I Learned Something New

I happened to run across a title of a new book, "Religious Men and Masculine Identity in the Middle Ages," edited by Drs. Pat Cullum and Katherine Lewis of the University of Huddersfield.  It includes eleven papers ranging from just prior to the Middle Ages to the 15th Century and is the result of a conference held at that university in July of 2012.

In the brief discussion of the book's release, the point was made that the Catholic Church prior to 1100 did not require all clergy to be celibate.  As my religious background is not Catholic, I was wholly unaware of this.  Apparently only monks took a vow of celibacy, but around 1100, the Catholic Church began a shift toward requiring that all clergy follow the celibacy model.  Not surprisingly, there was resistance to the idea, but not because celibacy in and of itself was considered bad.  These clerics made the argument that they provided the example of godly living for the common man, which included marriage.  The other argument was that, as few men could achieve celibacy, requiring such vows was setting them up to sin.  Apparently it was considered a very lofty calling to which to aspire, and one beyond attainment for many men, which is why not all religious men entered the monastery.

Hmmm, I love it when I learn something new!