How long ago did celibacy start for catholic priests?

Question

... As far as I know, priests were able to marry up to some point in history. Thanks

Answer 1

The celibate clergy did not come into full bloom until about 1000 A.D. But there were celibate priests, bishops, and popes before this time going back to Jesus and the Apostles.

This idea of a celibate clergy came from the Jews, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.

The Jews. The Talmud argues that a person whose “soul is bound up with the Torah and is constantly occupied with it” may remain celibate (Maimonides, Laws of Marriage 15.3). For example, Yahweh ordered the prophet Jeremiah not to marry (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Moreover, the Essenes was a group that was active in Jesus’ time that practiced celibacy and thought by most scholars to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

WWJD? What would Jesus do? Jesus did not marry.

John the Baptist and Jesus are both believed to have been celibate for their entire lives. Some scholars believe that the example of the Essenes influenced either or both Jesus and John the Baptist in their celibacy.

The Apostle Paul is explicit about his celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7). There is also evidence in the gospel of Matthew for the practice of celibacy among at least some early Christians, in the famous passage about becoming “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12).

The concept took many twists and turns over the years and will probably take a few more before Christ returns in glory.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

What is the big deal with celibacy with the newest revelation about Haggert, it's clear that marriage or no marriage has nothing to do with a homosexual problem of which the priesthood has as many problems as all walks of life. The priests could hardly do their job as a priest with a girlfriend let alone a wife and children. The Church is their wife and the children are the Parishioners. Most of them understand this and Christ provides the grace to fulfill this.

Answer 3

Absolutely. Many of the apostles were married (Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law) and celibacy was not a condition of the early church. Paul only said that you could probably serve God more effectively if you did not have a wife but if you felt you would have a problem with lust, it would be better to marry. I'm not sure what year celibacy came in but there is no scripture demanding it. It is just a rule of the Catholic church.

Answer 4

Celibacy had always existed in the Church because Jesus and Paul favored it for full time ministers. Celibacy had existed with the Essenes, a strict Jewish sect, before Jesus was born. It was uncommon, but not unheard of.

CELIBACY IS NOT A DOCTRINE, and never was. It is a discipline, and there is no one point or one place where one can identify as being the formal decree for Latin rite priests. Other rites permit marriage of priests, but you cannot remarry if you become widowed.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm

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Answer 5

Priests of the orthodox church did this and still do, that was one of the main reasons they broke with Rome. St. Paul teaches celibacy in the bible.