The term “Gregorian Reform” is a general name for a series of disciplinary reforms enacted under the pontificate of Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-1085). The core reforms of the movement were enforcement of clerical celibacy, ending simony, and pushing back against lay investiture. While most discussion about the Gregorian Reform has been devoted to these …
In the year 910, having long been troubled by a guilty conscience for a murder committed years before in a fit of passion, Duke William of Aquitaine, seeking to prepare himself for the judgment, agreed to bequeath some of his property along the River Grosne in the county Mâcon to the monk Berno, Abbot of …
Clerical celibacy in the Latin rite is always a thorny subject that provokes impassioned discussion. One difficulty in addressing this issue is that few are fully cognizant of the actual history behind it. Progressives tend to argue that clerical celibacy was only imposed on the West during the Gregorian Reform, in the high Middle Ages. …
Continue reading “The Justinian Code and the Emergence of Clerical Marriage in Byzantium”
The discipline of clerical celibacy is a common point of dispute between the Latin Church and the Eastern churches, both those in and out of union with Rome. Eastern Christians allow a married, sexually active priesthood while the Latin Church has always insisted on sexual continence from its clerics. This discussion is often framed in …
Continue reading “The Quinisext Council in Trullo and Priestly Celibacy”
What does the hair on a man’s face mean? Since we are made in God’s image, what did God intend in creating males to grow facial hair? Does God prefer men—or at least certain classes of men—to be bearded or shaven? Is there a specifically Christian approach to facial hair? Christians have been debating the …
Continue reading “The History of Beards in Western Christendom”
The middle of the 11th century was a time of crisis and reform in the Latin Church. For some time, momentum had been building within the Church for a general reform of the clerical state. The three pillars of this reform were insistence on clerical celibacy, an end to simony, and ecclesiastical freedom from lay …
The discipline of priestly celibacy is a Catholic practice that is under intense attack in the modern age. It happens too frequently, however, that the discussion about celibacy is framed incorrectly, leading to conclusions that, while sometimes true, miss the point entirely and can lead unintentionally to further errors. For example, everyone agrees that priestly …
Continue reading “The Truth About Priestly Celibacy in the Early Church”
During the Investiture Conflict over the rights and prerogatives of the spiritual and temporal powers, many claims were made by the Gregorian reformers regarding the authority of the papacy. For decades the Holy Roman Emperors, following in the footsteps of Otto I, had kept the papacy under their thumb. During the pontificate of Gregory VII …
In the year 910, Duke William of Aquitaine did something which was relatively common for a 10th century noble: He founded and endowed a monastery. In the rich and verdant lands of Burgundy, the Benedictine monastery of Cluny was established under circumstances not unlike those that typically surrounded the founding of a medieval abbey. But …
Founded as part of the Benedictine reform in the early 10th century, the French abbey of Cluny would grow to become an enormous force for reform in the Church at large, ultimately giving the Church the men who would be the backbone of her struggle against lay investiture. In this essay, we shall look at …
