_, and a provision is made by them for those cases where
marriages had been contracted since the interdict at the Council of
London (that probably in 1103), viz. that such should be precluded
thereafter from celebrating mass, if they persist in retaining their
wives. "Illi vero presbyteri, diaconi, subdiaconi, qui post interdictum
Londoniensis Concilii foeminas suas tenuerunt vel alins duxcrunt, si
amplius missam celebrare voluerint, eas a se omnino sic facient alienas,
ut nec illae in domos eorum, nec ipsi in domos earum intrent.... Illi
autem presbyteri qui divini altaris et sacrorum ordinum contemptores
praelegerint cum mulicribus habitare a divino officio remoti, omnique
ecclesiastico beneficio privati, extra chorum ponantur, infames
pronunciati. Qui vero rebellis et contemptor foeminam non reliquerit, et
missam celebrare presumpserit, vocatus ad satisfactionem si neglexerit,
viiij. die excommunicetur. Eadem sententia archidiaconos et cononicos
omnes complectitur, et de mulieribus relinquendis et de vitanda carum
conversatione, et de districtione censurae si statuta transgressi
fuerint.... Presbyteri vero qui relictis mulieribus, Deo et sacris
altaribus servire elegerint, xl. dies ab officio cessantes, pro se
interim vicarios habebunt, injuncta eis poenitentia secundum hoc quod
episcopis corum visum fuerit." In 1138 the penalty for priests marrying
was deprivation of their benefices, and exclusion from the celebration
of divine service:--"Sanctorum patrum vestigiis inhaerentes,
presbyteros, diaconos, subdiaconos uxoratos, aut concubinarios,
ecclesiasticis officiis et beneficiis privamus, ac ne quis eorum missam
audire praesumat Apostolica auctoriate prohibemus."

Many such decrees have been made at various synods and councils holden
for reformation of the clergy, but I can find none wherein marriage is
interdicted to clerks generally. I will refer to one more only, viz.
that made in the Council of London, held at Westminster in 1175. Here it
will be seen most distinctly that the prohibition against entering the
marriage state was confined expressly to _Clerici in sacris ordinibus
constituti_, and that is was not only lawful for clerks below the grade
of subdeacon to marry, but that having subsequently once entered the
marriage state and being subsequently desirous _ad religionem transire_,
and to continue in the service of the Church, they could not do so and
be separated from their wives unless _de communi consensu_