardent natures in the solitude of the cloister. If many succumb, the indignation which Damiani and his class so freely bestow on the victims should be transferred rather to the system which produces them. A monk of the period has left us a vivid and curious picture of his own tortures in the endless struggle with the tempter; and the mental torments to which his fellow-unfortunates were exposed are aptly condensed in the simple tale of the Abbess Sarah, who for thirteen long years maintained her ground without shrinking from the ceaseless assaults of the enemy by continually invoking the aid of God—“Da mihi fortitudinem Deus!” (Othlon. de Tentat. suis P. I.). The hagiology of the church is full of legends, more or less veritable, of the sufferings of these martyrs and of their triumphs over the flesh, from the time of St. Ammonius, who, when less decisive measures failed, bored his flesh in many places with red-hot iron, and thus vanquished passion by suffering. A collection of these stories, more curious than decent, may be found admiringly detailed by Giraldus Cambrensis in his Gemma Ecclesiastica, Dist. II.

[462] Batthyani Leg. Eccles. Hung. I. 401.

[463] Adami Bremens. Gest. Pontif. Hammaburg. Lib. III. c. 29.—Annalista Saxo, ann. 1048.

[464] Adam. Bremens. loc. cit.

[465] Tunc quippe in Neustria, post adventum Normannorum, in tantum dissoluta erat castitas clericorum, ut non solum presbyteri sed etiam præsules libere uterentur toris concubinarum, et palam superbirent multiplici propagine filiorum ac filiarum ... Tandem ... Leo Papa ... in Gallias A. D. 1049 venit ... Tunc ibidem (Remis) generale concilium tenuit, et inter reliqua ecclesiæ commoda quæ instituit, presbyteris arma ferre et conjuges habere prohibuit. Arma quidem ferre presbyteri jam gratanter desiere, sed a pellicibus adhuc nolunt abstinere, nec pudicitiæ inhærere.—Orderic. Vital. P. II. Lib. V. c. 15.—This portion of the work of Ordericus was written about the year 1125.

Ibi vero simoniaci, tam populares quam clerici, presbyterique uxorati, persuasione sancti Hugonis, a catholicorum communione et ab ecclesiis eliminati sunt.—Alberic. Trium Fontium Chron. ann. 1049.

[466] Damiani Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 7.—It was probably some vague recollection of this provision, combined with the regulations adopted at Pavia in 1022 (p. 178) that led Dr. Martin, one of the commissioners who presided at the trial of Archbishop Cranmer, to declare to that unhappy culprit that “his children were bondmen to the see of Canterbury.”—Strype, Memorials of Cranmer, Book III. chap. 27.

[467] Herman. Contract. Chron. ann. 1051.

[468] Muratori Annali, ann. 1053.

[469] S. Leonis PP. IX. Mirac. (Migne’s Patrolog. CXLIII. 525 sqq.)

[470] Humberti Card. contra Nicetam XXV. XXVI.

[471] Lambert. Schaffnab. ann. 1054.—Martin. Polon. ann. 1057.

[472] Leo. Marsic. Chron. Casinens. Lib. II. c. 97.

[473] Damiani Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 6.

[474] Ibid.

[475] Ut nullus missam audiat presbyteri quem scit concubinam indubitanter habere aut subintroductam mulierem.—Concil. Roman. ann. 1059 c. 3.

Singularly enough, this clause is omitted in the synodical epistle addressed to the Gallic clergy, as given by Hugh of Flavigny, Chron. Lib. II. ann. 1059.

[476] How utterly this was opposed to the received dogmas and practice of the church can be seen from the decision of Nicholas I. on the same question—“Sciscitantibus vobis, si a sacerdote, qui sive comprehensus est in adulterio, sive de hoc fama sola respersus est, debeatis communionem suscipere, necne, respondemus: Non potest aliquis quantumcumque pollutus sit, sacramenta divina polluere, quæ purgatoria cunctarum remedia contagionum existunt.... Sumite, igitur, intrepide ab omni sacerdote Christi mysteria, quoniam omnia in fide purgantur” (Nicolai I. Epist. XCVII. c. 71). See also a similar decision in 727 by Gregory II. (Bonifacii Epist. CXXVI.).

The only adverse authority of this period that I have met with is the Penitential of Theodore of Canterbury, already referred to, prescribing rebaptism for those baptized by priests of known unchastity (Lib. II. cap. ii. § 12.—Haddan & Stubbs’s Councils, III. 192).

Damiani saw the danger to which a practice such as this exposed the church, and lifted up his voice to prevent the evil results—

Audite etiam, laici,
Qui Christo famulamini;
Pro ullo unquam crimine,
Pastores non despicite.
(Carmen ccxxii.)

and when, about the year 1060, the Florentines refused the ministrations of their bishop, whom they were determined from other causes to eject, he reproved them warmly, adducing the only reasonable view of the question, “quod Spiritus Sanctus per improbi ministerium dare potest sua charismata” (Opusc. XXX. c. 2).

Simoniacal priests as well as concubinary ones were included in the ban, and when, in 1049, Leo IX. commenced his vigorous persecution of simony, there arose a belief that ordination received at hands tainted with that sin was null and void. This was promptly stigmatized as a heresy, and Damiani’s untiring pen was employed in combating it. He argued the question very thoroughly and keenly when it was under debate by a synod, and succeeded in procuring its condemnation (Opusc. VI. c. 12).

The prohibition, first proclaimed by Nicholas II. and finally enforced by Gregory VII., caused no little trouble in the church. Towards the close of the century, Urban II. found himself obliged to discuss the question, and in an epistle to Lucius, provost of the church of St. Juventius at Pavia, he admits that the sacraments administered by guilty priests are uncorrupted, yet he approves of their rejection in order to stimulate the clergy to virtue, and even declares that those who receive them, except under instant and pressing necessity, are guilty of idolatry (“nisi forte sola morte interveniente, utpote ne sine baptismate vel communione quilibet humanis rebus excedat; eis, inquam, in tantum obsunt, ut veri idolatræ sint”—Urbani II. Epist. 273)—a decision the logic of which is not readily apprehended. St. Anselm of Canterbury assents to the doctrine, but places it in a more reasonable and practical shape—“non quo quis ea quæ tractent contemnenda, sed tractantes execrandos existimet” (Epist. VIII.). The consequences of such a system, however, if strictly carried out, would have been most disastrous to the church, and when the zeal of Hildebrand became forgotten his injunctions were overruled. The century was scarcely out before Honorius of Autun maintained most positively that Christ operates through the hands of the vilest as well as of the most holy ministers, provided only they are orthodox in faith (Eucharistion c. vi.—Pez, Thesaur. II. i. 355). About 1150, however, Geroch of Reichersperg declares that he considered Gregory’s commands as still in force, and that he paid no more attention to the masses of concubinary priests than if they were so many Pagans (Gerhohi Dial. de Differentia Cleri—Pez, Thesaur. II. ii. 463). Yet before the end of the twelfth century, Lucius III. had returned to the policy of Nicholas I.—“Sumite ergo ab omni sacerdote intrepide Christi mysteria, quia omnia in fide Christi purgantur” (Post Lateran. Concil. P. L. c. 38), the positiveness of which was not much affected by the subtle distinctions which he endeavored to draw between crimes notorious and tolerated. Yet St. Thomas Aquinas, on the other hand, affirmed that it was a mortal sin to assist at the Mass celebrated by a priest who was notoriously unchaste (Pontas, Dict. de Cas de Conscience II. 1445). The church, however, gradually returned to the old doctrine and practice. The policy of Gregory was condemned as a heresy when adopted by the followers of Arnold of Brescia (Bonacursi Vit. Hæreticorum—D’Achery I. 214) and an austere priest, Albero of Mercke, near Cologne, who taught it was promptly silenced (Anon. adv. Alberonis errores—Martene Ampl. Coll. IX. 1251). In 1292 the council of Aschaffenburg anathematized those who “præsumptione dampnabili” taught the heresy that priests in mortal sin could not perform the sacred mysteries, and it decided “licite ergo a quocumque sacerdote ab ecclesia tolerato, divina mysteria audiantur et alia recipiantur ecclesiastica sacramenta” (Concil. Schafnaburg. ann. 1292 can. i.—Hartzheim IV. 7). And when Wickliffe and Huss undertook to carry out the dicta of Nicholas II. and Gregory VII. to their legitimate conclusions, the policy was at once recognized as a heresy of the worst character and most destructive consequence. Thus in 1491 a Synod of Bamberg condemns as heretics those who refuse to receive the ministrations of sinful priests.—Synod. Bamberg. ann. 1491 Tit. xliv. (Ludewig. Script. Rer. German. I. 1241-2).

[477] Quicumque sacerdotum, diaconorum, subdiaconorum ... concubinam palam duxerit vel ductam non reliquerit, ... præcipimus et omnino contradicimus, ut missam non cantet, neque evangelium vel epistolam ac missam legat, neque in presbyterio ad divina officia cum iis qui præfatæ constitutioni obedientes fuerint, maneat; neque partem ab ecclesia suscipiat.—Concil. Roman. ann. 1059 c. 3.

It is evident here that the opprobrious epithet “concubine” is applied to those who were as legally wives as it was possible to make them. Damiani, indeed, admits it, and even intimates that concubine was too honorable a word to be applied to the wives of priests—“Illorum vero clericorum feminas, qui matrimonia nequeunt legali jure contrahere, non conjuges sed concubinas potius, sive prostibula congrue possumus appellare” (Opusc. XVIII. Diss. iii. c. 2). After this period it will be found that the wives of priests were rarely dignified with the title of “uxores,” although ordination was not yet an impediment destructive of marriage.