You celebrate a man who made a vow to God to be celibate and who broke that vow.
That’s exactly what Martin Luther did!
Both stunning examples of protestantism - break your vow to God and become a hero.
Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam
To be fair, Martin Luther was excommunicated about 3 years before meeting his future wife because he wouldn’t recant his 95 Theses, which in part was a confrontation of the RCC selling indulgences. If he felt led away from God by the church, and it was the church that influenced his needing to make his celebacy vow, then I can understand why he would believe that God wouldn’t necessarily have wanted him to make the vow.
A stunning example of Catholicism, which celebrates the theological equivalence of Herod's vow in obedience to Rome over Scripture!
"And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. " (Matthew 14:9)
"But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee." (Acts 23:21)
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;...Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife...One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)" (1 Timothy 3:1,2,4,5)
"Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?" (1 Corinthians 9:5)
For the fact is that the normative state of NT pastors was that of marriage, and fatherhood (as an argument against contraception) is even invoked as a preparatory ability for the pastorate.
And while celibacy certainly has its advantages as Paul describes, and as in 70AD which Paul seems to foresee, the future now will esp. be difficult for families, yet the apostle also states that celibacy is a gift:
"For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." (1 Corinthians 7:7)
Thus to presume all basically who are called to the pastorate have that gift is both unScriptural and presumptuous, and is asking for trouble.
Yet the true NT church began in disobedience to men who sat in the seat of Moses.
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:7)
"But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." (Acts 4:19)
For indeed, under the Roman model for authority and determining Truth, the NT church itself is invalidated!
Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.[1]
Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.
Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy
Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy
Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.[2]
Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.[3]
Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony[4]
Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.
That's what all those priests who molested children did and all we hear from the RCs is that nobody is perfect, they're sinners just like the rest of us (Oh really? The *rest of us are pedophiles?), and once a priest, always a priest.
Seems like the only condemnation for a priest breaking his vows is for the ones who marry.
A woman.
Are we going to see a similar article when he breaks his "vow" to his wife and they divorce?.
Once you break one vow to God it becomes easier to break another.