16,951
edits
Changes
m
links
{{incomplete}}Clerical '''celibacy''' is the practice in which [[clergy ]] and [[monasticism|monastics]], male or female, refrain from marriage and from all sexual relationships and activities.
The first documented case of mandatory clerical celibacy was the Council or Synod of Elvira, held in Spain sometime towards the beginning of the fourth century. From there it spread gradually east until celibacy was required for all western clerics. This practice never took hold in the East.
