That which filled the soul of Hildebrand with especial grief was the alienation of the clergy from their highest duties, their worldly lives, and their frail support in his efforts to elevate the spiritual power.  Therefore he determined to make a reform of the clergy themselves, having in view all the time their assistance in establishing the papal supremacy.  He attacked the clergy where they were weakest.  They—­the secular ones, the parish priests—­were getting married, especially in Germany and France.  They were setting at defiance the laws of celibacy; they not only sought wives, but they lived in concubinage.

Now celibacy had been regarded as the supernal virtue from the time of Saint Jerome.  It was supposed to be a state most favorable to Christian perfection; it animated the existence of the most noted saints.  Says Jerome, “Take axe in hand and hew down the sterile tree of marriage.”  This notion of the superior virtue of virginity was one of the fruits of those Eastern theogonies which were engrafted on the early Church, growing out of the Oriental idea of the inalienable evil of matter.  It was one of the fundamental principles of monasticism; and monasticism, wherever born—­whether in India or the Syrian deserts—­was one of the established institutions of the Church.  It was indorsed by Benedict as well as by Basil; it had taken possession of the minds of the Gothic nations more firmly even than of the Eastern.  The East never saw such monasteries as those which covered Italy, France, Germany, and England; they were more needed among the feudal robbers of Europe than in the effeminate monarchies of Asia.  Moreover it was in monasteries that the popes had ever found their strongest adherents, their most zealous supporters.  Without the aid of convents the papal empire might have crumbled.  Monasticism and the papacy were strongly allied; one supported the other.  So efficient were monastic institutions in advocating the idea of a theocracy, as upheld by the popes, that they were exempted from episcopal authority.  An abbot was as powerful and independent as a bishop.  But to make the Papacy supreme it was necessary to call in the aid of the secular priests likewise.  Unmarried priests, being more like monks, were more efficient supporters of the papal throne.  To maintain celibacy, therefore, was always in accordance with papal policy.

But Nature had gradually asserted its claims over tradition and authority.  The clergy, especially in France and Germany, were setting at defiance the edicts of popes and councils.  The glory of celibacy was in an eclipse.