Replies

You beat me to the reference to Father Cochini's book, Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy. For those that have not read it, this is a very scholarly work of 469 pages and 912 footnotes. From the Preface:

There have been many studies about the historical origins of the law of clerical celibacy, and it is sufficient to open any of the big dictionaries of religious sciences to perceive the essential outlines. It never would have occurred to me to take my own turn at such a well-documented topic had I not been led to it through fortuitous circumstances. Quite a long time ago, as I was compiling some documentation about the priesthood in the early African Church, my attention was drawn to a canonical decree promulgated in the year 390 by a council held in Carthage. It stipulated that married clerics had to observe continence with their wives, on the basis of a tradition originating with the apostles. My curiosity was soon replaced by a passion for the truth after I had read other late-fourth-century documents in which there was the same claim of apostolicity. This claim, tested by means of historical facts and questions encountered in the course of the same inquiry, progressively appeared to me as being a coherent principle of explanation. Moreover, my research was stimulated by some reflections aroused in my mind by the history of the history. The thesis of a compulsory clerical celibacy rooted in the very origins of the Church had been defended throughout the centuries by more than one serious theologian on grounds that frequently seemed to me to maintain their entire validity.

I will point out that the fourth century references to clerical celibacy date to the same period as the formation of the canon of Scripture.

What is particularly galling, apart from the lack of historical support by those arguing for a late medieval origin for priestly celibacy, is their insistence that that we cannot take seriously and honestly the arguments of those who support this discipline. No, all justifications, they argue, must be a smokescreen that hide purely worldly considerations.

There is no question that the idea of mandatory celibacy is early in the West but it is not Apostolic. In the East
there has never been such a requirement so the idea that the whole Church everywhere endorsed mandatory celibacy for clergy from its earliest days is simply not true.

The suggestion that some who argue that the sacrament of marriage is a possibility for Priests are doing so from "worldly" perspectives is just that, an empty charge.
Marriage is a holy estate, ordained by God in creation, and blessed by Jesus. People who desire to marry are not second class citizens in the Kingdom of God.