Source: History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church
The author, Henry Charles Lea, was a rabid anti-Catholic. This is not a reliable source.
“...a large number of the clergy, not only priests but bishops, openly took wives and begot children to whom they transmitted their benefices...”
Source: Herbert Thurston “Celibacy of the Clergy” Catholic encyclopedia.
Interesting where you put the ellipses. The full quote gives quite a different spin:
Undoubtedly during this period the traditions of sacerdotal celibacy in Western Christendom suffered severely but even though a large number of the clergy, not only priests but bishops, openly took wives and begot children to whom they transmitted their benefices, the principle of celibacy was never completely surrendered in the official enactments of the Church.Since you quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia, "Celibacy of the Clergy," I take it that you consider it a good source. That article shows that clerical celibacy in the West dates from no later than the Council of Elvira (between 295 and 302). It then lists a number of later councils that confirm this discipline. It even quotes from Dr. John Wordsworth, a bishop of the Church of England, and no fan of celibacy:
"As a rule", remarks Bishop Wordsworth from his anti-celibate standpoint, "the great writers of the fourth and fifth century pressed celibacy as the more excellent way with an unfair and misleading emphasis which led to the gravest and moral mischief and loss of power in the Church." (The Ministry of Grace, 1902, p. 223).Even if one were not to accept Fr. Cochini's position that clerical celibacy dates back to the Apostles, it is clear that in the West it goes back at least to the 3rd century and that the motivation was spiritual, not financial or as a reply to corruption. The idea that clerical celibacy dates only to the Middle Ages cannot be supported by the facts.
Sorry to annoy you with the facts but compulsory clerical celibacy was not imposed until much later in Church history.
“It is said on good authority that, in the tenth and eleventh centuries half of the priests, in some countries more than half...lived openly as fathers of families.”
Source: A Complete History of the Catholic Church to Present Day by Rev. John Laux.
Rev. Laux btw was a Catholic priest. Further the issue was still being debated as late as the Council of Trent in the 16th Century:
According to Wikipedia.com:
“The Council of Trent considered the matter at its twenty-fourth session decreed that marriage AFTER (emphasis added) ordination was invalid.” So evidently married priests were permitted if they were married before ordination.
The policy was never fully accepted or enforced in much of Europe. Also in 16th Century England, Cardinal Wolsey, the most powerful man in the country-—after the King-—lived quite openly with his common law wife and two children. Truth be told compulsory clerical celibacy was never forcefully enforced until much later.