scandalous concessions; and by the system of immorality reared upon
these concessions she found her hands almost fatally entangled at the
Reformation. Dispensation to unchastity in her ministers had become a
prominent feature among those various indulgences against which the
consciences of the early Reformers rose in wrath. In every country in
Europe the people had grown weary of crying out for the abolition of
these dispensations, and the reintroduction of marriage. In Germany,
accordingly, the marriage of apostate monks and priests was among the
foremost measures of the more ardent Reformers. Luther, whose discretion
was as great as his courage, was content to wait; but he, too, finally
gave in, and united himself with a nun. It is characteristic of the
English people, that the monarchs under whose guidance they embraced the
Reformation should have shown in this particular more than the
hesitation of Luther. Henry VIII. broke short off with Rome, overturned
the monasteries, and filled the land with the beggared servants of the
old ecclesiastical order, but he would not hear of the marriage of the
Reformed clergy. It was certainly not from a general disapproval of the
institution. Under Edward, the old restrictions on this matter were done
away; but under Mary they were of course restored with a high hand. With
Elizabeth they were eventually removed forever; but it is known that the
measure had very little sympathy from the queen, and that her assent was
grudgingly bestowed.

The Council of Trent was expected to do great things toward the
pacification of the Reformers and the healing of the great schism, and
among others to pave the way for the gradual abolition of clerical
celibacy. The measure had the approval of Charles the Fifth, and of
Ferdinand and Maximilian, his successors. The Council of Trent did very
little that was expected of it, however, and least of all did it
accomplish this. It contented itself with a reenactment of certain
obsolete and threadbare canons in favor of chastity, and launched an
anathema against all those who affirmed the validity of such marriages
as had been made or should yet be made by the apostate clergy. This was
the last word of the Catholic Church for some time to come upon this
important subject. Animated with a new vitality by the great Jesuit
reaction, she had no apprehension that her hour had come, and that she
was brought so low as to be compelled to belie the sagacity of her