When and why was celibacy instituted for priests

[Vieve]

My sister married into a family of VERY liberal Catholics. So this question comes from disbelieving something they were saying. According to her mother-in-law, the vow of priestly celibacy was created in the middle ages to deal with inheritance problems, e.g. when a priest or bishop would die, the church's sizable lands and income could arguably be passed to his children or wife or mistress. i have studied some of the history of the middle ages and know that while corruption within the priesthood and particularly regarding celibacy was present and even accepted regionally, I believe that celibacy was part of priesthood from before that (as in St. Augustine didn't have the option to marry his mistress - and that was in the 400s!), but I dont know when it became a prevailing notion and when it was part of the institution. Also, was there a separate reason beside the better to be single verses?

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='Vieve' date='Oct 6 2005, 08:42 PM']My sister married into a family of VERY liberal Catholics.  So this question comes from disbelieving something they were saying.  According to her mother-in-law, the vow of priestly celibacy was created in the middle ages to deal with inheritance problems, e.g. when a priest or bishop would die, the church's sizable lands and income could arguably be passed to his children or wife or mistress.[/quote]
my understanding is that it is only incidental that celibacy resolves this type of problem. the priests inheritance was certainly not the cause or the main reason for instituting celibacy in the roman rite.


[quote]i have studied some of the history of the middle ages and know that while corruption within the priesthood and particularly regarding celibacy was present and even accepted regionally, I believe that celibacy was part of priesthood from before that (as in St. Augustine didn't have the option to marry his mistress - and that was in the 400s!), but I dont know when it became a prevailing notion and when it was part of the institution.[/quote]
it seems that, almost from the very beginning, continence was highly valued among the fathers, in which a priest, if he be married, still refrained from the marriage act. this gradually lent itself to the adoption of celibacy as the preferred state of the clergy.


[quote]\ Also, was there a separate reason beside the better to be single verses?[right][snapback]748900[/snapback][/right][/quote]
in [b][url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm"]this article[/url][/b] from New Advent, we read:[list]From the earliest period the Church was personified and conceived of by her disciples as the Virgin Bride and as the pure Body of Christ, or again as the Virgin Mother (parthenos meter), and it was plainly fitting that this virgin Church should be served by a virgin priesthood. Among Jews and pagans the priesthood was hereditary. Its functions and powers were transmitted by natural generation. But in the Church of Christ, as an antithesis to this, the priestly character was imparted by the Holy Ghost in the Divinely-instituted Sacrament of Orders. Virginity is consequently the special prerogative of the Christian priesthood. Virginity and marriage both holy, but in different ways. The conviction that virginity possesses a higher sanctity and clearer spiritual intuitions, seems to be an instinct planted deep in the heart of man. Even in the Jewish Dispensation where the priest begot children to whom his functions descended, it was nevertheless enjoined that he should observe continence during the period in which he served in the Temple. No doubt a mystical reason of this kind does not appeal to all, but such considerations have always held a prominent place in the thought of the Fathers of the Church; as is seen, for example, in the admonition very commonly addressed to subdeacons of the Middle Ages at the time of their ordination. "With regard to them it has pleased our fathers that they who handle the sacred mysteries should observe the law of continence, as it is written 'be clean ye who handle the vessels of the Lord' "(Maskell, Monumenta Ritualia, II, 242).
[/list]the entire article is very helpful both in listing the motives for a celibate priesthood, and how this gradually came into effect in the history of the Church. i hope it helps

pax christi,
phatcatholic