Celibately Married

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This is mainly a question about language. Can one who is in a Josephite marriage (meaning celibately married as Mary and Joseph were) really call themselves celibate. They refrain from physical intimacy with each other and everything and all actions are just as pure as you could imagine Mary and Joseph’s would be. But many defenitions of celibacy include no marriage even though i believed it to mean no sex or phhsical intimacy.
So can one who refrains from sexual and physical intimacy in their marriage still also be called celibate or can they only call themself virgin or another term. This would technically mean we wouldn’t be able to call Mary or Joseph celibate but just virgin. Will these people be counted among those in heaven who have practiced celibacy.
 
I have no idea and can’t imagine why it matters, frankly. I get that it’s an academic question but this hypothetical must cover like .0001% of people on Earth, if you don’t count married couples who aren’t engaging in sex for medical reasons/very advanced age.
 
I…guess? I know there are differences between related terms like “celibacy”, “chastity” and “continence”, but I don’t really see the practical application for laymen. There’s just “immoral sexual behavior” and “moral sexual behavior.”
 
Technically speaking, celibacy and the married state are oxymoronic. All are called to be chaste. Those in a Josephite marriage are not celibate, because they’re married. Celibacy refers to choosing to be unmarried. They are, however, practicing continence, which is to say they are abstaining from sex.
 
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But there appears to be two defenitions of celibacy. The earlier one meant to be free of any sexual relations and intimacy but that defenition over time changed to mean unmarried and chaste. I know what chastity is. Married and unmarried need to be chaste
 
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I wouldn’t quite say that. The terms may be used a little interchangeably since Josephite marriages are so rare, and generally if one is celibate one would generally not be married.
 
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ok; but then why be “married” ?

you might as well just have a “roommate”

i’v e never heard of a “josephite” marriage

St Joseph provided support to Mary & Jesus (while Jesus was young)

is this the type of scenario we are talking about here… ?
 
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Yes. Mary and Joseph had what is called a Josephite marriage. I can’t say why people today engage in them, and I’ve never heard nor met anyone who has entered one myself, but they do exist.
 
Exactly. That’s the point. In these rare occurances, would they still achieve the graces promised to those who remain celibate. I guess since the earlier defenition meant virginity/constinency, maybe it does apply to them.
 
ModernCatholic said:
but that defenition over time changed to mean unmarried and chaste.
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Not quite: it’s not “unmarried” but “not marrying”.

Thus the ordination of married men, but they take the celibacy vow and cannot enter marriage.

Priests and deacons take this in all of the Catholic churches. The west no longer ordains subdeacons, but there is a split among eastern jurisdictions, with some requiring this vow, and others not.

hawk
 
dochawk said:
Not quite: it’s not “unmarried” but “not marrying”.
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I’m pretty sure the modern definition is unmarried. Since celibacy is a state the soul can be in, the definition would also have to be a state of being. Unmarried works but “not marrying” isn’t simply a state of being but a constant state of doing something. It’s like the differences between sitting on a chair and sitting on a wall, both stay still but only in one are you actually doing something.
dochawk said:
Thus the ordination of married men, but they take the celibacy vow and cannot enter marriage.
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dochawk said:
Priests and deacons take this in all of the Catholic churches. The west no longer ordains subdeacons, but there is a split among eastern jurisdictions, with some requiring this vow, and others not.
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It would seem that this still doesn’t make sense. One definition of celibacy is “the state of not having any sexual relations with any other and staying chaste” while the other is “being unmarried and chaste” (all Christians are called to be chaste). Married Priests don’t do any of that so if you were correct then what would the point of taking the vow of celibacy be. Married Priests are obviously married and have sex with their wives (though sometimes abstaining for ritual cleanliness).

MC​

 
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