Papal Vicar in Rome. A Spanish priest and doctor of canon law, residing in the Christian capital, became enamoured of several young nuns at once, and endeavoured to seduce them by teaching them that, as they and he were alike spouses of Christ, carnal affection between them was their duty. Failing in this, he sought to compel the assistance of God in his designs, and, being a man of literary culture, he composed a number of prayers of singular obscenity, and bribed various ignorant priests to recite them amid the ineffable mysteries of the Mass, hoping thus to obtain the aid of Heaven in overcoming the chastity of his intended victims. At length he chanced to offer one of these prayers to a priest of somewhat better character, who was sufficiently shocked by it to communicate with the authorities. Brought before Grillandus, the guilty Spaniard sought to justify himself by alleging various Scriptural texts, but upon being warned that such a defence would subject him to a prosecution for heresy, he recanted and acknowledged his errors. For this complicated mingling of lust and sacrilege his only punishment was a short banishment from Rome. When the papal court set such an example, what was to be expected of less enlightened regions?

How keenly these evils were felt by the people, and how instinctively they were referred to the rule of celibacy as to their proper origin, is shown by an incidental allusion in the formula of complaint laid before the Pope by the Imperial Diet held at Nürnberg early in 1522, before the heresy of priestly marriage had spread beyond the vicinity of Wittenberg. The diet, in recounting the evils arising from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction which allowed clerical offenders to enjoy virtual immunity, adduced, among other grievances, the licence afforded to those who, debarred by the canons from marriage, abandoned themselves night

1 Grillandi Tract, de Sortilegiis Quæst. xvii. No. 1.

and day to attempts upon the virtue of the wives and daughters of the laity, sometimes gaining their ends by flattery and presents, and sometimes taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the confessional. It was not uncommon, indeed, for women to be openly carried off by their priests, while their husbands and fathers were threatened with vengeance if they should attempt to recover them. As regards the sale to ecclesiastics of licences to indulge in habitual lust, the diet declared it to be a regular and settled matter, reduced to the form of an annual tax, which in most dioceses was exacted of all the clergy without exception, so that when those who perchance lived chastely demurred at the payment, they were told that the bishop must have the money, and that after it was handed over they might take their choice whether to keep concubines or not.1 In the face of this condition of ecclesiastical morality, it required some obtuseness for Adrian VI. to compare Luther to Mahomet, the one seeking to attract to his party the carnal-minded by permitting marriage, even as the other had established polygamy," and, further, to abuse him for uniting the ministers of Christ with the vilest harlots.3

Among the diverse opinions of existing evils and their remedy, it is interesting to see what was the view of the subject taken by those ecclesiastics whose purity of life removed them from all temptation to indulgence, and who

1 Gravamin. Ordin. Imperii cap. xxi., lvii., lxx. (Goldast. I. 464.)

When such complaints were made by the highest authority in the empire, it is not difficult to understand the reasons which led the senate of Nürnberg-which city had not yet embraced the Reformation—to deprive, in 1524, the Dominicans and Franciscans of the superintendence and visitation of the nuns of St. Catharine and St. Clare ; nor do we need Spalatin's malicious suggestion—“cura et visitatione, pene dixeram corruptione."-Spalatin. Annal. ann. 1524.

2

2 Adriani PP. VI. Instructio data Fr. Cheregato, Nov. 25, 1522 (Le Plat, Monument. Concil. Trident. II. 146).

3 Adriani PP. VI. Breve ad Frid. Saxon. (Lutheri Opp. T. II. fol. 542b.-Le Plat, II. 134.)

yet were not personally interested in upholding the gigantic but decaying structure of sacerdotalism. Of these men Erasmus may be taken as the representative. His opinion on all the questions of the day was too eagerly desired for him to escape the necessity of pronouncing his verdict on the innovation portended by the one or two marriages which took place near Wittenberg in 1521, and accordingly, in 1522, from his retreat in Basle he issued a short dissertation on the subject, which, although addressed merely to Bishop Christopher of that city, was evidently intended for a European audience. In this essay, after sketching the rise of celibacy and attributing it to the purity and fervour of the early Christians, he proceeds to depict the altered condition of the Church. Among the innumerable multitude of priests who crowd the monasteries, the chapters, and the parishes, he declares that there are few indeed whose lives are pure, even as respects open and avowed concubinage, without penetrating into the mysteries of secret intrigue. As, therefore, there is no Scriptural injunction of celibacy, he concludes that, however desirable it might be to have ministers free from the cares of marriage and devoting themselves solely to the service of God, yet, since it seems impossible to conquer the rebellious flesh, it would be better to allow those who cannot control themselves to have wives with whom they could live in virtuous peace, bringing up their children in the fear of God, and earning the respect of their flocks. No more startling evidence, indeed, of the demoralisation of the period could be given than the cautious fear which Erasmus expresses lest such a change should be opposed by the episcopal officials, who would object to the diminution of their unhallowed gains levied on the concubines of the clergy.1

1 Erasmi Lib. XXXI. Epist. 43.

Notwithstanding the sarcasm, popularly attributed to Erasmus, on the occasion of Luther's union with Catharine von Bora-that the Reformation had turned out to

When such was the condition of ecclesiastical morality, and such were the opinions of all except those directly interested in upholding the old order of things, it is no wonder if the people were disposed to look with favour on the marriage of their pastors, and if the rejection of celibacy gave a fresh impetus to the cause of Lutheranism. In the early days of all sects, it is only those of ardent faith and pure zeal who are likely to embrace a new belief, with all the attendant risks of persecution and contumely. The laxity of life allowed to the Catholic clergy would attract to its ranks and retain those whose aim was sensual indulgence. Thus necessarily the reformers who married would present for contrast regular and chaste lives and well-ordered households, purified by the dread of the ever-impending troubles to which the accident of a day might at any time expose them. The comparison thus was in every way favourable to the new ideas, and they flourished accordingly.

Nor, perhaps, were the worldly inducements to which I have before alluded less powerful in their own way in advancing the cause. Shortly before Luther's marriage, whatever influence was derivable from an aristocratie example was obtained when the Baron of Heydeck, a knight of the Teutonic Order, renounced his vows and publicly espoused a nun of Ligny.' This may possibly

be a comedy, seeing that it resulted in a marriage-he continued to raise his voice in favour of abolishing the rule of celibacy. Thus he writes, in October 1525, "Vehementer laudo cœlibatum, sed ut nunc habet sacerdotum ac monachorum vita, præsertim apud Germanos, prætaret indulgeri remedium matrimonii" (Lib. XVIII. Epist. 9). And again, in 1526, "Ego nec sacerdotibus permitto conjugium, nec monachis relaxo vota, ne id fiat ex auctoritate Pontificum, ad ædificationem ecclesiæ non ad destructionem. . . . In primis optandum esset sacerdotes et monachos castitatem ac cœlestem vitam amplecti. Nunc rebus adeo contaminatis, fortasse levius malum erat eligendum" (Lib. XVIII. Epist. 4).

Yet, in his "Liber de Amabili Ecclesiæ Concordia," written in 1533 in the hope of reuniting the severed Church, while awaiting the promised general council which was to reconcile all things, Erasmus did not hesitate to give utterance to the opinion that those who fell away in heresy or even schism were worse than those who lived impurely in the true faith.

1 Spalatin. Annal. ann. 1525.

have encouraged his superior, Albert of Brandenburg, Grand Master of the Order, to execute his remarkably successful coup d'état, in changing his religion and seizing the estates of the order, thus practically founding the state which chance and talent have exalted until it has been able to realise the dream of a united Germany. The liberty of marriage which he thus assumed was soon turned to account in his advantageous alliance with Frederic, King of Denmark, whose daughter Dorothea he espoused, the Bishop of Szamland officiating as his proxy, and the actual marriage being celebrated 14 June, 1526.1

Luther may reasonably be held excusable for counselling and aiding a transaction which lent such incalculable strength to the struggling cause of the Reformation, and it is not to be wondered at if he endeavoured to follow it up with another of a similar character. The nephew of the Duke of Prussia, also named Albert of Brandenburg, occupied the highest place in the Teutonic hierarchy, as Archbishop both of Mainz and Magdeburg, in the latter of which powerful sees the Lutheran heresies had taken deep root. Luther sought to induce the archbishop to follow his uncle's example; to take possession in his own right of the Magdeburg territories, and to transmit them to the posterity with which Heaven could not fail to bless his prospective marriage-a scheme which met the warm approbation of the leading nobles of the diocese. Albert thought seriously of the project, especially as the Peasants' War then raging was directed particularly against the lands of the Church, but he finally abandoned it, and his flock had to work out their reformation without his assistance.2

Perhaps some plans of territorial aggrandisement may

1 Spalatin. Annal.. ann. 1526.

2 Henke Append. ad Calixt. p. 595.-Serrarii Rerum Mogunt. Lib. v. (Script. Rer. Mogunt. I. 831, 839). As Albert, though Primate of Germany, was only thirtyfive or six years of age, the proposition was not an unreasonable one.