[SeekAndFind]

St. Peter was married.

Yes he was. In fact the Bible mentions his mother-in-law.

For more than half of the church's existence, priests, bishops, and popes were married men with families. This partial list of names and dates will provide you with an insight into the family origins of our Roman Catholic faith. These family values are being reborn in today's married priest couples.

MARRIED POPES

St. Peter, Apostle, (D.C. - 64 A.D.) First married pope.

St. Felix III, (483 - 492) Two children.

St. Hormidas, (514 - 523) Married before ordination.

St. Silverus, (536 - 537) Wife's name: Antonia.

Hadrian II, (867 - 872) One daughter.

Clement IV, (1265 - 1268) Two daughters.

Felix V, (1439 - 1449) One son.

POPES WHO WERE SONS OF POPES AND OTHER CLERGY

St. Damasus I, (366 - 384) Son of St. Lorenzo, son of priest

St. Innocent I, (401 - 417) Son of Pope Anastasius I

Boniface, (418 - 422) Son of a priest

St. Felix, (483 - 492) Son of a priest

Anastasius II, (496 - 498) Son of a priest

St. Agapitus I, (535 - 536) Son of Gordianus, priest

St. Silverius, (536 - 537) Son of Pope St. Hormidas

Deusdedit, (615 - 618) Son of Stephen, sub-deacon

Theodore I, (642 - 649) Son of a bishop

Marinus I, (882 - 884) Son of a priest

Boniface VI, (896) Son of Bishop Hadrian

John XI, (931 - 93)5 Son of Pope Sergius III

John XV, (989 - 996) Son of Leo, priest

POPES WHO FATHERED CHILDREN AFTER THE CELIBACY LAW OF 1139

Innocent III, (1484 - 1492) Several children.

Alexander VI, (1492 - 1503) 2 grandchildren were Cardinals.

Julius, (1503 - 1513) Three daughters.

Paul III, (1534 - 1549) One daughter, three sons.

Pius IV, (1559 - 1565) Three sons.

Gregory, XIII (1572 - 1585) One son.

Sources:

Kelly, J. N. D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford Press. 1986.

H.C. Lea. History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church. 1957.

E. Schillebeeckx. The Church with a Human Face. Crossroad, 1985.

U. Ranke-Heinemann. Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. Doubleday, 1990.

A. L. Barstow. Married Priests and the Reforming Papacy. The Edward Mellen Press, 1982.

[Verginius Rufus]

That should be Innocent VIII, not Innocent III (who was earlier--1198 to 1216).

All of children of the Renaissance popes were illegitimate. St. Francis Borgia was a descendant of one of Alexander VI's children, and Queen Catherine of England (wife of Charles II) was a descendant of St. Francis Borgia.

[nickcarraway]

Do you have any evidence that St. Peter was married when he became a priest? There are priests today that were ordained as widowers.