Western Abolition of the Married Priesthood

taken from Anslem House

The  12th century English historian, Henry of Huntingdon, a married priest, records the attempt by Anselm to abolish the traditional married priesthood in England: 

"In the same year [1102) Archbishop Anselm held a Council in London at Michaelmas [29 September], in which he forbade English priests to have wives, which had not been prohibited before. This seemed to some to be the greatest purity, but to others there seemed a danger that if they sought a purity beyond their capacity, they might fall into horrible uncleanness, to the utter disgrace of the Christian name."

("The History of the English People", Book III, Ch. 24) 


The attempts to implement the Hildebrandian ['Gregorian'] Reforms in England were to continue, several years later with a Roman Cardinal attempting the same: 

""At Easter [29 March, 1125], John of Crema, a Roman cardinal, arrived in England. He travelled round the bishoprics and abbeys, receiving large gifts, and at the Nativity of St. Mary [8 September] he held a solemn Council in London. But as Moses, God's scribe, wrote in the sacred history of the vices, as well as the virtues, even of his own ancestors, that is to say the incest of Lot, Reuben's sin, the treachery of Simeon and Levi, the inhumanity of Joseph's brothers, it is right that we also follow a true law of history concerning good and evil deeds. If this should displease any Roman or any church leader, let him keep silence, lest he should seem to want to follow the example of John of Crema. For in the Council he dealt most severely with the matter of priests' wives, saying that it was the greatest sin to rise from the side of a 'whore' and go to make the Body of Christ. Yet, although on the very same day he had made the Body of Christ, he was discovered after vespers with an whore. This affair was very well known and could not be denied. The high honour which he had enjoyed everywhere was transformed into utter disgrace. So he retreated to his own land [Italy], confounded and discredited by the judgment of God."

 ("The History of the English People", Book III, Ch. 36)

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