Charlemagne II
Where does Paul, or any other apostle, say that married priests and bishops must desist from having relations with their wives, or even cease to live with them?
catholic-legate.com/Apologetics/TheSacraments/Dialogues/ClericalCelibacyDefended.aspx
Here, Art Sippo refers to “3 recent studies on the Apostolic origins of clerical celibacy:
Clerical Celibacy by Fr. Roman Cholij, *The Apostolic Origin of Priestly Celibacy *by Fr. Christian Cochini, and
The Case for Clerical Celibacy : Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations by Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler. They all show that the celibacy of the clergy can be traced historically to Apostolic times and the practice of the Apostles themselves.”
The basis for the Apostolic norm in relation to St Paul is explored in
The Biblical Foundation of Priestly Celibacy, by Ignace de la Potterie
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_cclergy_doc_01011993_bfoun_en.html
The author writes: “So what does it mean that the
minister of the Church should be «the husband of one wife»? In the following pages we shall first try to show that the formula
unius uxoris vir, up to the fourth century, was understood, as Stickler so well puts it, «in the sense of a biblical argument in favour of
celibacy of *apostolic *inspiration: for the Pauline norm was interpreted in the sense of a guarantee assuring effective observance of
continence by
ministers who were already married before they were ordained.»9
Note 9. A.M. Stickler, in Cochini, (
ut supra),
Préface, pp. 5-6 (our italics).
“In the second part, we shall take a step forward: we shall propose a deeper theological interpretation of the Pauline stipulation itself, to show that, already in New Testament times it actually does propose the model for the ministerial priesthood of a marital relationship between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride, on the basis of the mystical view of marriage which St Paul frequently mentions in his letters (cf 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:22-32).10 From this, it will become abundantly clear that, for married ministers, their ordination implied an invitation to live in continence thereafter.”
Note10. Cf our article
La struttura di alieanza del sacerdozio ministeriale, in
Communio 112 (July-August 1990), 102-114, where we summarise the results of the previous study:
Man d’une seule femme, (
vide supra), in order to apply them specifically both to the case of priestly celibacy and to that of the priesthood of men (not of women).
Note 15 states: “…if it were true, as these Fathers thought, that the Apostle regarded ‘monogamy’ as guaranteeing suitability for continence, we should then have to suppose that, for Paul, it was a known fact «either that the wife was dead or that the candidate was to live with her as with a sister: which unfortunately the Pauline text does not make clear.» This is true. But the Pauline text does contain a literary contact with 2 Cor 11:2 (vide infra), which allows the indirect recovery of the theme of continence as a covenantal theme.”
His conclusion includes:
“For him [St Paul],
unius uxoris vir was a covenantal formula: it introduced the married minister into the marriage relationship between Christ and the Church; for Paul, the Church was a ‘pure virgin’, it was the ‘bride’ of Christ. But this connection between the minister and Christ, due to the sacrament of ordination, today no longer requires as human support for the symbolism a real marriage on the part of the minister; so the formula is still valid for priests of the Church, although they are not married. Hence, that which in the past was
continence for married ministers, in our own day becomes the
celibacy of those who are not. Yet the symbolic and spiritual meaning of the expression
unius uxoris vir remains ever the same. Indeed, since it contains a direct reference to the covenant, that is to say, to the
marriage relationship between Christ and the Church, it invites us to attach much greater importance today than in the past to the fact that the minister of the Church represents Christ the bridegroom to the Church his bride. In this sense, the priest must be «the husband of one wife»; but that one wife, his bride, is the Church who, like Mary, is the bride of Christ
“It is precisely thus that on various occasions John Paul II expresses himself in his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Pastores dabo vobis. By way of conclusion, we quote some of the more telling passages from it.
“In n. 12, having said that, as regards the identity of the priest, his relationship with the Church must take second place to his relationship with Christ, the Pope goes on: «
As a mystery, the Church is essentially related to Jesus Christ. She is his fullness, his body, his spouse… The priest finds the full truth of his identity in being a derivation, a specific participation in and continuation of Christ himself, the one High Priest of the new and eternal covenant; the priest is a living and transparent image of Christ the Priest. The priesthood of Christ, the expression of his absolute ‘newness’ in salvation history, constitutes the one source and essential model of the priesthood shared by all Christians and the priest in particular. Reference to Christ is thus the absolutely necessary key for understanding the reality of priesthood.» On the basis of this very close union between the priest and Christ, the deep theological reason for celibacy is easier to grasp.”
