500 Years Later
In researching historical data, I hit a snag recently, and went to inquire with a local history prof regarding the info. In my script, I want to do a just representation of the person of Felix Manz. For those unfamiliar with the story, and even a refresher for those who knew it once, Felix Manz was a well educated scholar of the Bible and key figure in the beginnings of Anabaptism in Zurich Switzerland. His writings of word and song endure, and his impact on present day Mennonite, Anabaptist and Free Church theology is undeniable. The history books record all these things, but they also add a sidenote, that he was the son of a priest. In pre-Reformation Europe (Manz was born in the late 15th century), even though there was some dissent among the church, priests were still sworn in with a vow of celibacy.

The history books record that Felix lived with his mother in a house close to the Grossmünster in Zürich. The group of Radicals that wanted to speed up the pace of reform in the church, namely Conrad Grebel, Wilhelm Reublin, Blaurock, etc., also met at her house regularly for Bible study, and more famously on the night of January 21, 1525 when they all took turns baptizing each other.

The modern reader reads this story and sees Felix as an illegitimate child. Upon further research, I found that Heinrich Bullinger (the successor to Ulrich Zwingli in Zürich) was also an illegitimate child of a celibate priest. I wanted to do justice to Felix and his mother on stage, and I was curious for historical reasons as well, so I brought my list of questions. What was the nature of these relationships between priests and their wives/concubines/girlfriends? To what extent did Felix' status as an illegimate child play into his initial child baptism? How did it alter his status in society? at theological universities? How did it reflect upon his father?

The answer I got was quite surprising. The answer was that priests having children and long-term monogamous relationships was so commonplace that nobody cared. Many great figures of the Reformation (Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Bucer, Dirk and Obbe Phillips, etc.) were illegitmate children of priests. In fact, the only people wdisapprovedved of these relationships were the odd high church figures and the establishment in Rome. General society supported the local priests' in ignoring of their vows of celibacy, and they also resented Rome for discouraging these marriages.

Analyzing this reality, I started to wonder about contemporary clerical celibacy within the Catholic church. 500 years after the Reformation, the church is still able to enforce it? Some suggest that a new pope (likely not Benedict) could bring about badly needed development in this issue that many say is the most visible demonstration that the Catholic church is behind the times. Back when all of Europe was Catholic, and the church exercised powerful influence, many priests publicly broke their vows. Now, when the church has almost no political or civil power, almost no priests break their celibacy vows.

I also wonder what things has our society accepted as irrelevant vows? Maybe civil obedience? Every pastor I've ever driven with breaks the speed limit, some obsessively. Are there other things? Should we change our perceptions so that breaking our vows is okay, or change our vows because nobody keeps them anyway?

   [ posted by William @ 1:30 PM ]