The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 7 · Controversy 4 · Chapter 8
CHAP. 8. Examples of Clarks married, both Antient and Modern.
WE heard before Ignatius, and Clemens Alexandrinus, and Ambroſe, ſaying, that moſt part of the Apoſtles had wives: And Athanaſius ſaying, that he had known married Biſhops, and others living ſingle: And Hierom praiſing Biſhop Carterius for begetting children on his ſecond wife, in the time of his Epiſcopacy. I will bring here a few more examples.
Dionyſius Alexandrinus, a man of holy life, who writ about the year 260.(a)foreign, &c. ſpeaks of his children in an Epiſtle which is in the ſixth Book, chap. 40. of Euſebius.
Sozomenus, book 1. chap. 11. ſpeaks thus of Spiridion Biſhop of Cyprus, (b)foreign.That ruſtick man, having a wife and children, yet never the unfitter for that, for divine things. (c)p. 709.The Cardinal, who to wreſt the Fathers finds nothing too hard, ſaith that Sozomenus underſtands, that Spiridion for being a ruſtick man, was not the unfitter for divine things; but the Greek conſtruction is repugnant to that, for the word foreign, relates neceſſarily to that which is next, and the Authors meaning is that Spiridion was not unfitter for Gods ſervice, for having a wife and children. Alſo the Cardinal would perſwade the Reader, that Spiridion's wife was dead when he was made a Biſhop. Which Sozomenus contradicteth, ſaying, That ruſtick man having a wife and children, not that ſometimes had a wife. The Menology of the Grecians alleadged by the Cardinal, that is the Lunar Calendar which the Greek Churches uſe now, is of no more authority, then if he alleadged a new Almanack printed at Venice.
He is ridiculous, when he will prove that Spiridions wife was dead becauſe his daughter ſerved him, as though a daugher did owe no ſervice to her Father during her mothers life.
In the ninth Epiſtle of the ſeventh book of Sidonius Biſhop of Clermont in Auvergne, (d)De Sidonio vide Gregor: Turonenſem & ejus vitam ſcriptam à Savanarola.Sidonius puts this among the praiſes of Simplicius Biſhop of Bourges, He hath a wife of the race of the Palladians, and two ſons well and prudently inſtructed.
Sidonius himſelf had married a wife named Papianilla daughter to the Emperour Avitus, who diſtributed her plate unto the poor.
Gregory Nazianzen was ſon to Gregory Biſhop of Nazianza, who during his Epiſcopacy lived with his wife Nonna to an extream old age in the ſame houſe; as it is ſeen in the ſaid Gregories life ſet before his works; And in the Oration which the ſaid Gregory made upon his father, and in the oration about his ſiſter Gorgonia, and in that about his brother Caeſarius.
The Cardinal pretends to prove,Pag. 710. that he did not touch his wife ſince he was a Biſhop, becauſe he dyed being a hundred years old, and was fourty years Biſhop. He meaneth that a man hath loſt his vigor at the age of threeſcore years. Which cannot be true in a man that liveth a hundred years. Yet ſuppoſe that it is ſo: But who knoweth not that a man then jumped not into Epiſcopacy with one leap, and that this Gregory had paſt many years in the other Orders of the Church, before he was a Biſhop.
St. Gregory of Nyſſa brother to St. Baſil was married. Nicephorus ſpeaks thus of him book. 11. chap. 19.(e)Et quamvis is conjugem habuerit, rebus tamen aliis fratri minime ceſſit. Although he had a wife, in other things he was not inferiour to his brother.
Liberatus in his Breviary, chap. 10.(f)Ordinatus eſt Epiſcopus Alexandrinus Dioſcorus qui fuit quidem Archidiaconus ejuſdem Cyrilli, qui neque uxorem neque filios habuit. obſerveth in Dioſcorus Patriarch of Alexandria as a thing not ordinary, that he had neithet wife nor children.
Syneſius Biſhop of Cyrene being deſired to take upon him the office of Biſhop would not accept of it, but upon condition that he might be allowed to keep his wife, and have her with him, and beget on her as many children as he could, as himſelf ſaith, Epiſt. 105. As for me, I will not ſeparate my ſelf from her in any wiſe, and will not lye with her by ſtealth like an adulterer, but I will endeavour and wiſh to have by her many fine children.
This example ſheweth indeed that in Africk the Law was more rigid then in other places, and that they made difficulty to admit a married Biſhop. But this ſhews alſo that this rule was not generally obſerved. In vain the Cardinal alleadgeth, that this Syneſius did not believe the reſurrection: For that is nothing to this queſtion. It is enough that he was a Biſhop dwelling with his wife, and was very much honoured.(g)foreign.
In the fifty ſixth Diſtinction of the Roman Decree in the Canon Oſius, there is a long liſt of Biſhops, children of Clarks.
(h)Oſius Papa filius fuit Stephani ſubdiaconi. Bonifacius Papa fuit filius Jocundi Presbyteri, &c.Pope Oſius was ſon of Stephen Subdeacon, Pope Boniface was ſon of the Prieſt Jocundus. And that one may not think that they were begotten by fornication, or before their fathers were Clarks, The Canon Cenomanenſem, in the ſame Diſtinction hath theſe words,(i)Cum ergo ex ſacerdotibus nati in ſummos Pontifices ſupra leguntur eſſe promoti, non ſunt intelligendi de fornicatione ſed de legitimis conjugiis nati, quae ſacerdotibus ante prohibitionem ubique licita erant & in Orientali Eccleſia uſque hodie licere probantur. When then we read before, that perſons born of Prieſts were promoted to the charge of High Prieſts, we muſt not underſtand, that they were begotten by fornication, but in lawfull matrimony, which before the prohibition were allowed every where; and yet to this day they are permitted in the Oriental Church. In Armenia the marriage of Clarks was in ſuch honour,(k)foreign. that none was received to the ſacred Orders unleſs he was of ſacerdotal race. For which the Armenians are condemned by the Council of Trull Can. 33. which forbids to regard the extraction in the ordination.
Yea in the Weſt, for all that the Biſhops of Rome could do, Prieſts were commonly married. In Germany eſpecially, where Pope Gregory the VII. ſirnamed Hildebrand ſtirred up many troubles and ſcandals about that, as it is related by Schafnaburgenſis, and Sigebertus, who ſpeaks thus upon the year 1074.(l)Gregorius Papa convocata Synodo Simoniacos anathematizavil, & uxoratos ſacerdotes à divino officio removit, & Laicos miſſam eorum audire interdixit, novo exemplo, & ut multis viſum eſt inconſiderato praejudicio, contra ſanctorum Patrum ſententiam. Pope Gregory having called a Synod, excommunicated the Simoniacks, and expelled married Prieſts from the divine Office, and forbad Lay-men to hear their Maſs, by a new example, as many hold, and by an inconſiderate prejudice againſt the opinion of the Holy Fathers, &c. And ſo Schafnaburgenſis on the ſame year;(m)Contra hoc decretum quo ſtatuitur ne quiſquam ad ſacros ordines admittatur, qui non perpetuam continentiam vitamque caelibem profitetur: tota Clericorum factio vehementer infremuit, hominem eſſe haereticum clamitans, &c. Againſt that Decree [of Gregory the VII.] whereby it was conſtituted that none ſhould be admitted to holy Orders, but ſuch as would profeſs perpetual continence and ſingle life, the whole faction of the Clergy began to inveigh vehemently, crying out that the man was an heretick, who having forgotten the words of the Lord, All men cannot receive this ſaying [Matth. 19.11.] and thoſe of theApoſtle, If they do not contain, let them marry, by a violent conſtraint impoſed upon men an Angelical life.
In the year 1225. Innocent the third, and after him Innocent the fourth ſent Legats into England, to diſſolve the marriages of Prieſts.(n)Weſtmonaſt. in floribus hiſtoriarum lib. 2. An. 1125. & Matth. Paris. One of theſe Legats called John de Cremona labouring for that ſeparation was found in a Bawdy-houſe.
Theodoricus a Niem Secretary to three Popes who writ about the year one thouſand four hundred and ten(o)Nemore unicrus Tractatu 6. qui inſcribitur Labyrinthus cap. 35. affirmeth, that in his time in Norway, Ireland, Gaſcony, and Portugal, Prieſts were married, and that it was a ſhame for Prieſts not to be married.