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Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset

2024-10-26T04:27:08Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|Politician and a favorite of King James VI and I}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Earl of Somerset
| honorific-suffix = [[Order of the Garter|KG]]
| image = Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset by John Hoskins.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset by John Hoskins
| birth_name = Robert Kerr
| birth_date = 1587
| birth_place = [[Wrington]], [[Somerset]], England
| death_date = 17 July 1645
| death_place =
| body_discovered =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = [[Scottish people|Scottish]]
| citizenship =
| other_names =
| known_for = [[Poetry]], [[murder]] of [[Thomas Overbury|Sir Thomas Overbury]]
| education =
| alma_mater = [[The Queen's College, Oxford|Queen's College, Oxford]]
| employer = [[James VI of Scotland and I of England|King James VI and I]]
| occupation = {{plainlist|
*[[Privy Council of England|Privy Counsellor]]
*[[Treasurer of Scotland]]
*[[Lord Chamberlain]]}}
| years_active =
| home_town =
| title = {{plainlist|
*[[Viscount Rochester]]
*Earl of Somerset}}
| salary =
| networth =
| height =
| weight =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| opponents = [[Francis Bacon]]
| boards =
| religion =
| spouse = [[Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset|Frances Howard]]
| partner =
| children = [[Anne Russell, Countess of Bedford]]
| parents = {{plainlist|
*Sir Thomas Kerr
*Janet Scott}}
| relations =
| callsign =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|KG}} (c. 1587{{snd}}17 July 1645), was a politician, and [[favourite]] of King [[James VI and I]].

==Background==
[[File:Coat of arms of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, KG.png|thumb|left|upright|Quartered arms of Sir Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, KG (1st and 4th Gules on a chevron Argent three mullets Gules in dexter chief a lion passant guardant Or for Carr; 2nd and 3rd quarterly Or and Gules overall a lion rampant Sable ducally crowned Gules for Rochester augmentation.)]]
Robert Kerr was born in [[Wrington]], [[Somerset]], England, the younger son of [[Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst|Sir Thomas Kerr (Carr)]] of [[Ferniehirst Castle|Ferniehurst]], Scotland, by his second wife, [[Janet Scott, Lady Ferniehirst|Janet Scott]], sister of [[Walter Scott, 4th of Buccleuch|Walter Scott of Buccleuch]].<ref>James Balfour Paul, ''The Scots Peerage'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 231, and vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 69–70.</ref> About the year 1601, while an obscure page to [[George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar|Sir George Home]], he met [[Thomas Overbury]] in [[Edinburgh]]. The two became friends and travelled to London together. Overbury soon became Carr's secretary. When Carr embarked on his career at court, Overbury became mentor, secretary, and political advisor to his more charismatic friend, the brain behind Carr's steady rise to prominence.

==King's favourite==
[[File:Nicholas Hilliard 020.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait of James by [[Nicholas Hilliard]], from the period 1603–1609]]
In 1607, Carr happened to break his leg at a [[jousting|tilting]] match, at which [[King James VI and I]] was in attendance. According to [[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk]], the king taught him [[Latin]].<ref name=THSuffolk>Young, Michael B. (2000) ''King James and the History of Homosexuality''. New York: New York University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8147-9693-1}}</ref> The king subsequently knighted the young Carr and took him into favour. The two men may have been lovers<ref>Woolley, "The King's Assassin", 2017</ref>. Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] had, through his attainder, forfeited his life-interest in the manor of [[Sherborne Castle|Sherborne]], even though he had previously executed a conveyance by which the property was to pass on his death to his eldest son (a conveyance which helped to codify many aspects of the English use of [[primogeniture]], still in practice even today). Unfortunately for Raleigh, this document was rendered worthless by a flaw that gave the king eventual possession of the property. Acting on the advice of [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], his [[Secretary of State]], James conferred the manor on Carr. The case was argued at law, and in 1609 judgment was given for the Crown. Apparently Lady Raleigh received some inadequate compensation, and Carr at once entered on possession. Carr's influence became such that in 1610 he was instrumental in persuading the king to dissolve [[Parliament of England|Parliament]], which had shown signs of attacking the king's Scottish favourites. On 24 March 1611 he was created [[Viscount Rochester]], and subsequently a [[Privy Council of England|Privy Councillor]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Somerset, Robert Carr, Earl of|volume=25|pages=387–388}}</ref><ref name=fitz>[http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/pdp/prints/resources/portraitofthemonth/RobertCarr.html "Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset (1585/6–1645)", The Fitzwilliam Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606213227/http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/pdp/prints/resources/portraitofthemonth/RobertCarr.html |date=6 June 2014 }}</ref>

==Marriage to Frances Howard==
[[Image:Frances Howard-Countess-of-Somerset.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Portrait of Frances Howard by [[William Larkin (painter)|William Larkin]], c. 1615]]
When Salisbury died in 1612, James had the notion of governing in person as his own chief Minister of State, with Carr carrying out many of Salisbury's former duties and acting as the kingys secretary.<ref name="EB1911"/> But James' inability to attend closely to official business exposed the government to factionalism.<ref>Willson, p 334–5.</ref> The Howard party, consisting of [[Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton]]; [[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk]]; his son-in-law [[William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury]]; [[Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham]], and Sir [[Thomas Lake]], soon took control of much of the government and its patronage. Even the powerful Carr, hardly experienced for the responsibilities thrust upon him and often dependent on his intimate friend Overbury for assistance with government papers,<ref>Willson, p 349; Perry, p 105.</ref> fell into the Howard camp. He had done this after beginning an affair with [[Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset|Frances Howard]], Countess of Essex, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk.

Overbury mistrusted the Howards and still had Carr's ear, and tried to prevent the marriage. In order to remove him from court, the Howard faction manipulated Overbury into seeming to be disrespectful to the [[Anne of Denmark|queen]]. They then persuaded the king to offer Overbury an assignment as ambassador to the court of Tsar [[Michael of Russia]], aware that his refusal would be tantamount to treason. The plan worked and Overbury declined, wishing to remain in England and at his friend's side. On 22 April 1613 Overbury was placed in the [[Tower of London]] at the king's "request",<ref>Willson, p 342.</ref> eventually dying there five months later on 15 September "of natural causes".

On 25 September 1613, and supported by the king, Lady Essex obtained a decree of nullity of marriage against her husband, [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex]]. On 3 November 1613 Carr was advanced to the Earldom of Somerset, on 23 December appointed [[Treasurer of Scotland]]. On 26 December, Lady Essex married Carr. Wedding festivities included ''[[The Masque of Flowers]]'', depicting a scene in [[Virginia]].<ref>Lauren Working, ''The Making of an Imperial Polity: Civility and America in the Jacobean Metropolis'' (Cambridge, 2020), p. 189. {{doi|10.1017/9781108625227}}</ref>

==Power, scandal, and downfall==
In 1614 Carr was appointed [[Lord Chamberlain]]. He supported the earl of Northampton and the Spanish party in opposition to the old tried advisers of the king, such as the [[Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley|Lord Chancellor Ellesmere]], who were endeavouring to maintain the union with the [[Protestantism|Protestants]] abroad.<ref name="EB1911"/> As the years progressed James showered Somerset with more gifts, until 1615 when the two men had a falling out and Somerset was replaced by [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|George Villiers]] (whom James made Duke of Buckingham). James wrote a letter that year detailing a list of complaints he then had against Somerset. Somerset still retained some favour, and might possibly have remained in power for some time longer but for the discovery in July of the murder of Overbury by poisoning.<ref>Lindley, p 146; Barroll, Anna of Denmark, p 136.</ref> At the infamous trial [[Edward Coke]] and [[Francis Bacon]] were set to unravel the plot.

Eventually, four people had been convicted for taking part in the murder, and hanged at [[Tyburn]] at the end of 1615. They were Sir [[Gervase Helwys]], [[Lieutenant of the Tower of London]], Richard Weston, a gaoler, [[Anne Turner (murderer)|Mrs Anne Turner]], a "waiting woman" of Frances Howard, and an apothecary called Franklin. [[Sir Thomas Monson, 1st Baronet]] was also implicated in the case, but the charges against him were later dropped.

Somerset and Howard were brought to trial in the spring of 1616.<ref name="en.wikisource.org">[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Cassell%27s_Illustrated_History_of_England_vol_3.djvu/73 Cassell's Illustrated History of England (1865), vol 3, p.59]</ref> The latter confessed, and her guilt is widely accepted. Somerset's share is far more difficult to uncover, and probably will never be fully known. The evidence against him rested on mere presumption, and he consistently declared himself innocent. Probabilities are on the whole in favour of the hypothesis that he was no more than an accessory after the fact.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Fearing Somerset might seek to implicate him, James repeatedly sent messages to the Tower pleading with him to admit his guilt in return for a pardon stating, "It is easy to be seen that he would threaten me with laying an aspersion upon me of being, in some sort, accessory to his crime".<ref name="en.wikisource.org"/>

The king eventually let matters take their course, and both Somerset and Howard were found guilty and confined to the Tower. The sentence, however, was not carried into effect against either culprit.<ref name="EB1911"/> Howard was pardoned immediately, but both remained in the Tower until 1622.<ref name="fitz" /> Somerset appears to have refused to buy forgiveness by concessions, and did not obtain his pardon until 1624.

He emerged into public view only once more when, in 1630, he was prosecuted in the [[Star Chamber]] for communicating a paper recommending the establishment of arbitrary government by [[Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick|Robert Dudley]] to [[John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

Somerset died in July 1645, leaving one daughter, [[Anne Carr, Countess of Bedford|Anne]], the sole issue of his ill-fated marriage, afterwards wife of [[William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Material culture ==
An inventory of the Earl of Somerset's possessions was made in November 1615 at the request of Sir Edward Coke. The Earl's servant Walter James helped make the inventory of the forty rooms of his lodgings at [[Whitehall Palace]]. There was a bed with gilt pillars [[bed hangings|hung with purple velvet curtains]] and lined with yellow silk damask, tapestries of the Trojan wars and Roman history, and two Irish harps, a [[theorbo]], and a lute. Somerset had over 100 paintings in a picture gallery in a former bowling alley, the subjects included the Adoration of Shepherds, The Wise Men, and Samson and Delilah. [[George More|Sir George More]] was given custody of his jewels and plate, including diamond buttons and hatbands. George More returned a diamond-set chain to the goldsmith [[George Heriot]], as Somerset had not paid the £250 bill.<ref>[[Alfred John Kempe]], [https://archive.org/details/loseleymanuscrip00kemp/page/406/mode/2up ''Loseley Manuscripts'' (London, 1836), pp. 406–11]</ref> Some of Somerset's tapestries and paintings were put in the custody of his friend, the Scottish courtier [[Sir Henry Gibb, 1st Baronet|Henry Gibb]].<ref>A. R. Braunmuller, 'Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, as Art Collector and Patron', Linda Levy Peck, ''The Mental World of the Jacobean Court'' (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 237, 342 fn. 44.</ref>

Somerset may have begun collecting paintings to cement his position at court.<ref>Timothy Wilks, 'Art Collecting at the English Court', ''Journal of the History of Collections'', 9:1 (1997), pp. 34, 36–37.</ref> He gave instructions to the diplomat [[William Trumbull (diplomat)|William Trumbull]] to buy for him in Brussels. His agents in Venice were [[Isaac Wake]] and [[Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester|Dudley Carleton]].<ref>[[Jonathan Brown (art historian)|Jonathan Brown]], ''Kings & Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century Europe'' (Yale, 1995), p. 19.</ref> Carleton worked with [[Daniel Nys]] to supply fifteen paintings including works by [[Tintoretto]] for the Bowling Alley gallery and twenty-nine cases of antique (ancient Greek and Roman) marbles. The marbles arrived after Somerset's disgrace and Carleton had difficulties finding another buyer.<ref>Timothy Wilks, 'The Picture Collection of the Earl of Somerset', ''Journal of the History of Collections'', 1:2 (December 1989), pp. 167–177: Robert Hill, 'Sir Dudley Carleton and Jacobean Collecting', Edward Chaney, ''The Evolution of English Collecting'' (Yale, 2003), pp. 240–55.</ref>

==In popular culture==
The rise and fall of Robert Carr and his relationship to Thomas Overbury are the subject of [[Rafael Sabatini]]'s 1930 novel ''[[The King's Minion|The Minion]]'', written shortly before Sabatini's divorce from his first wife in 1931.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4388007/484100|title = Rafael Sabatini Divorced|newspaper = Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)|date = 25 March 1931|page = 7}}</ref> (Given ''The Minion''{{'}}s more tragic tone, it may have been Sabatini's divorce that tainted his normally optimistic, hero-wins-out writing style.)

[[Laurie Davidson (actor)|Laurie Davidson]] portrays him in the miniseries, ''[[Mary & George]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Archbishop Abbot|author-link=George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury)|title=The Case of Impotency ... in that Remarkable Tryal An. 1613, Between Robert, Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard|place=London|date= 1715}}
* {{cite book|author=Amos|author-link=Andrew Amos (lawyer)|title=The Great Oyer of Poisoning|place=London|date=1846}}
* {{cite book|author=Gardiner|author-link=Samuel Rawson Gardiner|title=History of England| volume=ii|place=London and New York|date= 1889}}
* Gardiner, {{cite DNB|wstitle=Carr, Robert (d.1645)|volume=9}}
* {{cite book|first=Sir Philip Hamilton|last=Gibbs|title=King's Favourite: The Love Story of Robert Carr and Lady Essex|orig-year=1909|date=25 June 2009}}
* {{cite book|first=Brian|last= Harris QC|title=Passion, Poison and Power|place=London|date= 2010}} argues the case for Carr's innocence.
* {{cite book|author=Ranke|author-link=Leopold von Ranke|title=History of England, Principally in the Seventeenth Century|volume=i |place=Oxford|date= 1875}}
* {{citation |last=Willson |first=David Harris |author-link=David Harris Willson |orig-year=1956 |year=1963 |title=King James VI & I |location=London |publisher=Jonathan Cape |isbn=978-0-224-60572-4}}

==External links==
*[http://www.earlystuartlibels.net/htdocs/overbury_murder_section/H0.html The Overbury Murder Scandal (1615-1616)] earlystuartlibels.net

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Sir Robert Cecil]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Secretary of State (England)|Secretary of State]]
| with = [[John Herbert (Secretary of State)|John Herbert]]
| years = 1612–1614}}
{{s-aft | after = [[John Herbert (Secretary of State)|John Herbert]] [[Ralph Winwood|Sir Ralph Winwood]]}}
{{Succession box| title=[[Lord Chamberlain]] | before=[[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk|The Earl of Suffolk]] | after=[[William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke|The Earl of Pembroke]] | years=1614–1615}}

{{S-bef| rows = 2 | before = [[Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton|The Earl of Northampton]] }}
{{S-ttl| title = [[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]]
| years = 1614–1615 }}
{{S-aft| after = [[Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche|The Lord Zouche]] }}
{{S-ttl| title = [[Lord Privy Seal]]
| years = 1614–1616 }}
{{S-aft| after = [[Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester|The Earl of Worcester]] }}

{{s-vac | last=[[Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon|The Earl of Huntingdon]]}}
{{S-ttl| title=[[Lord Lieutenant of Durham]] | years=1615–1617}}
{{S-aft| after=[[Richard Neile]]}}

{{S-reg|en}}
{{S-new|creation}}
{{S-ttl| title=[[Earl of Somerset]] | years=1613–1645}}
{{s-non | reason=Extinct}}
{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerset, Robert Carr, 1st Earl Of}}
[[Category:English courtiers]]
[[Category:1580s births]]
[[Category:1645 deaths]]
[[Category:British and English royal favourites]]
[[Category:Scottish royal favourites]]
[[Category:Knights of the Garter]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Durham]]
[[Category:Lords Privy Seal]]
[[Category:Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of England]]
[[Category:People of the Elizabethan era|Carr, Robert]]
[[Category:People from Wrington]]
[[Category:Treasurers of Scotland]]
[[Category:16th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:17th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:Earls of Somerset]]
[[Category:Court of James VI and I]]

Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset

2024-10-26T04:26:17Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|Politician and a favorite of King James VI and I}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Earl of Somerset
| honorific-suffix = [[Order of the Garter|KG]]
| image = Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset by John Hoskins.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset by John Hoskins
| birth_name = Robert Kerr
| birth_date = 1587
| birth_place = [[Wrington]], [[Somerset]], England
| death_date = 17 July 1645
| death_place =
| body_discovered =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = [[Scottish people|Scottish]]
| citizenship =
| other_names =
| known_for = [[Poetry]], [[murder]] of [[Thomas Overbury|Sir Thomas Overbury]]
| education =
| alma_mater = [[The Queen's College, Oxford|Queen's College, Oxford]]
| employer = [[James VI of Scotland and I of England|King James VI and I]]
| occupation = {{plainlist|
*[[Privy Council of England|Privy Counsellor]]
*[[Treasurer of Scotland]]
*[[Lord Chamberlain]]}}
| years_active =
| home_town =
| title = {{plainlist|
*[[Viscount Rochester]]
*Earl of Somerset}}
| salary =
| networth =
| height =
| weight =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| opponents = [[Francis Bacon]]
| boards =
| religion =
| spouse = [[Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset|Frances Howard]]
| partner =
| children = [[Anne Russell, Countess of Bedford]]
| parents = {{plainlist|
*Sir Thomas Kerr
*Janet Scott}}
| relations =
| callsign =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|KG}} (c. 1587{{snd}}17 July 1645), was a politician, and [[favourite]] of King [[James VI and I]].

==Background==
[[File:Coat of arms of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, KG.png|thumb|left|upright|Quartered arms of Sir Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, KG (1st and 4th Gules on a chevron Argent three mullets Gules in dexter chief a lion passant guardant Or for Carr; 2nd and 3rd quarterly Or and Gules overall a lion rampant Sable ducally crowned Gules for Rochester augmentation.)]]
Robert Kerr was born in [[Wrington]], [[Somerset]], England, the younger son of [[Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst|Sir Thomas Kerr (Carr)]] of [[Ferniehirst Castle|Ferniehurst]], Scotland, by his second wife, [[Janet Scott, Lady Ferniehirst|Janet Scott]], sister of [[Walter Scott, 4th of Buccleuch|Walter Scott of Buccleuch]].<ref>James Balfour Paul, ''The Scots Peerage'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 231, and vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 69–70.</ref> About the year 1601, while an obscure page to [[George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar|Sir George Home]], he met [[Thomas Overbury]] in [[Edinburgh]]. The two became friends and travelled to London together. Overbury soon became Carr's secretary. When Carr embarked on his career at court, Overbury became mentor, secretary, and political advisor to his more charismatic friend, the brain behind Carr's steady rise to prominence.

==King's favourite==
[[File:Nicholas Hilliard 020.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait of James by [[Nicholas Hilliard]], from the period 1603–1609]]
In 1607, Carr happened to break his leg at a [[jousting|tilting]] match, at which [[King James VI and I]] was in attendance. According to [[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk]], the king taught him [[Latin]].<ref name=THSuffolk>Young, Michael B. (2000) ''King James and the History of Homosexuality''. New York: New York University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8147-9693-1}}</ref> The king subsequently knighted the young Carr and took him into favour. The two men may have been lovers{{Woolley, "The King's Assassin", 2017}}. Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] had, through his attainder, forfeited his life-interest in the manor of [[Sherborne Castle|Sherborne]], even though he had previously executed a conveyance by which the property was to pass on his death to his eldest son (a conveyance which helped to codify many aspects of the English use of [[primogeniture]], still in practice even today). Unfortunately for Raleigh, this document was rendered worthless by a flaw that gave the king eventual possession of the property. Acting on the advice of [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], his [[Secretary of State]], James conferred the manor on Carr. The case was argued at law, and in 1609 judgment was given for the Crown. Apparently Lady Raleigh received some inadequate compensation, and Carr at once entered on possession. Carr's influence became such that in 1610 he was instrumental in persuading the king to dissolve [[Parliament of England|Parliament]], which had shown signs of attacking the king's Scottish favourites. On 24 March 1611 he was created [[Viscount Rochester]], and subsequently a [[Privy Council of England|Privy Councillor]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Somerset, Robert Carr, Earl of|volume=25|pages=387–388}}</ref><ref name=fitz>[http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/pdp/prints/resources/portraitofthemonth/RobertCarr.html "Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset (1585/6–1645)", The Fitzwilliam Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606213227/http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/pdp/prints/resources/portraitofthemonth/RobertCarr.html |date=6 June 2014 }}</ref>

==Marriage to Frances Howard==
[[Image:Frances Howard-Countess-of-Somerset.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Portrait of Frances Howard by [[William Larkin (painter)|William Larkin]], c. 1615]]
When Salisbury died in 1612, James had the notion of governing in person as his own chief Minister of State, with Carr carrying out many of Salisbury's former duties and acting as the kingys secretary.<ref name="EB1911"/> But James' inability to attend closely to official business exposed the government to factionalism.<ref>Willson, p 334–5.</ref> The Howard party, consisting of [[Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton]]; [[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk]]; his son-in-law [[William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury]]; [[Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham]], and Sir [[Thomas Lake]], soon took control of much of the government and its patronage. Even the powerful Carr, hardly experienced for the responsibilities thrust upon him and often dependent on his intimate friend Overbury for assistance with government papers,<ref>Willson, p 349; Perry, p 105.</ref> fell into the Howard camp. He had done this after beginning an affair with [[Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset|Frances Howard]], Countess of Essex, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk.

Overbury mistrusted the Howards and still had Carr's ear, and tried to prevent the marriage. In order to remove him from court, the Howard faction manipulated Overbury into seeming to be disrespectful to the [[Anne of Denmark|queen]]. They then persuaded the king to offer Overbury an assignment as ambassador to the court of Tsar [[Michael of Russia]], aware that his refusal would be tantamount to treason. The plan worked and Overbury declined, wishing to remain in England and at his friend's side. On 22 April 1613 Overbury was placed in the [[Tower of London]] at the king's "request",<ref>Willson, p 342.</ref> eventually dying there five months later on 15 September "of natural causes".

On 25 September 1613, and supported by the king, Lady Essex obtained a decree of nullity of marriage against her husband, [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex]]. On 3 November 1613 Carr was advanced to the Earldom of Somerset, on 23 December appointed [[Treasurer of Scotland]]. On 26 December, Lady Essex married Carr. Wedding festivities included ''[[The Masque of Flowers]]'', depicting a scene in [[Virginia]].<ref>Lauren Working, ''The Making of an Imperial Polity: Civility and America in the Jacobean Metropolis'' (Cambridge, 2020), p. 189. {{doi|10.1017/9781108625227}}</ref>

==Power, scandal, and downfall==
In 1614 Carr was appointed [[Lord Chamberlain]]. He supported the earl of Northampton and the Spanish party in opposition to the old tried advisers of the king, such as the [[Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley|Lord Chancellor Ellesmere]], who were endeavouring to maintain the union with the [[Protestantism|Protestants]] abroad.<ref name="EB1911"/> As the years progressed James showered Somerset with more gifts, until 1615 when the two men had a falling out and Somerset was replaced by [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|George Villiers]] (whom James made Duke of Buckingham). James wrote a letter that year detailing a list of complaints he then had against Somerset. Somerset still retained some favour, and might possibly have remained in power for some time longer but for the discovery in July of the murder of Overbury by poisoning.<ref>Lindley, p 146; Barroll, Anna of Denmark, p 136.</ref> At the infamous trial [[Edward Coke]] and [[Francis Bacon]] were set to unravel the plot.

Eventually, four people had been convicted for taking part in the murder, and hanged at [[Tyburn]] at the end of 1615. They were Sir [[Gervase Helwys]], [[Lieutenant of the Tower of London]], Richard Weston, a gaoler, [[Anne Turner (murderer)|Mrs Anne Turner]], a "waiting woman" of Frances Howard, and an apothecary called Franklin. [[Sir Thomas Monson, 1st Baronet]] was also implicated in the case, but the charges against him were later dropped.

Somerset and Howard were brought to trial in the spring of 1616.<ref name="en.wikisource.org">[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Cassell%27s_Illustrated_History_of_England_vol_3.djvu/73 Cassell's Illustrated History of England (1865), vol 3, p.59]</ref> The latter confessed, and her guilt is widely accepted. Somerset's share is far more difficult to uncover, and probably will never be fully known. The evidence against him rested on mere presumption, and he consistently declared himself innocent. Probabilities are on the whole in favour of the hypothesis that he was no more than an accessory after the fact.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Fearing Somerset might seek to implicate him, James repeatedly sent messages to the Tower pleading with him to admit his guilt in return for a pardon stating, "It is easy to be seen that he would threaten me with laying an aspersion upon me of being, in some sort, accessory to his crime".<ref name="en.wikisource.org"/>

The king eventually let matters take their course, and both Somerset and Howard were found guilty and confined to the Tower. The sentence, however, was not carried into effect against either culprit.<ref name="EB1911"/> Howard was pardoned immediately, but both remained in the Tower until 1622.<ref name="fitz" /> Somerset appears to have refused to buy forgiveness by concessions, and did not obtain his pardon until 1624.

He emerged into public view only once more when, in 1630, he was prosecuted in the [[Star Chamber]] for communicating a paper recommending the establishment of arbitrary government by [[Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick|Robert Dudley]] to [[John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

Somerset died in July 1645, leaving one daughter, [[Anne Carr, Countess of Bedford|Anne]], the sole issue of his ill-fated marriage, afterwards wife of [[William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Material culture ==
An inventory of the Earl of Somerset's possessions was made in November 1615 at the request of Sir Edward Coke. The Earl's servant Walter James helped make the inventory of the forty rooms of his lodgings at [[Whitehall Palace]]. There was a bed with gilt pillars [[bed hangings|hung with purple velvet curtains]] and lined with yellow silk damask, tapestries of the Trojan wars and Roman history, and two Irish harps, a [[theorbo]], and a lute. Somerset had over 100 paintings in a picture gallery in a former bowling alley, the subjects included the Adoration of Shepherds, The Wise Men, and Samson and Delilah. [[George More|Sir George More]] was given custody of his jewels and plate, including diamond buttons and hatbands. George More returned a diamond-set chain to the goldsmith [[George Heriot]], as Somerset had not paid the £250 bill.<ref>[[Alfred John Kempe]], [https://archive.org/details/loseleymanuscrip00kemp/page/406/mode/2up ''Loseley Manuscripts'' (London, 1836), pp. 406–11]</ref> Some of Somerset's tapestries and paintings were put in the custody of his friend, the Scottish courtier [[Sir Henry Gibb, 1st Baronet|Henry Gibb]].<ref>A. R. Braunmuller, 'Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, as Art Collector and Patron', Linda Levy Peck, ''The Mental World of the Jacobean Court'' (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 237, 342 fn. 44.</ref>

Somerset may have begun collecting paintings to cement his position at court.<ref>Timothy Wilks, 'Art Collecting at the English Court', ''Journal of the History of Collections'', 9:1 (1997), pp. 34, 36–37.</ref> He gave instructions to the diplomat [[William Trumbull (diplomat)|William Trumbull]] to buy for him in Brussels. His agents in Venice were [[Isaac Wake]] and [[Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester|Dudley Carleton]].<ref>[[Jonathan Brown (art historian)|Jonathan Brown]], ''Kings & Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century Europe'' (Yale, 1995), p. 19.</ref> Carleton worked with [[Daniel Nys]] to supply fifteen paintings including works by [[Tintoretto]] for the Bowling Alley gallery and twenty-nine cases of antique (ancient Greek and Roman) marbles. The marbles arrived after Somerset's disgrace and Carleton had difficulties finding another buyer.<ref>Timothy Wilks, 'The Picture Collection of the Earl of Somerset', ''Journal of the History of Collections'', 1:2 (December 1989), pp. 167–177: Robert Hill, 'Sir Dudley Carleton and Jacobean Collecting', Edward Chaney, ''The Evolution of English Collecting'' (Yale, 2003), pp. 240–55.</ref>

==In popular culture==
The rise and fall of Robert Carr and his relationship to Thomas Overbury are the subject of [[Rafael Sabatini]]'s 1930 novel ''[[The King's Minion|The Minion]]'', written shortly before Sabatini's divorce from his first wife in 1931.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4388007/484100|title = Rafael Sabatini Divorced|newspaper = Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)|date = 25 March 1931|page = 7}}</ref> (Given ''The Minion''{{'}}s more tragic tone, it may have been Sabatini's divorce that tainted his normally optimistic, hero-wins-out writing style.)

[[Laurie Davidson (actor)|Laurie Davidson]] portrays him in the miniseries, ''[[Mary & George]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Archbishop Abbot|author-link=George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury)|title=The Case of Impotency ... in that Remarkable Tryal An. 1613, Between Robert, Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard|place=London|date= 1715}}
* {{cite book|author=Amos|author-link=Andrew Amos (lawyer)|title=The Great Oyer of Poisoning|place=London|date=1846}}
* {{cite book|author=Gardiner|author-link=Samuel Rawson Gardiner|title=History of England| volume=ii|place=London and New York|date= 1889}}
* Gardiner, {{cite DNB|wstitle=Carr, Robert (d.1645)|volume=9}}
* {{cite book|first=Sir Philip Hamilton|last=Gibbs|title=King's Favourite: The Love Story of Robert Carr and Lady Essex|orig-year=1909|date=25 June 2009}}
* {{cite book|first=Brian|last= Harris QC|title=Passion, Poison and Power|place=London|date= 2010}} argues the case for Carr's innocence.
* {{cite book|author=Ranke|author-link=Leopold von Ranke|title=History of England, Principally in the Seventeenth Century|volume=i |place=Oxford|date= 1875}}
* {{citation |last=Willson |first=David Harris |author-link=David Harris Willson |orig-year=1956 |year=1963 |title=King James VI & I |location=London |publisher=Jonathan Cape |isbn=978-0-224-60572-4}}

==External links==
*[http://www.earlystuartlibels.net/htdocs/overbury_murder_section/H0.html The Overbury Murder Scandal (1615-1616)] earlystuartlibels.net

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Sir Robert Cecil]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Secretary of State (England)|Secretary of State]]
| with = [[John Herbert (Secretary of State)|John Herbert]]
| years = 1612–1614}}
{{s-aft | after = [[John Herbert (Secretary of State)|John Herbert]] [[Ralph Winwood|Sir Ralph Winwood]]}}
{{Succession box| title=[[Lord Chamberlain]] | before=[[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk|The Earl of Suffolk]] | after=[[William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke|The Earl of Pembroke]] | years=1614–1615}}

{{S-bef| rows = 2 | before = [[Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton|The Earl of Northampton]] }}
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{{S-aft| after = [[Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester|The Earl of Worcester]] }}

{{s-vac | last=[[Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon|The Earl of Huntingdon]]}}
{{S-ttl| title=[[Lord Lieutenant of Durham]] | years=1615–1617}}
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{{S-reg|en}}
{{S-new|creation}}
{{S-ttl| title=[[Earl of Somerset]] | years=1613–1645}}
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{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerset, Robert Carr, 1st Earl Of}}
[[Category:English courtiers]]
[[Category:1580s births]]
[[Category:1645 deaths]]
[[Category:British and English royal favourites]]
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[[Category:Knights of the Garter]]
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[[Category:Lords Privy Seal]]
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[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of England]]
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[[Category:People from Wrington]]
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Januarius

2024-09-27T01:25:34Z

Contaldo80: /* Relics */

{{short description|Bishop of Benevento; Catholic saint}}{{use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Gennaro|San Gennaro}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint Januarius
|birth_date=3rd century ({{circa|lk=no|21 April 272}}{{cn|date=December 2023}})
|death_date={{circa|lk=no|19 September 305}}
|feast_day=19 September, [[Feast of San Gennaro]] ([[Catholic Church]]) 21 April ([[Eastern Christianity]]) Monday after second Sunday of Advent ([[Armenian Apostolic Church]])
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], and [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]
|image=Saint Januarius.jpg
|imagesize=200px
|caption=''Copy taken from a portrait of Saint Januarius by [[Caravaggio]]''
|birth_place=[[Benevento]] or [[Naples]], [[Campania]], [[Roman Empire]]
|death_place=[[Pozzuoli]], [[Campania]]
|titles=Bishop and Martyr
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=[[vial]]s of [[blood]], [[hand|palms]], [[Mount Vesuvius]]
|patronage=[[blood bank]]s; [[Naples]]; [[volcanic eruption]]s<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj30.htm |title=Star Quest Production Network: Saint Januarius |access-date=2008-04-13 |archive-date=2008-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402054002/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj30.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|major_shrine=[[Naples Cathedral]], [[Italy]] and the [[Church of the Most Precious Blood]], [[Little Italy, Manhattan]], [[New York City]].
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Januarius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|dʒ|æ|n|.|j|u|ˈ|ɛər|i|ə|s}} {{respell|JAN|yoo|AIR|ee|əs}};<ref>{{cite EPD|18}}</ref> {{lang-la|Ianuarius}}; [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]] and {{lang-it|Gennaro}}), also known as {{nowrap|'''Januarius I of Benevento'''}}, was [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Benevento|Bishop of Benevento]] and is a [[Christian martyrs|martyr]] and [[saint]] of the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and [[Christian legend|legends]] claim that he died during the [[Great Persecution]],<ref name="cathenc"/> which ended with [[Diocletian]]'s retirement in 305.

Januarius is the patron saint of [[Naples]], where the faithful gather three times a year in [[Naples Cathedral]] to witness the [[liquefaction]] of what is claimed to be a sample of his blood kept in a sealed glass [[ampoule]].

{{anchor|Biography|History}}

==Life==
Little is known of the life of Januarius,<ref name="cathenc">{{Cite CE1913 | wstitle =St. Januarius | author =Herbert Thurston}}</ref> and what follows is mostly derived from later Christian sources, such as the ''Acta Bononensia'' (BHL 4132, not earlier than 6th century) and the ''Acta Vaticana'' (BHL 4115, 9th century), and from later folk traditions.

===Legend===
[[File:Napoli-Ribera-San-Gennaro.jpg|thumb|left|Ribera, ''[[Saint Januarius Emerges Unscathed from the Furnace]]'', Naples Cathedral]]
According to various [[hagiographies]], Januarius was born in [[Benevento]] to a rich patrician family that traced its descent to the [[Caudini]] tribe of the [[Samnites]]. At a young age of 15, he became local priest of his parish in Benevento, which at the time had only a small Christian community. When Januarius was 20, he became [[Bishop of Naples]] and befriended [[Juliana of Nicomedia]] and [[Saint Sossius|Sossius]] whom he met during his studies for the priesthood. During the {{frac|1|1|2}}-year-long persecution of Christians by Emperor [[Diocletian]], he hid some of his fellow Christians and prevented them from being caught. But while visiting Sossius in jail, he too was arrested. He and his colleagues were condemned to be thrown to wild bears in the [[Flavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli)|Flavian Amphitheater]] at [[Pozzuoli]], but the sentence was changed due to fear of public disturbance, and they were instead beheaded at the [[Solfatara (volcano)|Solfatara]] crater near Pozzuoli.{{refn|group=n|For further details on these locations, see the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''{{'}}s article on "Saint Januarius".<ref name="cathenc"/>}} Other legends state either that the wild beasts refused to eat him, or that he was thrown into a furnace but came out unscathed.

===History===
The earliest historical reference to Januarius is contained in a letter by Uranius, [[bishop of Nola]], dated to c.e 432 on the death of his mentor [[Paulinus of Nola]],<ref name=yuri>Uranius Nolanius (432), ''De Vita et Obitu Paulini Nolani''. Published by [[Surius]] as ''Epistola "De Obitu Sancti Paulini" ''[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0432-0432__Urbanus_Presbyter__Epistola_%27De_Obitu_Sancti_Paulini%27_%5BEx_Surio%5D__MLT.pdf.html Online version] accessed on 2009-06-20.</ref><ref>[http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3617.html "Uranius"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106143025/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3617.html |date=2009-11-06 }} in ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' edited William Smith (1870).</ref> where it is stated that the ghosts of Januarius and [[Martin of Tours|Martin of Tours]] had appeared to Paulinus three days before his death in 431. About Januarius, the account says only that he was "bishop as well as martyr, an illustrious member of the Neapolitan church".{{refn|group=n|Latin: ''{{lang|la|Ianuarius, episcopus simul et martyr, Neapolitanae urbis illustrat ecclesiam}}''.<ref name=yuri/>}} The Acta Bononensia says that "At Pozzuoli in Campania [is honored the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his [[deacon]], and Desiderius [[lector]], together with [[Saint Sossius|Sossius]] deacon of the church of [[Misenum]], [[Proculus of Pozzuoli|Proculus]], deacon of [[diocese of Pozzuoli|Pozzuoli]], Eutyches, and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the emperor [[Diocletian]]".<ref name="cathenc"/>

==Legacy==
===Celebrations===
{{main|Feast of San Gennaro}}
[[File:Spadaro eruzione vesuvio.jpg|thumb|San Gennaro procession in Naples, 1631]]
The [[Feast of San Gennaro]] is celebrated on 19 September in the [[General Roman Calendar]] of the Catholic Church.<ref>"Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}).</ref>{{refn|group=n|In the 1498 Roman martyrology, his martyrdom took place on the thirteenth day before the [[kalends]] of October or 19 September.<ref>J. O'Connell, "The [[Roman Martyrology]]" [London 1962] ''s.v.'' September 19.</ref>}} In the Eastern Church, it is celebrated on 21 April.<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (Oxford University Press, 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}})</ref> The city of [[Naples]] has more than fifty official [[patron saints of Naples|patron saints]], although its principal patron is Saint Januarius.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90841|title= Sant' Aspreno di Napoli|date=19 April 2002|publisher=Santi e Beati|access-date=29 August 2008}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], the Feast of San Gennaro is also a highlight of the year for [[New York City|New York]]'s [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]], with the saint's [[polychrome]] statue carried through the middle of a [[street fair]] stretching for blocks.

===Relics===
[[Image:Januarius.jpg|right|200px|thumb|''Martyrdom of Saint Januarius'' by [[Girolamo Pesce]]]]
[[File:The Martyrdom of St Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli|The Martyrdom of St Januarius]]'', by [[Artemisia Gentileschi]] (1636)]]
[[Image:Guglia di San Gennaro - Napoli - 2013-05-16 10-29-52.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The spire of the ''Cattedrale di San Gennaro'' ([[Naples Cathedral]])]]
According to an early [[hagiography]],{{refn|group=n|Hagiographies of St Januarius are compiled in the 6th volume of the ''Acta Sanctorum Septembris''.<ref>{{citation |editor-first=J. |editor-last=Carnandet |location=Paris |date=1867 |pages=761–892 |title=Acta Sanctorum Septembris, ''Vol. VI'' }}. {{in lang|la}}</ref>}} Januarius's [[relic]]s were transferred by order of [[Severus of Naples|Severus]], [[Bishop of Naples]], to the [[Catacombs of San Gennaro|Neapolitan catacombs]] "[[extra moenia|outside the walls]]" (''{{lang|la|extra moenia}}'').<ref>Norman (1986), p. 331</ref>{{refn|group=n|A condensed account of the removals of the relics is given by [[Diana Norman|Norman]].<ref>{{citation |last=Norman |first=Diana |contribution=The Succorpo in the Cathedral of Naples: 'Empress of All Chapels' |title=Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, ''Vol. 49, No. 3'' |date=1986 |pages=323–355 }}.</ref>}} In the early ninth century the body was moved to [[Benevento|Beneventum]] by [[Sico of Benevento|Sico]], [[princes of Benevento|prince]] of [[principality of Benevento|Benevento]], with the head remaining in Naples. Subsequently, during the turmoil at the time of [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]], his body was moved again, this time to the [[Territorial Abbey of Montevergine]] where it was rediscovered in 1480.

At the instigation of Cardinal [[Oliviero Carafa]], his body was finally transferred in 1497 to [[Naples]], where he is the city's [[patron saint]]. Carafa commissioned a richly decorated [[crypt]], the ''Succorpo'', beneath the [[Naples Cathedral|cathedral]] to house the reunited body and head properly. The ''Succorpo'' was finished in 1506 and is considered one of the prominent monuments of the [[High Renaissance]] in the city.<ref>Norman 1986:323-355.</ref>

===Blood===
Saint Januarius is famous for the annual liquefaction of his [[blood]], which, according to [[Christian legend|legend]], was saved by a woman called Eusebia just after the saint's death. A chronicle of Naples written in 1382 describes the cult of Saint Januarius in detail, but mentions neither the relic nor the miracle.<ref name="cicap"/><ref name="altamura">(1382) ''Croniche de Inclyta Cità de Napole'' In Altamura, Antonio (ed.), ''Cronaca di Partenope'', Napoli, 1974</ref> The first certain date is 1389, when it was found to have melted.<ref>''Chronicon Siculum'' [1340-1396], ed. Giuseppe De Blasiis, Naples, 1887, p. 85</ref><ref>Norman 1993:332 and note.</ref> Then, over the following two and a half centuries official reports began to appear declaring that the blood spontaneously melted, at first once a year, then twice, and finally three times a year. While the report of the very first incidence of liquefaction did not make any explicit reference to the skull of the saint, soon afterwards assertions began to appear that this relic was activating the melting process, as if the blood, recognizing a part of the body to which it belonged, "were impatient while waiting for its resurrection".<ref>Cesare Baronio, ''Annales Ecclesiastici'', Rome 1594, vol. 2, p. 803.</ref> This explanation was definitively abandoned only in the eighteenth century.<ref>de Ceglia Francesco Paolo, "Thinking with the Saint: The Miracle of Saint Januarius of Naples and Science in Early Modern Europe" in ''Early Science and Medicine'' 19 (2014), p. 133-173''</ref>

Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in Naples Cathedral three times a year: on 19 September (Saint Januarius's Day, commemorating his martyrdom), on 16 December (celebrating his patronage of Naples and its archdiocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (commemorating the reunification of his relics).<ref>[http://www.tredy.com/m/museo-chiesa-di-san-gennaro-duomo-napoli-it-20-m.htm Chiesa di San Gennaro - Duomo (Napoli)]</ref>

The blood is also said to spontaneously liquefy at certain other times, such as [[pope|papal]] visits. It supposedly liquefied in the presence of [[Pope Pius IX]] in 1848, but not that of [[John Paul II]] in 1979 or [[Benedict XVI]] in 2007.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blood of St. Januarius liquefies during Francis' visit to Naples|url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/21/blood-of-st-januarius-liquifies-during-franciss-visit-to-naples/|publisher=Catholic Herald|date=March 21, 2015}}</ref> On March 21, 2015, [[Pope Francis]] [[veneration|venerated]] the dried blood during a visit to [[Naples Cathedral]], saying the [[Lord's Prayer]] over it and kissing it. [[Crescenzio Sepe|Archbishop Sepe]] then declared that "The blood has half liquefied, which shows that Saint Januarius loves our pope and Naples."<ref name=Benge>{{cite news|url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-francis-performs-miracle-in-naples-turns-dry-blood-to-liquid-video-136174/|title=Pope Francis Performs 'Miracle' In Naples; Turns Dry Blood to Liquid|publisher=Christian Post|author=Benge Nsenduluka|date=March 23, 2015}}</ref>

====Ritual liquefaction====
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1860) b 524.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Drawing of the reliquary containing the two ampoules said to hold Januarius' blood, c. 1860]]
The blood is stored in two hermetically sealed small [[ampoule]]s, held since the 17th century in a [[silver]] [[reliquary]] between two round glass plates about 12 cm wide. The smaller, cylindrical ampoule contains only a few reddish spots on its walls, the bulk having allegedly been removed and taken to [[Spain]] by [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]]. The larger, almond-shaped ampoule, with a capacity of about 60 [[milliliter|ml]], is about 60% filled with a dark reddish substance.<ref name="santi">[http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/29200 San Gennaro: Vescovo e martire] (in Italian)</ref><ref name="cicap"/> Separate reliquaries hold bone fragments believed to belong to Saint Januarius.

For most of the time, the ampoules are kept in a bank vault, whose keys are held by a commission of local notables, including the [[mayor]] of Naples; the bones are kept in a [[crypt]] under the main altar of Naples Cathedral. On feast days, all these relics are taken in procession from the cathedral to the [[Santa Chiara (Naples)|Monastery of Santa Chiara]], where the [[archbishop]] holds up the reliquary and tilts it to show that the contents are solid, then places it on the high altar next to the saint's other relics. After intense prayers by the faithful, including the so-called "relatives of Saint Januarius" (''parenti di San Gennaro''), the content of the larger vial typically appears to liquify. The archbishop then holds up the vial and tilts it again to demonstrate that liquefaction has taken place. The announcement of the liquifaction is greeted with at the 13th-century [[Castel Nuovo]]. The ampoules remain exposed on the altar for eight days, while the priests move or turn them periodically to show that the contents remain liquid.<ref name="santi"/> Sir [[Francis Ronalds]] gives a detailed description of the May 1819 ritual in his travel journal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sirfrancisronalds.co.uk/naples3.html|title=Sir Francis Ronalds' Travel Journal: Naples and the Miracle|website=Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family|access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref>

The liquifaction sometimes takes place almost immediately, but can take hours or even days. Records kept at the Duomo tell that on rare occasions the contents fail to liquify, are found already liquified when the ampoules are taken from the safe,<ref>"Sangue di San Gennaro liquefatto prima della processione" ''Corriere dell Sera'', 4 May 1997, p.15</ref> or liquify outside the usual dates.<ref name="santi"/>

====Scientific studies====
While the Catholic Church has always supported the celebrations, it has never formulated an official statement on the phenomenon and maintains a neutral stance about scientific investigations.<ref name="santi"/> It does not permit the vials to be opened, for fear that doing so may cause irreparable damage. This makes close analysis impossible. Nevertheless, a spectroscopic analysis performed in 1902 by Gennaro Sperindeo claimed that the spectrum was consistent with [[hemoglobin]].<ref>Gennaro, Sperindeo and Raffaele Januario (1901), ''Il Miracolo di S. Gennaro'', 3rd ed., Naples, D'Auria, p. 67-72.</ref> A later analysis, with similar conclusions, was carried out by a team in 1989.<ref>F. D'Onofrio; P. L. Baima Bollone; M. Cannas; quoted by [[Michele Cardinal Giordano]] (1990), ''Prolusione'', in ''Proceedings of the Symposium on the VI centenary of the first liquefaction of the blood (1389–1989),'' December 1989, Napoli, Torre del Greco (Napoli), p. 10.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2015}} However, the reliability of these observations has been questioned.<ref name="cicap"/> While clotted blood can be liquefied by mechanical stirring, the resulting suspension cannot solidify again.<ref name="cicap"/>

Measurements made in 1900 and 1904 claimed that the ampoules' weight increased by up to 28 grams during liquefaction. However, later measurements with a precision balance, performed over five years, failed to detect any variation.<ref name="cicap"/>

Various suggestions for the content's composition have been advanced, such as a material that is [[photosensitive]], [[hygroscopic]], or has a low melting point.<ref>Eusèbe Salverte, ''Des sciences occultes ou essai sur la magie, les prodiges et les miracles'', Paris, Baillière, 1826.</ref><ref>Henri Broch. ''Le Paranormal'' (1985); ed. ext., Paris, Seuil, 1989, p. 109</ref><ref>Joe Nickell, John F. Fischer, ''Mysterious Realms'', Buffalo, Prometheus Books, 1993, p 159.</ref> However, these explanations run into technical difficulties, such as the variability of the phenomenon and its lack of correlation to ambient temperature.<ref name="cicap"/>

A recent hypothesis by Garlaschelli & al. is that the vial contains a [[thixotropy|thixotropic]] [[gel]],<ref name="cicap">{{Cite journal | first1=L. | last1=Garlaschelli | first2=F. | last2=Ramaccini | first3=S. | last3=Della Sala | title=The Blood of St. Januarius | journal=Chemistry in Britain | volume=30 | issue=2 | year=1994 | page=123 | url=http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101014.htm | access-date=July 28, 2009 | archive-date=April 26, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426063254/http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101014.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="csi">{{cite web | last =Christopher | first =Kevin | title =The Miracle Blood of Saint Januarius | publisher = Committee for Skeptical Inquiry | date = 2000-09-22 | url =http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00107.html | access-date =2007-03-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070206214843/http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00107.html  |archive-date = 2007-02-06}};</ref> In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. Researchers have proposed specifically a suspension of [[Iron(III) oxide-hydroxide|hydrated iron oxide]], FeO(OH), which reproduces the color and behavior of the 'blood' in the ampoule.<ref>Luigi Garlaschelli (2002), ''Sangue Prodigioso''. La Chimica e l'Industria., 84 (6), p.67-70 [http://www.luigigarlaschelli.it/Other%20Pubbl/SProd.Ch.Ind.html Online version] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108021224/http://www.luigigarlaschelli.it/Other%20Pubbl/SProd.Ch.Ind.html |date=2011-01-08 }} accessed on 2009-06-20. (In Italian).</ref> The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity.<ref name="jse">{{cite journal | last1 =Epstein | first1 =Michael | last2 =Garlaschelli | first2 =Luigi | title =Better Blood Through Chemistry: A Laboratory Replication of a Miracle | journal =[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]] | volume =6 | pages =233–246 | year =1992 | url =http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_epstein.pdf | access-date =2007-03-02 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090717034928/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_epstein.pdf | archive-date =2009-07-17 }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}<ref name="times">{{cite news | last =Owen | first =Richard | title =Naples blood boils at miracle's 'debunking' | work =[[The Times]] | publisher =Times Newspapers Ltd | date = 2005-09-20 | url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article568487.ece | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070311093513/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article568487.ece | url-status =dead | archive-date =11 March 2007 | access-date =2007-03-02 | location=London}}</ref>

In 2010, Giuseppe Geraci, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Naples's [[Universita Federico II|Frederick II University]], conducted an experiment on a vial containing old blood—a relic dating back to the 18th century from the ''Eremo di Camaldoli'' near [[Arezzo]] in [[Tuscany]]—having the same characteristics of the blood of St. Januarius.<ref>{{cite news | title =San Gennaro, spunta una seconda ampolla con dentro il sangue | publisher =Metropolis Web | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://www.metropolisweb.it/Notizie/Campania/Cronaca/san_gennaro_spunta_seconda_ampolla_dentro_sangue.aspx | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> Prof. Geraci showed that the Camaldoli relic also contains blood that can change its solid-liquid phase by shaking.<ref name="Piedimonte">{{cite news | last =Piedimonte | first =Antonio Emanuele | title =Geraci, la rivelazione 11 anni fa al Corriere "Il sangue c'è e l'ho visto, il miracolo no" | publisher =RCS Corriere del Mezzogiorno | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/notizie/arte_e_cultura/2010/5-febbraio-2010/geraci-rivelazione-11-anni-fa-corriere-il-sangue-c-e-ho-visto-miracolo-no-1602412830498.shtml | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> He further reproduced the phenomenon with his own blood stored in the same conditions as the Camaldoli relic. He stated that, "There is no univocal scientific fact that explains why these changes take place. It is not enough to attribute to the movement the ability to dissolve the blood, the liquid contained in the Treasure case changes state for reasons still to be identified."
<ref>{{cite news | last =De Lucia | first =Michele | title =Miracolo di San Gennaro, un test dimostra che nell'ampolla c'è sangue umano | publisher =Positano News | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/33495/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_un_test_dimostrache_nellampolla_ce_sangue_umano.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100207131254/http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/33495/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_un_test_dimostrache_nellampolla_ce_sangue_umano.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =2010-02-07 | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> He ultimately argued that "there's blood, no miracle".<ref name="Piedimonte"/>

====Similar rites====
Although Naples became known as "City of Blood" (''{{lang|la|urbs sanguinum}}''),{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} legends of blood liquefaction are not a unique phenomenon. Other examples include vials of the blood of [[Saint Patricia]] and Saint [[John the Baptist]] in the monastery of [[San Gregorio Armeno]], and of [[Saint Pantaleon]] in [[Ravello]]. In all, the church has recognized claims of miraculous liquefying blood for seven<ref name="randi"/> or about twenty<ref>{{citation |title= Relics of the Christ |author= Joe Nickell |publisher= University Press of Kentucky |year= 2007 |page= 46 |isbn= 9780813172125 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A9sj9XmdmekC&pg=PA46 }}</ref> saints from [[Campania]] and virtually nowhere else.<ref name=lanky/> The blood cults of the other saints have been discontinued since the 16th century, which noted skeptic [[James Randi]] takes as evidence that local artisans or [[alchemist]]s had a secret recipe for manufacturing this type of relic.<ref name="randi">{{cite book|first=Randi |last=James |author-link=James Randi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC |chapter=The Liquefying 'Blood' of St. Januarius| editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Shermer|title=Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience|year=2002 |pages=371–372|publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9781576076538}}</ref> A team of three Italian chemists{{who|date=October 2015}} managed to create a liquid that reproduces all the characteristics and behavior of the liquid in the vial, using only local materials and techniques that were known to medieval workers.<ref name="randi"/><ref name="nickell">{{cite web | last =Nickell | first =Joe | title =Examining Miracle Claims | work =Hidden Mysteries: Religion's Frauds, Lies, Control | url =http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/religion/christianity/miracleclaims.shtml | format =Excerpt from an article that appeared in March 1996 issue of ''Deolog'' | access-date =2 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title= The new encyclopedia of unbelief |author= Joe Nickell |editor= Tom Flynn |editor-link= Tom Flynn (author) |publisher= Prometheus Books |year= 2007 |isbn= 9781591023913 |page= 541 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YR4RAQAAIAAJ }}</ref> Jordan Lancaster leaves open the possibility that the practice was a Christian survival of a [[ancient Roman religion|pagan ritual]] intended to protect the locals from unexpected eruptions from [[Mount Vesuvius]].<ref name=lanky>Jordan Lancaster, ''In the shadow of Vesuvius'', Tauris, 2005</ref>

===Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius===
{{main|Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius}}
The Treasure of St. Januarius is a collection of magnificent works and donations collected in seven centuries from popes, kings, emperors, famous and ordinary people. According to studies done by a pool of experts who have analyzed all the pieces in the collection, the Treasure of St. Januarius is of higher value than the crown of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] of the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Tsar of Russia|Tsar]] of [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]]. The Treasure is a unique collection of art masterpieces, kept untouched thanks to the Deputation of the Chapel of St Januarius, an ancient secular institution founded in 1527 by a vote of the city of Naples, still existing.

Today, the Treasure is exhibited in the [[Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius]], whose entrance is located on the right side of the Dome of Naples, under the arcades. By visiting the museum, the Chapel of San Gennaro is accessible even when the cathedral is closed.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.museosangennaro.it/ |title=''Official website'' |publisher=Museo San Gennaro }}. {{in lang|it}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category|Saint Januarius}}
* [[Feast of San Gennaro]], as held annually in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas
* [[Order of St. Januarius]]
* [[Museum of the Treasure of St Januarius]]
* [[Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/September 19|Saint Januarius, patron saint archive]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Januarius, St |volume= 15 |last= Delehaye |first= Hippolyte |author-link= Hippolyte Delehaye | page = 155 |short= 1 }}
*[https://www.cicap.org/n/articolo.php?id=101014 CICAP: "The Blood of St. Januarius"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040811041315/http://www.geocities.com/mpbchurch/san_gennaro.htm San Gennaro]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161103173734/http://www.sangennaro.org/ New York's Feast of San Gennaro]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070218194514/http://www.fatemag.com/issues/2000s/2006-07article3a.html The Blood Still Boils] by [[Doug Skinner]], [[Fate (magazine)|Fate]], July 2006

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:3rd-century births]]
[[Category:305 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century Italian bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Naples]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian]]

Januarius

2024-09-27T01:22:26Z

Contaldo80: /* History */

{{short description|Bishop of Benevento; Catholic saint}}{{use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Gennaro|San Gennaro}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint Januarius
|birth_date=3rd century ({{circa|lk=no|21 April 272}}{{cn|date=December 2023}})
|death_date={{circa|lk=no|19 September 305}}
|feast_day=19 September, [[Feast of San Gennaro]] ([[Catholic Church]]) 21 April ([[Eastern Christianity]]) Monday after second Sunday of Advent ([[Armenian Apostolic Church]])
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], and [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]
|image=Saint Januarius.jpg
|imagesize=200px
|caption=''Copy taken from a portrait of Saint Januarius by [[Caravaggio]]''
|birth_place=[[Benevento]] or [[Naples]], [[Campania]], [[Roman Empire]]
|death_place=[[Pozzuoli]], [[Campania]]
|titles=Bishop and Martyr
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=[[vial]]s of [[blood]], [[hand|palms]], [[Mount Vesuvius]]
|patronage=[[blood bank]]s; [[Naples]]; [[volcanic eruption]]s<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj30.htm |title=Star Quest Production Network: Saint Januarius |access-date=2008-04-13 |archive-date=2008-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402054002/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj30.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|major_shrine=[[Naples Cathedral]], [[Italy]] and the [[Church of the Most Precious Blood]], [[Little Italy, Manhattan]], [[New York City]].
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Januarius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|dʒ|æ|n|.|j|u|ˈ|ɛər|i|ə|s}} {{respell|JAN|yoo|AIR|ee|əs}};<ref>{{cite EPD|18}}</ref> {{lang-la|Ianuarius}}; [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]] and {{lang-it|Gennaro}}), also known as {{nowrap|'''Januarius I of Benevento'''}}, was [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Benevento|Bishop of Benevento]] and is a [[Christian martyrs|martyr]] and [[saint]] of the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and [[Christian legend|legends]] claim that he died during the [[Great Persecution]],<ref name="cathenc"/> which ended with [[Diocletian]]'s retirement in 305.

Januarius is the patron saint of [[Naples]], where the faithful gather three times a year in [[Naples Cathedral]] to witness the [[liquefaction]] of what is claimed to be a sample of his blood kept in a sealed glass [[ampoule]].

{{anchor|Biography|History}}

==Life==
Little is known of the life of Januarius,<ref name="cathenc">{{Cite CE1913 | wstitle =St. Januarius | author =Herbert Thurston}}</ref> and what follows is mostly derived from later Christian sources, such as the ''Acta Bononensia'' (BHL 4132, not earlier than 6th century) and the ''Acta Vaticana'' (BHL 4115, 9th century), and from later folk traditions.

===Legend===
[[File:Napoli-Ribera-San-Gennaro.jpg|thumb|left|Ribera, ''[[Saint Januarius Emerges Unscathed from the Furnace]]'', Naples Cathedral]]
According to various [[hagiographies]], Januarius was born in [[Benevento]] to a rich patrician family that traced its descent to the [[Caudini]] tribe of the [[Samnites]]. At a young age of 15, he became local priest of his parish in Benevento, which at the time had only a small Christian community. When Januarius was 20, he became [[Bishop of Naples]] and befriended [[Juliana of Nicomedia]] and [[Saint Sossius|Sossius]] whom he met during his studies for the priesthood. During the {{frac|1|1|2}}-year-long persecution of Christians by Emperor [[Diocletian]], he hid some of his fellow Christians and prevented them from being caught. But while visiting Sossius in jail, he too was arrested. He and his colleagues were condemned to be thrown to wild bears in the [[Flavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli)|Flavian Amphitheater]] at [[Pozzuoli]], but the sentence was changed due to fear of public disturbance, and they were instead beheaded at the [[Solfatara (volcano)|Solfatara]] crater near Pozzuoli.{{refn|group=n|For further details on these locations, see the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''{{'}}s article on "Saint Januarius".<ref name="cathenc"/>}} Other legends state either that the wild beasts refused to eat him, or that he was thrown into a furnace but came out unscathed.

===History===
The earliest historical reference to Januarius is contained in a letter by Uranius, [[bishop of Nola]], dated to c.e 432 on the death of his mentor [[Paulinus of Nola]],<ref name=yuri>Uranius Nolanius (432), ''De Vita et Obitu Paulini Nolani''. Published by [[Surius]] as ''Epistola "De Obitu Sancti Paulini" ''[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0432-0432__Urbanus_Presbyter__Epistola_%27De_Obitu_Sancti_Paulini%27_%5BEx_Surio%5D__MLT.pdf.html Online version] accessed on 2009-06-20.</ref><ref>[http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3617.html "Uranius"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106143025/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3617.html |date=2009-11-06 }} in ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' edited William Smith (1870).</ref> where it is stated that the ghosts of Januarius and [[Martin of Tours|Martin of Tours]] had appeared to Paulinus three days before his death in 431. About Januarius, the account says only that he was "bishop as well as martyr, an illustrious member of the Neapolitan church".{{refn|group=n|Latin: ''{{lang|la|Ianuarius, episcopus simul et martyr, Neapolitanae urbis illustrat ecclesiam}}''.<ref name=yuri/>}} The Acta Bononensia says that "At Pozzuoli in Campania [is honored the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his [[deacon]], and Desiderius [[lector]], together with [[Saint Sossius|Sossius]] deacon of the church of [[Misenum]], [[Proculus of Pozzuoli|Proculus]], deacon of [[diocese of Pozzuoli|Pozzuoli]], Eutyches, and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the emperor [[Diocletian]]".<ref name="cathenc"/>

==Legacy==
===Celebrations===
{{main|Feast of San Gennaro}}
[[File:Spadaro eruzione vesuvio.jpg|thumb|San Gennaro procession in Naples, 1631]]
The [[Feast of San Gennaro]] is celebrated on 19 September in the [[General Roman Calendar]] of the Catholic Church.<ref>"Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}).</ref>{{refn|group=n|In the 1498 Roman martyrology, his martyrdom took place on the thirteenth day before the [[kalends]] of October or 19 September.<ref>J. O'Connell, "The [[Roman Martyrology]]" [London 1962] ''s.v.'' September 19.</ref>}} In the Eastern Church, it is celebrated on 21 April.<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (Oxford University Press, 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}})</ref> The city of [[Naples]] has more than fifty official [[patron saints of Naples|patron saints]], although its principal patron is Saint Januarius.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90841|title= Sant' Aspreno di Napoli|date=19 April 2002|publisher=Santi e Beati|access-date=29 August 2008}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], the Feast of San Gennaro is also a highlight of the year for [[New York City|New York]]'s [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]], with the saint's [[polychrome]] statue carried through the middle of a [[street fair]] stretching for blocks.

===Relics===
[[Image:Januarius.jpg|right|200px|thumb|''Martyrdom of Saint Januarius'' by [[Girolamo Pesce]]]]
[[File:The Martyrdom of St Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli|The Martyrdom of St Januarius]]'', by [[Artemisia Gentileschi]] (1636)]]
[[Image:Guglia di San Gennaro - Napoli - 2013-05-16 10-29-52.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The spire of the ''Cattedrale di San Gennaro'' ([[Naples Cathedral]])]]
According to an early [[hagiography]],{{refn|group=n|Hagiographies of St Januarius are compiled in the 6th volume of the ''Acta Sanctorum Septembris''.<ref>{{citation |editor-first=J. |editor-last=Carnandet |location=Paris |date=1867 |pages=761–892 |title=Acta Sanctorum Septembris, ''Vol. VI'' }}. {{in lang|la}}</ref>}} Januarius's [[relic]]s were transferred by order of [[Severus of Naples|Saint Severus]], [[Bishop of Naples]], to the [[Catacombs of San Gennaro|Neapolitan catacombs]] "[[extra moenia|outside the walls]]" (''{{lang|la|extra moenia}}'').<ref>Norman (1986), p. 331</ref>{{refn|group=n|A condensed account of the removals of the relics is given by [[Diana Norman|Norman]].<ref>{{citation |last=Norman |first=Diana |contribution=The Succorpo in the Cathedral of Naples: 'Empress of All Chapels' |title=Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, ''Vol. 49, No. 3'' |date=1986 |pages=323–355 }}.</ref>}} In the early ninth century the body was moved to [[Benevento|Beneventum]] by [[Sico of Benevento|Sico]], [[princes of Benevento|prince]] of [[principality of Benevento|Benevento]], with the head remaining in Naples. Subsequently, during the turmoil at the time of [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]], his body was moved again, this time to the [[Territorial Abbey of Montevergine]] where it was rediscovered in 1480.

At the instigation of Cardinal [[Oliviero Carafa]], his body was finally transferred in 1497 to [[Naples]], where he is the city's [[patron saint]]. Carafa commissioned a richly decorated [[crypt]], the ''Succorpo'', beneath the [[Naples Cathedral|cathedral]] to house the reunited body and head properly. The ''Succorpo'' was finished in 1506 and is considered one of the prominent monuments of the [[High Renaissance]] in the city.<ref>Norman 1986:323-355.</ref>

===Blood===
Saint Januarius is famous for the annual liquefaction of his [[blood]], which, according to [[Christian legend|legend]], was saved by a woman called Eusebia just after the saint's death. A chronicle of Naples written in 1382 describes the cult of Saint Januarius in detail, but mentions neither the relic nor the miracle.<ref name="cicap"/><ref name="altamura">(1382) ''Croniche de Inclyta Cità de Napole'' In Altamura, Antonio (ed.), ''Cronaca di Partenope'', Napoli, 1974</ref> The first certain date is 1389, when it was found to have melted.<ref>''Chronicon Siculum'' [1340-1396], ed. Giuseppe De Blasiis, Naples, 1887, p. 85</ref><ref>Norman 1993:332 and note.</ref> Then, over the following two and a half centuries official reports began to appear declaring that the blood spontaneously melted, at first once a year, then twice, and finally three times a year. While the report of the very first incidence of liquefaction did not make any explicit reference to the skull of the saint, soon afterwards assertions began to appear that this relic was activating the melting process, as if the blood, recognizing a part of the body to which it belonged, "were impatient while waiting for its resurrection".<ref>Cesare Baronio, ''Annales Ecclesiastici'', Rome 1594, vol. 2, p. 803.</ref> This explanation was definitively abandoned only in the eighteenth century.<ref>de Ceglia Francesco Paolo, "Thinking with the Saint: The Miracle of Saint Januarius of Naples and Science in Early Modern Europe" in ''Early Science and Medicine'' 19 (2014), p. 133-173''</ref>

Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in Naples Cathedral three times a year: on 19 September (Saint Januarius's Day, commemorating his martyrdom), on 16 December (celebrating his patronage of Naples and its archdiocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (commemorating the reunification of his relics).<ref>[http://www.tredy.com/m/museo-chiesa-di-san-gennaro-duomo-napoli-it-20-m.htm Chiesa di San Gennaro - Duomo (Napoli)]</ref>

The blood is also said to spontaneously liquefy at certain other times, such as [[pope|papal]] visits. It supposedly liquefied in the presence of [[Pope Pius IX]] in 1848, but not that of [[John Paul II]] in 1979 or [[Benedict XVI]] in 2007.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blood of St. Januarius liquefies during Francis' visit to Naples|url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/21/blood-of-st-januarius-liquifies-during-franciss-visit-to-naples/|publisher=Catholic Herald|date=March 21, 2015}}</ref> On March 21, 2015, [[Pope Francis]] [[veneration|venerated]] the dried blood during a visit to [[Naples Cathedral]], saying the [[Lord's Prayer]] over it and kissing it. [[Crescenzio Sepe|Archbishop Sepe]] then declared that "The blood has half liquefied, which shows that Saint Januarius loves our pope and Naples."<ref name=Benge>{{cite news|url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-francis-performs-miracle-in-naples-turns-dry-blood-to-liquid-video-136174/|title=Pope Francis Performs 'Miracle' In Naples; Turns Dry Blood to Liquid|publisher=Christian Post|author=Benge Nsenduluka|date=March 23, 2015}}</ref>

====Ritual liquefaction====
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1860) b 524.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Drawing of the reliquary containing the two ampoules said to hold Januarius' blood, c. 1860]]
The blood is stored in two hermetically sealed small [[ampoule]]s, held since the 17th century in a [[silver]] [[reliquary]] between two round glass plates about 12 cm wide. The smaller, cylindrical ampoule contains only a few reddish spots on its walls, the bulk having allegedly been removed and taken to [[Spain]] by [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]]. The larger, almond-shaped ampoule, with a capacity of about 60 [[milliliter|ml]], is about 60% filled with a dark reddish substance.<ref name="santi">[http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/29200 San Gennaro: Vescovo e martire] (in Italian)</ref><ref name="cicap"/> Separate reliquaries hold bone fragments believed to belong to Saint Januarius.

For most of the time, the ampoules are kept in a bank vault, whose keys are held by a commission of local notables, including the [[mayor]] of Naples; the bones are kept in a [[crypt]] under the main altar of Naples Cathedral. On feast days, all these relics are taken in procession from the cathedral to the [[Santa Chiara (Naples)|Monastery of Santa Chiara]], where the [[archbishop]] holds up the reliquary and tilts it to show that the contents are solid, then places it on the high altar next to the saint's other relics. After intense prayers by the faithful, including the so-called "relatives of Saint Januarius" (''parenti di San Gennaro''), the content of the larger vial typically appears to liquify. The archbishop then holds up the vial and tilts it again to demonstrate that liquefaction has taken place. The announcement of the liquifaction is greeted with at the 13th-century [[Castel Nuovo]]. The ampoules remain exposed on the altar for eight days, while the priests move or turn them periodically to show that the contents remain liquid.<ref name="santi"/> Sir [[Francis Ronalds]] gives a detailed description of the May 1819 ritual in his travel journal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sirfrancisronalds.co.uk/naples3.html|title=Sir Francis Ronalds' Travel Journal: Naples and the Miracle|website=Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family|access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref>

The liquifaction sometimes takes place almost immediately, but can take hours or even days. Records kept at the Duomo tell that on rare occasions the contents fail to liquify, are found already liquified when the ampoules are taken from the safe,<ref>"Sangue di San Gennaro liquefatto prima della processione" ''Corriere dell Sera'', 4 May 1997, p.15</ref> or liquify outside the usual dates.<ref name="santi"/>

====Scientific studies====
While the Catholic Church has always supported the celebrations, it has never formulated an official statement on the phenomenon and maintains a neutral stance about scientific investigations.<ref name="santi"/> It does not permit the vials to be opened, for fear that doing so may cause irreparable damage. This makes close analysis impossible. Nevertheless, a spectroscopic analysis performed in 1902 by Gennaro Sperindeo claimed that the spectrum was consistent with [[hemoglobin]].<ref>Gennaro, Sperindeo and Raffaele Januario (1901), ''Il Miracolo di S. Gennaro'', 3rd ed., Naples, D'Auria, p. 67-72.</ref> A later analysis, with similar conclusions, was carried out by a team in 1989.<ref>F. D'Onofrio; P. L. Baima Bollone; M. Cannas; quoted by [[Michele Cardinal Giordano]] (1990), ''Prolusione'', in ''Proceedings of the Symposium on the VI centenary of the first liquefaction of the blood (1389–1989),'' December 1989, Napoli, Torre del Greco (Napoli), p. 10.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2015}} However, the reliability of these observations has been questioned.<ref name="cicap"/> While clotted blood can be liquefied by mechanical stirring, the resulting suspension cannot solidify again.<ref name="cicap"/>

Measurements made in 1900 and 1904 claimed that the ampoules' weight increased by up to 28 grams during liquefaction. However, later measurements with a precision balance, performed over five years, failed to detect any variation.<ref name="cicap"/>

Various suggestions for the content's composition have been advanced, such as a material that is [[photosensitive]], [[hygroscopic]], or has a low melting point.<ref>Eusèbe Salverte, ''Des sciences occultes ou essai sur la magie, les prodiges et les miracles'', Paris, Baillière, 1826.</ref><ref>Henri Broch. ''Le Paranormal'' (1985); ed. ext., Paris, Seuil, 1989, p. 109</ref><ref>Joe Nickell, John F. Fischer, ''Mysterious Realms'', Buffalo, Prometheus Books, 1993, p 159.</ref> However, these explanations run into technical difficulties, such as the variability of the phenomenon and its lack of correlation to ambient temperature.<ref name="cicap"/>

A recent hypothesis by Garlaschelli & al. is that the vial contains a [[thixotropy|thixotropic]] [[gel]],<ref name="cicap">{{Cite journal | first1=L. | last1=Garlaschelli | first2=F. | last2=Ramaccini | first3=S. | last3=Della Sala | title=The Blood of St. Januarius | journal=Chemistry in Britain | volume=30 | issue=2 | year=1994 | page=123 | url=http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101014.htm | access-date=July 28, 2009 | archive-date=April 26, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426063254/http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101014.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="csi">{{cite web | last =Christopher | first =Kevin | title =The Miracle Blood of Saint Januarius | publisher = Committee for Skeptical Inquiry | date = 2000-09-22 | url =http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00107.html | access-date =2007-03-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070206214843/http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00107.html  |archive-date = 2007-02-06}};</ref> In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. Researchers have proposed specifically a suspension of [[Iron(III) oxide-hydroxide|hydrated iron oxide]], FeO(OH), which reproduces the color and behavior of the 'blood' in the ampoule.<ref>Luigi Garlaschelli (2002), ''Sangue Prodigioso''. La Chimica e l'Industria., 84 (6), p.67-70 [http://www.luigigarlaschelli.it/Other%20Pubbl/SProd.Ch.Ind.html Online version] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108021224/http://www.luigigarlaschelli.it/Other%20Pubbl/SProd.Ch.Ind.html |date=2011-01-08 }} accessed on 2009-06-20. (In Italian).</ref> The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity.<ref name="jse">{{cite journal | last1 =Epstein | first1 =Michael | last2 =Garlaschelli | first2 =Luigi | title =Better Blood Through Chemistry: A Laboratory Replication of a Miracle | journal =[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]] | volume =6 | pages =233–246 | year =1992 | url =http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_epstein.pdf | access-date =2007-03-02 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090717034928/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_epstein.pdf | archive-date =2009-07-17 }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}<ref name="times">{{cite news | last =Owen | first =Richard | title =Naples blood boils at miracle's 'debunking' | work =[[The Times]] | publisher =Times Newspapers Ltd | date = 2005-09-20 | url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article568487.ece | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070311093513/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article568487.ece | url-status =dead | archive-date =11 March 2007 | access-date =2007-03-02 | location=London}}</ref>

In 2010, Giuseppe Geraci, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Naples's [[Universita Federico II|Frederick II University]], conducted an experiment on a vial containing old blood—a relic dating back to the 18th century from the ''Eremo di Camaldoli'' near [[Arezzo]] in [[Tuscany]]—having the same characteristics of the blood of St. Januarius.<ref>{{cite news | title =San Gennaro, spunta una seconda ampolla con dentro il sangue | publisher =Metropolis Web | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://www.metropolisweb.it/Notizie/Campania/Cronaca/san_gennaro_spunta_seconda_ampolla_dentro_sangue.aspx | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> Prof. Geraci showed that the Camaldoli relic also contains blood that can change its solid-liquid phase by shaking.<ref name="Piedimonte">{{cite news | last =Piedimonte | first =Antonio Emanuele | title =Geraci, la rivelazione 11 anni fa al Corriere "Il sangue c'è e l'ho visto, il miracolo no" | publisher =RCS Corriere del Mezzogiorno | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/notizie/arte_e_cultura/2010/5-febbraio-2010/geraci-rivelazione-11-anni-fa-corriere-il-sangue-c-e-ho-visto-miracolo-no-1602412830498.shtml | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> He further reproduced the phenomenon with his own blood stored in the same conditions as the Camaldoli relic. He stated that, "There is no univocal scientific fact that explains why these changes take place. It is not enough to attribute to the movement the ability to dissolve the blood, the liquid contained in the Treasure case changes state for reasons still to be identified."
<ref>{{cite news | last =De Lucia | first =Michele | title =Miracolo di San Gennaro, un test dimostra che nell'ampolla c'è sangue umano | publisher =Positano News | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/33495/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_un_test_dimostrache_nellampolla_ce_sangue_umano.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100207131254/http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/33495/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_un_test_dimostrache_nellampolla_ce_sangue_umano.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =2010-02-07 | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> He ultimately argued that "there's blood, no miracle".<ref name="Piedimonte"/>

====Similar rites====
Although Naples became known as "City of Blood" (''{{lang|la|urbs sanguinum}}''),{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} legends of blood liquefaction are not a unique phenomenon. Other examples include vials of the blood of [[Saint Patricia]] and Saint [[John the Baptist]] in the monastery of [[San Gregorio Armeno]], and of [[Saint Pantaleon]] in [[Ravello]]. In all, the church has recognized claims of miraculous liquefying blood for seven<ref name="randi"/> or about twenty<ref>{{citation |title= Relics of the Christ |author= Joe Nickell |publisher= University Press of Kentucky |year= 2007 |page= 46 |isbn= 9780813172125 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A9sj9XmdmekC&pg=PA46 }}</ref> saints from [[Campania]] and virtually nowhere else.<ref name=lanky/> The blood cults of the other saints have been discontinued since the 16th century, which noted skeptic [[James Randi]] takes as evidence that local artisans or [[alchemist]]s had a secret recipe for manufacturing this type of relic.<ref name="randi">{{cite book|first=Randi |last=James |author-link=James Randi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC |chapter=The Liquefying 'Blood' of St. Januarius| editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Shermer|title=Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience|year=2002 |pages=371–372|publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9781576076538}}</ref> A team of three Italian chemists{{who|date=October 2015}} managed to create a liquid that reproduces all the characteristics and behavior of the liquid in the vial, using only local materials and techniques that were known to medieval workers.<ref name="randi"/><ref name="nickell">{{cite web | last =Nickell | first =Joe | title =Examining Miracle Claims | work =Hidden Mysteries: Religion's Frauds, Lies, Control | url =http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/religion/christianity/miracleclaims.shtml | format =Excerpt from an article that appeared in March 1996 issue of ''Deolog'' | access-date =2 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title= The new encyclopedia of unbelief |author= Joe Nickell |editor= Tom Flynn |editor-link= Tom Flynn (author) |publisher= Prometheus Books |year= 2007 |isbn= 9781591023913 |page= 541 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YR4RAQAAIAAJ }}</ref> Jordan Lancaster leaves open the possibility that the practice was a Christian survival of a [[ancient Roman religion|pagan ritual]] intended to protect the locals from unexpected eruptions from [[Mount Vesuvius]].<ref name=lanky>Jordan Lancaster, ''In the shadow of Vesuvius'', Tauris, 2005</ref>

===Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius===
{{main|Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius}}
The Treasure of St. Januarius is a collection of magnificent works and donations collected in seven centuries from popes, kings, emperors, famous and ordinary people. According to studies done by a pool of experts who have analyzed all the pieces in the collection, the Treasure of St. Januarius is of higher value than the crown of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] of the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Tsar of Russia|Tsar]] of [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]]. The Treasure is a unique collection of art masterpieces, kept untouched thanks to the Deputation of the Chapel of St Januarius, an ancient secular institution founded in 1527 by a vote of the city of Naples, still existing.

Today, the Treasure is exhibited in the [[Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius]], whose entrance is located on the right side of the Dome of Naples, under the arcades. By visiting the museum, the Chapel of San Gennaro is accessible even when the cathedral is closed.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.museosangennaro.it/ |title=''Official website'' |publisher=Museo San Gennaro }}. {{in lang|it}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category|Saint Januarius}}
* [[Feast of San Gennaro]], as held annually in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas
* [[Order of St. Januarius]]
* [[Museum of the Treasure of St Januarius]]
* [[Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/September 19|Saint Januarius, patron saint archive]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Januarius, St |volume= 15 |last= Delehaye |first= Hippolyte |author-link= Hippolyte Delehaye | page = 155 |short= 1 }}
*[https://www.cicap.org/n/articolo.php?id=101014 CICAP: "The Blood of St. Januarius"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040811041315/http://www.geocities.com/mpbchurch/san_gennaro.htm San Gennaro]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161103173734/http://www.sangennaro.org/ New York's Feast of San Gennaro]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070218194514/http://www.fatemag.com/issues/2000s/2006-07article3a.html The Blood Still Boils] by [[Doug Skinner]], [[Fate (magazine)|Fate]], July 2006

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:3rd-century births]]
[[Category:305 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century Italian bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Naples]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian]]

Januarius

2024-09-27T01:20:02Z

Contaldo80: /* Legend */

{{short description|Bishop of Benevento; Catholic saint}}{{use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Gennaro|San Gennaro}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint Januarius
|birth_date=3rd century ({{circa|lk=no|21 April 272}}{{cn|date=December 2023}})
|death_date={{circa|lk=no|19 September 305}}
|feast_day=19 September, [[Feast of San Gennaro]] ([[Catholic Church]]) 21 April ([[Eastern Christianity]]) Monday after second Sunday of Advent ([[Armenian Apostolic Church]])
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], and [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]
|image=Saint Januarius.jpg
|imagesize=200px
|caption=''Copy taken from a portrait of Saint Januarius by [[Caravaggio]]''
|birth_place=[[Benevento]] or [[Naples]], [[Campania]], [[Roman Empire]]
|death_place=[[Pozzuoli]], [[Campania]]
|titles=Bishop and Martyr
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=[[vial]]s of [[blood]], [[hand|palms]], [[Mount Vesuvius]]
|patronage=[[blood bank]]s; [[Naples]]; [[volcanic eruption]]s<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj30.htm |title=Star Quest Production Network: Saint Januarius |access-date=2008-04-13 |archive-date=2008-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402054002/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj30.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|major_shrine=[[Naples Cathedral]], [[Italy]] and the [[Church of the Most Precious Blood]], [[Little Italy, Manhattan]], [[New York City]].
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Januarius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|dʒ|æ|n|.|j|u|ˈ|ɛər|i|ə|s}} {{respell|JAN|yoo|AIR|ee|əs}};<ref>{{cite EPD|18}}</ref> {{lang-la|Ianuarius}}; [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]] and {{lang-it|Gennaro}}), also known as {{nowrap|'''Januarius I of Benevento'''}}, was [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Benevento|Bishop of Benevento]] and is a [[Christian martyrs|martyr]] and [[saint]] of the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and [[Christian legend|legends]] claim that he died during the [[Great Persecution]],<ref name="cathenc"/> which ended with [[Diocletian]]'s retirement in 305.

Januarius is the patron saint of [[Naples]], where the faithful gather three times a year in [[Naples Cathedral]] to witness the [[liquefaction]] of what is claimed to be a sample of his blood kept in a sealed glass [[ampoule]].

{{anchor|Biography|History}}

==Life==
Little is known of the life of Januarius,<ref name="cathenc">{{Cite CE1913 | wstitle =St. Januarius | author =Herbert Thurston}}</ref> and what follows is mostly derived from later Christian sources, such as the ''Acta Bononensia'' (BHL 4132, not earlier than 6th century) and the ''Acta Vaticana'' (BHL 4115, 9th century), and from later folk traditions.

===Legend===
[[File:Napoli-Ribera-San-Gennaro.jpg|thumb|left|Ribera, ''[[Saint Januarius Emerges Unscathed from the Furnace]]'', Naples Cathedral]]
According to various [[hagiographies]], Januarius was born in [[Benevento]] to a rich patrician family that traced its descent to the [[Caudini]] tribe of the [[Samnites]]. At a young age of 15, he became local priest of his parish in Benevento, which at the time had only a small Christian community. When Januarius was 20, he became [[Bishop of Naples]] and befriended [[Juliana of Nicomedia]] and [[Saint Sossius|Sossius]] whom he met during his studies for the priesthood. During the {{frac|1|1|2}}-year-long persecution of Christians by Emperor [[Diocletian]], he hid some of his fellow Christians and prevented them from being caught. But while visiting Sossius in jail, he too was arrested. He and his colleagues were condemned to be thrown to wild bears in the [[Flavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli)|Flavian Amphitheater]] at [[Pozzuoli]], but the sentence was changed due to fear of public disturbance, and they were instead beheaded at the [[Solfatara (volcano)|Solfatara]] crater near Pozzuoli.{{refn|group=n|For further details on these locations, see the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''{{'}}s article on "Saint Januarius".<ref name="cathenc"/>}} Other legends state either that the wild beasts refused to eat him, or that he was thrown into a furnace but came out unscathed.

===History===
The earliest extant mention of him is contained in a 432 letter by Uranius, [[bishop of Nola]], on the death of his mentor Saint [[Paulinus of Nola]],<ref name=yuri>Uranius Nolanius (432), ''De Vita et Obitu Paulini Nolani''. Published by [[Surius]] as ''Epistola "De Obitu Sancti Paulini" ''[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0432-0432__Urbanus_Presbyter__Epistola_%27De_Obitu_Sancti_Paulini%27_%5BEx_Surio%5D__MLT.pdf.html Online version] accessed on 2009-06-20.</ref><ref>[http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3617.html "Uranius"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106143025/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3617.html |date=2009-11-06 }} in ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' edited William Smith (1870).</ref> where it is stated that the ghosts of Januarius and [[Martin of Tours|Saint Martin]] appeared to Paulinus three days before the latter's death in 431. About Januarius, the account says only that he was "bishop as well as martyr, an illustrious member of the Neapolitan church".{{refn|group=n|Latin: ''{{lang|la|Ianuarius, episcopus simul et martyr, Neapolitanae urbis illustrat ecclesiam}}''.<ref name=yuri/>}} The Acta Bononensia says that "At Pozzuoli in Campania [is honored the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his [[deacon]], and Desiderius [[lector]], together with [[Saint Sossius|Sossius]] deacon of the church of [[Misenum]], [[Proculus of Pozzuoli|Proculus]], deacon of [[diocese of Pozzuoli|Pozzuoli]], Eutyches, and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the emperor [[Diocletian]]".<ref name="cathenc"/>

==Legacy==
===Celebrations===
{{main|Feast of San Gennaro}}
[[File:Spadaro eruzione vesuvio.jpg|thumb|San Gennaro procession in Naples, 1631]]
The [[Feast of San Gennaro]] is celebrated on 19 September in the [[General Roman Calendar]] of the Catholic Church.<ref>"Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}).</ref>{{refn|group=n|In the 1498 Roman martyrology, his martyrdom took place on the thirteenth day before the [[kalends]] of October or 19 September.<ref>J. O'Connell, "The [[Roman Martyrology]]" [London 1962] ''s.v.'' September 19.</ref>}} In the Eastern Church, it is celebrated on 21 April.<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (Oxford University Press, 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}})</ref> The city of [[Naples]] has more than fifty official [[patron saints of Naples|patron saints]], although its principal patron is Saint Januarius.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90841|title= Sant' Aspreno di Napoli|date=19 April 2002|publisher=Santi e Beati|access-date=29 August 2008}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], the Feast of San Gennaro is also a highlight of the year for [[New York City|New York]]'s [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]], with the saint's [[polychrome]] statue carried through the middle of a [[street fair]] stretching for blocks.

===Relics===
[[Image:Januarius.jpg|right|200px|thumb|''Martyrdom of Saint Januarius'' by [[Girolamo Pesce]]]]
[[File:The Martyrdom of St Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli|The Martyrdom of St Januarius]]'', by [[Artemisia Gentileschi]] (1636)]]
[[Image:Guglia di San Gennaro - Napoli - 2013-05-16 10-29-52.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The spire of the ''Cattedrale di San Gennaro'' ([[Naples Cathedral]])]]
According to an early [[hagiography]],{{refn|group=n|Hagiographies of St Januarius are compiled in the 6th volume of the ''Acta Sanctorum Septembris''.<ref>{{citation |editor-first=J. |editor-last=Carnandet |location=Paris |date=1867 |pages=761–892 |title=Acta Sanctorum Septembris, ''Vol. VI'' }}. {{in lang|la}}</ref>}} Januarius's [[relic]]s were transferred by order of [[Severus of Naples|Saint Severus]], [[Bishop of Naples]], to the [[Catacombs of San Gennaro|Neapolitan catacombs]] "[[extra moenia|outside the walls]]" (''{{lang|la|extra moenia}}'').<ref>Norman (1986), p. 331</ref>{{refn|group=n|A condensed account of the removals of the relics is given by [[Diana Norman|Norman]].<ref>{{citation |last=Norman |first=Diana |contribution=The Succorpo in the Cathedral of Naples: 'Empress of All Chapels' |title=Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, ''Vol. 49, No. 3'' |date=1986 |pages=323–355 }}.</ref>}} In the early ninth century the body was moved to [[Benevento|Beneventum]] by [[Sico of Benevento|Sico]], [[princes of Benevento|prince]] of [[principality of Benevento|Benevento]], with the head remaining in Naples. Subsequently, during the turmoil at the time of [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]], his body was moved again, this time to the [[Territorial Abbey of Montevergine]] where it was rediscovered in 1480.

At the instigation of Cardinal [[Oliviero Carafa]], his body was finally transferred in 1497 to [[Naples]], where he is the city's [[patron saint]]. Carafa commissioned a richly decorated [[crypt]], the ''Succorpo'', beneath the [[Naples Cathedral|cathedral]] to house the reunited body and head properly. The ''Succorpo'' was finished in 1506 and is considered one of the prominent monuments of the [[High Renaissance]] in the city.<ref>Norman 1986:323-355.</ref>

===Blood===
Saint Januarius is famous for the annual liquefaction of his [[blood]], which, according to [[Christian legend|legend]], was saved by a woman called Eusebia just after the saint's death. A chronicle of Naples written in 1382 describes the cult of Saint Januarius in detail, but mentions neither the relic nor the miracle.<ref name="cicap"/><ref name="altamura">(1382) ''Croniche de Inclyta Cità de Napole'' In Altamura, Antonio (ed.), ''Cronaca di Partenope'', Napoli, 1974</ref> The first certain date is 1389, when it was found to have melted.<ref>''Chronicon Siculum'' [1340-1396], ed. Giuseppe De Blasiis, Naples, 1887, p. 85</ref><ref>Norman 1993:332 and note.</ref> Then, over the following two and a half centuries official reports began to appear declaring that the blood spontaneously melted, at first once a year, then twice, and finally three times a year. While the report of the very first incidence of liquefaction did not make any explicit reference to the skull of the saint, soon afterwards assertions began to appear that this relic was activating the melting process, as if the blood, recognizing a part of the body to which it belonged, "were impatient while waiting for its resurrection".<ref>Cesare Baronio, ''Annales Ecclesiastici'', Rome 1594, vol. 2, p. 803.</ref> This explanation was definitively abandoned only in the eighteenth century.<ref>de Ceglia Francesco Paolo, "Thinking with the Saint: The Miracle of Saint Januarius of Naples and Science in Early Modern Europe" in ''Early Science and Medicine'' 19 (2014), p. 133-173''</ref>

Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in Naples Cathedral three times a year: on 19 September (Saint Januarius's Day, commemorating his martyrdom), on 16 December (celebrating his patronage of Naples and its archdiocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (commemorating the reunification of his relics).<ref>[http://www.tredy.com/m/museo-chiesa-di-san-gennaro-duomo-napoli-it-20-m.htm Chiesa di San Gennaro - Duomo (Napoli)]</ref>

The blood is also said to spontaneously liquefy at certain other times, such as [[pope|papal]] visits. It supposedly liquefied in the presence of [[Pope Pius IX]] in 1848, but not that of [[John Paul II]] in 1979 or [[Benedict XVI]] in 2007.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blood of St. Januarius liquefies during Francis' visit to Naples|url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/21/blood-of-st-januarius-liquifies-during-franciss-visit-to-naples/|publisher=Catholic Herald|date=March 21, 2015}}</ref> On March 21, 2015, [[Pope Francis]] [[veneration|venerated]] the dried blood during a visit to [[Naples Cathedral]], saying the [[Lord's Prayer]] over it and kissing it. [[Crescenzio Sepe|Archbishop Sepe]] then declared that "The blood has half liquefied, which shows that Saint Januarius loves our pope and Naples."<ref name=Benge>{{cite news|url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-francis-performs-miracle-in-naples-turns-dry-blood-to-liquid-video-136174/|title=Pope Francis Performs 'Miracle' In Naples; Turns Dry Blood to Liquid|publisher=Christian Post|author=Benge Nsenduluka|date=March 23, 2015}}</ref>

====Ritual liquefaction====
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1860) b 524.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Drawing of the reliquary containing the two ampoules said to hold Januarius' blood, c. 1860]]
The blood is stored in two hermetically sealed small [[ampoule]]s, held since the 17th century in a [[silver]] [[reliquary]] between two round glass plates about 12 cm wide. The smaller, cylindrical ampoule contains only a few reddish spots on its walls, the bulk having allegedly been removed and taken to [[Spain]] by [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]]. The larger, almond-shaped ampoule, with a capacity of about 60 [[milliliter|ml]], is about 60% filled with a dark reddish substance.<ref name="santi">[http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/29200 San Gennaro: Vescovo e martire] (in Italian)</ref><ref name="cicap"/> Separate reliquaries hold bone fragments believed to belong to Saint Januarius.

For most of the time, the ampoules are kept in a bank vault, whose keys are held by a commission of local notables, including the [[mayor]] of Naples; the bones are kept in a [[crypt]] under the main altar of Naples Cathedral. On feast days, all these relics are taken in procession from the cathedral to the [[Santa Chiara (Naples)|Monastery of Santa Chiara]], where the [[archbishop]] holds up the reliquary and tilts it to show that the contents are solid, then places it on the high altar next to the saint's other relics. After intense prayers by the faithful, including the so-called "relatives of Saint Januarius" (''parenti di San Gennaro''), the content of the larger vial typically appears to liquify. The archbishop then holds up the vial and tilts it again to demonstrate that liquefaction has taken place. The announcement of the liquifaction is greeted with at the 13th-century [[Castel Nuovo]]. The ampoules remain exposed on the altar for eight days, while the priests move or turn them periodically to show that the contents remain liquid.<ref name="santi"/> Sir [[Francis Ronalds]] gives a detailed description of the May 1819 ritual in his travel journal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sirfrancisronalds.co.uk/naples3.html|title=Sir Francis Ronalds' Travel Journal: Naples and the Miracle|website=Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family|access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref>

The liquifaction sometimes takes place almost immediately, but can take hours or even days. Records kept at the Duomo tell that on rare occasions the contents fail to liquify, are found already liquified when the ampoules are taken from the safe,<ref>"Sangue di San Gennaro liquefatto prima della processione" ''Corriere dell Sera'', 4 May 1997, p.15</ref> or liquify outside the usual dates.<ref name="santi"/>

====Scientific studies====
While the Catholic Church has always supported the celebrations, it has never formulated an official statement on the phenomenon and maintains a neutral stance about scientific investigations.<ref name="santi"/> It does not permit the vials to be opened, for fear that doing so may cause irreparable damage. This makes close analysis impossible. Nevertheless, a spectroscopic analysis performed in 1902 by Gennaro Sperindeo claimed that the spectrum was consistent with [[hemoglobin]].<ref>Gennaro, Sperindeo and Raffaele Januario (1901), ''Il Miracolo di S. Gennaro'', 3rd ed., Naples, D'Auria, p. 67-72.</ref> A later analysis, with similar conclusions, was carried out by a team in 1989.<ref>F. D'Onofrio; P. L. Baima Bollone; M. Cannas; quoted by [[Michele Cardinal Giordano]] (1990), ''Prolusione'', in ''Proceedings of the Symposium on the VI centenary of the first liquefaction of the blood (1389–1989),'' December 1989, Napoli, Torre del Greco (Napoli), p. 10.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2015}} However, the reliability of these observations has been questioned.<ref name="cicap"/> While clotted blood can be liquefied by mechanical stirring, the resulting suspension cannot solidify again.<ref name="cicap"/>

Measurements made in 1900 and 1904 claimed that the ampoules' weight increased by up to 28 grams during liquefaction. However, later measurements with a precision balance, performed over five years, failed to detect any variation.<ref name="cicap"/>

Various suggestions for the content's composition have been advanced, such as a material that is [[photosensitive]], [[hygroscopic]], or has a low melting point.<ref>Eusèbe Salverte, ''Des sciences occultes ou essai sur la magie, les prodiges et les miracles'', Paris, Baillière, 1826.</ref><ref>Henri Broch. ''Le Paranormal'' (1985); ed. ext., Paris, Seuil, 1989, p. 109</ref><ref>Joe Nickell, John F. Fischer, ''Mysterious Realms'', Buffalo, Prometheus Books, 1993, p 159.</ref> However, these explanations run into technical difficulties, such as the variability of the phenomenon and its lack of correlation to ambient temperature.<ref name="cicap"/>

A recent hypothesis by Garlaschelli & al. is that the vial contains a [[thixotropy|thixotropic]] [[gel]],<ref name="cicap">{{Cite journal | first1=L. | last1=Garlaschelli | first2=F. | last2=Ramaccini | first3=S. | last3=Della Sala | title=The Blood of St. Januarius | journal=Chemistry in Britain | volume=30 | issue=2 | year=1994 | page=123 | url=http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101014.htm | access-date=July 28, 2009 | archive-date=April 26, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426063254/http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101014.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="csi">{{cite web | last =Christopher | first =Kevin | title =The Miracle Blood of Saint Januarius | publisher = Committee for Skeptical Inquiry | date = 2000-09-22 | url =http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00107.html | access-date =2007-03-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070206214843/http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00107.html  |archive-date = 2007-02-06}};</ref> In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. Researchers have proposed specifically a suspension of [[Iron(III) oxide-hydroxide|hydrated iron oxide]], FeO(OH), which reproduces the color and behavior of the 'blood' in the ampoule.<ref>Luigi Garlaschelli (2002), ''Sangue Prodigioso''. La Chimica e l'Industria., 84 (6), p.67-70 [http://www.luigigarlaschelli.it/Other%20Pubbl/SProd.Ch.Ind.html Online version] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108021224/http://www.luigigarlaschelli.it/Other%20Pubbl/SProd.Ch.Ind.html |date=2011-01-08 }} accessed on 2009-06-20. (In Italian).</ref> The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity.<ref name="jse">{{cite journal | last1 =Epstein | first1 =Michael | last2 =Garlaschelli | first2 =Luigi | title =Better Blood Through Chemistry: A Laboratory Replication of a Miracle | journal =[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]] | volume =6 | pages =233–246 | year =1992 | url =http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_epstein.pdf | access-date =2007-03-02 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090717034928/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_epstein.pdf | archive-date =2009-07-17 }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}<ref name="times">{{cite news | last =Owen | first =Richard | title =Naples blood boils at miracle's 'debunking' | work =[[The Times]] | publisher =Times Newspapers Ltd | date = 2005-09-20 | url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article568487.ece | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070311093513/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article568487.ece | url-status =dead | archive-date =11 March 2007 | access-date =2007-03-02 | location=London}}</ref>

In 2010, Giuseppe Geraci, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Naples's [[Universita Federico II|Frederick II University]], conducted an experiment on a vial containing old blood—a relic dating back to the 18th century from the ''Eremo di Camaldoli'' near [[Arezzo]] in [[Tuscany]]—having the same characteristics of the blood of St. Januarius.<ref>{{cite news | title =San Gennaro, spunta una seconda ampolla con dentro il sangue | publisher =Metropolis Web | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://www.metropolisweb.it/Notizie/Campania/Cronaca/san_gennaro_spunta_seconda_ampolla_dentro_sangue.aspx | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> Prof. Geraci showed that the Camaldoli relic also contains blood that can change its solid-liquid phase by shaking.<ref name="Piedimonte">{{cite news | last =Piedimonte | first =Antonio Emanuele | title =Geraci, la rivelazione 11 anni fa al Corriere "Il sangue c'è e l'ho visto, il miracolo no" | publisher =RCS Corriere del Mezzogiorno | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/notizie/arte_e_cultura/2010/5-febbraio-2010/geraci-rivelazione-11-anni-fa-corriere-il-sangue-c-e-ho-visto-miracolo-no-1602412830498.shtml | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> He further reproduced the phenomenon with his own blood stored in the same conditions as the Camaldoli relic. He stated that, "There is no univocal scientific fact that explains why these changes take place. It is not enough to attribute to the movement the ability to dissolve the blood, the liquid contained in the Treasure case changes state for reasons still to be identified."
<ref>{{cite news | last =De Lucia | first =Michele | title =Miracolo di San Gennaro, un test dimostra che nell'ampolla c'è sangue umano | publisher =Positano News | date = 2010-02-05 | url =http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/33495/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_un_test_dimostrache_nellampolla_ce_sangue_umano.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100207131254/http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/33495/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_un_test_dimostrache_nellampolla_ce_sangue_umano.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =2010-02-07 | access-date =2013-09-23 | location=Naples}}</ref> He ultimately argued that "there's blood, no miracle".<ref name="Piedimonte"/>

====Similar rites====
Although Naples became known as "City of Blood" (''{{lang|la|urbs sanguinum}}''),{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} legends of blood liquefaction are not a unique phenomenon. Other examples include vials of the blood of [[Saint Patricia]] and Saint [[John the Baptist]] in the monastery of [[San Gregorio Armeno]], and of [[Saint Pantaleon]] in [[Ravello]]. In all, the church has recognized claims of miraculous liquefying blood for seven<ref name="randi"/> or about twenty<ref>{{citation |title= Relics of the Christ |author= Joe Nickell |publisher= University Press of Kentucky |year= 2007 |page= 46 |isbn= 9780813172125 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A9sj9XmdmekC&pg=PA46 }}</ref> saints from [[Campania]] and virtually nowhere else.<ref name=lanky/> The blood cults of the other saints have been discontinued since the 16th century, which noted skeptic [[James Randi]] takes as evidence that local artisans or [[alchemist]]s had a secret recipe for manufacturing this type of relic.<ref name="randi">{{cite book|first=Randi |last=James |author-link=James Randi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC |chapter=The Liquefying 'Blood' of St. Januarius| editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Shermer|title=Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience|year=2002 |pages=371–372|publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9781576076538}}</ref> A team of three Italian chemists{{who|date=October 2015}} managed to create a liquid that reproduces all the characteristics and behavior of the liquid in the vial, using only local materials and techniques that were known to medieval workers.<ref name="randi"/><ref name="nickell">{{cite web | last =Nickell | first =Joe | title =Examining Miracle Claims | work =Hidden Mysteries: Religion's Frauds, Lies, Control | url =http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/religion/christianity/miracleclaims.shtml | format =Excerpt from an article that appeared in March 1996 issue of ''Deolog'' | access-date =2 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title= The new encyclopedia of unbelief |author= Joe Nickell |editor= Tom Flynn |editor-link= Tom Flynn (author) |publisher= Prometheus Books |year= 2007 |isbn= 9781591023913 |page= 541 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YR4RAQAAIAAJ }}</ref> Jordan Lancaster leaves open the possibility that the practice was a Christian survival of a [[ancient Roman religion|pagan ritual]] intended to protect the locals from unexpected eruptions from [[Mount Vesuvius]].<ref name=lanky>Jordan Lancaster, ''In the shadow of Vesuvius'', Tauris, 2005</ref>

===Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius===
{{main|Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius}}
The Treasure of St. Januarius is a collection of magnificent works and donations collected in seven centuries from popes, kings, emperors, famous and ordinary people. According to studies done by a pool of experts who have analyzed all the pieces in the collection, the Treasure of St. Januarius is of higher value than the crown of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] of the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Tsar of Russia|Tsar]] of [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]]. The Treasure is a unique collection of art masterpieces, kept untouched thanks to the Deputation of the Chapel of St Januarius, an ancient secular institution founded in 1527 by a vote of the city of Naples, still existing.

Today, the Treasure is exhibited in the [[Museum of the Treasure of St. Januarius]], whose entrance is located on the right side of the Dome of Naples, under the arcades. By visiting the museum, the Chapel of San Gennaro is accessible even when the cathedral is closed.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.museosangennaro.it/ |title=''Official website'' |publisher=Museo San Gennaro }}. {{in lang|it}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category|Saint Januarius}}
* [[Feast of San Gennaro]], as held annually in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas
* [[Order of St. Januarius]]
* [[Museum of the Treasure of St Januarius]]
* [[Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/September 19|Saint Januarius, patron saint archive]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Januarius, St |volume= 15 |last= Delehaye |first= Hippolyte |author-link= Hippolyte Delehaye | page = 155 |short= 1 }}
*[https://www.cicap.org/n/articolo.php?id=101014 CICAP: "The Blood of St. Januarius"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040811041315/http://www.geocities.com/mpbchurch/san_gennaro.htm San Gennaro]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161103173734/http://www.sangennaro.org/ New York's Feast of San Gennaro]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070218194514/http://www.fatemag.com/issues/2000s/2006-07article3a.html The Blood Still Boils] by [[Doug Skinner]], [[Fate (magazine)|Fate]], July 2006

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:3rd-century births]]
[[Category:305 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century Italian bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Naples]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian]]

Marriage in the Catholic Church

2024-09-27T01:10:59Z

Contaldo80: /* Early period */

{{Short description|Sacrament and social institution within the Catholic Church}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
[[File:Weyden Matrimony.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Matrimony, ''[[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece|The Seven Sacraments]]'', [[Rogier van der Weyden]], c. 1445]]
{{Catholic Church sidebar}}
Marriage in the [[Catholic Church]], also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the [[Baptism|baptized]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=CIC|quote=can. 1055 §1|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3V.HTM}}</ref> [[canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic matrimonial law]], based on [[Roman law]] regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or [[contract]], became the basis for the [[marriage law]] of all European countries, at least up to the [[Reformation]].<ref>[http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Studies_in_Polish_and_Comparative_Law_1000373856/165 Studies in Polish and Comparative Law], forgotten books.com, Retrieved 7 July 2014, Association, Polish Lawyers'. (2013). pp. 156-7. Studies in Polish and Comparative Law: A Symposium of Twelve Articles. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1945)</ref>

The Catholic Church recognizes as [[sacrament]]al, (1) the marriages between two baptized non-Catholic Christians or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians,<ref name="Foster1999">{{cite book|last=Foster|first=Michael Smith|title=Annulment|year=1999|publisher=[[Paulist Press]]|isbn=9780809138449|page=[https://archive.org/details/annulmentwedding00fost/page/83 83]|quote=The Catholic Church considers marriages of baptized Protestants to be valid marriages. So if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage.|url=https://archive.org/details/annulmentwedding00fost/page/83}}</ref> although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "dispensation to enter into a mixed marriage".<ref name="Burke1999">{{cite book|last=Burke|first=John|title=Catholic Marriage|year=1999|publisher=Paulines Publications Africa |isbn=9789966081063|page=98|quote=We might remind ourselves here that a marriage between a Catholic and a baptized person that takes place in the Catholic Church, or in another Church with permission from the diocesan bishop, is a sacramental union. Such a marriage is a life-long union and no power on earth can dissolve it.}}</ref> To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage".<ref name="Foster1999"/> On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from [[disparity of cult]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|title=Are non-Catholic marriages valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church? What if a Catholic marries a non-Catholic?|year=1996|publisher=[[Catholic Answers]]|access-date=16 June 2015|quote=Supernatural marriages exist only between baptized people, so marriages between two Jews or two Muslims are only natural marriages. Assuming no impediments, marriages between Jews or Muslims would be valid natural marriages. Marriages between two Protestants or two Eastern Orthodox also would be valid, presuming no impediments, but these would be supernatural (sacramental) marriages and thus indissoluble.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104452/http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|archive-date=21 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Weddings in which both parties are Catholic faithful are ordinarily held in a Catholic church, while weddings in which one party is a Catholic faithful and the other party is a non-Catholic can be held in a Catholic church or a non-Catholic church, but in the latter case permission of one's [[Bishop]] or ordinary is required for the marriage to be free of [[defect of form]]. <ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.archsa.org/marriage-faqs#question5 |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio]] |access-date=30 November 2020 |language=en |date=2020 |quote=If the wedding is celebrated in the Catholic Church, the priest presides, and a non-Catholic minister can be present as a witness. If the wedding takes place in a non-Catholic church, the minister presides, and a priest/deacon may be present to offer a prayer and blessing.}}</ref>

== Catholic Church view of the importance of marriage ==

The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states: "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life".<ref name="vatican.va">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P51.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |access-date=7 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624072000/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P51.HTM |archive-date=24 June 2016 }}</ref>

It also says: "The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the [[wedding at Cana]]. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence. In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble; God himself has determined it, 'what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder'. This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy – heavier than the Law of Moses. By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God".<ref name="vatican.va"/>

==History of marriage in the Catholic Church==

===Early period===
[[File:Istanbul - S. Salvatore in Chora - Esonartece - Nozze di Cana - Foto G. Dall'Orto 26-5-2006.jpg|thumb|Mosaic depicting the [[Marriage at Cana|wedding feast in Cana]]]]

Marriage was considered a necessary passage into adulthood, and strongly supported within the [[Jewish]] faith. The author of the letter to the Hebrews declared that marriage should be held in honor among all,<ref>{{bibleverse||Hebrews|13:4|ESV}}</ref> and early Christians defended the holiness of marriage against the [[Gnostics]] and the [[Antinomians]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6nwc9j_0ut4C&pg=PA54 Michael G. Lawler, ''Marriage and Sacrament''] (Liturgical Press 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-81465051-6}}), p. 54</ref>

At the same time, some in the emerging Christian communities began to prize the [[celibate]] state higher than marriage, taking the model of [[Jesus]] as a guide. This was related to a widespread belief about the imminent coming of the [[Kingdom of God]]; and thus the exhortation by Jesus to avoid earthly ties. The apostle Paul in his letters also suggested a preference for celibacy, but recognized that not all Christians necessarily had the ability to live such a life: "Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion".<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|7:6–9|ESV}}</ref> This teaching suggested that marriage be used only as a last resort by those Christians who found it too difficult to exercise a level of self-control and remain abstinent, not having the gift of celibacy.<ref name="ReferenceA">Reay Tannahill, ''Sex in history'', Abacus</ref> Armstrong has argued that to a significant degree, early Christians "placed less value on the family" and saw celibacy and freedom from family ties as a preferable state for those capable of it.<ref>Karen Armstrong, ''Christianity's creation of the sex war in the west'', London, 1986</ref> Nevertheless, this is tempered by other scholars who state Paul would no more impose celibacy than insist on marriage. What people instinctively choose manifests God's gift. Thus, he takes for granted that the married are not called to celibacy.<ref>Brown, Raymond E. S.S., Fitzmyer, Joseph A. S.J., Murphy, Roland E., O.Carm., Eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 804, Prentice-Hall, 1990, {{ISBN|0-13-614934-0}}</ref>

As the Church developed as an institution and came into contact with the Greek world, it reinforced the idea found in writers such as [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] that the celibate unmarried state was preferable and more holy than the married one. At the same time, it challenged some of the prevalent social norms such as the buying and selling of women into marriage, and defended the right of women to choose to remain unmarried virgins for the sake of Christ. The stories associated with the many virgin martyrs in the first few centuries of the Catholic Church often make it clear that they were martyred for their refusal to marry, not necessarily simply their belief in Christ.

The teaching on the superiority of virginity over marriage expressed by Paul was accepted by the early Church, as shown in the 2nd-century ''[[Shepherd of Hermas]]''. [[Justin Martyr]], writing in the middle of the 2nd century, boasted of the "many men and women of sixty and seventy years of age who from their childhood have been the disciples of Christ, and have kept themselves uncorrupted". Virginity was praised by [[Cyprian]] (c. 200 – 258) and other prominent Christian figures and leaders. [[Philip Schaff]] admits that it cannot be denied that the later doctrine of the 16th century [[Council of Trent]] – "that it is more blessed to remain virgin or celibate than to be joined in marriage" – was the view that dominated the whole of the early Christian church. At the same time, the Church still discouraged anyone who would "condemn marriage, or abominate and condemn a woman who is a believer and devout, and sleeps with her own husband, as though she could not enter the Kingdom [of heaven]".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=v6SboiI2mB8C&pg=PA92 Philip Schaff, ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers''] (Cosimo 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-60206534-5}}), p. 92</ref>

For much of the history of the Catholic Church, no specific ritual was therefore prescribed for celebrating a marriage – at least not until the late [[medieval]] period: "Marriage vows did not have to be exchanged in a church, nor was a priest's presence required. A couple could exchange consent anywhere, anytime".<ref>{{cite book |title=Marriage, sex, and civic culture in late medieval London |last=McSheffrey |first=Shannon |year=2006 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3938-6 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJX_Nr2fdzAC |access-date=16 April 2012}}</ref>

===Church Fathers===
[[File:El-matrimonio-romano.jpg|thumb|left|Marriage without religious rite]]

Markus notes this impact on the early Christian attitude, particularly as Christian anxiety about sex intensified after 400: "The superiority of virginity and sexual abstinence was generally taken for granted. But a dark undercurrent of hostility to sexuality and marriage became interwoven with the more benign attitudes towards the body. Attitudes diverged, and mainstream Christianity became infected with a pronounced streak of distrust towards bodily existence and sexuality. This permanent 'encratite' tendency was given powerful impetus in the debates about Christian perfection at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries".<ref name="ReferenceB">John McManners (editor), ''The Oxford History of Christianity'', University of Oxford, 2002, pp. 69-70</ref>

While the [[Church Fathers]] of the Latin or Catholic Church did not condemn marriage, they nevertheless taught a preference for celibacy and virginity.

Bishop [[Ignatius of Antioch]], writing around 110 to Bishop [[Polycarp]] of Smyrna said, "[I]t becomes both men and women who marry to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust".<ref name=Ignatius>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-polycarp-longer.html |title=St. Ignatius of Antioch to Polycarp (Roberts-Donaldson translation) |publisher=Earlychristianwritings.com |date=2 February 2006 |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref>

In his ''On Exhortation to Chastity'' [[Tertullian]] argued that a second marriage, after someone has been freed from the first by the death of a spouse, "will have to be termed no other than a species of fornication".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.ix.html|title=ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second – Christian Classics Ethereal Library|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Claiming to find in the [[Book of Leviticus]] a prohibition of remarriage by the priests of the Old Law similar to that for Christian clergy in the [[Pauline letters|Pauline]] [[pastoral epistles]],<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Timothy|3:2}}; {{bibleverse||Titus|1:6}}</ref> he used it as an argument against remarrying even on the part of lay Christians, whom Christ made "a kingdom, priests to his God and Father":<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|1:6|ESV}}</ref> "If you are a digamist, do you baptize? If you are a digamist, do you offer? How much more capital (a crime) is it for a digamist laic to act as a priest, when the priest himself, if he turn digamist, is deprived of the power of acting the priest! 'But to necessity', you say, 'indulgence is granted'. No necessity is excusable which is avoidable. In a word, shun to be found guilty of digamy, and you do not expose yourself to the necessity of administering what a digamist may not lawfully administer. God wills us all to be so conditioned, as to be ready at all times and places to undertake (the duties of) His sacraments".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.vii.html|title=ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=www.ccel.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>

In his earlier ''Ad uxorem'' also, Tertullian argued against second marriages, but said that, if one must remarry, it should be with a Christian.<ref name="Tertullian">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/works/ad_uxorem.htm|title=Tertullian : Ad uxorem|last=Pearse|first=Roger|website=www.tertullian.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> In other writings, he argued strongly against ideas like those he expressed in his ''On Exhortation to Chastity''; and in his ''De Anima'' he explicitly stated that "the married state is blessed, not cursed by God". Adhémar d'Alès has commented: "Tertullian wrote a lot about marriage, and on no other subject has he contradicted himself as much".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=aWCzz8-kwwkC&pg=PA41 Tertullian, translated by William P. Le Saint, ''Treatises on Marriage and Remarriage''] (Paulist Press 1951 {{ISBN|978-0-80910149-8}}), p. 41</ref>

[[Cyprian]] (c. 200 – 258), Bishop of Carthage, recommended in his ''Three Books of Testimonies against the Jews'' that Christians should not marry pagans.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpdaAAAAIAAJ&q=Cyprian+%22not+to+be+made+with+Gentiles%22&pg=PA104|title=A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Anterior to the Division of the East and West|date=1842|publisher=J.H. Parker|language=en}}</ref>
Addressing consecrated virgins he wrote: "The first decree commanded to increase and to multiply; the second enjoined continency. While the world is still rough and void, we are propagated by the fruitful begetting of numbers, and we increase to the enlargement of the human race. Now, when the world is filled and the earth supplied, they who can receive continency, living after the manner of eunuchs, are made eunuchs unto the kingdom. Nor does the Lord command this, but He exhorts it; nor does He impose the yoke of necessity, since the free choice of the will is left".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050702.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Treatise 2 (Cyprian of Carthage)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="KarenA">Karen Armstrong,''The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's creation of the sex war in the west'', London, 1986</ref>

[[Jerome]] (c. 347 – 420) commenting on Paul's letter to the Corinthians wrote: "If 'it is good for a man not to touch a woman', then it is bad for him to touch one, for bad, and bad only, is the opposite of good. But, if though bad, it is made venial, then it is allowed to prevent something which would be worse than bad. ... Notice the Apostle's carefulness. He does not say: 'It is good not to have a wife', but, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'. ... I am not expounding the law as to husbands and wives, but discussing the general question of sexual intercourse – how in comparison with chastity and virginity, the life of angels, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-llH1Z4JnMC&q=Schaff%20%22man%20not%20to%20touch%22&pg=PT286|title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome|publisher=CCEL|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250672}}</ref> He also argued that marriage distracted from prayer, and so virginity was better: "If we are to pray always, it follows that we must never be in the bondage of wedlock, for as often as I render my wife her due, I cannot pray. The difference, then, between marriage and virginity is as great as that between not sinning and doing well; nay rather, to speak less harshly, as great as between good and better". Regarding the clergy, he said: "Now a priest must always offer sacrifices for the people: he must therefore always pray. And if he must always pray, he must always be released from the duties of marriage". In referring to Genesis chapter 2, he further argued that, "while Scripture on the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days relates that, having finished the works of each, ''God saw that it was good'', on the second day it omitted this altogether, leaving us to understand that two is not a good number because it destroys unity, and prefigures the marriage compact".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-llH1Z4JnMC&q=%22two%20is%20not%20a%20good%20number%22&pg=PT1096|title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome|publisher=CCEL|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250672}}</ref> Jerome reaffirmed {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:28|KJV}} ("God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth") and {{bibleverse||Hebrews|13:4|KJV}} ("Marriage is honourable in all"), and distanced himself from the disparagement of marriage by [[Marcion]] and [[Manichaeus]], and from [[Tatian]], who thought all sexual intercourse, even in marriage, to be impure.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4JKCTBzB8FEC&pg=PA94 Paul John Frandsen, ''Incestuous and Close-kin Marriage in Ancient Egypt and Persia''] (Museum Tusculanum Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-876350778-3}}), p. 94</ref>

There were, of course, counter-views. [[Pelagius]] thought [[Jerome]] showed bitter hostility to marriage akin to [[Manichaean]] dualism,<ref name="KarenA"/> an accusation that Jerome attempted to rebut in his ''[[Adversus Jovinianum]]'': "We do not follow the views of Marcion and Manichaeus, and disparage marriage; nor, deceived by the error of Tatian, the leader of the Encratites, do we think all intercourse impure; he condemns and rejects not only marriage but also food which God created for the use of man. We know that in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware. [...] While we honour marriage we prefer virginity which is the offspring of marriage. Will silver cease to be silver, if gold is more precious than silver?"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zm1v-c7fGmgC&q=%22honour%20marriage%22%20%22prefer%20virginity%22&pg=PA347|title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, Volume VI Jerome|first=Philip|last=Schaff|date=1 June 2007|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781602065178}}</ref> Elsewhere he explained: "Someone may say: 'And do you dare disparage marriage, which is blessed by the Lord?' It is not disparaging marriage when virginity is preferred to it. No one compares evil with good. Let married women glory too, since they come second to virgins. ''Increase'', He says, ''and multiply, and fill the earth''. Let him who is to fill the earth increase and multiply. Your company is in heaven".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvJHT39rIIMC&q=Jerome%20%22not%20disparaging%20marriage%22&pg=PA262|title=The Christianity Reader|first1=Mary|last1=Gerhart|first2=Fabian|last2=Udoh|date=1 September 2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9780226289595}}</ref> Mocking a monk<ref name=Letter50/> who accused him of condemning marriage, Jerome wrote: "He must hear at least the echo of my cry, 'I do not condemn marriage', 'I do not condemn wedlock'. Indeed — and this I say to make my meaning quite clear to him — I should like every one to take a wife who, because they get frightened in the night, cannot manage to sleep alone".<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name=Letter50>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001050.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 50 (Jerome)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>Letter 50 (to Domnio) in Charles Mierow (ed) ''Letters of St Jerome'', Paulist Press, 1962</ref>

It was [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (354–430), whose views subsequently strongly influenced Western theology,<ref>Fiorenza and Galvin (1991), p. 317</ref> that was most influential in developing a theology of the sacramentality of Christian marriage.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OhmGMenxSiIC&dq=%22theological+value+of+Christian+marriage%22&pg=PA18 Saint Augustine, ''Marriage and Virginity''] (New City Press 1996, {{ISBN|978-1-56548104-6}})</ref> In his youth, Augustine had also been a follower of [[Manichaeism]], but after his conversion to Christianity he rejected the Manichaean condemnation of marriage and reproduction for imprisoning spiritual light within material darkness.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FttsYc-EaPYC&pg=PA32 Elizabeth Ann Clark (editor), ''St. Augustine on Marriage and Sexuality''] (CUA Press 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-81320867-1}}), p. 2</ref> He subsequently went on to teach that marriage is not evil, but good, even if it is not at the level of choosing virginity: "Marriage and fornication are not two evils, whereof the second is worse: but marriage and continence are two goods, whereof the second is better".<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm Augustine, ''On the Good of Marriage'', 8]</ref>

In his ''On the Good of Marriage'', of 401, he distinguished three values in marriage: fidelity, which is more than sexual; offspring, which "entails the acceptance of children in love, their nurturance in affection, and their upbringing in the Christian religion; and [[sacrament]], in that its indissolubility is a sign of the eternal unity of the blessed.<ref>Fiorenza and Galvin (1991), p. 318</ref> Like the other Church Fathers of East and West, Augustine taught that virginity is a higher way of life, although it is not given to everyone to live at that higher level. In his ''De bono coniugali'' (On the Good of Marriage), he wrote: "I know what people are murmuring: 'Suppose', they remark, 'that everyone sought to abstain from all intercourse? How would the human race survive?' I only wish that this was everyone's concern so long as it was uttered in charity, 'from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned'; then the city of God would be filled much more speedily, and the end of the world would be hastened".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UovJsb_vuAkC&q=augustine+de+bono+coniugali+text&pg=PP4|title=De Bono Coniugali: De Sancta Uirginitate|last1=d'Hipona)|first1=Agustí (sant, bisbe|last2=Hippo.)|first2=Saint Augustine (Bishop of|last3=Hippo|first3=Saint Augustine of|last4=Augustine|first4=St|last5=Augustinus|first5=Aurelius|date=2001|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198269953|language=en}}</ref> Armstrong sees this as an apocalyptic dimension in Augustine's teaching.<ref name="KarenA"/> Reynolds says that Augustine's comment on this wildly hypothetical objection by Jovinian may have been that the saintliness of a church in which all had chosen celibacy would mean that it comprised enough members to fill God's city or that the church would thereby gather souls to herself even more rapidly than she was already doing.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=B3m9MzLojtIC&pg=PA270 Phillip Reynolds, ''Marriage in the Western Church: The Christianization of Marriage During the Patristic and Early Medieval Period''] (Brill, Leiden, 1994 {{ISBN|978-0-39104108-0}}), pp. 270-271</ref> Nevertheless, Augustine's name "could, indeed, be invoked through the medieval centuries to reinforce the exaltation of virginity at the expense of marriage and to curtail the role of sexuality even within Christian marriage".<ref name="KarenA"/>

Finally, [[Isidore of Seville]] (c. 560 – 636) refined and broadened Augustine's formulation and was part of the chain by which it was transmitted to the Middle Ages.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-2CRzlijgwC&pg=PA203 Paul Haffner, ''The Sacramental Mystery''] (Gracewing Publishing 1995 {{ISBN|978-0-85244476-4}}), p. 203</ref>

Although not a church father, but belonging to the same period, in [[Adomnan of Iona]]'s biography of [[St Columba]], the saint at one point is mentioned as meeting a woman who refuses to sleep with her husband and perform her marriage duties. When Columba meets the woman, she says that she would do anything, even to go to a monastery and become a nun, rather than to sleep with him. Columba tells the woman that the commandment of God is for her to sleep with her husband and not to leave the marriage to be a nun, because once they are married the two have become one flesh.<ref>Adomnan of Iona. ''Life of St Columba'', Penguin Books, 1995</ref>

===Medieval period===

====Sacramental development====
[[File:Lettrine-Sibylle-betrothal&marriage.jpg|thumb|Betrothal and marriage around 1200]]
The medieval Christian church, taking the lead of Augustine, developed the sacramental understanding of matrimony. However, even at this stage the Catholic Church did not consider the sacraments equal in importance.<ref name=Women>Karen Armstrong, ''The Gospel According to Women'', London, 1986</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – The sacrament of the Eucharist |access-date=7 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818210304/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |archive-date=18 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3G.HTM|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Marriage has never been considered either to be one of the sacraments of Christian initiation ([[Baptism]], [[Confirmation]], [[Eucharist]]) or of those that confer a character (Baptism, Confirmation, [[Holy Orders]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4063.htm#article6|title=SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The other effect of the sacraments, which is a character (Tertia Pars, Q. 63)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

With the development of sacramental theology, marriage was included in the select seven to which the term "sacrament" was applied. Explicit classification of marriage in this way came in reaction to the contrary teaching of [[Catharism]] that marriage and procreation are evil: the first official declaration that marriage is a sacrament was made at the 1184 [[Synod of Verona]] as part of a condemnation of the Cathars.<ref name=SystTheol/> In 1208, [[Pope Innocent III]] required members of another religious movement, that of the [[Waldensians]], to recognize that marriage is a sacrament as a condition for being received back into the Catholic Church.<ref name=SystTheol/> In 1254, Catholics accused Waldensians of condemning the sacrament of marriage, "saying that married persons sin mortally if they come together without the hope of offspring".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LDbhV7u1_yIC&dq=Thomsett+%22married+persons+sin%22&pg=PA105 Michael Thomsett, ''Heresy in the Roman Catholic church: A history''], McFarland 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-78648539-0}}), p. 105</ref> The [[Fourth Lateran Council]] of 1215 had already stated in response to the teaching of the [[Cathars]]: "For not only virgins and the continent but also married persons find favour with God by right faith and good actions and deserve to attain to eternal blessedness".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zPweZnz4nJgC&pg=PA240 John Clare Moore, ''Pope Innocent III''] (Brill 2003 {{ISBN|978-9-00412925-2}}), p. 240</ref> Marriage was also included in the list of the seven sacraments at the [[Second Council of Lyon]] in 1274 as part of the profession of faith required of [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]]. The sacraments of marriage and [[holy orders]] were distinguished as sacraments that aim at the "increase of the Church" from the other five sacraments, which are intended for the spiritual perfection of individuals. The [[Council of Florence]] in 1439 again recognised marriage as a sacrament.<ref name=SystTheol>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tp7KLNb3xcC&pg=PA320 Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, John P. Galvin (editors), ''Systematic Theology''] (Fortress Press 1991 {{ISBN|978-1-45140795-2}}), vol. 2, p. 320</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1438sacraments.asp|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

The medieval view of the sacramentality of marriage has been described as follows: "Like the other sacraments, medieval writers argued marriage was an instrument of sanctification, a channel of grace that caused God's gracious gifts and blessings to be poured upon humanity. Marriage sanctified the Christian couple by allowing them to comply with God's law for marriage and by providing them with an ideal model of marriage in Christ the bridegroom, who took the church as his bride and accorded it highest love, devotion, and sacrifice, even to the point of death".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pIL7Gihul0oC&pg=PA92 John Witte, ''From Sacrament to Contract''] (Presbyterian Publishing 2012 {{ISBN|978-0-66423432-4}}), p. 92</ref>

====Liturgical practice====
Matrimony, for most of Church history, had been celebrated (as in traditions such as the Roman and Judaic) without clergy and was done according to local customs. The first available written detailed account of a Christian wedding in the West dates only from the 9th century and appears to be identical to the old nuptial service of Ancient Rome.<ref name=Women/> However, early witnesses to the practice of intervention by the clergy in the marriage of early Christians include Tertullian, who speaks of Christians "requesting marriage" from them,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4xkV8TEcYo4C&pg=PA98 Philip L. Reynolds, John Witte (editors), ''To Have and to Hold''] (Cambridge University Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-13946290-7}}), p. 98</ref> and Ignatius of Antioch, who said Christians should form their union with the approval of the bishop – although the absence of clergy placed no bar, and there is no suggestion that the recommendation was widely adopted.<ref name=Ignatius/>

In the 4th century in the Eastern Church it was the custom in some areas for marriages to receive a blessing by a priest to ensure fertility.<ref>[http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/arhu/content/docs/djc%20archive/Practice%20of%20the%20Sacrament%20of%20MAtrimony%20According%20to%20the%20Orthodox%20Tradition.pdf Demetrios J. Constantelos, "Practice of the Sacrament of Matrimony according to the Orthodox Tradition" in ''The Jurist'', vol. 31, no. 4 (Fall 1971), p. 620]</ref> There are also a few accounts of religious nuptial services from the 7th century onward.<ref>Constantelos (1971), p. 621</ref> However, while in the East the priest was seen as ministering the sacrament, in the West it was the two parties to the marriage (if baptized) who effectively ministered, and their concordant word was sufficient proof of the existence of a sacramental marriage, whose validity required neither the presence of witnesses nor observance of the law of the 1215 Fourth Lateran Council that demanded publication of the banns of marriage.<ref>Witte (2012), p. 91</ref>

Thus, with few local exceptions, until in some cases long after the Council of Trent, marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties.<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook">[http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/14042_toc.html Excerpt from Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London] "''the sacramental bond of marriage could be made only through the freely given consent of both parties''"</ref><ref name="marriageDotAbout">{{cite web |url=http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |title=marriage.about.com |publisher=marriage.about.com |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=27 August 2010 |archive-date=14 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214012630/http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploregenealogy.co.uk/FindingEarlyMarriageRecords.html |title=Marriage Records |publisher=Exploregenealogy.co.uk |date=29 October 2007 |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref> This promise was known as the "verbum". If freely given and made in the present tense (e.g., "I marry you"), it was unquestionably binding;<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook"/> if made in the future tense ("I will marry you"), it would constitute a [[betrothal]]. One of the functions of churches from the [[Middle Ages]] was to register marriages, which was not obligatory. There was no state involvement in marriage and personal status, with these issues being adjudicated in [[ecclesiastical courts]]. During the Middle Ages marriages were arranged, sometimes as early as birth, and these early pledges to marry were often used to ensure treaties between different royal families, nobles, and heirs of fiefdoms. The church resisted these imposed unions, and increased the number of causes for the nullification of these arrangements.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages">{{Cite book| last1 = Pernoud|first1 = Régine|title = Those terrible Middle Ages: debunking the myths|year = 2000|publisher = Ignatius Press| location = San Francisco|isbn = 978-0-89870-781-6|page = 102}}</ref> As Christianity spread during the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the idea of free choice in selecting marriage partners increased and spread with it.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages"/>

The validity of such marriages even if celebrated under a tree or in a tavern or in a bed was upheld even against that of a later marriage in a church.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=weP7d-zfNbcC&pg=PA92 Norman Tanner, ''New Short History of the Catholic Church''] (Continuum 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-86012455-9}}), p. 92</ref> Even after the Council of Trent made the presence of the parish priest or his delegate and of at least two more witnesses a condition for validity, the previous situation continued in many countries where its decree was not promulgated. It ended only in 1908, with the coming into force of the {{lang|la|[[Ne Temere]]}} decree.

In the 12th century, [[Pope Alexander III]] decreed that what made a marriage was the free mutual consent by the spouses themselves, not a decision by their parents or guardians.<ref>[http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/AlexanderIIIKP.html Kenneth Pennington, "Pope Alexander III" in Frank J. Coppa (editor), ''The Great Popes through History: An Encyclopedia''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005012332/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/AlexanderIIIKP.html |date=5 October 2013 }}</ref> After that, clandestine marriages or youthful elopements began to proliferate, with the result that ecclesiastical courts had to decide which of a series of marriages that a man was accused of celebrating was the first and therefore the valid one.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ78Vd4O9d4C&pg=PA241 Russell B. Shaw, ''Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia''] (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing 1998 {{ISBN|978-0-87973669-9}}), pp. 241-242</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=L6JC3D2YUY0C&pg=PT100 Peter Marshall, ''The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction''] (Oxford University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-19157888-5}})</ref> Though "detested and forbidden" by the Church,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09707a.htm Augustinus Lehmkuhl, "Sacrament of Marriage"] in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1910)</ref> they were acknowledged to be valid. Similarly today, Catholics are forbidden to enter [[#Mixed marriage|mixed marriages]] without permission from an authority of the Church, but if someone does enter such a marriage without permission, the marriage is reckoned to be valid, provided the other conditions are fulfilled, although illicit.

===Counter-Reformation===
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|200px|left|''"Pope Paul III"'' (Artist: [[Titian]]) ''1490–1576'', c. 1543, ''Reign 13 October 1534 – 10 November 1549'', Presided over part of the [[Council of Trent]]
]]
In the 16th century, various groups adhering to the [[Protestant Reformation]] rejected to different degrees the sacramental nature of most Catholic [[sacraments]].<ref name="Bellitto">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/generalcouncilsh00bell|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/generalcouncilsh00bell/page/105 105]|quote=Bellitto sacramental status.|title=The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-one General Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II|last=Bellitto|first=Christopher M.|date=2002|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=9780809140190|language=en}}</ref> In reaction, the [[Council of Trent]] on 3 March 1547 carefully named and defined the Catholic Church's sacraments,<ref name=Bellitto/> reaffirming<ref name=Klein>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AEpDnZny1noC&pg=PA134 Gregory L. Klein, Robert A. Wolfe, ''Pastoral Foundations of the Sacraments''] (Paulist Press 1998 {{ISBN|978-0-80913770-1}}), p. 134</ref> the teaching that marriage is a sacrament − from 1184, 1208, 1274 and 1439. Recalling scripture, the [[Twelve Apostles|apostolic]] traditions and the declarations of previous councils and of the Church Fathers, the bishops declared that there were precisely seven sacraments, with marriage one of them, and that all seven are truly and properly sacraments.<ref name=Klein/><ref name=Trent>{{cite web|url=http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/212ct.html|title=Trent|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

[[Desiderius Erasmus]] influenced the debate in the first part of the 16th century by publishing 1518 an essay in praise of marriage (''Encomium matrimonii''), which argued that the single state was "a barren way of life hardly becoming to a man". The theologian [[Josse Clichtove]] working at the [[University of Paris]] interpreted this as an attack on chastity, but Erasmus had found favor with Protestant reformers who acknowledged the argument as a useful tool to undermine compulsory clerical [[celibacy]] and [[monasticism]].<ref name="Diarmuid MacCulloch 2008, p356"/>
[[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] argued that the action taken at Trent was therefore partly a response by Roman Catholicism to demonstrate that it was as serious about marriage and the family as the [[Protestants]],.<ref name="Diarmuid MacCulloch 2008, p356">Diarmuid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008, p356</ref>

On 11 November 1563, the Council of Trent condemned the view that "the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch24.htm|title=~The Council of Trent – Session 24~|first=CO Now LLC, Chicago|last=(reg)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> And while Catholics upheld the supernatural character of marriage, it was Protestants who viewed it as not a sacrament and who admitted divorce.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CyX9X70kLIAC&pg=PA175 Maria Ågren, Amy Louise Erickson, ''The Marital Economy in Scandinavia and Britain, 1400-1900''] (Ashgate Publishing 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-75463782-0}}), p. 175</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7utYgukZXiIC&pg=PA27 Peter De Cruz, ''Family Law, Sex and Society''] (Routledge 2010), p. 27</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EcyIAW3R8e0C&pg=PT239 Katherine Anderson et al. (editors), ''Marriage - Just a Piece of Paper?''] (Eerdmans 2002 {{ISBN|978-0-80286165-8}}), p. 237</ref>

The decree ''[[Tametsi]]'' of 1563 was one of the last decisions made at Trent. The decree effectively sought to impose the Church's control over the process of marriage by laying down as strict conditions as possible for what constituted a marriage.<ref>Diarmuid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008, p540</ref> John P. Beal says the Council, "stung by the Protestant reformers' castigation of the Catholic Church's failure to extirpate clandestine marriages", issued the decree<ref name=Beal1326/> "to safeguard against invalid marriages and abuses in clandestine marriages",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ehDrpqSKK6UC&pg=PA105 Mark G. McGowan, ''Waning of the Green''] (McGill-Queen's University Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-77351789-9}}), p. 105</ref> which had become "the scourge of Europe".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Tdzxwb15UC&pg=PA132 Todd A. Salzmann, Michael G. Lawler, ''Sexual Ethics''] (Georgetown University Press 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-58901913-3}}), p. 132</ref> In 1215 the [[Fourth Lateran Council]] had prohibited marriages entered into [[Clandestinity (Catholic canon law)|clandestinely]] but, unless there was some other [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediment]], considered them valid though illicit. ''Tametsi'' made it a requirement even for validity, in any area where the decree was officially published, that the marriage take place in the presence of the parish priest and at least two witnesses.<ref>The [[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece]] of [[Rogier van der Weyden]], of which the detail concerning the sacrament of marriage is given above, shows that the presence of a priest and at least two witnesses was customary more than a century before the decree was composed.</ref> This revolutionised earlier practice in that "marriages that failed to meet these requirements would from the time of the promulgation of the decree be considered invalid and of no effect"; and it required that the priest keep written records, with the result that parents had more control over their children's marriages than before. It also instituted controls over the marriages of persons without fixed addresses ("vagrants are to be married with caution"), "regulated the times at which marriages could be celebrated, abolished the rule that sexual intercourse created affinity, and reiterated the ban on concubinage".<ref>[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct24.html J. Waterworth, ''The Council of Trent: The Twenty-Fourth Session'']</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SiGe-Zf0nTIC&pg=PA564 James Brundage, ''Law, Sex and Society in Medieval Europe''] (University of Chicago Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-22607789-5}}), p. 564</ref>

For fear that the decree would "identify and multiply the number of doubtful marriages, particularly in Protestant areas, where 'mixed' marriages were common", the council hesitated to impose it outright and decided to make its application dependent on local promulgation. In fact, ''Tametsi'' was never proclaimed worldwide. It had no effect in France, England, Scotland and many other countries<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cN4TAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA36 Leonard Shelford, ''A Practical Treatise on the Law of Marriage and Divorce''], pp. 36-37</ref> and in 1907 was replaced by the decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'', which came into effect universally at Easter 1908.<ref name="Beal1326">[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&dq=Tametsi+%22Ne+Temere%22&pg=PA1326] John P. Beal, ''New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law'' (Paulist Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-80914066-4}}), p. 1326</ref><ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04001a.htm James David O'Neill, "Clandestinity (in Canon Law)"] in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1908)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fqK8vdoFxSUC&pg=PA75 Eileen F. Stuart, ''Dissolution and Annulment of Marriage by the Catholic Church''] (Federation Press 1994 {{ISBN|978-1-86287136-6}}), p. 75</ref>

== Validity of marriage in the Catholic Church ==
{{anchor|Conditions for a valid marriage of Catholics}}{{canon law}}
The Catholic Church also has requirements before Catholics can be considered validly married in the eyes of the Church. A valid Catholic marriage results from four elements: (1) the spouses are free to marry; (2) they freely exchange their consent; (3) in consenting to marry, they have the intention to marry for life, to be faithful to one another and be open to children; and (4) their consent is given in the canonical form, i.e., in the presence of two witnesses and before a properly authorized church minister. Exceptions to the last requirement must be approved by church authority. The Church provides [[Pre-Cana|classes]] several months before marriage to help the participants inform their consent. During or before this time, the would-be spouses are [[confirmation (Catholic Church)|confirmed]] if they have not previously received confirmation and it can be done without grave inconvenience (Canon 1065).

The Catholic Church also recognizes as sacramental, (1) the marriages between two baptized Protestants or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians,<ref name="Foster1999"/> although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "permission to enter into a mixed marriage".<ref name="Burke1999"/> To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage".<ref name="Foster1999"/> On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from [[disparity of cult]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|title=Are non-Catholic marriages valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church? What if a Catholic marries a non-Catholic?|year=1996|publisher=[[Catholic Answers]]|access-date=16 June 2015|quote=Supernatural marriages exist only between baptized people, so marriages between two Jews or two Muslims are only natural marriages. Assuming no impediments, marriages between Jews or Muslims would be valid natural marriages. Marriages between two Protestants or two Eastern Orthodox also would be valid, presuming no impediments, but these would be supernatural (sacramental) marriages and thus indissoluble.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104452/http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|archive-date=21 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Church prefers that marriages between Catholics, or between Catholics and other Christians, be celebrated in the parish church of one of the spouses. Those helping to prepare the couple for marriage can assist with the permission process. In present-day circumstances, with communities no longer so homogeneous religiously, authorization is more easily granted than in earlier centuries.

=== Canonical form ===
{{anchor|Canonical form}}
The canonical form of marriage began to be required with the decree ''[[Tametsi]]'' issued by the [[Council of Trent]] on 11 November 1563. The decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'' of [[Pope Pius X]] in 1907 made the canonical form a requirement even where the decree of the Council of Trent had not been promulgated.

While allowing for exceptions, the canonical form of marriage, as laid down in Canons 1055–1165 of the ''[[1983 Code of Canon Law]]'' and Canons 776-866 of the ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'', normally recognizes marriages of Catholics as valid only if contracted before the local bishop or a parish priest delegated by the bishop or (in the [[Latin Church]] only) a deacon delegated by them, and also at least two witnesses. In earlier times, validity was not made dependent on the fulfillment of these two conditions.

==== Freedom to marry ====
The participants in a marriage contract must have the freedom to marry. That is, there must be no [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediment according to canon law]].<ref>can. 1066, 1067</ref>

==== Impediments ====
{{main article|Impediment (Catholic canon law)}}
A Catholic marriage cannot be formed if one or more of the following [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediments]] are present,<ref>{{cite web|title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 998–1165) |quote=Canons 1083–1094 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER%20III.}}</ref> although for some of these a [[Dispensation (Catholic canon law)|dispensation]] can be given:
* Antecedent and perpetual [[impotence]], whether on the part of the man or the woman<ref>can. 1084 CIC</ref>
* [[Consanguinity]] to the fourth degree in the collateral line (first cousin), including legal [[adoption]] to the second collateral line<ref>can. 1091 CIC</ref>
* [[Affinity (law)|Affinity]]{{snd}}relationship by marriage, e.g. a brother-in-law, in the direct line
* Prior bond{{snd}}the bond of a previous marriage<ref>can. 1085 CIC</ref>
* Those in [[Holy orders|sacred orders]]<ref>can. 1087 CIC</ref>
* Public and perpetual [[vow of chastity]] in a [[religious institute]]<ref>can. 1088 CIC</ref>
* [[Disparity of cult]]{{snd}}one of the persons was baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, and the other is not baptized<ref>can. 1086 CIC</ref>
* [[Impediment of Crime|Crimen]]{{snd}}one party previously conspiring to marry upon the condition of the death of their spouse while still married; also called ''conjugicide''.<ref>can. 1090 CIC</ref>
* The minimum age for entering into a valid marriage has not yet been reached (14 for women, 16 for men)<ref>can. 1083 CIC</ref>
* [[Bride kidnapping|Abduction]]<ref>can. 1089 CIC</ref>

==== Times of year for celebrating a marriage ====
[[File:Catholic wedding blessing.jpg|thumb|Priest reading the blessing at a Catholic wedding, 2018]]

In the [[Latin Church]], marriage may be celebrated during [[Lent]] even within a [[Nuptial Mass]]; however, it is considered inappropriate to have such a celebration during [[Holy Week]] and impossible during the [[Easter Triduum]]. In principle, no day of the week is excluded from marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicmarriagecentre.org.uk/marriagefaq.php#m|title=Catholic Marriage Resource Centre – Frequently asked questions about marriage|access-date=7 November 2016|archive-date=19 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719041506/http://www.catholicmarriagecentre.org.uk/marriagefaq.php#m|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] do not allow marriage during Lent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tserkva.ca/marriage.html|title=Marriage – St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church|first=St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic|last=Church|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> In earlier times, while the Latin Church allowed marriage to be celebrated at any time, it prohibited the solemn blessing of marriages during [[Advent]] and on [[Christmas Day]], and during [[Lent]] and on [[Easter Sunday]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P3J.HTM|title=CIC 1917: text - IntraText CT|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

=== Mixed marriages ===

While marriage between a Catholic and any non-Catholic is commonly spoken of as a mixed marriage, in the strict sense a mixed marriage is one between a Catholic (baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it) and a non-Catholic ''Christian'', known in popular parlance as an ''[[interdenominational marriage]]''.<ref name="Code of Canon Law – IntraText">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P41.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="CEmixed">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09698a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Mixed Marriage|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>

The Catholic Church has from the start opposed marriage between a Catholic and any non-Catholic, baptized or not, seeing it as "degrading the holy character of matrimony, involving as it did a communion in sacred things with those outside the fold. [...] it was but natural and logical for the Church to do all in her power to hinder her children from contracting marriage with those outside her pale, who did not recognize the sacramental character of the union on which they were entering". The Church thus saw as obstacles to a Catholic's marriage what came to be called the two impediments of mixed religion (in [[Latin]], ''mixta religio'') and of difference of worship (in Latin ''disparitas cultus'').<ref name=CEmixed/>

==== Marriage with a non-Catholic Christian ====

From an early stage, Church councils forbade Catholic Christians to marry [[heresy|heretics]] or [[schism (religion)|schismatics]]. Unlike marriage with a non-Christian, which came to be considered invalid, marriage with a heretic was seen as valid, though illicit unless a dispensation had been obtained. However, the Church's opposition to such unions is very ancient. Early regional councils, such as the 4th-century [[Council of Elvira]] and the [[Council of Laodicea]], legislated against them; and the [[ecumenical council|ecumenical]] [[Council of Chalcedon]] prohibited such unions especially between members of the lower ecclesiastical grades and heretical women.<ref>''New Advent: Catholic Encyclopaedia''</ref>

In 692, the [[Council in Trullo]] declared such marriages invalid, a decision accepted in the East, but not in the West.<ref name=Beal1342>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&pg=PA1342 John P. Beal, ''Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law''] (Paulist Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-80914066-4}}), p. 1342</ref>

With the [[Reformation]] in the 16th century, more legislation regarding mixed marriages was passed. In those countries where the [[Council of Trent]]'s ''[[Tametsi]]'' decree was promulgated, mixed marriages began to be viewed as invalid in the West, not directly because of being mixed, but because a condition for validity imposed by the decree was not observed, namely, that marriages be contracted before the parish priest or a priest delegated by him and at least two witnesses.<ref name=Beal1342/> This decree required the contract to be entered into before the parish priest or some other priest delegated by him, and in the presence of two or three witnesses under penalty of invalidity. Even where the ''Tametsi'' decree had been promulgated, the Church did not find it possible to insist on the rigour of this legislation in all countries, owing to strong Protestant opposition. However, the legislation was frequently enforced by Catholic parents stipulating in their [[Will and testament|wills]] that their children be [[Inheritance|disinherited]] if they renounced [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]].<ref name="Dolan 1985 pp. 82–83">{{cite book|last=Dolan|first=Jay P.|title=The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present|url=https://archive.org/details/americancatholic00dola/page/82|url-access=registration|year=1985|place=New York|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]|isbn=978-0385152068|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americancatholic00dola/page/82 82–83]}}</ref>

[[Pope Benedict XIV]] issued a declaration (the "Benedictine dispensation") concerning marriages in the Netherlands and Belgium (1741), in which he declared mixed unions to be valid, provided they were according to the civil laws. A similar declaration was made concerning mixed marriages in Ireland by Pope Pius, in 1785, and gradually the "Benedictine dispensation" was extended to various localities. [[Pius VI]] allowed mixed marriages in Austria to take place in the presence of a priest, provided no religious solemnity was employed, and with the omission of public banns, as evidence of the unwillingness of the Church to sanction such unions. In 1869, the Congregation of the Propaganda further permitted such marriages but only under the condition of grave necessity, fearing the faithful "expose themselves to the grave dangers inherent in these unions". Bishops were to warn Catholics against such marriages and not to grant dispensations for them except for weighty reasons and not at the mere will of the petitioner. In countries where the decree was not promulgated, marriages otherwise contracted, called [[Clandestinity (canon law)|clandestine]] marriages, continued to be considered valid until the decree was replaced in 1908 by the decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'' of [[Pope Pius X]], which revoked the "Benedictine dispensation".<ref name=CEmixed/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K54UAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Benedictine%20dispensation%22|title=Concordia Theological Monthly|date=1 January 1942|publisher=Concordia Publishing House.|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Catholic Christians are permitted to marry validly baptized non-Catholic Christians if they receive permission to do so from a "competent authority" who is usually the Catholic Christian party's [[local ordinary]];<ref name="Burke1999"/><ref name="1983 Code of Canon Law - Can. 1124">{{cite web|title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 998-1165)|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER_VI.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/ |title=Marriage Between a Catholic and a Non-Catholic |last=Caridi |first=Cathy |date=2007-08-09 |website=canonlawmadeeasy.com |publisher=Canon Law Made Easy |access-date=2022-02-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306014926/https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/ |archive-date=2021-03-06}}</ref> if the proper conditions are fulfilled, such a marriage entered into is seen as valid and also, since it is a marriage between baptized persons, it is a [[sacrament]].<ref name="Burke1999"/>

Weddings in which both parties are Catholic Christians are ordinarily held in a Catholic church, while weddings in which one party is a Catholic Christian and the other party is a non-Catholic Christian can be held in a Catholic church or a non-Catholic Christian church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.archsa.org/marriage-faqs#question5 |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio]] |access-date=30 November 2020 |language=en |date=2020 |quote=If the wedding is celebrated in the Catholic Church, the priest presides, and a non-Catholic minister can offer prayers and ask a blessing on the couple. If the wedding takes place in a non-Catholic church, the minister presides, and a priest/deacon may be present to offer a prayer and blessing.}}</ref>

A condition for granting permission to marry a non-Catholic is that the Catholic Christian party undertake to remove dangers of defecting from the faith and to do all in his or her power so that all the children are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church; the other party is to be made aware of this undertaking and obligation of the Catholic Christian party.<ref name="1983 Code of Canon Law - Can. 1124" />

==== Marriage with a non-Christian ====
{{See also|Natural marriage}}
The early Church did not consider invalid a Catholic's marriage with a non-Christian (someone not baptized), especially when the marriage had taken place before the Catholic's conversion to the faith. It was nevertheless hoped that the converted wife or husband would be the means of bringing the other party into the Church, or at least safeguarding the Catholic upbringing of the children of the union. With the growth of the Church, the need for such unions diminished and the objection to them grew stronger. More by custom than by church legislation, such marriages gradually came to be considered invalid and ''disparitas cultus'' came to be seen as an impediment to marriage by a Catholic.<ref name=CEmixed/> There were also enactments on a local level against marriages with pagans ([[Council of Carthage (397)]], and under [[Stephen I of Hungary]] in the early 11th century) and with Jews ([[Third Council of Toledo]] in 589).

When the [[Decretum of Gratian]] was published in the 12th century, this impediment became part of [[canon law]]. From that time forward, all marriages contracted between Catholics and non-Christians were held to be invalid unless a dispensation had been obtained from the ecclesiastical authority.<ref name=CEmixed/>

A marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian (someone not baptized) is seen by the Church as invalid unless a dispensation (called a dispensation from "disparity of cult", meaning a difference of worship) is granted from the law declaring such marriages invalid. This dispensation can only be granted under certain conditions.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NWYmWxijs8cC&pg=PA56 Rhidian Jones, ''The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England''] (Continuum 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-56761641-8}}), p. 56</ref> If the dispensation is granted, the Church recognizes the marriage as valid, but [[natural marriage|natural]] rather than sacramental, since the sacraments can be validly received only by the baptized, and the non-Christian person is not baptized.<ref>[http://old.usccb.org/laity/marriage/marriagefaqs.shtml United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901141441/http://old.usccb.org/laity/marriage/marriagefaqs.shtml |date=1 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=32xNrEuc70MC&pg=PA112 Ladislas Örsy, ''Marriage in Canon Law''] (Gracewing 1986 {{ISBN|978-0-89453651-9}}), pp. 112-113</ref>

=== Matrimonial Consent ===
According to Canon 1057 of the Code of Canon Law (1983), marriage is established through the consent of the parties legitimately manifested between persons who are capable, according to the law, of giving consent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

Consent, which no human power can replace, is the efficient cause of marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref> It is defined by Canon 1057.1 as an act of the will by which a man and a woman through an irrevocable personal covenant mutually give and accept each other for the purpose of establishing marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

Such consent, however, must be manifested in a legitimate manner, that is, in a manner that has been determined by the Church in the formal solemnities prescribed for the validity of marriage (the canonical form).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

The persons manifesting their consent must be capable of doing that according to the law.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

===Remarriage of widows or widowers===

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that a married couple commits themselves totally to one another until death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P86.HTM#-2E6|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The vows they make to each other in the wedding rite are a commitment "til death do us part".<ref>[http://www.ascensioncatholic.net/catechism/catechism_18.pdf Sacrament of Marriage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220142/http://www.ascensioncatholic.net/catechism/catechism_18.pdf |date=4 October 2013 }}</ref> After the death of one, the other is free to marry again or to remain single. Some choose to become priests or [[religious (Catholicism)|religious]]. This path was chosen by some even in the early Christian centuries by people such as [[Saint Marcella]], [[Saint Paula]], Saint [[Galla of Rome]] and Saint [[Olympias the Deaconess]].<ref>Mária Puskely, Károly Vörös, Vilmos Zsidi. A keresztény Európa szellemi gyökerei. Az öreg földrész hagiográfiája. (''The Spiritual Roots of Christian Europe. The Hagiography of the Old World''). Kairosz Kiadó, Budapest 2004. pp. 38–40, 59, 177–178</ref>

== Ministers of matrimony ==

=== Western Church ===
[[File:Our Lady Help of Christians 9-2-1961.jpg|thumb|Tridentine Nuptial Mass, 1961]]
[[File:Giulio Rosati 11.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Ceremony of Marriage'' ([[Giulio Rosati]])]]
The husband and wife must validly execute the marriage contract. In the [[Latin Church|Latin Catholic]] tradition, it is the spouses who are understood to confer marriage on each other. The spouses, as ministers of grace, naturally confer upon each other the [[sacraments (Catholic Church)|sacrament]] of matrimony, expressing their consent before the church.

This does not eliminate the need for church involvement in the marriage; under normal circumstances, canon law requires for validity the attendance of the local bishop or parish priest (or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them) and at least two witnesses. The priest has merely the role to "assist" the spouses in order to ensure that the marriage is contracted in accord with canon law, and is supposed to attend whenever it is possible. A competent layperson may be delegated by the Church, or may just attend in place of the priest, if it is impractical to have a priest attending. In the event that no competent layperson is found, the marriage is valid even if done in the presence of two witnesses alone.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM canons 1108–1116]</ref> For example, in May 2017, the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] granted a bishop's request that a nun be granted permission to officiate at a marriage ceremony in Quebec because of a shortage of priests.<ref>{{cite news | work = La Stampa | access-date = 20 August 2017 | url = http://www.lastampa.it/2017/07/28/vaticaninsider/eng/world-news/quebec-nun-ministers-a-catholic-wedding-YdUTH9dqnKZq6AHH0sbE8O/pagina.html | title= Quebec, Nun ministers a Catholic wedding | date = 28 July 2017 | first = Andrea | last = Tornieli}}</ref>

=== Eastern Churches ===
{{main|Mystery of Crowning}}
{{multiple image
| width = 140
| image1 = Crowning in Syro-Malabar Nasrani Wedding by Mar Gregory Karotemprel.jpg
| alt1 = Crowning during Holy Matrimony in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
| image2 = താലി.JPG
| alt2 = Keralite-style Minnu Kettu
| footer = [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church|Syro-Malabar]] crowning and [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church|Syro-Malankara]] ''Minnu Kettu''.
}}
[[Eastern Catholic churches]] share the tradition common throughout [[Eastern Christianity]], according to which the minister of the sacrament is the bishop or priest who "crowns the bridegroom and the bride as a sign of the marriage covenant", a ceremony that has led to the rite being called the [[Mystery of Crowning]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P52.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1623] For a fuller account of the rites of marriage in Eastern Christianity see [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrVDmaXP6HEC&pg=PA298 Paul F. Bradshaw, ''The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship''] (Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-33402883-3}}), pp. 298-299 and [http://www.syromalabarmatrimony.org/resourcesFullDetail.php?ids===AUVVEeWtWOXJFbaNVTWJVU Syro-Malabar Matrimony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202093729/http://www.syromalabarmatrimony.org/resourcesFullDetail.php?ids===AUVVEeWtWOXJFbaNVTWJVU |date=2 February 2014 }}</ref>

== Indissolubility ==
[[Catholic theology]] teaches that a validly contracted sacramental marriage is accompanied by divine ratification, creating a virtually indissoluble union until the couple [[consummate]], after which the sacramental marriage is dissoluble only by the death of a spouse. An unconsummated marriage can be dissolved by the [[Pope]], as Vicar of Christ.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html |title=Const. Ap, Pastor Bonus |author=Pope John Paul II |quote=Art 67 |date=28 June 1988 |access-date=22 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010223175311/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html |archive-date=23 February 2001 |author-link=Pope John Paul II }}</ref>

In the eyes of the Church, even validly contracted [[natural marriage]]s (marriages in which at least one of the parties is not baptized) cannot be dissolved by the will of the couple or by any action of the state.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6Rfp8NDrz0C&pg=PT45 Michael Smith Foster, ''Annulment, the Wedding that Was''] (Paulist Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-80913844-9}}), q. 27</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JmRvPmO6hKcC&pg=PA113 Robert Ricard, ''The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico''] (University of California Press 1974 {{ISBN|978-0-52002760-2}}), p. 113</ref> Accordingly, "the Catholic Church does not recognize or endorse civil divorce of a natural marriage, as of a sacramental marriage".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7V-kCDE-9_wC&pg=PA411 Sebastian S. Karambai, ''Ministers and Ministries in the Local Church''] (St Pauls BYB 2005 {{ISBN|978-81-7109725-8}}), p. 411, footnote 38</ref> However, a natural marriage, even if consummated, can be dissolved by the Church when to do so favours the maintenance of the faith on the part of a Christian, cases of what has been called [[Pauline privilege]] and [[Petrine privilege]]. In these cases, which require intervention by the [[Holy See]], the Church admits real divorce, the actual dissolution of a valid marriage, as distinct from the granting by merely human power of a divorce that, according to Catholic theology, does not really dissolve the marriage bond.

While the violation of some regulations may make a marriage illicit, but not invalid, some conditions are essential and their absence means that there is in fact no valid marriage, and the participants are considered not to be actually married. However, Canon 1137 states that children born to a "putative" marriage (defined in Canon 1061, sec. 3 as one that is not valid but was entered into in good faith by at least one spouse) are legitimate; therefore, the declaration that a marriage is null does not render the children of that marriage illegitimate.

=== Annulments ===
{{main article|Declaration of Nullity}}

The Catholic Church has consistently taken the position that, while the dissolution of a valid natural marriage, even if consummated, may be granted for the sake of someone's Christian faith ("''in favorem fidei''"), though not for other reasons, and that a valid sacramental marriage, [[ratum sed non consummatum|if not consummated, may be dissolved]], a valid sacramental consummated marriage is indissoluble. There is no divorce from such a marriage. However, what is referred to as a marriage annulment occurs when two competent ecclesiastical tribunals hand down concordant judgments that a particular marriage was not in fact a valid one.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6N.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eU2T0KQyfPoC&pg=PA15 Lawrence E. Mick, ''Marriage''] (Liturgical Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-81463190-4}}), p. 15</ref>

Requirements for the validity of marriage are listed in the Code of Canon Law under the headings "Diriment Impediments" (such as being too young, being impotent, being already married, being [[holy orders|ordained]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> "Matrimonial Consent" (which requires, for instance, sufficient use of reason, psychic ability to assume the essential obligations of marriage, and freedom from force and fear),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Z.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> and "The Form of the Celebration of Marriage" (normally requiring that it be contracted in the presence of the parish priest or his delegate and at least two other witnesses).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

An annulment is a declaration that the marriage was invalid (or [[null and void|null]]) at the time the vows were exchanged. Thus, an annulment is declared only when an ecclesial tribunal finds a lack of validity in the marriage at the time of the marital contract. Behaviour subsequent to the contract is not directly relevant, except as ''post factum'' evidence of the validity or invalidity of the contract. That is, behaviour subsequent to the contract cannot actually change the validity of the contract. For example, a marriage would be invalid if one of the parties, at the time of marriage, did not intend to honour the vow of fidelity. If the spouse did intend to be faithful at the time of the marriage but later committed adultery this does not invalidate the marriage.

The teaching of the Catholic church is that annulment and divorce therefore differ, both in rationale and effect; an annulment is a finding that a true marriage never existed, whereas a divorce is a dissolution of marriage.

In canon law there are numerous reasons for granting annulments of marriages that were entered into invalidly.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fqK8vdoFxSUC&q=%22Grounds+of+Annulment%22 Eileen F. Stuart, ''Dissolution and Annulment of Marriage by the Catholic Church''] (Federation Press 1994 {{ISBN|978-1-86287136-6}}), pp. 147-194</ref> MacCulloch has noted the "ingenuity" of Roman Catholic lawyers in deploying these in the historical context.<ref>Diarmaid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008</ref>

Annulments are not restricted to marriages. A similar process can lead to the annulment of an [[holy orders|ordination]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6T.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BULp_AjYU3EC&pg=PT140 Michael Smith Foster, ''Annulment: The Wedding That Was''] (Paulist Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-1-61643175-4}}), q. 89</ref>

== Sins against marriage and conjugal chastity ==
{{Main article|Homosexuality and Roman Catholicism}}

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that marriage may only be between one man and one woman with each partner's free and willing consent for the good of each other and for the transmission of human life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/faq/#sec1q4|title=Marriage FAQ's – Marriage Unique for a Reason|first=Marriage Unique for a|last=Reason|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34750|title=Dictionary : MARRIAGE|website=www.catholicculture.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> The church believes adultery, divorce, remarriage after divorce, marriage without the intent to transmit life, polygamy, incest, child abuse, free union, and trial marriage are sins against the dignity of marriage.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2380-2391] Adultery refers to marital infidelity...Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law...[P]olygamy is not in accord with the moral law...Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them...Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care...The expression "free union" is fallacious...Some today claim a "right to a trial marriage" where there is an intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect it from inconstancy of desires or whim."</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 347 and 349] Adultery and polygamy are opposed to the sacrament of matrimony because they contradict the equal dignity of man and woman and the unity and exclusivity of married love. Other sins include the deliberate refusal of one’s procreative potential which deprives conjugal love of the gift of children and divorce which goes against the indissolubility of marriage...The Church, since she is faithful to her Lord, cannot recognize the union of people who are civilly divorced and remarried. </ref> The church also believes that chastity must be practiced by spouses,<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2348-2349] All the baptized are called to chastity... Married people are called to live conjugal chastity;...</ref> and that sins against chastity include lust, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, incest, child abuse, and homosexuality in any shape or form.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church 2351-2357] Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure..."Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."...Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality...Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity...Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure...Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person...Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them...homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.</ref>

The Catholic Church opposes the introduction of [[same-sex marriage|both civil and religious same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-repeats-that-same-sex-marriage-is-anthropological-regression|title=Pope Repeats that Same-Sex 'Marriage' is "Anthropological Regression"|work=National Catholic Register|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ''Considerations regarding proposals to give recognition to unions between homosexual persons'', 5] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613085642/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html |date=13 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#CHAPTER%20FIVE|title=Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/03/02/opponents-confident-that-same-sex-marriage-law-will-be-overturned-in-referendum/|title=Catholic Church Strongly Opposed To Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage In Md.|date=2012-03-02|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicbishops.ie/2013/04/12/submission-constitutional-convention/|title=Submission to Constitutional Convention|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The Church also holds that same-sex unions are an unfavourable environment for children and that the legalization of such unions damages society.<ref name="2003 letter">Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, 2003, points 7 and 8</ref>
Leading figures in the Catholic hierarchy, including cardinals and bishops, have publicly voiced or actively opposed legislation of civil same-sex marriage<ref name="ReferenceC"/><ref name="Africareview.com"/><ref name="gaystarnews.com"/><ref name="Vatican condemns Spain gay bill"/><ref name="independent.ie"/><ref name="irishexaminer.com"/><ref name="Gay Star News"/> and encouraged others to do the same,<ref name="ReferenceC">Comment. "We cannot afford to indulge this madness". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2012</ref><ref name="Africareview.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.africareview.com/News/Cameroon-Catholic-lawyers-vow-to-uphold-anti-gay-laws/-/979180/1704056/-/g7erql/-/index.html |title=Cameroon Catholic lawyers vow to uphold anti-gay laws: News |publisher=Africareview.com |access-date=2 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="gaystarnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/nigerian-catholics-congratulate-president-making-same-sex-marriage-crime050214 |title=Nigerian Catholics congratulate President for making same-sex marriage a crime | Gay Star News |access-date=15 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313095306/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/nigerian-catholics-congratulate-president-making-same-sex-marriage-crime050214 |archive-date=13 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Vatican condemns Spain gay bill">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4473001.stm Vatican condemns Spain gay bill]". BBC News. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2007</ref><ref name="independent.ie">{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bishops-vow-to-boycott-weddings-over-gay-marriage-29162066.html|title=Bishops vow to 'boycott' weddings over gay marriage - Independent.ie|work=Independent.ie|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref><ref name="irishexaminer.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bishops-issue-warning-over-bid-to-legalise-gay-marriages-226799.html|title=Bishops issue warning over bid to legalise gay marriages|date=29 March 2013|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Gay Star News">{{cite web |url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-says-%E2%80%98i-do%E2%80%99-gay-civil-unions050813 |title=Croatia says 'I do' to gay civil unions |publisher=Gay Star News |date=5 August 2013 |access-date=2 September 2013 |archive-date=24 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824201142/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-says-%E2%80%98i-do%E2%80%99-gay-civil-unions050813 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="npr-marriage">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154408067/deadline-nears-for-gay-marriage-referendum-in-washington|title=Seattle Catholics Divided On Repealing Gay Marriage|author=Liz Jones|agency=NPR|date=6 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="Patrick">{{cite web|last=Patrick |first=Joseph |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/04/16/archbishop-of-paris-warns-that-equal-marriage-will-lead-to-a-more-violent-society/ |title=France: Archbishop of Paris warns that equal marriage will lead to a more violent society |publisher=PinkNews.co.uk |access-date=2 September 2013|date=16 April 2013 }}</ref> and have done likewise with regard to same-sex [[civil unions]]<ref name="The Independent">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catholic-church-in-polygamy--attack-on-civil-unions-7965157.html |title=Catholic Church in polygamy attack on civil unions – Europe – World |work=The Independent |date=23 July 2012 |access-date=2 September 2013 |location=London |first=Michael |last=Day}}</ref><ref name="Catholic News Agency">{{cite news|title=Irish cardinal urges opposition to homosexual civil unions|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16929/irish-cardinal-urges-opposition-to-homosexual-civil-unions|access-date=27 August 2013|newspaper=Catholic News Agency|date=25 August 2009|location=Armagh, Ireland}}</ref> and [[LGBT adoption|adoption by same-sex couples]].<ref name="2003 letter"/>

There are a growing number of Catholics globally who dissent from the official position of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and express support for civil unions or same-sex marriage. In some locations, for example North America, Northern and Western Europe, there is stronger support for [[LGBT rights]] (such as civil unions, civil same-sex marriage and protection against discrimination) among Catholics than the general population at large.<ref>See *{{cite web
|author = United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
|url = http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,PHL,4562d8cf2,440ed74ba,0.html
|title = Refworld | Philippines: Treatment of homosexuals and state protection available (2000-2005)
|publisher = UNHCR
|access-date = 2013-02-11
}}
* {{cite web
|last = Newport
|first = Frank
|title = For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage
|url = http://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/First-Time-Majority-Americans-Favor-Legal-Gay-Marriage.aspx
|publisher = [[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|date = 20 May 2011
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Survey – Generations at Odds: The Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights
|date = 29 August 2011
|url = http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/08/generations-at-odds/
|publisher = [[Public Religion Research Institute]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Data Points: Support for Legal Same-Sex Marriage
|url = http://chronicle.com/article/Chart-Support-for-Legal/64683/
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = [[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]
|date = 16 March 2010
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Pew Forum Part 2: Public Opinion on Gay Marriage
|url = http://www.pewforum.org/PublicationPage.aspx?id=647
|publisher = [[Pew Research Center]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120910053311/http://www.pewforum.org/PublicationPage.aspx?id=647
|archive-date = 10 September 2012
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Most Irish people support gay marriage, poll says
|url = http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/02/24/most-irish-people-support-gay-marriage-poll-says/
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = PinkNews
|date = 24 February 2011
}}
* {{cite news
|last = Jowit
|first = Juliette
|title = Gay marriage gets ministerial approval
|url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/12/gay-marriage-receive-ministerial-approval
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
|date = 12 June 2012
|location = London
}}
* {{cite web
|url = http://www.ifop.com/?option=com_publication&type=poll&id=1956
|title = Les Français, les catholiques et les droits des couples homosexuels
|publisher = Ifop.com
|date = 2012-08-14
|access-date = 2013-02-11
}}
* [http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/03/for-catholics-open-attitudes-on-gay-issues/ Report | Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Comprehensive Portrait from Recent Research] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403045736/http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/03/for-catholics-open-attitudes-on-gay-issues/ |date=April 3, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="USAtoday">{{Cite news |work=USA Today |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/03/gay-marriage-catholic-church-/1 |title=U.S. Catholics break with church on gay relationships |date=March 23, 2011 |first=Cathy Lynn |last=Grossman}}</ref>

In 2021, the Catholic Church reaffirmed its position: That "the Church does not have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons the same sex".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html|access-date=2022-02-03|website=press.vatican.va}}</ref> In 2023 the [[Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith#:~:text=It is still informally known,of new and unacceptable doctrines."|Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith]] clarified that individual sinners may be blessed in non-liturgical settings that do not confuse the simple blessing with sacramental marriage [[Fiducia supplicans|in a decree called Fiducia Supplicans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vatican says priests can bless same-sex couples without condoning their lifestyles|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256308/vatican-says-priests-can-bless-same-sex-couples-without-condoning-their-lifestyles|access-date=2023-12-22|website=catholic news agency.com}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism}}
{{div col}}
* [[Banns of marriage]]
* [[Nuptial Mass]]
* [[Christian views of marriage]]
* [[Christian views on divorce]]
* [[Declaration of nullity]]
* [[Defender of the Bond]]
* [[Impediment of crime]]
* [[Matrimonial dispensation]]
* [[Natural marriage]]
* [[Pauline privilege]]
* [[Vetitum]]
* [[Parish register]]
{{div col end|2}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101023213813/http://www.kofc.org/publications/cis/catechism/getsection.cfm?partnum=2&SecNum=2&ChapNum=3&articlenum=7&ParSecNum=0&subSecNum=0&headernum=0&ParNum=1601&ParType=4 ''Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Sacrament of Matrimony''] An authoritative summary of Church teaching on marriage, including the main requirements for the celebration of the sacrament of Marriage.
* [http://www.catholicweddinghelp.com/topics/order-wedding-with-mass.htm ''Order of the Rite for Celebrating Marriage During Mass''] Order of a Catholic wedding during Mass, with links to official texts from the Rite of Marriage
* [https://archive.today/20130107100945/http://solages.site.voila.fr/everyd/canon_law_sacraments_en.xhtml%23mariage Liberté plus haute…] The canon law for dummies.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090622095840/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_10021880_arcanum_en.html ''Arcanum''] Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Christian Marriage
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Ritual of Marriage}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Sacrament of Marriage}}

{{Types of marriages}}
{{Seven Sacraments}}
{{Catholicism}}

[[Category:Marriage in the Catholic Church| ]]

Marriage in the Catholic Church

2024-09-27T01:10:27Z

Contaldo80: /* Sacramental development */

{{Short description|Sacrament and social institution within the Catholic Church}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
[[File:Weyden Matrimony.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Matrimony, ''[[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece|The Seven Sacraments]]'', [[Rogier van der Weyden]], c. 1445]]
{{Catholic Church sidebar}}
Marriage in the [[Catholic Church]], also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the [[Baptism|baptized]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=CIC|quote=can. 1055 §1|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3V.HTM}}</ref> [[canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic matrimonial law]], based on [[Roman law]] regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or [[contract]], became the basis for the [[marriage law]] of all European countries, at least up to the [[Reformation]].<ref>[http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Studies_in_Polish_and_Comparative_Law_1000373856/165 Studies in Polish and Comparative Law], forgotten books.com, Retrieved 7 July 2014, Association, Polish Lawyers'. (2013). pp. 156-7. Studies in Polish and Comparative Law: A Symposium of Twelve Articles. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1945)</ref>

The Catholic Church recognizes as [[sacrament]]al, (1) the marriages between two baptized non-Catholic Christians or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians,<ref name="Foster1999">{{cite book|last=Foster|first=Michael Smith|title=Annulment|year=1999|publisher=[[Paulist Press]]|isbn=9780809138449|page=[https://archive.org/details/annulmentwedding00fost/page/83 83]|quote=The Catholic Church considers marriages of baptized Protestants to be valid marriages. So if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage.|url=https://archive.org/details/annulmentwedding00fost/page/83}}</ref> although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "dispensation to enter into a mixed marriage".<ref name="Burke1999">{{cite book|last=Burke|first=John|title=Catholic Marriage|year=1999|publisher=Paulines Publications Africa |isbn=9789966081063|page=98|quote=We might remind ourselves here that a marriage between a Catholic and a baptized person that takes place in the Catholic Church, or in another Church with permission from the diocesan bishop, is a sacramental union. Such a marriage is a life-long union and no power on earth can dissolve it.}}</ref> To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage".<ref name="Foster1999"/> On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from [[disparity of cult]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|title=Are non-Catholic marriages valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church? What if a Catholic marries a non-Catholic?|year=1996|publisher=[[Catholic Answers]]|access-date=16 June 2015|quote=Supernatural marriages exist only between baptized people, so marriages between two Jews or two Muslims are only natural marriages. Assuming no impediments, marriages between Jews or Muslims would be valid natural marriages. Marriages between two Protestants or two Eastern Orthodox also would be valid, presuming no impediments, but these would be supernatural (sacramental) marriages and thus indissoluble.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104452/http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|archive-date=21 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Weddings in which both parties are Catholic faithful are ordinarily held in a Catholic church, while weddings in which one party is a Catholic faithful and the other party is a non-Catholic can be held in a Catholic church or a non-Catholic church, but in the latter case permission of one's [[Bishop]] or ordinary is required for the marriage to be free of [[defect of form]]. <ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.archsa.org/marriage-faqs#question5 |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio]] |access-date=30 November 2020 |language=en |date=2020 |quote=If the wedding is celebrated in the Catholic Church, the priest presides, and a non-Catholic minister can be present as a witness. If the wedding takes place in a non-Catholic church, the minister presides, and a priest/deacon may be present to offer a prayer and blessing.}}</ref>

== Catholic Church view of the importance of marriage ==

The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states: "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life".<ref name="vatican.va">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P51.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |access-date=7 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624072000/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P51.HTM |archive-date=24 June 2016 }}</ref>

It also says: "The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the [[wedding at Cana]]. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence. In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble; God himself has determined it, 'what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder'. This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy – heavier than the Law of Moses. By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God".<ref name="vatican.va"/>

==History of marriage in the Catholic Church==

===Early period===
[[File:Istanbul - S. Salvatore in Chora - Esonartece - Nozze di Cana - Foto G. Dall'Orto 26-5-2006.jpg|thumb|Mosaic depicting the [[Marriage at Cana|wedding feast in Cana]]]]

Marriage was considered a necessary passage into adulthood, and strongly supported within the [[Jewish]] faith. The author of the letter to the Hebrews declared that marriage should be held in honor among all,<ref>{{bibleverse||Hebrews|13:4|ESV}}</ref> and early Christians defended the holiness of marriage against the [[Gnostics]] and the [[Antinomians]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6nwc9j_0ut4C&pg=PA54 Michael G. Lawler, ''Marriage and Sacrament''] (Liturgical Press 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-81465051-6}}), p. 54</ref>

At the same time, some in the emerging Christian communities began to prize the [[celibate]] state higher than marriage, taking the model of [[Jesus]] as a guide. This was related to a widespread belief about the imminent coming of the [[Kingdom of God]]; and thus the exhortation by Jesus to avoid earthly ties. The apostle Paul in his letters also suggested a preference for celibacy, but recognized that not all Christians necessarily had the ability to live such a life: "Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion".<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|7:6–9|ESV}}</ref> This teaching suggested that marriage be used only as a last resort by those Christians who found it too difficult to exercise a level of self-control and remain abstinent, not having the gift of celibacy.<ref name="ReferenceA">Reay Tannahill, ''Sex in history'', Abacus</ref> Armstrong has argued that to a significant degree, early Christians "placed less value on the family" and saw celibacy and freedom from family ties as a preferable state for those capable of it.<ref>Karen Armstrong, ''Christianity's creation of the sex war in the west'', London, 1986</ref> Nevertheless, this is tempered by other scholars who state Paul would no more impose celibacy than insist on marriage. What people instinctively choose manifests God's gift. Thus, he takes for granted that the married are not called to celibacy.<ref>Brown, Raymond E. S.S., Fitzmyer, Joseph A. S.J., Murphy, Roland E., O.Carm., Eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 804, Prentice-Hall, 1990, {{ISBN|0-13-614934-0}}</ref>

As the Church developed as an institution and came into contact with the Greek world, it reinforced the idea found in writers such as [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] that the celibate unmarried state was preferable and more holy than the married one. At the same time, it challenged some of the prevalent social norms such as the buying and selling of women into marriage, and defended the right of women to choose to remain unmarried virgins for the sake of Christ. The stories associated with the many virgin martyrs in the first few centuries of the Catholic Church often make it clear that they were martyred for their refusal to marry, not necessarily simply their belief in Christ.

The teaching on the superiority of virginity over marriage expressed by Saint Paul was accepted by the early Church, as shown in the 2nd-century ''[[Shepherd of Hermas]]''. [[Justin Martyr]], writing in the middle of the 2nd century, boasted of the "many men and women of sixty and seventy years of age who from their childhood have been the disciples of Christ, and have kept themselves uncorrupted". Virginity was praised by [[Cyprian]] (c. 200 – 258) and other prominent Christian figures and leaders. [[Philip Schaff]] admits that it cannot be denied that the later doctrine of the 16th century [[Council of Trent]] – "that it is more blessed to remain virgin or celibate than to be joined in marriage" – was the view that dominated the whole of the early Christian church. At the same time, the Church still discouraged anyone who would "condemn marriage, or abominate and condemn a woman who is a believer and devout, and sleeps with her own husband, as though she could not enter the Kingdom [of heaven]".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=v6SboiI2mB8C&pg=PA92 Philip Schaff, ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers''] (Cosimo 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-60206534-5}}), p. 92</ref>

For much of the history of the Catholic Church, no specific ritual was therefore prescribed for celebrating a marriage – at least not until the late [[medieval]] period: "Marriage vows did not have to be exchanged in a church, nor was a priest's presence required. A couple could exchange consent anywhere, anytime".<ref>{{cite book |title=Marriage, sex, and civic culture in late medieval London |last=McSheffrey |first=Shannon |year=2006 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3938-6 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJX_Nr2fdzAC |access-date=16 April 2012}}</ref>

===Church Fathers===
[[File:El-matrimonio-romano.jpg|thumb|left|Marriage without religious rite]]

Markus notes this impact on the early Christian attitude, particularly as Christian anxiety about sex intensified after 400: "The superiority of virginity and sexual abstinence was generally taken for granted. But a dark undercurrent of hostility to sexuality and marriage became interwoven with the more benign attitudes towards the body. Attitudes diverged, and mainstream Christianity became infected with a pronounced streak of distrust towards bodily existence and sexuality. This permanent 'encratite' tendency was given powerful impetus in the debates about Christian perfection at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries".<ref name="ReferenceB">John McManners (editor), ''The Oxford History of Christianity'', University of Oxford, 2002, pp. 69-70</ref>

While the [[Church Fathers]] of the Latin or Catholic Church did not condemn marriage, they nevertheless taught a preference for celibacy and virginity.

Bishop [[Ignatius of Antioch]], writing around 110 to Bishop [[Polycarp]] of Smyrna said, "[I]t becomes both men and women who marry to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust".<ref name=Ignatius>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-polycarp-longer.html |title=St. Ignatius of Antioch to Polycarp (Roberts-Donaldson translation) |publisher=Earlychristianwritings.com |date=2 February 2006 |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref>

In his ''On Exhortation to Chastity'' [[Tertullian]] argued that a second marriage, after someone has been freed from the first by the death of a spouse, "will have to be termed no other than a species of fornication".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.ix.html|title=ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second – Christian Classics Ethereal Library|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Claiming to find in the [[Book of Leviticus]] a prohibition of remarriage by the priests of the Old Law similar to that for Christian clergy in the [[Pauline letters|Pauline]] [[pastoral epistles]],<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Timothy|3:2}}; {{bibleverse||Titus|1:6}}</ref> he used it as an argument against remarrying even on the part of lay Christians, whom Christ made "a kingdom, priests to his God and Father":<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|1:6|ESV}}</ref> "If you are a digamist, do you baptize? If you are a digamist, do you offer? How much more capital (a crime) is it for a digamist laic to act as a priest, when the priest himself, if he turn digamist, is deprived of the power of acting the priest! 'But to necessity', you say, 'indulgence is granted'. No necessity is excusable which is avoidable. In a word, shun to be found guilty of digamy, and you do not expose yourself to the necessity of administering what a digamist may not lawfully administer. God wills us all to be so conditioned, as to be ready at all times and places to undertake (the duties of) His sacraments".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.vii.html|title=ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=www.ccel.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>

In his earlier ''Ad uxorem'' also, Tertullian argued against second marriages, but said that, if one must remarry, it should be with a Christian.<ref name="Tertullian">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/works/ad_uxorem.htm|title=Tertullian : Ad uxorem|last=Pearse|first=Roger|website=www.tertullian.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> In other writings, he argued strongly against ideas like those he expressed in his ''On Exhortation to Chastity''; and in his ''De Anima'' he explicitly stated that "the married state is blessed, not cursed by God". Adhémar d'Alès has commented: "Tertullian wrote a lot about marriage, and on no other subject has he contradicted himself as much".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=aWCzz8-kwwkC&pg=PA41 Tertullian, translated by William P. Le Saint, ''Treatises on Marriage and Remarriage''] (Paulist Press 1951 {{ISBN|978-0-80910149-8}}), p. 41</ref>

[[Cyprian]] (c. 200 – 258), Bishop of Carthage, recommended in his ''Three Books of Testimonies against the Jews'' that Christians should not marry pagans.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpdaAAAAIAAJ&q=Cyprian+%22not+to+be+made+with+Gentiles%22&pg=PA104|title=A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Anterior to the Division of the East and West|date=1842|publisher=J.H. Parker|language=en}}</ref>
Addressing consecrated virgins he wrote: "The first decree commanded to increase and to multiply; the second enjoined continency. While the world is still rough and void, we are propagated by the fruitful begetting of numbers, and we increase to the enlargement of the human race. Now, when the world is filled and the earth supplied, they who can receive continency, living after the manner of eunuchs, are made eunuchs unto the kingdom. Nor does the Lord command this, but He exhorts it; nor does He impose the yoke of necessity, since the free choice of the will is left".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050702.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Treatise 2 (Cyprian of Carthage)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="KarenA">Karen Armstrong,''The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's creation of the sex war in the west'', London, 1986</ref>

[[Jerome]] (c. 347 – 420) commenting on Paul's letter to the Corinthians wrote: "If 'it is good for a man not to touch a woman', then it is bad for him to touch one, for bad, and bad only, is the opposite of good. But, if though bad, it is made venial, then it is allowed to prevent something which would be worse than bad. ... Notice the Apostle's carefulness. He does not say: 'It is good not to have a wife', but, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'. ... I am not expounding the law as to husbands and wives, but discussing the general question of sexual intercourse – how in comparison with chastity and virginity, the life of angels, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-llH1Z4JnMC&q=Schaff%20%22man%20not%20to%20touch%22&pg=PT286|title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome|publisher=CCEL|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250672}}</ref> He also argued that marriage distracted from prayer, and so virginity was better: "If we are to pray always, it follows that we must never be in the bondage of wedlock, for as often as I render my wife her due, I cannot pray. The difference, then, between marriage and virginity is as great as that between not sinning and doing well; nay rather, to speak less harshly, as great as between good and better". Regarding the clergy, he said: "Now a priest must always offer sacrifices for the people: he must therefore always pray. And if he must always pray, he must always be released from the duties of marriage". In referring to Genesis chapter 2, he further argued that, "while Scripture on the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days relates that, having finished the works of each, ''God saw that it was good'', on the second day it omitted this altogether, leaving us to understand that two is not a good number because it destroys unity, and prefigures the marriage compact".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-llH1Z4JnMC&q=%22two%20is%20not%20a%20good%20number%22&pg=PT1096|title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome|publisher=CCEL|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250672}}</ref> Jerome reaffirmed {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:28|KJV}} ("God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth") and {{bibleverse||Hebrews|13:4|KJV}} ("Marriage is honourable in all"), and distanced himself from the disparagement of marriage by [[Marcion]] and [[Manichaeus]], and from [[Tatian]], who thought all sexual intercourse, even in marriage, to be impure.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4JKCTBzB8FEC&pg=PA94 Paul John Frandsen, ''Incestuous and Close-kin Marriage in Ancient Egypt and Persia''] (Museum Tusculanum Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-876350778-3}}), p. 94</ref>

There were, of course, counter-views. [[Pelagius]] thought [[Jerome]] showed bitter hostility to marriage akin to [[Manichaean]] dualism,<ref name="KarenA"/> an accusation that Jerome attempted to rebut in his ''[[Adversus Jovinianum]]'': "We do not follow the views of Marcion and Manichaeus, and disparage marriage; nor, deceived by the error of Tatian, the leader of the Encratites, do we think all intercourse impure; he condemns and rejects not only marriage but also food which God created for the use of man. We know that in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware. [...] While we honour marriage we prefer virginity which is the offspring of marriage. Will silver cease to be silver, if gold is more precious than silver?"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zm1v-c7fGmgC&q=%22honour%20marriage%22%20%22prefer%20virginity%22&pg=PA347|title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, Volume VI Jerome|first=Philip|last=Schaff|date=1 June 2007|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781602065178}}</ref> Elsewhere he explained: "Someone may say: 'And do you dare disparage marriage, which is blessed by the Lord?' It is not disparaging marriage when virginity is preferred to it. No one compares evil with good. Let married women glory too, since they come second to virgins. ''Increase'', He says, ''and multiply, and fill the earth''. Let him who is to fill the earth increase and multiply. Your company is in heaven".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvJHT39rIIMC&q=Jerome%20%22not%20disparaging%20marriage%22&pg=PA262|title=The Christianity Reader|first1=Mary|last1=Gerhart|first2=Fabian|last2=Udoh|date=1 September 2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9780226289595}}</ref> Mocking a monk<ref name=Letter50/> who accused him of condemning marriage, Jerome wrote: "He must hear at least the echo of my cry, 'I do not condemn marriage', 'I do not condemn wedlock'. Indeed — and this I say to make my meaning quite clear to him — I should like every one to take a wife who, because they get frightened in the night, cannot manage to sleep alone".<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name=Letter50>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001050.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 50 (Jerome)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>Letter 50 (to Domnio) in Charles Mierow (ed) ''Letters of St Jerome'', Paulist Press, 1962</ref>

It was [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (354–430), whose views subsequently strongly influenced Western theology,<ref>Fiorenza and Galvin (1991), p. 317</ref> that was most influential in developing a theology of the sacramentality of Christian marriage.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OhmGMenxSiIC&dq=%22theological+value+of+Christian+marriage%22&pg=PA18 Saint Augustine, ''Marriage and Virginity''] (New City Press 1996, {{ISBN|978-1-56548104-6}})</ref> In his youth, Augustine had also been a follower of [[Manichaeism]], but after his conversion to Christianity he rejected the Manichaean condemnation of marriage and reproduction for imprisoning spiritual light within material darkness.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FttsYc-EaPYC&pg=PA32 Elizabeth Ann Clark (editor), ''St. Augustine on Marriage and Sexuality''] (CUA Press 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-81320867-1}}), p. 2</ref> He subsequently went on to teach that marriage is not evil, but good, even if it is not at the level of choosing virginity: "Marriage and fornication are not two evils, whereof the second is worse: but marriage and continence are two goods, whereof the second is better".<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm Augustine, ''On the Good of Marriage'', 8]</ref>

In his ''On the Good of Marriage'', of 401, he distinguished three values in marriage: fidelity, which is more than sexual; offspring, which "entails the acceptance of children in love, their nurturance in affection, and their upbringing in the Christian religion; and [[sacrament]], in that its indissolubility is a sign of the eternal unity of the blessed.<ref>Fiorenza and Galvin (1991), p. 318</ref> Like the other Church Fathers of East and West, Augustine taught that virginity is a higher way of life, although it is not given to everyone to live at that higher level. In his ''De bono coniugali'' (On the Good of Marriage), he wrote: "I know what people are murmuring: 'Suppose', they remark, 'that everyone sought to abstain from all intercourse? How would the human race survive?' I only wish that this was everyone's concern so long as it was uttered in charity, 'from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned'; then the city of God would be filled much more speedily, and the end of the world would be hastened".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UovJsb_vuAkC&q=augustine+de+bono+coniugali+text&pg=PP4|title=De Bono Coniugali: De Sancta Uirginitate|last1=d'Hipona)|first1=Agustí (sant, bisbe|last2=Hippo.)|first2=Saint Augustine (Bishop of|last3=Hippo|first3=Saint Augustine of|last4=Augustine|first4=St|last5=Augustinus|first5=Aurelius|date=2001|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198269953|language=en}}</ref> Armstrong sees this as an apocalyptic dimension in Augustine's teaching.<ref name="KarenA"/> Reynolds says that Augustine's comment on this wildly hypothetical objection by Jovinian may have been that the saintliness of a church in which all had chosen celibacy would mean that it comprised enough members to fill God's city or that the church would thereby gather souls to herself even more rapidly than she was already doing.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=B3m9MzLojtIC&pg=PA270 Phillip Reynolds, ''Marriage in the Western Church: The Christianization of Marriage During the Patristic and Early Medieval Period''] (Brill, Leiden, 1994 {{ISBN|978-0-39104108-0}}), pp. 270-271</ref> Nevertheless, Augustine's name "could, indeed, be invoked through the medieval centuries to reinforce the exaltation of virginity at the expense of marriage and to curtail the role of sexuality even within Christian marriage".<ref name="KarenA"/>

Finally, [[Isidore of Seville]] (c. 560 – 636) refined and broadened Augustine's formulation and was part of the chain by which it was transmitted to the Middle Ages.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-2CRzlijgwC&pg=PA203 Paul Haffner, ''The Sacramental Mystery''] (Gracewing Publishing 1995 {{ISBN|978-0-85244476-4}}), p. 203</ref>

Although not a church father, but belonging to the same period, in [[Adomnan of Iona]]'s biography of [[St Columba]], the saint at one point is mentioned as meeting a woman who refuses to sleep with her husband and perform her marriage duties. When Columba meets the woman, she says that she would do anything, even to go to a monastery and become a nun, rather than to sleep with him. Columba tells the woman that the commandment of God is for her to sleep with her husband and not to leave the marriage to be a nun, because once they are married the two have become one flesh.<ref>Adomnan of Iona. ''Life of St Columba'', Penguin Books, 1995</ref>

===Medieval period===

====Sacramental development====
[[File:Lettrine-Sibylle-betrothal&marriage.jpg|thumb|Betrothal and marriage around 1200]]
The medieval Christian church, taking the lead of Augustine, developed the sacramental understanding of matrimony. However, even at this stage the Catholic Church did not consider the sacraments equal in importance.<ref name=Women>Karen Armstrong, ''The Gospel According to Women'', London, 1986</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – The sacrament of the Eucharist |access-date=7 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818210304/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |archive-date=18 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3G.HTM|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Marriage has never been considered either to be one of the sacraments of Christian initiation ([[Baptism]], [[Confirmation]], [[Eucharist]]) or of those that confer a character (Baptism, Confirmation, [[Holy Orders]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4063.htm#article6|title=SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The other effect of the sacraments, which is a character (Tertia Pars, Q. 63)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

With the development of sacramental theology, marriage was included in the select seven to which the term "sacrament" was applied. Explicit classification of marriage in this way came in reaction to the contrary teaching of [[Catharism]] that marriage and procreation are evil: the first official declaration that marriage is a sacrament was made at the 1184 [[Synod of Verona]] as part of a condemnation of the Cathars.<ref name=SystTheol/> In 1208, [[Pope Innocent III]] required members of another religious movement, that of the [[Waldensians]], to recognize that marriage is a sacrament as a condition for being received back into the Catholic Church.<ref name=SystTheol/> In 1254, Catholics accused Waldensians of condemning the sacrament of marriage, "saying that married persons sin mortally if they come together without the hope of offspring".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LDbhV7u1_yIC&dq=Thomsett+%22married+persons+sin%22&pg=PA105 Michael Thomsett, ''Heresy in the Roman Catholic church: A history''], McFarland 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-78648539-0}}), p. 105</ref> The [[Fourth Lateran Council]] of 1215 had already stated in response to the teaching of the [[Cathars]]: "For not only virgins and the continent but also married persons find favour with God by right faith and good actions and deserve to attain to eternal blessedness".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zPweZnz4nJgC&pg=PA240 John Clare Moore, ''Pope Innocent III''] (Brill 2003 {{ISBN|978-9-00412925-2}}), p. 240</ref> Marriage was also included in the list of the seven sacraments at the [[Second Council of Lyon]] in 1274 as part of the profession of faith required of [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]]. The sacraments of marriage and [[holy orders]] were distinguished as sacraments that aim at the "increase of the Church" from the other five sacraments, which are intended for the spiritual perfection of individuals. The [[Council of Florence]] in 1439 again recognised marriage as a sacrament.<ref name=SystTheol>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tp7KLNb3xcC&pg=PA320 Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, John P. Galvin (editors), ''Systematic Theology''] (Fortress Press 1991 {{ISBN|978-1-45140795-2}}), vol. 2, p. 320</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1438sacraments.asp|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

The medieval view of the sacramentality of marriage has been described as follows: "Like the other sacraments, medieval writers argued marriage was an instrument of sanctification, a channel of grace that caused God's gracious gifts and blessings to be poured upon humanity. Marriage sanctified the Christian couple by allowing them to comply with God's law for marriage and by providing them with an ideal model of marriage in Christ the bridegroom, who took the church as his bride and accorded it highest love, devotion, and sacrifice, even to the point of death".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pIL7Gihul0oC&pg=PA92 John Witte, ''From Sacrament to Contract''] (Presbyterian Publishing 2012 {{ISBN|978-0-66423432-4}}), p. 92</ref>

====Liturgical practice====
Matrimony, for most of Church history, had been celebrated (as in traditions such as the Roman and Judaic) without clergy and was done according to local customs. The first available written detailed account of a Christian wedding in the West dates only from the 9th century and appears to be identical to the old nuptial service of Ancient Rome.<ref name=Women/> However, early witnesses to the practice of intervention by the clergy in the marriage of early Christians include Tertullian, who speaks of Christians "requesting marriage" from them,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4xkV8TEcYo4C&pg=PA98 Philip L. Reynolds, John Witte (editors), ''To Have and to Hold''] (Cambridge University Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-13946290-7}}), p. 98</ref> and Ignatius of Antioch, who said Christians should form their union with the approval of the bishop – although the absence of clergy placed no bar, and there is no suggestion that the recommendation was widely adopted.<ref name=Ignatius/>

In the 4th century in the Eastern Church it was the custom in some areas for marriages to receive a blessing by a priest to ensure fertility.<ref>[http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/arhu/content/docs/djc%20archive/Practice%20of%20the%20Sacrament%20of%20MAtrimony%20According%20to%20the%20Orthodox%20Tradition.pdf Demetrios J. Constantelos, "Practice of the Sacrament of Matrimony according to the Orthodox Tradition" in ''The Jurist'', vol. 31, no. 4 (Fall 1971), p. 620]</ref> There are also a few accounts of religious nuptial services from the 7th century onward.<ref>Constantelos (1971), p. 621</ref> However, while in the East the priest was seen as ministering the sacrament, in the West it was the two parties to the marriage (if baptized) who effectively ministered, and their concordant word was sufficient proof of the existence of a sacramental marriage, whose validity required neither the presence of witnesses nor observance of the law of the 1215 Fourth Lateran Council that demanded publication of the banns of marriage.<ref>Witte (2012), p. 91</ref>

Thus, with few local exceptions, until in some cases long after the Council of Trent, marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties.<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook">[http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/14042_toc.html Excerpt from Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London] "''the sacramental bond of marriage could be made only through the freely given consent of both parties''"</ref><ref name="marriageDotAbout">{{cite web |url=http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |title=marriage.about.com |publisher=marriage.about.com |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=27 August 2010 |archive-date=14 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214012630/http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploregenealogy.co.uk/FindingEarlyMarriageRecords.html |title=Marriage Records |publisher=Exploregenealogy.co.uk |date=29 October 2007 |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref> This promise was known as the "verbum". If freely given and made in the present tense (e.g., "I marry you"), it was unquestionably binding;<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook"/> if made in the future tense ("I will marry you"), it would constitute a [[betrothal]]. One of the functions of churches from the [[Middle Ages]] was to register marriages, which was not obligatory. There was no state involvement in marriage and personal status, with these issues being adjudicated in [[ecclesiastical courts]]. During the Middle Ages marriages were arranged, sometimes as early as birth, and these early pledges to marry were often used to ensure treaties between different royal families, nobles, and heirs of fiefdoms. The church resisted these imposed unions, and increased the number of causes for the nullification of these arrangements.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages">{{Cite book| last1 = Pernoud|first1 = Régine|title = Those terrible Middle Ages: debunking the myths|year = 2000|publisher = Ignatius Press| location = San Francisco|isbn = 978-0-89870-781-6|page = 102}}</ref> As Christianity spread during the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the idea of free choice in selecting marriage partners increased and spread with it.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages"/>

The validity of such marriages even if celebrated under a tree or in a tavern or in a bed was upheld even against that of a later marriage in a church.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=weP7d-zfNbcC&pg=PA92 Norman Tanner, ''New Short History of the Catholic Church''] (Continuum 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-86012455-9}}), p. 92</ref> Even after the Council of Trent made the presence of the parish priest or his delegate and of at least two more witnesses a condition for validity, the previous situation continued in many countries where its decree was not promulgated. It ended only in 1908, with the coming into force of the {{lang|la|[[Ne Temere]]}} decree.

In the 12th century, [[Pope Alexander III]] decreed that what made a marriage was the free mutual consent by the spouses themselves, not a decision by their parents or guardians.<ref>[http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/AlexanderIIIKP.html Kenneth Pennington, "Pope Alexander III" in Frank J. Coppa (editor), ''The Great Popes through History: An Encyclopedia''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005012332/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/AlexanderIIIKP.html |date=5 October 2013 }}</ref> After that, clandestine marriages or youthful elopements began to proliferate, with the result that ecclesiastical courts had to decide which of a series of marriages that a man was accused of celebrating was the first and therefore the valid one.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ78Vd4O9d4C&pg=PA241 Russell B. Shaw, ''Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia''] (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing 1998 {{ISBN|978-0-87973669-9}}), pp. 241-242</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=L6JC3D2YUY0C&pg=PT100 Peter Marshall, ''The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction''] (Oxford University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-19157888-5}})</ref> Though "detested and forbidden" by the Church,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09707a.htm Augustinus Lehmkuhl, "Sacrament of Marriage"] in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1910)</ref> they were acknowledged to be valid. Similarly today, Catholics are forbidden to enter [[#Mixed marriage|mixed marriages]] without permission from an authority of the Church, but if someone does enter such a marriage without permission, the marriage is reckoned to be valid, provided the other conditions are fulfilled, although illicit.

===Counter-Reformation===
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|200px|left|''"Pope Paul III"'' (Artist: [[Titian]]) ''1490–1576'', c. 1543, ''Reign 13 October 1534 – 10 November 1549'', Presided over part of the [[Council of Trent]]
]]
In the 16th century, various groups adhering to the [[Protestant Reformation]] rejected to different degrees the sacramental nature of most Catholic [[sacraments]].<ref name="Bellitto">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/generalcouncilsh00bell|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/generalcouncilsh00bell/page/105 105]|quote=Bellitto sacramental status.|title=The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-one General Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II|last=Bellitto|first=Christopher M.|date=2002|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=9780809140190|language=en}}</ref> In reaction, the [[Council of Trent]] on 3 March 1547 carefully named and defined the Catholic Church's sacraments,<ref name=Bellitto/> reaffirming<ref name=Klein>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AEpDnZny1noC&pg=PA134 Gregory L. Klein, Robert A. Wolfe, ''Pastoral Foundations of the Sacraments''] (Paulist Press 1998 {{ISBN|978-0-80913770-1}}), p. 134</ref> the teaching that marriage is a sacrament − from 1184, 1208, 1274 and 1439. Recalling scripture, the [[Twelve Apostles|apostolic]] traditions and the declarations of previous councils and of the Church Fathers, the bishops declared that there were precisely seven sacraments, with marriage one of them, and that all seven are truly and properly sacraments.<ref name=Klein/><ref name=Trent>{{cite web|url=http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/212ct.html|title=Trent|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

[[Desiderius Erasmus]] influenced the debate in the first part of the 16th century by publishing 1518 an essay in praise of marriage (''Encomium matrimonii''), which argued that the single state was "a barren way of life hardly becoming to a man". The theologian [[Josse Clichtove]] working at the [[University of Paris]] interpreted this as an attack on chastity, but Erasmus had found favor with Protestant reformers who acknowledged the argument as a useful tool to undermine compulsory clerical [[celibacy]] and [[monasticism]].<ref name="Diarmuid MacCulloch 2008, p356"/>
[[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] argued that the action taken at Trent was therefore partly a response by Roman Catholicism to demonstrate that it was as serious about marriage and the family as the [[Protestants]],.<ref name="Diarmuid MacCulloch 2008, p356">Diarmuid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008, p356</ref>

On 11 November 1563, the Council of Trent condemned the view that "the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch24.htm|title=~The Council of Trent – Session 24~|first=CO Now LLC, Chicago|last=(reg)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> And while Catholics upheld the supernatural character of marriage, it was Protestants who viewed it as not a sacrament and who admitted divorce.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CyX9X70kLIAC&pg=PA175 Maria Ågren, Amy Louise Erickson, ''The Marital Economy in Scandinavia and Britain, 1400-1900''] (Ashgate Publishing 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-75463782-0}}), p. 175</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7utYgukZXiIC&pg=PA27 Peter De Cruz, ''Family Law, Sex and Society''] (Routledge 2010), p. 27</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EcyIAW3R8e0C&pg=PT239 Katherine Anderson et al. (editors), ''Marriage - Just a Piece of Paper?''] (Eerdmans 2002 {{ISBN|978-0-80286165-8}}), p. 237</ref>

The decree ''[[Tametsi]]'' of 1563 was one of the last decisions made at Trent. The decree effectively sought to impose the Church's control over the process of marriage by laying down as strict conditions as possible for what constituted a marriage.<ref>Diarmuid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008, p540</ref> John P. Beal says the Council, "stung by the Protestant reformers' castigation of the Catholic Church's failure to extirpate clandestine marriages", issued the decree<ref name=Beal1326/> "to safeguard against invalid marriages and abuses in clandestine marriages",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ehDrpqSKK6UC&pg=PA105 Mark G. McGowan, ''Waning of the Green''] (McGill-Queen's University Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-77351789-9}}), p. 105</ref> which had become "the scourge of Europe".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Tdzxwb15UC&pg=PA132 Todd A. Salzmann, Michael G. Lawler, ''Sexual Ethics''] (Georgetown University Press 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-58901913-3}}), p. 132</ref> In 1215 the [[Fourth Lateran Council]] had prohibited marriages entered into [[Clandestinity (Catholic canon law)|clandestinely]] but, unless there was some other [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediment]], considered them valid though illicit. ''Tametsi'' made it a requirement even for validity, in any area where the decree was officially published, that the marriage take place in the presence of the parish priest and at least two witnesses.<ref>The [[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece]] of [[Rogier van der Weyden]], of which the detail concerning the sacrament of marriage is given above, shows that the presence of a priest and at least two witnesses was customary more than a century before the decree was composed.</ref> This revolutionised earlier practice in that "marriages that failed to meet these requirements would from the time of the promulgation of the decree be considered invalid and of no effect"; and it required that the priest keep written records, with the result that parents had more control over their children's marriages than before. It also instituted controls over the marriages of persons without fixed addresses ("vagrants are to be married with caution"), "regulated the times at which marriages could be celebrated, abolished the rule that sexual intercourse created affinity, and reiterated the ban on concubinage".<ref>[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct24.html J. Waterworth, ''The Council of Trent: The Twenty-Fourth Session'']</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SiGe-Zf0nTIC&pg=PA564 James Brundage, ''Law, Sex and Society in Medieval Europe''] (University of Chicago Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-22607789-5}}), p. 564</ref>

For fear that the decree would "identify and multiply the number of doubtful marriages, particularly in Protestant areas, where 'mixed' marriages were common", the council hesitated to impose it outright and decided to make its application dependent on local promulgation. In fact, ''Tametsi'' was never proclaimed worldwide. It had no effect in France, England, Scotland and many other countries<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cN4TAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA36 Leonard Shelford, ''A Practical Treatise on the Law of Marriage and Divorce''], pp. 36-37</ref> and in 1907 was replaced by the decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'', which came into effect universally at Easter 1908.<ref name="Beal1326">[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&dq=Tametsi+%22Ne+Temere%22&pg=PA1326] John P. Beal, ''New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law'' (Paulist Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-80914066-4}}), p. 1326</ref><ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04001a.htm James David O'Neill, "Clandestinity (in Canon Law)"] in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1908)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fqK8vdoFxSUC&pg=PA75 Eileen F. Stuart, ''Dissolution and Annulment of Marriage by the Catholic Church''] (Federation Press 1994 {{ISBN|978-1-86287136-6}}), p. 75</ref>

== Validity of marriage in the Catholic Church ==
{{anchor|Conditions for a valid marriage of Catholics}}{{canon law}}
The Catholic Church also has requirements before Catholics can be considered validly married in the eyes of the Church. A valid Catholic marriage results from four elements: (1) the spouses are free to marry; (2) they freely exchange their consent; (3) in consenting to marry, they have the intention to marry for life, to be faithful to one another and be open to children; and (4) their consent is given in the canonical form, i.e., in the presence of two witnesses and before a properly authorized church minister. Exceptions to the last requirement must be approved by church authority. The Church provides [[Pre-Cana|classes]] several months before marriage to help the participants inform their consent. During or before this time, the would-be spouses are [[confirmation (Catholic Church)|confirmed]] if they have not previously received confirmation and it can be done without grave inconvenience (Canon 1065).

The Catholic Church also recognizes as sacramental, (1) the marriages between two baptized Protestants or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians,<ref name="Foster1999"/> although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "permission to enter into a mixed marriage".<ref name="Burke1999"/> To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage".<ref name="Foster1999"/> On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from [[disparity of cult]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|title=Are non-Catholic marriages valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church? What if a Catholic marries a non-Catholic?|year=1996|publisher=[[Catholic Answers]]|access-date=16 June 2015|quote=Supernatural marriages exist only between baptized people, so marriages between two Jews or two Muslims are only natural marriages. Assuming no impediments, marriages between Jews or Muslims would be valid natural marriages. Marriages between two Protestants or two Eastern Orthodox also would be valid, presuming no impediments, but these would be supernatural (sacramental) marriages and thus indissoluble.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104452/http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|archive-date=21 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Church prefers that marriages between Catholics, or between Catholics and other Christians, be celebrated in the parish church of one of the spouses. Those helping to prepare the couple for marriage can assist with the permission process. In present-day circumstances, with communities no longer so homogeneous religiously, authorization is more easily granted than in earlier centuries.

=== Canonical form ===
{{anchor|Canonical form}}
The canonical form of marriage began to be required with the decree ''[[Tametsi]]'' issued by the [[Council of Trent]] on 11 November 1563. The decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'' of [[Pope Pius X]] in 1907 made the canonical form a requirement even where the decree of the Council of Trent had not been promulgated.

While allowing for exceptions, the canonical form of marriage, as laid down in Canons 1055–1165 of the ''[[1983 Code of Canon Law]]'' and Canons 776-866 of the ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'', normally recognizes marriages of Catholics as valid only if contracted before the local bishop or a parish priest delegated by the bishop or (in the [[Latin Church]] only) a deacon delegated by them, and also at least two witnesses. In earlier times, validity was not made dependent on the fulfillment of these two conditions.

==== Freedom to marry ====
The participants in a marriage contract must have the freedom to marry. That is, there must be no [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediment according to canon law]].<ref>can. 1066, 1067</ref>

==== Impediments ====
{{main article|Impediment (Catholic canon law)}}
A Catholic marriage cannot be formed if one or more of the following [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediments]] are present,<ref>{{cite web|title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 998–1165) |quote=Canons 1083–1094 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER%20III.}}</ref> although for some of these a [[Dispensation (Catholic canon law)|dispensation]] can be given:
* Antecedent and perpetual [[impotence]], whether on the part of the man or the woman<ref>can. 1084 CIC</ref>
* [[Consanguinity]] to the fourth degree in the collateral line (first cousin), including legal [[adoption]] to the second collateral line<ref>can. 1091 CIC</ref>
* [[Affinity (law)|Affinity]]{{snd}}relationship by marriage, e.g. a brother-in-law, in the direct line
* Prior bond{{snd}}the bond of a previous marriage<ref>can. 1085 CIC</ref>
* Those in [[Holy orders|sacred orders]]<ref>can. 1087 CIC</ref>
* Public and perpetual [[vow of chastity]] in a [[religious institute]]<ref>can. 1088 CIC</ref>
* [[Disparity of cult]]{{snd}}one of the persons was baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, and the other is not baptized<ref>can. 1086 CIC</ref>
* [[Impediment of Crime|Crimen]]{{snd}}one party previously conspiring to marry upon the condition of the death of their spouse while still married; also called ''conjugicide''.<ref>can. 1090 CIC</ref>
* The minimum age for entering into a valid marriage has not yet been reached (14 for women, 16 for men)<ref>can. 1083 CIC</ref>
* [[Bride kidnapping|Abduction]]<ref>can. 1089 CIC</ref>

==== Times of year for celebrating a marriage ====
[[File:Catholic wedding blessing.jpg|thumb|Priest reading the blessing at a Catholic wedding, 2018]]

In the [[Latin Church]], marriage may be celebrated during [[Lent]] even within a [[Nuptial Mass]]; however, it is considered inappropriate to have such a celebration during [[Holy Week]] and impossible during the [[Easter Triduum]]. In principle, no day of the week is excluded from marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicmarriagecentre.org.uk/marriagefaq.php#m|title=Catholic Marriage Resource Centre – Frequently asked questions about marriage|access-date=7 November 2016|archive-date=19 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719041506/http://www.catholicmarriagecentre.org.uk/marriagefaq.php#m|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] do not allow marriage during Lent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tserkva.ca/marriage.html|title=Marriage – St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church|first=St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic|last=Church|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> In earlier times, while the Latin Church allowed marriage to be celebrated at any time, it prohibited the solemn blessing of marriages during [[Advent]] and on [[Christmas Day]], and during [[Lent]] and on [[Easter Sunday]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P3J.HTM|title=CIC 1917: text - IntraText CT|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

=== Mixed marriages ===

While marriage between a Catholic and any non-Catholic is commonly spoken of as a mixed marriage, in the strict sense a mixed marriage is one between a Catholic (baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it) and a non-Catholic ''Christian'', known in popular parlance as an ''[[interdenominational marriage]]''.<ref name="Code of Canon Law – IntraText">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P41.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="CEmixed">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09698a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Mixed Marriage|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>

The Catholic Church has from the start opposed marriage between a Catholic and any non-Catholic, baptized or not, seeing it as "degrading the holy character of matrimony, involving as it did a communion in sacred things with those outside the fold. [...] it was but natural and logical for the Church to do all in her power to hinder her children from contracting marriage with those outside her pale, who did not recognize the sacramental character of the union on which they were entering". The Church thus saw as obstacles to a Catholic's marriage what came to be called the two impediments of mixed religion (in [[Latin]], ''mixta religio'') and of difference of worship (in Latin ''disparitas cultus'').<ref name=CEmixed/>

==== Marriage with a non-Catholic Christian ====

From an early stage, Church councils forbade Catholic Christians to marry [[heresy|heretics]] or [[schism (religion)|schismatics]]. Unlike marriage with a non-Christian, which came to be considered invalid, marriage with a heretic was seen as valid, though illicit unless a dispensation had been obtained. However, the Church's opposition to such unions is very ancient. Early regional councils, such as the 4th-century [[Council of Elvira]] and the [[Council of Laodicea]], legislated against them; and the [[ecumenical council|ecumenical]] [[Council of Chalcedon]] prohibited such unions especially between members of the lower ecclesiastical grades and heretical women.<ref>''New Advent: Catholic Encyclopaedia''</ref>

In 692, the [[Council in Trullo]] declared such marriages invalid, a decision accepted in the East, but not in the West.<ref name=Beal1342>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&pg=PA1342 John P. Beal, ''Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law''] (Paulist Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-80914066-4}}), p. 1342</ref>

With the [[Reformation]] in the 16th century, more legislation regarding mixed marriages was passed. In those countries where the [[Council of Trent]]'s ''[[Tametsi]]'' decree was promulgated, mixed marriages began to be viewed as invalid in the West, not directly because of being mixed, but because a condition for validity imposed by the decree was not observed, namely, that marriages be contracted before the parish priest or a priest delegated by him and at least two witnesses.<ref name=Beal1342/> This decree required the contract to be entered into before the parish priest or some other priest delegated by him, and in the presence of two or three witnesses under penalty of invalidity. Even where the ''Tametsi'' decree had been promulgated, the Church did not find it possible to insist on the rigour of this legislation in all countries, owing to strong Protestant opposition. However, the legislation was frequently enforced by Catholic parents stipulating in their [[Will and testament|wills]] that their children be [[Inheritance|disinherited]] if they renounced [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]].<ref name="Dolan 1985 pp. 82–83">{{cite book|last=Dolan|first=Jay P.|title=The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present|url=https://archive.org/details/americancatholic00dola/page/82|url-access=registration|year=1985|place=New York|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]|isbn=978-0385152068|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americancatholic00dola/page/82 82–83]}}</ref>

[[Pope Benedict XIV]] issued a declaration (the "Benedictine dispensation") concerning marriages in the Netherlands and Belgium (1741), in which he declared mixed unions to be valid, provided they were according to the civil laws. A similar declaration was made concerning mixed marriages in Ireland by Pope Pius, in 1785, and gradually the "Benedictine dispensation" was extended to various localities. [[Pius VI]] allowed mixed marriages in Austria to take place in the presence of a priest, provided no religious solemnity was employed, and with the omission of public banns, as evidence of the unwillingness of the Church to sanction such unions. In 1869, the Congregation of the Propaganda further permitted such marriages but only under the condition of grave necessity, fearing the faithful "expose themselves to the grave dangers inherent in these unions". Bishops were to warn Catholics against such marriages and not to grant dispensations for them except for weighty reasons and not at the mere will of the petitioner. In countries where the decree was not promulgated, marriages otherwise contracted, called [[Clandestinity (canon law)|clandestine]] marriages, continued to be considered valid until the decree was replaced in 1908 by the decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'' of [[Pope Pius X]], which revoked the "Benedictine dispensation".<ref name=CEmixed/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K54UAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Benedictine%20dispensation%22|title=Concordia Theological Monthly|date=1 January 1942|publisher=Concordia Publishing House.|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Catholic Christians are permitted to marry validly baptized non-Catholic Christians if they receive permission to do so from a "competent authority" who is usually the Catholic Christian party's [[local ordinary]];<ref name="Burke1999"/><ref name="1983 Code of Canon Law - Can. 1124">{{cite web|title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 998-1165)|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER_VI.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/ |title=Marriage Between a Catholic and a Non-Catholic |last=Caridi |first=Cathy |date=2007-08-09 |website=canonlawmadeeasy.com |publisher=Canon Law Made Easy |access-date=2022-02-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306014926/https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/ |archive-date=2021-03-06}}</ref> if the proper conditions are fulfilled, such a marriage entered into is seen as valid and also, since it is a marriage between baptized persons, it is a [[sacrament]].<ref name="Burke1999"/>

Weddings in which both parties are Catholic Christians are ordinarily held in a Catholic church, while weddings in which one party is a Catholic Christian and the other party is a non-Catholic Christian can be held in a Catholic church or a non-Catholic Christian church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.archsa.org/marriage-faqs#question5 |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio]] |access-date=30 November 2020 |language=en |date=2020 |quote=If the wedding is celebrated in the Catholic Church, the priest presides, and a non-Catholic minister can offer prayers and ask a blessing on the couple. If the wedding takes place in a non-Catholic church, the minister presides, and a priest/deacon may be present to offer a prayer and blessing.}}</ref>

A condition for granting permission to marry a non-Catholic is that the Catholic Christian party undertake to remove dangers of defecting from the faith and to do all in his or her power so that all the children are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church; the other party is to be made aware of this undertaking and obligation of the Catholic Christian party.<ref name="1983 Code of Canon Law - Can. 1124" />

==== Marriage with a non-Christian ====
{{See also|Natural marriage}}
The early Church did not consider invalid a Catholic's marriage with a non-Christian (someone not baptized), especially when the marriage had taken place before the Catholic's conversion to the faith. It was nevertheless hoped that the converted wife or husband would be the means of bringing the other party into the Church, or at least safeguarding the Catholic upbringing of the children of the union. With the growth of the Church, the need for such unions diminished and the objection to them grew stronger. More by custom than by church legislation, such marriages gradually came to be considered invalid and ''disparitas cultus'' came to be seen as an impediment to marriage by a Catholic.<ref name=CEmixed/> There were also enactments on a local level against marriages with pagans ([[Council of Carthage (397)]], and under [[Stephen I of Hungary]] in the early 11th century) and with Jews ([[Third Council of Toledo]] in 589).

When the [[Decretum of Gratian]] was published in the 12th century, this impediment became part of [[canon law]]. From that time forward, all marriages contracted between Catholics and non-Christians were held to be invalid unless a dispensation had been obtained from the ecclesiastical authority.<ref name=CEmixed/>

A marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian (someone not baptized) is seen by the Church as invalid unless a dispensation (called a dispensation from "disparity of cult", meaning a difference of worship) is granted from the law declaring such marriages invalid. This dispensation can only be granted under certain conditions.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NWYmWxijs8cC&pg=PA56 Rhidian Jones, ''The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England''] (Continuum 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-56761641-8}}), p. 56</ref> If the dispensation is granted, the Church recognizes the marriage as valid, but [[natural marriage|natural]] rather than sacramental, since the sacraments can be validly received only by the baptized, and the non-Christian person is not baptized.<ref>[http://old.usccb.org/laity/marriage/marriagefaqs.shtml United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901141441/http://old.usccb.org/laity/marriage/marriagefaqs.shtml |date=1 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=32xNrEuc70MC&pg=PA112 Ladislas Örsy, ''Marriage in Canon Law''] (Gracewing 1986 {{ISBN|978-0-89453651-9}}), pp. 112-113</ref>

=== Matrimonial Consent ===
According to Canon 1057 of the Code of Canon Law (1983), marriage is established through the consent of the parties legitimately manifested between persons who are capable, according to the law, of giving consent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

Consent, which no human power can replace, is the efficient cause of marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref> It is defined by Canon 1057.1 as an act of the will by which a man and a woman through an irrevocable personal covenant mutually give and accept each other for the purpose of establishing marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

Such consent, however, must be manifested in a legitimate manner, that is, in a manner that has been determined by the Church in the formal solemnities prescribed for the validity of marriage (the canonical form).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

The persons manifesting their consent must be capable of doing that according to the law.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

===Remarriage of widows or widowers===

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that a married couple commits themselves totally to one another until death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P86.HTM#-2E6|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The vows they make to each other in the wedding rite are a commitment "til death do us part".<ref>[http://www.ascensioncatholic.net/catechism/catechism_18.pdf Sacrament of Marriage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220142/http://www.ascensioncatholic.net/catechism/catechism_18.pdf |date=4 October 2013 }}</ref> After the death of one, the other is free to marry again or to remain single. Some choose to become priests or [[religious (Catholicism)|religious]]. This path was chosen by some even in the early Christian centuries by people such as [[Saint Marcella]], [[Saint Paula]], Saint [[Galla of Rome]] and Saint [[Olympias the Deaconess]].<ref>Mária Puskely, Károly Vörös, Vilmos Zsidi. A keresztény Európa szellemi gyökerei. Az öreg földrész hagiográfiája. (''The Spiritual Roots of Christian Europe. The Hagiography of the Old World''). Kairosz Kiadó, Budapest 2004. pp. 38–40, 59, 177–178</ref>

== Ministers of matrimony ==

=== Western Church ===
[[File:Our Lady Help of Christians 9-2-1961.jpg|thumb|Tridentine Nuptial Mass, 1961]]
[[File:Giulio Rosati 11.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Ceremony of Marriage'' ([[Giulio Rosati]])]]
The husband and wife must validly execute the marriage contract. In the [[Latin Church|Latin Catholic]] tradition, it is the spouses who are understood to confer marriage on each other. The spouses, as ministers of grace, naturally confer upon each other the [[sacraments (Catholic Church)|sacrament]] of matrimony, expressing their consent before the church.

This does not eliminate the need for church involvement in the marriage; under normal circumstances, canon law requires for validity the attendance of the local bishop or parish priest (or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them) and at least two witnesses. The priest has merely the role to "assist" the spouses in order to ensure that the marriage is contracted in accord with canon law, and is supposed to attend whenever it is possible. A competent layperson may be delegated by the Church, or may just attend in place of the priest, if it is impractical to have a priest attending. In the event that no competent layperson is found, the marriage is valid even if done in the presence of two witnesses alone.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM canons 1108–1116]</ref> For example, in May 2017, the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] granted a bishop's request that a nun be granted permission to officiate at a marriage ceremony in Quebec because of a shortage of priests.<ref>{{cite news | work = La Stampa | access-date = 20 August 2017 | url = http://www.lastampa.it/2017/07/28/vaticaninsider/eng/world-news/quebec-nun-ministers-a-catholic-wedding-YdUTH9dqnKZq6AHH0sbE8O/pagina.html | title= Quebec, Nun ministers a Catholic wedding | date = 28 July 2017 | first = Andrea | last = Tornieli}}</ref>

=== Eastern Churches ===
{{main|Mystery of Crowning}}
{{multiple image
| width = 140
| image1 = Crowning in Syro-Malabar Nasrani Wedding by Mar Gregory Karotemprel.jpg
| alt1 = Crowning during Holy Matrimony in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
| image2 = താലി.JPG
| alt2 = Keralite-style Minnu Kettu
| footer = [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church|Syro-Malabar]] crowning and [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church|Syro-Malankara]] ''Minnu Kettu''.
}}
[[Eastern Catholic churches]] share the tradition common throughout [[Eastern Christianity]], according to which the minister of the sacrament is the bishop or priest who "crowns the bridegroom and the bride as a sign of the marriage covenant", a ceremony that has led to the rite being called the [[Mystery of Crowning]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P52.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1623] For a fuller account of the rites of marriage in Eastern Christianity see [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrVDmaXP6HEC&pg=PA298 Paul F. Bradshaw, ''The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship''] (Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-33402883-3}}), pp. 298-299 and [http://www.syromalabarmatrimony.org/resourcesFullDetail.php?ids===AUVVEeWtWOXJFbaNVTWJVU Syro-Malabar Matrimony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202093729/http://www.syromalabarmatrimony.org/resourcesFullDetail.php?ids===AUVVEeWtWOXJFbaNVTWJVU |date=2 February 2014 }}</ref>

== Indissolubility ==
[[Catholic theology]] teaches that a validly contracted sacramental marriage is accompanied by divine ratification, creating a virtually indissoluble union until the couple [[consummate]], after which the sacramental marriage is dissoluble only by the death of a spouse. An unconsummated marriage can be dissolved by the [[Pope]], as Vicar of Christ.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html |title=Const. Ap, Pastor Bonus |author=Pope John Paul II |quote=Art 67 |date=28 June 1988 |access-date=22 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010223175311/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html |archive-date=23 February 2001 |author-link=Pope John Paul II }}</ref>

In the eyes of the Church, even validly contracted [[natural marriage]]s (marriages in which at least one of the parties is not baptized) cannot be dissolved by the will of the couple or by any action of the state.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6Rfp8NDrz0C&pg=PT45 Michael Smith Foster, ''Annulment, the Wedding that Was''] (Paulist Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-80913844-9}}), q. 27</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JmRvPmO6hKcC&pg=PA113 Robert Ricard, ''The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico''] (University of California Press 1974 {{ISBN|978-0-52002760-2}}), p. 113</ref> Accordingly, "the Catholic Church does not recognize or endorse civil divorce of a natural marriage, as of a sacramental marriage".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7V-kCDE-9_wC&pg=PA411 Sebastian S. Karambai, ''Ministers and Ministries in the Local Church''] (St Pauls BYB 2005 {{ISBN|978-81-7109725-8}}), p. 411, footnote 38</ref> However, a natural marriage, even if consummated, can be dissolved by the Church when to do so favours the maintenance of the faith on the part of a Christian, cases of what has been called [[Pauline privilege]] and [[Petrine privilege]]. In these cases, which require intervention by the [[Holy See]], the Church admits real divorce, the actual dissolution of a valid marriage, as distinct from the granting by merely human power of a divorce that, according to Catholic theology, does not really dissolve the marriage bond.

While the violation of some regulations may make a marriage illicit, but not invalid, some conditions are essential and their absence means that there is in fact no valid marriage, and the participants are considered not to be actually married. However, Canon 1137 states that children born to a "putative" marriage (defined in Canon 1061, sec. 3 as one that is not valid but was entered into in good faith by at least one spouse) are legitimate; therefore, the declaration that a marriage is null does not render the children of that marriage illegitimate.

=== Annulments ===
{{main article|Declaration of Nullity}}

The Catholic Church has consistently taken the position that, while the dissolution of a valid natural marriage, even if consummated, may be granted for the sake of someone's Christian faith ("''in favorem fidei''"), though not for other reasons, and that a valid sacramental marriage, [[ratum sed non consummatum|if not consummated, may be dissolved]], a valid sacramental consummated marriage is indissoluble. There is no divorce from such a marriage. However, what is referred to as a marriage annulment occurs when two competent ecclesiastical tribunals hand down concordant judgments that a particular marriage was not in fact a valid one.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6N.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eU2T0KQyfPoC&pg=PA15 Lawrence E. Mick, ''Marriage''] (Liturgical Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-81463190-4}}), p. 15</ref>

Requirements for the validity of marriage are listed in the Code of Canon Law under the headings "Diriment Impediments" (such as being too young, being impotent, being already married, being [[holy orders|ordained]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> "Matrimonial Consent" (which requires, for instance, sufficient use of reason, psychic ability to assume the essential obligations of marriage, and freedom from force and fear),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Z.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> and "The Form of the Celebration of Marriage" (normally requiring that it be contracted in the presence of the parish priest or his delegate and at least two other witnesses).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

An annulment is a declaration that the marriage was invalid (or [[null and void|null]]) at the time the vows were exchanged. Thus, an annulment is declared only when an ecclesial tribunal finds a lack of validity in the marriage at the time of the marital contract. Behaviour subsequent to the contract is not directly relevant, except as ''post factum'' evidence of the validity or invalidity of the contract. That is, behaviour subsequent to the contract cannot actually change the validity of the contract. For example, a marriage would be invalid if one of the parties, at the time of marriage, did not intend to honour the vow of fidelity. If the spouse did intend to be faithful at the time of the marriage but later committed adultery this does not invalidate the marriage.

The teaching of the Catholic church is that annulment and divorce therefore differ, both in rationale and effect; an annulment is a finding that a true marriage never existed, whereas a divorce is a dissolution of marriage.

In canon law there are numerous reasons for granting annulments of marriages that were entered into invalidly.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fqK8vdoFxSUC&q=%22Grounds+of+Annulment%22 Eileen F. Stuart, ''Dissolution and Annulment of Marriage by the Catholic Church''] (Federation Press 1994 {{ISBN|978-1-86287136-6}}), pp. 147-194</ref> MacCulloch has noted the "ingenuity" of Roman Catholic lawyers in deploying these in the historical context.<ref>Diarmaid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008</ref>

Annulments are not restricted to marriages. A similar process can lead to the annulment of an [[holy orders|ordination]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6T.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BULp_AjYU3EC&pg=PT140 Michael Smith Foster, ''Annulment: The Wedding That Was''] (Paulist Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-1-61643175-4}}), q. 89</ref>

== Sins against marriage and conjugal chastity ==
{{Main article|Homosexuality and Roman Catholicism}}

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that marriage may only be between one man and one woman with each partner's free and willing consent for the good of each other and for the transmission of human life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/faq/#sec1q4|title=Marriage FAQ's – Marriage Unique for a Reason|first=Marriage Unique for a|last=Reason|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34750|title=Dictionary : MARRIAGE|website=www.catholicculture.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> The church believes adultery, divorce, remarriage after divorce, marriage without the intent to transmit life, polygamy, incest, child abuse, free union, and trial marriage are sins against the dignity of marriage.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2380-2391] Adultery refers to marital infidelity...Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law...[P]olygamy is not in accord with the moral law...Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them...Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care...The expression "free union" is fallacious...Some today claim a "right to a trial marriage" where there is an intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect it from inconstancy of desires or whim."</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 347 and 349] Adultery and polygamy are opposed to the sacrament of matrimony because they contradict the equal dignity of man and woman and the unity and exclusivity of married love. Other sins include the deliberate refusal of one’s procreative potential which deprives conjugal love of the gift of children and divorce which goes against the indissolubility of marriage...The Church, since she is faithful to her Lord, cannot recognize the union of people who are civilly divorced and remarried. </ref> The church also believes that chastity must be practiced by spouses,<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2348-2349] All the baptized are called to chastity... Married people are called to live conjugal chastity;...</ref> and that sins against chastity include lust, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, incest, child abuse, and homosexuality in any shape or form.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church 2351-2357] Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure..."Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."...Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality...Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity...Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure...Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person...Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them...homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.</ref>

The Catholic Church opposes the introduction of [[same-sex marriage|both civil and religious same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-repeats-that-same-sex-marriage-is-anthropological-regression|title=Pope Repeats that Same-Sex 'Marriage' is "Anthropological Regression"|work=National Catholic Register|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ''Considerations regarding proposals to give recognition to unions between homosexual persons'', 5] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613085642/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html |date=13 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#CHAPTER%20FIVE|title=Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/03/02/opponents-confident-that-same-sex-marriage-law-will-be-overturned-in-referendum/|title=Catholic Church Strongly Opposed To Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage In Md.|date=2012-03-02|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicbishops.ie/2013/04/12/submission-constitutional-convention/|title=Submission to Constitutional Convention|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The Church also holds that same-sex unions are an unfavourable environment for children and that the legalization of such unions damages society.<ref name="2003 letter">Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, 2003, points 7 and 8</ref>
Leading figures in the Catholic hierarchy, including cardinals and bishops, have publicly voiced or actively opposed legislation of civil same-sex marriage<ref name="ReferenceC"/><ref name="Africareview.com"/><ref name="gaystarnews.com"/><ref name="Vatican condemns Spain gay bill"/><ref name="independent.ie"/><ref name="irishexaminer.com"/><ref name="Gay Star News"/> and encouraged others to do the same,<ref name="ReferenceC">Comment. "We cannot afford to indulge this madness". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2012</ref><ref name="Africareview.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.africareview.com/News/Cameroon-Catholic-lawyers-vow-to-uphold-anti-gay-laws/-/979180/1704056/-/g7erql/-/index.html |title=Cameroon Catholic lawyers vow to uphold anti-gay laws: News |publisher=Africareview.com |access-date=2 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="gaystarnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/nigerian-catholics-congratulate-president-making-same-sex-marriage-crime050214 |title=Nigerian Catholics congratulate President for making same-sex marriage a crime | Gay Star News |access-date=15 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313095306/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/nigerian-catholics-congratulate-president-making-same-sex-marriage-crime050214 |archive-date=13 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Vatican condemns Spain gay bill">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4473001.stm Vatican condemns Spain gay bill]". BBC News. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2007</ref><ref name="independent.ie">{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bishops-vow-to-boycott-weddings-over-gay-marriage-29162066.html|title=Bishops vow to 'boycott' weddings over gay marriage - Independent.ie|work=Independent.ie|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref><ref name="irishexaminer.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bishops-issue-warning-over-bid-to-legalise-gay-marriages-226799.html|title=Bishops issue warning over bid to legalise gay marriages|date=29 March 2013|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Gay Star News">{{cite web |url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-says-%E2%80%98i-do%E2%80%99-gay-civil-unions050813 |title=Croatia says 'I do' to gay civil unions |publisher=Gay Star News |date=5 August 2013 |access-date=2 September 2013 |archive-date=24 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824201142/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-says-%E2%80%98i-do%E2%80%99-gay-civil-unions050813 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="npr-marriage">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154408067/deadline-nears-for-gay-marriage-referendum-in-washington|title=Seattle Catholics Divided On Repealing Gay Marriage|author=Liz Jones|agency=NPR|date=6 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="Patrick">{{cite web|last=Patrick |first=Joseph |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/04/16/archbishop-of-paris-warns-that-equal-marriage-will-lead-to-a-more-violent-society/ |title=France: Archbishop of Paris warns that equal marriage will lead to a more violent society |publisher=PinkNews.co.uk |access-date=2 September 2013|date=16 April 2013 }}</ref> and have done likewise with regard to same-sex [[civil unions]]<ref name="The Independent">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catholic-church-in-polygamy--attack-on-civil-unions-7965157.html |title=Catholic Church in polygamy attack on civil unions – Europe – World |work=The Independent |date=23 July 2012 |access-date=2 September 2013 |location=London |first=Michael |last=Day}}</ref><ref name="Catholic News Agency">{{cite news|title=Irish cardinal urges opposition to homosexual civil unions|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16929/irish-cardinal-urges-opposition-to-homosexual-civil-unions|access-date=27 August 2013|newspaper=Catholic News Agency|date=25 August 2009|location=Armagh, Ireland}}</ref> and [[LGBT adoption|adoption by same-sex couples]].<ref name="2003 letter"/>

There are a growing number of Catholics globally who dissent from the official position of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and express support for civil unions or same-sex marriage. In some locations, for example North America, Northern and Western Europe, there is stronger support for [[LGBT rights]] (such as civil unions, civil same-sex marriage and protection against discrimination) among Catholics than the general population at large.<ref>See *{{cite web
|author = United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
|url = http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,PHL,4562d8cf2,440ed74ba,0.html
|title = Refworld | Philippines: Treatment of homosexuals and state protection available (2000-2005)
|publisher = UNHCR
|access-date = 2013-02-11
}}
* {{cite web
|last = Newport
|first = Frank
|title = For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage
|url = http://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/First-Time-Majority-Americans-Favor-Legal-Gay-Marriage.aspx
|publisher = [[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|date = 20 May 2011
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Survey – Generations at Odds: The Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights
|date = 29 August 2011
|url = http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/08/generations-at-odds/
|publisher = [[Public Religion Research Institute]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Data Points: Support for Legal Same-Sex Marriage
|url = http://chronicle.com/article/Chart-Support-for-Legal/64683/
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = [[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]
|date = 16 March 2010
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Pew Forum Part 2: Public Opinion on Gay Marriage
|url = http://www.pewforum.org/PublicationPage.aspx?id=647
|publisher = [[Pew Research Center]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120910053311/http://www.pewforum.org/PublicationPage.aspx?id=647
|archive-date = 10 September 2012
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Most Irish people support gay marriage, poll says
|url = http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/02/24/most-irish-people-support-gay-marriage-poll-says/
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = PinkNews
|date = 24 February 2011
}}
* {{cite news
|last = Jowit
|first = Juliette
|title = Gay marriage gets ministerial approval
|url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/12/gay-marriage-receive-ministerial-approval
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
|date = 12 June 2012
|location = London
}}
* {{cite web
|url = http://www.ifop.com/?option=com_publication&type=poll&id=1956
|title = Les Français, les catholiques et les droits des couples homosexuels
|publisher = Ifop.com
|date = 2012-08-14
|access-date = 2013-02-11
}}
* [http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/03/for-catholics-open-attitudes-on-gay-issues/ Report | Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Comprehensive Portrait from Recent Research] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403045736/http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/03/for-catholics-open-attitudes-on-gay-issues/ |date=April 3, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="USAtoday">{{Cite news |work=USA Today |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/03/gay-marriage-catholic-church-/1 |title=U.S. Catholics break with church on gay relationships |date=March 23, 2011 |first=Cathy Lynn |last=Grossman}}</ref>

In 2021, the Catholic Church reaffirmed its position: That "the Church does not have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons the same sex".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html|access-date=2022-02-03|website=press.vatican.va}}</ref> In 2023 the [[Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith#:~:text=It is still informally known,of new and unacceptable doctrines."|Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith]] clarified that individual sinners may be blessed in non-liturgical settings that do not confuse the simple blessing with sacramental marriage [[Fiducia supplicans|in a decree called Fiducia Supplicans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vatican says priests can bless same-sex couples without condoning their lifestyles|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256308/vatican-says-priests-can-bless-same-sex-couples-without-condoning-their-lifestyles|access-date=2023-12-22|website=catholic news agency.com}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism}}
{{div col}}
* [[Banns of marriage]]
* [[Nuptial Mass]]
* [[Christian views of marriage]]
* [[Christian views on divorce]]
* [[Declaration of nullity]]
* [[Defender of the Bond]]
* [[Impediment of crime]]
* [[Matrimonial dispensation]]
* [[Natural marriage]]
* [[Pauline privilege]]
* [[Vetitum]]
* [[Parish register]]
{{div col end|2}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101023213813/http://www.kofc.org/publications/cis/catechism/getsection.cfm?partnum=2&SecNum=2&ChapNum=3&articlenum=7&ParSecNum=0&subSecNum=0&headernum=0&ParNum=1601&ParType=4 ''Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Sacrament of Matrimony''] An authoritative summary of Church teaching on marriage, including the main requirements for the celebration of the sacrament of Marriage.
* [http://www.catholicweddinghelp.com/topics/order-wedding-with-mass.htm ''Order of the Rite for Celebrating Marriage During Mass''] Order of a Catholic wedding during Mass, with links to official texts from the Rite of Marriage
* [https://archive.today/20130107100945/http://solages.site.voila.fr/everyd/canon_law_sacraments_en.xhtml%23mariage Liberté plus haute…] The canon law for dummies.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090622095840/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_10021880_arcanum_en.html ''Arcanum''] Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Christian Marriage
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Ritual of Marriage}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Sacrament of Marriage}}

{{Types of marriages}}
{{Seven Sacraments}}
{{Catholicism}}

[[Category:Marriage in the Catholic Church| ]]

Marriage in the Catholic Church

2024-09-27T01:09:31Z

Contaldo80: /* Sacramental development */

{{Short description|Sacrament and social institution within the Catholic Church}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
[[File:Weyden Matrimony.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Matrimony, ''[[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece|The Seven Sacraments]]'', [[Rogier van der Weyden]], c. 1445]]
{{Catholic Church sidebar}}
Marriage in the [[Catholic Church]], also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the [[Baptism|baptized]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=CIC|quote=can. 1055 §1|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3V.HTM}}</ref> [[canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic matrimonial law]], based on [[Roman law]] regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or [[contract]], became the basis for the [[marriage law]] of all European countries, at least up to the [[Reformation]].<ref>[http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Studies_in_Polish_and_Comparative_Law_1000373856/165 Studies in Polish and Comparative Law], forgotten books.com, Retrieved 7 July 2014, Association, Polish Lawyers'. (2013). pp. 156-7. Studies in Polish and Comparative Law: A Symposium of Twelve Articles. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1945)</ref>

The Catholic Church recognizes as [[sacrament]]al, (1) the marriages between two baptized non-Catholic Christians or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians,<ref name="Foster1999">{{cite book|last=Foster|first=Michael Smith|title=Annulment|year=1999|publisher=[[Paulist Press]]|isbn=9780809138449|page=[https://archive.org/details/annulmentwedding00fost/page/83 83]|quote=The Catholic Church considers marriages of baptized Protestants to be valid marriages. So if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage.|url=https://archive.org/details/annulmentwedding00fost/page/83}}</ref> although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "dispensation to enter into a mixed marriage".<ref name="Burke1999">{{cite book|last=Burke|first=John|title=Catholic Marriage|year=1999|publisher=Paulines Publications Africa |isbn=9789966081063|page=98|quote=We might remind ourselves here that a marriage between a Catholic and a baptized person that takes place in the Catholic Church, or in another Church with permission from the diocesan bishop, is a sacramental union. Such a marriage is a life-long union and no power on earth can dissolve it.}}</ref> To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage".<ref name="Foster1999"/> On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from [[disparity of cult]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|title=Are non-Catholic marriages valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church? What if a Catholic marries a non-Catholic?|year=1996|publisher=[[Catholic Answers]]|access-date=16 June 2015|quote=Supernatural marriages exist only between baptized people, so marriages between two Jews or two Muslims are only natural marriages. Assuming no impediments, marriages between Jews or Muslims would be valid natural marriages. Marriages between two Protestants or two Eastern Orthodox also would be valid, presuming no impediments, but these would be supernatural (sacramental) marriages and thus indissoluble.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104452/http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|archive-date=21 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Weddings in which both parties are Catholic faithful are ordinarily held in a Catholic church, while weddings in which one party is a Catholic faithful and the other party is a non-Catholic can be held in a Catholic church or a non-Catholic church, but in the latter case permission of one's [[Bishop]] or ordinary is required for the marriage to be free of [[defect of form]]. <ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.archsa.org/marriage-faqs#question5 |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio]] |access-date=30 November 2020 |language=en |date=2020 |quote=If the wedding is celebrated in the Catholic Church, the priest presides, and a non-Catholic minister can be present as a witness. If the wedding takes place in a non-Catholic church, the minister presides, and a priest/deacon may be present to offer a prayer and blessing.}}</ref>

== Catholic Church view of the importance of marriage ==

The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states: "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life".<ref name="vatican.va">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P51.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |access-date=7 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624072000/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P51.HTM |archive-date=24 June 2016 }}</ref>

It also says: "The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the [[wedding at Cana]]. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence. In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble; God himself has determined it, 'what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder'. This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy – heavier than the Law of Moses. By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God".<ref name="vatican.va"/>

==History of marriage in the Catholic Church==

===Early period===
[[File:Istanbul - S. Salvatore in Chora - Esonartece - Nozze di Cana - Foto G. Dall'Orto 26-5-2006.jpg|thumb|Mosaic depicting the [[Marriage at Cana|wedding feast in Cana]]]]

Marriage was considered a necessary passage into adulthood, and strongly supported within the [[Jewish]] faith. The author of the letter to the Hebrews declared that marriage should be held in honor among all,<ref>{{bibleverse||Hebrews|13:4|ESV}}</ref> and early Christians defended the holiness of marriage against the [[Gnostics]] and the [[Antinomians]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6nwc9j_0ut4C&pg=PA54 Michael G. Lawler, ''Marriage and Sacrament''] (Liturgical Press 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-81465051-6}}), p. 54</ref>

At the same time, some in the emerging Christian communities began to prize the [[celibate]] state higher than marriage, taking the model of [[Jesus]] as a guide. This was related to a widespread belief about the imminent coming of the [[Kingdom of God]]; and thus the exhortation by Jesus to avoid earthly ties. The apostle Paul in his letters also suggested a preference for celibacy, but recognized that not all Christians necessarily had the ability to live such a life: "Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion".<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|7:6–9|ESV}}</ref> This teaching suggested that marriage be used only as a last resort by those Christians who found it too difficult to exercise a level of self-control and remain abstinent, not having the gift of celibacy.<ref name="ReferenceA">Reay Tannahill, ''Sex in history'', Abacus</ref> Armstrong has argued that to a significant degree, early Christians "placed less value on the family" and saw celibacy and freedom from family ties as a preferable state for those capable of it.<ref>Karen Armstrong, ''Christianity's creation of the sex war in the west'', London, 1986</ref> Nevertheless, this is tempered by other scholars who state Paul would no more impose celibacy than insist on marriage. What people instinctively choose manifests God's gift. Thus, he takes for granted that the married are not called to celibacy.<ref>Brown, Raymond E. S.S., Fitzmyer, Joseph A. S.J., Murphy, Roland E., O.Carm., Eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 804, Prentice-Hall, 1990, {{ISBN|0-13-614934-0}}</ref>

As the Church developed as an institution and came into contact with the Greek world, it reinforced the idea found in writers such as [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] that the celibate unmarried state was preferable and more holy than the married one. At the same time, it challenged some of the prevalent social norms such as the buying and selling of women into marriage, and defended the right of women to choose to remain unmarried virgins for the sake of Christ. The stories associated with the many virgin martyrs in the first few centuries of the Catholic Church often make it clear that they were martyred for their refusal to marry, not necessarily simply their belief in Christ.

The teaching on the superiority of virginity over marriage expressed by Saint Paul was accepted by the early Church, as shown in the 2nd-century ''[[Shepherd of Hermas]]''. [[Justin Martyr]], writing in the middle of the 2nd century, boasted of the "many men and women of sixty and seventy years of age who from their childhood have been the disciples of Christ, and have kept themselves uncorrupted". Virginity was praised by [[Cyprian]] (c. 200 – 258) and other prominent Christian figures and leaders. [[Philip Schaff]] admits that it cannot be denied that the later doctrine of the 16th century [[Council of Trent]] – "that it is more blessed to remain virgin or celibate than to be joined in marriage" – was the view that dominated the whole of the early Christian church. At the same time, the Church still discouraged anyone who would "condemn marriage, or abominate and condemn a woman who is a believer and devout, and sleeps with her own husband, as though she could not enter the Kingdom [of heaven]".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=v6SboiI2mB8C&pg=PA92 Philip Schaff, ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers''] (Cosimo 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-60206534-5}}), p. 92</ref>

For much of the history of the Catholic Church, no specific ritual was therefore prescribed for celebrating a marriage – at least not until the late [[medieval]] period: "Marriage vows did not have to be exchanged in a church, nor was a priest's presence required. A couple could exchange consent anywhere, anytime".<ref>{{cite book |title=Marriage, sex, and civic culture in late medieval London |last=McSheffrey |first=Shannon |year=2006 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3938-6 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJX_Nr2fdzAC |access-date=16 April 2012}}</ref>

===Church Fathers===
[[File:El-matrimonio-romano.jpg|thumb|left|Marriage without religious rite]]

Markus notes this impact on the early Christian attitude, particularly as Christian anxiety about sex intensified after 400: "The superiority of virginity and sexual abstinence was generally taken for granted. But a dark undercurrent of hostility to sexuality and marriage became interwoven with the more benign attitudes towards the body. Attitudes diverged, and mainstream Christianity became infected with a pronounced streak of distrust towards bodily existence and sexuality. This permanent 'encratite' tendency was given powerful impetus in the debates about Christian perfection at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries".<ref name="ReferenceB">John McManners (editor), ''The Oxford History of Christianity'', University of Oxford, 2002, pp. 69-70</ref>

While the [[Church Fathers]] of the Latin or Catholic Church did not condemn marriage, they nevertheless taught a preference for celibacy and virginity.

Bishop [[Ignatius of Antioch]], writing around 110 to Bishop [[Polycarp]] of Smyrna said, "[I]t becomes both men and women who marry to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust".<ref name=Ignatius>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-polycarp-longer.html |title=St. Ignatius of Antioch to Polycarp (Roberts-Donaldson translation) |publisher=Earlychristianwritings.com |date=2 February 2006 |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref>

In his ''On Exhortation to Chastity'' [[Tertullian]] argued that a second marriage, after someone has been freed from the first by the death of a spouse, "will have to be termed no other than a species of fornication".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.ix.html|title=ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second – Christian Classics Ethereal Library|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Claiming to find in the [[Book of Leviticus]] a prohibition of remarriage by the priests of the Old Law similar to that for Christian clergy in the [[Pauline letters|Pauline]] [[pastoral epistles]],<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Timothy|3:2}}; {{bibleverse||Titus|1:6}}</ref> he used it as an argument against remarrying even on the part of lay Christians, whom Christ made "a kingdom, priests to his God and Father":<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|1:6|ESV}}</ref> "If you are a digamist, do you baptize? If you are a digamist, do you offer? How much more capital (a crime) is it for a digamist laic to act as a priest, when the priest himself, if he turn digamist, is deprived of the power of acting the priest! 'But to necessity', you say, 'indulgence is granted'. No necessity is excusable which is avoidable. In a word, shun to be found guilty of digamy, and you do not expose yourself to the necessity of administering what a digamist may not lawfully administer. God wills us all to be so conditioned, as to be ready at all times and places to undertake (the duties of) His sacraments".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.vii.html|title=ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=www.ccel.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>

In his earlier ''Ad uxorem'' also, Tertullian argued against second marriages, but said that, if one must remarry, it should be with a Christian.<ref name="Tertullian">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/works/ad_uxorem.htm|title=Tertullian : Ad uxorem|last=Pearse|first=Roger|website=www.tertullian.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> In other writings, he argued strongly against ideas like those he expressed in his ''On Exhortation to Chastity''; and in his ''De Anima'' he explicitly stated that "the married state is blessed, not cursed by God". Adhémar d'Alès has commented: "Tertullian wrote a lot about marriage, and on no other subject has he contradicted himself as much".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=aWCzz8-kwwkC&pg=PA41 Tertullian, translated by William P. Le Saint, ''Treatises on Marriage and Remarriage''] (Paulist Press 1951 {{ISBN|978-0-80910149-8}}), p. 41</ref>

[[Cyprian]] (c. 200 – 258), Bishop of Carthage, recommended in his ''Three Books of Testimonies against the Jews'' that Christians should not marry pagans.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpdaAAAAIAAJ&q=Cyprian+%22not+to+be+made+with+Gentiles%22&pg=PA104|title=A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Anterior to the Division of the East and West|date=1842|publisher=J.H. Parker|language=en}}</ref>
Addressing consecrated virgins he wrote: "The first decree commanded to increase and to multiply; the second enjoined continency. While the world is still rough and void, we are propagated by the fruitful begetting of numbers, and we increase to the enlargement of the human race. Now, when the world is filled and the earth supplied, they who can receive continency, living after the manner of eunuchs, are made eunuchs unto the kingdom. Nor does the Lord command this, but He exhorts it; nor does He impose the yoke of necessity, since the free choice of the will is left".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050702.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Treatise 2 (Cyprian of Carthage)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="KarenA">Karen Armstrong,''The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's creation of the sex war in the west'', London, 1986</ref>

[[Jerome]] (c. 347 – 420) commenting on Paul's letter to the Corinthians wrote: "If 'it is good for a man not to touch a woman', then it is bad for him to touch one, for bad, and bad only, is the opposite of good. But, if though bad, it is made venial, then it is allowed to prevent something which would be worse than bad. ... Notice the Apostle's carefulness. He does not say: 'It is good not to have a wife', but, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'. ... I am not expounding the law as to husbands and wives, but discussing the general question of sexual intercourse – how in comparison with chastity and virginity, the life of angels, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-llH1Z4JnMC&q=Schaff%20%22man%20not%20to%20touch%22&pg=PT286|title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome|publisher=CCEL|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250672}}</ref> He also argued that marriage distracted from prayer, and so virginity was better: "If we are to pray always, it follows that we must never be in the bondage of wedlock, for as often as I render my wife her due, I cannot pray. The difference, then, between marriage and virginity is as great as that between not sinning and doing well; nay rather, to speak less harshly, as great as between good and better". Regarding the clergy, he said: "Now a priest must always offer sacrifices for the people: he must therefore always pray. And if he must always pray, he must always be released from the duties of marriage". In referring to Genesis chapter 2, he further argued that, "while Scripture on the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days relates that, having finished the works of each, ''God saw that it was good'', on the second day it omitted this altogether, leaving us to understand that two is not a good number because it destroys unity, and prefigures the marriage compact".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-llH1Z4JnMC&q=%22two%20is%20not%20a%20good%20number%22&pg=PT1096|title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome|publisher=CCEL|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250672}}</ref> Jerome reaffirmed {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:28|KJV}} ("God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth") and {{bibleverse||Hebrews|13:4|KJV}} ("Marriage is honourable in all"), and distanced himself from the disparagement of marriage by [[Marcion]] and [[Manichaeus]], and from [[Tatian]], who thought all sexual intercourse, even in marriage, to be impure.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4JKCTBzB8FEC&pg=PA94 Paul John Frandsen, ''Incestuous and Close-kin Marriage in Ancient Egypt and Persia''] (Museum Tusculanum Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-876350778-3}}), p. 94</ref>

There were, of course, counter-views. [[Pelagius]] thought [[Jerome]] showed bitter hostility to marriage akin to [[Manichaean]] dualism,<ref name="KarenA"/> an accusation that Jerome attempted to rebut in his ''[[Adversus Jovinianum]]'': "We do not follow the views of Marcion and Manichaeus, and disparage marriage; nor, deceived by the error of Tatian, the leader of the Encratites, do we think all intercourse impure; he condemns and rejects not only marriage but also food which God created for the use of man. We know that in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware. [...] While we honour marriage we prefer virginity which is the offspring of marriage. Will silver cease to be silver, if gold is more precious than silver?"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zm1v-c7fGmgC&q=%22honour%20marriage%22%20%22prefer%20virginity%22&pg=PA347|title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, Volume VI Jerome|first=Philip|last=Schaff|date=1 June 2007|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9781602065178}}</ref> Elsewhere he explained: "Someone may say: 'And do you dare disparage marriage, which is blessed by the Lord?' It is not disparaging marriage when virginity is preferred to it. No one compares evil with good. Let married women glory too, since they come second to virgins. ''Increase'', He says, ''and multiply, and fill the earth''. Let him who is to fill the earth increase and multiply. Your company is in heaven".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvJHT39rIIMC&q=Jerome%20%22not%20disparaging%20marriage%22&pg=PA262|title=The Christianity Reader|first1=Mary|last1=Gerhart|first2=Fabian|last2=Udoh|date=1 September 2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9780226289595}}</ref> Mocking a monk<ref name=Letter50/> who accused him of condemning marriage, Jerome wrote: "He must hear at least the echo of my cry, 'I do not condemn marriage', 'I do not condemn wedlock'. Indeed — and this I say to make my meaning quite clear to him — I should like every one to take a wife who, because they get frightened in the night, cannot manage to sleep alone".<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name=Letter50>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001050.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 50 (Jerome)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>Letter 50 (to Domnio) in Charles Mierow (ed) ''Letters of St Jerome'', Paulist Press, 1962</ref>

It was [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (354–430), whose views subsequently strongly influenced Western theology,<ref>Fiorenza and Galvin (1991), p. 317</ref> that was most influential in developing a theology of the sacramentality of Christian marriage.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OhmGMenxSiIC&dq=%22theological+value+of+Christian+marriage%22&pg=PA18 Saint Augustine, ''Marriage and Virginity''] (New City Press 1996, {{ISBN|978-1-56548104-6}})</ref> In his youth, Augustine had also been a follower of [[Manichaeism]], but after his conversion to Christianity he rejected the Manichaean condemnation of marriage and reproduction for imprisoning spiritual light within material darkness.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FttsYc-EaPYC&pg=PA32 Elizabeth Ann Clark (editor), ''St. Augustine on Marriage and Sexuality''] (CUA Press 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-81320867-1}}), p. 2</ref> He subsequently went on to teach that marriage is not evil, but good, even if it is not at the level of choosing virginity: "Marriage and fornication are not two evils, whereof the second is worse: but marriage and continence are two goods, whereof the second is better".<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm Augustine, ''On the Good of Marriage'', 8]</ref>

In his ''On the Good of Marriage'', of 401, he distinguished three values in marriage: fidelity, which is more than sexual; offspring, which "entails the acceptance of children in love, their nurturance in affection, and their upbringing in the Christian religion; and [[sacrament]], in that its indissolubility is a sign of the eternal unity of the blessed.<ref>Fiorenza and Galvin (1991), p. 318</ref> Like the other Church Fathers of East and West, Augustine taught that virginity is a higher way of life, although it is not given to everyone to live at that higher level. In his ''De bono coniugali'' (On the Good of Marriage), he wrote: "I know what people are murmuring: 'Suppose', they remark, 'that everyone sought to abstain from all intercourse? How would the human race survive?' I only wish that this was everyone's concern so long as it was uttered in charity, 'from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned'; then the city of God would be filled much more speedily, and the end of the world would be hastened".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UovJsb_vuAkC&q=augustine+de+bono+coniugali+text&pg=PP4|title=De Bono Coniugali: De Sancta Uirginitate|last1=d'Hipona)|first1=Agustí (sant, bisbe|last2=Hippo.)|first2=Saint Augustine (Bishop of|last3=Hippo|first3=Saint Augustine of|last4=Augustine|first4=St|last5=Augustinus|first5=Aurelius|date=2001|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198269953|language=en}}</ref> Armstrong sees this as an apocalyptic dimension in Augustine's teaching.<ref name="KarenA"/> Reynolds says that Augustine's comment on this wildly hypothetical objection by Jovinian may have been that the saintliness of a church in which all had chosen celibacy would mean that it comprised enough members to fill God's city or that the church would thereby gather souls to herself even more rapidly than she was already doing.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=B3m9MzLojtIC&pg=PA270 Phillip Reynolds, ''Marriage in the Western Church: The Christianization of Marriage During the Patristic and Early Medieval Period''] (Brill, Leiden, 1994 {{ISBN|978-0-39104108-0}}), pp. 270-271</ref> Nevertheless, Augustine's name "could, indeed, be invoked through the medieval centuries to reinforce the exaltation of virginity at the expense of marriage and to curtail the role of sexuality even within Christian marriage".<ref name="KarenA"/>

Finally, [[Isidore of Seville]] (c. 560 – 636) refined and broadened Augustine's formulation and was part of the chain by which it was transmitted to the Middle Ages.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-2CRzlijgwC&pg=PA203 Paul Haffner, ''The Sacramental Mystery''] (Gracewing Publishing 1995 {{ISBN|978-0-85244476-4}}), p. 203</ref>

Although not a church father, but belonging to the same period, in [[Adomnan of Iona]]'s biography of [[St Columba]], the saint at one point is mentioned as meeting a woman who refuses to sleep with her husband and perform her marriage duties. When Columba meets the woman, she says that she would do anything, even to go to a monastery and become a nun, rather than to sleep with him. Columba tells the woman that the commandment of God is for her to sleep with her husband and not to leave the marriage to be a nun, because once they are married the two have become one flesh.<ref>Adomnan of Iona. ''Life of St Columba'', Penguin Books, 1995</ref>

===Medieval period===

====Sacramental development====
[[File:Lettrine-Sibylle-betrothal&marriage.jpg|thumb|Betrothal and marriage around 1200]]
The medieval Christian church, taking the lead of Augustine, developed the sacramental understanding of matrimony. However, even at this stage the Catholic Church did not consider the sacraments equal in importance.<ref name=Women>Karen Armstrong, ''The Gospel According to Women'', London, 1986</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – The sacrament of the Eucharist |access-date=7 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818210304/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |archive-date=18 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3G.HTM|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Marriage has never been considered either to be one of the sacraments of Christian initiation ([[Baptism]], [[Confirmation]], [[Eucharist]]) or of those that confer a character (Baptism, Confirmation, [[Holy Orders]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4063.htm#article6|title=SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The other effect of the sacraments, which is a character (Tertia Pars, Q. 63)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

With the development of sacramental theology, marriage was included in the select seven to which the term "sacrament" was applied. Explicit classification of marriage in this way came in reaction to the contrary teaching of [[Catharism]] that marriage and procreation are evil: the first official declaration that marriage is a sacrament was made at the 1184 [[Council of Verona]] as part of a condemnation of the Cathars.<ref name=SystTheol/> In 1208, [[Pope Innocent III]] required members of another religious movement, that of the [[Waldensians]], to recognize that marriage is a sacrament as a condition for being received back into the Catholic Church.<ref name=SystTheol/> In 1254, Catholics accused Waldensians of condemning the sacrament of marriage, "saying that married persons sin mortally if they come together without the hope of offspring".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LDbhV7u1_yIC&dq=Thomsett+%22married+persons+sin%22&pg=PA105 Michael Thomsett, ''Heresy in the Roman Catholic church: A history''], McFarland 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-78648539-0}}), p. 105</ref> The [[Fourth Lateran Council]] of 1215 had already stated in response to the teaching of the [[Cathars]]: "For not only virgins and the continent but also married persons find favour with God by right faith and good actions and deserve to attain to eternal blessedness".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zPweZnz4nJgC&pg=PA240 John Clare Moore, ''Pope Innocent III''] (Brill 2003 {{ISBN|978-9-00412925-2}}), p. 240</ref> Marriage was also included in the list of the seven sacraments at the [[Second Council of Lyon]] in 1274 as part of the profession of faith required of [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]]. The sacraments of marriage and [[holy orders]] were distinguished as sacraments that aim at the "increase of the Church" from the other five sacraments, which are intended for the spiritual perfection of individuals. The [[Council of Florence]] in 1439 again recognised marriage as a sacrament.<ref name=SystTheol>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tp7KLNb3xcC&pg=PA320 Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, John P. Galvin (editors), ''Systematic Theology''] (Fortress Press 1991 {{ISBN|978-1-45140795-2}}), vol. 2, p. 320</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1438sacraments.asp|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

The medieval view of the sacramentality of marriage has been described as follows: "Like the other sacraments, medieval writers argued marriage was an instrument of sanctification, a channel of grace that caused God's gracious gifts and blessings to be poured upon humanity. Marriage sanctified the Christian couple by allowing them to comply with God's law for marriage and by providing them with an ideal model of marriage in Christ the bridegroom, who took the church as his bride and accorded it highest love, devotion, and sacrifice, even to the point of death".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pIL7Gihul0oC&pg=PA92 John Witte, ''From Sacrament to Contract''] (Presbyterian Publishing 2012 {{ISBN|978-0-66423432-4}}), p. 92</ref>

====Liturgical practice====
Matrimony, for most of Church history, had been celebrated (as in traditions such as the Roman and Judaic) without clergy and was done according to local customs. The first available written detailed account of a Christian wedding in the West dates only from the 9th century and appears to be identical to the old nuptial service of Ancient Rome.<ref name=Women/> However, early witnesses to the practice of intervention by the clergy in the marriage of early Christians include Tertullian, who speaks of Christians "requesting marriage" from them,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4xkV8TEcYo4C&pg=PA98 Philip L. Reynolds, John Witte (editors), ''To Have and to Hold''] (Cambridge University Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-13946290-7}}), p. 98</ref> and Ignatius of Antioch, who said Christians should form their union with the approval of the bishop – although the absence of clergy placed no bar, and there is no suggestion that the recommendation was widely adopted.<ref name=Ignatius/>

In the 4th century in the Eastern Church it was the custom in some areas for marriages to receive a blessing by a priest to ensure fertility.<ref>[http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/arhu/content/docs/djc%20archive/Practice%20of%20the%20Sacrament%20of%20MAtrimony%20According%20to%20the%20Orthodox%20Tradition.pdf Demetrios J. Constantelos, "Practice of the Sacrament of Matrimony according to the Orthodox Tradition" in ''The Jurist'', vol. 31, no. 4 (Fall 1971), p. 620]</ref> There are also a few accounts of religious nuptial services from the 7th century onward.<ref>Constantelos (1971), p. 621</ref> However, while in the East the priest was seen as ministering the sacrament, in the West it was the two parties to the marriage (if baptized) who effectively ministered, and their concordant word was sufficient proof of the existence of a sacramental marriage, whose validity required neither the presence of witnesses nor observance of the law of the 1215 Fourth Lateran Council that demanded publication of the banns of marriage.<ref>Witte (2012), p. 91</ref>

Thus, with few local exceptions, until in some cases long after the Council of Trent, marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties.<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook">[http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/14042_toc.html Excerpt from Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London] "''the sacramental bond of marriage could be made only through the freely given consent of both parties''"</ref><ref name="marriageDotAbout">{{cite web |url=http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |title=marriage.about.com |publisher=marriage.about.com |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=27 August 2010 |archive-date=14 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214012630/http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploregenealogy.co.uk/FindingEarlyMarriageRecords.html |title=Marriage Records |publisher=Exploregenealogy.co.uk |date=29 October 2007 |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref> This promise was known as the "verbum". If freely given and made in the present tense (e.g., "I marry you"), it was unquestionably binding;<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook"/> if made in the future tense ("I will marry you"), it would constitute a [[betrothal]]. One of the functions of churches from the [[Middle Ages]] was to register marriages, which was not obligatory. There was no state involvement in marriage and personal status, with these issues being adjudicated in [[ecclesiastical courts]]. During the Middle Ages marriages were arranged, sometimes as early as birth, and these early pledges to marry were often used to ensure treaties between different royal families, nobles, and heirs of fiefdoms. The church resisted these imposed unions, and increased the number of causes for the nullification of these arrangements.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages">{{Cite book| last1 = Pernoud|first1 = Régine|title = Those terrible Middle Ages: debunking the myths|year = 2000|publisher = Ignatius Press| location = San Francisco|isbn = 978-0-89870-781-6|page = 102}}</ref> As Christianity spread during the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the idea of free choice in selecting marriage partners increased and spread with it.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages"/>

The validity of such marriages even if celebrated under a tree or in a tavern or in a bed was upheld even against that of a later marriage in a church.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=weP7d-zfNbcC&pg=PA92 Norman Tanner, ''New Short History of the Catholic Church''] (Continuum 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-86012455-9}}), p. 92</ref> Even after the Council of Trent made the presence of the parish priest or his delegate and of at least two more witnesses a condition for validity, the previous situation continued in many countries where its decree was not promulgated. It ended only in 1908, with the coming into force of the {{lang|la|[[Ne Temere]]}} decree.

In the 12th century, [[Pope Alexander III]] decreed that what made a marriage was the free mutual consent by the spouses themselves, not a decision by their parents or guardians.<ref>[http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/AlexanderIIIKP.html Kenneth Pennington, "Pope Alexander III" in Frank J. Coppa (editor), ''The Great Popes through History: An Encyclopedia''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005012332/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/AlexanderIIIKP.html |date=5 October 2013 }}</ref> After that, clandestine marriages or youthful elopements began to proliferate, with the result that ecclesiastical courts had to decide which of a series of marriages that a man was accused of celebrating was the first and therefore the valid one.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ78Vd4O9d4C&pg=PA241 Russell B. Shaw, ''Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia''] (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing 1998 {{ISBN|978-0-87973669-9}}), pp. 241-242</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=L6JC3D2YUY0C&pg=PT100 Peter Marshall, ''The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction''] (Oxford University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-19157888-5}})</ref> Though "detested and forbidden" by the Church,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09707a.htm Augustinus Lehmkuhl, "Sacrament of Marriage"] in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1910)</ref> they were acknowledged to be valid. Similarly today, Catholics are forbidden to enter [[#Mixed marriage|mixed marriages]] without permission from an authority of the Church, but if someone does enter such a marriage without permission, the marriage is reckoned to be valid, provided the other conditions are fulfilled, although illicit.

===Counter-Reformation===
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|200px|left|''"Pope Paul III"'' (Artist: [[Titian]]) ''1490–1576'', c. 1543, ''Reign 13 October 1534 – 10 November 1549'', Presided over part of the [[Council of Trent]]
]]
In the 16th century, various groups adhering to the [[Protestant Reformation]] rejected to different degrees the sacramental nature of most Catholic [[sacraments]].<ref name="Bellitto">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/generalcouncilsh00bell|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/generalcouncilsh00bell/page/105 105]|quote=Bellitto sacramental status.|title=The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-one General Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II|last=Bellitto|first=Christopher M.|date=2002|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=9780809140190|language=en}}</ref> In reaction, the [[Council of Trent]] on 3 March 1547 carefully named and defined the Catholic Church's sacraments,<ref name=Bellitto/> reaffirming<ref name=Klein>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AEpDnZny1noC&pg=PA134 Gregory L. Klein, Robert A. Wolfe, ''Pastoral Foundations of the Sacraments''] (Paulist Press 1998 {{ISBN|978-0-80913770-1}}), p. 134</ref> the teaching that marriage is a sacrament − from 1184, 1208, 1274 and 1439. Recalling scripture, the [[Twelve Apostles|apostolic]] traditions and the declarations of previous councils and of the Church Fathers, the bishops declared that there were precisely seven sacraments, with marriage one of them, and that all seven are truly and properly sacraments.<ref name=Klein/><ref name=Trent>{{cite web|url=http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/212ct.html|title=Trent|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

[[Desiderius Erasmus]] influenced the debate in the first part of the 16th century by publishing 1518 an essay in praise of marriage (''Encomium matrimonii''), which argued that the single state was "a barren way of life hardly becoming to a man". The theologian [[Josse Clichtove]] working at the [[University of Paris]] interpreted this as an attack on chastity, but Erasmus had found favor with Protestant reformers who acknowledged the argument as a useful tool to undermine compulsory clerical [[celibacy]] and [[monasticism]].<ref name="Diarmuid MacCulloch 2008, p356"/>
[[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] argued that the action taken at Trent was therefore partly a response by Roman Catholicism to demonstrate that it was as serious about marriage and the family as the [[Protestants]],.<ref name="Diarmuid MacCulloch 2008, p356">Diarmuid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008, p356</ref>

On 11 November 1563, the Council of Trent condemned the view that "the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch24.htm|title=~The Council of Trent – Session 24~|first=CO Now LLC, Chicago|last=(reg)|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> And while Catholics upheld the supernatural character of marriage, it was Protestants who viewed it as not a sacrament and who admitted divorce.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CyX9X70kLIAC&pg=PA175 Maria Ågren, Amy Louise Erickson, ''The Marital Economy in Scandinavia and Britain, 1400-1900''] (Ashgate Publishing 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-75463782-0}}), p. 175</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7utYgukZXiIC&pg=PA27 Peter De Cruz, ''Family Law, Sex and Society''] (Routledge 2010), p. 27</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EcyIAW3R8e0C&pg=PT239 Katherine Anderson et al. (editors), ''Marriage - Just a Piece of Paper?''] (Eerdmans 2002 {{ISBN|978-0-80286165-8}}), p. 237</ref>

The decree ''[[Tametsi]]'' of 1563 was one of the last decisions made at Trent. The decree effectively sought to impose the Church's control over the process of marriage by laying down as strict conditions as possible for what constituted a marriage.<ref>Diarmuid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008, p540</ref> John P. Beal says the Council, "stung by the Protestant reformers' castigation of the Catholic Church's failure to extirpate clandestine marriages", issued the decree<ref name=Beal1326/> "to safeguard against invalid marriages and abuses in clandestine marriages",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ehDrpqSKK6UC&pg=PA105 Mark G. McGowan, ''Waning of the Green''] (McGill-Queen's University Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-77351789-9}}), p. 105</ref> which had become "the scourge of Europe".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Tdzxwb15UC&pg=PA132 Todd A. Salzmann, Michael G. Lawler, ''Sexual Ethics''] (Georgetown University Press 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-58901913-3}}), p. 132</ref> In 1215 the [[Fourth Lateran Council]] had prohibited marriages entered into [[Clandestinity (Catholic canon law)|clandestinely]] but, unless there was some other [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediment]], considered them valid though illicit. ''Tametsi'' made it a requirement even for validity, in any area where the decree was officially published, that the marriage take place in the presence of the parish priest and at least two witnesses.<ref>The [[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece]] of [[Rogier van der Weyden]], of which the detail concerning the sacrament of marriage is given above, shows that the presence of a priest and at least two witnesses was customary more than a century before the decree was composed.</ref> This revolutionised earlier practice in that "marriages that failed to meet these requirements would from the time of the promulgation of the decree be considered invalid and of no effect"; and it required that the priest keep written records, with the result that parents had more control over their children's marriages than before. It also instituted controls over the marriages of persons without fixed addresses ("vagrants are to be married with caution"), "regulated the times at which marriages could be celebrated, abolished the rule that sexual intercourse created affinity, and reiterated the ban on concubinage".<ref>[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct24.html J. Waterworth, ''The Council of Trent: The Twenty-Fourth Session'']</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SiGe-Zf0nTIC&pg=PA564 James Brundage, ''Law, Sex and Society in Medieval Europe''] (University of Chicago Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-22607789-5}}), p. 564</ref>

For fear that the decree would "identify and multiply the number of doubtful marriages, particularly in Protestant areas, where 'mixed' marriages were common", the council hesitated to impose it outright and decided to make its application dependent on local promulgation. In fact, ''Tametsi'' was never proclaimed worldwide. It had no effect in France, England, Scotland and many other countries<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cN4TAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA36 Leonard Shelford, ''A Practical Treatise on the Law of Marriage and Divorce''], pp. 36-37</ref> and in 1907 was replaced by the decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'', which came into effect universally at Easter 1908.<ref name="Beal1326">[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&dq=Tametsi+%22Ne+Temere%22&pg=PA1326] John P. Beal, ''New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law'' (Paulist Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-80914066-4}}), p. 1326</ref><ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04001a.htm James David O'Neill, "Clandestinity (in Canon Law)"] in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1908)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fqK8vdoFxSUC&pg=PA75 Eileen F. Stuart, ''Dissolution and Annulment of Marriage by the Catholic Church''] (Federation Press 1994 {{ISBN|978-1-86287136-6}}), p. 75</ref>

== Validity of marriage in the Catholic Church ==
{{anchor|Conditions for a valid marriage of Catholics}}{{canon law}}
The Catholic Church also has requirements before Catholics can be considered validly married in the eyes of the Church. A valid Catholic marriage results from four elements: (1) the spouses are free to marry; (2) they freely exchange their consent; (3) in consenting to marry, they have the intention to marry for life, to be faithful to one another and be open to children; and (4) their consent is given in the canonical form, i.e., in the presence of two witnesses and before a properly authorized church minister. Exceptions to the last requirement must be approved by church authority. The Church provides [[Pre-Cana|classes]] several months before marriage to help the participants inform their consent. During or before this time, the would-be spouses are [[confirmation (Catholic Church)|confirmed]] if they have not previously received confirmation and it can be done without grave inconvenience (Canon 1065).

The Catholic Church also recognizes as sacramental, (1) the marriages between two baptized Protestants or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians,<ref name="Foster1999"/> although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "permission to enter into a mixed marriage".<ref name="Burke1999"/> To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage".<ref name="Foster1999"/> On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from [[disparity of cult]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|title=Are non-Catholic marriages valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church? What if a Catholic marries a non-Catholic?|year=1996|publisher=[[Catholic Answers]]|access-date=16 June 2015|quote=Supernatural marriages exist only between baptized people, so marriages between two Jews or two Muslims are only natural marriages. Assuming no impediments, marriages between Jews or Muslims would be valid natural marriages. Marriages between two Protestants or two Eastern Orthodox also would be valid, presuming no impediments, but these would be supernatural (sacramental) marriages and thus indissoluble.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104452/http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/are-non-catholic-marriages-valid-in-the-eyes-of-the-catholic-church-what-if-a-catholi|archive-date=21 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Church prefers that marriages between Catholics, or between Catholics and other Christians, be celebrated in the parish church of one of the spouses. Those helping to prepare the couple for marriage can assist with the permission process. In present-day circumstances, with communities no longer so homogeneous religiously, authorization is more easily granted than in earlier centuries.

=== Canonical form ===
{{anchor|Canonical form}}
The canonical form of marriage began to be required with the decree ''[[Tametsi]]'' issued by the [[Council of Trent]] on 11 November 1563. The decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'' of [[Pope Pius X]] in 1907 made the canonical form a requirement even where the decree of the Council of Trent had not been promulgated.

While allowing for exceptions, the canonical form of marriage, as laid down in Canons 1055–1165 of the ''[[1983 Code of Canon Law]]'' and Canons 776-866 of the ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'', normally recognizes marriages of Catholics as valid only if contracted before the local bishop or a parish priest delegated by the bishop or (in the [[Latin Church]] only) a deacon delegated by them, and also at least two witnesses. In earlier times, validity was not made dependent on the fulfillment of these two conditions.

==== Freedom to marry ====
The participants in a marriage contract must have the freedom to marry. That is, there must be no [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediment according to canon law]].<ref>can. 1066, 1067</ref>

==== Impediments ====
{{main article|Impediment (Catholic canon law)}}
A Catholic marriage cannot be formed if one or more of the following [[Impediment (Catholic canon law)|impediments]] are present,<ref>{{cite web|title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 998–1165) |quote=Canons 1083–1094 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER%20III.}}</ref> although for some of these a [[Dispensation (Catholic canon law)|dispensation]] can be given:
* Antecedent and perpetual [[impotence]], whether on the part of the man or the woman<ref>can. 1084 CIC</ref>
* [[Consanguinity]] to the fourth degree in the collateral line (first cousin), including legal [[adoption]] to the second collateral line<ref>can. 1091 CIC</ref>
* [[Affinity (law)|Affinity]]{{snd}}relationship by marriage, e.g. a brother-in-law, in the direct line
* Prior bond{{snd}}the bond of a previous marriage<ref>can. 1085 CIC</ref>
* Those in [[Holy orders|sacred orders]]<ref>can. 1087 CIC</ref>
* Public and perpetual [[vow of chastity]] in a [[religious institute]]<ref>can. 1088 CIC</ref>
* [[Disparity of cult]]{{snd}}one of the persons was baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, and the other is not baptized<ref>can. 1086 CIC</ref>
* [[Impediment of Crime|Crimen]]{{snd}}one party previously conspiring to marry upon the condition of the death of their spouse while still married; also called ''conjugicide''.<ref>can. 1090 CIC</ref>
* The minimum age for entering into a valid marriage has not yet been reached (14 for women, 16 for men)<ref>can. 1083 CIC</ref>
* [[Bride kidnapping|Abduction]]<ref>can. 1089 CIC</ref>

==== Times of year for celebrating a marriage ====
[[File:Catholic wedding blessing.jpg|thumb|Priest reading the blessing at a Catholic wedding, 2018]]

In the [[Latin Church]], marriage may be celebrated during [[Lent]] even within a [[Nuptial Mass]]; however, it is considered inappropriate to have such a celebration during [[Holy Week]] and impossible during the [[Easter Triduum]]. In principle, no day of the week is excluded from marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicmarriagecentre.org.uk/marriagefaq.php#m|title=Catholic Marriage Resource Centre – Frequently asked questions about marriage|access-date=7 November 2016|archive-date=19 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719041506/http://www.catholicmarriagecentre.org.uk/marriagefaq.php#m|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] do not allow marriage during Lent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tserkva.ca/marriage.html|title=Marriage – St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church|first=St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic|last=Church|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> In earlier times, while the Latin Church allowed marriage to be celebrated at any time, it prohibited the solemn blessing of marriages during [[Advent]] and on [[Christmas Day]], and during [[Lent]] and on [[Easter Sunday]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P3J.HTM|title=CIC 1917: text - IntraText CT|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

=== Mixed marriages ===

While marriage between a Catholic and any non-Catholic is commonly spoken of as a mixed marriage, in the strict sense a mixed marriage is one between a Catholic (baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it) and a non-Catholic ''Christian'', known in popular parlance as an ''[[interdenominational marriage]]''.<ref name="Code of Canon Law – IntraText">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P41.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="CEmixed">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09698a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Mixed Marriage|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref>

The Catholic Church has from the start opposed marriage between a Catholic and any non-Catholic, baptized or not, seeing it as "degrading the holy character of matrimony, involving as it did a communion in sacred things with those outside the fold. [...] it was but natural and logical for the Church to do all in her power to hinder her children from contracting marriage with those outside her pale, who did not recognize the sacramental character of the union on which they were entering". The Church thus saw as obstacles to a Catholic's marriage what came to be called the two impediments of mixed religion (in [[Latin]], ''mixta religio'') and of difference of worship (in Latin ''disparitas cultus'').<ref name=CEmixed/>

==== Marriage with a non-Catholic Christian ====

From an early stage, Church councils forbade Catholic Christians to marry [[heresy|heretics]] or [[schism (religion)|schismatics]]. Unlike marriage with a non-Christian, which came to be considered invalid, marriage with a heretic was seen as valid, though illicit unless a dispensation had been obtained. However, the Church's opposition to such unions is very ancient. Early regional councils, such as the 4th-century [[Council of Elvira]] and the [[Council of Laodicea]], legislated against them; and the [[ecumenical council|ecumenical]] [[Council of Chalcedon]] prohibited such unions especially between members of the lower ecclesiastical grades and heretical women.<ref>''New Advent: Catholic Encyclopaedia''</ref>

In 692, the [[Council in Trullo]] declared such marriages invalid, a decision accepted in the East, but not in the West.<ref name=Beal1342>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&pg=PA1342 John P. Beal, ''Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law''] (Paulist Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-80914066-4}}), p. 1342</ref>

With the [[Reformation]] in the 16th century, more legislation regarding mixed marriages was passed. In those countries where the [[Council of Trent]]'s ''[[Tametsi]]'' decree was promulgated, mixed marriages began to be viewed as invalid in the West, not directly because of being mixed, but because a condition for validity imposed by the decree was not observed, namely, that marriages be contracted before the parish priest or a priest delegated by him and at least two witnesses.<ref name=Beal1342/> This decree required the contract to be entered into before the parish priest or some other priest delegated by him, and in the presence of two or three witnesses under penalty of invalidity. Even where the ''Tametsi'' decree had been promulgated, the Church did not find it possible to insist on the rigour of this legislation in all countries, owing to strong Protestant opposition. However, the legislation was frequently enforced by Catholic parents stipulating in their [[Will and testament|wills]] that their children be [[Inheritance|disinherited]] if they renounced [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]].<ref name="Dolan 1985 pp. 82–83">{{cite book|last=Dolan|first=Jay P.|title=The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present|url=https://archive.org/details/americancatholic00dola/page/82|url-access=registration|year=1985|place=New York|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]|isbn=978-0385152068|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americancatholic00dola/page/82 82–83]}}</ref>

[[Pope Benedict XIV]] issued a declaration (the "Benedictine dispensation") concerning marriages in the Netherlands and Belgium (1741), in which he declared mixed unions to be valid, provided they were according to the civil laws. A similar declaration was made concerning mixed marriages in Ireland by Pope Pius, in 1785, and gradually the "Benedictine dispensation" was extended to various localities. [[Pius VI]] allowed mixed marriages in Austria to take place in the presence of a priest, provided no religious solemnity was employed, and with the omission of public banns, as evidence of the unwillingness of the Church to sanction such unions. In 1869, the Congregation of the Propaganda further permitted such marriages but only under the condition of grave necessity, fearing the faithful "expose themselves to the grave dangers inherent in these unions". Bishops were to warn Catholics against such marriages and not to grant dispensations for them except for weighty reasons and not at the mere will of the petitioner. In countries where the decree was not promulgated, marriages otherwise contracted, called [[Clandestinity (canon law)|clandestine]] marriages, continued to be considered valid until the decree was replaced in 1908 by the decree ''[[Ne Temere]]'' of [[Pope Pius X]], which revoked the "Benedictine dispensation".<ref name=CEmixed/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K54UAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Benedictine%20dispensation%22|title=Concordia Theological Monthly|date=1 January 1942|publisher=Concordia Publishing House.|access-date=7 November 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Catholic Christians are permitted to marry validly baptized non-Catholic Christians if they receive permission to do so from a "competent authority" who is usually the Catholic Christian party's [[local ordinary]];<ref name="Burke1999"/><ref name="1983 Code of Canon Law - Can. 1124">{{cite web|title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 998-1165)|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER_VI.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/ |title=Marriage Between a Catholic and a Non-Catholic |last=Caridi |first=Cathy |date=2007-08-09 |website=canonlawmadeeasy.com |publisher=Canon Law Made Easy |access-date=2022-02-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306014926/https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/ |archive-date=2021-03-06}}</ref> if the proper conditions are fulfilled, such a marriage entered into is seen as valid and also, since it is a marriage between baptized persons, it is a [[sacrament]].<ref name="Burke1999"/>

Weddings in which both parties are Catholic Christians are ordinarily held in a Catholic church, while weddings in which one party is a Catholic Christian and the other party is a non-Catholic Christian can be held in a Catholic church or a non-Catholic Christian church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.archsa.org/marriage-faqs#question5 |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio]] |access-date=30 November 2020 |language=en |date=2020 |quote=If the wedding is celebrated in the Catholic Church, the priest presides, and a non-Catholic minister can offer prayers and ask a blessing on the couple. If the wedding takes place in a non-Catholic church, the minister presides, and a priest/deacon may be present to offer a prayer and blessing.}}</ref>

A condition for granting permission to marry a non-Catholic is that the Catholic Christian party undertake to remove dangers of defecting from the faith and to do all in his or her power so that all the children are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church; the other party is to be made aware of this undertaking and obligation of the Catholic Christian party.<ref name="1983 Code of Canon Law - Can. 1124" />

==== Marriage with a non-Christian ====
{{See also|Natural marriage}}
The early Church did not consider invalid a Catholic's marriage with a non-Christian (someone not baptized), especially when the marriage had taken place before the Catholic's conversion to the faith. It was nevertheless hoped that the converted wife or husband would be the means of bringing the other party into the Church, or at least safeguarding the Catholic upbringing of the children of the union. With the growth of the Church, the need for such unions diminished and the objection to them grew stronger. More by custom than by church legislation, such marriages gradually came to be considered invalid and ''disparitas cultus'' came to be seen as an impediment to marriage by a Catholic.<ref name=CEmixed/> There were also enactments on a local level against marriages with pagans ([[Council of Carthage (397)]], and under [[Stephen I of Hungary]] in the early 11th century) and with Jews ([[Third Council of Toledo]] in 589).

When the [[Decretum of Gratian]] was published in the 12th century, this impediment became part of [[canon law]]. From that time forward, all marriages contracted between Catholics and non-Christians were held to be invalid unless a dispensation had been obtained from the ecclesiastical authority.<ref name=CEmixed/>

A marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian (someone not baptized) is seen by the Church as invalid unless a dispensation (called a dispensation from "disparity of cult", meaning a difference of worship) is granted from the law declaring such marriages invalid. This dispensation can only be granted under certain conditions.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NWYmWxijs8cC&pg=PA56 Rhidian Jones, ''The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England''] (Continuum 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-56761641-8}}), p. 56</ref> If the dispensation is granted, the Church recognizes the marriage as valid, but [[natural marriage|natural]] rather than sacramental, since the sacraments can be validly received only by the baptized, and the non-Christian person is not baptized.<ref>[http://old.usccb.org/laity/marriage/marriagefaqs.shtml United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901141441/http://old.usccb.org/laity/marriage/marriagefaqs.shtml |date=1 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=32xNrEuc70MC&pg=PA112 Ladislas Örsy, ''Marriage in Canon Law''] (Gracewing 1986 {{ISBN|978-0-89453651-9}}), pp. 112-113</ref>

=== Matrimonial Consent ===
According to Canon 1057 of the Code of Canon Law (1983), marriage is established through the consent of the parties legitimately manifested between persons who are capable, according to the law, of giving consent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

Consent, which no human power can replace, is the efficient cause of marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref> It is defined by Canon 1057.1 as an act of the will by which a man and a woman through an irrevocable personal covenant mutually give and accept each other for the purpose of establishing marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

Such consent, however, must be manifested in a legitimate manner, that is, in a manner that has been determined by the Church in the formal solemnities prescribed for the validity of marriage (the canonical form).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

The persons manifesting their consent must be capable of doing that according to the law.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dacanay, SJ |first1=Adolfo N. |title=Canon Law on Marriage:Introductory Notes and Comments |date=2003 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press |location=Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=971-92171-0-3 |page=5}}</ref>

===Remarriage of widows or widowers===

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that a married couple commits themselves totally to one another until death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P86.HTM#-2E6|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The vows they make to each other in the wedding rite are a commitment "til death do us part".<ref>[http://www.ascensioncatholic.net/catechism/catechism_18.pdf Sacrament of Marriage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220142/http://www.ascensioncatholic.net/catechism/catechism_18.pdf |date=4 October 2013 }}</ref> After the death of one, the other is free to marry again or to remain single. Some choose to become priests or [[religious (Catholicism)|religious]]. This path was chosen by some even in the early Christian centuries by people such as [[Saint Marcella]], [[Saint Paula]], Saint [[Galla of Rome]] and Saint [[Olympias the Deaconess]].<ref>Mária Puskely, Károly Vörös, Vilmos Zsidi. A keresztény Európa szellemi gyökerei. Az öreg földrész hagiográfiája. (''The Spiritual Roots of Christian Europe. The Hagiography of the Old World''). Kairosz Kiadó, Budapest 2004. pp. 38–40, 59, 177–178</ref>

== Ministers of matrimony ==

=== Western Church ===
[[File:Our Lady Help of Christians 9-2-1961.jpg|thumb|Tridentine Nuptial Mass, 1961]]
[[File:Giulio Rosati 11.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Ceremony of Marriage'' ([[Giulio Rosati]])]]
The husband and wife must validly execute the marriage contract. In the [[Latin Church|Latin Catholic]] tradition, it is the spouses who are understood to confer marriage on each other. The spouses, as ministers of grace, naturally confer upon each other the [[sacraments (Catholic Church)|sacrament]] of matrimony, expressing their consent before the church.

This does not eliminate the need for church involvement in the marriage; under normal circumstances, canon law requires for validity the attendance of the local bishop or parish priest (or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them) and at least two witnesses. The priest has merely the role to "assist" the spouses in order to ensure that the marriage is contracted in accord with canon law, and is supposed to attend whenever it is possible. A competent layperson may be delegated by the Church, or may just attend in place of the priest, if it is impractical to have a priest attending. In the event that no competent layperson is found, the marriage is valid even if done in the presence of two witnesses alone.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM canons 1108–1116]</ref> For example, in May 2017, the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] granted a bishop's request that a nun be granted permission to officiate at a marriage ceremony in Quebec because of a shortage of priests.<ref>{{cite news | work = La Stampa | access-date = 20 August 2017 | url = http://www.lastampa.it/2017/07/28/vaticaninsider/eng/world-news/quebec-nun-ministers-a-catholic-wedding-YdUTH9dqnKZq6AHH0sbE8O/pagina.html | title= Quebec, Nun ministers a Catholic wedding | date = 28 July 2017 | first = Andrea | last = Tornieli}}</ref>

=== Eastern Churches ===
{{main|Mystery of Crowning}}
{{multiple image
| width = 140
| image1 = Crowning in Syro-Malabar Nasrani Wedding by Mar Gregory Karotemprel.jpg
| alt1 = Crowning during Holy Matrimony in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
| image2 = താലി.JPG
| alt2 = Keralite-style Minnu Kettu
| footer = [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church|Syro-Malabar]] crowning and [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church|Syro-Malankara]] ''Minnu Kettu''.
}}
[[Eastern Catholic churches]] share the tradition common throughout [[Eastern Christianity]], according to which the minister of the sacrament is the bishop or priest who "crowns the bridegroom and the bride as a sign of the marriage covenant", a ceremony that has led to the rite being called the [[Mystery of Crowning]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P52.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1623] For a fuller account of the rites of marriage in Eastern Christianity see [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrVDmaXP6HEC&pg=PA298 Paul F. Bradshaw, ''The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship''] (Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-33402883-3}}), pp. 298-299 and [http://www.syromalabarmatrimony.org/resourcesFullDetail.php?ids===AUVVEeWtWOXJFbaNVTWJVU Syro-Malabar Matrimony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202093729/http://www.syromalabarmatrimony.org/resourcesFullDetail.php?ids===AUVVEeWtWOXJFbaNVTWJVU |date=2 February 2014 }}</ref>

== Indissolubility ==
[[Catholic theology]] teaches that a validly contracted sacramental marriage is accompanied by divine ratification, creating a virtually indissoluble union until the couple [[consummate]], after which the sacramental marriage is dissoluble only by the death of a spouse. An unconsummated marriage can be dissolved by the [[Pope]], as Vicar of Christ.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html |title=Const. Ap, Pastor Bonus |author=Pope John Paul II |quote=Art 67 |date=28 June 1988 |access-date=22 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010223175311/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html |archive-date=23 February 2001 |author-link=Pope John Paul II }}</ref>

In the eyes of the Church, even validly contracted [[natural marriage]]s (marriages in which at least one of the parties is not baptized) cannot be dissolved by the will of the couple or by any action of the state.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6Rfp8NDrz0C&pg=PT45 Michael Smith Foster, ''Annulment, the Wedding that Was''] (Paulist Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-80913844-9}}), q. 27</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JmRvPmO6hKcC&pg=PA113 Robert Ricard, ''The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico''] (University of California Press 1974 {{ISBN|978-0-52002760-2}}), p. 113</ref> Accordingly, "the Catholic Church does not recognize or endorse civil divorce of a natural marriage, as of a sacramental marriage".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7V-kCDE-9_wC&pg=PA411 Sebastian S. Karambai, ''Ministers and Ministries in the Local Church''] (St Pauls BYB 2005 {{ISBN|978-81-7109725-8}}), p. 411, footnote 38</ref> However, a natural marriage, even if consummated, can be dissolved by the Church when to do so favours the maintenance of the faith on the part of a Christian, cases of what has been called [[Pauline privilege]] and [[Petrine privilege]]. In these cases, which require intervention by the [[Holy See]], the Church admits real divorce, the actual dissolution of a valid marriage, as distinct from the granting by merely human power of a divorce that, according to Catholic theology, does not really dissolve the marriage bond.

While the violation of some regulations may make a marriage illicit, but not invalid, some conditions are essential and their absence means that there is in fact no valid marriage, and the participants are considered not to be actually married. However, Canon 1137 states that children born to a "putative" marriage (defined in Canon 1061, sec. 3 as one that is not valid but was entered into in good faith by at least one spouse) are legitimate; therefore, the declaration that a marriage is null does not render the children of that marriage illegitimate.

=== Annulments ===
{{main article|Declaration of Nullity}}

The Catholic Church has consistently taken the position that, while the dissolution of a valid natural marriage, even if consummated, may be granted for the sake of someone's Christian faith ("''in favorem fidei''"), though not for other reasons, and that a valid sacramental marriage, [[ratum sed non consummatum|if not consummated, may be dissolved]], a valid sacramental consummated marriage is indissoluble. There is no divorce from such a marriage. However, what is referred to as a marriage annulment occurs when two competent ecclesiastical tribunals hand down concordant judgments that a particular marriage was not in fact a valid one.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6N.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eU2T0KQyfPoC&pg=PA15 Lawrence E. Mick, ''Marriage''] (Liturgical Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-81463190-4}}), p. 15</ref>

Requirements for the validity of marriage are listed in the Code of Canon Law under the headings "Diriment Impediments" (such as being too young, being impotent, being already married, being [[holy orders|ordained]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> "Matrimonial Consent" (which requires, for instance, sufficient use of reason, psychic ability to assume the essential obligations of marriage, and freedom from force and fear),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Z.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> and "The Form of the Celebration of Marriage" (normally requiring that it be contracted in the presence of the parish priest or his delegate and at least two other witnesses).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

An annulment is a declaration that the marriage was invalid (or [[null and void|null]]) at the time the vows were exchanged. Thus, an annulment is declared only when an ecclesial tribunal finds a lack of validity in the marriage at the time of the marital contract. Behaviour subsequent to the contract is not directly relevant, except as ''post factum'' evidence of the validity or invalidity of the contract. That is, behaviour subsequent to the contract cannot actually change the validity of the contract. For example, a marriage would be invalid if one of the parties, at the time of marriage, did not intend to honour the vow of fidelity. If the spouse did intend to be faithful at the time of the marriage but later committed adultery this does not invalidate the marriage.

The teaching of the Catholic church is that annulment and divorce therefore differ, both in rationale and effect; an annulment is a finding that a true marriage never existed, whereas a divorce is a dissolution of marriage.

In canon law there are numerous reasons for granting annulments of marriages that were entered into invalidly.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fqK8vdoFxSUC&q=%22Grounds+of+Annulment%22 Eileen F. Stuart, ''Dissolution and Annulment of Marriage by the Catholic Church''] (Federation Press 1994 {{ISBN|978-1-86287136-6}}), pp. 147-194</ref> MacCulloch has noted the "ingenuity" of Roman Catholic lawyers in deploying these in the historical context.<ref>Diarmaid MacCulloch, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700'', London, 2008</ref>

Annulments are not restricted to marriages. A similar process can lead to the annulment of an [[holy orders|ordination]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6T.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law – IntraText|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BULp_AjYU3EC&pg=PT140 Michael Smith Foster, ''Annulment: The Wedding That Was''] (Paulist Press 1999 {{ISBN|978-1-61643175-4}}), q. 89</ref>

== Sins against marriage and conjugal chastity ==
{{Main article|Homosexuality and Roman Catholicism}}

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that marriage may only be between one man and one woman with each partner's free and willing consent for the good of each other and for the transmission of human life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/faq/#sec1q4|title=Marriage FAQ's – Marriage Unique for a Reason|first=Marriage Unique for a|last=Reason|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34750|title=Dictionary : MARRIAGE|website=www.catholicculture.org|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> The church believes adultery, divorce, remarriage after divorce, marriage without the intent to transmit life, polygamy, incest, child abuse, free union, and trial marriage are sins against the dignity of marriage.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2380-2391] Adultery refers to marital infidelity...Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law...[P]olygamy is not in accord with the moral law...Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them...Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care...The expression "free union" is fallacious...Some today claim a "right to a trial marriage" where there is an intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect it from inconstancy of desires or whim."</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 347 and 349] Adultery and polygamy are opposed to the sacrament of matrimony because they contradict the equal dignity of man and woman and the unity and exclusivity of married love. Other sins include the deliberate refusal of one’s procreative potential which deprives conjugal love of the gift of children and divorce which goes against the indissolubility of marriage...The Church, since she is faithful to her Lord, cannot recognize the union of people who are civilly divorced and remarried. </ref> The church also believes that chastity must be practiced by spouses,<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2348-2349] All the baptized are called to chastity... Married people are called to live conjugal chastity;...</ref> and that sins against chastity include lust, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, incest, child abuse, and homosexuality in any shape or form.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church 2351-2357] Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure..."Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."...Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality...Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity...Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure...Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person...Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them...homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.</ref>

The Catholic Church opposes the introduction of [[same-sex marriage|both civil and religious same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-repeats-that-same-sex-marriage-is-anthropological-regression|title=Pope Repeats that Same-Sex 'Marriage' is "Anthropological Regression"|work=National Catholic Register|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ''Considerations regarding proposals to give recognition to unions between homosexual persons'', 5] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613085642/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html |date=13 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#CHAPTER%20FIVE|title=Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/03/02/opponents-confident-that-same-sex-marriage-law-will-be-overturned-in-referendum/|title=Catholic Church Strongly Opposed To Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage In Md.|date=2012-03-02|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicbishops.ie/2013/04/12/submission-constitutional-convention/|title=Submission to Constitutional Convention|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The Church also holds that same-sex unions are an unfavourable environment for children and that the legalization of such unions damages society.<ref name="2003 letter">Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, 2003, points 7 and 8</ref>
Leading figures in the Catholic hierarchy, including cardinals and bishops, have publicly voiced or actively opposed legislation of civil same-sex marriage<ref name="ReferenceC"/><ref name="Africareview.com"/><ref name="gaystarnews.com"/><ref name="Vatican condemns Spain gay bill"/><ref name="independent.ie"/><ref name="irishexaminer.com"/><ref name="Gay Star News"/> and encouraged others to do the same,<ref name="ReferenceC">Comment. "We cannot afford to indulge this madness". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2012</ref><ref name="Africareview.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.africareview.com/News/Cameroon-Catholic-lawyers-vow-to-uphold-anti-gay-laws/-/979180/1704056/-/g7erql/-/index.html |title=Cameroon Catholic lawyers vow to uphold anti-gay laws: News |publisher=Africareview.com |access-date=2 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="gaystarnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/nigerian-catholics-congratulate-president-making-same-sex-marriage-crime050214 |title=Nigerian Catholics congratulate President for making same-sex marriage a crime | Gay Star News |access-date=15 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313095306/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/nigerian-catholics-congratulate-president-making-same-sex-marriage-crime050214 |archive-date=13 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Vatican condemns Spain gay bill">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4473001.stm Vatican condemns Spain gay bill]". BBC News. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2007</ref><ref name="independent.ie">{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bishops-vow-to-boycott-weddings-over-gay-marriage-29162066.html|title=Bishops vow to 'boycott' weddings over gay marriage - Independent.ie|work=Independent.ie|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref><ref name="irishexaminer.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bishops-issue-warning-over-bid-to-legalise-gay-marriages-226799.html|title=Bishops issue warning over bid to legalise gay marriages|date=29 March 2013|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Gay Star News">{{cite web |url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-says-%E2%80%98i-do%E2%80%99-gay-civil-unions050813 |title=Croatia says 'I do' to gay civil unions |publisher=Gay Star News |date=5 August 2013 |access-date=2 September 2013 |archive-date=24 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824201142/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-says-%E2%80%98i-do%E2%80%99-gay-civil-unions050813 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="npr-marriage">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154408067/deadline-nears-for-gay-marriage-referendum-in-washington|title=Seattle Catholics Divided On Repealing Gay Marriage|author=Liz Jones|agency=NPR|date=6 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="Patrick">{{cite web|last=Patrick |first=Joseph |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/04/16/archbishop-of-paris-warns-that-equal-marriage-will-lead-to-a-more-violent-society/ |title=France: Archbishop of Paris warns that equal marriage will lead to a more violent society |publisher=PinkNews.co.uk |access-date=2 September 2013|date=16 April 2013 }}</ref> and have done likewise with regard to same-sex [[civil unions]]<ref name="The Independent">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catholic-church-in-polygamy--attack-on-civil-unions-7965157.html |title=Catholic Church in polygamy attack on civil unions – Europe – World |work=The Independent |date=23 July 2012 |access-date=2 September 2013 |location=London |first=Michael |last=Day}}</ref><ref name="Catholic News Agency">{{cite news|title=Irish cardinal urges opposition to homosexual civil unions|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16929/irish-cardinal-urges-opposition-to-homosexual-civil-unions|access-date=27 August 2013|newspaper=Catholic News Agency|date=25 August 2009|location=Armagh, Ireland}}</ref> and [[LGBT adoption|adoption by same-sex couples]].<ref name="2003 letter"/>

There are a growing number of Catholics globally who dissent from the official position of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and express support for civil unions or same-sex marriage. In some locations, for example North America, Northern and Western Europe, there is stronger support for [[LGBT rights]] (such as civil unions, civil same-sex marriage and protection against discrimination) among Catholics than the general population at large.<ref>See *{{cite web
|author = United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
|url = http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,PHL,4562d8cf2,440ed74ba,0.html
|title = Refworld | Philippines: Treatment of homosexuals and state protection available (2000-2005)
|publisher = UNHCR
|access-date = 2013-02-11
}}
* {{cite web
|last = Newport
|first = Frank
|title = For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage
|url = http://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/First-Time-Majority-Americans-Favor-Legal-Gay-Marriage.aspx
|publisher = [[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|date = 20 May 2011
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Survey – Generations at Odds: The Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights
|date = 29 August 2011
|url = http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/08/generations-at-odds/
|publisher = [[Public Religion Research Institute]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Data Points: Support for Legal Same-Sex Marriage
|url = http://chronicle.com/article/Chart-Support-for-Legal/64683/
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = [[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]
|date = 16 March 2010
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Pew Forum Part 2: Public Opinion on Gay Marriage
|url = http://www.pewforum.org/PublicationPage.aspx?id=647
|publisher = [[Pew Research Center]]
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120910053311/http://www.pewforum.org/PublicationPage.aspx?id=647
|archive-date = 10 September 2012
}}
* {{cite news
|title = Most Irish people support gay marriage, poll says
|url = http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/02/24/most-irish-people-support-gay-marriage-poll-says/
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = PinkNews
|date = 24 February 2011
}}
* {{cite news
|last = Jowit
|first = Juliette
|title = Gay marriage gets ministerial approval
|url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/12/gay-marriage-receive-ministerial-approval
|access-date = 25 September 2012
|newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
|date = 12 June 2012
|location = London
}}
* {{cite web
|url = http://www.ifop.com/?option=com_publication&type=poll&id=1956
|title = Les Français, les catholiques et les droits des couples homosexuels
|publisher = Ifop.com
|date = 2012-08-14
|access-date = 2013-02-11
}}
* [http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/03/for-catholics-open-attitudes-on-gay-issues/ Report | Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Comprehensive Portrait from Recent Research] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403045736/http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/03/for-catholics-open-attitudes-on-gay-issues/ |date=April 3, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="USAtoday">{{Cite news |work=USA Today |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/03/gay-marriage-catholic-church-/1 |title=U.S. Catholics break with church on gay relationships |date=March 23, 2011 |first=Cathy Lynn |last=Grossman}}</ref>

In 2021, the Catholic Church reaffirmed its position: That "the Church does not have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons the same sex".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html|access-date=2022-02-03|website=press.vatican.va}}</ref> In 2023 the [[Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith#:~:text=It is still informally known,of new and unacceptable doctrines."|Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith]] clarified that individual sinners may be blessed in non-liturgical settings that do not confuse the simple blessing with sacramental marriage [[Fiducia supplicans|in a decree called Fiducia Supplicans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vatican says priests can bless same-sex couples without condoning their lifestyles|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256308/vatican-says-priests-can-bless-same-sex-couples-without-condoning-their-lifestyles|access-date=2023-12-22|website=catholic news agency.com}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism}}
{{div col}}
* [[Banns of marriage]]
* [[Nuptial Mass]]
* [[Christian views of marriage]]
* [[Christian views on divorce]]
* [[Declaration of nullity]]
* [[Defender of the Bond]]
* [[Impediment of crime]]
* [[Matrimonial dispensation]]
* [[Natural marriage]]
* [[Pauline privilege]]
* [[Vetitum]]
* [[Parish register]]
{{div col end|2}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101023213813/http://www.kofc.org/publications/cis/catechism/getsection.cfm?partnum=2&SecNum=2&ChapNum=3&articlenum=7&ParSecNum=0&subSecNum=0&headernum=0&ParNum=1601&ParType=4 ''Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Sacrament of Matrimony''] An authoritative summary of Church teaching on marriage, including the main requirements for the celebration of the sacrament of Marriage.
* [http://www.catholicweddinghelp.com/topics/order-wedding-with-mass.htm ''Order of the Rite for Celebrating Marriage During Mass''] Order of a Catholic wedding during Mass, with links to official texts from the Rite of Marriage
* [https://archive.today/20130107100945/http://solages.site.voila.fr/everyd/canon_law_sacraments_en.xhtml%23mariage Liberté plus haute…] The canon law for dummies.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090622095840/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_10021880_arcanum_en.html ''Arcanum''] Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Christian Marriage
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Ritual of Marriage}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Sacrament of Marriage}}

{{Types of marriages}}
{{Seven Sacraments}}
{{Catholicism}}

[[Category:Marriage in the Catholic Church| ]]

Stephania (wife of Adrian II)

2024-09-25T22:51:11Z

Contaldo80: /* Biography */

{{Short description|Wife of Pope Adrian II}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Stephania
| title = Popess of Rome
| image =
| caption =
| house =
| full name =
| birth_date = unknown
| birth_place = 868
| father =
| mother =
| spouse = Pope [[Adrian II]]
| issue = 1
}}

'''Stephania''' (died 868) was a Roman noblewoman and the wife of Pope [[Adrian II]]. Upon her husband's election to the papacy in 867, she resided in the [[Lateran Palace]]. She and her daughter were abducted and later murdered by her son-in-law, Eleutherius, in 868. Her abduction and death was described in the chronicle ''[[Annales Bertiniani]]'' by [[Hincmar|Saint Hincmar]].

== Biography ==
Stephania married the future [[Adrian II]] before he took his vows as a priest <ref>Loughlin, James Francis (1907). "Pope Adrian II" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref> and had a daughter with him.<ref>Riche, Pierre (1993), ''The Carolingians'', University of Pennsylvania Press, {{ISBN|9780812213423}}</ref><ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SGJbAAAAcAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA293 The Religion of Rome described by a Roman: Authorised translation by William ]'' p. 293</ref><ref>Fernand Mourret: A History of the Catholic Church, Volym 3. B. Herder Book Company, 1946</ref> Adrian was at the relatively advanced age of seventy-five at the time of his election as Pope.<ref>Loughlin, James Francis (1907). "Pope Adrian II" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref> Catholic priests had been required to abstain from all further sexual relations since the 4th century at the latest.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Helen Parish |title=Clerical Celibacy in the West: C.1100-1700 |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=9781317165163 |pages=49–51}}</ref>
However, in this time period, it was not yet forbidden for Catholic priests to marry, only an ideal: the formal celibacy for priests was not introduced until the [[Second Council of the Lateran]] in 1139.

Stephania was still alive when Adrian II was elected pope in 867. Her position was almost unique. While six popes in total had been married at some point, Adrian II was likely the only one married during his papacy, while the others appear to have been widowed by the time they became popes.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} The last married pope had been [[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]] three centuries prior, and he was widowed when he became pope. The wives of Catholic priests were called by the female version of their husband's title, which would have made Stephania "popess". Stephania and her daughter lived with Adrian in the [[Lateran Palace]].<ref>Dopierała, K. (1996). Księga Papieży. Poznań: Pallotinum. p. 106.</ref><ref>Riche, Pierre, ''The Carolingians''</ref>

The daughter of Adrian II and Stephania married Eleutherius, a relative of the Papal librarian [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]]. However, Eleutherius withheld the fact that he was already espoused to another.<ref>Alexander Penrose Forbes ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q80CAAAAQAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA637 Articles XXII to end]'' 637</ref> In 868, Stephania and her daughter were abducted by Eleutherius and murdered by him.<ref>Dopierała, K. (1996). Księga Papieży. Poznań: Pallotinum. p. 106.</ref>
Eleutherius was condemned to death for the abduction and murder. His relative Anastasius Bibliothecarius was accused of having conspired to the abduction and excomunicated.

The abduction and murder of the pope's wife and daughter attracted a lot of attention and was described in the third part of the famous chronicle ''[[Annales Bertiniani]]'' by Bishop [[Hincmar]] in Pertz, Mon. Germanica vol. 1.<ref>William Cornwallis Cartwright ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=na1cAAAAcAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA229 On Papal Conclaves]'' 123</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Works cited ==
* William Cornwallis Cartwright ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=na1cAAAAcAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA229 On Papal Conclaves]'' 123
* Alexander Penrose Forbes ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q80CAAAAQAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA637 Articles XXII to end]'' 637
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SGJbAAAAcAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA293 The Religion of Rome described by a Roman: Authorised translation by William Howitt]'' 293
* Richard Wigginton Thompson ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7s9MAAAAMAAJ&dq=Adrian+II+wife+Stephania&pg=PA393 The Papacy and the Civil Power]''

{{authority control}}

[[Category:868 deaths]]
[[Category:9th-century Christians]]
[[Category:9th-century Italian women]]
[[Category:Christian clerical marriage]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]
[[Category:Consorts of monarchs]]
[[Category:Female murder victims]]
[[Category:Italian murder victims]]
[[Category:Italian nobility]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Murdered ancient Roman women]]
[[Category:Papal family members]]
[[Category:People murdered in Italy]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy]]

Pope Adrian II

2024-09-25T22:41:10Z

Contaldo80: /* Family */

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 867 to 872}}

{{Infobox Christian leader
|type = Pope
|honorific-prefix=[[List of popes|Pope]]
|name=Adrian II
|title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|image =
|term_start=14 December 867<ref>{{cite web| url = https://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/holy-father/adriano-ii.html| title = Adrian II, The Holy See}}</ref>
|term_end=14 December 872
|predecessor=[[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas I]]
|successor=[[Pope John VIII|John VIII]]
|birth_date={{Birth date text|0792|792}}
|birth_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
|death_date={{death date and age|872|12|14|792|df=y}}
|death_place=Rome, Papal States|
|other=Adrian
| spouse = [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II)|Stephania]]
| children = 1
}}

'''Pope Adrian II''' ({{lang-la|Adrianus II}}; also '''Hadrian II'''; 792{{snd}}14 December 872) was the [[bishop of Rome]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 867 to his death. He continued the policy of his predecessor, [[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas I]]. Despite seeking good relations with [[Louis II of Italy]], he was placed under surveillance, and his wife and daughters were killed by Louis' supporters.

==Family==
Adrian was a member of a noble Roman family, related to Popes [[Pope Stephen IV|Stephen IV]] and [[Pope Sergius II|Sergius II]].<ref>Mann, Horace K., ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages'', Vol. II: The Popes During the Carolingian Empire, 795–858 (1906), p. 110</ref> In his youth, he married a woman named [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II)|Stephania]] and had a daughter with her. Adrian later became a priest after having already been married.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Catholic |last=Loughlin |first=James |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1 |inline=1 |prescript=}}</ref> Catholic priests had been required to abstain from all further sexual relations since the 4th century at the latest.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Helen Parish |title=Clerical Celibacy in the West: C.1100-1700 |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=9781317165163 |pages=49–51}}</ref>

Adrian was [[Papal selection before 1059|selected]] to become [[pope]] on 14 December 867. He was already at an advanced age (75), and objected to assuming the papacy.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> His wife and daughter moved with him to the [[Lateran Palace]].<ref name=Riche>Riche, Pierre (1993), ''The Carolingians'', University of Pennsylvania Press, {{ISBN|9780812213423}}</ref>

==Pontificate==
Adrian II maintained, but with less energy, the policies of his predecessor, [[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas I]]. King [[Lothair II of Lotharingia]], who died in 869, left Adrian to mediate between the [[Franks|Frankish]] kings with a view to secure the imperial inheritance to Lothair's brother, [[Louis II of Italy]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Adrian sought to maintain good relations with Louis, since the latter's campaigns in southern Italy had the potential to free the papacy from the threat posed by the Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kleinhenz|first1=Christopher|title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia|date=2 Aug 2004|publisher=Routledge|chapter=Hadrian II, Pope|isbn=9781135948795|quote=Hadrian sought to alienate no one in Rome, while also maintaining good relations with Louis II, whose campaigns in the south might free the papacy from the threat posed by the Muslims.}}</ref>

Patriarch [[Photius I of Constantinople]], shortly after the council in which he had pronounced sentence of deposition against [[Pope Nicholas I]], was driven from the patriarchate by a new [[Byzantine emperor]], [[Basil the Macedonian]], who favoured Photius' rival, [[Ignatios of Constantinople|Ignatius]]. The [[Fourth Council of Constantinople (Catholic Church)|Robber Council of Constantinople]] was convoked to decide this matter. At this council, Adrian was represented by [[papal legate|legates]] who presided at the condemnation of Photius as a heretic, but did not succeed in coming to an understanding with Ignatius on the subject of jurisdiction over the [[Bulgarian Church]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Adrian supported the work of [[Cyril and Methodius]] in [[Great Moravia|Moravia]], and authorized the use of the new Slavic liturgy. He subsequently ordained Methodius a priest. In 869, he consecrated Methodius archbishop and Metropolitan of [[Sirmium]].<ref>"The Life of Methodius", ''Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes'' (Marvin Kantor) [Michigan Slavic Translation 5]. University of Michigan. (1983) p. 117. {{ISBN| 0-930042-44-1}}</ref>

Like Nicholas I, Adrian was forced to submit in temporal affairs to the interference of Emperor Louis II, who placed him under the surveillance of Bishop Arsenius of [[Orte]], his confidential adviser, and Arsenius' nephew, [[Anastasius the Librarian]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Arsenius' son Eleutherius married Adrian's daughter, having withheld the fact that he was already espoused to another. In 868, he abducted and murdered Adrian's wife and daughter.<ref name=Riche/> Eleutherius was condemned to death for his crimes.

Adrian died on 14 December 872, after exactly five years of pontificate.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}

==References==
{{reflist|50em}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|last=Dvornik|first=Francis|author-link=Francis Dvornik|title=The Photian Schism: History and Legend|year=1948|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_A8AAAAIAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ostrogorsky|first=George|author-link=George Ostrogorsky|year=1956|title=History of the Byzantine State|location=Oxford|publisher=Basil Blackwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Siecienski|first=Anthony Edward|year=2010|title=The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auT8VbgOe48C|isbn=9780195372045}}

==External links==
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0867-0872-_Hadrianus_II.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes] {{inlang|la}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Adrian (popes)|display=Adrian s.v. II|volume=1|page=215}}
*{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Pope Adrian II|first=James Francis|last= Loughlin|volume=1}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=867–872}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope John VIII|John VIII]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adrian 02}}
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:792 births|Adrian II]]
[[Category:872 deaths|Adrian II]]
[[Category:9th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:Married Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:9th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]
[[Category:Italian nobility]]

List of sexually active popes

2024-09-25T22:38:48Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|none}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not [[celibate]] before they became [[pope]], and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were thought to have been sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had children.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by contemporary political or religious opponents. Some claims are generally accepted by modern historians, while other remain more contested.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular episcopal jurisdiction,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> it was not until the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) that official made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination within the [[Latin Church]] (and effectively ended any practice of a married priesthood). Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bonds of [[Sacrament of marriage|marriage]], and each sexual act thus committed would have been considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This connection is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, Felix fathered two children, one of whom was subsequently the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]] (making the latter his grandson).<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]].
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Widowed before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|-
|[[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]]
|1523–1534
|Not married. Relationship with a slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio
|Yes (one)
|Identified as [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro de' Medici]], Duke of Florence.<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes'', page 74: "Clement now made Alessandro de Medici "his illegitimate son by a slave" into the first duke of Florence", McFarland & Company, 1998, {{ISBN|0-7864-2071-5}}</ref><ref>Mara Wade, ''Gender Matters: Discourses of violence in early modern literature and the arts'', Editions Rodopi, 2013</ref>
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]".<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact|date=October 2023}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref> However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=[[Bantam Books]] |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> [[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Posthumously accused of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550–1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with ennobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2024-09-25T22:30:25Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|none}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had children.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Widowed before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|-
|[[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]]
|1523–1534
|Not married. Relationship with a slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio
|Yes (one)
|Identified as [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro de' Medici]], Duke of Florence.<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes'', page 74: "Clement now made Alessandro de Medici "his illegitimate son by a slave" into the first duke of Florence", McFarland & Company, 1998, {{ISBN|0-7864-2071-5}}</ref><ref>Mara Wade, ''Gender Matters: Discourses of violence in early modern literature and the arts'', Editions Rodopi, 2013</ref>
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]".<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact|date=October 2023}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref> However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=[[Bantam Books]] |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> [[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]{{efn|name=alleged|This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.}}
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Posthumously accused of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550–1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with ennobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

Trasilla and Emiliana

2024-09-01T03:08:17Z

Contaldo80:

{{short description|Italian saint}}

{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saints
|name= Trasilla and Emiliana
|birth_date=
|death_date=6th century
|feast_day={{ubl|24 December (Trasilla)|5 January (Emiliana)}}
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]],
[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
|image=
|imagesize= 250px
|caption=
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|titles=
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Trasilla''' (also called '''Tarsila, Tharsilla, Thrasilla'''<ref name="oslo" /><ref name="dunbar" />) and '''Emiliana''' (also called '''Aemiliana, Emilie, Æmiliana'''<ref name="oslo" /><ref>Baring-Gould, p. 272</ref>) were aunts of [[Gregory the Great|Pope Gregory I]] and are venerated as [[virgin]] saints of the sixth century. They appear in the ''Roman Martyrology'', Trasilla on 24 December, Emiliana on 5 January.<ref name="Mershman">{{Cite book |last=Mershman |first=Francis |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15026a.htm |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |date=1912 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |volume=15 |location=New York |chapter=Sts. Trasilla and Emiliana |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="dunbar">{{Cite book |last=Dunbar |first=Agnes Baillie Cunninghame |url=https://archive.org/details/DictionaryOfSaintlyWomenV2/page/n254/mode/1up?q=Tarsilla&view=theater |title=A Dictionary Of Saintly Women |date=1904 |publisher=George Bell and Sons |volume=2 |location=New York |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>

==Life==
Trasilla and Emiliana were sisters who came from an ancient Roman noble family, the gens Anicia. Their brother, Senator Gordian, was a rich patrician who owned "a magnificent villa on the [[Caelian Hill]] and large estates in Sicily",<ref name="oslo">{{Cite web |date=28 November 2015 |title=Saints Tarsilla and Emiliana of Rome (d. ~550) |url=http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/tharsila |access-date=27 April 2024 |website=Den Katolske Kirke |language=no}}</ref> and who became the father of [[Pope Gregory I|Pope Gregory I]].<ref name="Mershman" /> They had another sister, Gordiana (also called Gordia), who was much younger.<ref name="dunbar" /> Their grandfather was [[Felix III|Pope Felix III]] and [[Pope Agapetus I]] was probably an ancestor. Their mother, [[Saint Silvia|Silvia]], was also a saint.<ref name="oslo" /> Gregory wrote that his father had three sisters, who vowed themselves to God and lived a life of [[virginity]], fasting, and prayer in their father's home on the [[Clivus Scauri]] in [[Rome]]. Even though they did not live in a monastery, they were consecrated and lived according to a rule. Gordiana eventually left to marry the manager of her estates,<ref name="oslo" /><ref name="dunbar" /><ref name="Mershman" /> although Gregory said that she "went to perdition".<ref name="baringgold-273">Baring-Gould, p. 273</ref> According to hagiographer Agnes Dunbar, "[Trasilla] was so constant at her prayers that her knees became hard like those of a camel".<ref name="dunbar" /> Hagiographer Sabine Baring-Gould says that "with great satisfaction",<ref name="baringgold-273"/> the story was confirmed by Gregory.

Tradition states that "after many years of service",<ref name="Mershman" /> Felix III, appeared to Trasilla, showed her "a throne prepared for her",<ref name="dunbar" /> and ordered her to enter heaven; "seeing Jesus beckoning"<ref name="Mershman" /> and struck with a fever, she died on [[Christmas Eve]]. A few days later, Trasilla appeared to Emiliana, inviting her to celebrate [[Epiphany (Christian)|Epiphany]] in heaven; she died the day before, on January 5.<ref name="oslo" /><ref name="dunbar" /><ref>Baring-Gould, p. 272</ref><ref name="Mershman" /> Most of what is known about their life, visions, and death are from Gregory, who spoke about them from his 38th [[homily]] on the [[Gospel of Matthew]] and his [[Dialogues (Pope Gregory I)|Dialogues]].<ref name="oslo" />

According to tradition, their [[relics]] and those of their mother, Silvia, are in the Oratory of Saint Andrew on the [[Celian Hill]].<ref name="Mershman" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Works cited ==
* {{Cite book |last=Baring-Gould |first=Sabine |url=https://archive.org/details/TheLivesOfTheSaintsV15/page/n315/mode/1up?q=Tarsilla&view=theater |title=The Lives of the Saints |date=1897 |publisher=John C. Nimmo |volume=15 |location=London |pages=272-273 |access-date=27 April 2024}}{{authority control}}

[[Category:Sister duos]]
[[Category:People from medieval Rome]]
[[Category:6th-century Italo-Roman people]]
[[Category:6th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:6th-century Italian women]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:Female saints of medieval Italy]]

Trasilla and Emiliana

2024-09-01T03:07:43Z

Contaldo80:

{{short description|Italian saint}}

{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saints
|name= Trasilla and Emiliana
|birth_date=
|death_date=6th century
|feast_day={{ubl|24 December (Trasilla)|5 January (Emiliana)}}
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]],
[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
|image=
|imagesize= 250px
|caption=
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|titles=
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Trasilla''' (also called '''Tarsila, Tharsilla, Thrasilla'''<ref name="oslo" /><ref name="dunbar" />) and '''Emiliana''' (also called '''Aemiliana, Emilie, Æmiliana'''<ref name="oslo" /><ref>Baring-Gould, p. 272</ref>) were aunts of [[Gregory the Great|Pope Gregory I]] and are venerated as [[virgin]] saints of the sixth century. They appear in the ''Roman Martyrology'', Trasilla on 24 December, Emiliana on 5 January.<ref name="Mershman">{{Cite book |last=Mershman |first=Francis |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15026a.htm |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |date=1912 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |volume=15 |location=New York |chapter=Sts. Trasilla and Emiliana |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="dunbar">{{Cite book |last=Dunbar |first=Agnes Baillie Cunninghame |url=https://archive.org/details/DictionaryOfSaintlyWomenV2/page/n254/mode/1up?q=Tarsilla&view=theater |title=A Dictionary Of Saintly Women |date=1904 |publisher=George Bell and Sons |volume=2 |location=New York |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>

==Life==
Trasilla and Emiliana were sisters who came from an ancient Roman noble family, the gens Anicia. Their brother, Senator Gordian, was a rich patrician who owned "a magnificent villa on the [[Caelian Hill]] and large estates in Sicily",<ref name="oslo">{{Cite web |date=28 November 2015 |title=Saints Tarsilla and Emiliana of Rome (d. ~550) |url=http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/tharsila |access-date=27 April 2024 |website=Den Katolske Kirke |language=no}}</ref> and who became the father of [[Pope Gregory I|Saint Pope Gregory I]].<ref name="Mershman" /> They had another sister, Gordiana (also called Gordia), who was much younger.<ref name="dunbar" /> Their grandfather was [[Felix III|Saint Pope Felix III]] and [[Pope Agapetus I]] was probably an ancestor. Their mother, [[Saint Silvia|Silvia]], was also a saint.<ref name="oslo" /> Gregory wrote that his father had three sisters, who vowed themselves to God and lived a life of [[virginity]], fasting, and prayer in their father's home on the [[Clivus Scauri]] in [[Rome]]. Even though they did not live in a monastery, they were consecrated and lived according to a rule. Gordiana eventually left to marry the manager of her estates,<ref name="oslo" /><ref name="dunbar" /><ref name="Mershman" /> although Gregory said that she "went to perdition".<ref name="baringgold-273">Baring-Gould, p. 273</ref> According to hagiographer Agnes Dunbar, "[Trasilla] was so constant at her prayers that her knees became hard like those of a camel".<ref name="dunbar" /> Hagiographer Sabine Baring-Gould says that "with great satisfaction",<ref name="baringgold-273"/> the story was confirmed by Gregory.

Tradition states that "after many years of service",<ref name="Mershman" /> Felix III, appeared to Trasilla, showed her "a throne prepared for her",<ref name="dunbar" /> and ordered her to enter heaven; "seeing Jesus beckoning"<ref name="Mershman" /> and struck with a fever, she died on [[Christmas Eve]]. A few days later, Trasilla appeared to Emiliana, inviting her to celebrate [[Epiphany (Christian)|Epiphany]] in heaven; she died the day before, on January 5.<ref name="oslo" /><ref name="dunbar" /><ref>Baring-Gould, p. 272</ref><ref name="Mershman" /> Most of what is known about their life, visions, and death are from Gregory, who spoke about them from his 38th [[homily]] on the [[Gospel of Matthew]] and his [[Dialogues (Pope Gregory I)|Dialogues]].<ref name="oslo" />

According to tradition, their [[relics]] and those of their mother, Silvia, are in the Oratory of Saint Andrew on the [[Celian Hill]].<ref name="Mershman" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Works cited ==
* {{Cite book |last=Baring-Gould |first=Sabine |url=https://archive.org/details/TheLivesOfTheSaintsV15/page/n315/mode/1up?q=Tarsilla&view=theater |title=The Lives of the Saints |date=1897 |publisher=John C. Nimmo |volume=15 |location=London |pages=272-273 |access-date=27 April 2024}}{{authority control}}

[[Category:Sister duos]]
[[Category:People from medieval Rome]]
[[Category:6th-century Italo-Roman people]]
[[Category:6th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:6th-century Italian women]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:Female saints of medieval Italy]]

LGBT bishops

2024-08-20T22:39:54Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|List of openly LGBT bishops}}
{{pp-move-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Christianity and sexual orientation}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=June 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
This article largely discusses presence of [[coming out|openly]] lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and queer [[bishops]] in churches governed under [[episcopal polity|episcopal polities]]. The existence of '''LGBT bishops''' in the [[Anglican]], [[Catholic]], [[Lutheran]], [[Methodist]] and other traditions is a matter of historical record, though never, until recently, were LGBT clergy and bishops ordained by any of the main Christian denominations.<ref name="Boswell1">{{cite book|last=Boswell|first=John|title=Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century|year=1981|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226067117|page=[https://archive.org/details/christianitysoci00john/page/211 211]|edition=Paperback|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/christianitysoci00john}}</ref> Homosexual activity was engaged in secretly. When it was made public, official response ranged from suspension of [[sacrament]]al duties to [[Defrocking|laicisation]].<ref name="Boswell2">{{cite book|last=Boswell|first=John|title=Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century|year=1981|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226067117|pages=[https://archive.org/details/christianitysoci00john/page/214 214]–15|edition=Paperback|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/christianitysoci00john}}</ref>

The higher prominence given today to the presence of LGBT clergy, including bishops, in the life of the church reflects broader issues, both socially and [[ecclesiology|ecclesiologically]] (see [[List of Christian denominational positions on homosexuality]]), concerning issues of [[social tolerance]] and the relationship between [[social change]] and doctrinal development. The issue has attracted greater attention in recent years following the development of the [[gay rights]] movement, and the increasing discussion within some Christian churches over the inclusion of gay clergy in senior positions.

==Historical context==

{{Further|Ordination of LGBT Christian clergy}}

It was customary in the past for individuals – whether clergy or not – to remain secretive (in [[the closet]]) about their [[sexual orientation]] and activity. This was mainly because there was generally low tolerance for homosexuality across society, and those caught faced severe criminal sanctions (often including death). Nor is it straightforward to identify individuals before the 19th century as homosexual or "gay" in the modern sense of the word.

Nevertheless, as far back as the sixth century (CE) the Greek chronicler [[John Malalas]] wrote about Isaiah, [[Bishop of Rhodes]] and Alexander, Bishop of [[Diospolis in Thracia]] who had been punished by the Prefect of Thrace (Victor) for "homosexual practices". Isaiah was tortured severely and exiled, while Alexander had his genitals amputated and was subsequently paraded around the city on a litter. As a result, the Emperor [[Justinian]] decreed that all caught for pederasty should have their genitals amputated. Many [[homosexual men]] were arrested in the wake of this, and died from their injuries. An atmosphere of fear followed.<ref>The Chronicle of John Malalas, 18:18</ref>

In the eleventh century, Ralph, [[Archbishop of Tours]] in France had his lover Jean installed as [[Jean, Bishop of Orleans|Bishop of Orléans]] in France. Neither [[Pope Urban II]], nor his successor [[Paschal II]] took action to depose either man from the episcopacy.<ref>Boswell, 214–215</ref>

[[Baldric of Dol]] ({{circa|1050}} – 1130), abbot of Bourgueil and subsequently Bishop of [[Ancient Diocese of Dol|Dol-en-Bretagne]] in France, wrote passionate letters to a man simply called "Walter": "If you wish to take up lodging with me, I will divide my heart and breast with you. I will share with you anything of mine that can be divided; If you command it, I will share my very soul."

Several of the poems of [[Marbodius of Rennes]] (died 1123), Bishop of Rennes in France, speak of handsome boys and [[homosexual]] desires although stop short of consummating physical relationships (''An Argument Against Copulation Between People of Only One Sex''). Poems, such as the one where he sent an urgent demand that his beloved return if he wished the speaker to remain faithful to him, have been interpreted to indicate that more than poetic invention was involved.<ref>[[John Boswell]], ''Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality'', Chicago, 1980</ref>

After the [[reformation]] in the Roman Catholic Church, public scandal touched upon the fondness of Cardinal [[Scipione Borghese]] ([[Archbishop of Bologna]]) for Cardinal [[Stefano Pignatelli]] (his likely lover).
In the 16th century in Italy, [[Pope Julius III]] (Bishop of Rome) was rumoured to have a romantic relationship with a teenage boy named Innocenzo.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Tharoor|first1=Ishaan|title=Notorious Cardinals: A Rogue's Gallery of Powerful Prelates: Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte|url=http://world.time.com/2013/03/13/notorious-cardinals-a-rogues-gallery-of-powerful-prelates/slide/innocenzo-ciocchi-del-monte/|access-date=20 May 2016|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=12 March 2013|archive-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603023853/http://world.time.com/2013/03/13/notorious-cardinals-a-rogues-gallery-of-powerful-prelates/slide/innocenzo-ciocchi-del-monte/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 18th century notable examples of emotional and perhaps romantic relationships among bishops include Cardinal [[Henry Benedict Stuart]] and [[Archbishop of Genoa]] [[Giovanni Lercari]].

[[File:William Laud.jpg|thumb|upright|William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1645)]]
In the Anglican Communion, [[John Whitgift]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in England (1583–1604), formed a close relationship with [[Andrew Perne]] while at university in Cambridge. Perne went on to live with Whitgift in his old age. Puritan satirists would later mock Whitgift as "Perne's boy" who was willing to carry his cloak-bag – thus suggesting that the two had enjoyed a [[homosexual]] relationship.<ref>Patrick Collinson, ''Richard Bancroft and Elizabethan Anti-Puritanism'', University of Cambridge, 2013</ref> [[William Laud]] (died 1645), also Archbishop of Canterbury, managed [[homosexual]] leanings discreetly, but confided his erotic dreams about the Duke of Buckingham and others to a private diary.<ref>{{cite book |author=Diarmaid MacCulloch |author-link=Diarmaid MacCulloch |title=Reformation|year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books|page=517|isbn=0-140-28534-2}}</ref> In the 19th century Cardinal [[John Henry Newman]] remained close to [[Ambrose St. John]] and was attacked by contemporaries for his "lack of masculinity". The two were buried in the same grave.

[[John Atherton]] (1598–1640) served from 1634 as [[Bishop of Waterford and Lismore]] in the [[Church of Ireland]]. In 1640 Atherton was accused of [[buggery]] with a man, John Childe, his steward and [[tithe]] [[proctor]]. They were tried under a law that Atherton himself had helped to institute. They were both condemned to death, and Atherton was executed in [[Stephen's Green]], [[Dublin]]. Reportedly, he confessed to the crime immediately before his execution, although he had proclaimed his innocence before that.<ref>Bray, Alan (1982). ''Homosexuality in Renaissance England''. London: Gay Men's Press</ref>

==Modern day==

===Anglican Communion===
====US Episcopal Church====
[[File:GeneRobinson.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Gene Robinson]], former Bishop of New Hampshire]]
It is in contemporary Anglicanism that the issue of homosexuality and its relationship to people in the episcopate has been confronted openly. Indeed, the first large mainstream church to ever consecrate an openly gay bishop who was not celibate has been the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], a member of the [[Anglican Communion]], who [[consecration|consecrated]] [[Gene Robinson]] [[diocese|diocesan]] bishop of the [[Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire|Diocese of New Hampshire]] in 2003.<ref name="bates1">''The Guardian'', "The Guardian profile: Gene Robinson", Stephen Bates, 31 October 2003. Retrieved on 1 September 2006.</ref>

Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor in 2003 and succeeded as diocesan bishop in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he served as Canon to the Ordinary to the VIII Bishop of New Hampshire. His [[sexual orientation]] was privately acknowledged in the 1970s, when he studied in seminary, was ordained, married, and started a family. He went public with his [[sexual identity]] and divorced in 1986.<ref>{{cite news
| url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/09/09/gay-bishop-gene-robinson-20-years-ago-coming-out-was-almost-like-committing-suicide/
| title=Gay bishop Gene Robinson: '20 years ago, coming out was almost like committing suicide'
| date=9 September 2009
| newspaper=Pink News
| access-date=21 June 2016
| archive-date=10 September 2016
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910134720/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/09/09/gay-bishop-gene-robinson-20-years-ago-coming-out-was-almost-like-committing-suicide/
| url-status=live
}}</ref> He entered a formal relationship with his second partner, Mark Andrew, in 1988. When delegates to the Episcopal convention were voting on the ratification of his election, it became an issue of controversy. His election was ratified 62 to 45. After his election, many theologically conservative Episcopalians in the United States abandoned the Episcopal Church, formed the [[Anglican Church in North America]] (ACNA) and aligned themselves with bishops outside the Episcopal Church in the United States, a process called the [[Anglican realignment]].

There have been documented cases of other openly gay Anglican bishops, however. The first bishop to come out as [[gay]] was the US Episcopal bishop [[Otis Charles]], who did so soon after his retirement in 1993. He subsequently divorced from his wife.<ref>LGBT Religious Archives Network, [http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.asp?A=C&ID=129 Profiles] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206223340/http://lgbtran.org/Profile.asp?A=C&ID=129 |date=6 February 2006}}. Retrieved on 12 September 2006.</ref> He had been a bishop in [[Utah]] from 1971 to 1993, and after coming out became vocal in his support for LGBT rights while remaining a member of the Episcopal House of Bishops. In 1999 he was arrested and escorted away in handcuffs after a protest at the Episcopal church national convention against the church's historical treatment of gay people. He went on to legally marry his partner, Felipe Sanchez-Paris in 2008.<ref>''[[Gay Star News]]'', 1 January 2014</ref>

[[Mary Glasspool]], who is openly gay and lives with her partner of 20 years, was elected as a suffragan bishop in the [[Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles]] in December 2009 and was consecrated on 15 May 2010.<ref>[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_122244_ENG_HTM.htm Episcopal Life Online]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} item, 15 May 2010</ref> Her election has attracted worldwide attention, including an expression of concern from the Archbishop of Canterbury, [[Rowan Williams]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/search-results|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611150741/http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2650?q=glasspool|url-status=dead|title=Search results|archivedate=11 June 2011|website=The Archbishop of Canterbury|accessdate=13 September 2021}}</ref> In response to expressions of concern that her election would be viewed as a threat to the cohesion of the Anglican Communion, Glasspool said, "I've committed my life as a life of service to the people of Jesus Christ, and what hurts is the sense that anybody might have that my name or my servanthood could be perceived as divisive."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/09/us-lesbian-bishop-elect-hurt-by-claims-she-is-divisive/|title=US lesbian bishop-elect 'hurt' by claims she is divisive|date=9 December 2009|accessdate=13 September 2021|archive-date=13 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913080221/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/09/us-lesbian-bishop-elect-hurt-by-claims-she-is-divisive/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, Glasspool accepted the invitation to serve the [[Episcopal Diocese of New York]],<ref>Episcopal Diocese of New York: [http://www.dioceseny.org/news_items/306-bp-mary-glasspool-to-come-to-ny-as-assistant-bishop "Bp Mary Glasspool to Come to NY as Assistant Bishop"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060908/http://www.dioceseny.org/news_items/306-bp-mary-glasspool-to-come-to-ny-as-assistant-bishop |date=4 March 2016}}, 14 November 2015, accessed 23 February 2016.</ref> where she has been serving as an assistant bishop since 2016.

Bishop [[Tom Shaw (bishop)|Thomas Shaw]] of Massachusetts, a celibate monk who previously served as superior of the [[Society of St. John the Evangelist]], discussed his experiences as a gay monk, priest, and bishop in the 2012 documentary ''Love Free or Die'', about Robinson's election. A longtime supporter of the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church, he had avoided broaching the subject of his own sexuality because as a monk "he did not want to send the message that, as some conservatives argue, gay people should be celibate."<ref>{{cite web|last=Wangsness|first=Lisa|title=Episcopal bishop sought to end conflict, build bridges|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/21/bishop-thomas-shaw-sought-find-voice-public-square/c46lHFf9NZRWGcRvnyQpvO/story.html|work=[[Boston Globe]]|access-date=2 January 2014|archive-date=2 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193711/http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/21/bishop-thomas-shaw-sought-find-voice-public-square/c46lHFf9NZRWGcRvnyQpvO/story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Bp Shaw died of cancer in 2014, one month after his successor was consecrated.

Bishop [[Thomas J. Brown (bishop of Maine)|Thomas James Brown]] was consecrated the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine on 22 June 2019.<ref>Portland Press Herald [https://www.pressherald.com/2019/06/22/new-episcopalian-bishop-ordained-at-service-in-portland/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624164120/https://www.pressherald.com/2019/06/22/new-episcopalian-bishop-ordained-at-service-in-portland/|date=24 June 2019}} Retrieved on 1 July 2019</ref> He is married to Thomas Mousin, who is also an ordained priest in the church.

Bishop [[Bonnie Perry|Bonnie A. Perry]] was elected to be the 11th Episcopal Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan and ordained on 8 February 2020 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Perry will become the first woman bishop as well as the first lesbian bishop in the diocese since it was formed in 1836.<ref>{{cite web|last=Spelbring|first=Meredith|title=First female and openly lesbian bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan ordained|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/02/08/first-female-openly-lesbian-bishop-ordained-michigan-episcopal-diocese-bonnie-perry/4680863002/|work=[[Detroit Free Press]]|access-date=10 February 2020|archive-date=9 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209174657/https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/02/08/first-female-openly-lesbian-bishop-ordained-michigan-episcopal-diocese-bonnie-perry/4680863002/|url-status=live}}</ref> She is married to her partner, Susan Harlow, who is an ordained [[United Church of Christ]] pastor.

Bishop [[Deon K. Johnson]] was elected on 23 November 2019. His ordination will take place on Saturday, 25 April, at St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church in St. Louis.<ref>{{Citation| url = https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/11/23/gay-married-barbadian-priest-elected-bishop-of-missoiuri| title = Gay, married Barbadian priest elected Bishop of Missouri| date = 23 November 2019| publisher = Barbados Today| access-date = 10 February 2020| archive-date = 7 April 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200407225524/https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/11/23/gay-married-barbadian-priest-elected-bishop-of-missoiuri/| url-status = live}}</ref> He is married to Jhovanny Osorio-Vázquez Johnson.

====Church of England====

In 1993 [[Peter Ball (bishop)|Peter Ball]] resigned from his position as [[Bishop of Gloucester]] after admitting to an act of gross indecency{{what|date=December 2023|reason=The source says gross indecency, but what did this mean in England in 1993? Homosexual sex was legal at the time, and a 19-year-old man is an adult.}} with a 19-year-old man.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bishop-quits-after-police-caution-for-indecency-1496511.html|title=Bishop quits after police caution for indecency - UK - News - The Independent|last=Brown|first=Andrew|date=9 March 1993|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=28 May 2012|location=London|archive-date=27 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827010339/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bishop-quits-after-police-caution-for-indecency-1496511.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October 2015, Ball was sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment for misconduct in public office and indecent assault after admitting the abuse of 18 young men over a period of 15 years from 1977 to 1992.

In 1994 the gay rights campaign group [[OutRage!]], led by [[Peter Tatchell]], began to concentrate on religious [[homophobia]]. It was revealed in the press that the new [[Bishop of Durham]], [[Michael Turnbull (bishop)|Michael Turnbull]], had a conviction for a gay sex offence and OutRage! disrupted his ordination ceremony. There were other bishops known or suspected to be gay in private and OutRage! held a demonstration outside Church House in London naming ten bishops and urging them to "Tell the truth!" Although the ten bishops were not named in the British press, their names were published in an Australian gay newspaper, the ''Melbourne Star Observer'', and has since been published on the internet. They included [[Timothy Bavin]] (Bishop of Portsmouth), [[Michael Fisher (Anglican bishop)|Brother Michael (Fisher)]] (assistant bishop, Ely), [[John Klyberg]] (Bishop suffragan of Fulham), [[Michael Marshall (bishop)|Michael Marshall]] (assistant bishop, London), [[Brian Masters (bishop)|Brian Masters]] (area Bishop of Edmonton), [[John Neale (bishop)|John Neill]] (assistant bishop, Bath & Wells), [[Jack Nicholls]] (Bishop suffragan of Lancaster), [[Mervyn Stockwood]] (assistant bishop, Bath & Wells) and [[Michael Turnbull (bishop)|Michael Turnbull]] (Bishop of Durham).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.petertatchell.net/religion/archbishopyork.htm |title=Peter Tatchell: Archbishop of York Urged to "Come Out" |access-date=26 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112237/http://www.petertatchell.net/religion/archbishopyork.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''Melbourne Star Observer'', 6 January 1995</ref> However, OutRage produced no evidence for any of its claims.

At the same time, Tatchell began a dialogue with the Bishop of London, [[David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes|David Hope]], who had not been named as the group thought that he could be persuaded to come out voluntarily.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=New York Times | date=19 March 1995 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/19/world/gay-issue-roils-church-of-england.html?src=pm | title=Gay Issue Roils Church of England | first=John | last=Darnton | page=10 | access-date=16 May 2020 | archive-date=9 June 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609072255/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/19/world/gay-issue-roils-church-of-england.html?src=pm | url-status=live }}</ref> Press stories speculating about the personal sexuality of bishops led Hope to fear the worst and he called a press conference in February 1995 at which he denounced OutRage! for putting him under pressure. While admitting that his sexuality was "a grey area", he had "sought to lead a celibate life" and was "perfectly happy and content".<ref>''Herald Scotland'', 1995: http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/promotion-to-york-for-the-grey-area-bishop-1.685694 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219213424/http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/promotion-to-york-for-the-grey-area-bishop-1.685694 |date=19 February 2014 }}</ref>

[[Mervyn Stockwood]], who was gay, was bishop of the [[Anglican Diocese of Southwark]], but also celibate. He even gently rebuked a parish priest for initiating the [[blessing of same-sex unions]] in the late 1970s.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Appointed as the suffragan Bishop of Edmonton (London) in 1999, [[Peter Wheatley]] is gay and has been living with his partner saying that he is "a celibate Christian living by Christian teachings".<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1144794.ece ''The Times'', 23 June 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010055029/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1144794.ece |date=10 October 2011 }}, article by [[Ruth Gledhill]]</ref> This does not appear to have generated any significant controversy. Bishop Wheatley is opposed to the ordination of women to the episcopate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.forwardinfaith.com/artman/publish/article_413.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616210443/http://www.forwardinfaith.com/artman/publish/article_413.shtml|url-status=dead|title=Forward In Faith UK, Open Letter to the Archbishops, 30 June 2008|archivedate=16 June 2011|accessdate=13 September 2021}}</ref>

In 2003, [[Jeffrey John]], at the time Canon Chancellor and Theologian of Southwark Cathedral, was chosen to be the [[Bishop of Reading]] (a suffragan of the [[Bishop of Oxford]]).<ref name="bates1" /> John has been in a relationship with another male priest for many years, though he also says that their relationship is celibate.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/19/church-england-allow-gay-bishops | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Riazat | last=Butt | title=Anglicanism - Church of England (News), World news, Religion (News), Christianity (News), Gay rights (News), Rowan Williams, UK news, Equality Act 2010, Law, Sexuality (Society) | date=19 June 2011 | access-date=17 December 2016 | archive-date=12 June 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612172619/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/19/church-england-allow-gay-bishops | url-status=live }}</ref> As a result of the ensuing controversy, however, John withdrew his acceptance of the appointment. He was subsequently appointed Dean of [[St Albans Cathedral|St Albans]]. John again emerged in the debate over gay bishops in July 2010 following widespread media reports that he was the Crown Nomination Commission's preferred candidate for appointment by the Queen as [[Bishop of Southwark (Anglican)|Bishop of Southwark]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100707060325/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7870158/Gay-cleric-in-line-to-become-bishop-in-Church-of-England.html Telegraph] Item, ''Gay cleric in line to become bishop in Church of England'', 3 July 2010</ref> though subsequent reports suggested that this was not the case or that his name had been rejected following leaking of the proposal.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100710040650/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7877839/Gay-cleric-blocked-from-becoming-Church-of-England-bishop.html Telegraph] item, ''Gay cleric blocked from becoming Church of England bishop'' 7 July 2010</ref>

{{wikinews|Church of England to allow celibate gay bishops}}
In 2013, it was announced that the Church of England's House of Bishops had approved plans to allow gay men to become appointed as bishops if they were celibate, including those such as Jeffrey John who are in civil partnerships.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20914799|title=CofE drops opposition to gay bishops in civil partnerships|publisher=BBC News Online|date=4 January 2013|access-date=5 January 2013|archive-date=5 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105004224/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20914799|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, Bishop [[Nicholas Chamberlain]], the bishop of Grantham in the diocese of Lincoln, announced he was gay and in a same-sex partnership becoming the first bishop to do so in the Church of England.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/02/nicholas-chamberlain-bishop-of-grantham-c-of-e-gay-relationship|title=Bishop of Grantham first C of E bishop to declare he is in gay relationship|last=correspondent|first=Harriet Sherwood Religion|date=2 September 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=3 September 2016|archive-date=25 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425151130/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/02/nicholas-chamberlain-bishop-of-grantham-c-of-e-gay-relationship|url-status=live}}</ref> Archbishop Justin Welby announced that he was aware of Chamberlain's sexual orientation and celibate same-sex relationship prior to his consecration as bishop, noting that his sexual orientation was "irrelevant" due to his adherence to the bishops' guidance on sexuality.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-09-03 |title=Gay bishop: Appointment of Nicholas Chamberlain 'major error' says Gafcon |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37267148 |access-date=2024-05-26 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

====Anglican Church of Southern Africa====

Bishop Merwyn Castle was consecrated Bishop of False Bay (a suffragan of the diocese of [[Cape Town]]) in 1994, but because most Anglicans outside South Africa were unaware of his homosexuality, and because he was celibate, no comparable controversy took place. The [[Anglican Church of Southern Africa]] has no official position on homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucc.org/global-trend-worlds-oldest|title=Global trend: World's oldest Protestant churches now ordain gays and lesbians|access-date=16 July 2016|archive-date=10 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710184632/http://www.ucc.org/global-trend-worlds-oldest|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Scottish Episcopal Church ====
In 1995, Bishop [[Derek Rawcliffe]], retired [[Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway]] in the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]], disclosed his homosexuality.<ref>Helen Gibson (29 June 2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110120213419/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,461793,00.html "A House Divided"]. ''Time''. Retrieved 6 August 2009.</ref> Like Terry Brown (see below), Rawcliffe had also served as a bishop in Melanesia.

==== Church of Melanesia ====
Bishop [[Terry Brown (bishop)|Terry Brown]], of [[Malaita]] in the [[Solomon Islands]], attended the 1998 Lambeth Conference (which declared same-sex relationships "incompatible with Scripture") as an openly gay man (he also attended the 2008 Lambeth Conference).<ref>Nicholas Knisely, Episcopal Café, 2007-09-07, [http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/bishops/another_gay_bishop_1.html Another Gay bishop] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227235842/http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/bishops/another_gay_bishop_1.html |date=27 February 2008}}. Retrieved 6 August 2009.</ref>

==== Anglican Church of Canada ====
[[Barry Hollowell]], who resigned as [[Anglican Diocese of Calgary|Bishop of Calgary]] in the [[Anglican Church of Canada]] in 2005, came out publicly in 2008 after the death of his wife, who had been aware of his sexual orientation at the time of his election to the episcopate.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hollowell |first=Barry |title=The Experience of Spirituality in the Lives of Anglican Gay Men |url=http://theses.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/11023/126/2/ucalgary_2012_hollowell_barry.pdf |publisher=University of Calgary |access-date=1 October 2013 |page=7 |format=PhD dissertation |year=2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215233/http://theses.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/11023/126/2/ucalgary_2012_hollowell_barry.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2013}}</ref> In 2016, the [[Anglican Diocese of Toronto|Diocese of Toronto]] elected as a suffragan bishop, an openly gay and partnered priest, [[Kevin Robertson (bishop)|Kevin Robertson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.toronto.anglican.ca/2016/09/17/diocese-elects-three-new-suffragan-bishops/|title=Diocese elects three new suffragan bishops|website=The Diocese of Toronto|date=18 September 2016|access-date=19 September 2016|archive-date=19 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919163435/http://www.toronto.anglican.ca/2016/09/17/diocese-elects-three-new-suffragan-bishops/|url-status=live}}</ref> He was consecrated on 7 January 2017 as Bishop of York-Scarborough.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

==== Church in Wales ====
In 2020, the Church in Wales consecrated [[Cherry Vann]], who is in a same-sex [[civil partnership]], as the [[Bishop of Monmouth]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-01-21 |title=Bishop Cherry Vann to be consecrated at Brecon ceremony |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-51191949 |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=New Bishop's consecration |url=https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-events/new-bishops-consecration/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Church in Wales |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-01-26 |title=New Bishop of Monmouth Cherry Vann can help 'unify' Church |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-51252909 |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2024, the sitting Archbishop of Wales appointed David Morris as the [[Bishop of Bangor|Assistant Bishop of Bangor]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=New bishop to make history in Church in Wales |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/26-january/news/uk/new-bishop-to-make-history-in-church-in-wales |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref> Morris is in a same-sex relationship, engaged to his fiancé, and was consecrated by bishops from the Church in Wales and the Church of England.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aye |first=The Bangor |date=2024-01-19 |title=History is made as Church appoints its youngest ever bishop {{!}} The Bangor Aye |url=https://www.thebangoraye.com/history-is-made-as-church-appoints-its-youngest-ever-bishop/,%20https://www.thebangoraye.com/history-is-made-as-church-appoints-its-youngest-ever-bishop/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bishop of Lancaster: I cannot judge Welsh bishop |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/17-may/news/uk/bishop-of-lancaster-i-cannot-judge-welsh-bishop |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref>

===Roman Catholic Church===
{{Further|Homosexuality and Roman Catholic priests}}

Bishop [[Thomas Gumbleton]], a retired Catholic bishop in the Diocese of Detroit, has consistently been a supporter of [[New Ways Ministry]] and has also called for [[homosexual]] priests and bishops to "come out" and be truthful to themselves and others.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} Gumbleton has acted as a keynote speaker at [[Call to Action]] conferences. In 1995 he wore a [[mitre]] at a church service on which were symbols of the cross, a rainbow and a pink triangle in solidarity with the gay community.<ref>New Ways Ministry. [http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze43yrc/awards.html#gumbleton 1995 Building Bridges Award Recipient] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204223055/http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze43yrc/awards.html#gumbleton |date=4 February 2008}} 1995</ref> Later, he came into the public eye before the Vatican's ''[[Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders|Instruction with regard to the ordination of homosexual men]]'' was released, arguing against Andrew R. Baker's article on the issue in ''[[America (magazine)|America]]''.<ref>[http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?textID=2508&articleTypeID=1&issueID=403 "Yes, Gay Men Should Be Ordained"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403124916/http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=1&textID=2508&issueID=403 |date=3 April 2007 }}. ''[[America (magazine)|America]]''. 30 September 2002. </ref>

[[File:Cardinal Francis Spellman.jpg|thumb|180px|Cardinal Francis Spellman]]
[[Francis Spellman]], Cardinal [[Archbishop of New York]], was long rumored to have been gay, according to a book by John Cooney, who said that many whom he interviewed took his [[homosexuality]] for granted.<ref>John Cooney, ''The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman'', New York, 1984,</ref> In addition, a book published in 1998 claims that during the [[Second World War]], Spellman was carrying on a relationship with a chorus boy in the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] revue ''[[One Touch of Venus]]''.<ref>John Loughery, ''The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities'', New York, 1998, p. 152</ref> Spellman defended Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s 1953 investigations of subversives and homosexuals in the federal government.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

Archbishop [[Rembert Weakland]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], retired on 24 May 2002 following the revelation that he had used $450,000 in archdiocesan funds to settle a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment. In a statement one week later, he admitted the falsity of his previous assertion that income he had earned outside of his priestly occupation (and turned over to the Church) exceeded the $450,000.<ref name="jsonline">{{cite web |url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=47750 |title=Weakland begs for forgiveness |first1=Tom |last1=Heinen |last2=Zahn |first2=Mary |work=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] |date=1 June 2002 |access-date=7 July 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070311034132/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=47750  |archive-date = 11 March 2007}}</ref> In 2009 he confirmed that he was gay, but did not reveal any details of his relationships.<ref name="jsonline" /><ref>[[WITI-TV]], Milwaukee, 11 May 2009, relaying an Associated Press report</ref><ref>''National Review'', 24 May 2002</ref><ref name=advocate>{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2002_July_23/ai_89871725 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050130011618/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2002_July_23/ai_89871725 |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 January 2005 |title=The dangerous lives of gay priests |work=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]] |date=23 July 2002 |first=Mubarak |last=Dahir |access-date=7 July 2007}}</ref>

The auxiliary Roman Catholic Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town|Cape Town]], South Africa, Reginald Cawcutt, resigned in July 2002 following allegations that he outed himself as gay on a sometimes-sexually charged website set up for gay priests. Bishop Reginald Cawcutt blamed the scandal on the conservative US organization Roman Catholic Faithful which infiltrated the now closed website, called St. Sebastian's Angels, and traced posting addresses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/gaypriests.htm |title=Bishop resigns amid scandal *The Record* July 25 2002 p 12 |access-date=6 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060821182956/http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/gaypriests.htm |archive-date=21 August 2006}}</ref>

In 2003, Cardinal [[Hans Hermann Groër]] was removed from office by [[Pope John Paul II]] for alleged sexual misconduct with younger men who were students in his care. Officially, the [[Pope]] accepted the resignation letter which Groër had written on the occasion of his 75th birthday. This made Groër, who had adamantly refused to ever comment in public on the allegations, one of the highest-ranking Catholic clerics to become caught up in the [[Roman Catholic sexual abuse cases|sexual abuse scandals]].

In 2005, [[Juan Carlos Maccarone]], the Bishop of [[Santiago del Estero]] in Argentina was forced to resign after images were released of him engaged in sexual activity with another man. Suggestion was made that the former state governor [[Carlos Juárez (politician)|Carlos Juarez]] had been involved in the release after criticism of the governor's human rights record.<ref>http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71660 {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120630090251/http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71660 |date=30 June 2012 }} - retrieved 6 August 2009</ref>

[[Francisco Domingo Barbosa Da Silveira]], the Bishop of [[Minas, Uruguay|Minas]] in [[Uruguay]], was forced to resign in July 2009, following a gay sex scandal in which he had faced [[extortion]].<ref>''On Top Magazine'', 2 July 2009, "[http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4120&MediaType=1&Category=24 Uruguay Bishop Steps Down Amid Gay Sex Scandal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004224622/http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4120&MediaType=1&Category=24 |date=4 October 2011 }}".</ref><ref>''Catholic News Agency'', 1 July 2009, "[https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16430/pope-accepts-resignation-of-uruguayan-bishop-accused-of-sexual-misconduct Pope accepts resignation of Uruguayan bishop accused of sexual misconduct] ".</ref>

In February 2013, Cardinal [[Keith O'Brien]], leader of the Catholic Church in [[Scotland]], was forced to resign as archbishop three months ahead of planned retirement because of allegations of inappropriate acts with four priests during the 1980s, but also more recently. O'Brien had been a vocal critic of the UK Government's plans to introduce [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21563345 |title=Cardinal Keith O'Brien 'accused of inappropriate acts' |publisher=BBC News |date=24 February 2013 |access-date=24 February 2013 |archive-date=24 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224010448/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21563345 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In October 2016, a group in favour of [[same-sex marriage]] in [[Mexico]] called the Pride National Front (FON) alleged that a number of Catholic leaders were homosexual. The list included [[Hipólito Reyes Larios]], Archbishop of Xalapa in Veracruz.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2016/09/22/revelan-nombres-de-jerarcas-catolicos-con-orientacion-homosexual |title=Revelan nombres de jerarcas católicos con preferencia homosexual - la Jornada |access-date=13 October 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013223029/http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2016/09/22/revelan-nombres-de-jerarcas-catolicos-con-orientacion-homosexual |archive-date=13 October 2016}}</ref>

===Lutheranism===
[[File:Eva Brunne-2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Eva Brunne]], world's first openly lesbian bishop]]
In 1993 lesbian Norway bishop [[Rosemarie Köhn]] was ordained. She was married with Susanne Sønderbo.<ref>[https://kirken.no/nn-NO/om-kirken/aktuelt/biskopen%20som%20vant%20folks%20hjerter/ Kirken.no: Biskopen som vant folks hjerter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030094255/https://kirken.no/nn-NO/om-kirken/aktuelt/biskopen%20som%20vant%20folks%20hjerter/ |date=30 October 2022 }}, October 30, 2022</ref>
In 2008 the gay German priest Horst Gorski was nominated for election as a bishop in the [[North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church]], [[Germany]]. He lost against Gerhard Ulrich. In 2015, however, Gorski became the first homosexual to serve as head of office for the [[United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany]] (VELKD) and vice-president of the [[Evangelical Church in Germany]] (EKD).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.ekd.de/personen/gorski.html&prev=search|title=Google Translate|website=translate.google.com|accessdate=13 September 2021|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501210515/https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ekd.de%2Fpersonen%2Fgorski.html&prev=search|url-status=live}}</ref>

In May 2009 the [[Church of Sweden Diocese of Stockholm|Diocese of Stockholm]] in the [[Church of Sweden]] elected [[Eva Brunne]] as its bishop. She won the vote by 413 votes to 365 and officially succeeded Bishop [[Caroline Krook]] in November 2009. Brunne is married to her partner, Gunilla Linden, who is a priest and with whom she has a son. Brunne is believed to be the world's first openly lesbian bishop.

Following her appointment, Brunne said: "I am happy and very proud to be part of a church that encourages people to make their own decisions." She added: "Diversity is a big wealth."<ref>http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-12673.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719230721/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-12673.html |date=19 July 2009}} - retrieved 6 August 2009</ref>

In May 2013, the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] (ELCA) elected its first openly gay bishop, Bishop [[Guy Erwin]], to office as the bishop of the Southwest California Synod.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/rev-guy-erwin-lutheran-gay-bishop_n_3369794.html | work=Huffington Post | first=Paul | last=Raushenbush | title=First Openly Gay Lutheran Bishop Elected | date=31 May 2013 | access-date=5 June 2013 | archive-date=9 January 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109084219/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/rev-guy-erwin-lutheran-gay-bishop_n_3369794.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2015 the Church of Sweden elected [[Mikael Mogren]] as [[bishop of Västerås]], and thus got their first openly gay male bishop. He came out publicly as gay in one of his books published in 2013,<ref>[http://www.qx.se/samhalle/28709/mikael-mogren-vald-till-biskop] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126181218/http://www.qx.se/samhalle/28709/mikael-mogren-vald-till-biskop|date=26 January 2016}} QX, "Mikael Mogren vald till biskop"</ref> without much public attention to the fact neither then nor at the time of his election. In one of the interviews following the election that mentioned his orientation, Mogren explained that he is "not a [[single-issue party]]".<ref>[http://www.dalademokraten.se/dalarna/rattvik/dd-moter-dalarnas-nye-biskop] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126093014/http://www.dalademokraten.se/dalarna/rattvik/dd-moter-dalarnas-nye-biskop|date=26 January 2016}} Dala-Demokraten, "DD möter Dalarnas nye biskop"</ref>

Also in 2015, bishop [[Kevin Kanouse]], a bishop in the ELCA, came out as gay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lutheran-bishop-comes-out-as-gay-after_us_55b6637ce4b0074ba5a54ac5|title=Bishop Comes Out As Gay After 'A Lifetime Of Denying' The Truth|last1=Editor|first1=Antonia Blumberg Associate Religion|last2=Post|first2=The Huffington|date=27 July 2015|website=The Huffington Post|access-date=2 November 2016|archive-date=4 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104011358/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lutheran-bishop-comes-out-as-gay-after_us_55b6637ce4b0074ba5a54ac5|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 8 May 2021, Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected the Reverend Doctor [[Megan Rohrer]] the first openly transgender bishop, the first in any major Christian denomination. They were installed 11 September 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/9/10/first-out-trans-bishop-installed-lutheran-denomination|title=First Out Trans Bishop Installed by Lutheran Denomination|date=10 September 2021|website=www.advocate.com|accessdate=13 September 2021|archive-date=12 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912150903/https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/9/10/first-out-trans-bishop-installed-lutheran-denomination|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== United Methodist Church ===
{{Main|Homosexuality and Methodism}}

In 2016, the [[Central conferences (United Methodist Church)|Western Jurisdiction]] of the United Methodist Church elected its first openly gay and partnered bishop.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/western-jurisdiction-elects-openly-gay-united-methodist-bishop|title=Western Jurisdiction elects openly gay United Methodist bishop|last=Gilbert|first=Kath L.|date=15 July 2016|website=www.umc.org|publisher=United Methodist Church|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718232123/http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/western-jurisdiction-elects-openly-gay-united-methodist-bishop|archive-date=18 July 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Before being elected, Bishop [[Karen Oliveto]] had served as senior pastor of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/16/486300173/united-methodist-church-elects-first-openly-gay-bishop-in-defiance-of-church-rul |title=United Methodist Church Elects First Openly Gay Bishop, in Defiance of Church Rules |website=[[NPR]] |date=16 July 2016 |access-date=19 July 2016 |last1=Kennedy |first1=Merrit |archive-date=18 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718223638/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/16/486300173/united-methodist-church-elects-first-openly-gay-bishop-in-defiance-of-church-rul |url-status=live }}</ref> Earlier in 2016, the [[Annual conferences of the United Methodist Church|New York Annual Conference]] of the United Methodist Church had ordained the denomination's first openly LGBT clergy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/new-york-board-welcomes-gay-clergy-candidates|title=New York board welcomes gay clergy candidates - The United Methodist Church|last=Communications|first=United Methodist|website=The United Methodist Church|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=8 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708105954/http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/new-york-board-welcomes-gay-clergy-candidates|url-status=live}}</ref> At the United Methodist Church's General Conference, the delegates voted in favour of a motion to defer the issue of human sexuality to the Council of Bishops to reexamine the Book of Discipline.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/05/18/3779705/united-methodist-church-has-a-new-method/|title=United Methodist Church Takes 'Historic Action' Toward LGBT Equality|website=[[ThinkProgress]]|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=19 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719204432/http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/05/18/3779705/united-methodist-church-has-a-new-method/|url-status=live}}</ref> On 7 May 2018 the Council of Bishops in the United Methodist Church proposed allowing individual pastors and regional church bodies to decide whether to ordain LGBT clergy and perform same-sex weddings, though this proposal can only be approved by the General Conference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/religion/2018/5/05/methodist-bishops-back-choice-lgbt-clergy-same-sex-marriage|title=Methodist Bishops Back Choice on LGBT Clergy, Same-Sex Marriage|date=5 May 2018|website=www.advocate.com|accessdate=13 September 2021|archive-date=16 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016170639/https://www.advocate.com/religion/2018/5/05/methodist-bishops-back-choice-lgbt-clergy-same-sex-marriage|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2022, the Western Jurisdiction elected a second openly gay and partnered bishop, [[Cedrick Bridgeforth]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Astle |first=Cynthia |date=2022-11-08 |title=United Methodists elect married gay clergyman among 13 new bishops who represent many other firsts |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/united-methodists-elect-married-gay-clergyman-among-13-new-bishops-who-represent-many-other-firsts/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=Baptist News Global |language=en-US |archive-date=8 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108204939/https://baptistnews.com/article/united-methodists-elect-married-gay-clergyman-among-13-new-bishops-who-represent-many-other-firsts/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gryboski |first=Michael |date=2022-11-08 |title=UMC body elects openly gay bishop in defiance of denomination's rules |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/umc-body-elects-openly-gay-bishop-in-defiance-of-denomination.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=The Christian Post |language=en-US |archive-date=8 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108204937/https://www.christianpost.com/news/umc-body-elects-openly-gay-bishop-in-defiance-of-denomination.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ordination of LGBT Christian clergy]]

== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher, ''The First Gay Pope and Other Records'', [[Alyson Publications]], Boston-MA (1992)
* K. Saunders and P. Stanford, ''Catholics and Sex'', Heinemann, London (1992) {{ISBN|0-434-67246-7}}
* Stuart E. Chosen, ''Gay Catholic Priests Tell Their Stories'', Geoffrey Chapman, London (1993) {{ISBN|0-225-66682-0}}
* Atila Silke Guimarães, ''The Catholic Church and Homosexuality'', Tan Books & Publishers, Charlotte. (1999) {{ISBN|0-89555-651-0}}

[[Category:Bishops by type]]
[[Category:LGBT and Christianity|Bishops, gay]]
[[Category:LGBT and Anglicanism]]
[[Category:LGBT and Catholicism]]
[[Category:LGBT bishops| ]]

Saint Cajetan

2024-07-18T10:21:03Z

Contaldo80: unsourced #article-section-source-editor

{{Short description|Italian Catholic priest (1480–1547)}}
{{About|the Italian Catholic priest and founder of the Theatines|Cardinal Cajetan|Thomas Cajetan|Saint Cajetan Catanoso|Gaetano Catanoso}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= [[Saint]]
|name=Cajetan
|birth_date=1 October 1480
|death_date={{death date and age|1547|8|07|1480|10|01|df=y}}
|feast_day=[[7 August]]
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]]
|image=Francesco Solimena - Estasi di San Gaetano da Thiene.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption= Portrait of Saint Cajetan
|birth_place=[[Vicenza]], [[Veneto]], [[Republic of Venice]] (now Italy)
|death_place=[[Naples]], [[Campania]], [[Kingdom of Naples]]
|titles= Priest and Confessor
|beatified_date=8 October 1629
|beatified_place=[[Saint Peter's Basilica]], [[Papal States]]
|beatified_by=[[Pope Urban VIII]]
|canonized_date=12 April 1671
|canonized_place=Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States
|canonized_by=[[Pope Clement X]]
|attributes= [[Cassock|Priest's cassock]] [[Book]]
|patronage=Bankers; unemployed people; workers; gamblers; document controllers; job seekers; good fortune; [[Albania]]; Italy; [[Ħamrun]] ([[Malta]]); Argentina; Brazil; [[El Salvador]]; [[Guatemala]]; [[Labo, Camarines Norte]], Philippines
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
|prayer=
|prayer_attrib=
|honorific_suffix=[[Theatines|CR]]}}
'''Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Theatines|CR]]}} (6 October 1480 – 7 August 1547), known as '''Saint Cajetan''', was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, co-founder of the [[Theatines]]. He is recognised as a [[saint]] in the [[Catholic Church]], and his feast day is 7 August.

==Life==
Cajetan was born in October 1480, the son of Gaspar, lord of [[Thiene]], and Mary Porta, persons of the first rank among the nobility of the territory of [[Vicenza]], in [[Veneto]]<ref name=butler>[http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/071.html Butler, Alban. ''Lives of the Saints'', Vol. VIII, 1866]</ref> Region.

His father died when he was two years of age. Quiet and retiring by nature,<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=rNcNtSowTZEC&pg=PA287 |last=Lewis | first=Mark A. |chapter=Recovering the Apostolic Way of Life | title=Early Modern Catholicism: Essays in Honour of John W. O'Malley, S.J | editor-first1=John W. |editor-last1=O'Malley |editor-first2=Kathleen M.|editor-last2= Comerford |editor-first3=Hilmar M.|editor-last3= Pabel |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=2001 |isbn=9780802084170}}</ref> he was predisposed to piety by his mother. Cajetan studied [[law]] in [[Padua]], receiving his degree as ''[[doctor utriusque juris]]'' (i.e., in civil and canon law) at age 24. In 1506 he worked as a diplomat for [[Pope Julius II]], with whom he helped reconcile the [[Republic of Venice]].<ref name=keating>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03145a.htm Keating, Joseph. "St. Cajetan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 15 April 2013]</ref> But he was not ordained a [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priest]] until the year 1516.

With the death of Pope Julius II in 1513, Cajetan withdrew from the papal court.<ref name=keating/> Recalled to Vicenza by the death of his mother, he founded in 1522 a [[hospital]] for incurables there.<ref name=foley>[http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1100 Foley O.F.M., Leonard. ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media] {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}}</ref> By 1523, he had established a hospital in Venice, as well. His interests were as much or more devoted to spiritual healing than the physical kind, and he joined a confraternity in Rome called the "[[Oratory of Divine Love]]".<ref name=butler/> He intended to form a group that would combine the spirit of [[monasticism]] with the exercises of the active ministry.

==Theatines==
A new congregation was canonically erected by [[Pope Clement VII]] in the year 1524. One of his four companions was Giovanni Pietro Carafa, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto|Bishop of Chieti]], elected first superior of the order, who later became pope as [[Pope Paul IV|Paul IV]]. From the name of the city of [[Chieti]] (in {{lang-la|Theate}}), arose the name by which the order is known, the "[[Theatines]]".<ref name=foley/> The order grew at a fairly slow pace: there were only twelve Theatines during the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|sack of Rome in 1527]], during which Cajetan was tortured by mutinous soldiers of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].<ref name=Mullett>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jqaEAgAAQBAJ&dq=Theatines&pg=PA71 Mullet, Michael. ''The Catholic Reformation'', Routledge, 2002] {{ISBN|9781134658534}}</ref> The Theatines managed to escape to Venice.<ref name=foley/>

There Cajetan met [[Jerome Emiliani]], whom he assisted in the establishment of his [[Somaschi Fathers|Congregation of Clerks Regular]]. In 1533, he founded a house in Naples. The year 1540 found him in Venice again and from there he extended his work to [[Verona]].<ref name=keating/> He founded a bank to help the poor and offer an alternative to usurers (who charged high interest rates).<ref name=cna>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090808123123/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=562 "St. Cajetan", Catholic News Agancy]</ref> It later became the [[Banco di Napoli]].

Cajetan died in [[Naples]] on 7 August 1547.<ref name=cna/> His remains are in the church of [[San Paolo Maggiore]] in Naples;<ref>[https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-cajetan/ "Saint Cajetan". ''New Catholic Dictionary''. CatholicSaints.Info. 20 May 2016]</ref> outside the church is Piazza San Gaetano, with a statue.

==Veneration==
He was [[beatified]] on 8 October 1629 by [[Pope Urban VIII]]. On 12 April 1671, Cajetan was [[canonized]] by [[Pope Clement X]].<ref name=cna/> Saint Cajetan's [[feast day]] is celebrated on 7 August.

[[Jesuits|Jesuit]] missionary [[Eusebio Kino]] in 1691 established the mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori in honour of Cajetan. It is now [[Tumacacori National Historical Park]] in [[Arizona]].

He is known as the [[patron saint]] of Argentina, the unemployed,<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303392.htm | archive-url = http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20140205233155/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303392.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = February 5, 2014 | last = Wooden | first = Cindy | title = Pope joins pilgrims -via video- at Shrine of St. Cajetan | publisher = Catholic News Service | date = April 7, 2013 | access-date = 11 August 2017 }}</ref> gamblers, document controllers, and good fortune.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Catholicism|Saints|Italy}}
* [[Theatines]]
* [[Sant'Andrea della Valle]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Saint Cajetan}}
* [https://sites.google.com/view/san-gaetano/home]
* [http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-message-for-the-feast-of-saint-cajetan "Pope Francis' Message for the Feast of Saint Cajetan", ''Zenit'', August 7, 2013]
* [http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Cajetan-122/StCajetan.htm Colonnade Statue in St Peter's Square]
* [http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Statues/Founders/Cajetan/Cajetan.htm Founder Statue in St Peter's Basilica]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cajetan, Saint}}
[[Category:1480 births]]
[[Category:1547 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Vicenza]]
[[Category:Founders of Catholic religious communities]]
[[Category:Catholicism in Argentina]]
[[Category:Christianity in Buenos Aires]]
[[Category:Counts|Thiene, Cajetan Count of]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian lawyers]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Theatines]]
[[Category:Beatifications by Pope Urban VIII]]
[[Category:Canonizations by Pope Clement X]]

Hilarius of Aquileia

2024-07-06T04:26:58Z

Contaldo80: #article-section-source-editor

{{short description|Bishop of Aquileia, martyr and saint}}
{{Infobox saint
|name= Saint Hilarius of Aquileia
|birth_date=
|death_date=~284 AD
|feast_day= 16 March
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]]
|image=
|imagesize= 250px
|caption=
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|titles= Bishop and martyr
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Hilarius of Aquileia''', also '''Hilary of Aquileia''' ({{lang-it|Ilario d'Aquileia}}, also ''Ellaro'' or ''Elaro'') (d. 16 March, c. 284) was an early [[Bishop of Aquileia]], a [[martyr]] and [[saint]].

He is supposed to have been the second bishop of [[Aquileia]], succeeding [[Hermagoras of Aquileia|Hermagoras]]. During the persecution of [[Numerian]] he was tortured to death under the prefect Beronius. Before his death Hilarius's prayers brought about the collapse of the pagan temples in [[Aquileia]] and the images of the gods they contained, to which he had refused to sacrifice.

His martyrdom was shared by his [[deacon]] '''Tatianus''', otherwise '''Tatian''', with whom Hilarius's name is often linked, as in the dedication of [[Gorizia]] Cathedral, and also by their companions Felix, Largus and Dionysius.

The feast day of Hilarius and companions is 16 March, the date of their martyrdom.

==References==
* [http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-hilary-of-aquileia/ Saints SPQN: Hilary of Aquileia]
* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/h/hilarius_v_a.shtml BBKL: Hilarius von Aquileia] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienH/Hilarius_von_Aquileia.htm www.heiligenlexikon.de: Hilarius von Aquileia] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91147 Santi e Beati] {{in lang|it}}
* [http://www.friul.net/dizionario_biografico/index.php?id=2057&x=1 Dizionario biografico friulano] {{in lang|it}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:280s deaths]]
[[Category:3rd-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:Saints from Roman Italy]]
[[Category:Bishops of Aquileia]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]

{{Italy-saint-stub}}
{{italy-RC-bishop-stub}}

Patriarchate of Aquileia

2024-07-06T04:26:17Z

Contaldo80: #article-section-source-editor

{{Short description|Catholic patriarchate in north-eastern Italy until 18th century}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Aquileia Basilica, esterno - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia|Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta]] in Aquileia]]
{{Other uses|Patriarchate of Aquileia (disambiguation)}}

The '''Patriarchate of Aquileia''' was an [[episcopal see]] and [[ecclesiastical province]] in northeastern [[Italy]], originally centered in the ancient city of [[Aquileia]], situated near the northern coast of the [[Adriatic Sea]]. It emerged in the 4th century as a [[metropolitan province]], with jurisdiction over the Italian region of [[Venetia et Histria]]. In the second half of the 6th century, metropolitan bishops of Aquileia started to use the patriarchal title. Their residence was moved to [[Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia|Grado]] in 568, after the Lombard conquest of Aquileia. In 606, an internal schism occurred, and since that time there were two rival lines of Aquileian patriarchs: one in [[Patriarch of Grado|New Aquileia]] (Grado) with jurisdiction over the Byzantine-controlled coastal regions, and the other in [[Patriarchate of Old Aquileia|Old Aquileia]] (later moved to [[Cormons]]). The first line (Grado) continued until 1451, while the second line (Cormons, later [[Cividale del Friuli|Cividale]], and then [[Udine]]) continued until 1751. Patriarchs of the second line were also feudal lords of the [[Patriarchal State of Aquileia]]. A number of [[Councils of Aquileia|Aquileian church councils]] were held during the late antiquity and throughout the middle ages. Today, it is an [[Titular Archbishop of Aquileia|titular archiepiscopal see]].{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=310-314}}{{sfn|Sotinel|2007|p=85-120}}

==History==

===From bishopric to patriarchate===
Ancient tradition asserts that the see was founded by [[St. Mark]], sent there by [[St. Peter]], prior to his mission to [[early centers of Christianity#Alexandria|Alexandria]]. [[St. Hermagoras]] is said to have been its first bishop and to have died a martyr's death (c. 70). At the end of the third century (285) another martyr, [[Hilarius of Aquileia|St. Helarus]] (or St. Hilarius), was bishop of Aquileia.

In the course of the [[Christianity in the 4th century|fourth century]] the city was the chief ecclesiastical centre for the region about the head of the Adriatic, Regio X of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Augustus]]' eleven regions of Italy, "[[Venetia et Histria]]". In 381, [[List of bishops and patriarchs of Aquileia|St. Valerian]] appears as [[Metropolitan bishop]] of the churches in this territory; his synod of that year, held against the [[Arians]], was attended by 32 (or 24) bishops. Valerian was succeeded by [[Chromatius]] (388–408), known for his homiletic and exegetical works. He promoted the work of [[Jerome]] and [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]] and kept contact with [[Ambrose]] of [[Early centers of Christianity#Milan|Milan]] and [[John Chrysostom]].

In time, part of western [[Illyria]], and to the north, [[Noricum]] and [[Rhaetia]], came under the jurisdiction of Aquileia. Roman cities like [[Verona]], [[Trento|Trent]], [[Pula|Pola]], [[Belluno]], [[Feltre]], [[Vicenza]], [[Treviso]] and [[Padua]] were among its [[suffragan]]s in the 5th and 6th centuries. As metropolitans of such an extensive territory, and representatives of Roman civilization among the [[Ostrogoths]] and [[Lombards]], the archbishops of Aquileia sought and obtained from their barbarian masters the honorific title of [[patriarch]], personal, however, as yet to each titular of the see. This title aided in promoting and at the same time justifying the strong tendency towards independence that was quite manifest in the relations of Aquileia with [[Early centers of Christianity#Rome|Rome]], a trait it shared with its rival, [[Ravenna]], which, less fortunate, never obtained the patriarchal dignity.

Emperor [[Justinian]]'s decision that Italy, too, should adopt his religious policy which favoured [[Monophysitism]], was met with strong opposition by Aquileia's bishop Macedonius (539–557). In the meantime, [[Pope Vigilius]] gave in to Justinian's threats and adhered to the [[Second Council of Constantinople]] of 553 which condemned the three representatives later known as the [[Schism of the Three Chapters|Three Chapters]]. Owing to the acquiescence of Vigilius in the condemnation of the "Three Chapters", the bishops of northern Italy ([[Liguria]] and [[Aemilia (Roman province)|Aemilia]]) and among them those of the Venetia and Istria, [[Council of Aquileia, 553|broke off communion with Rome]], under the leadership of Macedonius. This [[Schism of the Three Chapters]] provided the opportunity for the bishop of Aquileia to assume the title "patriarch". Macedonius' successor [[Paulinus I]] (557–569) began using the title around 560.<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', pp. 109–110, G. E. A. P. Pordenone 1988.</ref>

Meanwhile, by the end of the next decade, the [[Lombards]] overran all of northern Italy. In 568, the patriarch of Aquileia was obliged to flee, with the treasures of his church, to the little island of [[Grado, Italy|Grado]], near [[Trieste]], a last remnant of the [[Eastern Roman Empire|imperial possessions]] in northern Italy. This political change did not affect the relations of the patriarchate with Rome; its bishops, whether in Lombard or imperial territory, persistently refused all invitations to a reconciliation.

===Split with Grado===
[[File:The Venetia c 840 AD.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Grado and other Byzantine possessions in the North Adriatic (6th-9th centuries)]]
{{Main|Patriarchate of Grado|Patriarchate of Old Aquileia}}

Various efforts of the popes at Rome and the [[Exarchate of Ravenna|exarchs at Ravenna]], both peaceful and otherwise, met with persistent refusal to renew the bonds of unity until the election of Candidianus (606 or 607) as Metropolitan of Aquileia (in Grado). Weary of fifty years' schism, those of his suffragans whose sees lay within the empire joined him in submission to Rome; his mainland suffragans among the Lombards persisted in the schism. They went further and elected in Aquileia itself, patriarch John the Abbot (606 or 607) so that henceforth there were two little patriarchates in northern Italy, the insular [[Patriarch of Grado|patriarchate of Aquileia in Grado]] and the mainland [[patriarchate of Old Aquileia]], residing in the fortress of [[Cormons]].

With the death of King [[Grimoald, King of the Lombards|Grimuald]] (671), who was an [[Arian]], attitudes began to change. Royal court officials were prevalently Catholic and favoured an agreement with the Church of Rome. Eventually the Lombard kings wished to remove all conflicts with Rome, including the schism with the Aquileian church. Gradually the schism lost its vigour. King [[Cunipert]] summoned the [[Council of Pavia (698)|Synod of Pavia]] (698/699) whereby Old-Aquileia reconciled with Rome, and Pope Gregory II granted the [[pallium]] to Patriarch Serenus (715–730) of Aquileia in 723.<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', pp. 142–143, G. E. A. P. Pordenone 1988.</ref> It was probably during the seventh century that the popes recognized in the metropolitans of Grado the title of Patriarch of Aquileia, in order to offset its assumption by the metropolitans of Old-Aquileia. In succeeding centuries it continued in use by both, but had no longer any practical significance.

In 628, the patriarchs of Old-Aquileia transferred their residence to [[Cormons]]. Patriarch Callistus moved the patriarchal residence to [[Cividale del Friuli]] ([[Cividale del Friuli|Forum Julii]]) in 737 and it remained there until the thirteenth century when it was moved again, this time to [[Udine]] in 1223.

In the last decade of the 8th century, the creation of a new metropolitan see at [[Salzburg]] reduced the size of the diocese of Old-Aquileia, which long claimed as its own the territory of [[Duchy of Carinthia|Carinthia]]. Still later, Patriarch Ursus of Aquileia (d. 811) accepted the arbitration of [[Charlemagne]],{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} by which the Carinthian territory north of the [[Drave]] was relinquished to Arno of Salzburg. After the death of Ursus, [[Maxentius of Aquileia|Maxentius]] picked up where he left off{{Specify |reason=unclear what Patriarch Maxentius picked up doing |date=August 2023}}, and solicited funds from Charlemagne's court to rebuild Aquileia.<ref>Everett, Nicholas. ''Paulinus, The Carolgingians and Famosissima Aquileia'', 145.</ref> Maxentius served as the Patriarch of Aquileia from 811 till his death in 837.<ref name="friul.net">[http://www.friul.net/dizionario_biografico/index.php?id=2434&x=1 ''Friulian Biographical Dictionary''']</ref>

Nevertheless, the [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] invasion of the 9th century and the decline of imperial control increased the authority of the patriarchs.

===Expansion and collapse===
[[File:Cividale Museo Cristiano - Bischofsthron.jpg|thumb|upright|11th-century patriarchal throne]]
German feudal influence was henceforth more and more tangible in the ecclesiastical affairs of Old-Aquileia. In 1011 one of its patriarchs, John IV, surrounded by thirty bishops, consecrated the new cathedral of [[Bamberg]]. [[Poppo of Aquileia|Poppo]], or Wolfgang (1019–1042), a familiar and minister of Emperor [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]], consecrated his own cathedral at Aquileia on 13 July 1031, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Under his reign the city also received a new line of walls. Poppo also managed to free the patriarch definitively from the [[Duchy of Carinthia]] and warred against [[Grado, Italy|Grado]].

In 1047, the Patriarch Eberhard, a German, assisted at the Roman synod of that year, in which it was declared that Aquileia was inferior in honour only to Rome, Ravenna, and Milan. In 1063, however, [[Pope Leo IX]] declared Grado to have the supremacy, but [[Gotebald]] retained the support of [[Emperor Henry III]].

===Temporal power===
{{Main|Patriarchal State of Aquileia}}

In 1077, the patriarch [[Sigehard (patriarch of Aquileia)|Sieghard of Belstein]] received the ducal title of Friuli from German king [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]], an act traditionally regarded as the birth of the state of Aquileia, or the [[Patrie dal Friûl]]. The Patriarchate subsequently extended its political control in the area: regions under Aquileian control in the following centuries included [[Trieste]], Carinthia, [[Styria]], [[Cadore]] and the central part of [[Istria]]. At its maximum height, the Patriarchate of Aquileia was one of the largest states in Italy. Noblemen from the Patriarchate were protagonists in the [[Crusades]]. In 1186 Patriarch [[Godfrey (patriarch of Aquileia)|Godfrey]] crowned [[Frederick Barbarossa]]'s son, [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], in the [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]] in Milan<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', p. 207, Pordenone 1988</ref> as King of Italy; in retaliation, Pope [[Urban III]] deposed him.

In the early 13th century, particularly under [[Wolfger von Erla]] (1204–1218) and [[Berthold (patriarch of Aquileia)|Berthold]] (1218–1251), the Patriarchate had a flourishing industry and commerce, favoured by a good road network, as well as a notable cultural activity. Damaged by earthquakes and other calamities, and reduced to a few hundred inhabitants, Aquileia was nearly abandoned in the 14th century. The capital of the state was moved first to [[Cividale del Friuli|Cividale]] and then, from 1238, to [[Udine]], in central Friuli, which had been a favourite residence of the patriarch since the 13th century and soon became a large city.

However, late in the century, the Patriarchate had to face the increasing power of the [[Republic of Venice]], as well as the inner strifes between its vassals, and also became entangled in the endless wars between [[Guelphs and Ghibellines]]. A recovery occurred during the rule of [[Bertrand of Saint-Geniès|Bertrand]] (1334–1350), a successful administrator and military leader. He was killed in 1350 in a plot, at the age of ninety.

Since the transfer of the patriarchal residence to Udine the Venetians had never lived in peace with the patriarchate, of whose imperial favour and tendencies they were jealous. In the 15th century the state also suffered a series of inner strifes between Cividale and Udine. In 1411 this turned into a war which was to mark the end of the Patriarchate, Cividale having received support from most of the Friulian communes, the [[da Carrara]] of Padua, the Emperor and the King of Hungary, while the latter was backed by the Venetians. In the December of that year the imperial army captured Udine and, in the following January, [[Louis of Teck]] was created Patriarch in the city's cathedral. On 23 July 1419 the Venetians conquered Cividale and prepared to do the same with Udine. The city fell on 7 June 1420 after a long siege. Soon afterwards [[Gemona]], [[San Daniele del Friuli|San Daniele]], [[Venzone]] and [[Tolmezzo]] followed.

In 1445, after the defeated patriarch [[Ludovico Trevisan]] at the [[Council of Florence]] had acquiesced in the loss of his ancient temporal estate, in return for an annual salary of 5,000 ducats allowed him from the Venetian treasury, the war was really over. Upon the abolition of the [[Patriarchate of Grado]] (1451), it was superseded by the [[Patriarchate of Venice]]. The title of Patriarch of Aquileia maintained just a religious value.<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', p. 251, Pordenone 1988.</ref> The former Friulian state was incorporated in the [[Republic of Venice]] with the name of ''Patria del Friuli'', ruled by a General Proveditor or a ''Luogotenente'' living in Udine.

Under [[Domenico Grimani]] (cardinal since 1497), Austrian [[Friuli]] was added to the territory of the patriarchate whose jurisdiction thus extended over some Austrian dioceses. In 1623 provost of Aquileia [[Albert Pessler]], on behalf of [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor]], requested establishment of the Bishopric of Gorizia and removing the Austrian dioceses from jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIgLAAAAIAAJ|year=1925|publisher=Državna Štamparija.|page=35}}</ref>

===Extinction ===

The 109th and last Patriarch of Aquileia was Daniel Dolfin, [[coadjutor]] since 1714 of his predecessor, Dionigio Dolfin, his successor since 1734, and a cardinal since 1747.

The Venetian claim to the nomination of the Patriarch of Aquileia had been met by a counter-claim on the part of Austria since the end of the fifteenth century when Austrian dioceses came to be included within the jurisdiction of the patriarchate.

Finally, [[Benedict XIV]] was chosen as arbiter. He awarded (1748–49) to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Udine|Archdiocese of Udine]] the Venetian territory in Friuli, and for the Austrian possessions he created a [[vicariate apostolic]] with residence at [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gorizia|Gorizia]], independent of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and exempt (i.e., immediately dependent on the Holy See), in whose name all jurisdiction was exercised.

This decision was not satisfactory to Venice, and in 1751 with the 6 July [[Papal bull|bull]] ''Injunctio Nobis'', the Pope divided the patriarchate into two archdioceses; one at [[Udine]], with Venetian Friuli for its territory, the other at [[Gorizia]], with jurisdiction over Austrian Friuli. Of the ancient patriarchate, once so proud and influential, there remained but the parish church of Aquileia. It was made immediately subject to the Apostolic See and to its rector was granted the right of using episcopal insignia seven times in the year.

===Titular see===
In 1968, [[Titular Archbishop of Aquileia|Aquileia]] was inserted into the Catholic Church's list of [[titular see|titular]] (no longer residential) [[episcopal see|sees]] with [[metropolitan see|metropolitan]] rank.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 1968'' (Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana 1968), p. 553</ref> {{As of|2014}}, the see is held by [[Charles John Brown]], currently [[Apostolic Nunciature to the Philippines|Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines]], who was appointed to the see on 26 November 2011.

==See also==
* [[Aquileian rite]]
* [[List of bishops and patriarchs of Aquileia]]
* [[Titular Archbishop of Aquileia]]
* [https://www.librideipatriarchi.it/en/ I libri dei Patriarchi]

== Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Krahwinkler|first=Harald|title=Patriarch Fortunatus of Grado and the Placitum of Riziano|journal=Acta Histriae|year=2005|volume=13|number=1|pages=63–78|url=https://zdjp.si/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Krahwinkler.pdf}}
* {{Cite book|last=Meyendorff|first=John|author-link=John Meyendorff|title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D.|year=1989|location=Crestwood, NY|publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press|isbn=9780881410563 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ}}
* Minotto, A. S. (ed.) (1870). [https://books.google.com/books?id=xcBYAAAAcAAJ ''Documenta ad Forumjulii patriarchatum Aquileiensem Tergestum Istriam Goritiam'' Vol. 1.] {{in lang|la}}. Venice: typis Joh. Cecchini, 1870. [Volume 1 of Acta et diplomata e r. tabulario veneto / studio et opera A. S. Minotto]
* {{Cite journal|last=Nicovich|first=John Mark|title=The poverty of the Patriarchate of Grado and the Byzantine-Venetian Treaty of 1082|journal= Mediterranean Historical Review|year=2009|volume=24|number=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1080/09518960903000736 |s2cid=153843834 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6964849}}
* {{Cite book|last=Price|first=Richard M.|chapter=The Three Chapters Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon |title=The Crisis of the Oikoumene: The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-century Mediterranean|year=2007|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=17–37|isbn=9782503515205 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MufYAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{Cite CE1913||wstitle=Aquileia|first=Thomas Joseph|last=Shahan|volume=1}}
* {{Cite book|last=Sotinel|first=Claire|chapter=The Three Chapters and the Transformations of Italy |title=The Crisis of the Oikoumene: The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-century Mediterranean|year=2007|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=85–120|isbn=9782503515205 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MufYAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Vicelja-Matijašić|first=Marina|title=Byzantium and Istria: Some Aspects of Byzantine Presence in Istria|journal=Acta Histriae|year=2005|volume=13|number=1|pages=185–204|url=https://zdjp.si/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Vicelja-Matija%C5%A1i%C4%87.pdf}}
{{refend}}

{{WikidataCoord|display=title}}

{{Latin Church footer}}
{{Patriarchates in Christianity}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aquileia, Patriarchate Of}}
[[Category:Patriarchate of Aquileia| ]]
[[Category:Apostolic sees]]
[[Category:Dioceses established in the 1st century]]
[[Category:1751 disestablishments in Italy]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic dioceses in the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:1st-century establishments in Italy]]
[[Category:Former Latin patriarchates]]
[[Category:Catholic titular sees in Europe|Aqu]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy|Aqu]]

Patriarchate of Aquileia

2024-07-06T04:24:53Z

Contaldo80: #article-section-source-editor

{{Short description|Catholic patriarchate in north-eastern Italy until 18th century}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Aquileia Basilica, esterno - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia|Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta]] in Aquileia]]
{{Other uses|Patriarchate of Aquileia (disambiguation)}}

The '''Patriarchate of Aquileia''' was an [[episcopal see]] and [[ecclesiastical province]] in northeastern [[Italy]], originally centered in the ancient city of [[Aquileia]], situated near the northern coast of the [[Adriatic Sea]]. It emerged in the 4th century as a [[metropolitan province]], with jurisdiction over the Italian region of [[Venetia et Histria]]. In the second half of the 6th century, metropolitan bishops of Aquileia started to use the patriarchal title. Their residence was moved to [[Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia|Grado]] in 568, after the Lombard conquest of Aquileia. In 606, an internal schism occurred, and since that time there were two rival lines of Aquileian patriarchs: one in [[Patriarch of Grado|New Aquileia]] (Grado) with jurisdiction over the Byzantine-controlled coastal regions, and the other in [[Patriarchate of Old Aquileia|Old Aquileia]] (later moved to [[Cormons]]). The first line (Grado) continued until 1451, while the second line (Cormons, later [[Cividale del Friuli|Cividale]], and then [[Udine]]) continued until 1751. Patriarchs of the second line were also feudal lords of the [[Patriarchal State of Aquileia]]. A number of [[Councils of Aquileia|Aquileian church councils]] were held during the late antiquity and throughout the middle ages. Today, it is an [[Titular Archbishop of Aquileia|titular archiepiscopal see]].{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=310-314}}{{sfn|Sotinel|2007|p=85-120}}

==History==

===From bishopric to patriarchate===
Ancient tradition asserts that the see was founded by [[St. Mark]], sent there by [[St. Peter]], prior to his mission to [[early centers of Christianity#Alexandria|Alexandria]]. [[St. Hermagoras]] is said to have been its first bishop and to have died a martyr's death (c. 70). At the end of the third century (285) another martyr, [[Hilarius of Aquileia|St. Helarus]] (or St. Hilarius), was bishop of Aquileia.

In the course of the [[Christianity in the 4th century|fourth century]] the city was the chief ecclesiastical centre for the region about the head of the Adriatic, Regio X of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Augustus]]' eleven regions of Italy, "[[Venetia et Histria]]". In 381, [[List of bishops and patriarchs of Aquileia|St. Valerian]] appears as [[Metropolitan bishop]] of the churches in this territory; his synod of that year, held against the [[Arians]], was attended by 32 (or 24) bishops. Valerian was succeeded by [[Chromatius]] (388–408), known for his homiletic and exegetical works. He promoted the work of Sts. [[Jerome]] and [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]] and kept contact with Sts. [[Ambrose]] of [[Early centers of Christianity#Milan|Milan]] and [[John Chrysostom]].

In time, part of western [[Illyria]], and to the north, [[Noricum]] and [[Rhaetia]], came under the jurisdiction of Aquileia. Roman cities like [[Verona]], [[Trento|Trent]], [[Pula|Pola]], [[Belluno]], [[Feltre]], [[Vicenza]], [[Treviso]] and [[Padua]] were among its [[suffragan]]s in the 5th and 6th centuries. As metropolitans of such an extensive territory, and representatives of Roman civilization among the [[Ostrogoths]] and [[Lombards]], the archbishops of Aquileia sought and obtained from their barbarian masters the honorific title of [[patriarch]], personal, however, as yet to each titular of the see. This title aided in promoting and at the same time justifying the strong tendency towards independence that was quite manifest in the relations of Aquileia with [[Early centers of Christianity#Rome|Rome]], a trait it shared with its rival, [[Ravenna]], which, less fortunate, never obtained the patriarchal dignity.

Emperor [[Justinian]]'s decision that Italy, too, should adopt his religious policy which favoured [[Monophysitism]], was met with strong opposition by Aquileia's bishop Macedonius (539–557). In the meantime, [[Pope Vigilius]] gave in to Justinian's threats and adhered to the [[Second Council of Constantinople]] of 553 which condemned the three representatives later known as the [[Schism of the Three Chapters|Three Chapters]]. Owing to the acquiescence of Vigilius in the condemnation of the "Three Chapters", the bishops of northern Italy ([[Liguria]] and [[Aemilia (Roman province)|Aemilia]]) and among them those of the Venetia and Istria, [[Council of Aquileia, 553|broke off communion with Rome]], under the leadership of Macedonius. This [[Schism of the Three Chapters]] provided the opportunity for the bishop of Aquileia to assume the title "patriarch". Macedonius' successor [[Paulinus I]] (557–569) began using the title around 560.<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', pp. 109–110, G. E. A. P. Pordenone 1988.</ref>

Meanwhile, by the end of the next decade, the [[Lombards]] overran all of northern Italy. In 568, the patriarch of Aquileia was obliged to flee, with the treasures of his church, to the little island of [[Grado, Italy|Grado]], near [[Trieste]], a last remnant of the [[Eastern Roman Empire|imperial possessions]] in northern Italy. This political change did not affect the relations of the patriarchate with Rome; its bishops, whether in Lombard or imperial territory, persistently refused all invitations to a reconciliation.

===Split with Grado===
[[File:The Venetia c 840 AD.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Grado and other Byzantine possessions in the North Adriatic (6th-9th centuries)]]
{{Main|Patriarchate of Grado|Patriarchate of Old Aquileia}}

Various efforts of the popes at Rome and the [[Exarchate of Ravenna|exarchs at Ravenna]], both peaceful and otherwise, met with persistent refusal to renew the bonds of unity until the election of Candidianus (606 or 607) as Metropolitan of Aquileia (in Grado). Weary of fifty years' schism, those of his suffragans whose sees lay within the empire joined him in submission to Rome; his mainland suffragans among the Lombards persisted in the schism. They went further and elected in Aquileia itself, patriarch John the Abbot (606 or 607) so that henceforth there were two little patriarchates in northern Italy, the insular [[Patriarch of Grado|patriarchate of Aquileia in Grado]] and the mainland [[patriarchate of Old Aquileia]], residing in the fortress of [[Cormons]].

With the death of King [[Grimoald, King of the Lombards|Grimuald]] (671), who was an [[Arian]], attitudes began to change. Royal court officials were prevalently Catholic and favoured an agreement with the Church of Rome. Eventually the Lombard kings wished to remove all conflicts with Rome, including the schism with the Aquileian church. Gradually the schism lost its vigour. King [[Cunipert]] summoned the [[Council of Pavia (698)|Synod of Pavia]] (698/699) whereby Old-Aquileia reconciled with Rome, and Pope Gregory II granted the [[pallium]] to Patriarch Serenus (715–730) of Aquileia in 723.<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', pp. 142–143, G. E. A. P. Pordenone 1988.</ref> It was probably during the seventh century that the popes recognized in the metropolitans of Grado the title of Patriarch of Aquileia, in order to offset its assumption by the metropolitans of Old-Aquileia. In succeeding centuries it continued in use by both, but had no longer any practical significance.

In 628, the patriarchs of Old-Aquileia transferred their residence to [[Cormons]]. Patriarch Callistus moved the patriarchal residence to [[Cividale del Friuli]] ([[Cividale del Friuli|Forum Julii]]) in 737 and it remained there until the thirteenth century when it was moved again, this time to [[Udine]] in 1223.

In the last decade of the 8th century, the creation of a new metropolitan see at [[Salzburg]] reduced the size of the diocese of Old-Aquileia, which long claimed as its own the territory of [[Duchy of Carinthia|Carinthia]]. Still later, Patriarch Ursus of Aquileia (d. 811) accepted the arbitration of [[Charlemagne]],{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} by which the Carinthian territory north of the [[Drave]] was relinquished to Arno of Salzburg. After the death of Ursus, [[Maxentius of Aquileia|Maxentius]] picked up where he left off{{Specify |reason=unclear what Patriarch Maxentius picked up doing |date=August 2023}}, and solicited funds from Charlemagne's court to rebuild Aquileia.<ref>Everett, Nicholas. ''Paulinus, The Carolgingians and Famosissima Aquileia'', 145.</ref> Maxentius served as the Patriarch of Aquileia from 811 till his death in 837.<ref name="friul.net">[http://www.friul.net/dizionario_biografico/index.php?id=2434&x=1 ''Friulian Biographical Dictionary''']</ref>

Nevertheless, the [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] invasion of the 9th century and the decline of imperial control increased the authority of the patriarchs.

===Expansion and collapse===
[[File:Cividale Museo Cristiano - Bischofsthron.jpg|thumb|upright|11th-century patriarchal throne]]
German feudal influence was henceforth more and more tangible in the ecclesiastical affairs of Old-Aquileia. In 1011 one of its patriarchs, John IV, surrounded by thirty bishops, consecrated the new cathedral of [[Bamberg]]. [[Poppo of Aquileia|Poppo]], or Wolfgang (1019–1042), a familiar and minister of Emperor [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]], consecrated his own cathedral at Aquileia on 13 July 1031, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Under his reign the city also received a new line of walls. Poppo also managed to free the patriarch definitively from the [[Duchy of Carinthia]] and warred against [[Grado, Italy|Grado]].

In 1047, the Patriarch Eberhard, a German, assisted at the Roman synod of that year, in which it was declared that Aquileia was inferior in honour only to Rome, Ravenna, and Milan. In 1063, however, [[Pope Leo IX]] declared Grado to have the supremacy, but [[Gotebald]] retained the support of [[Emperor Henry III]].

===Temporal power===
{{Main|Patriarchal State of Aquileia}}

In 1077, the patriarch [[Sigehard (patriarch of Aquileia)|Sieghard of Belstein]] received the ducal title of Friuli from German king [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]], an act traditionally regarded as the birth of the state of Aquileia, or the [[Patrie dal Friûl]]. The Patriarchate subsequently extended its political control in the area: regions under Aquileian control in the following centuries included [[Trieste]], Carinthia, [[Styria]], [[Cadore]] and the central part of [[Istria]]. At its maximum height, the Patriarchate of Aquileia was one of the largest states in Italy. Noblemen from the Patriarchate were protagonists in the [[Crusades]]. In 1186 Patriarch [[Godfrey (patriarch of Aquileia)|Godfrey]] crowned [[Frederick Barbarossa]]'s son, [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], in the [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]] in Milan<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', p. 207, Pordenone 1988</ref> as King of Italy; in retaliation, Pope [[Urban III]] deposed him.

In the early 13th century, particularly under [[Wolfger von Erla]] (1204–1218) and [[Berthold (patriarch of Aquileia)|Berthold]] (1218–1251), the Patriarchate had a flourishing industry and commerce, favoured by a good road network, as well as a notable cultural activity. Damaged by earthquakes and other calamities, and reduced to a few hundred inhabitants, Aquileia was nearly abandoned in the 14th century. The capital of the state was moved first to [[Cividale del Friuli|Cividale]] and then, from 1238, to [[Udine]], in central Friuli, which had been a favourite residence of the patriarch since the 13th century and soon became a large city.

However, late in the century, the Patriarchate had to face the increasing power of the [[Republic of Venice]], as well as the inner strifes between its vassals, and also became entangled in the endless wars between [[Guelphs and Ghibellines]]. A recovery occurred during the rule of [[Bertrand of Saint-Geniès|Bertrand]] (1334–1350), a successful administrator and military leader. He was killed in 1350 in a plot, at the age of ninety.

Since the transfer of the patriarchal residence to Udine the Venetians had never lived in peace with the patriarchate, of whose imperial favour and tendencies they were jealous. In the 15th century the state also suffered a series of inner strifes between Cividale and Udine. In 1411 this turned into a war which was to mark the end of the Patriarchate, Cividale having received support from most of the Friulian communes, the [[da Carrara]] of Padua, the Emperor and the King of Hungary, while the latter was backed by the Venetians. In the December of that year the imperial army captured Udine and, in the following January, [[Louis of Teck]] was created Patriarch in the city's cathedral. On 23 July 1419 the Venetians conquered Cividale and prepared to do the same with Udine. The city fell on 7 June 1420 after a long siege. Soon afterwards [[Gemona]], [[San Daniele del Friuli|San Daniele]], [[Venzone]] and [[Tolmezzo]] followed.

In 1445, after the defeated patriarch [[Ludovico Trevisan]] at the [[Council of Florence]] had acquiesced in the loss of his ancient temporal estate, in return for an annual salary of 5,000 ducats allowed him from the Venetian treasury, the war was really over. Upon the abolition of the [[Patriarchate of Grado]] (1451), it was superseded by the [[Patriarchate of Venice]]. The title of Patriarch of Aquileia maintained just a religious value.<ref>G. C. Menis, ''History of Friuli'', p. 251, Pordenone 1988.</ref> The former Friulian state was incorporated in the [[Republic of Venice]] with the name of ''Patria del Friuli'', ruled by a General Proveditor or a ''Luogotenente'' living in Udine.

Under [[Domenico Grimani]] (cardinal since 1497), Austrian [[Friuli]] was added to the territory of the patriarchate whose jurisdiction thus extended over some Austrian dioceses. In 1623 provost of Aquileia [[Albert Pessler]], on behalf of [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor]], requested establishment of the Bishopric of Gorizia and removing the Austrian dioceses from jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIgLAAAAIAAJ|year=1925|publisher=Državna Štamparija.|page=35}}</ref>

===Extinction ===

The 109th and last Patriarch of Aquileia was Daniel Dolfin, [[coadjutor]] since 1714 of his predecessor, Dionigio Dolfin, his successor since 1734, and a cardinal since 1747.

The Venetian claim to the nomination of the Patriarch of Aquileia had been met by a counter-claim on the part of Austria since the end of the fifteenth century when Austrian dioceses came to be included within the jurisdiction of the patriarchate.

Finally, [[Benedict XIV]] was chosen as arbiter. He awarded (1748–49) to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Udine|Archdiocese of Udine]] the Venetian territory in Friuli, and for the Austrian possessions he created a [[vicariate apostolic]] with residence at [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gorizia|Gorizia]], independent of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and exempt (i.e., immediately dependent on the Holy See), in whose name all jurisdiction was exercised.

This decision was not satisfactory to Venice, and in 1751 with the 6 July [[Papal bull|bull]] ''Injunctio Nobis'', the Pope divided the patriarchate into two archdioceses; one at [[Udine]], with Venetian Friuli for its territory, the other at [[Gorizia]], with jurisdiction over Austrian Friuli. Of the ancient patriarchate, once so proud and influential, there remained but the parish church of Aquileia. It was made immediately subject to the Apostolic See and to its rector was granted the right of using episcopal insignia seven times in the year.

===Titular see===
In 1968, [[Titular Archbishop of Aquileia|Aquileia]] was inserted into the Catholic Church's list of [[titular see|titular]] (no longer residential) [[episcopal see|sees]] with [[metropolitan see|metropolitan]] rank.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 1968'' (Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana 1968), p. 553</ref> {{As of|2014}}, the see is held by [[Charles John Brown]], currently [[Apostolic Nunciature to the Philippines|Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines]], who was appointed to the see on 26 November 2011.

==See also==
* [[Aquileian rite]]
* [[List of bishops and patriarchs of Aquileia]]
* [[Titular Archbishop of Aquileia]]
* [https://www.librideipatriarchi.it/en/ I libri dei Patriarchi]

== Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Krahwinkler|first=Harald|title=Patriarch Fortunatus of Grado and the Placitum of Riziano|journal=Acta Histriae|year=2005|volume=13|number=1|pages=63–78|url=https://zdjp.si/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Krahwinkler.pdf}}
* {{Cite book|last=Meyendorff|first=John|author-link=John Meyendorff|title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D.|year=1989|location=Crestwood, NY|publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press|isbn=9780881410563 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ}}
* Minotto, A. S. (ed.) (1870). [https://books.google.com/books?id=xcBYAAAAcAAJ ''Documenta ad Forumjulii patriarchatum Aquileiensem Tergestum Istriam Goritiam'' Vol. 1.] {{in lang|la}}. Venice: typis Joh. Cecchini, 1870. [Volume 1 of Acta et diplomata e r. tabulario veneto / studio et opera A. S. Minotto]
* {{Cite journal|last=Nicovich|first=John Mark|title=The poverty of the Patriarchate of Grado and the Byzantine-Venetian Treaty of 1082|journal= Mediterranean Historical Review|year=2009|volume=24|number=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1080/09518960903000736 |s2cid=153843834 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6964849}}
* {{Cite book|last=Price|first=Richard M.|chapter=The Three Chapters Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon |title=The Crisis of the Oikoumene: The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-century Mediterranean|year=2007|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=17–37|isbn=9782503515205 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MufYAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{Cite CE1913||wstitle=Aquileia|first=Thomas Joseph|last=Shahan|volume=1}}
* {{Cite book|last=Sotinel|first=Claire|chapter=The Three Chapters and the Transformations of Italy |title=The Crisis of the Oikoumene: The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-century Mediterranean|year=2007|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=85–120|isbn=9782503515205 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MufYAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Vicelja-Matijašić|first=Marina|title=Byzantium and Istria: Some Aspects of Byzantine Presence in Istria|journal=Acta Histriae|year=2005|volume=13|number=1|pages=185–204|url=https://zdjp.si/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Vicelja-Matija%C5%A1i%C4%87.pdf}}
{{refend}}

{{WikidataCoord|display=title}}

{{Latin Church footer}}
{{Patriarchates in Christianity}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aquileia, Patriarchate Of}}
[[Category:Patriarchate of Aquileia| ]]
[[Category:Apostolic sees]]
[[Category:Dioceses established in the 1st century]]
[[Category:1751 disestablishments in Italy]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic dioceses in the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:1st-century establishments in Italy]]
[[Category:Former Latin patriarchates]]
[[Category:Catholic titular sees in Europe|Aqu]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy|Aqu]]

Louis V of France

2024-03-04T05:07:51Z

Contaldo80: debaunched is weird #article-section-source-editor

{{Short description|King of West Francia from 979 to 987}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Louis V
| image = Louis V of France.jpg
| caption = 14th century miniature of Louis V
| succession = [[List of French monarchs|King of West Francia]]
| reign = 2 March 986 – 22 May 987
| coronation = 8 June 979
| cor-type = France
| full name =
| predecessor = [[Lothair of France|Lothair]]
| successor = [[Hugh Capet]]
| spouse = [[Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou]] (m. 982; ann. 984)
| dynasty = [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]]
| father = [[Lothair of France]]
| mother = [[Emma of Italy]]
| birth_date = 966/967
| birth_place =
| death_date = 22 May 987 (aged 20–21)
| death_place = [[Forest of Halatte]], Oise
| place of burial = {{ill|Saint Corneille Abbey, Compiègne|fr|Abbaye Saint-Corneille de Compiègne}}
}}
'''Louis V''' ({{c.|966 or 967}} – 22 May 987), also known as '''Louis the Do-Nothing''' ({{lang-fr|Louis le Fainéant}}),{{sfn|Previté-Orton|1929|p=568}} was a king of [[West Francia]] from 979 (co-reigning first with his father [[Lothair of France|Lothair]] until 986) to his early death in 987. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, Louis V was the last [[Carolingian]] monarch in [[West Francia]].

==Youth==
Louis was born {{circa|966}}. He was the eldest son of King [[Lothair of France]], the [[Carolingian]] ruler of France, and [[Emma of Italy|Queen Emma]], daughter of King [[Lothair II of Italy]] and [[Empress Adelaide]]. Louis was associated to the government by his father in 978 and crowned co-king on 8 June 979 at the Abbey of Saint-Corneille in [[Compiègne]] by Archbishop [[Adalbero (archbishop of Reims)|Adalbero of Reims]].<ref>Jim Bradbury (2007). ''The Capetians: Kings of France, 987–1328''. London: Hambledon Continuum, p. 45</ref>

==Marriage==
In 982 at [[Vieille-Brioude]], [[Haute-Loire]], the fifteen-year-old Louis was married to the forty-year-old [[Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou]], sister of Count [[Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey I]] and twice a widow from her previous marriages with Count Stephen of Gévaudan<ref>According to Settipani, Stephen was not properly ''Comte de Gévaudan'', although his descendants by Adelaide-Blance later possessed the counties of Gévaudan, Brioude and Forez. Christian Settipani: ''La Préhistoire des Capétiens'', 1993, p. 336, footnote 996.</ref> and [[Raymond III, Count of Toulouse|Count Raymond of Toulouse, Prince of Gothia]]. This union was purely political and arranged by the king – following the advice of Queen Emma and Count Geoffrey I – with the double purpose of restoring the Carolingian royal power in the south of the kingdom, and (according to [[Richerus]]) to obtain the support of the local southern lords in his fight against the [[Robertians]]. Being related by marriage to two of the most powerful southern comital families of the Kingdom, Lothair believed that he could confront the power of [[Hugh Capet]].

Immediately after their wedding, Louis and Adelaide-Blanche were crowned king and queen of Aquitaine by Adelaide's brother Bishop Guy of Le Puy.<ref>Pierre Riché, ''The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe'', Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 265</ref> From the very beginning, however, the mismatched couple was unable to live peacefully together,<ref name="FN15">Bernard S. Bachrach: ''Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987–1040'', University of California Press, 1993, p. 15.</ref> not only due to the notorious age difference between them, but (according to [[Richerus]]) also because of Louis' reported affairs:

::[...] They had almost no conjugal love; because Louis had barely reached puberty, and Adelaide was old, there was only incompatibility and disagreements between them. They did not share a common bedroom as they could not bear it; when they had to travel, each took a separate residence, and when they were forced to talk, their conversations were in the open air and were never long, but only lasted for a few words. They lived in this way for two years, until they obtained the divorce for their opposite characters. [...] Louis, who did not have a tutor, indulged himself in all sorts of frivolity due to his young age.<ref>Richerus: ''Historiarum libri quatuor'', Académie impériale de Reims, Reims 1855, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k361020.image.f361.pagination Book III, p. 339].</ref>

In 984, after two years of childless union<ref name="FN15"/> (and according to [[Rodulfus Glaber]]), Adelaide tricked her young husband into making a visit to Aquitaine, and once there, she left him and returned to her family, marrying shortly thereafter Count [[William I of Provence]]:

::When the young prince reached adolescence, Lothair made him king and appointed him his successor; he also chose for him a princess of Aquitaine as his wife, but soon she perceived that the young man would not inherit the talents of his father. Therefore she decided to separate from her husband; and for this purpose she adroitly convinced him to make a trip to her province of Aquitaine, assuming that her hereditary rights there guaranteed her the possession of the land. Louis, without suspecting the artifice, yielded to the advice of his wife, and went with her. When they were in Aquitaine, she left her husband to join her family.<ref>[[Rodulfus Glaber]]: ''Collection des mémoires de France par M. Guizot'', Paris 1824, [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/glaber/histoire1.htm#III Book I, chapter III, parts 180 and 181].</ref>

However, despite being recorded by relative contemporary and later sources (Richerus, Rodulfus Glaber, the ''Chronicon Andegavensi'' and the Chronicle of Saint-Maxence, among others), the existence of this marriage was recently challenged by historian Carlrichard Brülh.<ref>Carlrichard Brülh: ''Naissance de deux peuples, Français et Allemands (10th–11th siècle)'', [[Fayard]], August 1996, p. 248.</ref>

==Reign==
[[File:La France au Xe siècle2.svg|thumb|right|Carolingian ruled lands (in yellow) formed a small part of West Francia by the 10th century]]
Upon his father's death on 2 March 986, the already-crowned Louis V became the undisputed king of the Franks. At that time, however, there existed in the Frankish court two factions: one led by Archbishop Adalberon of Reims and Queen Emma, who, being strongly influenced by her mother [[Empress Adelaide]], wanted the renewal of friendly relationships with the [[Ottonian dynasty]]; the other faction wanted to continue Lothair's policy, and taking advantage of the minority of [[Emperor Otto III]], wanted a policy of expansion to the east and the recovery of [[Lotharingia]]. In addition, the young monarch inherited a battle between his father's line of elected kings (which had been interrupted twice by [[Robertians]] and once by the [[Bosonids]]), and the [[Ottonian]] house of [[Emperor Otto I]]. As defender of Rome, Otto I had the power to name the clergy in Carolingian territory, and the clergy he had named were not supporting the Carolingians.

Initially, Queen Emma dominated the situation, but in the summer of 986 there was a reversal: the Anti-Ottonian party prevailed, after which she was forced to leave court and seek refuge with [[Hugh Capet]]. This event also put Adalberon in a predicament: having been elevated by Otto I to the powerful Archbishopric of Reims, he was forced to leave his episcopal seat and took refuge in one of his fortresses on the [[Meuse]] river, which belonged to the Ottonian sphere. The escape of the archbishop was perceived by Louis V as treason; he turned violently against Adalberon and threatened him with a siege of Reims. The matter was finally settled in a trial court at [[Compiègne]]. Before this meeting, however, Louis V changed his mind and sought a reconciliation with Adalberon, and so in the spring of 987, he planned a peace meeting with [[Empress Theophanu]], who acted on behalf of her son Otto III. Before all these tangled events were resolved, Louis V died on 22 May 987<ref> [[Richer of Reims]] (10th century), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ObROYtrTZK0C&pg=PA147 ''Histoire de son temps'' II]. p. 146. "11 kal. Junii defitiens" [on the 11th day before the [[calends]] of June]</ref> from a fall while hunting in the [[Forest of Halatte]] near the town of [[Senlis, Oise]].<ref>Jim Bradbury,''The Capetians: Kings of France, 987–1328'' (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), p. 46</ref><ref>Pierre Riché, ''The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe'', Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 277</ref> He was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Corneille in [[Compiègne]].

Louis V left no legitimate heirs, so his uncle [[Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine]], was nominated as the hereditary successor to the throne. But the clergy, including both Adalberon and Gerbert (who later became [[Pope Sylvester II]]), argued eloquently for the election of Hugh Capet, who was not only of royal blood but had proven himself through his actions and his military might. Hugh was elected to the Frankish throne and Adalberon crowned him, all within two months of Louis V's death. Thus the rule of the Carolingian dynasty ended and the [[Capetians|Capetian]] era had begun.

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

==References==
*[[H. M. Gwatkin|Gwatkin, H.M.]], [[J. P. Whitney|Whitney, J.P.]] (ed) et al. ''The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III''. [[Cambridge University Press]], 1926.
*Frantz Funck-Brentano: ''National History of France.'' New York : AMS Press, 1967.
*Ferdinand Lot: ''Les derniers Carolingiens: Lothaire, Louis V, Charles de Lorraine (954–991)'', Paris 1891.
*Walther Kienast: ''Deutschland und Frankreich in der Kaiserzeit (900–1270)'', vol. 1'', Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1974.
*{{cite book |title=Outlines of Medieval History |first=C. W. |last=Previté-Orton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1929 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
|-
{{succession box|title=[[List of French monarchs|King of West Francia]]|before=[[Lothair of France|Lothair]]|after=[[Hugh Capet]]|years=986–987}}
{{s-end}}

{{Carolingians footer}}
{{Monarchs of France}}
{{France topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louis 05 of France}}
[[Category:10th-century kings of West Francia]]
[[Category:Dukes of Aquitaine]]
[[Category:Frankish warriors]]
[[Category:960s births]]
[[Category:987 deaths]]

[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident in France]]
[[Category:Hunting accident deaths]]
[[Category:Carolingian dynasty]]

Gerard Majella

2024-03-02T23:01:02Z

Contaldo80: #article-section-source-editor

{{short description|Italian Roman Catholic saint}}
{{Redirect|Saint Gerard Majella}}

{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=[[Canonization|Saint]]
|name=Gerard Majella
|honorific_suffix=[[Redemptorists|CSsR]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1726|4|6|df=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1755|10|16|1726|4|6|df=y}}
|feast_day=[[16 October]]
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]] (The [[Redemptorists]] and [[Campagnia]], Italy)
|image= Герардо Майелла.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption= Portrait of Gerard Majella.
|birth_place=[[Muro Lucano]], [[Basilicata]], [[Kingdom of Naples]]
|death_place= [[Materdomini (Caposele)|Materdomini]], [[Campania]], Kingdom of Naples
|titles=[[religious life|Religious]]
|beatified_date=29 January 1893
|beatified_by=[[Pope Leo XIII]]
|canonized_date=11 December 1904
|canonized_by=[[Pope Pius X]]
|attributes=Young man in a Redemptorist habit, skull
|patronage= Children (and unborn children in particular); childbirth; mothers (and expectant mothers in particular); motherhood; falsely accused people; good confessions; lay brothers.
|major_shrine= [[Sanctuary of San Gerardo Maiella|Shrine of St. Gerard Majella, Materdomini]], [[Province of Avellino|Avellino]], Italy
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}

'''Gerard Majella''' ({{Lang-it|Gerardo Maiella}}; 6 April 1726 – 16 October 1755) was an Italian [[lay brother]] of the [[Redemptorists|Congregation of the Redeemer]], better known as the [[Redemptorists]], who is honored as a [[saint]] by the [[Catholic Church]].

His intercession is sought for children, unborn children, women in childbirth, mothers, expectant mothers, motherhood, the falsely accused, good confessions, lay brothers and [[Muro Lucano]], [[Italy]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2020-12-19|title=St. Gerard Majella {{!}} Christian Apostles.com|url=https://christianapostles.com/st-gerard-majella/|access-date=2021-01-09|website=christianapostles.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Life==
Majella was born in [[Muro Lucano]] on 6 April 1726, the youngest of five children. He was frail, and his parents had him baptized the day he was born.<ref name=":0" /> He was the son of Domenico Maiella, a [[tailor]] who died when Gerard was twelve, leaving the family in poverty. His mother, Benedetta Galella, then sent him to her brother so that he could teach Gerard to sew and follow in his father's footsteps. However, the foreman was abusive. The boy kept silent, but his uncle soon found out and the man who taught him resigned from the job. After four years of apprenticeship, he took a job as a servant to work for the local [[Bishop of Lacedonia]].<ref name=liguori/> Upon the bishop's death, Gerard returned to his trade, working first as a journeyman and then on his own account, but earned a minimal income.<ref name=baltimore>[https://redemptorists.net/st-gerard-majella "St. Gerard Majella", The Redemptorists, Baltimore Province]</ref>

He tried to join the [[Capuchin Order]] twice, but his health prevented it.<ref>{{Cite web|title=St. Gerard Majella - Saints & Angels|url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=150|access-date=2021-01-09|website=Catholic Online|language=en}}</ref> In 1749, he joined the [[Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer]], known as Redemptorists.<ref name="cathency">{{CathEncy|id=06467c |title =St. Gerard Majella |author =J. Magnier}}</ref> The order was founded in 1732 by [[Alphonsus Liguori]] (1696-1787) at [[Scala, Campania|Scala]], near [[Naples]]. The essentially- missionary order is dedicated to "preaching the word of God to the poor." Its apostolate is principally in giving of missions and retreats.<ref name=carr>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/GMAJELLA.HTM Carr, John, "St. Gerard Majella", ''A Treasury of Catholic Reading'', ed. John Chapin (New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1957)]</ref>

During his life, he was very close to the peasants and other outsiders who lived in the Neapolitan countryside. In his work with the Redemptorist community, he was variously a gardener, [[sacristan]], tailor, porter, cook, carpenter, and clerk of works on the new buildings at Caposele.<ref name=":0" />

At 27, Majella was controversially identified by a young pregnant woman as the father of her child. To avoid exposing the father, Gerard accepted the blame silently. His superior Alphonse Liguori questioned him and, due to his silence, banned him from receiving Holy Communion. After several years, the woman revealed the truth on her deathbed, but also testified to Gerard’s holiness.

Some of Majella's reported miracles include restoring life to a boy who had fallen from a high cliff, blessing the scant supply of wheat belonging to a poor family and making it last until the next harvest, and several times multiplying the bread that he was distributing to the poor.

One day, he walked across the water to lead a boatload of fishermen through stormy waves to the safety of the shore. He was reputed to have had [[bilocation]] and the ability to read souls.<ref name=liguori>{{cite web |url=http://mission.liguori.org/redemptorists/saints/majella/bio.htm |title=Liguori Publications:Saint Gerard Majella |work=liguori.org |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117053729/http://mission.liguori.org/redemptorists/saints/majella/bio.htm |archivedate=2013-01-17 }}</ref>

His last will was a small note on the door of his cell: "Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills." He died at 29 of [[tuberculosis]] on 16 October 1755 in [[Materdomini, Caposele|Materdomini]], Italy.<ref>{{Cite news|date=16 October 2020|title=È il giorno della festa di San Gerardo, l'angelo di mamme e bambini: le foto del dono dell'olio|work=Avellino Today|url=https://www.avellinotoday.it/eventi/cultura/festa-san-gerardo-angelo-mamme-bambini-foto-dono-olio.html|access-date=21 February 2021}}</ref>

==Patron of mothers==
One miracle in particular explains how Majella became known as the special patron of mothers. A few months before his death, he visited the Pirofalo family and accidentally dropped his handkerchief. One of the Pirofalo girls spotted the handkerchief moments after he had left the house, and she ran after Gerard to return it, but he told her to keep it in case she might need it someday. Years later when the girl, now a married woman, was on the verge of dying in childbirth, she remembered the words of the saintly lay brother. She asked for the handkerchief to be brought to her. Almost immediately, the pain disappeared and she gave birth to a healthy child. That was no small feat in an era when only one out of three pregnancies resulted in a live birth, and word of the miracle spread quickly.

Because of the miracles that God worked through Gerard's prayers with mothers, the mothers of Italy took Gerard to their hearts and made him their patron. At the process of his beatification, one witness testified that he was known as "il santo dei felice parti," the saint of happy childbirths.<ref name=Tobin>{{cite web|url=http://cssr.com/english/saintsblessed/stmajella.shtml|title=Redemptorist|work=cssr.com}}</ref>

His devotion has become very popular in North America, both in the United States and Canada.<ref name=liguori/>

==Veneration==
[[File:Saint Gerard Church (Lima, Ohio) - St. Gerard Majella relic.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Relic#Christianity|relic]] of Majella on display for [[veneration]] in [[Lima, Ohio]].]]
Majella was [[beatified]] in [[Rome]] on 29 January 1893 by [[Pope Leo XIII]]. He was [[canonised|canonized]] less than twelve years later on 11 December 1904 by [[Pope Pius X]].<ref name="cathency"/> The [[feast day]] of Saint Gerard Majella is October 16.

In 1977, St. Gerard's Chapel in [[St. Lucy's Church (Newark, New Jersey)|St. Lucy's Church]] ([[Newark, New Jersey]]) was dedicated as a national shrine. Each year during the Feast days, which include October 16, there are traditional lights, music, food stands and a street procession. People come from all over to celebrate. Devotees also visit the shrine throughout the year to petition the help of St. Gerard.<ref>[http://www.saintlucy.net/saintgerard.html St. Lucy's Church] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023060050/http://www.saintlucy.net/saintgerard.html |date=2013-10-23 }}, Newark, NJ.</ref>

The [[St. Gerard Majella Annual Novena]] takes place every year at St. Josephs Church in [[Dundalk]], Ireland. This annual nine-day novena is the biggest festival of faith in [[Ireland]]. St. Joseph's sponsors the St. Gerard's Family League, an association of Christians united in prayer for their own and other families, to preserve Christian values in their home and family lives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redemptoristsdundalk.ie/st-gerard-majella/st-gerards-family-league/ |title=St Gerard's Family League |work=redemptoristsdundalk.ie |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903203453/http://www.redemptoristsdundalk.ie/st-gerard-majella/st-gerards-family-league/ |archivedate=2014-09-03 }}</ref>

The [[Sanctuary of San Gerardo Maiella]] is a basilica in [[Materdomini (Caposele)|Materdomini]], Italy dedicated to him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amalfinotizie.it/santuario-di-san-gerardo-maiella/|title=Il Santuario di San Gerardo Maiella alle Porte del Territorio Salernitano|last=Salerno|first=Redazione|date=2017-06-18|website=AmalfiNotizie.it|language=it-IT|access-date=2019-03-10|archive-date=2018-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118011406/http://amalfinotizie.it/santuario-di-san-gerardo-maiella/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Namesakes==
[[File:Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Trinity, Indiana) - St. Gerard Majella statue.jpg|thumb|Statue of Gerard Majella at the [[Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Trinity, Indiana)|Holy Trinity Catholic Church]], [[Trinity, Indiana]]]]
The Senior [[Coroner]] for Liverpool and Wirral sits at the Gerard Majella Courthouse in [[Liverpool]].

In Scotland, there is a church and primary school dedicated to St Gerard Majella in [[Bellshill]], [[Lanarkshire]], opened in 1971 & 1973 respectively. The maternity hospital, now a housing estate, was located close by; hence, the choice of name of church and school.

Two towns in [[Quebec]], [[Canada]], are named in his honour: [[Saint-Gérard-Majella, Quebec|one in the Montérégie region]] and [[L'Assomption, Quebec|another in the Lanaudière region]]. Another town, St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, has one of its parishes named after him.

In [[Ghent]] ([[Belgium]]) a model school was named after Saint Gerard. This school was exhibited on the [[Ghent International Exposition (1913)|International Exposition (1913)]] in Ghent as a model for Belgium's future school buildings. In 1914 it was rebuilt after the exhibition with the same stones. Nowadays the Saint Gerard School is used by a charity organisation "Geraarke" (local name) which supports poor people with clothes and food packages.
In Nigeria, there is a shrine dedicated to St Gerard Majella at a place called Oba, in [[Anambra State]]. It was given to the Redemptorists of the Vice-Province of Nigeria by the Archbishop of Onitsha, Most Rev. Valerian Okeke. The Redemptorists also built a school for the poor and most abandoned in the shrine site dedicated to St Gerard Majella.

He was featured on an Italian 45-[[euro]]cent [http://www.ibolli.it/php/em-italia-3685-Ritratto%20di%20San%20Gerardo%20Maiella%20e%20santuario.php postage stamp] in May 2005.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Carr |first=John |date=1959 |title=Saint Gerard Majella |url= https://archive.org/details/saintgerardmajel0000carr |location=Westminster, MD |publisher=Newman Press}}
*Farrelly Jr, Peter, "Hope in the Handkerchief of a Saint"
*Karelse, Theun, "The Field Guide To Flying Saints"
*{{cite book |last=Londono |first=Noel |translator-last=Heinegg |translator-first=Peter |date=2001 |title=Saint Gerard Majella: his writings and spirituality |url= |location=Liguori, Mo. |publisher= Liguori |isbn=0-7648-0788-9}}
*{{cite book |last=Mangier |first=J. |date=1905 |title=Life of St. Gerard Magella |url= https://archive.org/details/magella-cover-to-end |location=St. Louis,MO |publisher=B. Herder}}
*Rabenstein, Katherine, "For All The Saints"

==External links==
{{commonscatinline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141105174228/http://www.themotherssaint.org/pages/saint-gerard.html "The Mothers' Saint", St. Gerard Majella C.Ss.R.]
*{{in lang|it}} [http://www.sangerardo.it/ Santuario ''San Gerardo Maiella'' - Materdomini] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123095115/http://www.sangerardo.it/ |date=2021-01-23 }}
* {{librivox book | title=Life of Saint Gerard Majella | author=Rev. O. R. Vassall-Phillips}}

{{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= Italy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Majella, Gerard}}
[[Category:1726 births]]
[[Category:1755 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Muro Lucano]]
[[Category:Redemptorists]]
[[Category:Redemptorist saints]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:Canonized Roman Catholic religious brothers]]
[[Category:18th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Canonizations by Pope Pius X]]
[[Category:Beatifications by Pope Leo XIII]]
[[Category:Venerated Catholics]]

Yolanda Hill Robinson

2024-02-14T03:31:29Z

Contaldo80: not notable

{{short description|Second Lady of North Carolina}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Yolanda Hill Robinson
| image =
| office = [[Second Lady]] of [[North Carolina]]
| caption =
| governor = [[Roy Cooper]]
| lieutenant_governor = [[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]]
| term_start = January 9, 2021
| term_end =
| term_label = Assumed role
| predecessor = Alice Forest
| successor =
| birth_name = Yolanda Hill
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Ramseur, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]]|1990}}
| children = 2
| education = [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]] ([[Bachelor of Science|B.S]], [[Master of Accountancy|M.S.A.]])
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
}}
'''Yolanda Hill Robinson''' is an American accountant, non-profit executive, and civic leader. As the wife of Lieutenant Governor [[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]], she has served as the Second Lady of North Carolina since 2021 and is the first African-American woman to serve as Second Lady of North Carolina. Robinson founded and operates a non-profit organization that provides meals to children in daycare facilities. She sits on the board of [[American Leadership Academy]] North Carolina and on the boards of two of its affiliated [[charter schools]].

== Early life and education ==
Robinson was born Yolanda Hill in [[Ramseur, North Carolina]].<ref name= wayne/> She grew up in [[Randolph County, North Carolina|Randolph County]] and graduated from Eastern Randolph High School in 1986. She earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in accounting from the [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]].<ref name= wayne/>

== Career and public life ==
In 1990, Robinson co-managed a childcare facility with her husband.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://businessnc.com/book-excerpt-mark-robinsons-tumultuous-path/|title=Book excerpt: Mark Robinson's tumultuous path|date=August 18, 2022}}</ref> She later founded a non-profit organization that provides healthy meals for children enrolled in licensed daycare facilities in North Carolina, which she owns and operates.<ref name= wayne/>

She is a board member of Revolution Academy, a K-8 [[charter school]] in [[Oak Ridge, North Carolina]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://revolutionacademyk8.com/our-board/|title=Our Board – Revolution Academy}}</ref> She also sits on the board of [[American Leadership Academy]] North Carolina and two of its affiliated charter schools, American Leadership Academy in [[Garner, North Carolina|Garner]] and American Leadership Academy in [[Monroe, North Carolina|Monroe]].<ref name= wbtv>https://www.wbtv.com/2023/10/04/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-vows-correct-mistake-ethics-filing/>https://www.wbtv.com/2023/10/04/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-vows-correct-mistake-ethics-filing/</ref> She joined the American Leadership Academy boards in the spring of 2022.<ref name= wbtv/>

=== Second Lady of North Carolina ===
In 2020, Robinson's husband was elected as the first African-American [[Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina]]. When he assumed office in 2021, she became the state's first African-American Second Lady.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abc11.com/mark-robinson-north-carolina-lieutenant-governor-first-black-in-greensboro/7816189/|title=North Carolina's first Black lieutenant governor-elect Mark Robinson hopes to inspire others with personal story|date=November 10, 2020|website=ABC11 Raleigh-Durham}}</ref>

In May 2021, Robinson spoke at an event hosted by the [[Wayne County, North Carolina|Wayne County]] Republican Women.<ref name= wayne>{{Cite web|url=https://wayne.nc.gop/the_wayne_county_republican_women_host_yolanda_robinson|title=The Wayne County Republican Women Host Yolanda Robinson|website=Wayne County Republican Party}}</ref> On July 11, 2021, Robinson and her husband attended a patriotic worship service called "God and Country Day" at the Lake Church in [[White Lake, North Carolina]].<ref name= bladen>{{Cite web|url=https://bladenonline.com/god-and-country-day-at-lake-church-with-lt-governor-mark-robinson-now-is-not-the-time-to-be-silent/|title=God and Country Day at Lake Church with Lt. Governor Mark Robinson - 'Now Is Not The Time To Be Silent' -|date=July 12, 2021}}</ref>

Robinson received a resolution of appreciation from the [[Davidson County, North Carolina|Davidson County]] Republican Party Executive Committee for being a "positive role model for young ladies" while attending a Republican event in the county with her husband in 2023.<ref name= davidson>{{Cite web|url=https://www.davidsonlocal.com/news/esbszdlqjiodw8kwo4mpqhyq5hludf|title=Lt. Governor rallies Republicans in Davidson County|date=August 14, 2021|website=DavidsonLocal.com}}</ref>

In 2023, Robinson's husband announced his candidacy for [[Governor of North Carolina]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dailyhaymaker.com/a-robinson-family-affair/|title=A (Robinson) Family Affair|first=Brant|last=Clifton|date=May 25, 2023|website=The Daily Haymaker}}</ref> If he wins the election, Robinson and her husband would be North Carolina's first African-American governor and first lady.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wunc.org/politics/2023-04-22/lt-gov-mark-robinson-officially-begins-campaign-for-governor|title=Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson officially begins campaign for governor|date=April 23, 2023|website=WUNC}}</ref>

==== Controversies ====
In 2022, a news story was published revealing that Robinson, who expresses [[anti-abortion]] political views, obtained an abortion in 1989.<ref name= ncnews>{{Cite web|url=https://ncnewsline.com/2022/03/29/whats-really-wrong-when-it-comes-to-mark-robinson-and-abortion/|title=What’s really "wrong" when it comes to Mark Robinson and abortion|first=Rob|last=Schofield|date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> The abortion that was paid for by her future husband, Mark Robinson, while they were dating.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/story/the-enigma-of-mark-robinson-how-nc-s-outspoken-lieutenant-governor-is-climbing-the-gop-ladder/20472660/|title=The enigma of Mark Robinson: How NC's outspoken lieutenant governor is climbing the GOP ladder|date=September 18, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/it-was-wrong-north-carolina-lt-gov-mark-robinson-says-he-paid-for-abortion-in-1989/20200461/|title=‘It was wrong’: North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says he paid for abortion in 1989|date=March 23, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref> The Robinsons stated that the decision to have an abortion "has been with us ever since" and is the reason they now have a staunch [[anti-abortion]] stance.<ref name= wral>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-says-he-and-his-wife-made-mistake-not-to-go-through-with-pregnancy-before-marriage/20202993/|title=NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says he and his wife made mistake not to go through with pregnancy before|date=March 24, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref><ref>https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article259721180.html</ref> In 2022, she and her husband appeared in a video to address the abortion after it had been reported on in the news.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/media-social-media-north-carolina-raleigh-ca99d422d4833be8c404a414c887e07d|title=NC lieutenant gov explains abortion decision decades ago|date=March 24, 2022|website=AP News}}</ref> The video was posted to her husband's official [[Facebook]] page.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.witn.com/2022/03/24/lt-governor-says-he-paid-wifes-abortion-before-they-were-married/|title=Lt. governor says he paid for wife’s abortion before they were married|first=WITN Web|last=Team|date=March 24, 2022|website=www.witn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wfae.org/politics/2023-05-04/nc-lt-gov-robinson-says-hes-not-interested-in-abortion-debate-as-gop-passes-12-week-ban|title=NC Lt. Gov. Robinson says he's 'not interested' in abortion debate as GOP passes 12-week ban|date=May 4, 2023|website=WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source}}</ref> She did not speak in the video, but sat next to her husband while he spoke about the abortion.<ref name= ncnews/> The Robinsons were criticized by members of the [[North Carolina Democratic Party]] and by reproductive rights activists for supporting bans on abortions after obtaining one themselves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbtw.com/news/state-regional-news/lt-gov-mark-robinson-under-fire-for-pro-life-views-years-after-wife-had-abortion/|title=Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson under fire for ‘pro-life’ views years after wife had abortion|date=March 25, 2022}}</ref>

The [[North Carolina Board of Education]] voted twice not to approve the charter of the American Leadership Academy in Monroe, of which Robinson is a board member.<ref name= wbtv/> Following an investigation by [[WBTV]], it was revealed that Lieutenant Governor Robinson did not disclose his wife's role, as required by law, in his 2023 ethics filing despite recusing himself from voting in the [[North Carolina General Assembly]]'s proposed legislation to implement a new Charter School Review Board on which he would sit.<ref name= wbtv/> Robinson's husband, as Lieutenant Governor, was presiding over the [[North Carolina State Senate]] when the proposal passed, and was appointed to the review board.<ref name= wbtv/>

== Personal life ==
She married [[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]] on May 5, 1990, in a private ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://geniuscelebs.com/mark-robinson-kids-wife-family-net-worth/|title=Mark Robinson Kids With His Wife Yolanda Hill: Family|date=April 25, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/robinson-marries-hill-in-1990/20474592/|title=Robinson marries Hill in 1990|date=September 17, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref> They have one daughter and one son.<ref name= wral/> The couple lives in [[High Point, North Carolina|High Point]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ghbase.com/meet-mark-robinson-wife-yolanda-hill-and-kids/|title=Meet Mark Robinson Wife, Yolanda Hill And Kids|first=Godsway Charles|last=Tudi|date=April 25, 2023|website=GhBase•com™-Everything & News Now}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Yolanda Hill}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:African-American women in business]]
[[Category:African-American women in politics]]
[[Category:American nonprofit executives]]
[[Category:Black conservatism in the United States]]
[[Category:Founders of charities]]
[[Category:North Carolina Republicans]]
[[Category:People from Randolph County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Second ladies and gentlemen of North Carolina]]
[[Category:Spouses of North Carolina politicians]]
[[Category:University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni]]
[[Category:Women in North Carolina politics]]
[[Category:Women nonprofit executives]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Yolanda Hill Robinson

2024-02-14T03:30:44Z

Contaldo80: not in any way notable

{{short description|Second Lady of North Carolina}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Yolanda Hill Robinson
| image =
| office = [[Second Lady]] of [[North Carolina]]
| caption =
| governor = [[Roy Cooper]]
| lieutenant_governor = [[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]]
| term_start = January 9, 2021
| term_end =
| term_label = Assumed role
| predecessor = Alice Forest
| successor =
| birth_name = Yolanda Hill
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Ramseur, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]]|1990}}
| children = 2
| education = [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]] ([[Bachelor of Science|B.S]], [[Master of Accountancy|M.S.A.]])
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
}}
'''Yolanda Hill Robinson''' is an American accountant, non-profit executive, and civic leader. As the wife of Lieutenant Governor [[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]], she has served as the Second Lady of North Carolina since 2021 and is the first African-American woman to serve as Second Lady of North Carolina. Robinson founded and operates a non-profit organization that provides meals to children in daycare facilities. She sits on the board of [[American Leadership Academy]] North Carolina and on the boards of two of its affiliated [[charter schools]].

== Early life and education ==
Robinson was born Yolanda Hill in [[Ramseur, North Carolina]].<ref name= wayne/> She grew up in [[Randolph County, North Carolina|Randolph County]] and graduated from Eastern Randolph High School in 1986. She earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in accounting from the [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]].<ref name= wayne/>

== Career and public life ==
In 1990, Robinson co-managed a childcare facility with her husband.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://businessnc.com/book-excerpt-mark-robinsons-tumultuous-path/|title=Book excerpt: Mark Robinson's tumultuous path|date=August 18, 2022}}</ref> She later founded a non-profit organization that provides healthy meals for children enrolled in licensed daycare facilities in North Carolina, which she owns and operates.<ref name= wayne/>

She is a board member of Revolution Academy, a K-8 [[charter school]] in [[Oak Ridge, North Carolina]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://revolutionacademyk8.com/our-board/|title=Our Board – Revolution Academy}}</ref> She also sits on the board of [[American Leadership Academy]] North Carolina and two of its affiliated charter schools, American Leadership Academy in [[Garner, North Carolina|Garner]] and American Leadership Academy in [[Monroe, North Carolina|Monroe]].<ref name= wbtv>https://www.wbtv.com/2023/10/04/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-vows-correct-mistake-ethics-filing/>https://www.wbtv.com/2023/10/04/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-vows-correct-mistake-ethics-filing/</ref> She joined the American Leadership Academy boards in the spring of 2022.<ref name= wbtv/>

=== Second Lady of North Carolina ===
In 2020, Robinson's husband was elected as the first African-American [[Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina]]. When he assumed office in 2021, she became the state's first African-American Second Lady.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abc11.com/mark-robinson-north-carolina-lieutenant-governor-first-black-in-greensboro/7816189/|title=North Carolina's first Black lieutenant governor-elect Mark Robinson hopes to inspire others with personal story|date=November 10, 2020|website=ABC11 Raleigh-Durham}}</ref>

In May 2021, Robinson spoke at an event hosted by the [[Wayne County, North Carolina|Wayne County]] Republican Women.<ref name= wayne>{{Cite web|url=https://wayne.nc.gop/the_wayne_county_republican_women_host_yolanda_robinson|title=The Wayne County Republican Women Host Yolanda Robinson|website=Wayne County Republican Party}}</ref> On July 11, 2021, Robinson and her husband attended a patriotic worship service called "God and Country Day" at the Lake Church in [[White Lake, North Carolina]].<ref name= bladen>{{Cite web|url=https://bladenonline.com/god-and-country-day-at-lake-church-with-lt-governor-mark-robinson-now-is-not-the-time-to-be-silent/|title=God and Country Day at Lake Church with Lt. Governor Mark Robinson - 'Now Is Not The Time To Be Silent' -|date=July 12, 2021}}</ref>

Robinson received a resolution of appreciation from the [[Davidson County, North Carolina|Davidson County]] Republican Party Executive Committee for being a "positive role model for young ladies" while attending a Republican event in the county with her husband in 2023.<ref name= davidson>{{Cite web|url=https://www.davidsonlocal.com/news/esbszdlqjiodw8kwo4mpqhyq5hludf|title=Lt. Governor rallies Republicans in Davidson County|date=August 14, 2021|website=DavidsonLocal.com}}</ref> The executive committee also presented her with flowers.<ref name= davidson/>

In 2023, Robinson's husband announced his candidacy for [[Governor of North Carolina]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dailyhaymaker.com/a-robinson-family-affair/|title=A (Robinson) Family Affair|first=Brant|last=Clifton|date=May 25, 2023|website=The Daily Haymaker}}</ref> If he wins the election, Robinson and her husband would be North Carolina's first African-American governor and first lady.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wunc.org/politics/2023-04-22/lt-gov-mark-robinson-officially-begins-campaign-for-governor|title=Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson officially begins campaign for governor|date=April 23, 2023|website=WUNC}}</ref>

==== Controversies ====
In 2022, a news story was published revealing that Robinson, who expresses [[anti-abortion]] political views, obtained an abortion in 1989.<ref name= ncnews>{{Cite web|url=https://ncnewsline.com/2022/03/29/whats-really-wrong-when-it-comes-to-mark-robinson-and-abortion/|title=What’s really "wrong" when it comes to Mark Robinson and abortion|first=Rob|last=Schofield|date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> The abortion that was paid for by her future husband, Mark Robinson, while they were dating.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/story/the-enigma-of-mark-robinson-how-nc-s-outspoken-lieutenant-governor-is-climbing-the-gop-ladder/20472660/|title=The enigma of Mark Robinson: How NC's outspoken lieutenant governor is climbing the GOP ladder|date=September 18, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/it-was-wrong-north-carolina-lt-gov-mark-robinson-says-he-paid-for-abortion-in-1989/20200461/|title=‘It was wrong’: North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says he paid for abortion in 1989|date=March 23, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref> The Robinsons stated that the decision to have an abortion "has been with us ever since" and is the reason they now have a staunch [[anti-abortion]] stance.<ref name= wral>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-says-he-and-his-wife-made-mistake-not-to-go-through-with-pregnancy-before-marriage/20202993/|title=NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says he and his wife made mistake not to go through with pregnancy before|date=March 24, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref><ref>https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article259721180.html</ref> In 2022, she and her husband appeared in a video to address the abortion after it had been reported on in the news.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/media-social-media-north-carolina-raleigh-ca99d422d4833be8c404a414c887e07d|title=NC lieutenant gov explains abortion decision decades ago|date=March 24, 2022|website=AP News}}</ref> The video was posted to her husband's official [[Facebook]] page.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.witn.com/2022/03/24/lt-governor-says-he-paid-wifes-abortion-before-they-were-married/|title=Lt. governor says he paid for wife’s abortion before they were married|first=WITN Web|last=Team|date=March 24, 2022|website=www.witn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wfae.org/politics/2023-05-04/nc-lt-gov-robinson-says-hes-not-interested-in-abortion-debate-as-gop-passes-12-week-ban|title=NC Lt. Gov. Robinson says he's 'not interested' in abortion debate as GOP passes 12-week ban|date=May 4, 2023|website=WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source}}</ref> She did not speak in the video, but sat next to her husband while he spoke about the abortion.<ref name= ncnews/> The Robinsons were criticized by members of the [[North Carolina Democratic Party]] and by reproductive rights activists for supporting bans on abortions after obtaining one themselves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbtw.com/news/state-regional-news/lt-gov-mark-robinson-under-fire-for-pro-life-views-years-after-wife-had-abortion/|title=Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson under fire for ‘pro-life’ views years after wife had abortion|date=March 25, 2022}}</ref>

The [[North Carolina Board of Education]] voted twice not to approve the charter of the American Leadership Academy in Monroe, of which Robinson is a board member.<ref name= wbtv/> Following an investigation by [[WBTV]], it was revealed that Lieutenant Governor Robinson did not disclose his wife's role, as required by law, in his 2023 ethics filing despite recusing himself from voting in the [[North Carolina General Assembly]]'s proposed legislation to implement a new Charter School Review Board on which he would sit.<ref name= wbtv/> Robinson's husband, as Lieutenant Governor, was presiding over the [[North Carolina State Senate]] when the proposal passed, and was appointed to the review board.<ref name= wbtv/>

== Personal life ==
She married [[Mark Robinson (American politician)|Mark Robinson]] on May 5, 1990, in a private ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://geniuscelebs.com/mark-robinson-kids-wife-family-net-worth/|title=Mark Robinson Kids With His Wife Yolanda Hill: Family|date=April 25, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/robinson-marries-hill-in-1990/20474592/|title=Robinson marries Hill in 1990|date=September 17, 2022|website=WRAL.com}}</ref> They have one daughter and one son.<ref name= wral/> The couple lives in [[High Point, North Carolina|High Point]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ghbase.com/meet-mark-robinson-wife-yolanda-hill-and-kids/|title=Meet Mark Robinson Wife, Yolanda Hill And Kids|first=Godsway Charles|last=Tudi|date=April 25, 2023|website=GhBase•com™-Everything & News Now}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Yolanda Hill}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:African-American women in business]]
[[Category:African-American women in politics]]
[[Category:American nonprofit executives]]
[[Category:Black conservatism in the United States]]
[[Category:Founders of charities]]
[[Category:North Carolina Republicans]]
[[Category:People from Randolph County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Second ladies and gentlemen of North Carolina]]
[[Category:Spouses of North Carolina politicians]]
[[Category:University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni]]
[[Category:Women in North Carolina politics]]
[[Category:Women nonprofit executives]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Erasmus

2023-12-11T20:57:41Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|Dutch philosopher (1469–1569)}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox scholar
| name = Erasmus
| school_tradition = {{ublist|[[Renaissance humanism]]}}
| era = [[Northern Renaissance]]
| image = Holbein-erasmus.jpg
| caption = ''[[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam]]'' (1523) by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] resting his hands on a Greek ''The Labours of Hercules'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bacchi |first1=Elisa |title=Hercules, silenus and the fly : Lucian's rhetorical paradoxes in Erasmus' ethics |journal=Philosophical Readings |date=2019 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=120–130 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.2554134 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8607612 |issn=2036-4989}}</ref> [[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam#London|"arguably…the most important portrait in England"]]
| other_names = {{Plainlist}}
* Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus
* Erasmus of Rotterdam
{{Endplainlist}}
| birth_date = {{Circa|28 October 1466}}
| birth_place = [[Rotterdam]] or [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], [[Burgundian Netherlands]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| module = {{Infobox clergy
|child = yes
|religion = [[Christianity]]
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|ordained = 25 April 1492
}}
| known_for =
New Testament translations, satire, pacifism, letters, best-selling author and editor and influencer
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1536|07|12|1466|10|28|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Basel]], [[Old Swiss Confederacy]]
| education = {{ublist|[[Collège de Montaigu|University of Paris]]|
[[Queens' College, Cambridge]]|
[[University of Turin]] ([[D.D.|DD]], 1506)}}
| workplaces = {{ublist|
[[University of Cambridge]]|
[[University of Oxford]]|
[[Old University of Leuven|University of Leuven]]}}
| main_interests = {{Flatlist}}
* ''Bonae litterae''
* [[Philology]]
* [[Pastoral theology]]
* [[Patristics]]
* [[Catholic theology]]
* [[Political philosophy]]
* [[Philosophy of education]]
* [[Criticism of Protestantism]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| notable_works = {{Flatlist}}
*''[[In Praise of Folly]]''
*''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]''
*''[[On Civility in Children]]''
*''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven|Julius Excluded]]''
*''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]]''
*''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]''
*''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]]''
{{Endflatlist}}
| notable_ideas = {{Flatlist}}
* ''Philosophia Christi''
* biblical [[ad fontes]]
*[[Erasmian pronunciation]]
* critique of [[just war theory]]
* [[Accommodation (religion)|accommodation]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| influences = {{Flatlist}}
*[[Jerome]]
*[[Origen]]
*[[Lorenzo Valla]]
*[[John Colet]]
*[[Thomas More]]
* Jean Voirier
*[[John Fisher]]
*[[Thomas Linacre]]
*[[William Grocyn]]
*[[Aldus Manutius]]
*[[Cicero]]
*[[Socrates]]
*[[Augustine of Hippo]]
*[[Thomas Aquinas]]
*[[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| influenced = {{Flatlist}}
*[[Thomas More]]
*[[John Fisher]]
*[[John Colet]]
*[[Henry VIII]]
*[[Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples]]
*[[Martin Luther]]
*[[Philip Melanchthon]]
*[[Huldrych Zwingli]]
*[[William Tyndale]]
*[[John Calvin]]
*[[Jacob Milich]]
*[[Wolfgang Capito]]
*[[Rabelais]]
*[[Miguel de Cervantes]]
*[[William Shakespeare]]
*[[John Milton]]
*[[Pius V]]
*[[Peter Canisius]]
*[[Robert Bellarmine]]
*[[Ignatius of Loyola]]
*[[Francis Xavier]]
*[[Charles Borromeo]]
*[[Teresa of Ávila]]
*[[Francis De Sales]]
*[[John Henry Newman]]
*[[Henri de Lubac]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| awards= Counsellor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V.]] (hon.)
| notable_students = {{ublist|[[Damião de Góis]]|[[Johannes Oecolampadius|Johannes Œcolampadius]]}}
}}
'''Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|d|ɛ|z|ɪ|ˈ|d|ɪər|i|ə|s|_|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|z|m|ə|s}}; {{IPA-nl|ˌdeːziˈdeːriʏs eˈrɑsmʏs|lang}}; English: '''Erasmus of Rotterdam''' or '''Erasmus'''; 28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536) was a [[County of Holland|Dutch]] [[Christian humanism|Christian humanist]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Catholic theology|theologian]], [[Education sciences|educationalist]], [[Menippean satire|satirist]] and [[philosopher]]. Through his vast number of translations, books, essays and letters, he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the [[Northern Renaissance]] and one of the major figures of Dutch and Western culture.<ref>{{cite web|author1-link=James Tracy (historian)|last1=Tracy|first1=James D.|title=Desiderius Erasmus Biography & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Desiderius-Erasmus|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref><ref>Sauer, J. (1909). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm Desiderius Erasmus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002254/http://newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm |date=13 June 2010 }}. In The [[Catholic Encyclopedia]]. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 10 August 2019 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm</ref>

He was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a spontaneous and natural [[Latin]] style.<ref>{{cite web |title=DESIDERIUS ERASMUS |url=https://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/erasmus.htm |website=Luminarium Encyclopedia Project}}</ref> As a [[Catholic priest]] developing [[Philology|humanist techniques]] for working on texts, he [[Novum Instrumentum omne|prepared]] important new [[Vulgate|Latin]] and [[Biblical Greek|Greek]] editions of the [[New Testament]], which raised questions that would be influential in the [[Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]]. He also wrote ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]],'' ''[[In Praise of Folly]]'', ''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]'', ''[[On Civility in Children]]'', ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style]]'' and many other works.

Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious [[Reformation]]. He developed a biblical humanistic theology in which he advocated tolerance, concord and free thinking on ''[[Adiaphora|matters of indifference]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yoder |first1=Klaus C. |title=Adiaphora and the Apocalypse: Protestant Moral Rhetoric of Ritual at the End of History (1990 –2003) |date=17 May 2016 |page=2 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27194246 |language=en}}</ref> He remained a member of the [[Catholic Church]] all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church from within.<ref name="Hoffmann 1989">{{cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=Manfred |date=Summer 1989 |title=Faith and Piety in Erasmus's Thought |journal=[[Sixteenth Century Journal]] |publisher=[[Truman State University Press]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=241–258 |doi=10.2307/2540661 |jstor=2540661}}</ref> He promoted the traditional doctrine of [[synergism]], which some prominent Reformers such as [[Martin Luther]] and [[John Calvin]] rejected in favor of the doctrine of [[monergism]]. His [[via media|middle-road]] approach disappointed, and even angered, partisans in both camps.

==Biography==
Erasmus's 70 years can be divided into four quarters. First was his childhood, ending with his being orphaned and impoverished; second, his struggling years as a canon (a kind of monk), a priest, a clerk, a failing and sickly university student, and a tutor; third, his flourishing years of increasing focus and productivity following his 1499 contact with a reformist English circle, and later with the Aldine New Academy; and fourth, his final years as a prime influencer of European thought through his New Testament and increasing opposition to Lutheranism.

===Early life===
[[File:Rotterdam standbeeld Erasmus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|200px|[[Statue of Erasmus]] in Rotterdam. It was created by [[Hendrick de Keyser]] in 1622, replacing a wooden statue of 1549.]]
Desiderius Erasmus is reported to have been born in [[Rotterdam]] on 28 October in the mid-1460s, probably 1466.<ref name="seop2009" group=note>{{cite encyclopedia| url= http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/erasmus/#LifWor | title= Desiderius Erasmus | publisher= [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]| encyclopedia= Winter 2009 Edition| last= Nauert | first= Charles | access-date=2012-02-10| quote=Erasmus was a native of the Netherlands, born at Rotterdam in the county of Holland on 27 October of some year in the late 1460s; 1466 now seems to be the year that most biographers prefer. Erasmus's own statements on the year of his birth are contradictory, perhaps because he did not know for certain but probably because later in life he wanted to emphasize the excessively early age at which his guardians pushed him and his elder brother Peter to enter monastic life, in order to support his efforts to be released from his monastic vows.}}</ref><ref name="gleason1979">{{ cite periodical| last= Gleason | first=John B. |title=The Birth Dates of John Colet and Erasmus of Rotterdam: Fresh Documentary Evidence|work= Renaissance Quarterly|publisher= The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America|volume= 32|number= 1 |date=Spring 1979| pages= 73–76 |jstor= 2859872}}</ref><ref>{{ cite periodical| first=Harry | last=Vredeveld | title=The Ages of Erasmus and the Year of his Birth | work=Renaissance Quarterly | volume= 46| number= 4 | date=Winter 1993|pages= 754–809 |jstor= 3039022}}</ref> He was named<ref group=note>''Erasmus'' was his [[Christian name|baptismal name]], given after [[Erasmus of Formia]]e. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' was a scholarly name meaning "from Rotterdam", though the Latin genitive would be {{lang|la|Roterdamensis}}.</ref> after [[Erasmus of Formia]]e, whom Erasmus' father Gerard personally favored.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Due codici scritti da 'Gerardus Helye' padre di Erasmo|work= Italia medioevale e umanistica|volume= 26 |pages= 215–55, esp. 238–39.|last = Avarucci|first = Giuseppe|year = 1983|language=it}}</ref><ref>Huizinga, ''Erasmus'', pp. 4 and 6 (Dutch-language version)</ref>

Although associated closely with Rotterdam, he lived there for only four years, never to return afterwards. Information on his family and early life comes mainly from vague references in his writings. His parents could not be legally married: his father, Gerard, was a Catholic priest and curate in Gouda.<ref name="ReferenceA">Cornelius Augustijn, ''Erasmus: His life, work and influence'', University of Toronto, 1991</ref> His mother was Margaretha Rogerius (Latinized form of Dutch surname Rutgers),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref> the daughter of a doctor from [[Zevenbergen]]. She may have been Gerard's housekeeper.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>The 19th century novel ''[[The Cloister and the Hearth]]'', by [[Charles Reade]], is an account of the lives of Erasmus's parents.</ref> Although he was born out of wedlock, Erasmus was cared for by his parents until their early deaths from [[Black Death|the bubonic plague]] in 1483. His only sibling Peter might have been born in 1463, to Margaret and her first husband thus making him only the half brother of Erasmus. Erasmus on the other side called him his brother.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeMolen |first=Richard L. |date=1976 |title=Erasmus as adolescent: "Shipwrecked am I, and lost, mid waters chill". Erasmus to Sister Elisabeth |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20675524 |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=10–11 |jstor=20675524 |issn=0006-1999}}</ref>

Erasmus was given the highest education available to a young man of his day, in a series of monastic or semi-monastic schools. In 1475, at the age of nine, he and his older brother Peter were sent to one of the best Latin schools in the Netherlands, located at [[Deventer]] and owned by the chapter clergy of the [[Lebuïnuskerk, Deventer|Lebuïnuskerk]] (St. Lebuin's Church).<ref name="seop2009" group=note/> During his stay there the curriculum was renewed by the principal of the school, [[Alexander Hegius von Heek|Alexander Hegius]], a correspondent of pioneering rhetorician [[Rudolphus Agricola]]. For the first time in Europe north of the Alps, Greek was taught at a lower level than a university<ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander Hegius |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Hegius |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref> and this is where he began learning it.<ref>Peter Nissen: ''Geloven in de Lage landen; scharniermomenten in de geschiedenis van het christendom''. Davidsfonds/Leuven, 2004.</ref> His education there ended when plague struck the city about 1483,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roosen |first1=Joris |title=The Black Death and recurring plague during the late Middle Ages in the County of Hainaut: Differential impact and diverging recovery |date=2020 |isbn=978-94-6416-146-5 |page=174 |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/399979/dissertatie-joris%20roosen-full%20-%205f744c300d822.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=20 July 2023}}</ref> and his mother, who had moved to provide a home for her sons, died from the infection.<ref name="seop2009" group=note /> Following the death of his parents he was supported by Berthe de Heyden.<ref name=":7">DeMolen, Richard L. (1976),p.13</ref>

In about 1484 he and his brother went to a grammar school at [['s{{nnbsp}}Hertogenbosch]] run by the [[Brethren of the Common Life]].<ref>DeMolen, Richard L. (1976).pp.10–11</ref> He was exposed there to the [[Devotio moderna]] movement and the Brethren's famous book [[The Imitation of Christ]] but eschewed the harsh rules and strict methods of the religious brothers and educators.<ref name="seop2009" group=note/> The two brothers made an agreement that they would resist the clergy but attend the university.<ref name=":7" /> Instead, Peter left for the [[Canon regular#Canons Regular of Saint Augustine|Augustinian]] canonry in [[Stein, South Holland|Stein]], which left Erasmus feeling betrayed.<ref name=":7" /> Eventually Erasmus entered the same monastery in 1485/86.<ref group=note>"Poverty stricken, suffering from quartan fever, and pressurized by his guardians"{{cite web |last1=Juhász |first1=Gergely |title=The Making of Erasmus's New Testament and Its English Connections |url=https://www.academia.edu/48868408 |website=Sparks and Lustrous Words: Literary Walks, Cultural Pilgrimages |date=1 January 2019}}</ref><ref>DeMolen, Richard L. (1976),p.12</ref>

===Ordination and monastic experience===
[[File:Erasmus(buste).jpg|thumb|upright|200px|left|Bust by [[Hildo Krop]] (1950) in [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], where Erasmus spent his youth]]
Most likely in 1487,<ref name="xivxv">{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCY-z-mhTcC |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Poems |editor=Harry Vredeveld |others=Translated by Clarence H. Miller |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780802028679 |pages=xiv–xv}}</ref> poverty<ref name="cmsmlw"/> forced Erasmus into the consecrated life as a [[Canons regular|canon regular]] of St. Augustine at the canonry of Stein, near [[Gouda, South Holland]]. He took vows there in late 1488<ref name="xivxv"/> and was [[Holy orders in the Catholic Church|ordained]] to the [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|Catholic priesthood]] on 25 April 1492.<ref name="cmsmlw">[[Mark Galli|Galli, Mark]], and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know''. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2000, p. 343.</ref> It is said that he never seemed to have actively worked as a priest for a long time,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eHvizkUHZEC&q=wiki&pg=PR9|title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Spiritualia|date=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2656-9}}</ref> and certain abuses in [[religious order]]s were among the chief objects of his later calls to reform the Church from within.

While at Stein, Erasmus fell in love and formed a "passionate attachment" ({{lang-la|fervidos amores}}) with a fellow canon, Servatius Rogerus,<ref>Diarmaid MacCulloch, ''A History of Christianity'', 2010, p. 595</ref> and wrote a series of love letters<ref>Forrest Tyler Stevens, "Erasmus's 'Tigress': The Language of Friendship, Pleasure, and the Renaissance Letter". ''Queering the Renaissance'', Duke University Press, 1994</ref> in which he called Rogerus "half my soul", writing that "I have wooed you both unhappily and relentlessly."<ref>''Collected Works of Erasmus'', vol. 1, p. 12 ([[Toronto]]: University of Toronto Press, 1974)</ref><ref group=note>Erasmus editor Harry Vredeveld argues that the letters are "surely expressions of true friendship", citing what Erasmus said to Grunnius: "It is not uncommon at [that] age to conceive passionate attachments [''fervidos amores''] for some of your companions". However, he allows "That these same letters, which run the gamut of love's emotions, are undoubtedly also literary exercises—rhetorical {{lang-gr|progymnasmata}}—is by no means a contradiction of this."{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCY-z-mhTcC |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Poems |editor=Harry Vredeveld |others=Translated by Clarence H. Miller |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780802028679 |page=xv}}</ref> This correspondence contrasts<ref group=note>However, note that such crushes may not have been scandalous at the time: the [[Cistercian]] [[Aelred of Rievaulx]]'s influential book [[Aelred of Rievaulx#De spirituali amicitia|On Spiritual Friendship]] put intense adolescent and early-adult friendships between monks as natural and useful steps towards "spiritual friendships", following [[Augustine]].</ref> with the generally detached and much more restrained attitude he showed in his later life.<ref group=note>[[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] (2003). ''[[Reformation: A History]]''. p. 95. MacCulloch further adds in a footnote "There has been much modern embarrassment and obfuscation on Erasmus and Rogerus, but see the sensible comment in J. Huizinga, ''Erasmus of Rotterdam'' (London, 1952), pp. 11–12, and from Geoffrey Nutuall, ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 26 (1975), 403"</ref> No mentions or sexual accusations were ever made of Erasmus during his lifetime<ref group=note>The biographer J.J. Mangan commented of his time living with [[Andrea Ammonio]] in England "to some extent Erasmus thereby realized the dream of his youth, which was to live together with some choice literary spirit with whom he might share his thoughts and aspiration". Quoted in J.K. Sowards,''The Two Lost Years of Erasmus: Summary, Review, and Speculation'', Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 9 (1962), p174</ref> His works [[#On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)|praise]] moderate sexual desire in marriage between men and women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erasmus |first=Desiderius |date=May 23, 2009 |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippans, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Volume 43 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442691773 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8mB_FILtngC&q=Condemns }}</ref>

Soon after his priestly ordination he got his chance to leave the canonry when offered the post of secretary to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai|Bishop of Cambrai]], Henry of Bergen, on account of his great skill in Latin and his reputation as a man of letters.<ref>{{cite book |title=The University in Medieval Life, 1179–1499 |author1=Hunt Janin |edition=illustrated |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-5201-9 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC&pg=PA159 Extract of page 159]</ref>

In 1505 [[Pope Julius II]] granted a [[Dispensation (canon law)|dispensation]] from the vow of poverty to the extent of allowing Erasmus to hold certain benefices, and from the control and [[#Clothing|habit]] of his [[Canon regular#Reforms|order]], though he remained a priest.<ref group=note>Dispensed of his vows of [https://www.belmontabbey.org.uk/monastic-vows stability and obedience] from his obligations "by the constitutions and ordinances, also by statutes and customs of the monastery of Stein in Holland", quoted in J.K. Sowards,''The Two Lost Years of Erasmus: Summary, Review, and Speculation'', Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 9 (1962), p174</ref> In 1517 [[Pope Leo X]] granted legal dispensations for Erasmus' ''defects of natality'' and confirmed the previous dispensation.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Dispensation of Julius II for Erasmus |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1910 |volume=97 |issue=25 |jstor=549799 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/549799 |access-date=11 July 2023 |last1=Allen |first1=P. S. |last2=Colotius |first2=A. |pages=123–125 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXV.XCVII.123 }}</ref>
{{clear}}

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|caption='''Approximate Timeline of Erasmus'''

}}

===Travels===

{{routemap
| title = Cities and Routes of Erasmus
| legend = no
| map = Oxford, Cambridge~~ ! !KBHFa\\KBHFa\\\\ ~~
~~ ! !KRWl\KRW+lr\KRWr\\\\ ~~
London~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ ~~
Reading~~! !KBHFaq\ABZgr\\\\\~~
Canterbury~~ ~~ ! !\eBHF\\\\\fKBHFa~~Deventer
~~ ~~ ! !\uSTR\\\\\fBHF~~Utrecht
Calais~~ ~~ ! !\eBHF\\\\\fBHF~~Steyn
~~ ! !\ABZgl\STRq\STRq\STR+r\\fBHF ~~Delft/Rotterdam
St Omer ! !\BHF\\\STR\\fBHF ~~'s-Hertogenbosch
Paris, Cambrai ~~ ! !KBHFaq!~KBHFa\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\BHFq\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\fSTRr~~Brussels, Antwerp
Orléans ~~ ! !KBHFe\STR\\\BHF\\~~Louvain
~~ ~~ ! !\STR\\\STRl\STRq\STR+r
Turin~~ ~~! !\eBHF\\\\\ueBHF~~ ~~Cologne ~~
Bologna~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ueBHF~~ ~~Mainz ~~
~~ ! !KRW+l\KRWlr\KRW+r\\\\ueBHF ~~ Strasbourg
Florence~~ ~~ ! !eBHF\\STR\\\\uBHF~~Freiburg im Breisgau
Sienna,~~ Padua ~~! !eBHF\\BHF\nSTRq\nSTRq\nCONTfq\uBHF~~ ~~Basel
Rome,~~ Venice ~~! !eBHF\\KBHFe\\\\ueKBHFe~~Konstanz
Cumae~~ ~~! !eKBHFe\\\\\\ ~~
| footnote = Green: early life Dark circles: residence Thin line: Alpine crossing Blue lines: Rhine and English Channel
}}

Erasmus traveled widely and regularly, for reasons of poverty, "escape" from his [[Steyn]] canonry (to [[Cambrai]]), education (to [[Paris]], [[Turin]]), escape from the [[sweating sickness]] plague (to [[Orléans]]), employment (to [[England]]), searching libraries for manuscripts, writing ([[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]), royal counsel ([[Cologne]]), patronage, tutoring and chaperoning (North [[Italy]]), networking ([[Rome]]), seeing books through printing in person ([[Paris]], [[Venice]], [[Louvain]], [[Basel]]), and avoiding the persecution of religious fanatics (to [[Freiburg]].) He enjoyed horseback riding<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html|title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=ccel.org|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref>

====Paris====
In 1495 with Bishop Henry's consent and a stipend, Erasmus went on to study at the [[University of Paris]] in the [[Collège de Montaigu]], a centre of reforming zeal, under the direction of the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] [[Jan Standonck]], of whose rigors he complained.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Edward D. |last2=Lightfoot |first2=J.B. |last3=Kenyon |first3=Frederic G. |title=THE REVISIONS OF THE ENGLISH HOLY BIBLE: Misunderstandings and Misconceptions about the English Bible Translations |date=2022 |publisher=Christian Publishing House |isbn=9798352124185}}</ref> The university was then the chief seat of [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] learning but already coming under the influence of [[Renaissance]] humanism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundberg |first1=Christa |title=Apostolic theology and humanism at the University of Paris, 1490–1540 |date=16 February 2022 |doi=10.17863/CAM.81488 |url=https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.81488 |access-date=23 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> For instance, Erasmus became an intimate friend of an Italian humanist [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], poet and "professor of humanity" in Paris.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coroleu |first1=Alejandro |title=Printing and Reading Italian Latin Humanism in Renaissance Europe (ca. 1470-ca. 1540) |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-5894-6 |page=15 |url=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-5894-6-sample.pdf|access-date=11 July 2023}}</ref>

During this time, Erasmus developed a deep aversion to [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Scholasticism]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ptaszyński |first1=Maciej |title=Theologians and Their Bellies: The Erasmian Epithet Theologaster during the Reformation |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=8 October 2021 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=200–229 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04102001 |s2cid=240246657 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/41/2/article-p200_5.xml |issn=1874-9275|doi-access=free }}</ref> and started finding work as a tutor/chaperone to visiting English and Scottish aristocrats.

====England====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''English circle.<ref name=circle>{{cite ODNB |last1=Baker House |first1=Simon |title=Erasmus circle in England |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-96813 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/96813 |access-date=20 July 2023}}</ref> '''
| text = [[Thomas More]]{{•}}[[John Colet]]{{•}}[[Thomas Linacre]]{{•}}[[William Grocyn]]{{•}}[[William Lily (grammarian)|William Lily]]{{•}}[[Andrea Ammonio]]{{•}}[[Juan Luis Vives]]{{•}}[[Cuthbert Tunstall]] {{•}}[[Henry Bullock]]{{•}}[[Thomas Lupset]]{{•}}[[Richard Foxe]]{{•}}[[Christopher Urswick]]{{•}}[[Robert Aldrich (bishop)|Robert Aldrich]] 
''Patrons'': [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy|William Blount]]{{•}}[[William Warham]]{{•}}[[John Fisher]]{{•}} [[John Longland]]{{•}}[[Lady Margaret Beaufort|Margaret Beaufort]]{{•}}[[Catherine of Aragon]]{{•}}[[Henry VIII]]
}}
Erasmus stayed in England at least three times.<ref group=note>Some of these visits were interrupted by trips back to Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}</ref> In between he had periods studying in Paris, Orléans, Leuven and other cities.

[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Erasmus - Louvre.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]

=====First visit - 1499-1500=====
In 1499 he was invited to England by [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy]], who offered to accompany him on his trip to England.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Treu |first=Erwin |title=Die Bildnisse des Erasmus von Rotterdam |publisher=Gute Schriften Basel |year=1959 |pages=6–7 |language=de}}</ref> His time in England was fruitful in the making of lifelong friendships with the leaders of English thought in the days of King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]].

During his first visit to England in 1499, he studied or taught at the [[University of Oxford]]. Erasmus was particularly impressed by the Bible teaching of [[John Colet]], who pursued a style more akin to the [[church fathers]] than the [[Scholastics]]. Through the influence of the humanist John Colet, his interests turned towards theology.<ref name=":3" /> Other distinctive features of Colet's thought that may have influenced Erasmus are his pacifism,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Robert Pardee |title=Pacifism in the English Renaissance, 1497-1530: John Colet, Erasmus, Thomas More and J.L. Vives |date=1937 |publisher=University of Chicago |language=en}}</ref> reform-mindedness,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harper-Bill |first1=Christopher |title=Dean Colet's Convocation Sermon and the Pre-Reformation Church in England |journal=History |date=1988 |volume=73 |issue=238 |pages=191–210 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1988.tb02151.x |jstor=24413851 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24413851 |issn=0018-2648}}</ref> anti-Scholasticism and pastoral esteem for the sacrament of Confession.<ref name=tracy/>{{rp|94}}

This prompted him, upon his return from England to Paris, to intensively study the Greek language, which would enable him to study theology on a more profound level.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Erasmus also became fast friends with [[Thomas More]], whose thought (e.g., on conscience and equity) had been influenced by 14th century French theologian [[Jean Gerson]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Suzanne |first1=Hélène |title=Conscience in the Early Renaissance: the case of Erasmus, Luther and Thomas More |journal=Moreana |date=December 2014 |volume=51 |issue=3–4 (197–198) |pages=231–244 |doi=10.3366/more.2014.51.3-4.13 |language=en |issn=0047-8105}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Masur-Matusevich |first1=Yelena |title=Le père du siècle: the early modern reception of Jean Gerson (1363-1429) theological authority between Middle Ages and early modern era |date=2023 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-60225-7}}</ref>

=====Second visit - 1505-1506=====
[[File:Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger]]
For Erasmus' second visit, he spent over a year staying at [[Thomas More]]'s house, honing his translation skills.<ref name=circle/>

Erasmus preferred to live the life of an independent scholar and made a conscious effort to avoid any actions or formal ties that might inhibit his individual freedom.<ref name=":5">Treu, Erwin (1959),p.8</ref> In England Erasmus was approached with prominent offices but he declined them all, until the [[King Henry VII|King]] himself offered his support.<ref name=":5" /> He was inclined, but eventually did not accept and longed for a stay in Italy.<ref name=":5" />

=====Third visit - 1510-1515=====
The [[University of Cambridge]]'s Chancellor [[John Fisher]] arranged for Erasmus to be the [[Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity]], though Erasmus turned down the option of spending the rest of his life as a professor there. He studied and taught Greek and researched and lectured on [[Jerome]].<ref name=circle/> He assisted his friend John Colet by authoring Greek textbooks and securing members of staff for the newly established [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History and Archives |url=https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/about/history |website=St.Pauls}}</ref>

Erasmus mainly stayed at [[Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College]] while lecturing at the university,<ref>{{cite web|last=Askin|first=Lindsey|title=Erasmus and Queens' College, Cambridge|date=12 July 2013|url=http://queenslib.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/erasmus-and-queens-college/|website=Queens' Old Library Books Blog|publisher=Queenslib.wordpress.com|access-date=8 March 2014}}</ref> between 1510 and 1515.<ref>{{acad|id=ERSS465D|name=Erasmus, Desiderius}}</ref> Despite a chronic shortage of money, he succeeded in mastering Greek by an intensive, day-and-night study of three years, taught by [[Thomas Linacre]], continuously begging in letters that his friends send him books and money for teachers.<ref>Huizinga, Dutch edition, pp. 52–53.</ref>
<ref>{{cite web |last1=Herbert |first1=Amanda |title=Bibulous Erasmus |url=https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |website=The Recipes Project |date=23 January 2018}}</ref>

Erasmus' rooms were located in the "{{serif|I}}" staircase of Old Court. Erasmus suffered from poor health and was especially concerned with heating, clean air, ventilation and draughts: he complained about the draughtiness of English buildings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus, Life in 16th Century England |website=World Civilizations|url=https://wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs22.htm }}</ref> He complained that Queens' College could not supply him with enough decent wine<ref group=note>"Beer does not suit me either, and the wine is horrible." {{cite book |last1=Froud |first1=J.A. |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus |date=1896 |publisher=Scribner and Sons |page=112}}</ref> (wine was the Renaissance medicine for gallstones, from which Erasmus suffered).<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite book |last1=Seltman |first1=Charles |title=Wine In The Ancient World |date=1957 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.venugopal.697 |language=English}}|2={{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Fred M. |title=Thomas Linacre: Humanist, Physician, Priest |journal=The Linacre Quarterly |date=February 2021 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.1177/0024363920968427|doi-access=free }}|3={{cite web |last1=Herbert |first1=Amanda |title=Bibulous Erasmus |url=https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |website=The Recipes Project |date=23 January 2018}}}}</ref> As Queens' was an unusually humanist-leaning institution in the 16th century, [[Queens' College, Cambridge#Old Court|Queens' College Old Library]] still houses many first editions of Erasmus's publications, many of which were acquired during that period by bequest or purchase, including Erasmus's New Testament translation, which is signed by friend and Polish religious reformer [[Jan Łaski]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Library Collections|website=Queens' College Cambridge. Queens' Rare Book and Special Collections|url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections|publisher=Queens.cam.ac.uk|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213000139/http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During this time, Erasmus encouraged [[Thomas More]]'s book [[Utopia (More book)|Utopia]], perhaps even contributing fragments.<ref name="researchgate.net">{{cite journal |last1=Dungen |first1=Peter van den |title=Erasmus: The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace |journal=Journal of East Asia and International Law |date=30 November 2009 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=5 |doi=10.14330/jeail.2009.2.2.05 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291216079 |access-date=28 July 2023|hdl=10454/5003 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Erasmus may have made several other short visits to England or English territory while living in Brabant.<ref name=circle/> Both More and Tunstall were posted in Brussels or Antwerp on government missions around 1516, More for six months, Tunstall for longer.

====France and Brabant====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''French circle'''
| text = Jehan Vitrier{{•}}Jacob/James Batt{{•}}[[Publio Fausto Andrelini]]{{•}}[[Jodocus_Badius|Josse Bade]]{{•}}[[Louis de Berquin]] {{•}}[[Robert_Fisher_(priest)|Robert Fisher]]{{•}}[[Richard Whitford]]{{•}}[[Guillaume Budé]]{{•}}[[Thomas_Grey,_2nd_Marquess_of_Dorset|Thomas Grey]]{{•}}[[Hector Boece]]{{•}}[[Robert Gaguin]] 
''Opponents'': Noël Béda 
''Patrons'': Bishop Henry of Bergen,[[Thomas_Grey,_1st_Marquess_of_Dorset|Thomas Grey]], [[Anna_van_Borselen|Lady of Veere]]
}}

Following his first trip to England, Erasmus returned to semi-monastic life, scholarly studies and writing in France, notably at the Benedictine [[Abbey of Saint Bertin]] at St Omer (1501,1502), and then Brabant (Louven). A particular influence was his encounter in 1501 with Jean Voirier, a radical Franciscan who consolidated his thoughts against false valorization of monasticism, ceremonialism and fasting,<ref name=tracy>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus, the Growth of a Mind |date=1972 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-03041-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqvtT9d522IC&q=%22Jean+Voirier%22+++erasmus |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|94,95}} and introduced him to [[Origen]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |date=23 October 2023}}</ref>

====Italy====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''Italian circle'''
| text = [[Aldus Manutius]]{{•}}[[Giulio Camillo]]{{•}}[[Alexander_Stewart_(archbishop_of_St_Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]]{{•}}[[Pietro Bembo]]{{•}}[[Paulus_Bombasius|Bombasius]]{{•}}[[Marcus Musurus]]{{•}}[[Janus Lascaris]]{{•}}[[Giles of Viterbo]]{{•}}[[Egnazio]]{{•}}Carteromachus 
''Opponents'': [[Aleander]], [[Alberto_III_Pio,_Prince_of_Carpi|Alberto Pío]], [[Juan_Ginés_de_Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]] 
''Patrons'': Popes [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]], [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]], [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]], [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]], King [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]]
}}

In 1506 he was able to accompany the sons of the Italian personal physician of the King to Italy.<ref name=":5" />

His discovery ''[[Park Abbey|en route]]'' of [[Lorenzo Valla]]'s ''New Testament Notes'' was a major event in his career and prompted Erasmus to study the New Testament using [[philology]].<ref>{{Citation
| last=Anderson
| first=Marvin
| title=Erasmus the Exegete
| journal=Concordia Theeological Monthly
| volume=40
| issue=11
| year=1969
| pages=722–46
}}
</ref>

In 1506 they passed through Turin and he arranged to be awarded the degree of [[Doctor of Divinity]] from the [[University of Turin]] {{lang|la|[[per saltum]]}}.<ref name=":5" /> Erasmus was later present when [[Pope Julius II]] entered victorious into the conquered Bologna which he had besieged before.<ref name=":5" />

Erasmus travelled on to Venice, working on an expanded version of his Adagia at the [[Aldine Press]] of the famous printer [[Aldus Manutius]], advised which manuscripts to publish,<ref>Murray, Stuart. 2009. The library: an illustrated history. Chicago, ALA Editions</ref> and was an honorary member of the graecophone Aldine "New Academy" ({{lang-gr|Neakadêmia (Νεακαδημία)}}).<ref>Treu, Erwin (1959),pp.8–9</ref> According to his letters, he studied advanced Greek in Padua with the Venetian natural philosopher, [[Giulio Camillo]].<ref>''Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami'', Ed. H.M. Allen, (Oxford University Press, 1937), Ep. 3032: 219–22; 2682: 8–13.</ref>

Subsequently, he traveled to Rome, but he had a less active association with Italian scholars than might have been expected.

====Brabant (Flanders)====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''Burgundy/Louvain circle'''
| text = [[Adrian of Utrecht]]{{•}}[[Pieter Gillis]]{{•}}[[Martinus_Dorpius|Martin Dorp]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]{{•}}[[Albrecht Dürer]]{{•}}[[Dirk Martens]] 
''Opponents'': [[Jacobus_Latomus|Latomus]]{{•}}[[Edward_Lee_(bishop)|Edward Lee]]{{•}}[[Ulrich von Hutten]] 
''Patrons'': [[Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor|Charles V]]
}}

Erasmus had accepted an honorary position as a Councillor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]. He stayed in various locations including Anderlecht.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus House, Anderlecht |date=14 February 2016 |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/the-erasmus-house-a-historical-cultural-complex-not-to-be-missed/ |access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref>

His residence at Leuven, where he lectured at the [[Old University of Leuven|University]], exposed Erasmus to much criticism from those ascetics, academics and clerics hostile to the principles of literary and religious reform to which he was devoting his life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus and the Louvain Theologians — a Strategy of Defense |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=1990 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=2–12 |doi=10.1163/002820390X00024 |jstor=24009249 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24009249 |issn=0028-2030}}</ref> In 1514, he made the acquaintance of [[Hermann von dem Busche|Hermannus Buschius]], [[Ulrich von Hutten]] and [[Johann Reuchlin]] who introduced him to the Hebrew language in Mainz.<ref>{{Cite web |editor-last=Seidel Menchi |editor-first=S. |title=Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi – Erasmus, Opera Omnia |url=https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Brill |pages=50–51 |language=en}}</ref> In 1517, he supported the foundation at the university of the [[Collegium Trilingue]] for the study of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], Latin, and Greek<ref>Tracy, James D. ''Erasmus of the Low Countries''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. [http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft5q2nb3vp/ s1.14.14]</ref>—after the model of the College of the Three Languages at the [[Complutense University of Madrid#History|University of Alcalá]]—financed by his late friend [[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]'s will.<ref>{{cite web |title=500 years Collegium Trilingue |url=https://expo.bib.kuleuven.be/exhibits/show/500-years-collegium-trilingue/formation-of-the-collegium-tri |website=expo.bib.kuleuven.be |language=en}}</ref>

In 1520 he was present at the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] with [[Guillaume Budé]], his last meeting with [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]].<ref name=soward />

====Basel====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''Swiss circle'''
| text = [[Johannes Froben]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus Froben]]{{•}}[[Beatus Rhenanus]]{{•}}[[Bonifacius Amerbach]]{{•}}[[Hans Holbein the Younger]]{{•}}[[Simon Grynaeus]]{{•}}[[Sebastian Brandt]]{{•}}[[Wolfgang Capito]]{{•}}[[Damião de Góis]]{{•}}Gilbert Cousin 
''Opponents'': [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] 
''Patrons'': [[Counts_of_Dammartin#House_of_Vergy|Antoine I. de Vergy]], [[Christoph von Utenheim]]
}}
[[File:Desiderius Erasmus and Gilbert Cousin.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Desiderius Erasmus dictating to his ammenuensis Gilbert Cousin or Cognatus (unknown woodblock)]]

From 1514, Erasmus regularly traveled to [[Basel]] to coordinate the printing of his books with [[Froben]]. He developed a lasting association with the great Basel publisher [[Johann Froben]] and later his son [[Hieronymus Froben]] (Eramus' [[Godparent|godson]]) who together published over 200 works with Erasmus.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Müller|first=Christian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU5tQgAACAAJ|title=Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515-1532|publisher=[[Prestel]]|year=2006|isbn=978-3-7913-3580-3|pages=296|language=en}}</ref> His initial interest in Froben was aroused by his discovery of the printer's folio edition of the ''Adagiorum Chiliades tres'' ([[Adagia]]) (1513).<ref>Bloch Eileen M. (1965). "Erasmus and the Froben Press." ''Library Quarterly'' 35 (April): 109–20.</ref>

In 1521 he settled in Basel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (Hans Holbein the Younger) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-843 |website=print |publisher=British Museum |access-date=17 July 2023}} quoting G. Bartrum, ''German Renaissance Prints 1490-1550'', BM exh. cat. 1995, no. 238.</ref> He was weary of the controversies and hostility at Louvain, and feared being dragged further into the Lutheran controversy.<ref>https://utorontopress.com/9780802026040/the-correspondence-of-erasmus/ University of Toronto Press - The Correspondence of Erasmus</ref>

As the popular response to Luther gathered momentum, the social disorders, which Erasmus dreaded and Luther disassociated himself from, began to appear, including the [[German Peasants' War]], the [[Anabaptist]] insurrections in Germany and in the Low Countries, iconoclasm, and the radicalisation of peasants across Europe. If these were the outcomes of reform, he was thankful that he had kept out of it. Yet he was ever more bitterly accused of having started the whole "tragedy" (as Erasmus dubbed the matter).<ref group=note>"When the Lutheran tragedy ({{Lang-la|Lutheranae tragoediae }}) opened, and all the world applauded, I advised my friends to stand aloof. I thought it would end in bloodshed…", Letter to Alberto Pío, 1525, in e.g., {{cite web |url=/media/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Life_and_letters_of_Erasmus_%28IA_cu31924026502793%29.pdf|title=Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, p 322}}</ref>

====Freiburg====
Following iconoclastic rioting in 1529 lead by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]],<ref group=note>A sentence previously in this article said "Prominent reformators like [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Oecolampad]] urged him to stay." However, Campion, ''Erasmus and Switzerland'', op. cit., p26, says that Œcolampadius wanted to drive Erasmus from the city.</ref> the city of Basel definitely adopted the Reformation, and banned the Catholic mass on April 1, 1529.<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite web |title=Erasmus - Dutch Humanist, Protestant Challenge |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist/The-Protestant-challenge |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} | 2={{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=The Reformation in Basel. Oecolampadius. History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.iv.iv.iii.html}} }}</ref> Erasmus left Basel on the 13 April 1529 and departed by ship to the Catholic university town of [[Freiburg im Breisgau]], staying at the [[:de:Haus zum Walfisch|Haus zum Walfisch]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cM2GAQAACAAJ |title=Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man |date=1996 |publisher= Phoenix Giant|isbn=978-0297 815617 |pages=161–162 |language=en}}</ref>

===Death in Basel===
[[File:Erasmus grafsteen Münster van Bazel.JPG|thumb|200px|Epitaph for Erasmus in the [[Basel Minster]]]]
When his strength began to fail, he decided to accept an invitation by [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Queen Mary of Hungary, Regent of the Netherlands]], to move from Freiburg to [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]. In 1535, he moved back to [[Basel]] in preparation ([[Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] having died, and private practice of his religion now possible) and saw his last major works such as [[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]] through publication, but his health worsened. In 1536, he died from an attack of [[dysentery]].<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle= Desiderius Erasmus}}</ref>

He had remained loyal to Roman Catholicism,<ref group=note name="Church 1924">"He tried to remain in the fold of the old [Roman] Church, after having damaged it seriously, and renounced the [Protestant] Reformation, and to a certain extent even Humanism, after having furthered both with all his strength." [[Johan Huizinga]], ''Erasmus and the Age of Reformation'' (tr. F. Hopman and Barbara Flower; New York: Harper and Row, 1924), p. 190.</ref> but he did not have the opportunity to receive the [[last rites]] of the Catholic Church;<ref group=note>This assertion is contradicted by Gonzalo Ponce de Leon speaking in 1595 at the Roman [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Congregation of the Index]] on the (mostly successful) de-prohibition of Erasmus' works said that he died "as a Catholic having received the sacraments." {{cite journal |last1=Menchi |first1=Silvana Seidel |title=Sixteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2000 |volume=20 |issue=1 |page=30 |doi=10.1163/187492700X00048}}</ref> the contemporary reports of his death do not mention whether he asked for a Catholic priest or not, if any were in Basel. According to historian Jan van Herwaarden, this is consistent with Erasmus' view that outward signs were not important; what mattered is the believer's direct relationship with God. However, van Herwaarden observes that "he did not dismiss the rites and sacraments out of hand but asserted a dying person could achieve a state of salvation without the priestly rites, provided their faith and spirit were attuned to God" (i.e., maintaining being in a [[:wikt:state of grace|State of Grace]]) noting Erasmus' stipulation that this was "as the (Catholic) Church believes."<ref>
{{citation
|author= Jan Van Herwaarden
|title= Between Saint James and Erasmus: Studies in Late Medieval Religious Life
|location= Leiden |publisher= Brill|year= 2003
|pages= 529–530 |isbn= 9789004129849
}}
</ref>

His last words, as recorded by his friend and biographer [[Beatus Rhenanus]], were apparently "Dear God" ({{lang-nl|Lieve God}}).<ref>Huizinga, Dutch edition, p. 202.</ref> He was buried with great ceremony in the [[Basel Minster]] (the former cathedral). The Protestant city authorities remarkably allowed his funeral to be an ecumenical Catholic [[requiem mass]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campion |first1=Edmund |title=Erasmus and Switzerland |journal=Swiss American Historical Society |date=2003 |volume=39 |issue=3 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1412&context=sahs_review |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref>

As his heir he instated [[Bonifacius Amerbach]] to give money to the poor and needy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Müller|first=Christian|title=1495: Zum 500. Geburtstag des Bonifacius Amerbach – Basler Stadtbuch 1995|url=https://www.baslerstadtbuch.ch/stadtbuch/1995/1995_2385.html|access-date=2021-05-02|website=www.baslerstadtbuch.ch|publisher=Christian Merian Stiftung|page=46|language=de}}</ref> One of the eventual recipients was the impoverished Protestant humanist [[Sebastian Castellio]], who had fled from Geneva to Basel, who subsequently translated the Bible into Latin and French, and worked for the repair of the breach and divide of Christianity in its Catholic, Anabaptist, and Protestant branches.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sebastian Castellio, 1515-1563; Humanist and Defender of Religious Toleration in a Confessional Age; Translated and Edited by Bruce Gordon |last=Guggisbert |first=Hans |year=2003 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Hants England; Burlington, Vermont, USA |isbn=0754630196}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Thought and views==
Erasmus had a distinctive manner of thinking, a Catholic historian suggests: one that is capacious in its perception, agile in its judgments, and unsettling in its irony with "a deep and abiding commitment to human flourishing"<ref name="martinirony">Terrence J. Martin, ''Truth and Irony''[https://www.cuapress.org/9780813228099/truth-and-irony/] quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Michael |date=2019 |title=Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus (Review) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/39/1/article-p107_9.xml?rskey=MziQyb&result=1 |journal=Erasmus Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03901009 |s2cid=171963677}}</ref> He has been called moderate, judicious and constructive even when critical or mocking extremes.<ref name=ocker>{{cite book |last1=Ocker |first1=Christopher |title=The Hybrid Reformation: A Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Contending Forces |date=22 September 2022 |doi=10.1017/9781108775434.011}}</ref>

Erasmus has been called a seminal rather than a consistent or systematic thinker,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=James |title=Two Erasmuses and Two Luthers: Erasmus' strategy in defense of De libero arbitrio |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte |date=1987 |volume=78 |issue=jg |page=57 |doi=10.14315/arg-1987-jg03 |s2cid=171005154 |url=https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-1987-jg03 |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> notably averse to over-extending from the specific to the general; who nevertheless should be taken very seriously as a [[Pastoral theology|pastoral]] and rhetorical theologian, with a philological and historical approach—rather than a metaphysical approach—to interpreting Scripture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trinkaus |first1=Charles |title=Erasmus, Augustine and the Nominalists |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History |date=1976 |volume=67 |issue=jg |pages=5–32 |doi=10.14315/arg-1976-jg01 |s2cid=163790714 |url=https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-1976-jg01 |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> A theologian has written of "Erasmus’ preparedness completely to satisfy no-one but himself."<ref name=chester>{{cite journal |last1=Chester |first1=Stephen |title=When the Old Was New: Reformation Perspectives on Galatians 2:16 |journal=The Expository Times |date=April 2008 |volume=119 |issue=7 |pages=320–329 |doi=10.1177/0014524608091090}}</ref>
===Pacifism===
Peace, peaceableness and peacemaking, in all spheres from the domestic to the religious to the political, were central distinctives of Erasmus' writing on Christian living and his mystical theology:<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dart |first1=Ron |title=Erasmus: Then and Now |url=https://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2006/09/erasmus_then_an.html |website=Clarion: Journal for Religion, Peace and Justice |access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref> ''"the sum and summary of our religion is peace and unanimity"'' <ref group=note>''{{lang|la|Summa nostrae religionis pax est et unanimated}}''. Erasmus continued: "This can hardly remain the case unless we define as few matters as possible and leave each individual’s judgement free on many questions." {{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Letter to Carondelet: The Preface to His Edition of St. Hilary |date=1523}}</ref><ref group=note>Note that the use of ''summa'' is perhaps also a backhanded reference to the [[scholasticism|scholastic]] ''[[summa]]'', which he upbraided for their moral and spiritual uselessness.{{cite journal |last1=Surtz |first1=Edward L. |title="Oxford Reformers" and Scholasticism |journal=Studies in Philology |date=1950 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=547–556 |jstor=4172947 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4172947 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> At the [[Nativity of Jesus]] ''"the angels sang not the glories of war, nor a song of triumph, but a hymn of peace.":''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace, p57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-IvAAAAYAAJ&q=the+angels+sung+not+the+glories+of+war,+nor+a+song+of+triumph,+but+a+hymn+of+peace |website=Google Books |year=1813 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|He (Christ) conquered by gentleness; He conquered by kindness; he conquered by truth itself
|source=Method of True Theology, 4 <ref group=note>"{{lang-la|Vicit mansuetudine, vicit beneficentia}}" R. Sider translates ''vicit'' as "he prevailed" {{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert D. |title=A System or Method of Arriving by a Short Cut at True Theology by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=The New Testament Scholarship of Erasmus |date=31 December 2019 |pages=479–713 |doi=10.3138/9781487510206-020|isbn=9781487510206 |s2cid=198585078 }}</ref>{{rp|570}} }}

Erasmus was not an absolute [[Pacifist]] but promoted political [[Pacificism]] and religious [[Irenicism]].<ref name=ronpeace>{{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=The Christian Peace of Erasmus |journal=The European Legacy |date=2014 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=27–42 |doi=10.1080/10848770.2013.859793 |s2cid=143485311 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10848770.2013.859793}}</ref> Notable writings on irenicism include ''de Concordia'', ''On the War with the Turks'', ''The Education of a Christian Prince'', ''On Restoring the Concord of the Church'', and ''The Complaint of Peace''.

In the latter, Lady Peace insists on peace as the crux of Christian life and for understanding Christ:

{{Blockquote|I give you my peace, I leave you my peace" (John 14:27). You hear what he leaves his people? Not horses, bodyguards, empire or riches – none of these. What then? He gives peace, leaves peace – peace with friends, peace with enemies.|source= The Complaint of Peace<ref name="The Complaint of Peace">{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_Peace |website=Wikisources |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>}}

A historian has called him "The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace".{{refn|group=note|If any single individual in the modern world can be credited with "the invention of peace", the honour belongs to Erasmus rather than Kant whose essay on perpetual peace was published nearly three centuries later.<ref name="researchgate.net"/>}}

====War====
{{See also|Erasmus#The Complaint of Peace (1517)}}
Erasmus had experienced war as a child and was particularly concerned about wars between Christian kings, who should be brothers and not start wars; a theme in his book ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]].'' His Adages included ''"War is sweet to those who have never tasted it."'' (''{{lang|la|Dulce bellum inexpertis}}'' from [[:wikiquote:Pindar|Pindar]]'s Greek.)

He promoted and was present at the [[Field of Cloth of Gold]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/the-field-of-cloth-of-gold/|title=The Field of Cloth of Gold | Hampton Court Palace | Historic Royal Palaces|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref> and his wide-ranging [[List of Erasmus's correspondents|correspondence]] frequently related to issues of peacemaking. He saw a key role of the Church in peacemaking by arbitration.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Xheraj |first1=Blerina |title=Erasmus, Jus Canonicum and Arbitration |url=https://commercialarbitrationineurope.wordpress.com/2020/12/04/erasmus-jus-canonicum-and-arbitration/ |website=The Social and Psychological Underpinnings of Commercial Arbitration in Europe |date=4 December 2020 |publisher=University of Leicester}}</ref>

He questioned the practical usefulness and abuses{{refn|group=note|"I do not deny that I wrote some harsh things in order to deter the Christians from the madness of war, because I saw that these wars,which we witnessed for too many years, are the source of the biggest part of evils which damage Christendom. Therefore, it was necessary to come forward not only against these deeds, which are clearly criminal, but also against other actions, which are almost impossible to do without committing many crimes." Apology against Albert Pío <ref name=ronpeace/>{{rp|11}}}} of [[Just War theory]], further limiting it to feasible defensive actions with popular support and that "war should never be undertaken unless, as a last resort, it cannot be avoided."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dallmayr |first1=Fred R. |title=A War Against the Turks? Erasmus on War and Peace |journal=Asian Journal of Social Science |date=2006 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=67–85 |doi=10.1163/156853106776150225 |jstor=23654400 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23654400 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> In his ''Adages'' he discusses (common translation) "[[:wikiquote:Desiderius Erasmus|''A disadvantageous peace is better than a just war'']]", which owes to [[Just war theory#Renaissance and Christian Humanists|Cicero and John Colet]]'s "''Better an unjust peace than the justest war.''"

Erasmus was extremely critical of the warlike way of important European princes of his era, including some princes of the church.<ref>Erasmus was not out-of-step with opinion within the church: Archbishop Bernard II Zinni of [[Split,_Croatia|Split]] speaking at the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] (1512) denounced princes as the most guilty of ambition, luxury and a desire for domination. Bernard proposed that reformation must primarily involve ending war and schism. {{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |title=Concepts of Reform Proposed at the Fifth Lateran Council |journal=Archivum Historiae Pontificiae |date=1969 |volume=7 |pages=163–251 |jstor=23563707 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23563707 |issn=0066-6785}} p. 173,174</ref> He described these princes as corrupt and greedy. Erasmus believed that these princes "collude in a game, of which the outcome is to exhaust and oppress the commonwealth".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus of the Low Countries |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft5q2nb3vp&chunk.id=s1.7.4 |website=publishing.cdlib.org}}</ref> He spoke more freely about this matter in letters sent to his friends like [[Thomas More]], [[Beatus Rhenanus]] and [[Adrianus Barlandus]]: a particular target of his criticisms was the Emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], whom Erasmus blamed for allegedly preventing the Netherlands from signing a peace treaty with [[Duchy of Guelders|Guelders]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Holland Under Habsburg Rule, 1506-1566: The Formation of a Body Politic |date=23 October 2018 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-30403-1 |pages=68–70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7nADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |access-date=4 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> and other schemes to cause wars in order to extract money from his subjects. <ref group=note>James D.Tracy notes that mistrust of the Habsburg government in the general population (partially due to the fact Maximilian and his grandson [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] were absentee rulers, the secret nature of diplomacy and other circumstances) was widespread, but it is notable that intellectuals like Erasmus and Barlandus also accepted the allegations. {{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus of the Low Countries |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08745-3 |pages=94, 95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvbNbNMP_vcC&pg=PA94 |access-date=4 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

====Religious toleration====
[[File:Portret van Desiderius Erasmus (1469?-1536) Rijksmuseum SK-A-166.jpeg|thumbnail|200px|Portrait of Erasmus, after Quinten Massijs (1517)]]
He referred to his irenical disposition in the Preface to [[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]] as a ''secret inclination of nature'' that would make him even prefer the views of the [[Sceptics]] over intolerant assertions, though he sharply distinguished ''[[Adiaphora#Christianity|adiaphora]]'' from what was explicit in the [[Bible|New Testament]] and [[Magisterium|Church teaching]], where concord demanded unity and assent. In Melancthon's view, Erasmus taught charity not faith.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kusukawa |first1=Sachiko |title=Nineteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2003 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1163/187492703X00036}}</ref>{{rp|10}}

Certain works of Erasmus laid a foundation for religious toleration of private opinions and [[ecumenism]]. For example, in ''De libero arbitrio'', opposing certain views of Martin Luther, Erasmus noted that religious disputants should be temperate in their language, "because in this way the truth, which is often lost amidst too much wrangling may be more surely perceived." Gary Remer writes, "Like [[Cicero]], Erasmus concludes that truth is furthered by a more harmonious relationship between interlocutors."<ref>Remer, Gary, ''Humanism and the Rhetoric of Toleration'' (University Park: University of Pennsylvania Press 1996), p. 95 {{ISBN|0-271-02811-4}}</ref>

Erasmus' pacificism included a particular dislike for sedition:

{{Blockquote|text=It was the duty of the leaders of this (reforming) movement, if Christ was their goal, to refrain not only from vice, but even from every appearance of evil; and to offer not the slightest stumbling block to the Gospel, studiously avoiding even practices which, although allowed, are yet not expedient. Above all they should have guarded against all sedition.|source=Letter to Martin Bucer<ref name=huiz>{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |last2=Flower |first2=Barbara |title=Erasmus and the Age of Reformation |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22900/22900-h/22900-h.htm |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref>}}

Erasmus had been involved in early attempts to protect Luther and his sympathisers from charges of [[heresy]]. Erasmus wrote ''[[Colloquies#Inquisitio_de_fide_(Inquisition_of_faith)|Inquisitio de fide]]'' to limit what should be considered heresy to fractiously agitating against essential doctrines (e.g., those of the Creed), with malice and persistence. As with St [[Theodore the Studite]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Αποστολική Διακονία της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος |url=https://apostoliki-diakonia.gr/en_main/catehism/theologia_zoi/themata.asp?cat=patr&main=EH_texts&file=11.htm |website=apostoliki-diakonia.gr}}</ref> Erasmus was against the death penalty merely for private or peaceable heresy, or for dissent on non-essentials: "It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him."<ref>Froude, James Anthony
[https://archive.org/details/lifeandletterse02frougoog/page/n372  ''Life and letters of Erasmus: lectures delivered at Oxford 1893–4''] (London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1894), p. 359</ref> The Church has the duty to protect believers and convert or heal heretics.

Nevertheless, he allowed the death penalty against violent seditionists, to prevent bloodshed and war: he allowed that the state has the right to execute those who are a necessary danger to public order—whether heretic or orthodox—but noted (e.g., to [[:fr:Noël Béda]]) that [[Augustine]] had been against the execution of even violent [[Donatist]]s: Johannes Trapman states that Erasmus' endorsement of suppression of the Anabaptists springs from their refusal to heed magistrates and the criminal violence of the [[Münster rebellion]] not because of their heretical views on baptism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trapman |first1=Johannes |title=Erasmus and Heresy |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=2013 |volume=75 |issue=1 |page=12 |jstor=24329313 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24329313 |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref> Despite these concessions to state power, he suggested that religious persecution could still be challenged as inexpedient (ineffective).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defense of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=385}}</ref>

====Jews and Turks====
While the focus of most of his writing was about peace within [[Christendom]], he was involved in the [[On War Against the Turk|public policy debate]] on war with the [[Ottoman empire]], which was then invading [[Ottoman wars in Europe#1526-1566: Conquest of the Kingdom of Hungary|Western Europe]], notably in his book ''On the war against the Turks'' (1530), with Pope Leo X promoting going on the offensive with a new crusade.<ref group=note>"…the goal of ''De bello Turcico'' was
to warn Christians and the Church of moral deterioration and to exhort them to change their ways.… Erasmus’ objection to crusades was by no means an overall opposition to fighting the Turks. Rather, Erasmus harshly condemned embezzlement and corrupt fundraising, and the Church’s involvement in such nefarious activities, and regarded them as inseparable from waging a crusade." {{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=The Non-Cosmopolitan Erasmus: An Examination of his Turkophobic/Islamophobic Rhetoric |journal=Akademik Tarih ve Düşünce Dergisi (Academic Journal of History and Idea) |date=1 January 2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/67458204}} pp. 97,98</ref>

In common with his times,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Howell |first1=Rob |title=Islam as a Heresy: Christendom's Ideological View of Islam |journal=Fairmount Folio: Journal of History |date=2003 |volume=5 |url=https://journals.wichita.edu/index.php/ff/article/view/73 |language=en}}</ref> Erasmus regarded the Jewish and Islamic religions as Christian heresies rather than separate religions, using the inclusive term ''half-Christian'' for the latter. However, there is a wide range of scholarly opinion on the extent and nature of [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] and anti-Moslem prejudice in his writings: Erasmus scholar [[Shimon Markish]] wrote that the charge of [[Christian antisemitism|antisemitism]] could not be sustained in Erasmus' public writings,<ref>{{cite book |title=Erasmus and the Jews |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3641385.html |publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref> however historian Nathan Ron has found his writing to be harsh and racial in its implications, with contempt and hostility to Islam.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=Erasmus' attitude to towards Islam in the light of Nicholas of Cusa's De pace fidei and Cribiatio alkorani |journal=Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval |date=2019 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=113–136|doi=10.21071/refime.v26i1.11846 |s2cid=200062225 |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/7366141.pdf}} Reviewed: [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renaissance-quarterly/article/abs/erasmus-and-the-other-on-turks-jews-and-indigenous-peoples-nathan-ron-london-palgrave-macmillan-2019-xiv-196-pp-4164/A9692438D8CABC869D3344F1DFBA6C88 Renaissance Quarterly]</ref>

Erasmus was not vehemently antisemitic in the way of the later post-Catholic [[Martin Luther and antisemitism|Martin Luther]]; it was not a topic or theme of his public writing. Erasmus claimed not to be personally xenophobic: "For I am of such a nature that I could love even a Jew, were he a pleasant companion and did not spew out blasphemy against Christ"<ref>Letter to John Botzheim, quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defense of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=377}}</ref> however Markish suggests that it is probable Erasmus never actually encountered a (practicing) Jew.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/erasmus-of-rotterdam |website=Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=AICE |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref><ref group=note>Erasmus knew several converted Jews: his doctor Matthais Adrianus, who Erasmus recommended for the Trilingual College, and his doctor [[Paolo Riccio]], a professor of philosophy and imperial physician.{{cite journal |last1=Krivatsy |first1=Peter |title=Erasmus' Medical Milieu |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |date=1973 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=113–154 |jstor=44447526 |pmid=4584234 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44447526 |issn=0007-5140}} Erasmus's Spanish friend [[Juan Luis Vives#Early life|Juan Luis Vives]] came from a ''conversos'' family and his father had been executed as a ''Judaizer'' heretic.</ref>

Unusually for a Christian theologian of any time, he perceived and championed strong [[Erasmus#Classical|Hellenistic]] rather than exclusively Hebraic influences on the [[Hellenistic_Judaism#Cultural_legacy|intellectual milieux]] of Jesus, Paul and the early church.<ref group=note name=OT />

===== Interpretation caveats: analogy, irony, foils =====
* The picture is complicated because when Erasmus wrote of Judaism, he frequently was not referring to contemporary Jews but, by analogy with [[Second Temple Judaism]], to Christians of his time who mistakenly promoted external ritualism over interior piety,<ref group=note>For Markish, Erasmus' "theological opposition to a form of religious thought which he identified with Judaism was not translated into crude prejudice against actual Jews", to the extent that Erasmus could be described as 'a-semitic' rather 'anti-semitic'.{{cite web |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/erasmus-of-rotterdam |website=Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=AICE |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref> notably in the monastic lifestyle.<ref group=note>"Judaism I call not Jewish impiety, but prescriptions about external things, such as food, fasting, clothes, which to a certain degree resemble the rituals of the Jews." ''Declarationes ad censuras Lutetiae'', 1532. (Erasmus' counter-accusation of Judaizing may have been particularly sharp and bold, given the prominent role that some friars were playing in the lethal persecution of some ''[[conversos]]'' at the time in Spain.)</ref> Erasmus' pervasive anti-ceremonialism treated the early Church debates on circumcision, food and special days as manifestations of cultural chauvinism, a general human characteristic.{{refn|group=note|"The Jews" (i.e. the earliest Jewish Christians in Antioch) "because of a certain human tendency, desire(d) to force their own rites upon everyone, clearly in order under this pretext to enhance their own importance. For each one wishes that the things which he himself has taught should appear as outstanding." Erasmus, ''Paraphrase of Romans and Galations''<ref name=chester/>{{rp|321}} }}

* Erasmus often wrote in a highly ironical idiom,<ref name=martinirony/> especially in his letters,<ref group=note>His mode of expression made him "slippery like a snake" according to Luther - {{cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=Arnoud |title=Irreverent Reading: Martin Luther as Annotator of Erasmus |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=2017 |volume=48 |issue=1}})</ref> which makes them prone to different interpretations when taken literally rather than ironically.{{refn|group=note|For example, his quote on the persecution of Reuchlin "if it is Christian to hate Jews, we are all abundantly Christians here" is taken literally by Theodor Dunkelgrün<ref name=dunkel>{{cite journal |last1=Dunkelgrün |first1=Theodor |title=The Christian Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe |journal=The Cambridge History of Judaism |date=16 November 2017 |pages=316–348 |doi=10.1017/9781139017169.014|isbn=9781139017169 }}</ref>{{rp|320}} as being approving; the alternative view would be that it was sardonic and challenging.}}

* Terence J. Martin identifies an "Erasmian pattern" that the supposed (by the reader) otherness (of Jews, Turks, Lapplanders, Indians, and even women and heretics) "provides a [[Foil_(narrative)|foil]] against which the failures of Christian culture can be exposed and criticized."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Terence J. |title=Erasmus and the Other |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=181–200 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_012|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref> <ref group=note>
"If we really want to heave the Turks from our necks, we must first expel from our hearts a more loathsome race of Turks, avarice, ambition, the craving for power, self-satisfaction, impiety, extravagance, the love of pleasure, deceitfulness, anger, hatred, envy." Erasmus, ''de bello Turcico'', ''apud'' Ron, Nathan ''The Non-Cosmopolitan Erasmus: An Examination of his Turkophobic/Islamophobic Rhetoric'', ''op. cit.'' p 99: Ron takes this as an affirmation by Erasmus of the low nature of Turks; the alternative view would take it as a negative foil (applying the model of [[the Mote and the Beam]]) where the prejudice is [[Communication_accommodation_theory|appropriated]] in order to subvert it.</ref>

====Domestic and Community Peace====
{{Further |#On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)}}
{{Further |Pre-Tridentine Mass#Vernacular and laity in the medieval and Reformation eras}}
Erasmus' emphasis on peacemaking reflects a typical pre-occupation of medieval lay spirituality as historian John Bossy (as summarized by Eamon Duffy) puts it: "medieval Christianity had been fundamentally concerned with the creation and maintenance of peace in a violent world. “Christianity” in medieval Europe denoted neither an ideology nor an institution, but a community of believers whose religious ideal—constantly aspired to if seldom attained—was peace and mutual love."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duffy |first1=Eamon |title=The End of Christendom |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/11/the-end-of-christendom |website=First Things |access-date=27 November 2023 |language=en |date=1 November 2016}}</ref>

In marriage, Erasmus' two significant innovations, according to historian Nathan Ron, were that "matrimony can and should be a joyous bond, and that this goal can be achieved by a relationship between spouses based on mutuality, conversation, and persuasion."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=Erasmus: intellectual of the 16th century |date=2021 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4_4 |doi-broken-date=3 September 2023 |isbn=978-3-030-79859-8 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4_4}}</ref>{{rp|4:43}}

===Religious reform===
{{Catholic philosophy}}
====Anti-Fraternalism====
Reacting from his own experiences, Erasmus believed that monastic life and institutions no longer served the positive spiritual or social purpose they once may have: in the ''Enchiridion'' he controversially put it ''Monkishness is not piety''. Many of his works contain diatribes against supposed monastic corruption, and particularly against the mendicant friars (Franciscans and Dominicans): these orders also typically ran the university Scholastic theology programs and from whose ranks came his most dangerous enemies. He was scandalized by superstitions, such as that if you were buried in a Franciscan habit you would go direct to heaven. He advocated various reforms (some which were more like his own order of [[Augustinian Canons]]), including a ban on taking orders until the 30th year, the closure of corrupt and smaller monasteries, respect for bishops, requiring work not begging, the downplaying of monastic hours, fasts and ceremonies, and a less mendacious approach to gullible pilgrims and tenants. He believed the only vow necessary for Christians should be the vow of Baptism, and others such as the vows of the [[evangelical counsels]], while admirable in content, were now mainly counter-productive. These ideas widely influenced his generation of humanists, both Catholic and Protestant.<ref name=knowles/>{{rp|152}}

However, he was not in favour of speedy closures: in his account of his pilgrimage to Walsingham, he noted that the funds extracted from pilgrims typically supported houses for the poor and elderly.

====Catholic Reform====
The [[Protestant Reformation]] began in the year following the publication of his [[Textus receptus|pathbreaking]] edition of the [[Novum Instrumentum omne|New Testament]] in Latin and Greek (1516). The issues between the reforming and reactionary tendencies of the [[Catholic Church]], from which [[Protestantism]] later emerged, had become so clear that many intellectuals and churchmen could not escape the summons to join the debate.

According to historian Scott C. Dixon, Erasmus' not only criticized church failings but questioned many of his Church's basic teachings;<ref group=note name="Dixon 2012">"Erasmus had been [[criticism of the Catholic Church|criticizing the Catholic church]] for years before the [[Protestant Reformers|reformers]] emerged, and not just pointing up its failings but questioning many of its basic teachings. He was the author of a series of publications, including a [[Novum Instrumentum omne|Greek edition of the New Testament]] (1516), which laid the foundations for a model of Christianity that called for a pared-down, internalized style of religiosity focused on Scripture rather than the elaborate, and incessant, outward rituals of the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|medieval church]]. Erasmus was not a forerunner in the sense that he conceived or defended ideas that later made up the substance of the Reformation thought. [...] It is enough that some of his ideas merged with the later Reformation message." {{cite book |last=Dixon |first=C. Scott |year=2012 |title=Contesting the Reformation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i6kf0Tv_i1AC&pg=PA60 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |page=60 |isbn=978-1-4051-1323-6 }}</ref> however, according to biographer Erika Rummel, "Erasmus was aiming at the correction of abuses rather than at doctrinal innovation or institutional change."{{refn |group=note|"Unlike Luther, he accepted papal primacy and the teaching authority of the church and did not discount human tradition. The reforms proposed by Erasmus were in the social rather than the doctrinal realm. His principal aim was to foster piety and to deepen spirituality."
<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=The theology of Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology |date=2004 |pages=28–38 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-reformation-theology/theology-of-erasmus/A1916A5FFA073EEC8D42C60E03F028E3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CCOL0521772249.005 |isbn=9780521772242 }}</ref>{{rp|37}} }}

Erasmus, at the height of his literary fame, was called upon to take sides, but partisanship was foreign to his nature and his habits. Despite all his [[Criticism of the Catholic Church|criticism of clerical corruption and abuses within the Western Church]], especially at first he sided with neither party, and eventually shunned the Protestant Reformation movements along with their most [[Radical Reformation|radical offshoots]].<ref name="Hoffmann 1989"/>

The world had laughed at his satire, ''[[In Praise of Folly]]'', but few had interfered with his activities. He believed that his work so far had commended itself to the best minds and also to the dominant powers in the religious world. Erasmus chose to write in Latin (and Greek), the languages of scholars. He did not build a large body of supporters in the unlettered; his critiques reached a small but elite audience.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wallace|first=Peter G.|title=European History in Perspective: The Long European Reformation|year=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-333-64451-5|page=70}}</ref>

====Disagreement with Luther====
[[File:Albrecht Dürer - Portrait of Erasmus - WGA07088.jpg|thumb|200px|Albrecht Dürer, ''Portrait of Erasmus'', sketch: black chalk on paper, 1520.]]
Noting Luther's criticism of corruption in the Catholic Church, Erasmus at one time described him as "a mighty trumpet of gospel truth" while agreeing, "It is clear that many of the reforms for which Luther calls are urgently needed."<ref name="Galli, Mark 2000, p. 344">Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know''. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2000, p. 344.</ref> He then had great respect for Luther, and Luther spoke with admiration of Erasmus's superior learning.

Luther hoped for his cooperation in a work which seemed only the natural outcome of his own.<ref group=note>"In the first years of the Reformation many thought that Luther was only carrying out the program of Erasmus, and this was the opinion of those strict Catholics who from the outset of the great conflict included Erasmus in their attacks on Luther." [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref> In their early correspondence, Luther expressed boundless admiration for all Erasmus had done in the cause of a sound and reasonable Christianity and urged him to join the Lutheran party. Erasmus declined to commit himself, arguing that to do so would endanger the cause for {{Lang-la|[[Humanitas#Classical origins of term|bonae litterae]]}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=Erasmus and the Invention of Literature |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1 January 2013 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=22–54 |doi=10.1163/18749275-13330103}}</ref><ref group=note>good/moral/honest/brave [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonus#Latin] literature</ref> which he regarded as one of his purposes in life. Only as an independent scholar could he hope to influence the reform of religion. When Erasmus hesitated to support him, the straightforward Luther became angered that Erasmus was avoiding the responsibility due either to cowardice or a lack of purpose.

However, any hesitancy on the part of Erasmus may have stemmed, not from lack of courage or conviction, but rather from a concern over the mounting disorder and violence of the reform movement. To [[Philip Melanchthon]] in 1524 he wrote:

<blockquote>I know nothing of your church; at the very least it contains people who will, I fear, overturn the whole system and drive the princes into using force to restrain good men and bad alike. The gospel, the word of God, faith, Christ, and Holy Spirit – these words are always on their lips; look at their lives and they speak quite another language.<ref>{{cite book| chapter=Letter of 6 September 1524| title= Collected Works of Erasmus| year= 1992 | publisher=University of Toronto Press| volume=10| isbn= 0-8020-5976-7 |page= 380 | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bYVEgXbiunkC&pg=PA380}}</ref></blockquote>

Though he sought to remain firmly neutral in doctrinal disputes, each side accused him of siding with the other, perhaps because of his perceived influence and what they regarded as his dissembling neutrality,<ref group=note>Future cardinal [[Aleander]], his former friend and roommate at the [[Aldine Press]], wrote "The poison of Erasmus has a much more dangerous effect than that of Luther" [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref> which he regarded as peacemaking [[Accommodation (religion)#Christian accommodation|accommodation]]:

{{Blockquote|text=I detest dissension because it goes both against the teachings of Christ and against a secret inclination of nature. I doubt that either side in the dispute can be suppressed without grave loss.
|source="On Free Will"<ref name="Galli, Mark 2000, p. 344"/>}}

=====Dispute on Free Will=====
{{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}}
{{Further | #On Free Will (1524)}}
By 1523 Erasmus had been convinced that Luther's ideas on necessity/free will was a subject of core disagreement deserving a public airing and strategized with friends and correspondents<ref>{{cite web |last1=Emerton |first1=Ephraim |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47517/47517-h/47517-h.htm#FNanchor_152 |website=Project Guttenberg |access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref> on how to respond with proper moderation<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alfsvåg |first1=Knut |title=The Identity of Theology (Dissertation) |date=October 1995 |pages=6, 7 |url=https://www.alfsvag.com/onewebmedia/IdentityofTheology.pdf}}</ref> without making the situation worse for all, especially for the humanist reform agenda.

The publication of his brief book ''On Free Will'' initiated what has been called "The greatest debate of that era" <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Costello |first1=Gabriel J. |title=Erasmus, Luther and the Free Will Debate: Influencing the Philosophy of Management 500 Years on-whether we realise it or not! |journal=Conference: Philosophy of Management Conference University of Greenwich |date=2018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325127081 |access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> which still has ramifications today,<ref name=massing /> bypassing discussion on reform which they agreed on in general, and instead dealing with biblical justifications of [[synergism]] versus [[monergism]] in relation to salvation.

Luther responded with ''[[w:On the Bondage of the Will|On the Bondage of the Will (De servo arbitrio)]]'' (1525). Erasmus replied to this in his lengthy two volume ''Hyperaspistes'' and other works.

Apart from the perceived moral failings among followers of the Reformers, an important sign for Erasmus, he also dreaded any change in doctrine, citing the long history of the Church as a bulwark against innovation. He put the matter bluntly to Luther:
{{Blockquote|text=We are dealing with this: Would a stable mind depart from the opinion handed down by so many men famous for holiness and miracles, depart from the decisions of the Church, and commit our souls to the faith of someone like you who has sprung up just now with a few followers, although the leading men of your flock do not agree either with you or among themselves – indeed though you do not even agree with yourself, since in this same ''Assertion''<ref>A reference to Luther's ''Assertio omnium articulorum per bullam Leonis X. novissimam damnatorum'' (Assertion of all the Articles condemned by the Bull of Leo X, 1520), [[Weimar edition of Martin Luther's works|WA]] VII.</ref> you say one thing in the beginning and something else later on, recanting what you said before.|source=''Hyperaspistes'' I<ref>''Collected Works of Erasmus, Controversies: De Libero Arbitrio / Hyperaspistes I'', Peter Macardle, Clarence H. Miller, trans., Charles Trinkhaus, ed., University of Toronto Press, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-4317-7}} Vol. 76, p. 203</ref>}}

Continuing his chastisement of Luther – and undoubtedly put off by the notion of there being "no pure interpretation of Scripture anywhere but in Wittenberg"<ref>{{cite book|author=István Pieter Bejczy|title=Erasmus and the Middle Ages: The Historical Consciousness of a Christian Humanist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxLV1yVyT7sC&pg=PA172|year=2001|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-12218-4|page=172}}</ref> – Erasmus touches upon another important point of the controversy:

{{Blockquote|text=You stipulate that we should not ask for or accept anything but Holy Scripture, but you do it in such a way as to require that we permit you to be its sole interpreter, renouncing all others. Thus the victory will be yours if we allow you to be not the steward but the lord of Holy Scripture.|source=''Hyperaspistes'', Book I<ref>''Hyperaspistes'', Book I, ''Collected Works of Erasmus'', Vol. 76, pp. 204–05.</ref>}}

==== "False evangelicals" ====
In 1529, Erasmus wrote "An epistle against those who falsely boast they are Evangelicals" to Vulturius Neocomus ([[w:Gerard Geldenhouwer|Gerardus Geldenhouwer]]). Here Erasmus complains of the doctrines and morals of the Reformers:<ref>''The Reformers on the Reformation (foreign),'' London, Burns & Oates, 1881, pp. 13–14. [https://archive.org/stream/a636947900londuoft#page/12/mode/2up/search/vulturius+neocomus] See also ''Erasmus'', Preserved Smith, 1923, Harper & Brothers, pp. 391–92. [https://books.google.com/books?id=l0obJ9XfPMUC&pg=PA391]</ref>

{{Blockquote| text=You declaim bitterly against the luxury of priests, the ambition of bishops, the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff, and the babbling of the sophists; against our prayers, fasts, and Masses; and you are not content to retrench the abuses that may be in these things, but must needs abolish them entirely. ... Look around on this 'Evangelical' generation,<ref>"Circumspice populum istum Euangelicum…" Latin text in Erasmus, ''Opera Omnia'', (1706), vol. 10, 1578BC. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WIhDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT174]</ref> and observe whether amongst them less indulgence is given to luxury, lust, or avarice, than amongst those whom you so detest. Show me any one person who by that Gospel has been reclaimed from drunkenness to sobriety, from fury and passion to meekness, from avarice to liberality, from reviling to well-speaking, from wantonness to modesty. I will show you a great many who have become worse through following it. ...The solemn prayers of the Church are abolished, but now there are very many who never pray at all. ... I have never entered their conventicles, but I have sometimes seen them returning from their sermons, the countenances of all of them displaying rage, and wonderful ferocity, as though they were animated by the evil spirit. ... Who ever beheld in their meetings any one of them shedding tears, smiting his breast, or grieving for his sins? ...Confession to the priest is abolished, but very few now confess to God. ...They have fled from Judaism that they may become Epicureans.
|source=''Epistola contra quosdam qui se falso iactant evangelicos.''<ref>{{cite book |editor=Manfred Hoffmann| title=Controversies | publisher=University of Toronto Press |year= 2010 | isbn=978-1-4426-6007-6 | doi=10.3138/9781442660076 | page=}}</ref>}}

====Sacraments====
A test of the Reformation was the doctrine of the sacraments, and the crux of this question was the observance of the [[Eucharist]]. Erasmus was concerned that the [[sacramentarian]]s, headed by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] of Basel, were claiming Erasmus held views similar to their own in order to try to claim him for their schismatic and "erroneous" movement. In 1530, Erasmus published a new edition of the orthodox treatise of [[Algerus]] against the heretic [[Berengar of Tours]] in the eleventh century. He added a dedication, affirming his belief in the reality of the Body of Christ after consecration in the Eucharist, commonly referred to as [[transubstantiation]].
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Praise-of-Folly-by-Erasmus|title = Praise of Folly | work by Erasmus | Britannica}}</ref>

==== Other====
Erasmus wrote books against aspects of the teaching, impacts or threats of several other Reformers:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Regier |first1=Willis |title=Review of Erasmus, Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 78, trans. Peter Matheson, Peter McCardle, Garth Tissol, and James Tracy. |journal=Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature |date=1 January 2011 |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol9/iss2/5 |access-date=6 August 2023 |issn=1523-5734}}</ref>

* [[Ulrich von Hutten]] ''Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni'' (1523) see [[#A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523)|below]]
* [[Martin Bucer]] ''Responsio ad fratres Inferioris Germaniae ad epistolam apologeticam incerto autoreproditam'' (1530)
* [[:de:Heinrich Eppendorf|Heinrich Eppendorf]] ''Admonitio adversus mendacium et obstrectationem'' (1530)

However, Erasmus maintained friendly relations with other Protestants, notably the irenic [[Melancthon]] and [[Albrecht Duerer]].

A common accusation, supposedly started by antagonistic monk-theologians, made Erasmus responsible for Martin Luther and the Reformation: "Erasmus laid the egg, and Luther hatched it." Erasmus wittily dismissed the charge, claiming that Luther had "hatched a different bird entirely."<ref>[http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/reynoldserasmusresponsibleluther.pdf ''Concordia Theological Journal''] Was Erasmus Responsible for Luther? A Study of the Relationship of the Two Reformers and Their Clash Over the Question of the Will, Reynolds, Terrence M. p. 2, 1977. Reynolds references Arthur Robert Pennington [https://archive.org/details/lifeandcharacte00penngoog/page/n242 ''The Life and Character of Erasmus'', p. 219, 1875.]</ref> Erasmus-reader [[Peter Canisius]] commented: "Certainly there was no lack of eggs for Luther to hatch."<ref name=canisius>{{cite book |first=Himer M.|last= Pabel|chapter= Praise and Blame: Peter Canisius's ambivalent assessment of Erasmus |editor-last1=Enenkel |editor-first1=Karl Alfred Engelbert |title=The reception of Erasmus in the early modern period |date=2013 |page=139 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_007 | isbn=9789004255630}}</ref><ref group=note>Another commentator: "Erasmus laid the egg that Luther broke" {{cite web |last1=Midmore |first1=Brian |title=The differences between Erasmus and Luther in their approach to reform |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207041537/http://www.passionforgrace.org.uk/Erasluther.html |website=web.archive.org |access-date=3 December 2023 |date=7 February 2007}}</ref>

=== Philosophy and Erasmus ===
[[File:Hans Holbein d.J. und Werkstatt - Erasmus von Rotterdam.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger and workshop]]
Erasmus has a problematic standing in the history of philosophy: whether he should be called a philosopher at all.<ref group="note">For Craig R. Thompson, Erasmus cannot be called philosopher in the technical sense, since he disdained formal logic and metaphysics and cared only for moral philosophy. Similarly, John Monfasani reminds us that Erasmus never claimed to be a philosopher, was not trained as a philosopher, and wrote no explicit works of philosophy, although he repeatedly engaged in controversies that crossed the boundary from philosophy to theology. His relation to philosophy bears further scrutiny. 
{{Cite web |last=MacPhail |first=Eric |title=Desiderius Erasmus (1468?—1536) |url=https://iep.utm.edu/erasmus/#H2 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref> Erasmus appraised himself to be a rhetorician or grammarian not a philosopher.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |title=Erasmus and the Philosophers |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref>{{rp|66}} He was particularly influenced by satirist and rhetorician [[Lucian]].<ref group=note>"According to Erasmus, Lucian’s laughter is the most appropriate instrument to guide pupils towards moral seriousness because it is the denial of every peremptory and dogmatic point of view and, therefore, the image of a joyful ''pietas'' (“true religion ought to be the most cheerful thing in the world”; ''De recta pronuntiatione'', CWE 26, 385). By teaching the relativity of communicative situations and the variability of temperaments, the laughter resulting from the art of rhetoric comes to resemble the most sincere content of Christian morality, based on tolerance and loving persuasion." {{cite journal |last1=Bacchi |first1=Elisa |title=Hercules, Silenus and the Fly: Lucian's Rhetorical Paradoxes in Erasmus' Ethics |journal=Philosophical Readings Online Journal of Philosophy|date=2019 |volume=CI |issue=2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38549692}}</ref> Erasmus' writings shifted "an intellectual culture from logical disputation about things to quarrels about texts, contexts, and words."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ocker |first1=Christopher |title=Review: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 73: Controversies: Apologia de 'In Principio Erat Sermo', Apologia de Loco 'Omnes quidem', De Esu Carnium, De Delectu Ciborum Scholia, Responsio ad Collationes, edited by Drysdall, Denis L. |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2017 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=229–231 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03702007}}</ref>

====''Philosophia Christi''====
Erasmus approached [[Ancient philosophy#Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy|classical philosophers]] theologically and rhetorically: their value was in how they pre-saged, explained or amplified the unique teachings of Christ: the ''philosophia Christi''.<ref group=note>"Why don't we all reflect: this must be a marvelous and new philosophy since, in order to reveal it to mortals, he who was god became man..."{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Paraclesis |date=1516 |url=https://www.cite-osucc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Erasmus.Paraclesis.1516.pdf |access-date=11 August 2023}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|A Lutheran view: "''Philosophia christiana'' as
taught by Erasmus has never been factual reality; wherever it was ''philosophia'', it was not ''christiana''; wherever it was ''christiana'', it was not ''philosophia''." [[Karl Barth]]<ref name=ewolf/>{{rp|1559}} }} "A great part of the teaching of Christ is to be found in some of the philosophers, particularly Socrates, Diogenes and Epictetus. But Christ taught it much more fully, and exemplified it better..." (''Paraclesis'') In fact, Christ was "the very father of philosophy" (''Anti-Barbieri''.)<ref group=note>Similar to [[John Wycliffe]]'s statement "the greatest philosopher is none other than Christ."{{cite book |last1=Lahey |first1=Stephen Edmund |title=John Wyclif |date=1 May 2009 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183313.003.0005}}</ref>

In works such as his ''Enchiridion'', The Education of a Christian Prince and the Colloquies, Erasmus developed his idea of the ''philosophia Christi'', a life lived according to the teachings of Jesus taken as a (spiritual-ethical-social-political-legal<ref name=ewolf/>) philosophy:

{{Blockquote|text=Christ the heavenly teacher has founded a new people on earth,…Having eyes without guile, these folk know no spite or envy; having freely castrated themselves, and aiming at a life of angels while in the flesh, they know no unchaste lust; they know not divorce, since there is no evil they will not endure or turn to the good; they have not the use of oaths, since they neither distrust nor deceive anyone; they know not the hunger for money, since their treasure is in heaven, nor do they itch for empty glory, since they refer all things to the glory of Christ.…these are the new teachings of our founder, such as no school of philosophy has ever brought forth.|source=Erasmus, ''Method of True Theology''}}

Useful "philosophy" needed to be limited to (or re-defined as) the practical and moral:
{{blockquote|You must realize that 'philosopher' does not mean someone who is clever at dialectics or science but someone who rejects illusory appearance and undauntedly seeks out and follows what is true and good. Being a philosopher is in practice the same as being a Christian; only the terminology is different."|source= Erasmus, ''Anti-Barbieri''}}

====Classical====
Erasmus syncretistically took phrases, ideas and motifs from many classical philosophers to furnish discussions of Christian themes: academics have identified aspects of his thought as variously [[Platonist]] (duality),<ref group=note>{{ citation|mode=cs1|quote=Erasmus does not engage with Plato as a philosopher, at least not in any rigorous sense, but rather as a rhetorician of spiritual experience, the instigator of a metaphorical system which coheres effectively with Pauline Christianity.|first= Dominic |last=Baker-Smith|title= Uses of Plato by Erasmus and More |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511553806.010 |quote-page=92}}</ref> [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynical]] ([[asceticism]]),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laursen |first1=J. C. |title=Erasmus and Christian Cynicism as Cultural Context for Toleration |journal=Theological Foundations of Modern Constitutional Theory|publisher= Nantes Institute for Advanced Study |date=2016 |url=https://www.iea-nantes.fr/rtefiles/File/Ateliers/2016%20Hong/erasmus-and-christian-cynicism-j-c-laursen.pdf |access-date=8 August 2023}}</ref>
<ref name=dogs/> [[Stoicism|Stoic]] ([[adiaphora]]),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dealy |first1=Ross |title=The Stoic Origins of Erasmus' Philosophy of Christ |date=2017 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1kgqwzz |access-date=11 August 2023 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1kgqwzz |isbn=9781487500610 }}</ref> [[Epicurean]] ([[ataraxia]],<ref group=note>"Despite a lack of formal philosophical training and an antipathy to medieval [[scholasticism]], Erasmus possessed not only a certain familiarity with [[Thomas Aquinas]], but also close knowledge of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]]. Erasmus’ interest in some Platonic motifs is well known. But the most consistent philosophical theme in Erasmus’ writings from his earliest to his latest was that of the [[Epicurean]] goal of peace of mind, ''[[ataraxia]]''. Erasmus, in fact, combined Christianity with a nuanced Epicurean morality. This Epicureanism, when combined in turn with a commitment to the ''[[Sensus fidelium#Use by the magisterium|consensus Ecclesiae]]'' as well as with an allergy to dogmatic formulations and an appreciation of the [[Greek Fathers]], ultimately rendered Erasmus alien to [[Martin Luther|Luther]] and [[Protestantism]] though they agreed on much." Abstract of {{cite journal |last1=Monfasani |first1=John |title=Twenty-fifth Annual Margaret Mann Phillips Lecture: Erasmus and the Philosophers |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2012 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=47–68 |doi=10.1163/18749275-00000005}}</ref> pleasure as virtue),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leushuis |first1=Reinier |title=The Paradox of Christian Epicureanism in Dialogue: Erasmus' Colloquy The Epicurean |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2015 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=113–136 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03502003}}</ref> and realist/non-voluntarist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2010/12/a-much-neglected-basic-choice-in-theology/|title=A Much Neglected Basic Choice in Theology|first=Roger E.|last=Olson|date=26 December 2010|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref> However, his Christianized version of [[Epicureanism]] is regarded as his own.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Linkels |first1=Nicole |title=Philosophy and Religion in service of the Philosophia Christi |journal=Erasmus Student Journal of Philosophy |date=2013 |issue=5 |page=48 |url=https://www.eur.nl/sites/corporate/files/ESJP.5.2013.04.Linkels.pdf |access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref>

Erasmus was sympathetic to a kind of [[Pyrrhonism|Scepticism]]:

{{Blockquote| A Sceptic is not someone who doesn't care to know what is true or false…but rather someone who does not make a final decision easily or fight to the death for his own opinion, but rather accepts as probable what someone else accepts as certain…I explicitly exclude from Scepticism whatever is set forth in Sacred Scripture or whatever has been handed down to us by the authority of the Church. |source= Erasmus<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |last2=MacPhail |first2=Eric |title=Desiderius Erasmus |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/#Meth |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |date=2021}}</ref>}}

He eschewed metaphysical, epistemological and logical philosophy as found in [[Peripatetic school|Aristotle]],<ref group=note>In the ''Adagia'', Erasmus quotes Aristotle 304 times, "making extensive use of the moral, philosophical, political, and rhetorical writings as well as those on natural philosophy, while completely shunning the logical works that formed the basis for scholastic philosophy" {{cite book |last1=Mann Phillips |first1=Margaret |title=The 'Adages' of Erasmus. A Study with Translations |date=1964 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} apud {{cite book |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |chapter=Erasmus and the Philosophers |title=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref> in particular the curriculum and systematic methods of the post-Aquinas Schoolmen ([[Scholastics]]) and their dry, useless [[Aristoteleanism]]: "What has Aristotle to do with Christ?"<ref>Letter to Dorp {{cite book |title=The Erasmus Reader |chapter=Letter to Dorp |date=1990 |pages=169–194 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |isbn=9780802068064 }}</ref> We should avoid philosophical factionalism and so "make the whole world Christian."<ref>{{cite book |title=Collected works of Erasmus: an introduction with Erasmus' prefaces and ancillary writings |date=2019 |publisher=University of Toronto press |location=Toronto Buffalo (N.J.) London |isbn=9780802092229}}</ref>{{rp|851}} Indeed, Erasmus thought that Scholastic philosophy actually distracted participants from their proper focus on immediate morality,<ref group=note>Rice puts it "Philosophy is felt to be a veil of pretense over an unethical reality…pious disquisitions cannot excuse immorality." {{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=Eugene F. |title=Erasmus and the Religious Tradition, 1495-1499 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1950 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=387–411 |doi=10.2307/2707589 |jstor=2707589 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2707589 |issn=0022-5037}} pp. 402-404</ref><ref group=note>"For I am ready to swear that Epimenides came to life again in Scotus." ''Erasmus to Thomas Grey'' Nichols, ep. 59; Allen, ep 64</ref> unless used moderately.{{refn|group=note|"Like [[Jean Gerson]] before him, he recommended that (scholastic method) be practiced with greater moderation and that it be complemented by the new philological and patristic knowledge that was becoming available." <ref name=origenscheck/>{{rp|26}} }} And, by "excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation."<ref group=note>"I find that in comparison with the Fathers of the Church our present-day theologians are a pathetic group. Most of them lack the elegance, the charm of language, and the style of the Fathers. Content with Aristotle, they treat the mysteries of revelation in the tangled fashion of the logician. Excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation." ''Enchiridion'', Erasmus, ''apud'' {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }} p. 86</ref>

Erasmus wrote in terms of a tri-partite nature of man, with the soul the seat of free will:

{{Blockquote|The body is purely material; the spirit is purely divine; the soul…is tossed back and forwards between the two according to whether it resists or gives way to the temptations of the flesh. The spirit makes us gods; the body makes us beasts; the soul makes us men.|Erasmus<ref name=laytam/>
}}

According to theologian [[George van Kooten]], Erasmus was the first modern scholar "to note the similarities between Plato's ''Symposium'' and John's Gospel", first in the ''Enchiridion'' then in the ''Adagia'', pre-dating other scholarly interest by 400 years.<ref name="vanKooten">{{cite web |last1=van Kooten |first1=George |title=Three Symposia |url=https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/inaugural-lecture-george-van-kooten-three-symposia.pdf |website=Faculty of Divinity |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=5 August 2023}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

==Notable writings==
Erasmus wrote both on church subjects and those of general human interest.<ref group=note>"Three areas preoccupied Erasmus as a writer: language arts, education, and biblical studies. …All of his works served as models of style. …He pioneered the principles of textual criticism." {{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Christian History 145 Erasmus: Christ's humanist by Christian History Institute - Issuu |website=issuu.com |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |pages=7, 8 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |language=en}}</ref><ref>Tello, Joan. ''[https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004539686/BP000013.xml Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam]''. In Eric MacPhail (ed.), ''A Companion to Erasmus''. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2023, 225-344.</ref> By the 1530s, the writings of Erasmus accounted for 10 to 20 percent of all book sales in Europe.<ref>Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know. Nashville: Holman Reference,'' 2000, 343.</ref>

His letter to [[Ulrich von Hutten]] on [[Thomas More]]'s household has been called "the first real biography in the real modern sense."<ref name=portrait>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=David R |title=Portrait and Counter-Portrait in Holbein's The Family of Sir Thomas More |journal=The Art Bulletin |date=September 2005 |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=484–506 |doi=10.1080/00043079.2005.10786256}}</ref>

=== Adages (1500-1520) ===
[[File:Erasmus - 1508 - Adagia - honorificabilitudinitatibus.jpg|thumbnail|400px|Entry in ''Adagia'' mentioning ''honorificabilitudinitatibus'']]
{{Main|Adagia}}
{{See also|Paremiography}}

With the collaboration of [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], he made a collection of Latin proverbs and adages, commonly known as the ''[[Adagia]]''. It includes the adage "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." He coined the adage "[[Pandora's box]]", arising through an error in his translation of [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Pandora]]'' in which he confused ''pithos'' (storage jar) with ''pyxis'' (box).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pandora's Box in Greek Mythology|url=https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/pandoras-box.html|access-date=2021-02-10|website=Greek Legends and Myths|language=en}}</ref>

Examples of Adages are: [[Festina lente|more haste, less speed]]; [[The Eagle and the Beetle|a dung beetle hunting an eagle]].

Erasmus later spent nine months in Venice at the [[Aldine Press]] expanding the Adagia to over three thousand entries;<ref>{{cite web |last1=Willinsky |first1=John |title=Make Haste Slowly: Aldus and Erasmus, Printers and Scholars |url=https://aldine.lib.sfu.ca/willinsky-make-haste-slowly |website=The Wosk-McDonald Aldine Collection |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> in the course of 27 editions, it expanded to over four thousand entries in Basel at the [[Johann Froben|Froben press]]. It "introduced a fairly wide audience to the actual words and thoughts of the ancients."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }}</ref>{{rp|81}}
{{clear}}

=== Handbook of the Christian Soldier (1501) ===
{{Main|Enchiridion militis Christiani}}
[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing - WGA11498.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Holbein]] ]]
His more serious writings begin early with the ''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani]]'', the "Handbook of the Christian Soldier" (1501 and re-issued in 1518 with an expanded preface – translated into English in 1533 by the young [[William Tyndale]]). (A more literal translation of ''enchiridion'' – "dagger" – has been likened to "the spiritual equivalent of the modern [[Swiss Army knife]].")<ref>MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. New York: Viking, 2010, 599.</ref> In this short work, Erasmus outlines the views of the normal Christian life, which he was to spend the rest of his days elaborating.
He has been described as "evangelical in his beliefs and pietistic in his practise."<ref group=note>"Erasmus is so thoroughly, radically Christ-centered in his understanding of both Christian faith and practice that if we overlook or downplay this key aspect of his character and vision, we not only do him a grave disservice but we almost completely misunderstand him." {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }}</ref>{{rp|82}}

=== The Praise of Folly (1511) ===
{{Main|The Praise of Folly}}
Erasmus's best-known work is ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', written in 1509, published in 1511 under the double title ''Moriae encomium'' (Greek, Latinised) and ''Laus stultitiae'' (Latin). It is inspired by ''De triumpho stultitiae'' written by Italian humanist [[:it:Faustino Perisauli|Faustino Perisauli]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ub.unibas.ch/kadmos/gg/picpage/gg0015_009_tit.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112141116/http://www.ub.unibas.ch/kadmos/gg/picpage/gg0015_009_tit.htm|url-status=dead|title=Early title page|archive-date=12 November 2007}}</ref> A satirical attack on superstitions and other traditions of European society in general and in the Western Church in particular, it was dedicated to Sir Thomas More, whose name the title puns.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hansen |first=Kelli |date=2011-04-01 |title=April Fools! The Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus. |url=https://library.missouri.edu/news/special-collections/april-fools-the-praise-of-folly-by-desiderius-erasmus |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=Library News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Erasmus {{!}} Biography, Beliefs, Works, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=www.britannica.com}}</ref>

===''de Copia'' (1512) ===
{{Rhetoric}}
{{Main|Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style}}
''De Copia'' (or ''Foundations of the Abundant Style'' or ''On Copiousness'') is a textbook designed to teach aspects of classical [[Rhetoric#Sixteenth century|rhetoric]]: having a large supply of words, phrases and grammatical forms is a gateway to formulating and expressing thoughts, especially for "forensic oratory", with mastery and freshness. Perhaps as a joke, its full title is "The twofold
copia of words and arguments in a double commentary" ({{lang-la|De duplici copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo }}).<ref name=sloane>{{cite journal |last1=Sloane |first1=Thomas O. |title=Schoolbooks and Rhetoric: Erasmus's Copia |journal=Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric |date=1991 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=113–129 |doi=10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |jstor=10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |issn=0734-8584}}</ref>{{rp|118,119}}
It was "the most often printed rhetoric textbook written in the renaissance, with 168 editions between 1512 and 1580."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mack |first1=Peter |title=A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380-1620 |date=14 July 2011 |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199597284.003.0005}}</ref>

The first part of the book is about ''verborum'' (words). It famously includes 147 variations on "Your letter
pleased me very much",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sanders |first1=Fred |title=The Abundant Style of Erasmus |url=https://scriptoriumdaily.com/abundant-style-erasmus/ |website=The Scriptorium Daily |date=23 July 2014}}</ref> and 203 variations on "Always, as long as I live, I shall remember you."<ref group=note>These eulogize [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]] (25 by name), such as: "''More is inscribed in my heart in letters that no injurious time can erode.''"</ref><ref name=sloane />{{rp|119}}

The second part of the book is about ''rerum'' (arguments) to learn [[critical thinking]] and [[advocacy]]. Erasmus advised students to practice the rhetorical techniques of copiousness by writing letters to each other arguing both side of an issue ({{lang-la|in utramque
parte}}).

=== ''Opuscula plutarchi'' (1514), and ''Apophthegmatum opus'' (1531) ===
[[File:Handschrift von Erasmus v. Rotterdam.png|thumbnail|200px|Handwriting of Erasmus of Rotterdam: Plutarch's ''How to profit from one's enemies'']]
In a similar vein to the ''Adages'' was his translation of [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Moralia]]'': parts were published from 1512 onwards and collected as the ''Opuscula plutarchi''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ledo |first=Jorge |date=2019 |title=Erasmus' Translations of Plutarch's Moralia and the Ascensian editio princeps of ca. 1513 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27172479 |journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=257–296 |doi=10.30986/2019.257 |jstor=27172479 |s2cid=204527360 |issn=0774-2908|hdl=2183/24753 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> (c1514).

This was the basis of 1531's ''[[Apophthegmatum opus]]'' (Apophthegms), which ultimately contained over 3,000 aphophthegms: "certainly the fullest and most influential Renaissance collection of [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] sayings and anecdotes",<ref name=dogs>{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Hugh |title=Dogs' Tales: Representations of Ancient Cynicism in French Renaissance Texts |journal=Faux Titre Online| volume= 279 |date=1 January 2006 |doi=10.1163/9789401202985_006|s2cid=243905013 }}</ref> particular of [[Diogenes]] (from [[Diogenes Laertius]].)

One of these was published independently, as ''How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend'', dedicated to England's [[Henry VIII]].

=== ''Julius exclusus e coelis'' (1514) attrib. ===
{{Main| Julius Excluded from Heaven}}
''Julius excluded from Heaven'' is a biting satire usually attributed to Erasmus<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Thomas More, Erasmus and Julius II : A Case of Advocacy |journal=Moreana |date=November 1969 |volume=6 (Number 24) |issue=4 |pages=81–99 |doi=10.3366/more.1969.6.4.15}}</ref> perhaps for private circulation, though he publicly denied writing it, calling its author a fool. The recently deceased Pope Julius arrives at the gates of heaven in his armour with his dead army, demanding from St Peter to be let in based on his glory and exploits. St Peter turns him away.

=== ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' (1515) ===
Erasmus's ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' is one of his most direct assessments of the need for Church reform.<ref name=baratta>{{cite journal |last1=Baratta |first1=Luca |title='A Scorneful Image of this Present World': Translating and Mistranslating Erasmus's Words in Henrician England |journal=Critical Survey |date=1 September 2022 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.3167/cs.2022.340307|s2cid=250649340 }}</ref>{{rp|105}} It started as a small entry in the 1508 ''Adagia'' citing [[Plato]]'s [[Symposium]] and expanded to several hundred sentences.<ref name="vanKooten"/> Johann Froben published it first within a revised edition of the ''Adagia'' in 1515, then as a stand-alone work in 1517.

''Sileni'' is the plural (Latin) form of ''[[Silenus]]'', a creature often related to the Roman wine god [[Bacchus]] and represented in pictorial art as inebriated, merry revellers, variously mounted on donkeys, singing, dancing, playing flutes, etc.
In particular, the Sileni that Erasmus referred to were small, coarse, ugly or distasteful carved figures which opened up to reveal a beautiful deity or valuables inside.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spadaro |first1=Katrina Lucia |title=Epistemologies of Play: Folly, Allegory, and Embodiment in Early Modern Literature (Thesis_ |publisher=Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences |location=University of Sydney |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/25949/spadaro_kl_thesis.pdf |access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>

[[Alcibiades]] was a Greek politician in the 5th century [[Common Era|BCE]] and a general in the [[Peloponnesian War]]; he figures here more as a character written into some of [[Plato]]'s dialogues – an externally-attractive, young, debauched playboy whom [[Socrates]] tries to convince to seek truth instead of pleasure, wisdom instead of pomp and splendor.<ref name="Penguin">Plato, The Symposium. Translation and introduction by Walter Hamilton. Penguin Classics. 1951. {{ISBN|978-0140440249}}</ref>

The term ''Sileni –'' especially when juxtaposed with the character of Alcibiades – can therefore be understood as an evocation of the notion that something on the inside is more expressive of a person's character than what one sees on the outside. For instance, something or someone ugly on the outside can be beautiful on the inside, which is one of the main points of Plato's dialogues featuring ''Alcibiades'' and in the ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', in which Alcibiades also [[Cultural depictions of Alcibiades|appears]].{{refn| group=note|"Anyone who looks closely at the inward nature and essence will find that nobody is further from true wisdom than those people with their grand titles, learned bonnets, splendid sashes and bejeweled rings, who profess to be wisdom's peak." ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' }}

On the other hand, Erasmus lists several Sileni and then controversially questions whether Christ is the most noticeable Silenus of them all. The [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] were Sileni since they were ridiculed by others. The scriptures are a Silenus too.<ref name=baratta />{{rp|105}}

The work then launches into a biting endorsement of the need for high church officials (especially the Pope) to follow the [[evangelical counsels|evangelical counsel]] of poverty (simplicity): this condemnation of wealth and power was a full two years before the notional start of the [[Reformation]]; the church must be able to act as a moderating influence on the ambition and selfishness of princes.<ref group=note>Philologist [https://docenti.unisi.it/en/baratta Lucca Baratta] summarized Erasmus' arguments as follows: "The ignorance and poor judgement of the people, surreptitiously encouraged by the powerful, are the foundations of bad government. The king therefore needs a true counsellor, who will guide his choices rather than flatter him; so it is essential to unmask the deception of those who brand as heretics whomever seeks to bring the Church back to the road (of poverty and virtue) trodden by Christ. Only thus can abuse of the temporal and spiritual power be avoided. //It is therefore essential to recapture the original purity of the Christian message, and to follow the clear division of the roles of power, without undue mingling of the worldly and the celestial: the infidelity to Christ of the men of the Church produces only the bloated and grotesque figures of power oblivious to its own spiritual ends. There can be only one solution: the men of the Church must despise earthly goods." {{cite journal |last1=Baratta |first1=Luca |title='A Scorneful Image of this Present World': Translating and Mistranslating Erasmus's Words in Henrician England |journal=Critical Survey |date=1 September 2022 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.3167/cs.2022.340307|s2cid=250649340 }} p. 105</ref>

=== The Education of a Christian Prince (1516) ===
{{Main| Education of a Christian Prince}}
The ''[[Education of a Christian Prince|Institutio principis Christiani]]'' or "Education of a Christian Prince''"'' (Basel, 1516) was written as advice to the young king Charles of Spain (later [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]), to whom the Preface is addressed.<ref name="ED 3-4">{{cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|title=The Education of a Christian Prince|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge UP|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0-521-58811-9|pages=3–4}}</ref> Erasmus applies the general principles of honor and sincerity to the special functions of the Prince, whom he represents throughout as the servant of the people. ''Education'' was published in 1516, three years after<ref>{{cite book|last=Spielvogel|first=Jackson J.|title=Western Civilization, Eighth Edition, Volume B: 1300–1815|publisher=Wadsworth, Cengage Learning|year=2012|isbn=978-1-111-34215-9|location=Boston, MA|page=353}}</ref> [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]'s ''[[The Prince]]'' was written; a comparison between the two is worth noting. Machiavelli stated that, to maintain control by political force, it is safer for a prince to be feared than loved. Erasmus preferred for the prince to be loved, and strongly suggested a well-rounded education in order to govern justly and benevolently and avoid becoming a source of oppression.

===Latin and Greek New Testaments===
{{main|Novum Instrumentum omne}}
Erasmus produced this first edition of his corrected Latin and Greek New Testament in 1516, in Basel at the print of [[Johann Froben]], and took it through multiple revisions and editions.<ref>Mendoza, J. Carlos Vizuete; Llamazares, Fernando; Sánchez, Julio Martín; Mancha, Universidad de Castilla-La (2002). Los arzobispos de Toledo y la universidad española: 5 de marzo-3 de junio, Iglesia de San Pedro Mártir, Toledo. Univ de Castilla La Mancha</ref><ref>Bruce Metzger, The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102.</ref>

Erasmus had, for his time, relatively little interest in the Old Testament, apart from the Psalms.{{refn|group=note|name=OT|"If only the Christian church did not attach so much importance to the Old Testament!" ''Ep 798'' p. 305, {{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Review of Opera Omnia. vo. V-2. Opera Omnia vol. V-3. Opera Omnia. II-4. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1989 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=304–308 |doi=10.2307/2861633 |jstor=2861633 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861633 |issn=0034-4338}}</ref> "To Erasmus, Judaism was obsolete. To Reuchlin, something of Judaism remained of continuing value to Christianity."<ref name=dunkel/>}}

====New Latin translation====

[[File:ErasmusText TitlePage.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The first page of the Erasmian New Testament]]

Erasmus had been working for years on two related projects: [[philology|philological notes]] on the Latin and Greek texts{{refn|group=note|"My mind is so excited at the thought of emending Jerome's text, with notes, that I seem to myself inspired by some god. I have already almost finished emending him by collating a large number of ancient manuscripts, and this I am doing at enormous personal expense. ''Epistle 273''"<ref>"Epistle 273" in Collected ''Works of Erasmus Vol. 2: Letters 142 to 297, 1501–1514'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated Wallace K. Ferguson; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 253.</ref>}} and a fresh Latin New Testament. He examined all the Latin versions he could find to create a critical text. Then he polished the language. He declared, "It is only fair that Paul should address the Romans in somewhat better Latin."<ref>"Epistle 695" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus Vol. 5: Letters 594 to 841, 1517–1518'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated by [[James K. McConica]]; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 172.</ref> In the earlier phases of the project, he never mentioned a Greek text.

While his intentions for publishing a fresh Latin translation are clear,<ref group=note>"He welcomed vernacular translations with great enthusiasm, but they could mean nothing for Europe as a whole. … Latin was…the only language in which the Bible could play a role in the culture of Europe."{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=Henk Jan |title=Novum Testamentum a nobis versum: the Essence of Erasmus' Edition of the New Testament |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1984 |volume=32 |issue=2}}</ref> it is less clear why he included the Greek text. Though some speculate that he long intended to produce a critical Greek text or that he wanted to beat the Complutensian Polyglot into print, there is no evidence to support this. He wrote, "There remains the New Testament translated by me, with the Greek facing, and notes on it by me."<ref>"Epistle 305" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus. Vol. 3: Letters 298 to 445, 1514–1516'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated by James K. McConica; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 32.</ref> He further demonstrated the reason for the inclusion of the Greek text when defending his work:

{{Blockquote|text=But one thing the facts cry out, and it can be clear, as they say, even to a blind man, that often through the translator's clumsiness or inattention the Greek has been wrongly rendered; often the true and genuine reading has been corrupted by ignorant scribes, which we see happen every day, or altered by scribes who are half-taught and half-asleep.|source=Epistle 337<ref>"Epistle 337" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' Vol. 3, 134.</ref>}}

So he included the Greek text to permit qualified readers to verify the quality of his Latin version.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=Hank Jan |title=Novum testamentum a nobis versum: The essense of Erasmus' edition of the New Testament |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1984 |volume=35 |issue=2}}</ref> But by first calling the final product ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' ("All of the New Teaching") and later ''Novum Testamentum omne'' ("All of the New Testament") he also indicated clearly that he considered a text in which the Greek and the Latin versions were consistently comparable to be the essential core of the church's New Testament tradition.
{{clear}}

====Publication and editions====
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Johannes Froben.jpg|thumbnail|200px
|''Portrait of Johannes Froben'' by Holbein<ref>{{Royal Collection|403035|Johannes Froben (1460–1527)}}</ref>]]
Erasmus said the printing<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Riddle |first1=Jeffrey T. |title=Erasmus Anecdotes |journal=Puritan Reformed Journal |date=January 2017 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=101–112 }}</ref>{{rp|105}} of the first edition was "precipitated rather than published",<ref name="ReferenceB">"Epistle 694" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus Volume 5'', 167. It was ''precipitated rather than edited'': the Latin is ''prœcipitatum fuit verius quam editum''.</ref> resulting in a number of transcription errors. After comparing what writings he could find, Erasmus wrote corrections between the lines of the manuscripts he was using (among which was [[Minuscule 2]]) and sent them as proofs to Froben.<ref name="SH">[http://www.ccel.org/php/disp.php?authorID=schaff&bookID=encyc02&page=106&view= "History of the Printed Text"], in: ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. II: Basilica – Chambers'', p. 106 ff.</ref> His access to Greek manuscripts was limited compared to modern scholars and he had to rely on [[Jerome]]'s late-4th century [[Vulgate]] to fill in the blanks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Metzger |first1=Bruce |title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible |page=490}}</ref>

His effort was hurriedly published by his friend Johann Froben of Basel in 1516 and thence became the [[editio princeps|first published]] Greek New Testament, the ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]], diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. Recognitum et Emendatum''. Erasmus used several Greek manuscript sources because he did not have access to a single complete manuscript. Most of the manuscripts were, however, late Greek manuscripts of the Byzantine textual family and Erasmus used the oldest manuscript the least because "he was afraid of its supposedly erratic text."<ref>Bruce Metzger, ''The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration'', Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102.</ref> He also ignored some manuscripts that were at his disposal which are now deemed older and better.<ref>Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) ''Tyndale's Testament'', Brepols 2002, {{ISBN|2-503-51411-1}}, p. 28.</ref>

In the second (1519) edition, the more familiar term ''Testamentum'' was used instead of ''Instrumentum''. Together, the first and second editions sold 3,300 copies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=J. K. |title=Labours of Basle: Erasmus's 'revised and improved' edition of the New Testament--500 years on. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA635360985&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=98adabcc |website=TLS. Times Literary Supplement |access-date=16 October 2023 |pages=14–15 |language=English |date=25 March 2016}}</ref> By comparison, only 600 copies of the Complutensian Polyglot were ever printed. This edition was used by [[Martin Luther]] in his [[Luther Bible|German translation of the Bible]], written for people who could not understand Latin. The first and second edition texts did not include the passage (1 John 5:7–8) that has become known as the [[Comma Johanneum]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galiza |first1=Rodrigo |last2=Reeve |first2=John W. |title=The Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7-8): the Status of its Textual History and Theological Usage in English, Greek and Latin |journal=Andrew University Seminary Studies |date=2018 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=63–89 |url=https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/2018/2018_56_1.pdf |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref> Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the third edition. <ref group=note>The Catholic Church decreed that the ''Comma Johanneum'' was open to dispute (2 June 1927), and it is rarely included in modern scholarly translations.</ref>

The third edition of 1522 was probably used by [[William Tyndale]] for the first English New Testament (Worms, 1526) and was the basis for the 1550 [[Robert Estienne|Robert Stephanus]] edition used by the translators of the [[Geneva Bible]] and [[King James Version]] of the English Bible. Erasmus published a fourth edition in 1527 containing parallel columns of Greek, Latin Vulgate and Erasmus's Latin texts. In this edition Erasmus also supplied the Greek text of the last six verses of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] (which he had translated from Latin back into Greek in his first edition) from [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Ximenez]]'s ''[[Complutensian Polyglot Bible|Biblia Complutensis]]''. In 1535 Erasmus published the fifth (and final) edition which dropped the Latin Vulgate column but was otherwise similar to the fourth edition. Later versions of the Greek New Testament by others, but based on Erasmus's Greek New Testament, became known as the ''[[Textus Receptus]]''.<ref>W. W. Combs, ''Erasmus and the textus receptus'', DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996), 45.</ref>

Erasmus dedicated his work to [[Pope Leo X]] as a patron of learning and regarded this work as his chief service to the cause of Christianity. Immediately afterwards, he began the publication of his ''[[Paraphrases of Erasmus|Paraphrases of the New Testament]]'', a popular presentation of the contents of the several books. These, like all of his writings, were published in Latin but were quickly translated into other languages with his encouragement.

=== The Complaint of Peace (1517) ===
{{See also|Erasmus#Pacifism}}

Lady Peace complains about warmongering. This book was written at the request of the Burgundian Chancellor, who was then seeking a peace deal with France, to influence the ''zeitgeist''.<ref name=ronpeace/>

On the use of [[War flag|battle standards]] featuring [[Crosses in heraldry|crosses]]:<ref group=note>The standard of the cross image invokes, but to some extent contradicts, the imagery of St [[Catherine of Sienna]], who used it to call for European peace in order for joint military relief of the Holy Lands: she finished many letters with "''pace, pace, pace''." Esther Cohen, ''Holy women as spokeswomen for peace in late medieval Europe'', in {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Yvonne |title=Religion and peace: historical aspects |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1138694248}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|That cross is the standard of him who conquered, not by fighting, but by dying; who came, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. It is a standard, the very sight of which might teach you what sort of enemies you have to war against, if you are a christian, and how you may be sure to gain the victory.
I see you, while the standard of salvation is in one hand, rushing on with a sword in the other, to the murder of your brother; and, under the banner of the cross, destroying the life of one who to the cross owes his salvation.|source= The Complaint of Peace<ref name="The Complaint of Peace"/>}}

The final paragraph of ''The Complaint of Peace'' finishes with the command {{lang-la|resipiscite}}, meaning a [[Novum Instrumentum omne#Approach|voluntary return from madness and unconsiousness]]:

{{Blockquote|At last! Enough and more than enough blood has been spilled, human blood, and if that were little, even Christian blood. Enough has been squandered in mutual destruction, enough already sacrificed to [[Orcus]] and [[Erinyes|the Furies]] and to nourish the eyes of [[Ottoman Empire#Expansion and peak (1453–1566)|the Turks]]. The comedy is at an end. Finally, after tolerating far too long the miseries of war, repent!<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Brendan |title=The Uses of Resipiscere in the Latin of Erasmus: In the Gospels and Beyond |journal=Canadian Journal of History |date=December 2007 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=397–410 |doi=10.3138/cjh.42.3.397}}</ref>}}

However, the subsequent [[European wars of religion]] which accompanied the [[Reformation]] resulted in the deaths of between [[European wars of religion#Death toll|7 and 18 million]] Europeans, including up to one third of the population of Germany.

=== Familiar Colloquies (1518-1533) ===
{{Main|Colloquies}}
The ''Colloquia familiaria'' began as simple spoken Latin exercises for schoolboys to encourage fluency in colloquial Latin interaction, but expanded in number, ambition and audience. The sensational nature of many of the Colloquies made it a prime target for censorship.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus' Colloquies: Latin and the Good Life · VIC 442 - The Renaissance Book (2021) · Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (CRRS) Rare Book Collection |url=https://crrs.library.utoronto.ca/exhibits/show/vic4422021/colloquies |website=crrs.library.utoronto.ca}}</ref>

Notable Colloquies include the exciting ''Naufragium'' (Shipwreck), the philosophical and path-forging ''The Epicurean'', and the zany catalogue of fantastic animal stories ''Friendship''.

For example, ''A Religious Pilgrimage''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Seery |first1=Stephenia |title=The Colloquies of Erasmus |url=https://it.cgu.edu/earlymodernjournal/vol1-no1/seery.html |website=it.cgu.edu}}</ref> deals with many serious subjects humorously, and scandalously includes a letter supposedly written by a Statue of the Virgin Mary, in which, while it first thanks a reformer for following Luther against needlessly invoking saints (where the listed invocations are all for sinful or wordly things), becomes a warning against [[iconoclasm#Reformation era|iconoclasm]]<ref group=note>"Erasmus himself deprecated excessive devotion to images, but deplored iconoclasm. For him, both extremes represented a focus on the external trappings rather than the inner truths of religion." {{cite journal |last1=Rex |first1=Richard |title=The Religion of Henry Viii |journal=The Historical Journal |date=2014 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X13000368 |jstor=24528908 |s2cid=159664113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24528908 |issn=0018-246X}} p 17</ref> and stripping altars.

=== A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523) ===
As a result of his reformatory activities, Erasmus found himself at odds with some reformers and some Catholic churchmen. His last years were made difficult by controversies with men toward whom he was sympathetic.<ref group=note>"Against his own advice, he took part in a series of public controversies with men he
called 'barking dogs.' They hounded him to his grave."
{{cite journal |last1=Regier |first1=Willis |title=Review of Erasmus, Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 78, trans. Peter Matheson, Peter McCardle, Garth Tissol, and James Tracy. |journal=Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature |date=1 January 2011 |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol9/iss2/5 |issn=1523-5734}}</ref>

Notable among these was [[Ulrich von Hutten]], once a friend, a brilliant but erratic genius who had thrown himself into the Lutheran cause (and militant German nationalism<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Melin |first1=C. A. |title="Ich sprich, sie habents nimmer Fug": Propaganda and Poetry in Ulrich von Hutten's "Klag und Vormahnung" |journal=Modern Language Studies |date=1985 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=50–59 |doi=10.2307/3194417 |jstor=3194417 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3194417 |issn=0047-7729}}</ref> ) and declared that Erasmus, if he had a spark of honesty, would do the same. In his reply in 1523, ''Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni'', Erasmus accused Hutten of having misinterpreted his utterances about reform and reiterates his determination never to break with the Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pabel |first1=Hilmar M. |title=Known by his works, in Erasmus: Christ's humanist |journal=Christian History - Issuu |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |page=18 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |access-date=17 July 2023}}</ref>

===On Free Will (1524)===
{{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}}

Erasmus wrote ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will (De libero arbitrio)]]'' (1524) against Luther's view on free will: that everything happens by strict necessity.<ref group=note>Written to refute Martin Luther's doctrine of "enslaved will", according to [[Alister McGrath]], Luther believed that only Erasmus, of all his interlocutors, understood and appreciated the locus of his doctrinal emphases and reforms. {{cite book | title=Iustitia Dei | publisher=Cambridge University Press| author=McGrath, Alister | year=2012 | location=3.4: "Justification in Early Lutheranism" | pages=xiv+ 448 | edition=3rd}}</ref>

Erasmus lays down both sides of the argument impartially.
In this controversy Erasmus lets it be seen that, from the thrust of Scripture, he would like to claim more for free will than St. Paul and St. Augustine seem to allow according to Luther's interpretation.<ref>Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Desiderius Erasmus ''Dutch humanist and scholar'', [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/191015/Desiderius-Erasmus/59231/The-Protestant-challenge#ref=ref24610The Protestant challenge]</ref> For Erasmus the essential point is that humans have the freedom of choice,<ref>{{Citation
| last=Watson
| first=Philip
| title=Erasmus, Luther and Aquinas
| journal=Concordia Theological Monthly
| volume=40
| issue=11
| year=1969
| pages=747–58
}}work
</ref> when responding to prior grace ([[synergism]]).

In response, Luther wrote his ''De servo arbitrio'' (''[[On the Bondage of the Will]]'') (1525), which attacked "''On Free Will''" and Erasmus himself, going so far as to claim that Erasmus was not a Christian. "Free will does not exist", according to Luther in that sin makes human beings completely incapable of bringing themselves to God ([[monergism]]).

Erasmus responded with a lengthy, two-part book ''Hyperaspistes'' (1526–27).<ref group=note>''Hyperaspistes'' means ''protected by a shield'' (i.e., self-defence) but also, countering Luther's calling of Erasmus as a viper, 'SuperSnake'. Note 7, {{cite web |title=Martin Luther > Notes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2022 Edition) |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/win2022/entries/luther/notes.html |website=plato.stanford.edu}}</ref>

===Liturgy of the Virgin Mother venerated at Loreto (1525)===
Editions: 1523, 1525, 1529<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fallica |first1=Maria |title=Erasmus and the Lady of Loreto: The Virgin, the Bride, and the Progress of the Church |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=23 October 2023 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=119–140 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04302002|s2cid=264507946 }}</ref>

This [[liturgy]] for a [[Catholic Mass]], with [[Sequence (musical form)|sequence]]s and a [[homily]] teaching that for Mary, and the Saints, imitation should be the chief part of veneration.<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford Handbook of Mary |date=2019 |publisher=OUP |isbn=9780192511140 |page=414}}</ref>

<poem> Fair choir of angels,
take up the zither, take up the lyre.
The Virgin Mother must be celebrated in song,
in a virginal ode.
The angels, joining in the song,
will re-echo your voice.
For they love virgins,
being virgins themselves.<ref name="loreto">{{cite journal |last1=Marc’hadour |first1=Germain |title=Erasmus as a guide to the Life of the Spirit |journal=Moreana |date=June 2002 |volume=39 (Number 150) |issue=2 |pages=97–142 |doi=10.3366/more.2002.39.2.11}}</ref></poem>

The liturgy re-framed the existing Marian devotions: as a substitute for mentioning the [[Basilica della Santa Casa|Holy House of Loreto]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Clement A. |title=Erasmus on Music |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=1966 |volume=52 |issue=3 |page=337 |jstor=3085961 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3085961 |issn=0027-4631}}</ref> he used the meaning of Loreto as '[[Lauraceae|laurel]]', as in the champion's [[laurel wreath]]. The work also may have been intended to demonstrate the proper application of [[indulgences]], as it came with one from the archbishop of Besançon.<ref name="loreto"/>

=== The Tongue (or Language) (1525) ===
The writings of Erasmus exhibit a continuing concern with language, and in 1525 he devoted an entire treatise to the subject, ''Lingua''. This and several of his other works are said to have provided a starting point for a philosophy of language, though Erasmus did not produce a completely elaborated system.<ref>Rummel, Erika, "[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/ Desiderius Erasmus]", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).</ref>

=== On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526) ===
The ''Institutio matrimonii'' was published in 1526 as treatise about marriage.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Christ - von Wedel |first=Christine |date=2019 |title=Die Äbtissin, der Söldnerführer und ihre Töchter |url=https://www.tvz-verlag.ch/buch/die-aebtissin-der-soeldnerfuehrer-und-ihre-toechter-9783290182557.pdf |pages=128–129 |publisher=Theologischer Verlag Zürich |isbn=978-3-290-18255-7}}</ref> He did not follow the contemporary mainstream which saw the woman as a subject to the man, but suggested the man was to love the woman similar as he would Christ, who also descended to earth to serve.<ref name=":03" /> He saw the role of the woman as a ''socia'' (partner) to the man.<ref name=":03" />

The relationship should be of ''[[amicitia]]''<ref group=note>Erasmus wrote a colloquy ''Amicitia'' considered generally, which mentioned the mutual sympathy of Thomas More and his monkey. {{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=Erasmus and the Colloquial Emotions |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=12 November 2020 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=127–150 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04002004|s2cid=228925860 |doi-access=free }}</ref> (sweet and mutual fondness).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hutson |first1=Lorna Margaret |title=' "Especyal Swetnes": An Erasmian Footnote to the Civil Partnership Act' |journal=Risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk |date=April 2011 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=5–21 |url=https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/-especyal-swetnes-an-erasmian-footnote-to-the-civil-partnership-act(a6c6ff09-2e52-4358-8552-27fce87f2a00).html |language=en}}</ref> Erasmus suggested that true marriage between devout Christians required a true friendship (contrary to contemporary legal theories that required community consensus or consummation); and because true friendship never dies, divorce of a true marriage was impossible; the seeking of a divorce was a sign that the true friendship (and so the true marriage) never existed and so the divorce should be allowed, after investigation and protecting the individuals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weiler |first1=Anton G. |last2=Barker |first2=G. |last3=Barker |first3=J. |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam on Marriage and Divorce |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=2004 |volume=84 |pages=149–197 |doi=10.1163/187607504X00101 |jstor=24012798 |s2cid=123261630 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24012798 |issn=0028-2030}}</ref>

As far as sex in marriage is concerned, Erasmus' gentle, gradualist asceticism promoted that a mutually-agreed celibate marriage, if God had made this doable by the partners, could be the ideal: in theory it allowed more opportunity for spiritual pursuits. But he controversially noted

{{Blockquote|text=Since everything else has been designed for a purpose, it hardly seems probable that in this one matter alone nature was asleep. I have no patience with those who say that sexual excitement is shameful and that venereal stimuli have their origin not in nature, but in sin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reese |first1=Alan W. |title=Learning Virginity: Erasmus' Ideal of Christian Marriage |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=1995 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=551–567 |jstor=20677971 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20677971 |issn=0006-1999}}</ref>}}

=== The Ciceronians (1528) ===
{{Main|Ciceronianus}}
The ''[[Ciceronianus]]'' came out in 1528, attacking the style of Latin that was based exclusively and fanatically on Cicero's writings. Étienne Dolet wrote a riposte titled ''Erasmianus'' in 1535.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nuttall |first=Geoffrey |date=January 1975 |title=L'Erasmianus sive Ciceronianus d'Etienne Dolet (1535). Introduction—Fac-similé de l'édition originale du De Imitatione Ciceroniana—Commentaires et appendices. By Emile V. Telle. (Travaux d'humanisme et renaissance, cxxxviii). Pp. 480. Geneva: Droz, 1974. Swiss Frs. 95. - Erasmus von Rotterdam und die Einleitungsschriften zum Neuen Testament: formale Strukturen und theologischer Sinn. By Gerhard B. Winkler. (Reformations-geschichtliche Studien und Texte, 108). Pp. xii + 254. Münster Westfalen: Aschendorff, 1974. DM. 54. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-ecclesiastical-history/article/abs/lerasmianus-sive-ciceronianus-detienne-dolet-1535-introductionfacsimile-de-ledition-originale-du-de-imitatione-ciceronianacommentaires-et-appendices-by-emile-v-telle-travaux-dhumanisme-et-renaissance-cxxxviii-pp-480-geneva-droz-1974-swiss-frs-95-erasmus-von-rotterdam-und-die-einleitungsschriften-zum-neuen-testament-formale-strukturen-und-theologischer-sinn-by-gerhard-b-winkler-reformationsgeschichtliche-studien-und-texte-108-pp-xii-254-munster-westfalen-aschendorff-1974-dm-54/10327E9F30C22E1DFEC416B38CE972D3 |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=92–94 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900060395 |via=CambridgeCore}}</ref> Erasmus' own Latin style was late classical (i.e., from Terence to Jerome) as far as syntax and grammar, but freely used medievalisms in its vocabulary.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tunberg |first1=Terence |title=The Latinity of Erasmus and Medieval Latin: Continuities and Discontinuities |journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin |date=2004 |volume=14 |pages=147–170 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019597 |issn=0778-9750}}</ref>{{rp|164,164}}

===Explanation of the Apostles' Creed (1530)===
In his [[catechism]] (entitled ''Explanation of the [[Apostles' Creed]]'') (1530), Erasmus took a stand against Luther's recent Catechisms by asserting the unwritten [[Sacred Tradition]] as just as valid a source of revelation as the [[Bible]], by enumerating the [[Deuterocanonical books]] in the [[Biblical canon|canon of the Bible]] and by acknowledging seven [[sacraments]].<ref>''Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami'', vol. V/1, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 278–90</ref> He identified anyone who questioned the [[perpetual virginity of Mary]] as blasphemous.<ref name="Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami pp. 245">''Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami'', vol. V/1, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 245, 279.</ref> However, he supported lay access to the Bible.<ref name="Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami pp. 245"/>

In a letter to [[Nikolaus von Amsdorf]], Luther objected to Erasmus's catechism and called Erasmus a "viper", "liar", and "the very mouth and organ of Satan".<ref>''D. Martin Luther. Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel'', vol. 7, Weimar: Böhlau, pp. 27–40.</ref>

=== The Preacher (1536) ===
{{Main|Ecclesiastes of Erasmus}}
Erasmus's last major work, published the year of his death, is the ''[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]]'' or "Gospel Preacher" (Basel, 1536), a massive manual for preachers of around a thousand pages. Though somewhat unwieldy because Erasmus was unable to edit it properly in his old age, it is in some ways the culmination of all of Erasmus's literary and theological learning and, according to some scholars, of the previous millennium of preaching manuals since Augustine. It offered prospective preachers advice on important aspects of their vocation with abundant reference to classical and biblical sources.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kilcoyne |first1=Francis P. |last2=Jennings |first2=Margaret |title=Rethinking "Continuity": Erasmus' "Ecclesiastes" and the "Artes Praedicandi" |journal=Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme |date=1997 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=5–24 |doi=10.33137/rr.v33i4.11372 |jstor=43445150 |issn=0034-429X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Patristic Editions ===
{{See also|#Patristic and classical editions}}
According to [[Ernest Barker]], "Besides his work on the New Testament, Erasmus laboured also, and even more arduously, on the [[Church Fathers|early Fathers]]. Among the Latin Fathers he edited the works of [[St Jerome]], [[Hilary of Poitiers|St Hilary]], and [[St Augustine]];<ref name="brill.com">{{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Erasmus' Edition of the Complete Works of Augustine |journal=Erasmus Studies |year=2022 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=122–156 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04202002 |s2cid=254327857 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/42/2/eras.42.issue-2.xml}}</ref> among the Greeks he worked on [[Irenaeus]], [[Origen]] and [[Chrysostom]]."<ref>[[Ernest Barker]] (1948) ''Traditions of Civility'', chapter 4: The Connection between the Renaissance and the Reformation, pp. 93–94, [[Cambridge University Press]]</ref>

==== Alleged forgery ====
{{further|Pseudo-Cyprian}}
In 1530, Erasmus, in his fourth edition of the works of [[Cyprian]], introduced a treatise ''De duplici martyrio ad Fortunatum'', which he attributed to Cyprian and presented as having been found by chance in an old library. This text, close to the works of Erasmus, both in content (hostility to the confusion between virtue and suffering) and in form, and of which no manuscript is known, contains at least one flagrant anachronism: an allusion to the persecution of [[Diocletian]], persecution that took place long after the death of Cyprian. In 1544, the Dominican {{ill|Henricus Gravius|de}} denounced the work as inauthentic and attributed its authorship to Erasmus or an imitator of Erasmus. In the twentieth century, the hypothesis of a fraud by Erasmus was rejected a priori by most of the great Erasmians, for example [[Percy Stafford Allen]],{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} but it is adopted by academics like [[Anthony Grafton]].<ref>Anthony Grafton, ''Forgers and Critics. Creativity and Duplicity in Western Scholarship'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 53-54. </ref><ref>Neil Adkin, "The Use of Scripture in the Pseudo-Cyprianic ''De duplici martyrio'' ", in ''Giornale italiano di filologia'', 47, 1995, p. 219-248. See review of N. Adkin's article by François Dolbeau in ''Revue des études augustiniennes'', 44 (1998), p. 307-339, [http://www.etudes-augustiniennes.paris-sorbonne.fr/IMG/pdf/AUGUST_1998_44_2_307.pdf online].</ref><ref>Fernand Halleyn, « Le fictif, le vrai et le faux », in Jan Herman et al. (dir.), ''Le Topos du manuscrit trouvé'', Louvain - Paris, ed. Peeters, 1999, p. 503-506. The attribution to Erasmus was supported by F. Lezius, "Der Verfasser des pseudocyprianischen Tractates ''De duplici martyrio'': Ein Beitrag zur Charakteristik des Erasmus", in ''Neue Jahrbücher für Deutsche Theologie'', IV (1895), p. 95-100; by Silvana Seidel Menchi, "Un'opera misconosciuta di Erasmo? », in ''[[Rivista Storica Italiana]]'', XC (1978), p. 709-743; </ref>
{{clear}}

==Legacy and evaluations==
Erasmus was given the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the [[Christian humanism|Christian humanists]]".<ref>Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity. [[New York City|New York]]: Harper & Brothers, 1953, p. 661.</ref> He has also been called "the most illustrious rhetorician and educationalist of the Renaissance".<ref name=laytam>{{cite book |last1=Laytam |first1=Miles J.J. |title=The Medium was the Message: Classical Rhetoric and the Materiality of Language from Empedocles to Shakespeare |date=2007 |publisher=English Dept, University of York |page=81 |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11008/1/440731.pdf |access-date=26 July 2023}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Since the origin of Christianity there have been perhaps only two other men—St Augustine and Voltaire—whose influence can be paralleled with Erasmus.|W.S. Lily, ''Renaissance Types''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kloss |first1=Waldemar |title=Erasmus's Place in the History of Philosophy |journal=The Monist |date=1907 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=84–101 |doi=10.5840/monist190717138 |jstor=27900019 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27900019 |issn=0026-9662}}</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|text=No man before or since acquired such undisputed sovereignty in the republic of letters... The reform which he set in motion went beyond him, and left him behind. In some of his opinions, however, he was ahead of his age, and anticipated a more modern stage of Protestantism. He was as much a forerunner of Rationalism as of the Reformation.|source=71. Erasmus, ''History of the Christian Church'', vol 7, [[Philip Schaff]]}}

French biographer [[Désiré Nisard]] characterized him as a lens or focal point: "the whole of the Renaissance in Western Europe in the sixteenth century converged towards him."<ref name=laytam/>

===Educationalist===
{{Blockquote|text=Erasmus is the greatest man we come across in the history of education! (R.R. Bolger) … with greater confidence it can be claimed that Erasmus is the greatest man we come across in the history of education in the sixteenth century. …It may also be claimed that Erasmus was one of the most important champions of women's rights in his century. |source=J.K. Sowards <ref name=soward>{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Erasmus and the Education of Women |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1982 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=77–89 |doi=10.2307/2540011 |jstor=2540011 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540011 |issn=0361-0160}}</ref>}}

According to scholar Gerald J. Luhrman, "the system of secondary education, as developed in a number of European countries, is inconceivable without the efforts of humanist educationalists, particularly Erasmus. His ideas in the field of language acquisition were systematized and realized to a large extent in the schools founded by the Jesuits..."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noordegraaf |first1=Jan |last2=Vonk |first2=Frank |title=Five hundred years of foreign language teaching in the Netherlands 1450-1950 |date=1993 |publisher=Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |location=Amsterdam |isbn=90-72365-32-1 |page=36}}</ref>

In England, he wrote the first curriculum for [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]] and his Latin grammar (written with Lily and Colet) "continued to be used, in adapted form, into the Twentieth Century."<ref>{{cite web |title=English Renaissance |url=http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/europe/id5.html |website=east_west_dialogue.tripod.com}}</ref>

His system of [[Ancient Greek phonology#The Renaissance|pronouncing ancient Greek]] was adopted [[Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching|for teaching]] in the major Western European nations.

Erasmus "tried to realize a practical goal: a modern education as preparation for administrators from the higher estates."<ref name=ewolf>{{cite journal |last1=Wolf |first1=Erik |title=Religion and Right in the Philosophia Christriana of Erasmus from Rotterdam |journal=UC Law Journal |date=1 January 1978 |volume=29 |issue=6 |pages=1535 |url=https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol29/iss6/11/ |issn=0017-8322}}</ref>

===Writer===
The popularity of his books is reflected in the number of editions and translations that have appeared since the sixteenth century. Ten columns of the catalogue of the British Library are taken up with the enumeration of the works and their subsequent reprints. The greatest names of the classical and patristic world are among those translated, edited, or annotated by Erasmus, including [[Ambrose]], [[Aristotle]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]],<ref name="brill.com"/> [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil]], [[John Chrysostom]], [[Cicero]] and [[Jerome]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Manfred |last2=Tracy |first2=James D. |title=Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus |year=2011 |publisher=University of Toronto Press}}</ref>
[[File:In Winssen bij Nijmegen beeld van Erasmus onthuld waarvan H. Kortekaas beeldhouwer, Bestanddeelnr 917-0493.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Unveiling of a Dutch statue of Erasmus (1964)]]

===In Holland===
In his native Rotterdam, the [[Erasmus University Rotterdam]], [[Erasmusbrug|Erasmus Bridge]], [[Erasmus MC]] and [[Gymnasium Erasmianum]] have been named in his honor. Between 1997 and 2009, one of the main [[Rotterdam Metro|metro lines of the city]] was named ''Erasmuslijn''. The Foundation Erasmus House (Rotterdam),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stichting Erasmushuis – Rotterdam|url=http://www.erasmushuisrotterdam.nl/|language=nl|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref> is dedicated to celebrating Erasmus's legacy. Three moments in Erasmus's life are celebrated annually. On 1 April, the city celebrates the publication of his best-known book ''The Praise of Folly''. On 11 July, the ''Night of Erasmus'' celebrates the lasting influence of his work. His birthday is celebrated on 28 October.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McConica |first1=James |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=4 January 2007 |author-link=James Kelsey McConica}}</ref>

===In England===
[[File:Paraphrase of Erasmus 1548.png|thumbnail|200px|English translation ''Paraphrase of Erasmus'', 1548]]
Erasmus' grammar, Adages, Copia, and other books continued as the core Latin educational material in England for the following centuries.

His translated Gospel paraphrases were legally required to be chained for public access<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/paraphrases-of-erasmus-on-the-new-testament-text/Erasmus%20-%20Paraphrase%20%2800%29%20Preface/|title=Paraphrases of Erasmus on the New Testament (1548-1549) Text : Erasmus, Desiderius : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref> in every church, in the reign of [[Edward VI]].

After reading Erasmus' 1516 New Testament, [[Thomas Bilney]] "felt a marvellous comfort and quietness," and won over his [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] friends, future notable bishops, [[Matthew Parker]] and [[Hugh Latimer]] to reformist biblicism.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bilney, Thomas |volume = 3 |last= Pollard |first= Albert Frederick |author-link= Albert Pollard |pages=945-946 |short=1}}</ref> One of [[William Tyndale]]'s earliest works was his translation of Erasmus' [[Handbook of the Christian Knight|Enchiridion]] (1522,1533).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mozley |first1=J. F. |title=The English Enchiridion of Erasmus, 1533 |journal=The Review of English Studies |date=1944 |volume=20 |issue=78 |pages=97–107 |doi=10.1093/res/os-XX.78.97 |jstor=509156 |issn=0034-6551}}</ref> Both Tyndale and his theological opponent [[Thomas More]] are considered Erasmians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeCoursey |first1=Matthew |title=The Thomas More / William Tyndale Polemic: A Selection |date=2010 |publisher=Hong Kong Institute of Education |location=Hong Kong |url=https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/moretyndale.pdf |access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref>{{rp|16}}

Historian Lucy Wooding argues (in Christopher Haigh's paraphrases) that "England nearly had a Catholic Reformation along Erasmian lines –but it was cut short by Mary’s death and finally torpedoed by the Council of Trent"<ref group=note>"Even before Henry VIII fell out with the pope, Erasmian humanism had given some English Catholics an evangelical enthusiasm for Scripture and a distaste for popular devotions thought to be superstitious. Catholic evangelicals and moderate Protestants differed little on the authority of Scripture and the roles of faith and works in justification." {{cite journal |last1=Haigh |first1=Christopher |title=CATHOLICISM IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND: BOSSY AND BEYOND |journal=The Historical Journal |date=June 2002 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=481–494 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X02002479}}</ref>

The initial Henrican closure of smaller monasteries followed the Erasmian agenda, which was also shared by Catholic humanists such as [[Reginald Pole]];<ref name=knowles/>{{rp|155}} however the later violent closures and iconoclasm were far from Erasmus' program.

For some [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]] Anglicans, both those promoting enforced anti-extremism and [[latitudinarians]], Erasmus' moderation represented "an alternative to the belligerent Protestantism that characterized English political and social discourse".<ref>{{cite book |chapter='Betwixt Heaven and Hell': Religious Toleration and the Reception of Erasmus in Restoration England |title=The Reception of Erasmus in the Early Modern Period |date=1 January 2013 |pages=103–127 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_006|isbn=9789004255630 }}</ref>

===Catholic===
Erasmus's reputation and the interpretations of his work have varied over time. Moderate Catholics recognized him as a leading figure in attempts to reform the Church, while Protestants recognized his initial support for (and, in part, inspiration of) Luther's ideas and the groundwork he laid for the future Reformation, especially in biblical scholarship.

Erasmus was continually protected by popes,<ref group=note>"It is a remarkable fact that the attitude of the popes towards Erasmus was never inimical; on the contrary, they exhibited at all times the most complete confidence in him. Paul III even wanted to make him a cardinal," [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref> bishops and kings during his lifetime.<ref group=note>For example, in 1527, [[Pope Clement VII]] wrote to the Spanish [[Alonso Manrique de Lara|Inquisitor General]] that he should silence those who attacked Erasmus' non-Lutheran doctrine; and [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] (King of Spain, King of Germany, King of Sicily, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Brabant, Holy Roman Emperor) wrote to Erasmus his support. {{cite journal |last1=Ledo |first1=Jorge |title=Which Praise of Folly Did the Spanish Censors Read?: The Moria de Erasmo Roterodamo (c. 1532–1535) and the Libro del muy illustre y doctíssimo Señor Alberto Pio (1536) on the Eve of Erasmus' Inclusion in the Spanish Index |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=29 March 2018 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=64–108 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03801004}}</ref> The following generation of saints and scholars included many influenced by Erasmian humanism, notably [[Ignatius of Loyola]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Terence |title=Erasmus, Ignatius Loyola, and Orthodoxy |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1979 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=115–127 |doi=10.1093/jts/XXX.1.115 |jstor=23961674 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23961674 |issn=0022-5185}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Anthony |title=Notes and Comments: Ignatius of Loyola and Erasmus |journal=The Heythrop Journal |date=October 1970 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=421–423 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2265.1970.tb00170.x}}</ref> [[Teresa of Ávila]].<ref>{{cite web |title=On this day: Erasmus |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/day-erasmus |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}</ref> The near election of [[Reginald Pole]] as pope in 1546 has been attributed to Erasmianism.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Cummings |first=Thomas |date=17 October 2016 |title=Erasmus and the Second Vatican Council |url=https://m.bianet.org/english/print/207869-call-by-50-nobel-prize-laureates-end-the-solitary-confinement |website=Church Life Journal}}</ref>

[[Salesian]] scholars have noted Erasmus' significant influence on [[Francis de Sales]]: "in the approach and the spirit he (de Sales) took to reform his diocese and more importantly on how individual Christians could become better together,"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pocetto |first1=Alexander T. |title=The Salesian Approach to Why I Remain a Catholic |url=https://www.desales.edu/docs/default-source/salesian-center-docs/live-jesus-talk.pdf |publisher=DeSales University |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> his optimism,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marie |first1=Sister Susan |title=For Scholars: St. Francis de Sales and Erasmus, by Charles Bene |url=https://visitationspirit.org/2022/07/for-scholars-st-francis-de-sales-and-erasmus-by-charles-bene/ |website=Visitation Spirit |date=18 July 2022}}</ref> civility,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wirth |first1=Morand |title=Saint Francis de Sales - A program of integral formation |date=2022 |publisher=LAS - Libreria Ateneo Salesiano |location=Rome |isbn=978-88-213-1485-8 |url=https://www.salesian.online/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Francis_de_Sales_by_Wirth_en_web-A-program-of-integral-formation.pdf |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> and esteem of marriage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGoldrick |first1=Terence |title=The Ascent of Marriage as Vocation and Sacrament. Francis de Sales' Christian Humanist Theology of Marriage. A New and Old Vision between Two Competing Traditions on the Highest Vocation from the Apostolic Church to Erasmus |journal=Salesianum |date=2015 |volume=77 |pages=207–249 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279886647 |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref>

However, Erasmus attracted enemies in contemporary theologians in Paris, Louvain, Salamanca and Rome, notably [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepulveda]], [[Diego López de Zúñiga (theologian)|Stunica]], [[Edward Lee (bishop)|Edward Lee]],<ref group=note>See Erasmus' response titled ''Apologia by Erasmus of Rotterdam Which Is neither Arrogant nor Biting nor Angry nor Aggressive in Which He Responds to the Two Invectives of Edward Lee- I Shall Not Add What Kind of Invectives: Let the Reader Judge for Himself.''</ref> Noël Beda,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Noël Beda |journal=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095455501 |language=en}}</ref> as well as Alberto Pío, Prince of [[Carpi, Emilia-Romagna|Carpi]], who read his work with great [[Hermeneutics_of_suspicion|suspicion]]. These were theologians, usually from the mendicant orders that were Erasmus' particular target, who held a positive "linear view of history" for theology <ref group=note>"The linear paradigm puts the emphasis on a one-dimensional human history which heads to a point of perfection, where it should come to an end." However, the views of reformers such as [[Giles of Viterbo]] tended to a negative linear view of spiritual decay, or was cyclical. {{cite book |last1=Semonian |first1=Narik |title=Desiderius Erasmus: a spoiler of the Roman Catholic tradition? (Thesis) |date=2016 |publisher=Leiden University |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2601820/view |access-date=5 December 2023}}</ref> that privileged recent late-medieval theology and rejected the ''ad fontes'' methodology.

By 1529, his French translator [[Louis de Berquin]] was burnt in Paris. Erasmus spent considerable effort defending himself in writing, which he could not do after his death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heesakkers |first1=Chris L. |title=Erasmus's "Controversies" |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=2009 |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=79–86 |jstor=27745444 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27745444 |issn=0008-8080}}</ref>

[[File:Erasmus censored.png|right|thumb|200px|A work of Erasmus censored, perhaps following the inclusion of some works on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]]]

By the 1560s, there was a marked downturn in reception: at various times and durations, some of his works, especially in Protestantized editions, were placed on the various Roman, Dutch, French, Spanish and Mexican<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nesvig |first1=Martin Austin |title=Ideology and Inquisition: The World of the Censors in Early Mexico |date=2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0-300-14040-8}}</ref> [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Indexes of Prohibited Books]], either to not be read, or to be censored and expurgated: each area had different censorship considerations and severity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Charles |first1=Henry |title=Chapters of the History of Spain connected with the Inquisition |date=1890 |publisher=Lea Brothers |location=Philadelophia |url=/media/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Chapters_from_the_religious_history_of_Spain_connected_with_the_Inquistion_.._%28IA_gri_33125000294328%29.pdf |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref>

Early Dutch Jesuit scholar [[Peter Canisius]] (fl. 1547 - 1597), who produced several works superseding Erasmus',<ref group=note>Catechisms, preaching manuals, works of St Cyril of Alexandria, and a collection of St Jerome intended to counter the anti-monastic spin given in Erasmus'.{{cite web |last1=Donnelly |first1=John |title=Peter Canisius |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/hist_fac/15 |website=Shapers of Religious Traditions in Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, 1560-1600 |date=1 January 1981}}{{rp|142}}</ref> is known to have read, or used phrases from, Erasmus' New Testament (including the Annotations and Notes) and perhaps the Paraphrases, his Jerome biography and complete works, the Adages, the ''Copia'', and the Colloquies: the Jesuits received a dispensation from the Roman Inquisitor General to read and use Erasmus' work, after the theological work had been placed on the Roman Index (of censored works.)<ref name=canisius/> Canisius, having actually read Erasmus, had an ambivalent view on Erasmus that contrasted with the negative line of some of his contemporaries:

{{Blockquote|text=Very many people applied also to Erasmus, declaring: {{'}}''Either Erasmus speaks like Luther or Luther like Erasmus''{{'}} (''Aut Erasmus Lutherizat, aut Lutherus Erasmizat''). And yet, we must say, if we would like to render an honest judgment, that Erasmus and Luther were very different. Erasmus always remained a Catholic. ... Erasmus criticized religion 'with craft rather than with force', often applying considerable caution and moderation to either his own opinions or errors. ...Erasmus passed judgment on what he thought required censure and correction in the teaching of theologians and in the Church.|source=Peter Canisius, ''De Maria virgine'' (1577), p601<ref group=note>Pabel notes an ambivalent attitude: "After rehearsing the many ways in which Erasmus offended Catholic beliefs about and devotion to Mary, Canisius managed not only to think of Erasmus as more of a friend than a foe of Mary but also, bizarrely, to suggest that Erasmus was still the most distinguished voice in honour of Mary. Then he remembered that Erasmus was responsible for stirring up the controversy about Mary in the first place."</ref>}}

In contrast, [[Robert Bellarmine]]'s ''Controversies'' mentions Erasmus (as presented by Erasmus' opponent Albert Pío) negatively over 100 times, categorizing him as a "forerunner of the heretics";<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Richgels |first1=Robert W. |title=The Pattern of Controversy in a Counter-Reformation Classic: The Controversies of Robert Bellarmine |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1980 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=3–15 |doi=10.2307/2540028 |jstor=2540028 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540028 |issn=0361-0160}}</ref>{{rp|10}} though not a heretic<ref group=note>"As a consultor to the Congregation of the Index, Robert Bellarmine recommended removing Erasmus from the list of heretics of the first class, since he did not consider Erasmus a heretic, despite his errors."{{cite journal |title=Entries - Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Jesuits |date=16 August 2017 |pages=11–858 |doi=10.1017/9781139032780.002}}</ref> <ref group=note>Bellarmine himself had books placed on the same Roman Index as Erasmus'. Chapter 2, {{cite book |last1=Blackwell |first1=Richard J. |title=Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible |date=1991 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpg847x |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctvpg847x |jstor=j.ctvpg847x |isbn=9780268010270 }}</ref>

A famous 17th century Dominican library featured statues of famous churchmen on one side and of famous "heretics" (in chains) on the other: those foes including the two leading anti-mendicant Catholic voices [[William of Saint-Amour]] (fl. 1250) and Erasmus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Edward |title=Memoirs of Libraries: Part the first. History of libraries |date=1859 |publisher=Trübner & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me65AAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|310}}

By the 1700s, Erasmus' even indirect influence on Catholic thought had waned. A historian has written that "a number of Erasmus' modern Catholic critics do not display an accurate knowledge of his writings but misrepresent him, often by relying upon hostile secondary sources," naming [[Yves Congar]] as an example.<ref name=origenscheck>{{cite book |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Erasmus's Life of Origen |chapter=ERASMus's PROGRAM for THEOLOGICAL RENEWAL |date=2016 |pages=1–42 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |jstor=j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |isbn=9780813228013 }}</ref>{{rp|39}}

In the last hundred years, Erasmus' Catholic reputation has been gradually rehabilitated, from his deep friendships with two Saint-Martyrs [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]]<ref group=note>"Thomas More was an unflagging apologist for Erasmus for the thirty-six years of their adult lives (1499–1535)."{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Thomas More: First and Best Apologist for Erasmus |journal=Moreana |date=June 2021 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=75–111 |doi=10.3366/more.2021.0093|s2cid=236358666 }}</ref> and [[John Fisher#Early life|John Fisher]],<ref group=note>Scheck 2021, ''op cit.'', pits the discernment of one pair of canonized saints (More and Fisher) against another pair (Canesius and Bellarmine), quoting historian Rudolph Padberg "They (More and Fisher) knew Erasmus, they defended him…their assessment of Erasmus weighs more heavily than the assessment of the next generationand of the period of Church revolution, which saw itself compelled to turn all instruments of peace into weapons." R. Padberg, ''Erasmus als Katechet'' (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1956) 18–19</ref> his positive influence on at least four [[Doctor of the Church|Doctors of the Church]] (Ignatius, Theresa, Canisius, de Sales), on [[John Henry Newman|St John Henry Cardinal Newman]]<ref group=note>Erasmus "surpassed his predecessors and contemporaries in his attempts to understand the Christian textual and theological tradition, not as one where we may cast back dogmatic formulations, onto first-century writers who had no notion of them, for example, but as one which developed according to the norms of particular times and places" {{cite journal |last1=Essary |first1=Kirk |title=Review, Christine Christ-von Wedel, Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=1 January 2014 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03401006 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6752891}}</ref> and [[ressourcement]] theologians such as [[Henri de Lubac]]<ref group="note">"De Lubac's preface to G. Chantraine's '' 'Mystere' et 'Philosophie du Christ' selon Erasmus'' (1971) presents Erasmus as, above all, a theologian who concentrated on the mysterium, ''philosophia Christi'', and the bond between exegesis and theology. "[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/637274/summary]
De Lubac thought Erasmus "bravely tried to relaunch spiritual exegesis at an unpropitious time."
{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Aidan |title=Divine fruitfulness: a guide through Balthasar's theology beyond the trilogy |date=2007 |location=London [u.a.]: T & T Clark |isbn=0567089339}} p67</ref> and [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]],<ref group=note>"Origen (who was for me, as once for Erasmus, more important than Augustine) became the key to the entire Greek patristics, the early Middle Ages and, indeed, even to Hegel and Karl Barth." Hans Urs von Balthasar, ''My Work'', ''apud'' {{cite journal |last1=Polanco |first1=Rodrigo |title=Understanding Von Balthasar's Trilogy |journal=Theologica Xaveriana |date=2017 |volume=67 |issue=184 |pages=411–430 |doi=10.11144/javeriana.tx67-184.uvbt |url=https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1910/191053340006/html/ |language=en|doi-access=free }}</ref> (who named the great theologians/exegetes as Augustine, Bonaventure, Thomas, Erasmus{{refn|Von Balthasar, ''Theo-Drama'', Volume 1: ''Prolegomena'' <ref name=balthasar>{{cite web|last1=Spencer |first1=Mark K. |title=Analytic Table of Contents for Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Trilogy (Complete notes on all of Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, Theo-Logic, and the Epilogue) |url=https://www.academia.edu/11815080/Analytic_Table_of_Contents_for_Hans_Urs_Von_Balthasars_Trilogy_Complete_notes_on_all_of_Glory_of_the_Lord_Theo_Drama_Theo_Logic_and_the_Epilogue_}}</ref>}}) and an increasing awareness of how mainstream his reform agenda was.<ref group=note>Viz. [[Giles of Viterbo]]'s comment at the [[Fifth Lateran Council]] that "Religion should change men, not men religion" (i.e. doctrine) {{cite journal |last1=O'Malley |first1=John W. |title=Historical Thought and the Reform Crisis of the Early Sixteenth Century |journal=Theological Studies |date=September 1967 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=531–548 |doi=10.1177/004056396702800304}}</ref> His ''instrumentalist'' approach to [[Christian humanism]] has been compared to that of John Henry Newman and the ''[[personalism]]'' of [[John Paul II]],<ref name=cunningham group=note>He believed that "learning and scholarship were a powerful weapon both for the cultivation of personal piety and institutional church reform." {{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=Lawrence S. |title=The Catholic Heritage: Martyrs, Ascetics, Pilgrims, Warriors, Mystics, Theologians, Artists, Humanists, Activists, Outsiders, and Saints |date=1 March 2002 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-57910-897-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hr5KAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|151-164}} but also has been criticized as treating the Church's doctrines merely as aids to piety.<ref group=note>Catholic dogmatic theologian [[Aidan Nichols]] however notes that, in justice, "for Erasmus himself, the doctrine of redemption (understood as beginning with the incarnation of the Word) remained central as giving the whole world a Christocentric orientation: the goal of all living things is the harmony of all things, and especially human beings, with God, a harmony realized, in principle, in Christ." {{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Aidan |title=Shape of Catholic Theology: An Introduction To Its Sources, Principles, And History |date=28 August 2003 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-4360-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXOvAwAAQBAJ |language=en}} p.313</ref>

The Catholic scholar Thomas Cummings saw parallels between Erasmus' vision of Church reform and the vision of Church reform that succeeded at the Second Vatican Council.<ref name=":6" /><ref group=note>Erasmus nearly attended the [[Fifth Lateran Council]]: in 1512, Bishop [[John Fisher]] invited Erasmus to join his delegation, but Erasmus was prevented by circumstance.{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=H. C. |title=Fisher and Erasmus |journal=Humanism, Reform and the Reformation |date=26 January 1989 |pages=81–102 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511665813.006}}</ref> Another scholar writes "in our days, especially after Vatican II, Erasmus is more and more regarded as an important defender of the Christian religion."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Ruler |first1=Han |last2=Martin |first2=Terence J. |title=Review of Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus, MartinTerence J. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=2017 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=1168–1170 |jstor=26560563 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26560563 |issn=0034-4338}}</ref>

Erasmus' promotion of the recognition of [[adiaphora]] and toleration [[#Signet_ring_and_personal_motto|within bounds]] was taken up, to an extent, by [[Pope John XXIII]]: ''[[In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas]].''<ref>{{cite book |first1=John XXIII |last1=Pope |title=Ad Petri Cathedram |date=June 29, 1959 |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_29061959_ad-petri.html |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref><ref group=note>The phrase was coined after Erasmus' time.
A more accurate characterization of Erasmus' views might be that while a certain docility was ideal for laypeople in theological matters, the ''quid pro quo'' was that theologians and bishops should keep the defined doctrines to a minimum. For example, see {{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus and the Arians: Remarks on the "Consensus Ecclesiae" |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=1981 |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |jstor=25020997 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25020997 |issn=0008-8080}} or {{cite book |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=The Literary Culture of the Reformation |date=5 December 2002 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187356.003.0005}}{{rp|153}}</ref>

In 1963, Thomas Merton wrote "If there had been no Luther, Erasmus would now
be regarded by everyone as one of the great Doctors of the Catholic
Church. I like his directness, his simplicity, and his courage."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Connell |first1=Patrick F. |title=If Not for Luther? Thomas Merton and Erasmus |journal=Merton Annual |date=January 2020 |volume=33 |pages=125–146}}</ref>{{rp|146}}

Notably, since the 1950s, the Roman Catholic [[Easter Vigil]] mass has included a [[Liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII#Easter Vigil|Renewal of Baptismal Promises]],<ref>{{cite book |title=EASTER VIGIL PART III: THE BAPTISMAL LITURGY Presider Book |date=2020 |publisher=Catholic Dioscese of Madison |location=Madison, Wisconsin |url=https://www.madisondiocese.org/documents/2020/4/Baptismal%20Liturgy%20Presider.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|3,4}} an innovation<ref>{{cite web |title=Adopting a Protestant-Inspired Rite - Dialogue Mass 62 by Dr. Carol Byrne |url=https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/f144_Dialogue_62.htm |website=www.traditioninaction.org}}</ref> first proposed<ref>{{cite web |last1=Folla |first1=Pamela |title=The Sacrament of Confirmation |url=https://www.catholicireland.net/the-sacrament-of-confirmation/ |website=Catholicireland.net |date=30 November 1999}}</ref> by Erasmus in his ''Paraphrases''.

===Protestant===
Protestant views on Erasmus fluctuated depending on region and period, with continual support in his native Netherlands and in cities of the Upper Rhine area. However, following his death and in the late sixteenth century, many Reformation supporters saw Erasmus's critiques of Luther and lifelong support for the universal Catholic Church as damning, and second-generation Protestants were less vocal in their debts to the great humanist.

There was a tendency to downplay that many of the usages fundamental to Luther, Melancthon and Calvin, such as the forensic imputation of righteousness, grace as divine favour or mercy (rather than a medicine-like substance or habit), faith as trust (rather than a persuasion only), "repentance" over "doing penance" (as used by Luther in the first theses of the [[95 Theses]]), owed to Erasmus.{{refn|group=note|According to Lutheran historian Lowell Green, "credit is due Erasmus for providing the terminology of " faith" and "grace" for the Protestestant Reformation" as well as "imputation"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Lowell C. |title=The Influence of Erasmus upon Melanchthon, Luther and the Formula of Concord in the Doctrine of Justification |journal=Church History |date=1974 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=183–200
|jstor=3163951 |s2cid=170458328 |doi=10.2307/3163951 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3163951 |issn=0009-6407}}</ref>{{rp|186-188}} }}

Luther had attempted a Biblical analogy to justify his dismissal of Erasmus' thought: "He has done what he was ordained to do: he has introduced the ancient languages, in the place of injurious scholastic studies. He will probably die like Moses in the land of Moab…I would rather he would entirely abstain from explaining and paraphrasing the Scriptures, for he is not up to this work…to lead into the land of promise, is not his business…" <ref>{{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation |date=1910 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xiv.html |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> "Erasmus of Rotterdam is the vilest miscreant that ever disgraced the earth…He is a very Caiaphas."<ref group=note>{{cite web |last1=Luther |first1=Martin |title=The Table Talk of Martin Luther |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wj8uAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA283 |publisher=H. G. Bohn |language=en |date=1857}}'{{rp|283}} (translation: Hazlitt)
Also "Whenever I pray, I pray a curse upon Erasmus." "I hold Erasmus of Rotterdam to be Christ’s most bitter enemy." "With Erasmus it is translation and nothing else. He is never in earnest. He is ambiguous and a caviller" ''apud''
{{cite web |last1=Armstrong |first1=Dave |last2=Catholicism |first2=Biblical Evidence for |title=Luther's Insults of Erasmus in "Bondage of the Will" & "Table-Talk" |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/02/luthers-insults-erasmus-bondage-will-table-talk.html |website=Biblical Evidence for Catholicism |language=en |date=2 February 2017}}</ref>

Some historians have even said that "the spread of Lutheranism was checked by Luther’s antagonizing (of) Erasmus and the humanists."<ref name="Luther and the Reformation">{{cite book |last1=Eckert |first1=Otto J. |title=Luther and the Reformation |date=1955 |url=http://essays.wisluthsem.org:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/1262/EckertReformation.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref>{{rp|7}}

Erasmus' reception is also demonstrable among Swiss Protestants in the sixteenth century: he had an indelible influence on the biblical commentaries of, for example, [[Konrad Pellikan]], [[Heinrich Bullinger]], and [[John Calvin]], all of whom used both his annotations on the New Testament and his paraphrases of same in their own New Testament commentaries.<ref>{{cite book|title=Erasmus and Calvin on the Foolishness of God: Reason and Emotion in the Christian Philosophy |last=Essary |first=Kirk |year=2017 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781487501884}}</ref> [[Huldrych Zwingli]], the founder of the [[Reformed church|Reformed]] tradition, had a conversion experience after reading Erasmus' poem,'' 'Jesus' Lament to Mankind.' '' Zwingli's moralism, hermeneutics and attitude to patristic authority owe to Erasmus, and contrast with Luther's.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nauert |first1=Charles G. |title=Review of The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1988 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=725–727 |doi=10.2307/2861896 |jstor=2861896 |s2cid=164003270 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861896 |issn=0034-4338}}</ref>

[[Anabaptist]] scholars have suggested an 'intellectual dependence'<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kyle |first1=Richard |title=(Review) Erasmus, the Anabaptists, and the Great Commission |website=directionjournal.org |date=1999 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=126–127 |url=https://directionjournal.org/28/1/erasmus-anabaptists-and-great-commission.html |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> of Anabaptists on Erasmus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Darren T. |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam's Influence upon Anabaptism: The Case of Balthasar Hubmaie |date=2005 |publisher=Simon Fraser University |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56373505.pdf |access-date=6 August 2023}}</ref>

For [[evangelical]] Christianity, Erasmus had a strong influence<ref>{{cite web |last1=TeSlaa |first1=Kevin |last2=Treick |first2=Paul |title=Arminius and the Remonstrants |url=https://heidelbergseminary.org/2018/12/arminius-and-the-remonstrants/ |website=Heidelberg Seminary |access-date=19 August 2023 |date=31 December 2018}}</ref> on Arminius.

Erasmus' promotion of the recognition of [[adiaphora]] and toleration within bounds was taken up by many kinds of Protestants.

Erasmus' Greek New Testament was the basis of the [[Textus Receptus]] bibles, which were used for all Protestant bible translations from 1600 to 1900, notably including the [[Luther Bible]] and the [[King James Version]].

=== Character attacks ===
Writers have often explained Erasmus' failure to adopt their favoured position as manifesting some deep character flaw.

Luther's antipathy to Erasmus has continued to more recent times in some Lutheran teachers:

{{Blockquote|Oh how Erasmus placed honor above truth! To seek honor is a human frailty. To ever permit it to go to the point of placing honor and for that matter friendship, expediency, or anything else, above truth is to be blinded by the devil himself and to set a snare for others to be entrapped in his delusions. Such delusions Erasmus would support in pride, weakness, vacillation, and false love for peace and harmony." "Erasmus, the Judas of the Reformation" "this cultured and eloquent theological midget|source=Otto J. Eckert (1955)<ref name="Luther and the Reformation"/>{{rp|27,28,31}}}}

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917) explained "His inborn vanity and self-complacency were thereby increased almost to the point of becoming a disease; at the same time he sought, often by the grossest flattery, to obtain the favour and material support of patrons or to secure the continuance of such benefits."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Desiderius Erasmus |website=www.newadvent.org |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm}}</ref> According to Catholic historian Joseph Lortz (1962) "Erasmus remained in the church…but as a half Catholic…indecisive, hesitating, suspended in the middle."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ozment |first1=Steven |title=The Age of Reform 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe |date=28 September 1980 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18668-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kf5B2IMgOR8C |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|299}}

A 1920s American historian wrote "Erasmus's ambitions, fed by an innate vanity which at times repels by its frank self-seeking, included both fame and fortune" yet pulls back on another historian's view that his "irritable self-conceit, shameless importunity,…may lead one to a sense of contempt for the scholar", pointing out the reality of Erasmus' dire poverty in Paris. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Savage |first1=Howard J. |title=The First Visit of Erasmus to England |journal=PMLA |date=1922 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=94–112 |doi=10.2307/457209 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/457209 |issn=0030-8129}}</ref>

In the 20th century, various [[Psychoanalysis|pyschoanalyses]] were made of Erasmus by practitioners: these diagnosed him variously as "supremely egotistic, neurasthenic, morbidly sensitive, volatile, variable, and vacillating, injudicious, irritable, and querulous, yet always ... a baffling but interesting chararacter"; a "volatile neurotic, latent homosexual, hypochondriac, and psychasthenic"; having "a form of
narcissistic character disorder," a spiritualized, vengeful, "paranoid disposition" driven by "injured narcissism", "repeated persecutory preoccupations...(with) delusional states of paranoia toward the end of his life", repressed anger directed "father figures such as prelates and teachers," needing a "sense of victimization" <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |last2=Meissner |first2=W. W. |title=The Character of Erasmus |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1978 |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=598–624 |doi=10.2307/1861840 |jstor=1861840 |pmid=11610344 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1861840 |issn=0002-8762}}</ref>{{rp|598–624}}

Huizinga's biography (1924) treats him more sympathically, with phrases such as: a great and sincere need for concord and affection, profoundly in need of (physical and spiritual) purity, a delicate soul (with a delicate constitution), fated to an immoderate love of liberty,{{refn|group=note|"Out of the need for personal independence, he remained his entire life a man in the middle. Averting everything fanatical, extreme, or absurd, he was easily frightened by the prospect of unilateral personal engagement, even when it appeared to be ethically demanded. He preferred to persist in intellectual and spiritual self-discipline…"<ref name=ewolf/>}} having a dangerous fusion between inclination and conviction, restless but precipitate, a continual intermingling of explosion and reserve, fastidious, bashful, coquettish, a white-lier, evasive, suspicious, and feline. Yet "compared with most of his contemporaries he remains moderate and refined."<ref name=huiz />{{rp|Ch.xiv}}

===Name used===
* The European [[Erasmus Programme]] of [[International student|exchange students]] within the [[European Union]] is named after him. The [[Erasmus Programme]] scholarships enable students to spend up to a year of their university courses in a university in another European country.
* A peer-reviewed annual scholarly journal ''Erasmus Studies'' has been produced since 1981.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus Studies |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/eras-overview.xml |website=Brill |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Erasmus Prize]] is one of Europe's foremost recognitions for culture, society or social science. It was won by [[Wikipedia]] in 2015.
* The Erasmus Lectures are an annual lecture on religious subjects, given by prominent Christian (mainly Catholic) and Jewish intellectuals.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus Lectures |url=https://www.firstthings.com/erasmus-lectures |website=First Things |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
* The Erasmus Building in [[Luxembourg]] was completed in 1988 as the first addition to the [[Palais de la Cour de Justice|headquarters]] of the [[Court of Justice of the European Union]] (CJEU).<ref name=CJEU>{{cite web |title=Erasmus Building |url=https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3943794/en/ |publisher=Europa (web portal) |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The building houses the chambers of the judges of the CJEU's [[General Court (European Union)|General Court]] and three courtrooms.<ref name=CJEU />
* Several schools, faculties and universities in the [[Netherlands]] and [[Belgium]] are named after him, as is [[Erasmus Hall High School|Erasmus Hall]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York, USA.
* [[Queens' College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], has an Erasmus Building and an Erasmus Room. Until the early 20th century, Queens' College used to have a corkscrew that was purported to be "Erasmus' corkscrew", which was a third of a metre long; as of 1987, the college still had what it calls "Erasmus' chair".<ref>John Twigg, ''A History of Queens' College, Cambridge 1448–1986'' (Woodbridge, Suff.: Boydell Press, 1987).</ref>
* From 1997 to 2008, the American [[University of Notre Dame]] had an Erasmus Institute.<ref>{{cite web |title=No more Erasmus, but NDIAS and NDCEC continue |url=https://irishrover.net/2010/09/no-more-erasmus-but-ndias-and-ndcec-continue/ |website=Irish Rover |date=19 September 2010}}</ref>

===Intellectual===
* Theologian [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]] listed Erasmus in one of three key intellectual "events" in the Germanic age:{{refn|Von Balthasar, ''The Glory of the Lord'', Volume 5: ''The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age'', II.B.1.a. Origins of the Modern Period <ref name=balthasar />}}
** [[Duns Scotus]]-[[William of Ockham]]-[[Francisco Suárez]] and [[Meister Eckhart]]-[[Nicholas of Cusa]]-[[Ignatius of Loyola]]
** [[Martin Luther]]-Erasmus-[[Shakespeare]]
** [[Kant]]-[[Hegel]]-[[Marx]]

* Political journalist [[Michael Massing]] has written of the Luther-Erasmus [[#Dispute_on_Free_Will|free will]] debate as creating a fault line in Western thinking: Europe adopted a form of Erasmian humanism while America has been shaped by Luther-inspired individualism.<ref name=massing>Massing, 2022 ([https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing?variant=39387603533858 publisher's abstract])</ref>
* By the coming of the [[Age of Enlightenment]], Erasmus increasingly again became a more widely respected cultural symbol and was hailed as an important figure by increasingly broad groups.
* In a letter to a friend, Erasmus once had written: "That you are patriotic will be praised by many and easily forgiven by everyone; but in my opinion it is wiser to treat men and things as though we held this world the common fatherland of all."<ref>Letter 480, to Budé (ed. Allen)</ref> Thus, the universalist ideals of Erasmus are sometimes claimed to be important for fixing global governance.<ref>Page, James. 2015. [https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=17785 ''Fixing global governance''], Online Opinion, 29 October 2015.</ref>
* Catholic historian [[David_Knowles_(scholar)|Dom David Knowles]] wrote that a just appreciation of traditional Catholic doctrine was a necessary condition for appreciating Erasmus, "without which many otherwise gifted writers have repeated meaningless platitudes."<ref name=knowles>{{cite journal |last1=Knowles |first1=Dom David |title=Ch XI - Erasmus |journal=The Religious Orders in England |date=27 September 1979 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511560668.012}}</ref>

=== Quotes ===

Erasmus is credited with numerous quotes; many of them are not exactly original to him but are taken from his collections of sayings such as ''[[Adagia|Adages]]'' or ''[[Apophthegmatum opus|Apophthegmata]]''.<ref group=note>"No humanist inhabited, cultivated, and chased after ancient proverbs with as much passion as Desiderius Erasmus."{{cite journal |last1=Hui |first1=Andrew |title=The Infinite Aphorisms of Erasmus and Bacon |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2018 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=171–199 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03802003 |s2cid=172124407 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37604079 |issn=0276-2854}}</ref>

* In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]''
* The most disadvantageous peace is better than the justest war. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]''
* "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Library An Illustrated History|last=Murray|first=Stuart|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|year=2009|isbn=9781602397064|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/80 80–81]|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/80}}</ref>
* "Monkishness is not piety" ''Enchiridion''
* "Christ said (to St Peter) 'Feed my sheep', not 'Devour my sheep'." {{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
* Martin Luther is "a snake without a snakecharmer" ''Hyperaspistes II''
* "If I have my way, the farmer, the smith, the stone-cutter will read him (Christ), prostitutes and pimps will read him, even the Turks will read him. …If it be the [[Plowboy trope|ploughman guiding his plough]], let him chant in his own language the mystic psalms." [[Plowboy trope#Erasmus of Rotterdam (1516)|Paraphrase of St Matthew]]

He is also blamed for the mistranslation from Greek of "to call a bowl a bowl" as "[[Call a spade a spade|to call a spade a spade]]".<ref>[https://www.etymonline.com/word/spade Etymonline: spade(n.1)], accessed 2019-08-05</ref>

==Personal==
=== Clothing ===
[[File:Erasmus Duerer VandA E.4621-1910.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus by [[Albrecht Dürer]], 1526, engraved in [[Nuremberg]], Germany]]
Until Erasmus received his Papal dispensation to wear clerical garb, Erasmus wore versions of the local [[Religious habit#Canons regular|habit of his order]], the [[Canon regular|Canons regular of St Augustine]], which varied by region and house, unless traveling: in general, a black or perhaps white [[cassock]] with linen and lace choir [[rochet]] for liturgical contexts or ''sarotium'' (scarf), [[almuce]] (cape), perhaps with a long black cloak.<ref>Shoes, Boots, Leggings, and Cloaks: The Augustinian Canons and Dress in Later Medieval England [https://www-cambridge-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/shoes-boots-leggings-and-cloaks-the-augustinian-canons-and-dress-in-later-medieval-england/B282527E658BD79FCFBDB6100D5BDA93]</ref> He arranged for his clothing to be stuffed with fur to protect him against the cold.<ref name=":4" /> The habit counted with a collar of fur which usually covered his nape.<ref name=":4" />
From at least 1517, he dressed as a scholar-priest.<ref name=":4">Treu, Erwin (1959). pp.20–21</ref> He preferred warm and soft garments.<ref name=":4" />

Erasmus' portraits show him wearing a knitted scholar's bonnet.<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite journal |last1=Kruseman |first1=Geeske M. |title=Some Uses of Experiment for Understanding Early Knitting and Erasmus' Bonnet |journal=EXARC Journal |date=25 August 2018 |issue=EXARC Journal Issue 2018/3 |url=https://exarc.net/issue-2018-3/at/some-uses-experiment-understanding-early-knitting-and-erasmus-bonnet |language=en |issn=2212-8956}} |2={{cite journal |last1=Malcolm-Davies |first1=Jane |last2=Kruseman |first2=Geeske |title=Erasmus' bonnet |journal=Kostuum |date=1 January 2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/40168789/Erasmus_bonnet}} }}</ref>

=== Signet ring and personal motto ===
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger. Terminus, the Device of Erasmus (1532).jpg|thumb|200px|Painting of Erasmus as [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2018-10-31|title=Terminus, the Device of Erasmus|url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.166|access-date=2022-01-09|website=[[Cleveland Museum of Art]]|language=en}}</ref>]]
Erasmus chose the Roman god of borders and boundaries [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] as a personal symbol<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=78–79|language=de}}</ref> and had a [[Seal (emblem)|signet ring]] with a [[Herm (sculpture)|herm]] he thought depicted Terminus carved into a [[carnelian]].<ref name=":0" /> The herm was presented to him in Rome by his student [[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]] and in reality depicted the Greek god [[Dionysus]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=78–79}}</ref> The ring was also depicted in a portrait of his by the Flemish painter [[Quentin Matsys]].<ref name=":0" />

The herm became part of the Erasmus branding at Froben, and is on his tombstone.<ref name=panofsky/>{{rp|215}} In the early 1530s, Erasmus was portrayed as Terminus by Hans Holbein the Younger.<ref name=":1" />

He chose ''Concedo Nulli'' (Lat. ''I concede to no-one'') as his personal motto.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |date=2018-10-31 |title=Terminus, the Device of Erasmus |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.166 |access-date=2022-01-09 |website=[[Cleveland Museum of Art]] |language=en}}</ref> The obverse of the medal by Quintin Matsys featured the Terminus herm, the motto, and along the circumference "Contemplate the end of a long life" and [[Horace]]'s "Death is the ultimate boundary of things,"<ref name=panofsky>{{cite journal |last1=Panofsky |first1=Erwin |title=Erasmus and the Visual Arts |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |date=1969 |volume=32 |pages=200–227 |doi=10.2307/750613 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/750613 |issn=0075-4390}}</ref>{{rp|215}} which re-casts the motto as a ''[[memento mori]]''.

{{clear}}

===Representations===
[[File:HolbeinErasmusHands.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Holbein's studies of Erasmus's hands, in silverpoint and chalks, ca. 1523 ([[Louvre]])]]
{{Main| Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam}}
* [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]] painted him at least three times and perhaps as many as seven, some of the Holbein portraits of Erasmus surviving only in copies by other artists. Holbein's three profile portraits – two (nearly identical) profile portraits and one three-quarters-view portrait – were all painted in the same year, 1523. Erasmus used the Holbein portraits as gifts for his friends in England, such as [[William Warham]], the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Writing in a letter to Wareham regarding the gift portrait, Erasmus quipped that "he might have something of Erasmus should God call him from this place.") Erasmus spoke favourably of Holbein as an artist and person but was later critical, accusing him of sponging off various patrons whom Erasmus had recommended, for purposes more of monetary gain than artistic endeavor.
* [[Albrecht Dürer]] also produced portraits of Erasmus, whom he met three times, in the form of an [[engraving]] of 1526 and a preliminary charcoal sketch. Concerning the former Erasmus was unimpressed, declaring it an unfavorable likeness of him. Nevertheless, Erasmus and Dürer maintained a close friendship, with Dürer going so far as to solicit Erasmus's support for the Lutheran cause, which Erasmus politely declined. Erasmus wrote a glowing [[encomium]] about the artist, likening him to famous Greek painter of antiquity [[Apelles]]. Erasmus was deeply affected by his death in 1528.
[[File:Quinten Metsys (Massijs), bronze medal of 105 mm, commissioned in 1519 by Desiderius Erasmus.jpg|thumb|200px|Quinten Metsys (Massijs), medal commissioned by Desiderius Erasmus. 1519, bronze, 105 mm]]
* [[Quentin Matsys]] produced the earliest known portraits of Erasmus, including an oil painting in 1517<ref>{{Cite web|title=Quinten Massys (1465/6-1530) - Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/405759/desiderius-erasmus-1466-1536|access-date=2022-01-15|website=www.rct.uk|language=en}}</ref> and a medal in 1519.<ref>Stein, Wilhelm (1929), p.78</ref>
* In 1622, [[Hendrick de Keyser]] cast a [[statue of Erasmus]] in bronze replacing an earlier stone version from 1557. This was set up in the public square in Rotterdam, and today may be found outside the [[Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk (Rotterdam)|St. Lawrence Church]]. It is the oldest bronze statue in the Netherlands.
* Actor [[Ken Bones]] portrays Erasmus in [[David Starkey]]'s 2009 documentary series ''[[Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant]]''

=== Exhumation ===
In 1928, the site of Erasmus' grave was dug up, and a body identified in the bones and examined.<ref name=":4" /> In 1974, a body was dug up in a slightly different location, accompanied by an Erasmus medal. Both bodies have been claimed to be Erasmus'. However, it is possible neither is.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gleason |first1=John B. |title=The Allegation of Erasmus' Syphilis and the Question of His Burial Site |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=1 January 1990 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=122–139 |doi=10.1163/187492790X00085 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/10/1/article-p122_8.xml |access-date=19 July 2023 |language=en |issn=1874-9275}}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Works==
The ''Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus'' (2023)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=225–344 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_014|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref> runs to 444 entries (120 pages), almost all from the latter half of his life.

===Complete editions===
The ''[https://www.jstor.org/bookseries/10.3138/j.ctt7p13p?page=1 Collected Works of Erasmus]'' (or ''CWE'') is an 84 volume set of English translations and commentary from the [[University of Toronto Press]]. As of May 2023, 66 of 84 volumes have been released. The ''[http://www.unionacademique.org/en/projects/24/erasmi-opera-omnia Erasmi opera omni]'', known as the ''Amsterdam Edition'' or ''ASD'', is a 65 volume set of the original Latin works. As of 2022, 59 volumes have been [https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD released].

===Letters===
{{main|List of Erasmus's correspondents}}
{{Blockquote|text=The best sources for the world of European [[Renaissance Humanism]] in the early sixteenth century is the correspondence of Erasmus.
|author=Froude
|title="Preface"
|source=''Life and Letters of Erasmus''
}}
Over 3,000 letters exist for a 52-year period, including to and from most Western popes, emperors, kings and their staff, as well as to leading intellectuals, bishops, reformers, fans, friends, and enemies.

===Religious and political===
[[File:Erasmo de Róterdam (1528) Manual del caballero cristiano.png|thumb|200px|alt=Enchiridion militis Christiani (1503).|''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani]]'' (1503), Spanish translation]]
[[File:HolbeinErasmusFollymarginalia.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Marginal drawing of Folly by Hans Holbein in the first edition of Erasmus's ''Praise of Folly'', 1515]]
[[File:Erasmus-crede-title.jpg|thumbnail|200px|[[A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede]], 2nd edition, 1533, English translation of ''Symbolum apostolorum'']]
* ''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani|Handbook of a Christian Knight (Enchiridion militis Christiani)]]'' (1503)
* ''[[#Sileni Alcibiadis (1515)|Sileni alcibiadis]]'' (1515)
* ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince|The Education of a Christian Prince (Institutio principis Christiani)]]'' (1516)
* ''The Quarrel of Peace'' (''Querela pacis'') (1517)
** (English translation<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_Peace |website=Wikisource}}</ref>)
* ''On the Immense Mercy of God'' (''De immensa misericordia dei'') (1524)
* ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will (De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio)]]'' (1524)
* ''Hyperaspistes'' 2 volumes (1526)
* ''The Institution of Christian Marriage'' (''Institutio matrimonii'') (1526)<ref name=":03" />
* ''Consultations on the War on the Turks'' (''Consultatio de bello turcis inferendo'') (1530)
* ''On the Preparation for Death'' (''De praeparatione ad mortem'') (1533)
* ''On the Apostles' Creed'' (''Symbolum apostolorum'')
* ''[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|The Preacher (Ecclesiastes)]]'' (1535)

===Comedy and satire===
* ''[[The Praise of Folly|In Praise of Folly (Moriae encomium - Stultitiae laus)]]'' (1511)
** (English translations<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Praise of Folly |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Praise_of_Folly |website=Wikisource}}</ref>)
* Preface to Plutarch's ''How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend'' (1514) (Dedication to [[Henry VIII]])
* ''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven]]'' (1514) (attrib.)
* ''[[Colloquies|Colloquies (Colloquia)]]'' (1518)
** (English translation <ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=Familiar Colloquies |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Familiar_Colloquies |website=Wikisource}}</ref>)
* ''[[Ciceronianus]]'' (1528)

===Culture and education===
* ''[[Adagia|Adages (Adagiorum collectanea)]]'' (1500) all editions usually called ''Adagia''
** ''Three Thousand Adages'' (''Adagiorum chilliades tres'') (1508)
** ''Four Thousand Adages'' (''Adagiorum ciliades quatuor'') (1520)
* ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style|Foundations of the Abundant Style (De utraque verborum ac rerum copia)]]'' (1512) often called ''De copia''
* ''Introduction to the Eight Parts of Speech'' (''De constructione octo partium prationis'') (1515) - Erasmus' version of [[William Lily (grammarian)|Lily's Grammar]], sometimes called ''Brevissima Institutio''
* ''Language, or the uses and abuses of language, a most useful book'', (''Lingua, Sive, De Linguae usu atque abusu Liber utillissimus'') (1525)
* ''On the Correct Pronunciation of Latin and Greek'' (''De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione'') (1528)
* ''On Early Liberal Education for Children'' (''De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis'') (1529)
* ''[[On Civility in Children|On Civility in Children (De civilitate morum puerilium)]]'' (1530)
* ''[[Apophthegmatum opus]]'' (1531)
** includes ''Opusculi plutarchi'' (c.1514)
*** includes ''How to tell a flatterer from a friend''

===New Testament===
The 1516 edition had Erasmus' corrected [[Vulgate]] Latin and Greek versions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Andrew |title=The Date of Erasmus' Latin Translation of the New Testament |journal=Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society |volume=8 |issue=4 |date=1984 |pages=351–380 |jstor=41154623 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41154623}}</ref> The subsequent revised editions had Erasmus' new Latin version and the Greek. The 1527 edition had both the Vulgate and Erasmus' new Latin with the Greek. These were accompanied by substantial annotations, methodological notes and paraphrases, in separate volumes.

* ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]'' (1516)
** ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne|Novum Testamentum omne]]'' (1519, 1522, 1527,1536)
* ''In Novum Testamentum annotationes'' (1519, 1522, 1527,1535)
* ''[[Paraphrases of Erasmus]]'' (1517-1524)
** ''[[The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente]]'' (1548)

===Patristic and classical editions===
[[File:Irenaeus Contra haereses 1526 title page.jpg|thumbnail|200px|The title page of the princeps edition of Irenaeus's Against heresies, which was published by Erasmus at Johannes Froben's, Basel, 1526.]]
For the patristic and classical editions<ref>Some dates from {{cite book |last1=Bouyer |first1=Louis |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-the-bible/erasmus-in-relation-to-the-medieval-biblical-tradition/FD0040B9E6CD586D88C6DA9D1A7BAC99 |title=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition, Cambridge History of the Bible |date=1969 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521290173 |series=The Cambridge History of the Bible |volume=2 |pages=492–506 |chapter=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521042550.011 |access-date=23 July 2023}} and Schaff, ''History of the Christian Church'', ''op cit.''[https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html?queryID=26857203&resultID=162373]</ref> Erasmus was variously supervising editor and editor or translator, often working with others. He also contributed prefaces, notes and biographies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=Arnold |title=Thirtieth Annual Erasmus Birthday Lecture: Erasmus, the Church Fathers and the Ideological Implications of Philology |journal=Erasmus Society Yearbook |year=2011 |volume=31 |issue=December 2011 |pages=7–31 |doi=10.1163/027628511X597999}}</ref>

* Complete Works of [[Jerome]], nine volumes (1516) with biography, ed. ii (1526), ed. iii (1537, posthumous)
* Complete Works of [[Cyprian]] (1520)
* ''Commentary on the Psalms'' [[Arnobius the Younger]] (1522)
* Complete Works of [[Hilary of Poitiers]] (1523)
* ''Against Heresies'', [[Irenaeus]] (1526)
* Complete Works of [[Ambrose]] (and [[Ambrosiaster]]), four volumes (1527)
* Works of [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] (1522-1527)
* ''On Grace'' (''De gratia'') [[Faustus of Riez]] (1528)
* Complete Works of [[Augustine]] (1528, 1529)
* Works of [[Lactantius]] (1529)
* [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] (1529)
* Complete Works of [[John Chrysostom]], five volumes (1525-1530) with biography
* Works of [[Basil of Caesarea]] (1530)
* Homilies of [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] (1531)
* Complete Works of [[Origen]], two volumes (1536) with biography (posthumous)

Late in his publishing career, Erasmus produced editions of two pre-scholastic but post-patristic writers:

* ''On the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood'' (''De sacramento corporis et sanguinis Domini'') [[Alger of Liège]] (1530)
* Commentary on Psalms of [[Haymo of Halberstadt]] attrib. (1533)

Classical writers whose works Erasmus translated or edited include [[Lucian]] (1506), [[Euripides]] (1508), [[Distichs of Cato|Pseudo-Cato]] (1513), [[Quintus Curtius Rufus|Curtius]] (1517), [[Suetonius]] (1518), [[Cicero]] (1523), [[Ovid]] and [[Prudentius]] (1524), [[Galen]] (1526), [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] (1515, 1528), [[Plutarch]] (1512-1531), [[Aristotle]] (1531, Introduction to edition of [[Simon Grynaeus]]), [[Demosthenes]] (1532), [[Terence]] (1532), [[Ptolemy]] (1533), as well as [[Livy]], [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]], [[Libanius]], [[Galen]], [[Isocrates]] and [[Xenophon]]. Many of the ''Adagia'' translate adages from ancient and classical sources, notably from [[Aesop]]; many of ''Apophthegmata'' are from [[Platonists]] or [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]].

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
===Biographies===
* {{cite book |last1=Augustijn |first1=Cornelis |title=Erasmus: his life, works, and influence |date=1995 |publisher=Univ. of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=0802071775 |edition=Reprinted in paperback}}
* Barker, William (2022). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam: The Spirit of a Scholar.'' Reaktion Books
* {{cite book |last1=Bentley-Taylor |first1=David |title=My dear Erasmus: the forgotton reformer |date=2002 |publisher=Focus |location=Fearn |isbn=9781857926958}}
* Christ-von Wedel, Christine (2013). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* {{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=A. G. |last2=Jones |first2=Whitney R. D. |title=Erasmus: the reformer |date=2000 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |isbn=0413753301}}
* {{Cite book |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |last=Emerton |first=Ephraim |author-link=Ephraim Emerton |year=1899 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |oclc= 312661 |url=https://archive.org/details/desideriuserasmu00emeriala }}
* {{cite book |last1=Froude |first1=James Anthony |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus: lectures delivered at Oxford 1893-4 |date=1894 |publisher=Scribner's Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=/catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001182282 |language=en |author1-link=James Anthony Froude }}
* {{cite book |last1=Halkin |first1=Leon E. |title=Erasmus: A Critical Biography |date=1994 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-631-19388-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wIXPwAACAAJ |language=en |author1-link=Léon-Ernest Halkin }}
*{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |last2=Flower |first2=Barbara |title=Erasmus and the Age of Reformation,with a Selection from the Letters of Erasmus |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22900/22900-h/22900-h.htm |author1-link=Johan Huizinga }} in series, ''Harper Torchbacks'', and also in ''The Cloister Library''. New York: Harper & Row, 1957. xiv, 266 pp
** Dutch original by Huizinga (1924)
* {{cite book |last1=Jebb |first1=Richard Claverhouse |title=Erasmus |date=1897 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author1-link=Richard Claverhouse Jebb }}
* Pennington, Arthur Robert (1875). [https://archive.org/details/lifeandcharacte00penngoog/page/n242 ''The Life and Character of Erasmus''], pp. 219.
* {{cite book |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus |date=2004 |publisher=Continuum |location=London |isbn=9780826491558}}
* [[James Tracy (historian)|Tracy]], James D. (1997). [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft5q2nb3vp&brand=eschol ''Erasmus of the Low Countries'']. Berkeley – Los Angeles – London: University of California Press
* [[Stefan Zweig|Zweig]], Stefan (1937). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam''. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul. Garden City Publishing Co., Inc

===Topics===
* Bietenholz, Peter G. (2009). ''Encounters with a Radical Erasmus. Erasmus' Work as a Source of Radical Thought in Early Modern Europe''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* [[Ron Dart|Dart]], Ron (2017). ''Erasmus: Wild Bird''.
* Dodds, Gregory D. (2010). ''Exploiting Erasmus: The Erasmian Legacy and Religious Change in Early Modern England''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* Furey, Constance M. (2009). ''Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press
*Gulik, Egbertus van (2018). ''Erasmus and His Books''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* Payne, John B. (1970). ''Erasmus, His Theology of the Sacraments'', Research in Theology
* Martin, Terence J. (2016). ''[https://www.cuapress.org/9780813228099/truth-and-irony/ Truth and Irony - Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus]''. Catholic University of America Press
* MacPhail, Eric (ed) (2023). ''[https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/36025 A Companion to Erasmus]''. Leiden and Boston: Brill
* Massing, Michael (2022). ''[https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing Fatal Discord - Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind]''. HarperCollins
* McDonald, Grantley (2016). ''Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe: Erasmus, the Johannine Comma, and Trinitarian Debate''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press
* Ron, Nathan (2019). ''Erasmus and the “Other”: On Turks, Jews, and Indigenous Peoples''. Palgrave Macmillan Cham
* Ron, Nathan (2021). ''Erasmus: Intellectual of the 16th Century''. Palgrave Macmillan Cham
* Quinones, Ricardo J. (2010). ''Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter''. University of Toronto Press, 240 pp. Draws parallels between the two thinkers as voices of moderation with relevance today.
* Winters, Adam. (2005). ''Erasmus' Doctrine of Free Will''. Jackson, TN: Union University Press.

=== Non-English ===
* [[Marcel Bataillon|Bataillon, Marcel]] (1937) ''Erasme et l'Espagne'' , Librairie Droz (1998) ISBN 2-600-00510-2
** ''Erasmo y España: Estudios Sobre la Historia Espiritual del Siglo XVI'' (1950), Fondo de Cultura Económica (1997) ISBN 968-16-1069-5
* Garcia-Villoslada, Ricardo (1965) '''Loyola y Erasmo'', Taurus Ediciones, Madrid, Spain.
* Lorenzo Cortesi (2012) ''Esortazione alla filosofia. La Paraclesis di Erasmo da Rotterdam'', Ravenna, SBC Edizioni, {{ISBN|978-88-6347-271-4}}
* Pep Mayolas (2014) ''Erasme i la construcció catalana d'Espanya'', Barcelona, Llibres de l'Índex

===Primary sources===
* ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' (U of Toronto Press, 1974–2023). 84/86 volumes published as of mid 2023; see [https://web.archive.org/web/20120127150530/http://www.utppublishing.com/Controversies-Volume-78.html U. Toronto Press], in English translation
* ''The Correspondence of Erasmus'' (U of Toronto Press, 1975–2023), 21/21 volumes down to 1536 are published

Also:
* {{cite journal |last1=Rabil |first1=Albert |title=Erasmus: Recent Critical Editions and Translations |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=2001 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=246–251 |doi=10.2307/1262226 |jstor=1262226 |s2cid=163450283 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1262226 |issn=0034-4338}} Discusses both the Toronto translation and the entirely separate Latin edition published in Amsterdam since 1969

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Desiderius Erasmus}}
{{wikisource author}}
* {{SEP|erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus}}
* {{IEP|erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus}}
* "''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002254/http://newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm Desiderius Erasmus]''" entry in Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909 by Joseph Sauer
* {{Gutenberg author |id=3026}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Erasmus}}

===Non-English===
* [http://magistervenemus.wordpress.com/opera-omnia-erasmi/ Index of Erasmus's Opera Omnia (Latin)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100531204853/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/erasmus.html Opera] (Latin Library)
* {{DNB-Portal|118530666}}
* {{DDB|Person|118530666}}
* {{Helveticat}}

===Media===
* {{Librivox author |id=5005}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bmlsy In Our Time podcast] from BBC Radio 4 with [[Melvyn Bragg]], and guests [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]], [[Eamon Duffy]], and Jill Kraye.
* Desiderius Erasmus: ''"War is sweet to those who have no experience of it …" - Protest against Violence and War'' ( Publication series: Exhibitions on the History of Nonviolent Resistance, No. 1, Editors: [[:de:Christian Bartolf|Christian Bartolf]], Dominique Miething). Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, 2022. [https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/35224/Erasmus%20-%20'War%20is%20sweet%20to%20those%20who%20have%20no%20experience%20of%20it%20%E2%80%A6'%20-%20Protest%20against%20Violence%20and%20War.pdf PDF]


{{Subject bar |portal1= Bible |portal2= Christianity |portal3= Catholicism}}

{{Desiderius Erasmus}}
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Erasmus

2023-12-11T20:57:27Z

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{{Short description|Dutch philosopher (1469–1569)}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox scholar
| name = Erasmus
| school_tradition = {{ublist|[[Renaissance humanism]]}}
| era = [[Northern Renaissance]]
| image = Holbein-erasmus.jpg
| caption = ''[[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam]]'' (1523) by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] resting his hands on a Greek ''The Labours of Hercules'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bacchi |first1=Elisa |title=Hercules, silenus and the fly : Lucian's rhetorical paradoxes in Erasmus' ethics |journal=Philosophical Readings |date=2019 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=120–130 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.2554134 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8607612 |issn=2036-4989}}</ref> [[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam#London|"arguably…the most important portrait in England"]]
| other_names = {{Plainlist}}gg
* Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus
* Erasmus of Rotterdam
{{Endplainlist}}
| birth_date = {{Circa|28 October 1466}}
| birth_place = [[Rotterdam]] or [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], [[Burgundian Netherlands]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| module = {{Infobox clergy
|child = yes
|religion = [[Christianity]]
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|ordained = 25 April 1492
}}
| known_for =
New Testament translations, satire, pacifism, letters, best-selling author and editor and influencer
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1536|07|12|1466|10|28|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Basel]], [[Old Swiss Confederacy]]
| education = {{ublist|[[Collège de Montaigu|University of Paris]]|
[[Queens' College, Cambridge]]|
[[University of Turin]] ([[D.D.|DD]], 1506)}}
| workplaces = {{ublist|
[[University of Cambridge]]|
[[University of Oxford]]|
[[Old University of Leuven|University of Leuven]]}}
| main_interests = {{Flatlist}}
* ''Bonae litterae''
* [[Philology]]
* [[Pastoral theology]]
* [[Patristics]]
* [[Catholic theology]]
* [[Political philosophy]]
* [[Philosophy of education]]
* [[Criticism of Protestantism]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| notable_works = {{Flatlist}}
*''[[In Praise of Folly]]''
*''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]''
*''[[On Civility in Children]]''
*''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven|Julius Excluded]]''
*''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]]''
*''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]''
*''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]]''
{{Endflatlist}}
| notable_ideas = {{Flatlist}}
* ''Philosophia Christi''
* biblical [[ad fontes]]
*[[Erasmian pronunciation]]
* critique of [[just war theory]]
* [[Accommodation (religion)|accommodation]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| influences = {{Flatlist}}
*[[Jerome]]
*[[Origen]]
*[[Lorenzo Valla]]
*[[John Colet]]
*[[Thomas More]]
* Jean Voirier
*[[John Fisher]]
*[[Thomas Linacre]]
*[[William Grocyn]]
*[[Aldus Manutius]]
*[[Cicero]]
*[[Socrates]]
*[[Augustine of Hippo]]
*[[Thomas Aquinas]]
*[[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| influenced = {{Flatlist}}
*[[Thomas More]]
*[[John Fisher]]
*[[John Colet]]
*[[Henry VIII]]
*[[Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples]]
*[[Martin Luther]]
*[[Philip Melanchthon]]
*[[Huldrych Zwingli]]
*[[William Tyndale]]
*[[John Calvin]]
*[[Jacob Milich]]
*[[Wolfgang Capito]]
*[[Rabelais]]
*[[Miguel de Cervantes]]
*[[William Shakespeare]]
*[[John Milton]]
*[[Pius V]]
*[[Peter Canisius]]
*[[Robert Bellarmine]]
*[[Ignatius of Loyola]]
*[[Francis Xavier]]
*[[Charles Borromeo]]
*[[Teresa of Ávila]]
*[[Francis De Sales]]
*[[John Henry Newman]]
*[[Henri de Lubac]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| awards= Counsellor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V.]] (hon.)
| notable_students = {{ublist|[[Damião de Góis]]|[[Johannes Oecolampadius|Johannes Œcolampadius]]}}
}}
'''Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|d|ɛ|z|ɪ|ˈ|d|ɪər|i|ə|s|_|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|z|m|ə|s}}; {{IPA-nl|ˌdeːziˈdeːriʏs eˈrɑsmʏs|lang}}; English: '''Erasmus of Rotterdam''' or '''Erasmus'''; 28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536) was a [[County of Holland|Dutch]] [[Christian humanism|Christian humanist]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Catholic theology|theologian]], [[Education sciences|educationalist]], [[Menippean satire|satirist]] and [[philosopher]]. Through his vast number of translations, books, essays and letters, he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the [[Northern Renaissance]] and one of the major figures of Dutch and Western culture.<ref>{{cite web|author1-link=James Tracy (historian)|last1=Tracy|first1=James D.|title=Desiderius Erasmus Biography & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Desiderius-Erasmus|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref><ref>Sauer, J. (1909). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm Desiderius Erasmus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002254/http://newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm |date=13 June 2010 }}. In The [[Catholic Encyclopedia]]. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 10 August 2019 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm</ref>

He was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a spontaneous and natural [[Latin]] style.<ref>{{cite web |title=DESIDERIUS ERASMUS |url=https://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/erasmus.htm |website=Luminarium Encyclopedia Project}}</ref> As a [[Catholic priest]] developing [[Philology|humanist techniques]] for working on texts, he [[Novum Instrumentum omne|prepared]] important new [[Vulgate|Latin]] and [[Biblical Greek|Greek]] editions of the [[New Testament]], which raised questions that would be influential in the [[Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]]. He also wrote ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]],'' ''[[In Praise of Folly]]'', ''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]'', ''[[On Civility in Children]]'', ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style]]'' and many other works.

Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious [[Reformation]]. He developed a biblical humanistic theology in which he advocated tolerance, concord and free thinking on ''[[Adiaphora|matters of indifference]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yoder |first1=Klaus C. |title=Adiaphora and the Apocalypse: Protestant Moral Rhetoric of Ritual at the End of History (1990 –2003) |date=17 May 2016 |page=2 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27194246 |language=en}}</ref> He remained a member of the [[Catholic Church]] all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church from within.<ref name="Hoffmann 1989">{{cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=Manfred |date=Summer 1989 |title=Faith and Piety in Erasmus's Thought |journal=[[Sixteenth Century Journal]] |publisher=[[Truman State University Press]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=241–258 |doi=10.2307/2540661 |jstor=2540661}}</ref> He promoted the traditional doctrine of [[synergism]], which some prominent Reformers such as [[Martin Luther]] and [[John Calvin]] rejected in favor of the doctrine of [[monergism]]. His [[via media|middle-road]] approach disappointed, and even angered, partisans in both camps.

==Biography==
Erasmus's 70 years can be divided into four quarters. First was his childhood, ending with his being orphaned and impoverished; second, his struggling years as a canon (a kind of monk), a priest, a clerk, a failing and sickly university student, and a tutor; third, his flourishing years of increasing focus and productivity following his 1499 contact with a reformist English circle, and later with the Aldine New Academy; and fourth, his final years as a prime influencer of European thought through his New Testament and increasing opposition to Lutheranism.

===Early life===
[[File:Rotterdam standbeeld Erasmus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|200px|[[Statue of Erasmus]] in Rotterdam. It was created by [[Hendrick de Keyser]] in 1622, replacing a wooden statue of 1549.]]
Desiderius Erasmus is reported to have been born in [[Rotterdam]] on 28 October in the mid-1460s, probably 1466.<ref name="seop2009" group=note>{{cite encyclopedia| url= http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/erasmus/#LifWor | title= Desiderius Erasmus | publisher= [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]| encyclopedia= Winter 2009 Edition| last= Nauert | first= Charles | access-date=2012-02-10| quote=Erasmus was a native of the Netherlands, born at Rotterdam in the county of Holland on 27 October of some year in the late 1460s; 1466 now seems to be the year that most biographers prefer. Erasmus's own statements on the year of his birth are contradictory, perhaps because he did not know for certain but probably because later in life he wanted to emphasize the excessively early age at which his guardians pushed him and his elder brother Peter to enter monastic life, in order to support his efforts to be released from his monastic vows.}}</ref><ref name="gleason1979">{{ cite periodical| last= Gleason | first=John B. |title=The Birth Dates of John Colet and Erasmus of Rotterdam: Fresh Documentary Evidence|work= Renaissance Quarterly|publisher= The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America|volume= 32|number= 1 |date=Spring 1979| pages= 73–76 |jstor= 2859872}}</ref><ref>{{ cite periodical| first=Harry | last=Vredeveld | title=The Ages of Erasmus and the Year of his Birth | work=Renaissance Quarterly | volume= 46| number= 4 | date=Winter 1993|pages= 754–809 |jstor= 3039022}}</ref> He was named<ref group=note>''Erasmus'' was his [[Christian name|baptismal name]], given after [[Erasmus of Formia]]e. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' was a scholarly name meaning "from Rotterdam", though the Latin genitive would be {{lang|la|Roterdamensis}}.</ref> after [[Erasmus of Formia]]e, whom Erasmus' father Gerard personally favored.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Due codici scritti da 'Gerardus Helye' padre di Erasmo|work= Italia medioevale e umanistica|volume= 26 |pages= 215–55, esp. 238–39.|last = Avarucci|first = Giuseppe|year = 1983|language=it}}</ref><ref>Huizinga, ''Erasmus'', pp. 4 and 6 (Dutch-language version)</ref>

Although associated closely with Rotterdam, he lived there for only four years, never to return afterwards. Information on his family and early life comes mainly from vague references in his writings. His parents could not be legally married: his father, Gerard, was a Catholic priest and curate in Gouda.<ref name="ReferenceA">Cornelius Augustijn, ''Erasmus: His life, work and influence'', University of Toronto, 1991</ref> His mother was Margaretha Rogerius (Latinized form of Dutch surname Rutgers),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref> the daughter of a doctor from [[Zevenbergen]]. She may have been Gerard's housekeeper.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>The 19th century novel ''[[The Cloister and the Hearth]]'', by [[Charles Reade]], is an account of the lives of Erasmus's parents.</ref> Although he was born out of wedlock, Erasmus was cared for by his parents until their early deaths from [[Black Death|the bubonic plague]] in 1483. His only sibling Peter might have been born in 1463, to Margaret and her first husband thus making him only the half brother of Erasmus. Erasmus on the other side called him his brother.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeMolen |first=Richard L. |date=1976 |title=Erasmus as adolescent: "Shipwrecked am I, and lost, mid waters chill". Erasmus to Sister Elisabeth |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20675524 |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=10–11 |jstor=20675524 |issn=0006-1999}}</ref>

Erasmus was given the highest education available to a young man of his day, in a series of monastic or semi-monastic schools. In 1475, at the age of nine, he and his older brother Peter were sent to one of the best Latin schools in the Netherlands, located at [[Deventer]] and owned by the chapter clergy of the [[Lebuïnuskerk, Deventer|Lebuïnuskerk]] (St. Lebuin's Church).<ref name="seop2009" group=note/> During his stay there the curriculum was renewed by the principal of the school, [[Alexander Hegius von Heek|Alexander Hegius]], a correspondent of pioneering rhetorician [[Rudolphus Agricola]]. For the first time in Europe north of the Alps, Greek was taught at a lower level than a university<ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander Hegius |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Hegius |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref> and this is where he began learning it.<ref>Peter Nissen: ''Geloven in de Lage landen; scharniermomenten in de geschiedenis van het christendom''. Davidsfonds/Leuven, 2004.</ref> His education there ended when plague struck the city about 1483,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roosen |first1=Joris |title=The Black Death and recurring plague during the late Middle Ages in the County of Hainaut: Differential impact and diverging recovery |date=2020 |isbn=978-94-6416-146-5 |page=174 |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/399979/dissertatie-joris%20roosen-full%20-%205f744c300d822.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=20 July 2023}}</ref> and his mother, who had moved to provide a home for her sons, died from the infection.<ref name="seop2009" group=note /> Following the death of his parents he was supported by Berthe de Heyden.<ref name=":7">DeMolen, Richard L. (1976),p.13</ref>

In about 1484 he and his brother went to a grammar school at [['s{{nnbsp}}Hertogenbosch]] run by the [[Brethren of the Common Life]].<ref>DeMolen, Richard L. (1976).pp.10–11</ref> He was exposed there to the [[Devotio moderna]] movement and the Brethren's famous book [[The Imitation of Christ]] but eschewed the harsh rules and strict methods of the religious brothers and educators.<ref name="seop2009" group=note/> The two brothers made an agreement that they would resist the clergy but attend the university.<ref name=":7" /> Instead, Peter left for the [[Canon regular#Canons Regular of Saint Augustine|Augustinian]] canonry in [[Stein, South Holland|Stein]], which left Erasmus feeling betrayed.<ref name=":7" /> Eventually Erasmus entered the same monastery in 1485/86.<ref group=note>"Poverty stricken, suffering from quartan fever, and pressurized by his guardians"{{cite web |last1=Juhász |first1=Gergely |title=The Making of Erasmus's New Testament and Its English Connections |url=https://www.academia.edu/48868408 |website=Sparks and Lustrous Words: Literary Walks, Cultural Pilgrimages |date=1 January 2019}}</ref><ref>DeMolen, Richard L. (1976),p.12</ref>

===Ordination and monastic experience===
[[File:Erasmus(buste).jpg|thumb|upright|200px|left|Bust by [[Hildo Krop]] (1950) in [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], where Erasmus spent his youth]]
Most likely in 1487,<ref name="xivxv">{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCY-z-mhTcC |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Poems |editor=Harry Vredeveld |others=Translated by Clarence H. Miller |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780802028679 |pages=xiv–xv}}</ref> poverty<ref name="cmsmlw"/> forced Erasmus into the consecrated life as a [[Canons regular|canon regular]] of St. Augustine at the canonry of Stein, near [[Gouda, South Holland]]. He took vows there in late 1488<ref name="xivxv"/> and was [[Holy orders in the Catholic Church|ordained]] to the [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|Catholic priesthood]] on 25 April 1492.<ref name="cmsmlw">[[Mark Galli|Galli, Mark]], and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know''. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2000, p. 343.</ref> It is said that he never seemed to have actively worked as a priest for a long time,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eHvizkUHZEC&q=wiki&pg=PR9|title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Spiritualia|date=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2656-9}}</ref> and certain abuses in [[religious order]]s were among the chief objects of his later calls to reform the Church from within.

While at Stein, Erasmus fell in love and formed a "passionate attachment" ({{lang-la|fervidos amores}}) with a fellow canon, Servatius Rogerus,<ref>Diarmaid MacCulloch, ''A History of Christianity'', 2010, p. 595</ref> and wrote a series of love letters<ref>Forrest Tyler Stevens, "Erasmus's 'Tigress': The Language of Friendship, Pleasure, and the Renaissance Letter". ''Queering the Renaissance'', Duke University Press, 1994</ref> in which he called Rogerus "half my soul", writing that "I have wooed you both unhappily and relentlessly."<ref>''Collected Works of Erasmus'', vol. 1, p. 12 ([[Toronto]]: University of Toronto Press, 1974)</ref><ref group=note>Erasmus editor Harry Vredeveld argues that the letters are "surely expressions of true friendship", citing what Erasmus said to Grunnius: "It is not uncommon at [that] age to conceive passionate attachments [''fervidos amores''] for some of your companions". However, he allows "That these same letters, which run the gamut of love's emotions, are undoubtedly also literary exercises—rhetorical {{lang-gr|progymnasmata}}—is by no means a contradiction of this."{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCY-z-mhTcC |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Poems |editor=Harry Vredeveld |others=Translated by Clarence H. Miller |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780802028679 |page=xv}}</ref> This correspondence contrasts<ref group=note>However, note that such crushes may not have been scandalous at the time: the [[Cistercian]] [[Aelred of Rievaulx]]'s influential book [[Aelred of Rievaulx#De spirituali amicitia|On Spiritual Friendship]] put intense adolescent and early-adult friendships between monks as natural and useful steps towards "spiritual friendships", following [[Augustine]].</ref> with the generally detached and much more restrained attitude he showed in his later life.<ref group=note>[[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] (2003). ''[[Reformation: A History]]''. p. 95. MacCulloch further adds in a footnote "There has been much modern embarrassment and obfuscation on Erasmus and Rogerus, but see the sensible comment in J. Huizinga, ''Erasmus of Rotterdam'' (London, 1952), pp. 11–12, and from Geoffrey Nutuall, ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 26 (1975), 403"</ref> No mentions or sexual accusations were ever made of Erasmus during his lifetime<ref group=note>The biographer J.J. Mangan commented of his time living with [[Andrea Ammonio]] in England "to some extent Erasmus thereby realized the dream of his youth, which was to live together with some choice literary spirit with whom he might share his thoughts and aspiration". Quoted in J.K. Sowards,''The Two Lost Years of Erasmus: Summary, Review, and Speculation'', Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 9 (1962), p174</ref> His works [[#On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)|praise]] moderate sexual desire in marriage between men and women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erasmus |first=Desiderius |date=May 23, 2009 |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippans, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Volume 43 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442691773 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8mB_FILtngC&q=Condemns }}</ref>

Soon after his priestly ordination he got his chance to leave the canonry when offered the post of secretary to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai|Bishop of Cambrai]], Henry of Bergen, on account of his great skill in Latin and his reputation as a man of letters.<ref>{{cite book |title=The University in Medieval Life, 1179–1499 |author1=Hunt Janin |edition=illustrated |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-5201-9 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC&pg=PA159 Extract of page 159]</ref>

In 1505 [[Pope Julius II]] granted a [[Dispensation (canon law)|dispensation]] from the vow of poverty to the extent of allowing Erasmus to hold certain benefices, and from the control and [[#Clothing|habit]] of his [[Canon regular#Reforms|order]], though he remained a priest.<ref group=note>Dispensed of his vows of [https://www.belmontabbey.org.uk/monastic-vows stability and obedience] from his obligations "by the constitutions and ordinances, also by statutes and customs of the monastery of Stein in Holland", quoted in J.K. Sowards,''The Two Lost Years of Erasmus: Summary, Review, and Speculation'', Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 9 (1962), p174</ref> In 1517 [[Pope Leo X]] granted legal dispensations for Erasmus' ''defects of natality'' and confirmed the previous dispensation.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Dispensation of Julius II for Erasmus |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1910 |volume=97 |issue=25 |jstor=549799 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/549799 |access-date=11 July 2023 |last1=Allen |first1=P. S. |last2=Colotius |first2=A. |pages=123–125 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXV.XCVII.123 }}</ref>
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===Travels===

{{routemap
| title = Cities and Routes of Erasmus
| legend = no
| map = Oxford, Cambridge~~ ! !KBHFa\\KBHFa\\\\ ~~
~~ ! !KRWl\KRW+lr\KRWr\\\\ ~~
London~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ ~~
Reading~~! !KBHFaq\ABZgr\\\\\~~
Canterbury~~ ~~ ! !\eBHF\\\\\fKBHFa~~Deventer
~~ ~~ ! !\uSTR\\\\\fBHF~~Utrecht
Calais~~ ~~ ! !\eBHF\\\\\fBHF~~Steyn
~~ ! !\ABZgl\STRq\STRq\STR+r\\fBHF ~~Delft/Rotterdam
St Omer ! !\BHF\\\STR\\fBHF ~~'s-Hertogenbosch
Paris, Cambrai ~~ ! !KBHFaq!~KBHFa\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\BHFq\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\fSTRr~~Brussels, Antwerp
Orléans ~~ ! !KBHFe\STR\\\BHF\\~~Louvain
~~ ~~ ! !\STR\\\STRl\STRq\STR+r
Turin~~ ~~! !\eBHF\\\\\ueBHF~~ ~~Cologne ~~
Bologna~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ueBHF~~ ~~Mainz ~~
~~ ! !KRW+l\KRWlr\KRW+r\\\\ueBHF ~~ Strasbourg
Florence~~ ~~ ! !eBHF\\STR\\\\uBHF~~Freiburg im Breisgau
Sienna,~~ Padua ~~! !eBHF\\BHF\nSTRq\nSTRq\nCONTfq\uBHF~~ ~~Basel
Rome,~~ Venice ~~! !eBHF\\KBHFe\\\\ueKBHFe~~Konstanz
Cumae~~ ~~! !eKBHFe\\\\\\ ~~
| footnote = Green: early life Dark circles: residence Thin line: Alpine crossing Blue lines: Rhine and English Channel
}}

Erasmus traveled widely and regularly, for reasons of poverty, "escape" from his [[Steyn]] canonry (to [[Cambrai]]), education (to [[Paris]], [[Turin]]), escape from the [[sweating sickness]] plague (to [[Orléans]]), employment (to [[England]]), searching libraries for manuscripts, writing ([[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]), royal counsel ([[Cologne]]), patronage, tutoring and chaperoning (North [[Italy]]), networking ([[Rome]]), seeing books through printing in person ([[Paris]], [[Venice]], [[Louvain]], [[Basel]]), and avoiding the persecution of religious fanatics (to [[Freiburg]].) He enjoyed horseback riding<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html|title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=ccel.org|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref>

====Paris====
In 1495 with Bishop Henry's consent and a stipend, Erasmus went on to study at the [[University of Paris]] in the [[Collège de Montaigu]], a centre of reforming zeal, under the direction of the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] [[Jan Standonck]], of whose rigors he complained.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Edward D. |last2=Lightfoot |first2=J.B. |last3=Kenyon |first3=Frederic G. |title=THE REVISIONS OF THE ENGLISH HOLY BIBLE: Misunderstandings and Misconceptions about the English Bible Translations |date=2022 |publisher=Christian Publishing House |isbn=9798352124185}}</ref> The university was then the chief seat of [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] learning but already coming under the influence of [[Renaissance]] humanism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundberg |first1=Christa |title=Apostolic theology and humanism at the University of Paris, 1490–1540 |date=16 February 2022 |doi=10.17863/CAM.81488 |url=https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.81488 |access-date=23 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> For instance, Erasmus became an intimate friend of an Italian humanist [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], poet and "professor of humanity" in Paris.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coroleu |first1=Alejandro |title=Printing and Reading Italian Latin Humanism in Renaissance Europe (ca. 1470-ca. 1540) |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-5894-6 |page=15 |url=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-5894-6-sample.pdf|access-date=11 July 2023}}</ref>

During this time, Erasmus developed a deep aversion to [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Scholasticism]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ptaszyński |first1=Maciej |title=Theologians and Their Bellies: The Erasmian Epithet Theologaster during the Reformation |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=8 October 2021 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=200–229 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04102001 |s2cid=240246657 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/41/2/article-p200_5.xml |issn=1874-9275|doi-access=free }}</ref> and started finding work as a tutor/chaperone to visiting English and Scottish aristocrats.

====England====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''English circle.<ref name=circle>{{cite ODNB |last1=Baker House |first1=Simon |title=Erasmus circle in England |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-96813 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/96813 |access-date=20 July 2023}}</ref> '''
| text = [[Thomas More]]{{•}}[[John Colet]]{{•}}[[Thomas Linacre]]{{•}}[[William Grocyn]]{{•}}[[William Lily (grammarian)|William Lily]]{{•}}[[Andrea Ammonio]]{{•}}[[Juan Luis Vives]]{{•}}[[Cuthbert Tunstall]] {{•}}[[Henry Bullock]]{{•}}[[Thomas Lupset]]{{•}}[[Richard Foxe]]{{•}}[[Christopher Urswick]]{{•}}[[Robert Aldrich (bishop)|Robert Aldrich]] 
''Patrons'': [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy|William Blount]]{{•}}[[William Warham]]{{•}}[[John Fisher]]{{•}} [[John Longland]]{{•}}[[Lady Margaret Beaufort|Margaret Beaufort]]{{•}}[[Catherine of Aragon]]{{•}}[[Henry VIII]]
}}
Erasmus stayed in England at least three times.<ref group=note>Some of these visits were interrupted by trips back to Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}</ref> In between he had periods studying in Paris, Orléans, Leuven and other cities.

[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Erasmus - Louvre.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]

=====First visit - 1499-1500=====
In 1499 he was invited to England by [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy]], who offered to accompany him on his trip to England.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Treu |first=Erwin |title=Die Bildnisse des Erasmus von Rotterdam |publisher=Gute Schriften Basel |year=1959 |pages=6–7 |language=de}}</ref> His time in England was fruitful in the making of lifelong friendships with the leaders of English thought in the days of King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]].

During his first visit to England in 1499, he studied or taught at the [[University of Oxford]]. Erasmus was particularly impressed by the Bible teaching of [[John Colet]], who pursued a style more akin to the [[church fathers]] than the [[Scholastics]]. Through the influence of the humanist John Colet, his interests turned towards theology.<ref name=":3" /> Other distinctive features of Colet's thought that may have influenced Erasmus are his pacifism,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Robert Pardee |title=Pacifism in the English Renaissance, 1497-1530: John Colet, Erasmus, Thomas More and J.L. Vives |date=1937 |publisher=University of Chicago |language=en}}</ref> reform-mindedness,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harper-Bill |first1=Christopher |title=Dean Colet's Convocation Sermon and the Pre-Reformation Church in England |journal=History |date=1988 |volume=73 |issue=238 |pages=191–210 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1988.tb02151.x |jstor=24413851 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24413851 |issn=0018-2648}}</ref> anti-Scholasticism and pastoral esteem for the sacrament of Confession.<ref name=tracy/>{{rp|94}}

This prompted him, upon his return from England to Paris, to intensively study the Greek language, which would enable him to study theology on a more profound level.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Erasmus also became fast friends with [[Thomas More]], whose thought (e.g., on conscience and equity) had been influenced by 14th century French theologian [[Jean Gerson]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Suzanne |first1=Hélène |title=Conscience in the Early Renaissance: the case of Erasmus, Luther and Thomas More |journal=Moreana |date=December 2014 |volume=51 |issue=3–4 (197–198) |pages=231–244 |doi=10.3366/more.2014.51.3-4.13 |language=en |issn=0047-8105}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Masur-Matusevich |first1=Yelena |title=Le père du siècle: the early modern reception of Jean Gerson (1363-1429) theological authority between Middle Ages and early modern era |date=2023 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-60225-7}}</ref>

=====Second visit - 1505-1506=====
[[File:Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger]]
For Erasmus' second visit, he spent over a year staying at [[Thomas More]]'s house, honing his translation skills.<ref name=circle/>

Erasmus preferred to live the life of an independent scholar and made a conscious effort to avoid any actions or formal ties that might inhibit his individual freedom.<ref name=":5">Treu, Erwin (1959),p.8</ref> In England Erasmus was approached with prominent offices but he declined them all, until the [[King Henry VII|King]] himself offered his support.<ref name=":5" /> He was inclined, but eventually did not accept and longed for a stay in Italy.<ref name=":5" />

=====Third visit - 1510-1515=====
The [[University of Cambridge]]'s Chancellor [[John Fisher]] arranged for Erasmus to be the [[Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity]], though Erasmus turned down the option of spending the rest of his life as a professor there. He studied and taught Greek and researched and lectured on [[Jerome]].<ref name=circle/> He assisted his friend John Colet by authoring Greek textbooks and securing members of staff for the newly established [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History and Archives |url=https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/about/history |website=St.Pauls}}</ref>

Erasmus mainly stayed at [[Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College]] while lecturing at the university,<ref>{{cite web|last=Askin|first=Lindsey|title=Erasmus and Queens' College, Cambridge|date=12 July 2013|url=http://queenslib.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/erasmus-and-queens-college/|website=Queens' Old Library Books Blog|publisher=Queenslib.wordpress.com|access-date=8 March 2014}}</ref> between 1510 and 1515.<ref>{{acad|id=ERSS465D|name=Erasmus, Desiderius}}</ref> Despite a chronic shortage of money, he succeeded in mastering Greek by an intensive, day-and-night study of three years, taught by [[Thomas Linacre]], continuously begging in letters that his friends send him books and money for teachers.<ref>Huizinga, Dutch edition, pp. 52–53.</ref>
<ref>{{cite web |last1=Herbert |first1=Amanda |title=Bibulous Erasmus |url=https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |website=The Recipes Project |date=23 January 2018}}</ref>

Erasmus' rooms were located in the "{{serif|I}}" staircase of Old Court. Erasmus suffered from poor health and was especially concerned with heating, clean air, ventilation and draughts: he complained about the draughtiness of English buildings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus, Life in 16th Century England |website=World Civilizations|url=https://wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs22.htm }}</ref> He complained that Queens' College could not supply him with enough decent wine<ref group=note>"Beer does not suit me either, and the wine is horrible." {{cite book |last1=Froud |first1=J.A. |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus |date=1896 |publisher=Scribner and Sons |page=112}}</ref> (wine was the Renaissance medicine for gallstones, from which Erasmus suffered).<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite book |last1=Seltman |first1=Charles |title=Wine In The Ancient World |date=1957 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.venugopal.697 |language=English}}|2={{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Fred M. |title=Thomas Linacre: Humanist, Physician, Priest |journal=The Linacre Quarterly |date=February 2021 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.1177/0024363920968427|doi-access=free }}|3={{cite web |last1=Herbert |first1=Amanda |title=Bibulous Erasmus |url=https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |website=The Recipes Project |date=23 January 2018}}}}</ref> As Queens' was an unusually humanist-leaning institution in the 16th century, [[Queens' College, Cambridge#Old Court|Queens' College Old Library]] still houses many first editions of Erasmus's publications, many of which were acquired during that period by bequest or purchase, including Erasmus's New Testament translation, which is signed by friend and Polish religious reformer [[Jan Łaski]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Library Collections|website=Queens' College Cambridge. Queens' Rare Book and Special Collections|url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections|publisher=Queens.cam.ac.uk|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213000139/http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During this time, Erasmus encouraged [[Thomas More]]'s book [[Utopia (More book)|Utopia]], perhaps even contributing fragments.<ref name="researchgate.net">{{cite journal |last1=Dungen |first1=Peter van den |title=Erasmus: The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace |journal=Journal of East Asia and International Law |date=30 November 2009 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=5 |doi=10.14330/jeail.2009.2.2.05 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291216079 |access-date=28 July 2023|hdl=10454/5003 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Erasmus may have made several other short visits to England or English territory while living in Brabant.<ref name=circle/> Both More and Tunstall were posted in Brussels or Antwerp on government missions around 1516, More for six months, Tunstall for longer.

====France and Brabant====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''French circle'''
| text = Jehan Vitrier{{•}}Jacob/James Batt{{•}}[[Publio Fausto Andrelini]]{{•}}[[Jodocus_Badius|Josse Bade]]{{•}}[[Louis de Berquin]] {{•}}[[Robert_Fisher_(priest)|Robert Fisher]]{{•}}[[Richard Whitford]]{{•}}[[Guillaume Budé]]{{•}}[[Thomas_Grey,_2nd_Marquess_of_Dorset|Thomas Grey]]{{•}}[[Hector Boece]]{{•}}[[Robert Gaguin]] 
''Opponents'': Noël Béda 
''Patrons'': Bishop Henry of Bergen,[[Thomas_Grey,_1st_Marquess_of_Dorset|Thomas Grey]], [[Anna_van_Borselen|Lady of Veere]]
}}

Following his first trip to England, Erasmus returned to semi-monastic life, scholarly studies and writing in France, notably at the Benedictine [[Abbey of Saint Bertin]] at St Omer (1501,1502), and then Brabant (Louven). A particular influence was his encounter in 1501 with Jean Voirier, a radical Franciscan who consolidated his thoughts against false valorization of monasticism, ceremonialism and fasting,<ref name=tracy>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus, the Growth of a Mind |date=1972 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-03041-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqvtT9d522IC&q=%22Jean+Voirier%22+++erasmus |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|94,95}} and introduced him to [[Origen]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |date=23 October 2023}}</ref>

====Italy====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''Italian circle'''
| text = [[Aldus Manutius]]{{•}}[[Giulio Camillo]]{{•}}[[Alexander_Stewart_(archbishop_of_St_Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]]{{•}}[[Pietro Bembo]]{{•}}[[Paulus_Bombasius|Bombasius]]{{•}}[[Marcus Musurus]]{{•}}[[Janus Lascaris]]{{•}}[[Giles of Viterbo]]{{•}}[[Egnazio]]{{•}}Carteromachus 
''Opponents'': [[Aleander]], [[Alberto_III_Pio,_Prince_of_Carpi|Alberto Pío]], [[Juan_Ginés_de_Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]] 
''Patrons'': Popes [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]], [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]], [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]], [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]], King [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]]
}}

In 1506 he was able to accompany the sons of the Italian personal physician of the King to Italy.<ref name=":5" />

His discovery ''[[Park Abbey|en route]]'' of [[Lorenzo Valla]]'s ''New Testament Notes'' was a major event in his career and prompted Erasmus to study the New Testament using [[philology]].<ref>{{Citation
| last=Anderson
| first=Marvin
| title=Erasmus the Exegete
| journal=Concordia Theeological Monthly
| volume=40
| issue=11
| year=1969
| pages=722–46
}}
</ref>

In 1506 they passed through Turin and he arranged to be awarded the degree of [[Doctor of Divinity]] from the [[University of Turin]] {{lang|la|[[per saltum]]}}.<ref name=":5" /> Erasmus was later present when [[Pope Julius II]] entered victorious into the conquered Bologna which he had besieged before.<ref name=":5" />

Erasmus travelled on to Venice, working on an expanded version of his Adagia at the [[Aldine Press]] of the famous printer [[Aldus Manutius]], advised which manuscripts to publish,<ref>Murray, Stuart. 2009. The library: an illustrated history. Chicago, ALA Editions</ref> and was an honorary member of the graecophone Aldine "New Academy" ({{lang-gr|Neakadêmia (Νεακαδημία)}}).<ref>Treu, Erwin (1959),pp.8–9</ref> According to his letters, he studied advanced Greek in Padua with the Venetian natural philosopher, [[Giulio Camillo]].<ref>''Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami'', Ed. H.M. Allen, (Oxford University Press, 1937), Ep. 3032: 219–22; 2682: 8–13.</ref>

Subsequently, he traveled to Rome, but he had a less active association with Italian scholars than might have been expected.

====Brabant (Flanders)====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''Burgundy/Louvain circle'''
| text = [[Adrian of Utrecht]]{{•}}[[Pieter Gillis]]{{•}}[[Martinus_Dorpius|Martin Dorp]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]{{•}}[[Albrecht Dürer]]{{•}}[[Dirk Martens]] 
''Opponents'': [[Jacobus_Latomus|Latomus]]{{•}}[[Edward_Lee_(bishop)|Edward Lee]]{{•}}[[Ulrich von Hutten]] 
''Patrons'': [[Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor|Charles V]]
}}

Erasmus had accepted an honorary position as a Councillor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]. He stayed in various locations including Anderlecht.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus House, Anderlecht |date=14 February 2016 |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/the-erasmus-house-a-historical-cultural-complex-not-to-be-missed/ |access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref>

His residence at Leuven, where he lectured at the [[Old University of Leuven|University]], exposed Erasmus to much criticism from those ascetics, academics and clerics hostile to the principles of literary and religious reform to which he was devoting his life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus and the Louvain Theologians — a Strategy of Defense |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=1990 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=2–12 |doi=10.1163/002820390X00024 |jstor=24009249 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24009249 |issn=0028-2030}}</ref> In 1514, he made the acquaintance of [[Hermann von dem Busche|Hermannus Buschius]], [[Ulrich von Hutten]] and [[Johann Reuchlin]] who introduced him to the Hebrew language in Mainz.<ref>{{Cite web |editor-last=Seidel Menchi |editor-first=S. |title=Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi – Erasmus, Opera Omnia |url=https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Brill |pages=50–51 |language=en}}</ref> In 1517, he supported the foundation at the university of the [[Collegium Trilingue]] for the study of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], Latin, and Greek<ref>Tracy, James D. ''Erasmus of the Low Countries''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. [http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft5q2nb3vp/ s1.14.14]</ref>—after the model of the College of the Three Languages at the [[Complutense University of Madrid#History|University of Alcalá]]—financed by his late friend [[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]'s will.<ref>{{cite web |title=500 years Collegium Trilingue |url=https://expo.bib.kuleuven.be/exhibits/show/500-years-collegium-trilingue/formation-of-the-collegium-tri |website=expo.bib.kuleuven.be |language=en}}</ref>

In 1520 he was present at the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] with [[Guillaume Budé]], his last meeting with [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]].<ref name=soward />

====Basel====
{{Side box |metadata=No
| above = '''Swiss circle'''
| text = [[Johannes Froben]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus Froben]]{{•}}[[Beatus Rhenanus]]{{•}}[[Bonifacius Amerbach]]{{•}}[[Hans Holbein the Younger]]{{•}}[[Simon Grynaeus]]{{•}}[[Sebastian Brandt]]{{•}}[[Wolfgang Capito]]{{•}}[[Damião de Góis]]{{•}}Gilbert Cousin 
''Opponents'': [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] 
''Patrons'': [[Counts_of_Dammartin#House_of_Vergy|Antoine I. de Vergy]], [[Christoph von Utenheim]]
}}
[[File:Desiderius Erasmus and Gilbert Cousin.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Desiderius Erasmus dictating to his ammenuensis Gilbert Cousin or Cognatus (unknown woodblock)]]

From 1514, Erasmus regularly traveled to [[Basel]] to coordinate the printing of his books with [[Froben]]. He developed a lasting association with the great Basel publisher [[Johann Froben]] and later his son [[Hieronymus Froben]] (Eramus' [[Godparent|godson]]) who together published over 200 works with Erasmus.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Müller|first=Christian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU5tQgAACAAJ|title=Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515-1532|publisher=[[Prestel]]|year=2006|isbn=978-3-7913-3580-3|pages=296|language=en}}</ref> His initial interest in Froben was aroused by his discovery of the printer's folio edition of the ''Adagiorum Chiliades tres'' ([[Adagia]]) (1513).<ref>Bloch Eileen M. (1965). "Erasmus and the Froben Press." ''Library Quarterly'' 35 (April): 109–20.</ref>

In 1521 he settled in Basel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (Hans Holbein the Younger) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-843 |website=print |publisher=British Museum |access-date=17 July 2023}} quoting G. Bartrum, ''German Renaissance Prints 1490-1550'', BM exh. cat. 1995, no. 238.</ref> He was weary of the controversies and hostility at Louvain, and feared being dragged further into the Lutheran controversy.<ref>https://utorontopress.com/9780802026040/the-correspondence-of-erasmus/ University of Toronto Press - The Correspondence of Erasmus</ref>

As the popular response to Luther gathered momentum, the social disorders, which Erasmus dreaded and Luther disassociated himself from, began to appear, including the [[German Peasants' War]], the [[Anabaptist]] insurrections in Germany and in the Low Countries, iconoclasm, and the radicalisation of peasants across Europe. If these were the outcomes of reform, he was thankful that he had kept out of it. Yet he was ever more bitterly accused of having started the whole "tragedy" (as Erasmus dubbed the matter).<ref group=note>"When the Lutheran tragedy ({{Lang-la|Lutheranae tragoediae }}) opened, and all the world applauded, I advised my friends to stand aloof. I thought it would end in bloodshed…", Letter to Alberto Pío, 1525, in e.g., {{cite web |url=/media/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Life_and_letters_of_Erasmus_%28IA_cu31924026502793%29.pdf|title=Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, p 322}}</ref>

====Freiburg====
Following iconoclastic rioting in 1529 lead by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]],<ref group=note>A sentence previously in this article said "Prominent reformators like [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Oecolampad]] urged him to stay." However, Campion, ''Erasmus and Switzerland'', op. cit., p26, says that Œcolampadius wanted to drive Erasmus from the city.</ref> the city of Basel definitely adopted the Reformation, and banned the Catholic mass on April 1, 1529.<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite web |title=Erasmus - Dutch Humanist, Protestant Challenge |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist/The-Protestant-challenge |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} | 2={{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=The Reformation in Basel. Oecolampadius. History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.iv.iv.iii.html}} }}</ref> Erasmus left Basel on the 13 April 1529 and departed by ship to the Catholic university town of [[Freiburg im Breisgau]], staying at the [[:de:Haus zum Walfisch|Haus zum Walfisch]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cM2GAQAACAAJ |title=Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man |date=1996 |publisher= Phoenix Giant|isbn=978-0297 815617 |pages=161–162 |language=en}}</ref>

===Death in Basel===
[[File:Erasmus grafsteen Münster van Bazel.JPG|thumb|200px|Epitaph for Erasmus in the [[Basel Minster]]]]
When his strength began to fail, he decided to accept an invitation by [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Queen Mary of Hungary, Regent of the Netherlands]], to move from Freiburg to [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]. In 1535, he moved back to [[Basel]] in preparation ([[Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] having died, and private practice of his religion now possible) and saw his last major works such as [[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]] through publication, but his health worsened. In 1536, he died from an attack of [[dysentery]].<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle= Desiderius Erasmus}}</ref>

He had remained loyal to Roman Catholicism,<ref group=note name="Church 1924">"He tried to remain in the fold of the old [Roman] Church, after having damaged it seriously, and renounced the [Protestant] Reformation, and to a certain extent even Humanism, after having furthered both with all his strength." [[Johan Huizinga]], ''Erasmus and the Age of Reformation'' (tr. F. Hopman and Barbara Flower; New York: Harper and Row, 1924), p. 190.</ref> but he did not have the opportunity to receive the [[last rites]] of the Catholic Church;<ref group=note>This assertion is contradicted by Gonzalo Ponce de Leon speaking in 1595 at the Roman [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Congregation of the Index]] on the (mostly successful) de-prohibition of Erasmus' works said that he died "as a Catholic having received the sacraments." {{cite journal |last1=Menchi |first1=Silvana Seidel |title=Sixteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2000 |volume=20 |issue=1 |page=30 |doi=10.1163/187492700X00048}}</ref> the contemporary reports of his death do not mention whether he asked for a Catholic priest or not, if any were in Basel. According to historian Jan van Herwaarden, this is consistent with Erasmus' view that outward signs were not important; what mattered is the believer's direct relationship with God. However, van Herwaarden observes that "he did not dismiss the rites and sacraments out of hand but asserted a dying person could achieve a state of salvation without the priestly rites, provided their faith and spirit were attuned to God" (i.e., maintaining being in a [[:wikt:state of grace|State of Grace]]) noting Erasmus' stipulation that this was "as the (Catholic) Church believes."<ref>
{{citation
|author= Jan Van Herwaarden
|title= Between Saint James and Erasmus: Studies in Late Medieval Religious Life
|location= Leiden |publisher= Brill|year= 2003
|pages= 529–530 |isbn= 9789004129849
}}
</ref>

His last words, as recorded by his friend and biographer [[Beatus Rhenanus]], were apparently "Dear God" ({{lang-nl|Lieve God}}).<ref>Huizinga, Dutch edition, p. 202.</ref> He was buried with great ceremony in the [[Basel Minster]] (the former cathedral). The Protestant city authorities remarkably allowed his funeral to be an ecumenical Catholic [[requiem mass]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campion |first1=Edmund |title=Erasmus and Switzerland |journal=Swiss American Historical Society |date=2003 |volume=39 |issue=3 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1412&context=sahs_review |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref>

As his heir he instated [[Bonifacius Amerbach]] to give money to the poor and needy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Müller|first=Christian|title=1495: Zum 500. Geburtstag des Bonifacius Amerbach – Basler Stadtbuch 1995|url=https://www.baslerstadtbuch.ch/stadtbuch/1995/1995_2385.html|access-date=2021-05-02|website=www.baslerstadtbuch.ch|publisher=Christian Merian Stiftung|page=46|language=de}}</ref> One of the eventual recipients was the impoverished Protestant humanist [[Sebastian Castellio]], who had fled from Geneva to Basel, who subsequently translated the Bible into Latin and French, and worked for the repair of the breach and divide of Christianity in its Catholic, Anabaptist, and Protestant branches.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sebastian Castellio, 1515-1563; Humanist and Defender of Religious Toleration in a Confessional Age; Translated and Edited by Bruce Gordon |last=Guggisbert |first=Hans |year=2003 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Hants England; Burlington, Vermont, USA |isbn=0754630196}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Thought and views==
Erasmus had a distinctive manner of thinking, a Catholic historian suggests: one that is capacious in its perception, agile in its judgments, and unsettling in its irony with "a deep and abiding commitment to human flourishing"<ref name="martinirony">Terrence J. Martin, ''Truth and Irony''[https://www.cuapress.org/9780813228099/truth-and-irony/] quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Michael |date=2019 |title=Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus (Review) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/39/1/article-p107_9.xml?rskey=MziQyb&result=1 |journal=Erasmus Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03901009 |s2cid=171963677}}</ref> He has been called moderate, judicious and constructive even when critical or mocking extremes.<ref name=ocker>{{cite book |last1=Ocker |first1=Christopher |title=The Hybrid Reformation: A Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Contending Forces |date=22 September 2022 |doi=10.1017/9781108775434.011}}</ref>

Erasmus has been called a seminal rather than a consistent or systematic thinker,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=James |title=Two Erasmuses and Two Luthers: Erasmus' strategy in defense of De libero arbitrio |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte |date=1987 |volume=78 |issue=jg |page=57 |doi=10.14315/arg-1987-jg03 |s2cid=171005154 |url=https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-1987-jg03 |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> notably averse to over-extending from the specific to the general; who nevertheless should be taken very seriously as a [[Pastoral theology|pastoral]] and rhetorical theologian, with a philological and historical approach—rather than a metaphysical approach—to interpreting Scripture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trinkaus |first1=Charles |title=Erasmus, Augustine and the Nominalists |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History |date=1976 |volume=67 |issue=jg |pages=5–32 |doi=10.14315/arg-1976-jg01 |s2cid=163790714 |url=https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-1976-jg01 |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> A theologian has written of "Erasmus’ preparedness completely to satisfy no-one but himself."<ref name=chester>{{cite journal |last1=Chester |first1=Stephen |title=When the Old Was New: Reformation Perspectives on Galatians 2:16 |journal=The Expository Times |date=April 2008 |volume=119 |issue=7 |pages=320–329 |doi=10.1177/0014524608091090}}</ref>
===Pacifism===
Peace, peaceableness and peacemaking, in all spheres from the domestic to the religious to the political, were central distinctives of Erasmus' writing on Christian living and his mystical theology:<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dart |first1=Ron |title=Erasmus: Then and Now |url=https://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2006/09/erasmus_then_an.html |website=Clarion: Journal for Religion, Peace and Justice |access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref> ''"the sum and summary of our religion is peace and unanimity"'' <ref group=note>''{{lang|la|Summa nostrae religionis pax est et unanimated}}''. Erasmus continued: "This can hardly remain the case unless we define as few matters as possible and leave each individual’s judgement free on many questions." {{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Letter to Carondelet: The Preface to His Edition of St. Hilary |date=1523}}</ref><ref group=note>Note that the use of ''summa'' is perhaps also a backhanded reference to the [[scholasticism|scholastic]] ''[[summa]]'', which he upbraided for their moral and spiritual uselessness.{{cite journal |last1=Surtz |first1=Edward L. |title="Oxford Reformers" and Scholasticism |journal=Studies in Philology |date=1950 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=547–556 |jstor=4172947 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4172947 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> At the [[Nativity of Jesus]] ''"the angels sang not the glories of war, nor a song of triumph, but a hymn of peace.":''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace, p57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-IvAAAAYAAJ&q=the+angels+sung+not+the+glories+of+war,+nor+a+song+of+triumph,+but+a+hymn+of+peace |website=Google Books |year=1813 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|He (Christ) conquered by gentleness; He conquered by kindness; he conquered by truth itself
|source=Method of True Theology, 4 <ref group=note>"{{lang-la|Vicit mansuetudine, vicit beneficentia}}" R. Sider translates ''vicit'' as "he prevailed" {{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert D. |title=A System or Method of Arriving by a Short Cut at True Theology by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=The New Testament Scholarship of Erasmus |date=31 December 2019 |pages=479–713 |doi=10.3138/9781487510206-020|isbn=9781487510206 |s2cid=198585078 }}</ref>{{rp|570}} }}

Erasmus was not an absolute [[Pacifist]] but promoted political [[Pacificism]] and religious [[Irenicism]].<ref name=ronpeace>{{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=The Christian Peace of Erasmus |journal=The European Legacy |date=2014 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=27–42 |doi=10.1080/10848770.2013.859793 |s2cid=143485311 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10848770.2013.859793}}</ref> Notable writings on irenicism include ''de Concordia'', ''On the War with the Turks'', ''The Education of a Christian Prince'', ''On Restoring the Concord of the Church'', and ''The Complaint of Peace''.

In the latter, Lady Peace insists on peace as the crux of Christian life and for understanding Christ:

{{Blockquote|I give you my peace, I leave you my peace" (John 14:27). You hear what he leaves his people? Not horses, bodyguards, empire or riches – none of these. What then? He gives peace, leaves peace – peace with friends, peace with enemies.|source= The Complaint of Peace<ref name="The Complaint of Peace">{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_Peace |website=Wikisources |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>}}

A historian has called him "The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace".{{refn|group=note|If any single individual in the modern world can be credited with "the invention of peace", the honour belongs to Erasmus rather than Kant whose essay on perpetual peace was published nearly three centuries later.<ref name="researchgate.net"/>}}

====War====
{{See also|Erasmus#The Complaint of Peace (1517)}}
Erasmus had experienced war as a child and was particularly concerned about wars between Christian kings, who should be brothers and not start wars; a theme in his book ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]].'' His Adages included ''"War is sweet to those who have never tasted it."'' (''{{lang|la|Dulce bellum inexpertis}}'' from [[:wikiquote:Pindar|Pindar]]'s Greek.)

He promoted and was present at the [[Field of Cloth of Gold]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/the-field-of-cloth-of-gold/|title=The Field of Cloth of Gold | Hampton Court Palace | Historic Royal Palaces|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref> and his wide-ranging [[List of Erasmus's correspondents|correspondence]] frequently related to issues of peacemaking. He saw a key role of the Church in peacemaking by arbitration.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Xheraj |first1=Blerina |title=Erasmus, Jus Canonicum and Arbitration |url=https://commercialarbitrationineurope.wordpress.com/2020/12/04/erasmus-jus-canonicum-and-arbitration/ |website=The Social and Psychological Underpinnings of Commercial Arbitration in Europe |date=4 December 2020 |publisher=University of Leicester}}</ref>

He questioned the practical usefulness and abuses{{refn|group=note|"I do not deny that I wrote some harsh things in order to deter the Christians from the madness of war, because I saw that these wars,which we witnessed for too many years, are the source of the biggest part of evils which damage Christendom. Therefore, it was necessary to come forward not only against these deeds, which are clearly criminal, but also against other actions, which are almost impossible to do without committing many crimes." Apology against Albert Pío <ref name=ronpeace/>{{rp|11}}}} of [[Just War theory]], further limiting it to feasible defensive actions with popular support and that "war should never be undertaken unless, as a last resort, it cannot be avoided."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dallmayr |first1=Fred R. |title=A War Against the Turks? Erasmus on War and Peace |journal=Asian Journal of Social Science |date=2006 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=67–85 |doi=10.1163/156853106776150225 |jstor=23654400 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23654400 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> In his ''Adages'' he discusses (common translation) "[[:wikiquote:Desiderius Erasmus|''A disadvantageous peace is better than a just war'']]", which owes to [[Just war theory#Renaissance and Christian Humanists|Cicero and John Colet]]'s "''Better an unjust peace than the justest war.''"

Erasmus was extremely critical of the warlike way of important European princes of his era, including some princes of the church.<ref>Erasmus was not out-of-step with opinion within the church: Archbishop Bernard II Zinni of [[Split,_Croatia|Split]] speaking at the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] (1512) denounced princes as the most guilty of ambition, luxury and a desire for domination. Bernard proposed that reformation must primarily involve ending war and schism. {{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |title=Concepts of Reform Proposed at the Fifth Lateran Council |journal=Archivum Historiae Pontificiae |date=1969 |volume=7 |pages=163–251 |jstor=23563707 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23563707 |issn=0066-6785}} p. 173,174</ref> He described these princes as corrupt and greedy. Erasmus believed that these princes "collude in a game, of which the outcome is to exhaust and oppress the commonwealth".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus of the Low Countries |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft5q2nb3vp&chunk.id=s1.7.4 |website=publishing.cdlib.org}}</ref> He spoke more freely about this matter in letters sent to his friends like [[Thomas More]], [[Beatus Rhenanus]] and [[Adrianus Barlandus]]: a particular target of his criticisms was the Emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], whom Erasmus blamed for allegedly preventing the Netherlands from signing a peace treaty with [[Duchy of Guelders|Guelders]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Holland Under Habsburg Rule, 1506-1566: The Formation of a Body Politic |date=23 October 2018 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-30403-1 |pages=68–70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7nADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |access-date=4 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> and other schemes to cause wars in order to extract money from his subjects. <ref group=note>James D.Tracy notes that mistrust of the Habsburg government in the general population (partially due to the fact Maximilian and his grandson [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] were absentee rulers, the secret nature of diplomacy and other circumstances) was widespread, but it is notable that intellectuals like Erasmus and Barlandus also accepted the allegations. {{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus of the Low Countries |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08745-3 |pages=94, 95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvbNbNMP_vcC&pg=PA94 |access-date=4 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

====Religious toleration====
[[File:Portret van Desiderius Erasmus (1469?-1536) Rijksmuseum SK-A-166.jpeg|thumbnail|200px|Portrait of Erasmus, after Quinten Massijs (1517)]]
He referred to his irenical disposition in the Preface to [[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]] as a ''secret inclination of nature'' that would make him even prefer the views of the [[Sceptics]] over intolerant assertions, though he sharply distinguished ''[[Adiaphora#Christianity|adiaphora]]'' from what was explicit in the [[Bible|New Testament]] and [[Magisterium|Church teaching]], where concord demanded unity and assent. In Melancthon's view, Erasmus taught charity not faith.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kusukawa |first1=Sachiko |title=Nineteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2003 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1163/187492703X00036}}</ref>{{rp|10}}

Certain works of Erasmus laid a foundation for religious toleration of private opinions and [[ecumenism]]. For example, in ''De libero arbitrio'', opposing certain views of Martin Luther, Erasmus noted that religious disputants should be temperate in their language, "because in this way the truth, which is often lost amidst too much wrangling may be more surely perceived." Gary Remer writes, "Like [[Cicero]], Erasmus concludes that truth is furthered by a more harmonious relationship between interlocutors."<ref>Remer, Gary, ''Humanism and the Rhetoric of Toleration'' (University Park: University of Pennsylvania Press 1996), p. 95 {{ISBN|0-271-02811-4}}</ref>

Erasmus' pacificism included a particular dislike for sedition:

{{Blockquote|text=It was the duty of the leaders of this (reforming) movement, if Christ was their goal, to refrain not only from vice, but even from every appearance of evil; and to offer not the slightest stumbling block to the Gospel, studiously avoiding even practices which, although allowed, are yet not expedient. Above all they should have guarded against all sedition.|source=Letter to Martin Bucer<ref name=huiz>{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |last2=Flower |first2=Barbara |title=Erasmus and the Age of Reformation |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22900/22900-h/22900-h.htm |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref>}}

Erasmus had been involved in early attempts to protect Luther and his sympathisers from charges of [[heresy]]. Erasmus wrote ''[[Colloquies#Inquisitio_de_fide_(Inquisition_of_faith)|Inquisitio de fide]]'' to limit what should be considered heresy to fractiously agitating against essential doctrines (e.g., those of the Creed), with malice and persistence. As with St [[Theodore the Studite]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Αποστολική Διακονία της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος |url=https://apostoliki-diakonia.gr/en_main/catehism/theologia_zoi/themata.asp?cat=patr&main=EH_texts&file=11.htm |website=apostoliki-diakonia.gr}}</ref> Erasmus was against the death penalty merely for private or peaceable heresy, or for dissent on non-essentials: "It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him."<ref>Froude, James Anthony
[https://archive.org/details/lifeandletterse02frougoog/page/n372  ''Life and letters of Erasmus: lectures delivered at Oxford 1893–4''] (London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1894), p. 359</ref> The Church has the duty to protect believers and convert or heal heretics.

Nevertheless, he allowed the death penalty against violent seditionists, to prevent bloodshed and war: he allowed that the state has the right to execute those who are a necessary danger to public order—whether heretic or orthodox—but noted (e.g., to [[:fr:Noël Béda]]) that [[Augustine]] had been against the execution of even violent [[Donatist]]s: Johannes Trapman states that Erasmus' endorsement of suppression of the Anabaptists springs from their refusal to heed magistrates and the criminal violence of the [[Münster rebellion]] not because of their heretical views on baptism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trapman |first1=Johannes |title=Erasmus and Heresy |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=2013 |volume=75 |issue=1 |page=12 |jstor=24329313 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24329313 |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref> Despite these concessions to state power, he suggested that religious persecution could still be challenged as inexpedient (ineffective).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defense of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=385}}</ref>

====Jews and Turks====
While the focus of most of his writing was about peace within [[Christendom]], he was involved in the [[On War Against the Turk|public policy debate]] on war with the [[Ottoman empire]], which was then invading [[Ottoman wars in Europe#1526-1566: Conquest of the Kingdom of Hungary|Western Europe]], notably in his book ''On the war against the Turks'' (1530), with Pope Leo X promoting going on the offensive with a new crusade.<ref group=note>"…the goal of ''De bello Turcico'' was
to warn Christians and the Church of moral deterioration and to exhort them to change their ways.… Erasmus’ objection to crusades was by no means an overall opposition to fighting the Turks. Rather, Erasmus harshly condemned embezzlement and corrupt fundraising, and the Church’s involvement in such nefarious activities, and regarded them as inseparable from waging a crusade." {{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=The Non-Cosmopolitan Erasmus: An Examination of his Turkophobic/Islamophobic Rhetoric |journal=Akademik Tarih ve Düşünce Dergisi (Academic Journal of History and Idea) |date=1 January 2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/67458204}} pp. 97,98</ref>

In common with his times,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Howell |first1=Rob |title=Islam as a Heresy: Christendom's Ideological View of Islam |journal=Fairmount Folio: Journal of History |date=2003 |volume=5 |url=https://journals.wichita.edu/index.php/ff/article/view/73 |language=en}}</ref> Erasmus regarded the Jewish and Islamic religions as Christian heresies rather than separate religions, using the inclusive term ''half-Christian'' for the latter. However, there is a wide range of scholarly opinion on the extent and nature of [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] and anti-Moslem prejudice in his writings: Erasmus scholar [[Shimon Markish]] wrote that the charge of [[Christian antisemitism|antisemitism]] could not be sustained in Erasmus' public writings,<ref>{{cite book |title=Erasmus and the Jews |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3641385.html |publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref> however historian Nathan Ron has found his writing to be harsh and racial in its implications, with contempt and hostility to Islam.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=Erasmus' attitude to towards Islam in the light of Nicholas of Cusa's De pace fidei and Cribiatio alkorani |journal=Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval |date=2019 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=113–136|doi=10.21071/refime.v26i1.11846 |s2cid=200062225 |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/7366141.pdf}} Reviewed: [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renaissance-quarterly/article/abs/erasmus-and-the-other-on-turks-jews-and-indigenous-peoples-nathan-ron-london-palgrave-macmillan-2019-xiv-196-pp-4164/A9692438D8CABC869D3344F1DFBA6C88 Renaissance Quarterly]</ref>

Erasmus was not vehemently antisemitic in the way of the later post-Catholic [[Martin Luther and antisemitism|Martin Luther]]; it was not a topic or theme of his public writing. Erasmus claimed not to be personally xenophobic: "For I am of such a nature that I could love even a Jew, were he a pleasant companion and did not spew out blasphemy against Christ"<ref>Letter to John Botzheim, quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defense of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=377}}</ref> however Markish suggests that it is probable Erasmus never actually encountered a (practicing) Jew.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/erasmus-of-rotterdam |website=Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=AICE |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref><ref group=note>Erasmus knew several converted Jews: his doctor Matthais Adrianus, who Erasmus recommended for the Trilingual College, and his doctor [[Paolo Riccio]], a professor of philosophy and imperial physician.{{cite journal |last1=Krivatsy |first1=Peter |title=Erasmus' Medical Milieu |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |date=1973 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=113–154 |jstor=44447526 |pmid=4584234 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44447526 |issn=0007-5140}} Erasmus's Spanish friend [[Juan Luis Vives#Early life|Juan Luis Vives]] came from a ''conversos'' family and his father had been executed as a ''Judaizer'' heretic.</ref>

Unusually for a Christian theologian of any time, he perceived and championed strong [[Erasmus#Classical|Hellenistic]] rather than exclusively Hebraic influences on the [[Hellenistic_Judaism#Cultural_legacy|intellectual milieux]] of Jesus, Paul and the early church.<ref group=note name=OT />

===== Interpretation caveats: analogy, irony, foils =====
* The picture is complicated because when Erasmus wrote of Judaism, he frequently was not referring to contemporary Jews but, by analogy with [[Second Temple Judaism]], to Christians of his time who mistakenly promoted external ritualism over interior piety,<ref group=note>For Markish, Erasmus' "theological opposition to a form of religious thought which he identified with Judaism was not translated into crude prejudice against actual Jews", to the extent that Erasmus could be described as 'a-semitic' rather 'anti-semitic'.{{cite web |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/erasmus-of-rotterdam |website=Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=AICE |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref> notably in the monastic lifestyle.<ref group=note>"Judaism I call not Jewish impiety, but prescriptions about external things, such as food, fasting, clothes, which to a certain degree resemble the rituals of the Jews." ''Declarationes ad censuras Lutetiae'', 1532. (Erasmus' counter-accusation of Judaizing may have been particularly sharp and bold, given the prominent role that some friars were playing in the lethal persecution of some ''[[conversos]]'' at the time in Spain.)</ref> Erasmus' pervasive anti-ceremonialism treated the early Church debates on circumcision, food and special days as manifestations of cultural chauvinism, a general human characteristic.{{refn|group=note|"The Jews" (i.e. the earliest Jewish Christians in Antioch) "because of a certain human tendency, desire(d) to force their own rites upon everyone, clearly in order under this pretext to enhance their own importance. For each one wishes that the things which he himself has taught should appear as outstanding." Erasmus, ''Paraphrase of Romans and Galations''<ref name=chester/>{{rp|321}} }}

* Erasmus often wrote in a highly ironical idiom,<ref name=martinirony/> especially in his letters,<ref group=note>His mode of expression made him "slippery like a snake" according to Luther - {{cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=Arnoud |title=Irreverent Reading: Martin Luther as Annotator of Erasmus |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=2017 |volume=48 |issue=1}})</ref> which makes them prone to different interpretations when taken literally rather than ironically.{{refn|group=note|For example, his quote on the persecution of Reuchlin "if it is Christian to hate Jews, we are all abundantly Christians here" is taken literally by Theodor Dunkelgrün<ref name=dunkel>{{cite journal |last1=Dunkelgrün |first1=Theodor |title=The Christian Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe |journal=The Cambridge History of Judaism |date=16 November 2017 |pages=316–348 |doi=10.1017/9781139017169.014|isbn=9781139017169 }}</ref>{{rp|320}} as being approving; the alternative view would be that it was sardonic and challenging.}}

* Terence J. Martin identifies an "Erasmian pattern" that the supposed (by the reader) otherness (of Jews, Turks, Lapplanders, Indians, and even women and heretics) "provides a [[Foil_(narrative)|foil]] against which the failures of Christian culture can be exposed and criticized."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Terence J. |title=Erasmus and the Other |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=181–200 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_012|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref> <ref group=note>
"If we really want to heave the Turks from our necks, we must first expel from our hearts a more loathsome race of Turks, avarice, ambition, the craving for power, self-satisfaction, impiety, extravagance, the love of pleasure, deceitfulness, anger, hatred, envy." Erasmus, ''de bello Turcico'', ''apud'' Ron, Nathan ''The Non-Cosmopolitan Erasmus: An Examination of his Turkophobic/Islamophobic Rhetoric'', ''op. cit.'' p 99: Ron takes this as an affirmation by Erasmus of the low nature of Turks; the alternative view would take it as a negative foil (applying the model of [[the Mote and the Beam]]) where the prejudice is [[Communication_accommodation_theory|appropriated]] in order to subvert it.</ref>

====Domestic and Community Peace====
{{Further |#On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)}}
{{Further |Pre-Tridentine Mass#Vernacular and laity in the medieval and Reformation eras}}
Erasmus' emphasis on peacemaking reflects a typical pre-occupation of medieval lay spirituality as historian John Bossy (as summarized by Eamon Duffy) puts it: "medieval Christianity had been fundamentally concerned with the creation and maintenance of peace in a violent world. “Christianity” in medieval Europe denoted neither an ideology nor an institution, but a community of believers whose religious ideal—constantly aspired to if seldom attained—was peace and mutual love."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duffy |first1=Eamon |title=The End of Christendom |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/11/the-end-of-christendom |website=First Things |access-date=27 November 2023 |language=en |date=1 November 2016}}</ref>

In marriage, Erasmus' two significant innovations, according to historian Nathan Ron, were that "matrimony can and should be a joyous bond, and that this goal can be achieved by a relationship between spouses based on mutuality, conversation, and persuasion."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=Erasmus: intellectual of the 16th century |date=2021 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4_4 |doi-broken-date=3 September 2023 |isbn=978-3-030-79859-8 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4_4}}</ref>{{rp|4:43}}

===Religious reform===
{{Catholic philosophy}}
====Anti-Fraternalism====
Reacting from his own experiences, Erasmus believed that monastic life and institutions no longer served the positive spiritual or social purpose they once may have: in the ''Enchiridion'' he controversially put it ''Monkishness is not piety''. Many of his works contain diatribes against supposed monastic corruption, and particularly against the mendicant friars (Franciscans and Dominicans): these orders also typically ran the university Scholastic theology programs and from whose ranks came his most dangerous enemies. He was scandalized by superstitions, such as that if you were buried in a Franciscan habit you would go direct to heaven. He advocated various reforms (some which were more like his own order of [[Augustinian Canons]]), including a ban on taking orders until the 30th year, the closure of corrupt and smaller monasteries, respect for bishops, requiring work not begging, the downplaying of monastic hours, fasts and ceremonies, and a less mendacious approach to gullible pilgrims and tenants. He believed the only vow necessary for Christians should be the vow of Baptism, and others such as the vows of the [[evangelical counsels]], while admirable in content, were now mainly counter-productive. These ideas widely influenced his generation of humanists, both Catholic and Protestant.<ref name=knowles/>{{rp|152}}

However, he was not in favour of speedy closures: in his account of his pilgrimage to Walsingham, he noted that the funds extracted from pilgrims typically supported houses for the poor and elderly.

====Catholic Reform====
The [[Protestant Reformation]] began in the year following the publication of his [[Textus receptus|pathbreaking]] edition of the [[Novum Instrumentum omne|New Testament]] in Latin and Greek (1516). The issues between the reforming and reactionary tendencies of the [[Catholic Church]], from which [[Protestantism]] later emerged, had become so clear that many intellectuals and churchmen could not escape the summons to join the debate.

According to historian Scott C. Dixon, Erasmus' not only criticized church failings but questioned many of his Church's basic teachings;<ref group=note name="Dixon 2012">"Erasmus had been [[criticism of the Catholic Church|criticizing the Catholic church]] for years before the [[Protestant Reformers|reformers]] emerged, and not just pointing up its failings but questioning many of its basic teachings. He was the author of a series of publications, including a [[Novum Instrumentum omne|Greek edition of the New Testament]] (1516), which laid the foundations for a model of Christianity that called for a pared-down, internalized style of religiosity focused on Scripture rather than the elaborate, and incessant, outward rituals of the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|medieval church]]. Erasmus was not a forerunner in the sense that he conceived or defended ideas that later made up the substance of the Reformation thought. [...] It is enough that some of his ideas merged with the later Reformation message." {{cite book |last=Dixon |first=C. Scott |year=2012 |title=Contesting the Reformation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i6kf0Tv_i1AC&pg=PA60 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |page=60 |isbn=978-1-4051-1323-6 }}</ref> however, according to biographer Erika Rummel, "Erasmus was aiming at the correction of abuses rather than at doctrinal innovation or institutional change."{{refn |group=note|"Unlike Luther, he accepted papal primacy and the teaching authority of the church and did not discount human tradition. The reforms proposed by Erasmus were in the social rather than the doctrinal realm. His principal aim was to foster piety and to deepen spirituality."
<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=The theology of Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology |date=2004 |pages=28–38 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-reformation-theology/theology-of-erasmus/A1916A5FFA073EEC8D42C60E03F028E3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CCOL0521772249.005 |isbn=9780521772242 }}</ref>{{rp|37}} }}

Erasmus, at the height of his literary fame, was called upon to take sides, but partisanship was foreign to his nature and his habits. Despite all his [[Criticism of the Catholic Church|criticism of clerical corruption and abuses within the Western Church]], especially at first he sided with neither party, and eventually shunned the Protestant Reformation movements along with their most [[Radical Reformation|radical offshoots]].<ref name="Hoffmann 1989"/>

The world had laughed at his satire, ''[[In Praise of Folly]]'', but few had interfered with his activities. He believed that his work so far had commended itself to the best minds and also to the dominant powers in the religious world. Erasmus chose to write in Latin (and Greek), the languages of scholars. He did not build a large body of supporters in the unlettered; his critiques reached a small but elite audience.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wallace|first=Peter G.|title=European History in Perspective: The Long European Reformation|year=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-333-64451-5|page=70}}</ref>

====Disagreement with Luther====
[[File:Albrecht Dürer - Portrait of Erasmus - WGA07088.jpg|thumb|200px|Albrecht Dürer, ''Portrait of Erasmus'', sketch: black chalk on paper, 1520.]]
Noting Luther's criticism of corruption in the Catholic Church, Erasmus at one time described him as "a mighty trumpet of gospel truth" while agreeing, "It is clear that many of the reforms for which Luther calls are urgently needed."<ref name="Galli, Mark 2000, p. 344">Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know''. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2000, p. 344.</ref> He then had great respect for Luther, and Luther spoke with admiration of Erasmus's superior learning.

Luther hoped for his cooperation in a work which seemed only the natural outcome of his own.<ref group=note>"In the first years of the Reformation many thought that Luther was only carrying out the program of Erasmus, and this was the opinion of those strict Catholics who from the outset of the great conflict included Erasmus in their attacks on Luther." [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref> In their early correspondence, Luther expressed boundless admiration for all Erasmus had done in the cause of a sound and reasonable Christianity and urged him to join the Lutheran party. Erasmus declined to commit himself, arguing that to do so would endanger the cause for {{Lang-la|[[Humanitas#Classical origins of term|bonae litterae]]}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=Erasmus and the Invention of Literature |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1 January 2013 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=22–54 |doi=10.1163/18749275-13330103}}</ref><ref group=note>good/moral/honest/brave [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonus#Latin] literature</ref> which he regarded as one of his purposes in life. Only as an independent scholar could he hope to influence the reform of religion. When Erasmus hesitated to support him, the straightforward Luther became angered that Erasmus was avoiding the responsibility due either to cowardice or a lack of purpose.

However, any hesitancy on the part of Erasmus may have stemmed, not from lack of courage or conviction, but rather from a concern over the mounting disorder and violence of the reform movement. To [[Philip Melanchthon]] in 1524 he wrote:

<blockquote>I know nothing of your church; at the very least it contains people who will, I fear, overturn the whole system and drive the princes into using force to restrain good men and bad alike. The gospel, the word of God, faith, Christ, and Holy Spirit – these words are always on their lips; look at their lives and they speak quite another language.<ref>{{cite book| chapter=Letter of 6 September 1524| title= Collected Works of Erasmus| year= 1992 | publisher=University of Toronto Press| volume=10| isbn= 0-8020-5976-7 |page= 380 | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bYVEgXbiunkC&pg=PA380}}</ref></blockquote>

Though he sought to remain firmly neutral in doctrinal disputes, each side accused him of siding with the other, perhaps because of his perceived influence and what they regarded as his dissembling neutrality,<ref group=note>Future cardinal [[Aleander]], his former friend and roommate at the [[Aldine Press]], wrote "The poison of Erasmus has a much more dangerous effect than that of Luther" [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref> which he regarded as peacemaking [[Accommodation (religion)#Christian accommodation|accommodation]]:

{{Blockquote|text=I detest dissension because it goes both against the teachings of Christ and against a secret inclination of nature. I doubt that either side in the dispute can be suppressed without grave loss.
|source="On Free Will"<ref name="Galli, Mark 2000, p. 344"/>}}

=====Dispute on Free Will=====
{{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}}
{{Further | #On Free Will (1524)}}
By 1523 Erasmus had been convinced that Luther's ideas on necessity/free will was a subject of core disagreement deserving a public airing and strategized with friends and correspondents<ref>{{cite web |last1=Emerton |first1=Ephraim |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47517/47517-h/47517-h.htm#FNanchor_152 |website=Project Guttenberg |access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref> on how to respond with proper moderation<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alfsvåg |first1=Knut |title=The Identity of Theology (Dissertation) |date=October 1995 |pages=6, 7 |url=https://www.alfsvag.com/onewebmedia/IdentityofTheology.pdf}}</ref> without making the situation worse for all, especially for the humanist reform agenda.

The publication of his brief book ''On Free Will'' initiated what has been called "The greatest debate of that era" <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Costello |first1=Gabriel J. |title=Erasmus, Luther and the Free Will Debate: Influencing the Philosophy of Management 500 Years on-whether we realise it or not! |journal=Conference: Philosophy of Management Conference University of Greenwich |date=2018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325127081 |access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> which still has ramifications today,<ref name=massing /> bypassing discussion on reform which they agreed on in general, and instead dealing with biblical justifications of [[synergism]] versus [[monergism]] in relation to salvation.

Luther responded with ''[[w:On the Bondage of the Will|On the Bondage of the Will (De servo arbitrio)]]'' (1525). Erasmus replied to this in his lengthy two volume ''Hyperaspistes'' and other works.

Apart from the perceived moral failings among followers of the Reformers, an important sign for Erasmus, he also dreaded any change in doctrine, citing the long history of the Church as a bulwark against innovation. He put the matter bluntly to Luther:
{{Blockquote|text=We are dealing with this: Would a stable mind depart from the opinion handed down by so many men famous for holiness and miracles, depart from the decisions of the Church, and commit our souls to the faith of someone like you who has sprung up just now with a few followers, although the leading men of your flock do not agree either with you or among themselves – indeed though you do not even agree with yourself, since in this same ''Assertion''<ref>A reference to Luther's ''Assertio omnium articulorum per bullam Leonis X. novissimam damnatorum'' (Assertion of all the Articles condemned by the Bull of Leo X, 1520), [[Weimar edition of Martin Luther's works|WA]] VII.</ref> you say one thing in the beginning and something else later on, recanting what you said before.|source=''Hyperaspistes'' I<ref>''Collected Works of Erasmus, Controversies: De Libero Arbitrio / Hyperaspistes I'', Peter Macardle, Clarence H. Miller, trans., Charles Trinkhaus, ed., University of Toronto Press, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-4317-7}} Vol. 76, p. 203</ref>}}

Continuing his chastisement of Luther – and undoubtedly put off by the notion of there being "no pure interpretation of Scripture anywhere but in Wittenberg"<ref>{{cite book|author=István Pieter Bejczy|title=Erasmus and the Middle Ages: The Historical Consciousness of a Christian Humanist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxLV1yVyT7sC&pg=PA172|year=2001|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-12218-4|page=172}}</ref> – Erasmus touches upon another important point of the controversy:

{{Blockquote|text=You stipulate that we should not ask for or accept anything but Holy Scripture, but you do it in such a way as to require that we permit you to be its sole interpreter, renouncing all others. Thus the victory will be yours if we allow you to be not the steward but the lord of Holy Scripture.|source=''Hyperaspistes'', Book I<ref>''Hyperaspistes'', Book I, ''Collected Works of Erasmus'', Vol. 76, pp. 204–05.</ref>}}

==== "False evangelicals" ====
In 1529, Erasmus wrote "An epistle against those who falsely boast they are Evangelicals" to Vulturius Neocomus ([[w:Gerard Geldenhouwer|Gerardus Geldenhouwer]]). Here Erasmus complains of the doctrines and morals of the Reformers:<ref>''The Reformers on the Reformation (foreign),'' London, Burns & Oates, 1881, pp. 13–14. [https://archive.org/stream/a636947900londuoft#page/12/mode/2up/search/vulturius+neocomus] See also ''Erasmus'', Preserved Smith, 1923, Harper & Brothers, pp. 391–92. [https://books.google.com/books?id=l0obJ9XfPMUC&pg=PA391]</ref>

{{Blockquote| text=You declaim bitterly against the luxury of priests, the ambition of bishops, the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff, and the babbling of the sophists; against our prayers, fasts, and Masses; and you are not content to retrench the abuses that may be in these things, but must needs abolish them entirely. ... Look around on this 'Evangelical' generation,<ref>"Circumspice populum istum Euangelicum…" Latin text in Erasmus, ''Opera Omnia'', (1706), vol. 10, 1578BC. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WIhDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT174]</ref> and observe whether amongst them less indulgence is given to luxury, lust, or avarice, than amongst those whom you so detest. Show me any one person who by that Gospel has been reclaimed from drunkenness to sobriety, from fury and passion to meekness, from avarice to liberality, from reviling to well-speaking, from wantonness to modesty. I will show you a great many who have become worse through following it. ...The solemn prayers of the Church are abolished, but now there are very many who never pray at all. ... I have never entered their conventicles, but I have sometimes seen them returning from their sermons, the countenances of all of them displaying rage, and wonderful ferocity, as though they were animated by the evil spirit. ... Who ever beheld in their meetings any one of them shedding tears, smiting his breast, or grieving for his sins? ...Confession to the priest is abolished, but very few now confess to God. ...They have fled from Judaism that they may become Epicureans.
|source=''Epistola contra quosdam qui se falso iactant evangelicos.''<ref>{{cite book |editor=Manfred Hoffmann| title=Controversies | publisher=University of Toronto Press |year= 2010 | isbn=978-1-4426-6007-6 | doi=10.3138/9781442660076 | page=}}</ref>}}

====Sacraments====
A test of the Reformation was the doctrine of the sacraments, and the crux of this question was the observance of the [[Eucharist]]. Erasmus was concerned that the [[sacramentarian]]s, headed by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] of Basel, were claiming Erasmus held views similar to their own in order to try to claim him for their schismatic and "erroneous" movement. In 1530, Erasmus published a new edition of the orthodox treatise of [[Algerus]] against the heretic [[Berengar of Tours]] in the eleventh century. He added a dedication, affirming his belief in the reality of the Body of Christ after consecration in the Eucharist, commonly referred to as [[transubstantiation]].
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Praise-of-Folly-by-Erasmus|title = Praise of Folly | work by Erasmus | Britannica}}</ref>

==== Other====
Erasmus wrote books against aspects of the teaching, impacts or threats of several other Reformers:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Regier |first1=Willis |title=Review of Erasmus, Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 78, trans. Peter Matheson, Peter McCardle, Garth Tissol, and James Tracy. |journal=Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature |date=1 January 2011 |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol9/iss2/5 |access-date=6 August 2023 |issn=1523-5734}}</ref>

* [[Ulrich von Hutten]] ''Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni'' (1523) see [[#A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523)|below]]
* [[Martin Bucer]] ''Responsio ad fratres Inferioris Germaniae ad epistolam apologeticam incerto autoreproditam'' (1530)
* [[:de:Heinrich Eppendorf|Heinrich Eppendorf]] ''Admonitio adversus mendacium et obstrectationem'' (1530)

However, Erasmus maintained friendly relations with other Protestants, notably the irenic [[Melancthon]] and [[Albrecht Duerer]].

A common accusation, supposedly started by antagonistic monk-theologians, made Erasmus responsible for Martin Luther and the Reformation: "Erasmus laid the egg, and Luther hatched it." Erasmus wittily dismissed the charge, claiming that Luther had "hatched a different bird entirely."<ref>[http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/reynoldserasmusresponsibleluther.pdf ''Concordia Theological Journal''] Was Erasmus Responsible for Luther? A Study of the Relationship of the Two Reformers and Their Clash Over the Question of the Will, Reynolds, Terrence M. p. 2, 1977. Reynolds references Arthur Robert Pennington [https://archive.org/details/lifeandcharacte00penngoog/page/n242 ''The Life and Character of Erasmus'', p. 219, 1875.]</ref> Erasmus-reader [[Peter Canisius]] commented: "Certainly there was no lack of eggs for Luther to hatch."<ref name=canisius>{{cite book |first=Himer M.|last= Pabel|chapter= Praise and Blame: Peter Canisius's ambivalent assessment of Erasmus |editor-last1=Enenkel |editor-first1=Karl Alfred Engelbert |title=The reception of Erasmus in the early modern period |date=2013 |page=139 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_007 | isbn=9789004255630}}</ref><ref group=note>Another commentator: "Erasmus laid the egg that Luther broke" {{cite web |last1=Midmore |first1=Brian |title=The differences between Erasmus and Luther in their approach to reform |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207041537/http://www.passionforgrace.org.uk/Erasluther.html |website=web.archive.org |access-date=3 December 2023 |date=7 February 2007}}</ref>

=== Philosophy and Erasmus ===
[[File:Hans Holbein d.J. und Werkstatt - Erasmus von Rotterdam.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger and workshop]]
Erasmus has a problematic standing in the history of philosophy: whether he should be called a philosopher at all.<ref group="note">For Craig R. Thompson, Erasmus cannot be called philosopher in the technical sense, since he disdained formal logic and metaphysics and cared only for moral philosophy. Similarly, John Monfasani reminds us that Erasmus never claimed to be a philosopher, was not trained as a philosopher, and wrote no explicit works of philosophy, although he repeatedly engaged in controversies that crossed the boundary from philosophy to theology. His relation to philosophy bears further scrutiny. 
{{Cite web |last=MacPhail |first=Eric |title=Desiderius Erasmus (1468?—1536) |url=https://iep.utm.edu/erasmus/#H2 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref> Erasmus appraised himself to be a rhetorician or grammarian not a philosopher.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |title=Erasmus and the Philosophers |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref>{{rp|66}} He was particularly influenced by satirist and rhetorician [[Lucian]].<ref group=note>"According to Erasmus, Lucian’s laughter is the most appropriate instrument to guide pupils towards moral seriousness because it is the denial of every peremptory and dogmatic point of view and, therefore, the image of a joyful ''pietas'' (“true religion ought to be the most cheerful thing in the world”; ''De recta pronuntiatione'', CWE 26, 385). By teaching the relativity of communicative situations and the variability of temperaments, the laughter resulting from the art of rhetoric comes to resemble the most sincere content of Christian morality, based on tolerance and loving persuasion." {{cite journal |last1=Bacchi |first1=Elisa |title=Hercules, Silenus and the Fly: Lucian's Rhetorical Paradoxes in Erasmus' Ethics |journal=Philosophical Readings Online Journal of Philosophy|date=2019 |volume=CI |issue=2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38549692}}</ref> Erasmus' writings shifted "an intellectual culture from logical disputation about things to quarrels about texts, contexts, and words."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ocker |first1=Christopher |title=Review: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 73: Controversies: Apologia de 'In Principio Erat Sermo', Apologia de Loco 'Omnes quidem', De Esu Carnium, De Delectu Ciborum Scholia, Responsio ad Collationes, edited by Drysdall, Denis L. |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2017 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=229–231 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03702007}}</ref>

====''Philosophia Christi''====
Erasmus approached [[Ancient philosophy#Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy|classical philosophers]] theologically and rhetorically: their value was in how they pre-saged, explained or amplified the unique teachings of Christ: the ''philosophia Christi''.<ref group=note>"Why don't we all reflect: this must be a marvelous and new philosophy since, in order to reveal it to mortals, he who was god became man..."{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Paraclesis |date=1516 |url=https://www.cite-osucc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Erasmus.Paraclesis.1516.pdf |access-date=11 August 2023}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|A Lutheran view: "''Philosophia christiana'' as
taught by Erasmus has never been factual reality; wherever it was ''philosophia'', it was not ''christiana''; wherever it was ''christiana'', it was not ''philosophia''." [[Karl Barth]]<ref name=ewolf/>{{rp|1559}} }} "A great part of the teaching of Christ is to be found in some of the philosophers, particularly Socrates, Diogenes and Epictetus. But Christ taught it much more fully, and exemplified it better..." (''Paraclesis'') In fact, Christ was "the very father of philosophy" (''Anti-Barbieri''.)<ref group=note>Similar to [[John Wycliffe]]'s statement "the greatest philosopher is none other than Christ."{{cite book |last1=Lahey |first1=Stephen Edmund |title=John Wyclif |date=1 May 2009 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183313.003.0005}}</ref>

In works such as his ''Enchiridion'', The Education of a Christian Prince and the Colloquies, Erasmus developed his idea of the ''philosophia Christi'', a life lived according to the teachings of Jesus taken as a (spiritual-ethical-social-political-legal<ref name=ewolf/>) philosophy:

{{Blockquote|text=Christ the heavenly teacher has founded a new people on earth,…Having eyes without guile, these folk know no spite or envy; having freely castrated themselves, and aiming at a life of angels while in the flesh, they know no unchaste lust; they know not divorce, since there is no evil they will not endure or turn to the good; they have not the use of oaths, since they neither distrust nor deceive anyone; they know not the hunger for money, since their treasure is in heaven, nor do they itch for empty glory, since they refer all things to the glory of Christ.…these are the new teachings of our founder, such as no school of philosophy has ever brought forth.|source=Erasmus, ''Method of True Theology''}}

Useful "philosophy" needed to be limited to (or re-defined as) the practical and moral:
{{blockquote|You must realize that 'philosopher' does not mean someone who is clever at dialectics or science but someone who rejects illusory appearance and undauntedly seeks out and follows what is true and good. Being a philosopher is in practice the same as being a Christian; only the terminology is different."|source= Erasmus, ''Anti-Barbieri''}}

====Classical====
Erasmus syncretistically took phrases, ideas and motifs from many classical philosophers to furnish discussions of Christian themes: academics have identified aspects of his thought as variously [[Platonist]] (duality),<ref group=note>{{ citation|mode=cs1|quote=Erasmus does not engage with Plato as a philosopher, at least not in any rigorous sense, but rather as a rhetorician of spiritual experience, the instigator of a metaphorical system which coheres effectively with Pauline Christianity.|first= Dominic |last=Baker-Smith|title= Uses of Plato by Erasmus and More |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511553806.010 |quote-page=92}}</ref> [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynical]] ([[asceticism]]),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laursen |first1=J. C. |title=Erasmus and Christian Cynicism as Cultural Context for Toleration |journal=Theological Foundations of Modern Constitutional Theory|publisher= Nantes Institute for Advanced Study |date=2016 |url=https://www.iea-nantes.fr/rtefiles/File/Ateliers/2016%20Hong/erasmus-and-christian-cynicism-j-c-laursen.pdf |access-date=8 August 2023}}</ref>
<ref name=dogs/> [[Stoicism|Stoic]] ([[adiaphora]]),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dealy |first1=Ross |title=The Stoic Origins of Erasmus' Philosophy of Christ |date=2017 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1kgqwzz |access-date=11 August 2023 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1kgqwzz |isbn=9781487500610 }}</ref> [[Epicurean]] ([[ataraxia]],<ref group=note>"Despite a lack of formal philosophical training and an antipathy to medieval [[scholasticism]], Erasmus possessed not only a certain familiarity with [[Thomas Aquinas]], but also close knowledge of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]]. Erasmus’ interest in some Platonic motifs is well known. But the most consistent philosophical theme in Erasmus’ writings from his earliest to his latest was that of the [[Epicurean]] goal of peace of mind, ''[[ataraxia]]''. Erasmus, in fact, combined Christianity with a nuanced Epicurean morality. This Epicureanism, when combined in turn with a commitment to the ''[[Sensus fidelium#Use by the magisterium|consensus Ecclesiae]]'' as well as with an allergy to dogmatic formulations and an appreciation of the [[Greek Fathers]], ultimately rendered Erasmus alien to [[Martin Luther|Luther]] and [[Protestantism]] though they agreed on much." Abstract of {{cite journal |last1=Monfasani |first1=John |title=Twenty-fifth Annual Margaret Mann Phillips Lecture: Erasmus and the Philosophers |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2012 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=47–68 |doi=10.1163/18749275-00000005}}</ref> pleasure as virtue),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leushuis |first1=Reinier |title=The Paradox of Christian Epicureanism in Dialogue: Erasmus' Colloquy The Epicurean |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2015 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=113–136 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03502003}}</ref> and realist/non-voluntarist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2010/12/a-much-neglected-basic-choice-in-theology/|title=A Much Neglected Basic Choice in Theology|first=Roger E.|last=Olson|date=26 December 2010|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref> However, his Christianized version of [[Epicureanism]] is regarded as his own.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Linkels |first1=Nicole |title=Philosophy and Religion in service of the Philosophia Christi |journal=Erasmus Student Journal of Philosophy |date=2013 |issue=5 |page=48 |url=https://www.eur.nl/sites/corporate/files/ESJP.5.2013.04.Linkels.pdf |access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref>

Erasmus was sympathetic to a kind of [[Pyrrhonism|Scepticism]]:

{{Blockquote| A Sceptic is not someone who doesn't care to know what is true or false…but rather someone who does not make a final decision easily or fight to the death for his own opinion, but rather accepts as probable what someone else accepts as certain…I explicitly exclude from Scepticism whatever is set forth in Sacred Scripture or whatever has been handed down to us by the authority of the Church. |source= Erasmus<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |last2=MacPhail |first2=Eric |title=Desiderius Erasmus |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/#Meth |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |date=2021}}</ref>}}

He eschewed metaphysical, epistemological and logical philosophy as found in [[Peripatetic school|Aristotle]],<ref group=note>In the ''Adagia'', Erasmus quotes Aristotle 304 times, "making extensive use of the moral, philosophical, political, and rhetorical writings as well as those on natural philosophy, while completely shunning the logical works that formed the basis for scholastic philosophy" {{cite book |last1=Mann Phillips |first1=Margaret |title=The 'Adages' of Erasmus. A Study with Translations |date=1964 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} apud {{cite book |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |chapter=Erasmus and the Philosophers |title=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref> in particular the curriculum and systematic methods of the post-Aquinas Schoolmen ([[Scholastics]]) and their dry, useless [[Aristoteleanism]]: "What has Aristotle to do with Christ?"<ref>Letter to Dorp {{cite book |title=The Erasmus Reader |chapter=Letter to Dorp |date=1990 |pages=169–194 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |isbn=9780802068064 }}</ref> We should avoid philosophical factionalism and so "make the whole world Christian."<ref>{{cite book |title=Collected works of Erasmus: an introduction with Erasmus' prefaces and ancillary writings |date=2019 |publisher=University of Toronto press |location=Toronto Buffalo (N.J.) London |isbn=9780802092229}}</ref>{{rp|851}} Indeed, Erasmus thought that Scholastic philosophy actually distracted participants from their proper focus on immediate morality,<ref group=note>Rice puts it "Philosophy is felt to be a veil of pretense over an unethical reality…pious disquisitions cannot excuse immorality." {{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=Eugene F. |title=Erasmus and the Religious Tradition, 1495-1499 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1950 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=387–411 |doi=10.2307/2707589 |jstor=2707589 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2707589 |issn=0022-5037}} pp. 402-404</ref><ref group=note>"For I am ready to swear that Epimenides came to life again in Scotus." ''Erasmus to Thomas Grey'' Nichols, ep. 59; Allen, ep 64</ref> unless used moderately.{{refn|group=note|"Like [[Jean Gerson]] before him, he recommended that (scholastic method) be practiced with greater moderation and that it be complemented by the new philological and patristic knowledge that was becoming available." <ref name=origenscheck/>{{rp|26}} }} And, by "excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation."<ref group=note>"I find that in comparison with the Fathers of the Church our present-day theologians are a pathetic group. Most of them lack the elegance, the charm of language, and the style of the Fathers. Content with Aristotle, they treat the mysteries of revelation in the tangled fashion of the logician. Excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation." ''Enchiridion'', Erasmus, ''apud'' {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }} p. 86</ref>

Erasmus wrote in terms of a tri-partite nature of man, with the soul the seat of free will:

{{Blockquote|The body is purely material; the spirit is purely divine; the soul…is tossed back and forwards between the two according to whether it resists or gives way to the temptations of the flesh. The spirit makes us gods; the body makes us beasts; the soul makes us men.|Erasmus<ref name=laytam/>
}}

According to theologian [[George van Kooten]], Erasmus was the first modern scholar "to note the similarities between Plato's ''Symposium'' and John's Gospel", first in the ''Enchiridion'' then in the ''Adagia'', pre-dating other scholarly interest by 400 years.<ref name="vanKooten">{{cite web |last1=van Kooten |first1=George |title=Three Symposia |url=https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/inaugural-lecture-george-van-kooten-three-symposia.pdf |website=Faculty of Divinity |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=5 August 2023}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

==Notable writings==
Erasmus wrote both on church subjects and those of general human interest.<ref group=note>"Three areas preoccupied Erasmus as a writer: language arts, education, and biblical studies. …All of his works served as models of style. …He pioneered the principles of textual criticism." {{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Christian History 145 Erasmus: Christ's humanist by Christian History Institute - Issuu |website=issuu.com |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |pages=7, 8 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |language=en}}</ref><ref>Tello, Joan. ''[https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004539686/BP000013.xml Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam]''. In Eric MacPhail (ed.), ''A Companion to Erasmus''. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2023, 225-344.</ref> By the 1530s, the writings of Erasmus accounted for 10 to 20 percent of all book sales in Europe.<ref>Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know. Nashville: Holman Reference,'' 2000, 343.</ref>

His letter to [[Ulrich von Hutten]] on [[Thomas More]]'s household has been called "the first real biography in the real modern sense."<ref name=portrait>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=David R |title=Portrait and Counter-Portrait in Holbein's The Family of Sir Thomas More |journal=The Art Bulletin |date=September 2005 |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=484–506 |doi=10.1080/00043079.2005.10786256}}</ref>

=== Adages (1500-1520) ===
[[File:Erasmus - 1508 - Adagia - honorificabilitudinitatibus.jpg|thumbnail|400px|Entry in ''Adagia'' mentioning ''honorificabilitudinitatibus'']]
{{Main|Adagia}}
{{See also|Paremiography}}

With the collaboration of [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], he made a collection of Latin proverbs and adages, commonly known as the ''[[Adagia]]''. It includes the adage "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." He coined the adage "[[Pandora's box]]", arising through an error in his translation of [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Pandora]]'' in which he confused ''pithos'' (storage jar) with ''pyxis'' (box).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pandora's Box in Greek Mythology|url=https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/pandoras-box.html|access-date=2021-02-10|website=Greek Legends and Myths|language=en}}</ref>

Examples of Adages are: [[Festina lente|more haste, less speed]]; [[The Eagle and the Beetle|a dung beetle hunting an eagle]].

Erasmus later spent nine months in Venice at the [[Aldine Press]] expanding the Adagia to over three thousand entries;<ref>{{cite web |last1=Willinsky |first1=John |title=Make Haste Slowly: Aldus and Erasmus, Printers and Scholars |url=https://aldine.lib.sfu.ca/willinsky-make-haste-slowly |website=The Wosk-McDonald Aldine Collection |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> in the course of 27 editions, it expanded to over four thousand entries in Basel at the [[Johann Froben|Froben press]]. It "introduced a fairly wide audience to the actual words and thoughts of the ancients."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }}</ref>{{rp|81}}
{{clear}}

=== Handbook of the Christian Soldier (1501) ===
{{Main|Enchiridion militis Christiani}}
[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing - WGA11498.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Holbein]] ]]
His more serious writings begin early with the ''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani]]'', the "Handbook of the Christian Soldier" (1501 and re-issued in 1518 with an expanded preface – translated into English in 1533 by the young [[William Tyndale]]). (A more literal translation of ''enchiridion'' – "dagger" – has been likened to "the spiritual equivalent of the modern [[Swiss Army knife]].")<ref>MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. New York: Viking, 2010, 599.</ref> In this short work, Erasmus outlines the views of the normal Christian life, which he was to spend the rest of his days elaborating.
He has been described as "evangelical in his beliefs and pietistic in his practise."<ref group=note>"Erasmus is so thoroughly, radically Christ-centered in his understanding of both Christian faith and practice that if we overlook or downplay this key aspect of his character and vision, we not only do him a grave disservice but we almost completely misunderstand him." {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }}</ref>{{rp|82}}

=== The Praise of Folly (1511) ===
{{Main|The Praise of Folly}}
Erasmus's best-known work is ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', written in 1509, published in 1511 under the double title ''Moriae encomium'' (Greek, Latinised) and ''Laus stultitiae'' (Latin). It is inspired by ''De triumpho stultitiae'' written by Italian humanist [[:it:Faustino Perisauli|Faustino Perisauli]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ub.unibas.ch/kadmos/gg/picpage/gg0015_009_tit.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112141116/http://www.ub.unibas.ch/kadmos/gg/picpage/gg0015_009_tit.htm|url-status=dead|title=Early title page|archive-date=12 November 2007}}</ref> A satirical attack on superstitions and other traditions of European society in general and in the Western Church in particular, it was dedicated to Sir Thomas More, whose name the title puns.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hansen |first=Kelli |date=2011-04-01 |title=April Fools! The Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus. |url=https://library.missouri.edu/news/special-collections/april-fools-the-praise-of-folly-by-desiderius-erasmus |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=Library News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Erasmus {{!}} Biography, Beliefs, Works, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=www.britannica.com}}</ref>

===''de Copia'' (1512) ===
{{Rhetoric}}
{{Main|Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style}}
''De Copia'' (or ''Foundations of the Abundant Style'' or ''On Copiousness'') is a textbook designed to teach aspects of classical [[Rhetoric#Sixteenth century|rhetoric]]: having a large supply of words, phrases and grammatical forms is a gateway to formulating and expressing thoughts, especially for "forensic oratory", with mastery and freshness. Perhaps as a joke, its full title is "The twofold
copia of words and arguments in a double commentary" ({{lang-la|De duplici copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo }}).<ref name=sloane>{{cite journal |last1=Sloane |first1=Thomas O. |title=Schoolbooks and Rhetoric: Erasmus's Copia |journal=Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric |date=1991 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=113–129 |doi=10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |jstor=10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |issn=0734-8584}}</ref>{{rp|118,119}}
It was "the most often printed rhetoric textbook written in the renaissance, with 168 editions between 1512 and 1580."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mack |first1=Peter |title=A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380-1620 |date=14 July 2011 |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199597284.003.0005}}</ref>

The first part of the book is about ''verborum'' (words). It famously includes 147 variations on "Your letter
pleased me very much",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sanders |first1=Fred |title=The Abundant Style of Erasmus |url=https://scriptoriumdaily.com/abundant-style-erasmus/ |website=The Scriptorium Daily |date=23 July 2014}}</ref> and 203 variations on "Always, as long as I live, I shall remember you."<ref group=note>These eulogize [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]] (25 by name), such as: "''More is inscribed in my heart in letters that no injurious time can erode.''"</ref><ref name=sloane />{{rp|119}}

The second part of the book is about ''rerum'' (arguments) to learn [[critical thinking]] and [[advocacy]]. Erasmus advised students to practice the rhetorical techniques of copiousness by writing letters to each other arguing both side of an issue ({{lang-la|in utramque
parte}}).

=== ''Opuscula plutarchi'' (1514), and ''Apophthegmatum opus'' (1531) ===
[[File:Handschrift von Erasmus v. Rotterdam.png|thumbnail|200px|Handwriting of Erasmus of Rotterdam: Plutarch's ''How to profit from one's enemies'']]
In a similar vein to the ''Adages'' was his translation of [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Moralia]]'': parts were published from 1512 onwards and collected as the ''Opuscula plutarchi''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ledo |first=Jorge |date=2019 |title=Erasmus' Translations of Plutarch's Moralia and the Ascensian editio princeps of ca. 1513 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27172479 |journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=257–296 |doi=10.30986/2019.257 |jstor=27172479 |s2cid=204527360 |issn=0774-2908|hdl=2183/24753 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> (c1514).

This was the basis of 1531's ''[[Apophthegmatum opus]]'' (Apophthegms), which ultimately contained over 3,000 aphophthegms: "certainly the fullest and most influential Renaissance collection of [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] sayings and anecdotes",<ref name=dogs>{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Hugh |title=Dogs' Tales: Representations of Ancient Cynicism in French Renaissance Texts |journal=Faux Titre Online| volume= 279 |date=1 January 2006 |doi=10.1163/9789401202985_006|s2cid=243905013 }}</ref> particular of [[Diogenes]] (from [[Diogenes Laertius]].)

One of these was published independently, as ''How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend'', dedicated to England's [[Henry VIII]].

=== ''Julius exclusus e coelis'' (1514) attrib. ===
{{Main| Julius Excluded from Heaven}}
''Julius excluded from Heaven'' is a biting satire usually attributed to Erasmus<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Thomas More, Erasmus and Julius II : A Case of Advocacy |journal=Moreana |date=November 1969 |volume=6 (Number 24) |issue=4 |pages=81–99 |doi=10.3366/more.1969.6.4.15}}</ref> perhaps for private circulation, though he publicly denied writing it, calling its author a fool. The recently deceased Pope Julius arrives at the gates of heaven in his armour with his dead army, demanding from St Peter to be let in based on his glory and exploits. St Peter turns him away.

=== ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' (1515) ===
Erasmus's ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' is one of his most direct assessments of the need for Church reform.<ref name=baratta>{{cite journal |last1=Baratta |first1=Luca |title='A Scorneful Image of this Present World': Translating and Mistranslating Erasmus's Words in Henrician England |journal=Critical Survey |date=1 September 2022 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.3167/cs.2022.340307|s2cid=250649340 }}</ref>{{rp|105}} It started as a small entry in the 1508 ''Adagia'' citing [[Plato]]'s [[Symposium]] and expanded to several hundred sentences.<ref name="vanKooten"/> Johann Froben published it first within a revised edition of the ''Adagia'' in 1515, then as a stand-alone work in 1517.

''Sileni'' is the plural (Latin) form of ''[[Silenus]]'', a creature often related to the Roman wine god [[Bacchus]] and represented in pictorial art as inebriated, merry revellers, variously mounted on donkeys, singing, dancing, playing flutes, etc.
In particular, the Sileni that Erasmus referred to were small, coarse, ugly or distasteful carved figures which opened up to reveal a beautiful deity or valuables inside.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spadaro |first1=Katrina Lucia |title=Epistemologies of Play: Folly, Allegory, and Embodiment in Early Modern Literature (Thesis_ |publisher=Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences |location=University of Sydney |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/25949/spadaro_kl_thesis.pdf |access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>

[[Alcibiades]] was a Greek politician in the 5th century [[Common Era|BCE]] and a general in the [[Peloponnesian War]]; he figures here more as a character written into some of [[Plato]]'s dialogues – an externally-attractive, young, debauched playboy whom [[Socrates]] tries to convince to seek truth instead of pleasure, wisdom instead of pomp and splendor.<ref name="Penguin">Plato, The Symposium. Translation and introduction by Walter Hamilton. Penguin Classics. 1951. {{ISBN|978-0140440249}}</ref>

The term ''Sileni –'' especially when juxtaposed with the character of Alcibiades – can therefore be understood as an evocation of the notion that something on the inside is more expressive of a person's character than what one sees on the outside. For instance, something or someone ugly on the outside can be beautiful on the inside, which is one of the main points of Plato's dialogues featuring ''Alcibiades'' and in the ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', in which Alcibiades also [[Cultural depictions of Alcibiades|appears]].{{refn| group=note|"Anyone who looks closely at the inward nature and essence will find that nobody is further from true wisdom than those people with their grand titles, learned bonnets, splendid sashes and bejeweled rings, who profess to be wisdom's peak." ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' }}

On the other hand, Erasmus lists several Sileni and then controversially questions whether Christ is the most noticeable Silenus of them all. The [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] were Sileni since they were ridiculed by others. The scriptures are a Silenus too.<ref name=baratta />{{rp|105}}

The work then launches into a biting endorsement of the need for high church officials (especially the Pope) to follow the [[evangelical counsels|evangelical counsel]] of poverty (simplicity): this condemnation of wealth and power was a full two years before the notional start of the [[Reformation]]; the church must be able to act as a moderating influence on the ambition and selfishness of princes.<ref group=note>Philologist [https://docenti.unisi.it/en/baratta Lucca Baratta] summarized Erasmus' arguments as follows: "The ignorance and poor judgement of the people, surreptitiously encouraged by the powerful, are the foundations of bad government. The king therefore needs a true counsellor, who will guide his choices rather than flatter him; so it is essential to unmask the deception of those who brand as heretics whomever seeks to bring the Church back to the road (of poverty and virtue) trodden by Christ. Only thus can abuse of the temporal and spiritual power be avoided. //It is therefore essential to recapture the original purity of the Christian message, and to follow the clear division of the roles of power, without undue mingling of the worldly and the celestial: the infidelity to Christ of the men of the Church produces only the bloated and grotesque figures of power oblivious to its own spiritual ends. There can be only one solution: the men of the Church must despise earthly goods." {{cite journal |last1=Baratta |first1=Luca |title='A Scorneful Image of this Present World': Translating and Mistranslating Erasmus's Words in Henrician England |journal=Critical Survey |date=1 September 2022 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.3167/cs.2022.340307|s2cid=250649340 }} p. 105</ref>

=== The Education of a Christian Prince (1516) ===
{{Main| Education of a Christian Prince}}
The ''[[Education of a Christian Prince|Institutio principis Christiani]]'' or "Education of a Christian Prince''"'' (Basel, 1516) was written as advice to the young king Charles of Spain (later [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]), to whom the Preface is addressed.<ref name="ED 3-4">{{cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|title=The Education of a Christian Prince|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge UP|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0-521-58811-9|pages=3–4}}</ref> Erasmus applies the general principles of honor and sincerity to the special functions of the Prince, whom he represents throughout as the servant of the people. ''Education'' was published in 1516, three years after<ref>{{cite book|last=Spielvogel|first=Jackson J.|title=Western Civilization, Eighth Edition, Volume B: 1300–1815|publisher=Wadsworth, Cengage Learning|year=2012|isbn=978-1-111-34215-9|location=Boston, MA|page=353}}</ref> [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]'s ''[[The Prince]]'' was written; a comparison between the two is worth noting. Machiavelli stated that, to maintain control by political force, it is safer for a prince to be feared than loved. Erasmus preferred for the prince to be loved, and strongly suggested a well-rounded education in order to govern justly and benevolently and avoid becoming a source of oppression.

===Latin and Greek New Testaments===
{{main|Novum Instrumentum omne}}
Erasmus produced this first edition of his corrected Latin and Greek New Testament in 1516, in Basel at the print of [[Johann Froben]], and took it through multiple revisions and editions.<ref>Mendoza, J. Carlos Vizuete; Llamazares, Fernando; Sánchez, Julio Martín; Mancha, Universidad de Castilla-La (2002). Los arzobispos de Toledo y la universidad española: 5 de marzo-3 de junio, Iglesia de San Pedro Mártir, Toledo. Univ de Castilla La Mancha</ref><ref>Bruce Metzger, The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102.</ref>

Erasmus had, for his time, relatively little interest in the Old Testament, apart from the Psalms.{{refn|group=note|name=OT|"If only the Christian church did not attach so much importance to the Old Testament!" ''Ep 798'' p. 305, {{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Review of Opera Omnia. vo. V-2. Opera Omnia vol. V-3. Opera Omnia. II-4. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1989 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=304–308 |doi=10.2307/2861633 |jstor=2861633 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861633 |issn=0034-4338}}</ref> "To Erasmus, Judaism was obsolete. To Reuchlin, something of Judaism remained of continuing value to Christianity."<ref name=dunkel/>}}

====New Latin translation====

[[File:ErasmusText TitlePage.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The first page of the Erasmian New Testament]]

Erasmus had been working for years on two related projects: [[philology|philological notes]] on the Latin and Greek texts{{refn|group=note|"My mind is so excited at the thought of emending Jerome's text, with notes, that I seem to myself inspired by some god. I have already almost finished emending him by collating a large number of ancient manuscripts, and this I am doing at enormous personal expense. ''Epistle 273''"<ref>"Epistle 273" in Collected ''Works of Erasmus Vol. 2: Letters 142 to 297, 1501–1514'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated Wallace K. Ferguson; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 253.</ref>}} and a fresh Latin New Testament. He examined all the Latin versions he could find to create a critical text. Then he polished the language. He declared, "It is only fair that Paul should address the Romans in somewhat better Latin."<ref>"Epistle 695" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus Vol. 5: Letters 594 to 841, 1517–1518'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated by [[James K. McConica]]; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 172.</ref> In the earlier phases of the project, he never mentioned a Greek text.

While his intentions for publishing a fresh Latin translation are clear,<ref group=note>"He welcomed vernacular translations with great enthusiasm, but they could mean nothing for Europe as a whole. … Latin was…the only language in which the Bible could play a role in the culture of Europe."{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=Henk Jan |title=Novum Testamentum a nobis versum: the Essence of Erasmus' Edition of the New Testament |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1984 |volume=32 |issue=2}}</ref> it is less clear why he included the Greek text. Though some speculate that he long intended to produce a critical Greek text or that he wanted to beat the Complutensian Polyglot into print, there is no evidence to support this. He wrote, "There remains the New Testament translated by me, with the Greek facing, and notes on it by me."<ref>"Epistle 305" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus. Vol. 3: Letters 298 to 445, 1514–1516'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated by James K. McConica; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 32.</ref> He further demonstrated the reason for the inclusion of the Greek text when defending his work:

{{Blockquote|text=But one thing the facts cry out, and it can be clear, as they say, even to a blind man, that often through the translator's clumsiness or inattention the Greek has been wrongly rendered; often the true and genuine reading has been corrupted by ignorant scribes, which we see happen every day, or altered by scribes who are half-taught and half-asleep.|source=Epistle 337<ref>"Epistle 337" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' Vol. 3, 134.</ref>}}

So he included the Greek text to permit qualified readers to verify the quality of his Latin version.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=Hank Jan |title=Novum testamentum a nobis versum: The essense of Erasmus' edition of the New Testament |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1984 |volume=35 |issue=2}}</ref> But by first calling the final product ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' ("All of the New Teaching") and later ''Novum Testamentum omne'' ("All of the New Testament") he also indicated clearly that he considered a text in which the Greek and the Latin versions were consistently comparable to be the essential core of the church's New Testament tradition.
{{clear}}

====Publication and editions====
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Johannes Froben.jpg|thumbnail|200px
|''Portrait of Johannes Froben'' by Holbein<ref>{{Royal Collection|403035|Johannes Froben (1460–1527)}}</ref>]]
Erasmus said the printing<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Riddle |first1=Jeffrey T. |title=Erasmus Anecdotes |journal=Puritan Reformed Journal |date=January 2017 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=101–112 }}</ref>{{rp|105}} of the first edition was "precipitated rather than published",<ref name="ReferenceB">"Epistle 694" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus Volume 5'', 167. It was ''precipitated rather than edited'': the Latin is ''prœcipitatum fuit verius quam editum''.</ref> resulting in a number of transcription errors. After comparing what writings he could find, Erasmus wrote corrections between the lines of the manuscripts he was using (among which was [[Minuscule 2]]) and sent them as proofs to Froben.<ref name="SH">[http://www.ccel.org/php/disp.php?authorID=schaff&bookID=encyc02&page=106&view= "History of the Printed Text"], in: ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. II: Basilica – Chambers'', p. 106 ff.</ref> His access to Greek manuscripts was limited compared to modern scholars and he had to rely on [[Jerome]]'s late-4th century [[Vulgate]] to fill in the blanks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Metzger |first1=Bruce |title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible |page=490}}</ref>

His effort was hurriedly published by his friend Johann Froben of Basel in 1516 and thence became the [[editio princeps|first published]] Greek New Testament, the ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]], diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. Recognitum et Emendatum''. Erasmus used several Greek manuscript sources because he did not have access to a single complete manuscript. Most of the manuscripts were, however, late Greek manuscripts of the Byzantine textual family and Erasmus used the oldest manuscript the least because "he was afraid of its supposedly erratic text."<ref>Bruce Metzger, ''The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration'', Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102.</ref> He also ignored some manuscripts that were at his disposal which are now deemed older and better.<ref>Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) ''Tyndale's Testament'', Brepols 2002, {{ISBN|2-503-51411-1}}, p. 28.</ref>

In the second (1519) edition, the more familiar term ''Testamentum'' was used instead of ''Instrumentum''. Together, the first and second editions sold 3,300 copies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=J. K. |title=Labours of Basle: Erasmus's 'revised and improved' edition of the New Testament--500 years on. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA635360985&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=98adabcc |website=TLS. Times Literary Supplement |access-date=16 October 2023 |pages=14–15 |language=English |date=25 March 2016}}</ref> By comparison, only 600 copies of the Complutensian Polyglot were ever printed. This edition was used by [[Martin Luther]] in his [[Luther Bible|German translation of the Bible]], written for people who could not understand Latin. The first and second edition texts did not include the passage (1 John 5:7–8) that has become known as the [[Comma Johanneum]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galiza |first1=Rodrigo |last2=Reeve |first2=John W. |title=The Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7-8): the Status of its Textual History and Theological Usage in English, Greek and Latin |journal=Andrew University Seminary Studies |date=2018 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=63–89 |url=https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/2018/2018_56_1.pdf |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref> Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the third edition. <ref group=note>The Catholic Church decreed that the ''Comma Johanneum'' was open to dispute (2 June 1927), and it is rarely included in modern scholarly translations.</ref>

The third edition of 1522 was probably used by [[William Tyndale]] for the first English New Testament (Worms, 1526) and was the basis for the 1550 [[Robert Estienne|Robert Stephanus]] edition used by the translators of the [[Geneva Bible]] and [[King James Version]] of the English Bible. Erasmus published a fourth edition in 1527 containing parallel columns of Greek, Latin Vulgate and Erasmus's Latin texts. In this edition Erasmus also supplied the Greek text of the last six verses of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] (which he had translated from Latin back into Greek in his first edition) from [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Ximenez]]'s ''[[Complutensian Polyglot Bible|Biblia Complutensis]]''. In 1535 Erasmus published the fifth (and final) edition which dropped the Latin Vulgate column but was otherwise similar to the fourth edition. Later versions of the Greek New Testament by others, but based on Erasmus's Greek New Testament, became known as the ''[[Textus Receptus]]''.<ref>W. W. Combs, ''Erasmus and the textus receptus'', DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996), 45.</ref>

Erasmus dedicated his work to [[Pope Leo X]] as a patron of learning and regarded this work as his chief service to the cause of Christianity. Immediately afterwards, he began the publication of his ''[[Paraphrases of Erasmus|Paraphrases of the New Testament]]'', a popular presentation of the contents of the several books. These, like all of his writings, were published in Latin but were quickly translated into other languages with his encouragement.

=== The Complaint of Peace (1517) ===
{{See also|Erasmus#Pacifism}}

Lady Peace complains about warmongering. This book was written at the request of the Burgundian Chancellor, who was then seeking a peace deal with France, to influence the ''zeitgeist''.<ref name=ronpeace/>

On the use of [[War flag|battle standards]] featuring [[Crosses in heraldry|crosses]]:<ref group=note>The standard of the cross image invokes, but to some extent contradicts, the imagery of St [[Catherine of Sienna]], who used it to call for European peace in order for joint military relief of the Holy Lands: she finished many letters with "''pace, pace, pace''." Esther Cohen, ''Holy women as spokeswomen for peace in late medieval Europe'', in {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Yvonne |title=Religion and peace: historical aspects |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1138694248}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|That cross is the standard of him who conquered, not by fighting, but by dying; who came, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. It is a standard, the very sight of which might teach you what sort of enemies you have to war against, if you are a christian, and how you may be sure to gain the victory.
I see you, while the standard of salvation is in one hand, rushing on with a sword in the other, to the murder of your brother; and, under the banner of the cross, destroying the life of one who to the cross owes his salvation.|source= The Complaint of Peace<ref name="The Complaint of Peace"/>}}

The final paragraph of ''The Complaint of Peace'' finishes with the command {{lang-la|resipiscite}}, meaning a [[Novum Instrumentum omne#Approach|voluntary return from madness and unconsiousness]]:

{{Blockquote|At last! Enough and more than enough blood has been spilled, human blood, and if that were little, even Christian blood. Enough has been squandered in mutual destruction, enough already sacrificed to [[Orcus]] and [[Erinyes|the Furies]] and to nourish the eyes of [[Ottoman Empire#Expansion and peak (1453–1566)|the Turks]]. The comedy is at an end. Finally, after tolerating far too long the miseries of war, repent!<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Brendan |title=The Uses of Resipiscere in the Latin of Erasmus: In the Gospels and Beyond |journal=Canadian Journal of History |date=December 2007 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=397–410 |doi=10.3138/cjh.42.3.397}}</ref>}}

However, the subsequent [[European wars of religion]] which accompanied the [[Reformation]] resulted in the deaths of between [[European wars of religion#Death toll|7 and 18 million]] Europeans, including up to one third of the population of Germany.

=== Familiar Colloquies (1518-1533) ===
{{Main|Colloquies}}
The ''Colloquia familiaria'' began as simple spoken Latin exercises for schoolboys to encourage fluency in colloquial Latin interaction, but expanded in number, ambition and audience. The sensational nature of many of the Colloquies made it a prime target for censorship.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus' Colloquies: Latin and the Good Life · VIC 442 - The Renaissance Book (2021) · Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (CRRS) Rare Book Collection |url=https://crrs.library.utoronto.ca/exhibits/show/vic4422021/colloquies |website=crrs.library.utoronto.ca}}</ref>

Notable Colloquies include the exciting ''Naufragium'' (Shipwreck), the philosophical and path-forging ''The Epicurean'', and the zany catalogue of fantastic animal stories ''Friendship''.

For example, ''A Religious Pilgrimage''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Seery |first1=Stephenia |title=The Colloquies of Erasmus |url=https://it.cgu.edu/earlymodernjournal/vol1-no1/seery.html |website=it.cgu.edu}}</ref> deals with many serious subjects humorously, and scandalously includes a letter supposedly written by a Statue of the Virgin Mary, in which, while it first thanks a reformer for following Luther against needlessly invoking saints (where the listed invocations are all for sinful or wordly things), becomes a warning against [[iconoclasm#Reformation era|iconoclasm]]<ref group=note>"Erasmus himself deprecated excessive devotion to images, but deplored iconoclasm. For him, both extremes represented a focus on the external trappings rather than the inner truths of religion." {{cite journal |last1=Rex |first1=Richard |title=The Religion of Henry Viii |journal=The Historical Journal |date=2014 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X13000368 |jstor=24528908 |s2cid=159664113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24528908 |issn=0018-246X}} p 17</ref> and stripping altars.

=== A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523) ===
As a result of his reformatory activities, Erasmus found himself at odds with some reformers and some Catholic churchmen. His last years were made difficult by controversies with men toward whom he was sympathetic.<ref group=note>"Against his own advice, he took part in a series of public controversies with men he
called 'barking dogs.' They hounded him to his grave."
{{cite journal |last1=Regier |first1=Willis |title=Review of Erasmus, Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 78, trans. Peter Matheson, Peter McCardle, Garth Tissol, and James Tracy. |journal=Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature |date=1 January 2011 |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol9/iss2/5 |issn=1523-5734}}</ref>

Notable among these was [[Ulrich von Hutten]], once a friend, a brilliant but erratic genius who had thrown himself into the Lutheran cause (and militant German nationalism<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Melin |first1=C. A. |title="Ich sprich, sie habents nimmer Fug": Propaganda and Poetry in Ulrich von Hutten's "Klag und Vormahnung" |journal=Modern Language Studies |date=1985 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=50–59 |doi=10.2307/3194417 |jstor=3194417 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3194417 |issn=0047-7729}}</ref> ) and declared that Erasmus, if he had a spark of honesty, would do the same. In his reply in 1523, ''Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni'', Erasmus accused Hutten of having misinterpreted his utterances about reform and reiterates his determination never to break with the Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pabel |first1=Hilmar M. |title=Known by his works, in Erasmus: Christ's humanist |journal=Christian History - Issuu |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |page=18 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |access-date=17 July 2023}}</ref>

===On Free Will (1524)===
{{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}}

Erasmus wrote ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will (De libero arbitrio)]]'' (1524) against Luther's view on free will: that everything happens by strict necessity.<ref group=note>Written to refute Martin Luther's doctrine of "enslaved will", according to [[Alister McGrath]], Luther believed that only Erasmus, of all his interlocutors, understood and appreciated the locus of his doctrinal emphases and reforms. {{cite book | title=Iustitia Dei | publisher=Cambridge University Press| author=McGrath, Alister | year=2012 | location=3.4: "Justification in Early Lutheranism" | pages=xiv+ 448 | edition=3rd}}</ref>

Erasmus lays down both sides of the argument impartially.
In this controversy Erasmus lets it be seen that, from the thrust of Scripture, he would like to claim more for free will than St. Paul and St. Augustine seem to allow according to Luther's interpretation.<ref>Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Desiderius Erasmus ''Dutch humanist and scholar'', [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/191015/Desiderius-Erasmus/59231/The-Protestant-challenge#ref=ref24610The Protestant challenge]</ref> For Erasmus the essential point is that humans have the freedom of choice,<ref>{{Citation
| last=Watson
| first=Philip
| title=Erasmus, Luther and Aquinas
| journal=Concordia Theological Monthly
| volume=40
| issue=11
| year=1969
| pages=747–58
}}work
</ref> when responding to prior grace ([[synergism]]).

In response, Luther wrote his ''De servo arbitrio'' (''[[On the Bondage of the Will]]'') (1525), which attacked "''On Free Will''" and Erasmus himself, going so far as to claim that Erasmus was not a Christian. "Free will does not exist", according to Luther in that sin makes human beings completely incapable of bringing themselves to God ([[monergism]]).

Erasmus responded with a lengthy, two-part book ''Hyperaspistes'' (1526–27).<ref group=note>''Hyperaspistes'' means ''protected by a shield'' (i.e., self-defence) but also, countering Luther's calling of Erasmus as a viper, 'SuperSnake'. Note 7, {{cite web |title=Martin Luther > Notes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2022 Edition) |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/win2022/entries/luther/notes.html |website=plato.stanford.edu}}</ref>

===Liturgy of the Virgin Mother venerated at Loreto (1525)===
Editions: 1523, 1525, 1529<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fallica |first1=Maria |title=Erasmus and the Lady of Loreto: The Virgin, the Bride, and the Progress of the Church |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=23 October 2023 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=119–140 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04302002|s2cid=264507946 }}</ref>

This [[liturgy]] for a [[Catholic Mass]], with [[Sequence (musical form)|sequence]]s and a [[homily]] teaching that for Mary, and the Saints, imitation should be the chief part of veneration.<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford Handbook of Mary |date=2019 |publisher=OUP |isbn=9780192511140 |page=414}}</ref>

<poem> Fair choir of angels,
take up the zither, take up the lyre.
The Virgin Mother must be celebrated in song,
in a virginal ode.
The angels, joining in the song,
will re-echo your voice.
For they love virgins,
being virgins themselves.<ref name="loreto">{{cite journal |last1=Marc’hadour |first1=Germain |title=Erasmus as a guide to the Life of the Spirit |journal=Moreana |date=June 2002 |volume=39 (Number 150) |issue=2 |pages=97–142 |doi=10.3366/more.2002.39.2.11}}</ref></poem>

The liturgy re-framed the existing Marian devotions: as a substitute for mentioning the [[Basilica della Santa Casa|Holy House of Loreto]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Clement A. |title=Erasmus on Music |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=1966 |volume=52 |issue=3 |page=337 |jstor=3085961 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3085961 |issn=0027-4631}}</ref> he used the meaning of Loreto as '[[Lauraceae|laurel]]', as in the champion's [[laurel wreath]]. The work also may have been intended to demonstrate the proper application of [[indulgences]], as it came with one from the archbishop of Besançon.<ref name="loreto"/>

=== The Tongue (or Language) (1525) ===
The writings of Erasmus exhibit a continuing concern with language, and in 1525 he devoted an entire treatise to the subject, ''Lingua''. This and several of his other works are said to have provided a starting point for a philosophy of language, though Erasmus did not produce a completely elaborated system.<ref>Rummel, Erika, "[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/ Desiderius Erasmus]", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).</ref>

=== On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526) ===
The ''Institutio matrimonii'' was published in 1526 as treatise about marriage.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Christ - von Wedel |first=Christine |date=2019 |title=Die Äbtissin, der Söldnerführer und ihre Töchter |url=https://www.tvz-verlag.ch/buch/die-aebtissin-der-soeldnerfuehrer-und-ihre-toechter-9783290182557.pdf |pages=128–129 |publisher=Theologischer Verlag Zürich |isbn=978-3-290-18255-7}}</ref> He did not follow the contemporary mainstream which saw the woman as a subject to the man, but suggested the man was to love the woman similar as he would Christ, who also descended to earth to serve.<ref name=":03" /> He saw the role of the woman as a ''socia'' (partner) to the man.<ref name=":03" />

The relationship should be of ''[[amicitia]]''<ref group=note>Erasmus wrote a colloquy ''Amicitia'' considered generally, which mentioned the mutual sympathy of Thomas More and his monkey. {{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=Erasmus and the Colloquial Emotions |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=12 November 2020 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=127–150 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04002004|s2cid=228925860 |doi-access=free }}</ref> (sweet and mutual fondness).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hutson |first1=Lorna Margaret |title=' "Especyal Swetnes": An Erasmian Footnote to the Civil Partnership Act' |journal=Risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk |date=April 2011 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=5–21 |url=https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/-especyal-swetnes-an-erasmian-footnote-to-the-civil-partnership-act(a6c6ff09-2e52-4358-8552-27fce87f2a00).html |language=en}}</ref> Erasmus suggested that true marriage between devout Christians required a true friendship (contrary to contemporary legal theories that required community consensus or consummation); and because true friendship never dies, divorce of a true marriage was impossible; the seeking of a divorce was a sign that the true friendship (and so the true marriage) never existed and so the divorce should be allowed, after investigation and protecting the individuals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weiler |first1=Anton G. |last2=Barker |first2=G. |last3=Barker |first3=J. |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam on Marriage and Divorce |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=2004 |volume=84 |pages=149–197 |doi=10.1163/187607504X00101 |jstor=24012798 |s2cid=123261630 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24012798 |issn=0028-2030}}</ref>

As far as sex in marriage is concerned, Erasmus' gentle, gradualist asceticism promoted that a mutually-agreed celibate marriage, if God had made this doable by the partners, could be the ideal: in theory it allowed more opportunity for spiritual pursuits. But he controversially noted

{{Blockquote|text=Since everything else has been designed for a purpose, it hardly seems probable that in this one matter alone nature was asleep. I have no patience with those who say that sexual excitement is shameful and that venereal stimuli have their origin not in nature, but in sin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reese |first1=Alan W. |title=Learning Virginity: Erasmus' Ideal of Christian Marriage |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=1995 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=551–567 |jstor=20677971 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20677971 |issn=0006-1999}}</ref>}}

=== The Ciceronians (1528) ===
{{Main|Ciceronianus}}
The ''[[Ciceronianus]]'' came out in 1528, attacking the style of Latin that was based exclusively and fanatically on Cicero's writings. Étienne Dolet wrote a riposte titled ''Erasmianus'' in 1535.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nuttall |first=Geoffrey |date=January 1975 |title=L'Erasmianus sive Ciceronianus d'Etienne Dolet (1535). Introduction—Fac-similé de l'édition originale du De Imitatione Ciceroniana—Commentaires et appendices. By Emile V. Telle. (Travaux d'humanisme et renaissance, cxxxviii). Pp. 480. Geneva: Droz, 1974. Swiss Frs. 95. - Erasmus von Rotterdam und die Einleitungsschriften zum Neuen Testament: formale Strukturen und theologischer Sinn. By Gerhard B. Winkler. (Reformations-geschichtliche Studien und Texte, 108). Pp. xii + 254. Münster Westfalen: Aschendorff, 1974. DM. 54. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-ecclesiastical-history/article/abs/lerasmianus-sive-ciceronianus-detienne-dolet-1535-introductionfacsimile-de-ledition-originale-du-de-imitatione-ciceronianacommentaires-et-appendices-by-emile-v-telle-travaux-dhumanisme-et-renaissance-cxxxviii-pp-480-geneva-droz-1974-swiss-frs-95-erasmus-von-rotterdam-und-die-einleitungsschriften-zum-neuen-testament-formale-strukturen-und-theologischer-sinn-by-gerhard-b-winkler-reformationsgeschichtliche-studien-und-texte-108-pp-xii-254-munster-westfalen-aschendorff-1974-dm-54/10327E9F30C22E1DFEC416B38CE972D3 |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=92–94 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900060395 |via=CambridgeCore}}</ref> Erasmus' own Latin style was late classical (i.e., from Terence to Jerome) as far as syntax and grammar, but freely used medievalisms in its vocabulary.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tunberg |first1=Terence |title=The Latinity of Erasmus and Medieval Latin: Continuities and Discontinuities |journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin |date=2004 |volume=14 |pages=147–170 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019597 |issn=0778-9750}}</ref>{{rp|164,164}}

===Explanation of the Apostles' Creed (1530)===
In his [[catechism]] (entitled ''Explanation of the [[Apostles' Creed]]'') (1530), Erasmus took a stand against Luther's recent Catechisms by asserting the unwritten [[Sacred Tradition]] as just as valid a source of revelation as the [[Bible]], by enumerating the [[Deuterocanonical books]] in the [[Biblical canon|canon of the Bible]] and by acknowledging seven [[sacraments]].<ref>''Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami'', vol. V/1, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 278–90</ref> He identified anyone who questioned the [[perpetual virginity of Mary]] as blasphemous.<ref name="Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami pp. 245">''Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami'', vol. V/1, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 245, 279.</ref> However, he supported lay access to the Bible.<ref name="Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami pp. 245"/>

In a letter to [[Nikolaus von Amsdorf]], Luther objected to Erasmus's catechism and called Erasmus a "viper", "liar", and "the very mouth and organ of Satan".<ref>''D. Martin Luther. Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel'', vol. 7, Weimar: Böhlau, pp. 27–40.</ref>

=== The Preacher (1536) ===
{{Main|Ecclesiastes of Erasmus}}
Erasmus's last major work, published the year of his death, is the ''[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]]'' or "Gospel Preacher" (Basel, 1536), a massive manual for preachers of around a thousand pages. Though somewhat unwieldy because Erasmus was unable to edit it properly in his old age, it is in some ways the culmination of all of Erasmus's literary and theological learning and, according to some scholars, of the previous millennium of preaching manuals since Augustine. It offered prospective preachers advice on important aspects of their vocation with abundant reference to classical and biblical sources.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kilcoyne |first1=Francis P. |last2=Jennings |first2=Margaret |title=Rethinking "Continuity": Erasmus' "Ecclesiastes" and the "Artes Praedicandi" |journal=Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme |date=1997 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=5–24 |doi=10.33137/rr.v33i4.11372 |jstor=43445150 |issn=0034-429X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Patristic Editions ===
{{See also|#Patristic and classical editions}}
According to [[Ernest Barker]], "Besides his work on the New Testament, Erasmus laboured also, and even more arduously, on the [[Church Fathers|early Fathers]]. Among the Latin Fathers he edited the works of [[St Jerome]], [[Hilary of Poitiers|St Hilary]], and [[St Augustine]];<ref name="brill.com">{{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Erasmus' Edition of the Complete Works of Augustine |journal=Erasmus Studies |year=2022 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=122–156 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04202002 |s2cid=254327857 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/42/2/eras.42.issue-2.xml}}</ref> among the Greeks he worked on [[Irenaeus]], [[Origen]] and [[Chrysostom]]."<ref>[[Ernest Barker]] (1948) ''Traditions of Civility'', chapter 4: The Connection between the Renaissance and the Reformation, pp. 93–94, [[Cambridge University Press]]</ref>

==== Alleged forgery ====
{{further|Pseudo-Cyprian}}
In 1530, Erasmus, in his fourth edition of the works of [[Cyprian]], introduced a treatise ''De duplici martyrio ad Fortunatum'', which he attributed to Cyprian and presented as having been found by chance in an old library. This text, close to the works of Erasmus, both in content (hostility to the confusion between virtue and suffering) and in form, and of which no manuscript is known, contains at least one flagrant anachronism: an allusion to the persecution of [[Diocletian]], persecution that took place long after the death of Cyprian. In 1544, the Dominican {{ill|Henricus Gravius|de}} denounced the work as inauthentic and attributed its authorship to Erasmus or an imitator of Erasmus. In the twentieth century, the hypothesis of a fraud by Erasmus was rejected a priori by most of the great Erasmians, for example [[Percy Stafford Allen]],{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} but it is adopted by academics like [[Anthony Grafton]].<ref>Anthony Grafton, ''Forgers and Critics. Creativity and Duplicity in Western Scholarship'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 53-54. </ref><ref>Neil Adkin, "The Use of Scripture in the Pseudo-Cyprianic ''De duplici martyrio'' ", in ''Giornale italiano di filologia'', 47, 1995, p. 219-248. See review of N. Adkin's article by François Dolbeau in ''Revue des études augustiniennes'', 44 (1998), p. 307-339, [http://www.etudes-augustiniennes.paris-sorbonne.fr/IMG/pdf/AUGUST_1998_44_2_307.pdf online].</ref><ref>Fernand Halleyn, « Le fictif, le vrai et le faux », in Jan Herman et al. (dir.), ''Le Topos du manuscrit trouvé'', Louvain - Paris, ed. Peeters, 1999, p. 503-506. The attribution to Erasmus was supported by F. Lezius, "Der Verfasser des pseudocyprianischen Tractates ''De duplici martyrio'': Ein Beitrag zur Charakteristik des Erasmus", in ''Neue Jahrbücher für Deutsche Theologie'', IV (1895), p. 95-100; by Silvana Seidel Menchi, "Un'opera misconosciuta di Erasmo? », in ''[[Rivista Storica Italiana]]'', XC (1978), p. 709-743; </ref>
{{clear}}

==Legacy and evaluations==
Erasmus was given the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the [[Christian humanism|Christian humanists]]".<ref>Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity. [[New York City|New York]]: Harper & Brothers, 1953, p. 661.</ref> He has also been called "the most illustrious rhetorician and educationalist of the Renaissance".<ref name=laytam>{{cite book |last1=Laytam |first1=Miles J.J. |title=The Medium was the Message: Classical Rhetoric and the Materiality of Language from Empedocles to Shakespeare |date=2007 |publisher=English Dept, University of York |page=81 |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11008/1/440731.pdf |access-date=26 July 2023}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Since the origin of Christianity there have been perhaps only two other men—St Augustine and Voltaire—whose influence can be paralleled with Erasmus.|W.S. Lily, ''Renaissance Types''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kloss |first1=Waldemar |title=Erasmus's Place in the History of Philosophy |journal=The Monist |date=1907 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=84–101 |doi=10.5840/monist190717138 |jstor=27900019 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27900019 |issn=0026-9662}}</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|text=No man before or since acquired such undisputed sovereignty in the republic of letters... The reform which he set in motion went beyond him, and left him behind. In some of his opinions, however, he was ahead of his age, and anticipated a more modern stage of Protestantism. He was as much a forerunner of Rationalism as of the Reformation.|source=71. Erasmus, ''History of the Christian Church'', vol 7, [[Philip Schaff]]}}

French biographer [[Désiré Nisard]] characterized him as a lens or focal point: "the whole of the Renaissance in Western Europe in the sixteenth century converged towards him."<ref name=laytam/>

===Educationalist===
{{Blockquote|text=Erasmus is the greatest man we come across in the history of education! (R.R. Bolger) … with greater confidence it can be claimed that Erasmus is the greatest man we come across in the history of education in the sixteenth century. …It may also be claimed that Erasmus was one of the most important champions of women's rights in his century. |source=J.K. Sowards <ref name=soward>{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Erasmus and the Education of Women |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1982 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=77–89 |doi=10.2307/2540011 |jstor=2540011 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540011 |issn=0361-0160}}</ref>}}

According to scholar Gerald J. Luhrman, "the system of secondary education, as developed in a number of European countries, is inconceivable without the efforts of humanist educationalists, particularly Erasmus. His ideas in the field of language acquisition were systematized and realized to a large extent in the schools founded by the Jesuits..."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noordegraaf |first1=Jan |last2=Vonk |first2=Frank |title=Five hundred years of foreign language teaching in the Netherlands 1450-1950 |date=1993 |publisher=Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |location=Amsterdam |isbn=90-72365-32-1 |page=36}}</ref>

In England, he wrote the first curriculum for [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]] and his Latin grammar (written with Lily and Colet) "continued to be used, in adapted form, into the Twentieth Century."<ref>{{cite web |title=English Renaissance |url=http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/europe/id5.html |website=east_west_dialogue.tripod.com}}</ref>

His system of [[Ancient Greek phonology#The Renaissance|pronouncing ancient Greek]] was adopted [[Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching|for teaching]] in the major Western European nations.

Erasmus "tried to realize a practical goal: a modern education as preparation for administrators from the higher estates."<ref name=ewolf>{{cite journal |last1=Wolf |first1=Erik |title=Religion and Right in the Philosophia Christriana of Erasmus from Rotterdam |journal=UC Law Journal |date=1 January 1978 |volume=29 |issue=6 |pages=1535 |url=https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol29/iss6/11/ |issn=0017-8322}}</ref>

===Writer===
The popularity of his books is reflected in the number of editions and translations that have appeared since the sixteenth century. Ten columns of the catalogue of the British Library are taken up with the enumeration of the works and their subsequent reprints. The greatest names of the classical and patristic world are among those translated, edited, or annotated by Erasmus, including [[Ambrose]], [[Aristotle]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]],<ref name="brill.com"/> [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil]], [[John Chrysostom]], [[Cicero]] and [[Jerome]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Manfred |last2=Tracy |first2=James D. |title=Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus |year=2011 |publisher=University of Toronto Press}}</ref>
[[File:In Winssen bij Nijmegen beeld van Erasmus onthuld waarvan H. Kortekaas beeldhouwer, Bestanddeelnr 917-0493.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Unveiling of a Dutch statue of Erasmus (1964)]]

===In Holland===
In his native Rotterdam, the [[Erasmus University Rotterdam]], [[Erasmusbrug|Erasmus Bridge]], [[Erasmus MC]] and [[Gymnasium Erasmianum]] have been named in his honor. Between 1997 and 2009, one of the main [[Rotterdam Metro|metro lines of the city]] was named ''Erasmuslijn''. The Foundation Erasmus House (Rotterdam),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stichting Erasmushuis – Rotterdam|url=http://www.erasmushuisrotterdam.nl/|language=nl|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref> is dedicated to celebrating Erasmus's legacy. Three moments in Erasmus's life are celebrated annually. On 1 April, the city celebrates the publication of his best-known book ''The Praise of Folly''. On 11 July, the ''Night of Erasmus'' celebrates the lasting influence of his work. His birthday is celebrated on 28 October.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McConica |first1=James |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=4 January 2007 |author-link=James Kelsey McConica}}</ref>

===In England===
[[File:Paraphrase of Erasmus 1548.png|thumbnail|200px|English translation ''Paraphrase of Erasmus'', 1548]]
Erasmus' grammar, Adages, Copia, and other books continued as the core Latin educational material in England for the following centuries.

His translated Gospel paraphrases were legally required to be chained for public access<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/paraphrases-of-erasmus-on-the-new-testament-text/Erasmus%20-%20Paraphrase%20%2800%29%20Preface/|title=Paraphrases of Erasmus on the New Testament (1548-1549) Text : Erasmus, Desiderius : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive|accessdate=2 December 2023}}</ref> in every church, in the reign of [[Edward VI]].

After reading Erasmus' 1516 New Testament, [[Thomas Bilney]] "felt a marvellous comfort and quietness," and won over his [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] friends, future notable bishops, [[Matthew Parker]] and [[Hugh Latimer]] to reformist biblicism.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bilney, Thomas |volume = 3 |last= Pollard |first= Albert Frederick |author-link= Albert Pollard |pages=945-946 |short=1}}</ref> One of [[William Tyndale]]'s earliest works was his translation of Erasmus' [[Handbook of the Christian Knight|Enchiridion]] (1522,1533).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mozley |first1=J. F. |title=The English Enchiridion of Erasmus, 1533 |journal=The Review of English Studies |date=1944 |volume=20 |issue=78 |pages=97–107 |doi=10.1093/res/os-XX.78.97 |jstor=509156 |issn=0034-6551}}</ref> Both Tyndale and his theological opponent [[Thomas More]] are considered Erasmians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeCoursey |first1=Matthew |title=The Thomas More / William Tyndale Polemic: A Selection |date=2010 |publisher=Hong Kong Institute of Education |location=Hong Kong |url=https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/moretyndale.pdf |access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref>{{rp|16}}

Historian Lucy Wooding argues (in Christopher Haigh's paraphrases) that "England nearly had a Catholic Reformation along Erasmian lines –but it was cut short by Mary’s death and finally torpedoed by the Council of Trent"<ref group=note>"Even before Henry VIII fell out with the pope, Erasmian humanism had given some English Catholics an evangelical enthusiasm for Scripture and a distaste for popular devotions thought to be superstitious. Catholic evangelicals and moderate Protestants differed little on the authority of Scripture and the roles of faith and works in justification." {{cite journal |last1=Haigh |first1=Christopher |title=CATHOLICISM IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND: BOSSY AND BEYOND |journal=The Historical Journal |date=June 2002 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=481–494 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X02002479}}</ref>

The initial Henrican closure of smaller monasteries followed the Erasmian agenda, which was also shared by Catholic humanists such as [[Reginald Pole]];<ref name=knowles/>{{rp|155}} however the later violent closures and iconoclasm were far from Erasmus' program.

For some [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]] Anglicans, both those promoting enforced anti-extremism and [[latitudinarians]], Erasmus' moderation represented "an alternative to the belligerent Protestantism that characterized English political and social discourse".<ref>{{cite book |chapter='Betwixt Heaven and Hell': Religious Toleration and the Reception of Erasmus in Restoration England |title=The Reception of Erasmus in the Early Modern Period |date=1 January 2013 |pages=103–127 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_006|isbn=9789004255630 }}</ref>

===Catholic===
Erasmus's reputation and the interpretations of his work have varied over time. Moderate Catholics recognized him as a leading figure in attempts to reform the Church, while Protestants recognized his initial support for (and, in part, inspiration of) Luther's ideas and the groundwork he laid for the future Reformation, especially in biblical scholarship.

Erasmus was continually protected by popes,<ref group=note>"It is a remarkable fact that the attitude of the popes towards Erasmus was never inimical; on the contrary, they exhibited at all times the most complete confidence in him. Paul III even wanted to make him a cardinal," [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref> bishops and kings during his lifetime.<ref group=note>For example, in 1527, [[Pope Clement VII]] wrote to the Spanish [[Alonso Manrique de Lara|Inquisitor General]] that he should silence those who attacked Erasmus' non-Lutheran doctrine; and [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] (King of Spain, King of Germany, King of Sicily, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Brabant, Holy Roman Emperor) wrote to Erasmus his support. {{cite journal |last1=Ledo |first1=Jorge |title=Which Praise of Folly Did the Spanish Censors Read?: The Moria de Erasmo Roterodamo (c. 1532–1535) and the Libro del muy illustre y doctíssimo Señor Alberto Pio (1536) on the Eve of Erasmus' Inclusion in the Spanish Index |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=29 March 2018 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=64–108 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03801004}}</ref> The following generation of saints and scholars included many influenced by Erasmian humanism, notably [[Ignatius of Loyola]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Terence |title=Erasmus, Ignatius Loyola, and Orthodoxy |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1979 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=115–127 |doi=10.1093/jts/XXX.1.115 |jstor=23961674 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23961674 |issn=0022-5185}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Anthony |title=Notes and Comments: Ignatius of Loyola and Erasmus |journal=The Heythrop Journal |date=October 1970 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=421–423 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2265.1970.tb00170.x}}</ref> [[Teresa of Ávila]].<ref>{{cite web |title=On this day: Erasmus |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/day-erasmus |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}</ref> The near election of [[Reginald Pole]] as pope in 1546 has been attributed to Erasmianism.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Cummings |first=Thomas |date=17 October 2016 |title=Erasmus and the Second Vatican Council |url=https://m.bianet.org/english/print/207869-call-by-50-nobel-prize-laureates-end-the-solitary-confinement |website=Church Life Journal}}</ref>

[[Salesian]] scholars have noted Erasmus' significant influence on [[Francis de Sales]]: "in the approach and the spirit he (de Sales) took to reform his diocese and more importantly on how individual Christians could become better together,"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pocetto |first1=Alexander T. |title=The Salesian Approach to Why I Remain a Catholic |url=https://www.desales.edu/docs/default-source/salesian-center-docs/live-jesus-talk.pdf |publisher=DeSales University |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> his optimism,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marie |first1=Sister Susan |title=For Scholars: St. Francis de Sales and Erasmus, by Charles Bene |url=https://visitationspirit.org/2022/07/for-scholars-st-francis-de-sales-and-erasmus-by-charles-bene/ |website=Visitation Spirit |date=18 July 2022}}</ref> civility,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wirth |first1=Morand |title=Saint Francis de Sales - A program of integral formation |date=2022 |publisher=LAS - Libreria Ateneo Salesiano |location=Rome |isbn=978-88-213-1485-8 |url=https://www.salesian.online/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Francis_de_Sales_by_Wirth_en_web-A-program-of-integral-formation.pdf |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> and esteem of marriage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGoldrick |first1=Terence |title=The Ascent of Marriage as Vocation and Sacrament. Francis de Sales' Christian Humanist Theology of Marriage. A New and Old Vision between Two Competing Traditions on the Highest Vocation from the Apostolic Church to Erasmus |journal=Salesianum |date=2015 |volume=77 |pages=207–249 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279886647 |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref>

However, Erasmus attracted enemies in contemporary theologians in Paris, Louvain, Salamanca and Rome, notably [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepulveda]], [[Diego López de Zúñiga (theologian)|Stunica]], [[Edward Lee (bishop)|Edward Lee]],<ref group=note>See Erasmus' response titled ''Apologia by Erasmus of Rotterdam Which Is neither Arrogant nor Biting nor Angry nor Aggressive in Which He Responds to the Two Invectives of Edward Lee- I Shall Not Add What Kind of Invectives: Let the Reader Judge for Himself.''</ref> Noël Beda,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Noël Beda |journal=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095455501 |language=en}}</ref> as well as Alberto Pío, Prince of [[Carpi, Emilia-Romagna|Carpi]], who read his work with great [[Hermeneutics_of_suspicion|suspicion]]. These were theologians, usually from the mendicant orders that were Erasmus' particular target, who held a positive "linear view of history" for theology <ref group=note>"The linear paradigm puts the emphasis on a one-dimensional human history which heads to a point of perfection, where it should come to an end." However, the views of reformers such as [[Giles of Viterbo]] tended to a negative linear view of spiritual decay, or was cyclical. {{cite book |last1=Semonian |first1=Narik |title=Desiderius Erasmus: a spoiler of the Roman Catholic tradition? (Thesis) |date=2016 |publisher=Leiden University |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2601820/view |access-date=5 December 2023}}</ref> that privileged recent late-medieval theology and rejected the ''ad fontes'' methodology.

By 1529, his French translator [[Louis de Berquin]] was burnt in Paris. Erasmus spent considerable effort defending himself in writing, which he could not do after his death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heesakkers |first1=Chris L. |title=Erasmus's "Controversies" |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=2009 |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=79–86 |jstor=27745444 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27745444 |issn=0008-8080}}</ref>

[[File:Erasmus censored.png|right|thumb|200px|A work of Erasmus censored, perhaps following the inclusion of some works on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]]]

By the 1560s, there was a marked downturn in reception: at various times and durations, some of his works, especially in Protestantized editions, were placed on the various Roman, Dutch, French, Spanish and Mexican<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nesvig |first1=Martin Austin |title=Ideology and Inquisition: The World of the Censors in Early Mexico |date=2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0-300-14040-8}}</ref> [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Indexes of Prohibited Books]], either to not be read, or to be censored and expurgated: each area had different censorship considerations and severity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Charles |first1=Henry |title=Chapters of the History of Spain connected with the Inquisition |date=1890 |publisher=Lea Brothers |location=Philadelophia |url=/media/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Chapters_from_the_religious_history_of_Spain_connected_with_the_Inquistion_.._%28IA_gri_33125000294328%29.pdf |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref>

Early Dutch Jesuit scholar [[Peter Canisius]] (fl. 1547 - 1597), who produced several works superseding Erasmus',<ref group=note>Catechisms, preaching manuals, works of St Cyril of Alexandria, and a collection of St Jerome intended to counter the anti-monastic spin given in Erasmus'.{{cite web |last1=Donnelly |first1=John |title=Peter Canisius |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/hist_fac/15 |website=Shapers of Religious Traditions in Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, 1560-1600 |date=1 January 1981}}{{rp|142}}</ref> is known to have read, or used phrases from, Erasmus' New Testament (including the Annotations and Notes) and perhaps the Paraphrases, his Jerome biography and complete works, the Adages, the ''Copia'', and the Colloquies: the Jesuits received a dispensation from the Roman Inquisitor General to read and use Erasmus' work, after the theological work had been placed on the Roman Index (of censored works.)<ref name=canisius/> Canisius, having actually read Erasmus, had an ambivalent view on Erasmus that contrasted with the negative line of some of his contemporaries:

{{Blockquote|text=Very many people applied also to Erasmus, declaring: {{'}}''Either Erasmus speaks like Luther or Luther like Erasmus''{{'}} (''Aut Erasmus Lutherizat, aut Lutherus Erasmizat''). And yet, we must say, if we would like to render an honest judgment, that Erasmus and Luther were very different. Erasmus always remained a Catholic. ... Erasmus criticized religion 'with craft rather than with force', often applying considerable caution and moderation to either his own opinions or errors. ...Erasmus passed judgment on what he thought required censure and correction in the teaching of theologians and in the Church.|source=Peter Canisius, ''De Maria virgine'' (1577), p601<ref group=note>Pabel notes an ambivalent attitude: "After rehearsing the many ways in which Erasmus offended Catholic beliefs about and devotion to Mary, Canisius managed not only to think of Erasmus as more of a friend than a foe of Mary but also, bizarrely, to suggest that Erasmus was still the most distinguished voice in honour of Mary. Then he remembered that Erasmus was responsible for stirring up the controversy about Mary in the first place."</ref>}}

In contrast, [[Robert Bellarmine]]'s ''Controversies'' mentions Erasmus (as presented by Erasmus' opponent Albert Pío) negatively over 100 times, categorizing him as a "forerunner of the heretics";<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Richgels |first1=Robert W. |title=The Pattern of Controversy in a Counter-Reformation Classic: The Controversies of Robert Bellarmine |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1980 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=3–15 |doi=10.2307/2540028 |jstor=2540028 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540028 |issn=0361-0160}}</ref>{{rp|10}} though not a heretic<ref group=note>"As a consultor to the Congregation of the Index, Robert Bellarmine recommended removing Erasmus from the list of heretics of the first class, since he did not consider Erasmus a heretic, despite his errors."{{cite journal |title=Entries - Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Jesuits |date=16 August 2017 |pages=11–858 |doi=10.1017/9781139032780.002}}</ref> <ref group=note>Bellarmine himself had books placed on the same Roman Index as Erasmus'. Chapter 2, {{cite book |last1=Blackwell |first1=Richard J. |title=Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible |date=1991 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpg847x |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctvpg847x |jstor=j.ctvpg847x |isbn=9780268010270 }}</ref>

A famous 17th century Dominican library featured statues of famous churchmen on one side and of famous "heretics" (in chains) on the other: those foes including the two leading anti-mendicant Catholic voices [[William of Saint-Amour]] (fl. 1250) and Erasmus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Edward |title=Memoirs of Libraries: Part the first. History of libraries |date=1859 |publisher=Trübner & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me65AAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|310}}

By the 1700s, Erasmus' even indirect influence on Catholic thought had waned. A historian has written that "a number of Erasmus' modern Catholic critics do not display an accurate knowledge of his writings but misrepresent him, often by relying upon hostile secondary sources," naming [[Yves Congar]] as an example.<ref name=origenscheck>{{cite book |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Erasmus's Life of Origen |chapter=ERASMus's PROGRAM for THEOLOGICAL RENEWAL |date=2016 |pages=1–42 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |jstor=j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |isbn=9780813228013 }}</ref>{{rp|39}}

In the last hundred years, Erasmus' Catholic reputation has been gradually rehabilitated, from his deep friendships with two Saint-Martyrs [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]]<ref group=note>"Thomas More was an unflagging apologist for Erasmus for the thirty-six years of their adult lives (1499–1535)."{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Thomas More: First and Best Apologist for Erasmus |journal=Moreana |date=June 2021 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=75–111 |doi=10.3366/more.2021.0093|s2cid=236358666 }}</ref> and [[John Fisher#Early life|John Fisher]],<ref group=note>Scheck 2021, ''op cit.'', pits the discernment of one pair of canonized saints (More and Fisher) against another pair (Canesius and Bellarmine), quoting historian Rudolph Padberg "They (More and Fisher) knew Erasmus, they defended him…their assessment of Erasmus weighs more heavily than the assessment of the next generationand of the period of Church revolution, which saw itself compelled to turn all instruments of peace into weapons." R. Padberg, ''Erasmus als Katechet'' (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1956) 18–19</ref> his positive influence on at least four [[Doctor of the Church|Doctors of the Church]] (Ignatius, Theresa, Canisius, de Sales), on [[John Henry Newman|St John Henry Cardinal Newman]]<ref group=note>Erasmus "surpassed his predecessors and contemporaries in his attempts to understand the Christian textual and theological tradition, not as one where we may cast back dogmatic formulations, onto first-century writers who had no notion of them, for example, but as one which developed according to the norms of particular times and places" {{cite journal |last1=Essary |first1=Kirk |title=Review, Christine Christ-von Wedel, Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=1 January 2014 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03401006 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6752891}}</ref> and [[ressourcement]] theologians such as [[Henri de Lubac]]<ref group="note">"De Lubac's preface to G. Chantraine's '' 'Mystere' et 'Philosophie du Christ' selon Erasmus'' (1971) presents Erasmus as, above all, a theologian who concentrated on the mysterium, ''philosophia Christi'', and the bond between exegesis and theology. "[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/637274/summary]
De Lubac thought Erasmus "bravely tried to relaunch spiritual exegesis at an unpropitious time."
{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Aidan |title=Divine fruitfulness: a guide through Balthasar's theology beyond the trilogy |date=2007 |location=London [u.a.]: T & T Clark |isbn=0567089339}} p67</ref> and [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]],<ref group=note>"Origen (who was for me, as once for Erasmus, more important than Augustine) became the key to the entire Greek patristics, the early Middle Ages and, indeed, even to Hegel and Karl Barth." Hans Urs von Balthasar, ''My Work'', ''apud'' {{cite journal |last1=Polanco |first1=Rodrigo |title=Understanding Von Balthasar's Trilogy |journal=Theologica Xaveriana |date=2017 |volume=67 |issue=184 |pages=411–430 |doi=10.11144/javeriana.tx67-184.uvbt |url=https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1910/191053340006/html/ |language=en|doi-access=free }}</ref> (who named the great theologians/exegetes as Augustine, Bonaventure, Thomas, Erasmus{{refn|Von Balthasar, ''Theo-Drama'', Volume 1: ''Prolegomena'' <ref name=balthasar>{{cite web|last1=Spencer |first1=Mark K. |title=Analytic Table of Contents for Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Trilogy (Complete notes on all of Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, Theo-Logic, and the Epilogue) |url=https://www.academia.edu/11815080/Analytic_Table_of_Contents_for_Hans_Urs_Von_Balthasars_Trilogy_Complete_notes_on_all_of_Glory_of_the_Lord_Theo_Drama_Theo_Logic_and_the_Epilogue_}}</ref>}}) and an increasing awareness of how mainstream his reform agenda was.<ref group=note>Viz. [[Giles of Viterbo]]'s comment at the [[Fifth Lateran Council]] that "Religion should change men, not men religion" (i.e. doctrine) {{cite journal |last1=O'Malley |first1=John W. |title=Historical Thought and the Reform Crisis of the Early Sixteenth Century |journal=Theological Studies |date=September 1967 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=531–548 |doi=10.1177/004056396702800304}}</ref> His ''instrumentalist'' approach to [[Christian humanism]] has been compared to that of John Henry Newman and the ''[[personalism]]'' of [[John Paul II]],<ref name=cunningham group=note>He believed that "learning and scholarship were a powerful weapon both for the cultivation of personal piety and institutional church reform." {{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=Lawrence S. |title=The Catholic Heritage: Martyrs, Ascetics, Pilgrims, Warriors, Mystics, Theologians, Artists, Humanists, Activists, Outsiders, and Saints |date=1 March 2002 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-57910-897-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hr5KAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|151-164}} but also has been criticized as treating the Church's doctrines merely as aids to piety.<ref group=note>Catholic dogmatic theologian [[Aidan Nichols]] however notes that, in justice, "for Erasmus himself, the doctrine of redemption (understood as beginning with the incarnation of the Word) remained central as giving the whole world a Christocentric orientation: the goal of all living things is the harmony of all things, and especially human beings, with God, a harmony realized, in principle, in Christ." {{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Aidan |title=Shape of Catholic Theology: An Introduction To Its Sources, Principles, And History |date=28 August 2003 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-4360-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXOvAwAAQBAJ |language=en}} p.313</ref>

The Catholic scholar Thomas Cummings saw parallels between Erasmus' vision of Church reform and the vision of Church reform that succeeded at the Second Vatican Council.<ref name=":6" /><ref group=note>Erasmus nearly attended the [[Fifth Lateran Council]]: in 1512, Bishop [[John Fisher]] invited Erasmus to join his delegation, but Erasmus was prevented by circumstance.{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=H. C. |title=Fisher and Erasmus |journal=Humanism, Reform and the Reformation |date=26 January 1989 |pages=81–102 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511665813.006}}</ref> Another scholar writes "in our days, especially after Vatican II, Erasmus is more and more regarded as an important defender of the Christian religion."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Ruler |first1=Han |last2=Martin |first2=Terence J. |title=Review of Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus, MartinTerence J. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=2017 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=1168–1170 |jstor=26560563 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26560563 |issn=0034-4338}}</ref>

Erasmus' promotion of the recognition of [[adiaphora]] and toleration [[#Signet_ring_and_personal_motto|within bounds]] was taken up, to an extent, by [[Pope John XXIII]]: ''[[In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas]].''<ref>{{cite book |first1=John XXIII |last1=Pope |title=Ad Petri Cathedram |date=June 29, 1959 |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_29061959_ad-petri.html |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref><ref group=note>The phrase was coined after Erasmus' time.
A more accurate characterization of Erasmus' views might be that while a certain docility was ideal for laypeople in theological matters, the ''quid pro quo'' was that theologians and bishops should keep the defined doctrines to a minimum. For example, see {{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus and the Arians: Remarks on the "Consensus Ecclesiae" |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=1981 |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |jstor=25020997 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25020997 |issn=0008-8080}} or {{cite book |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=The Literary Culture of the Reformation |date=5 December 2002 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187356.003.0005}}{{rp|153}}</ref>

In 1963, Thomas Merton wrote "If there had been no Luther, Erasmus would now
be regarded by everyone as one of the great Doctors of the Catholic
Church. I like his directness, his simplicity, and his courage."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Connell |first1=Patrick F. |title=If Not for Luther? Thomas Merton and Erasmus |journal=Merton Annual |date=January 2020 |volume=33 |pages=125–146}}</ref>{{rp|146}}

Notably, since the 1950s, the Roman Catholic [[Easter Vigil]] mass has included a [[Liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII#Easter Vigil|Renewal of Baptismal Promises]],<ref>{{cite book |title=EASTER VIGIL PART III: THE BAPTISMAL LITURGY Presider Book |date=2020 |publisher=Catholic Dioscese of Madison |location=Madison, Wisconsin |url=https://www.madisondiocese.org/documents/2020/4/Baptismal%20Liturgy%20Presider.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|3,4}} an innovation<ref>{{cite web |title=Adopting a Protestant-Inspired Rite - Dialogue Mass 62 by Dr. Carol Byrne |url=https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/f144_Dialogue_62.htm |website=www.traditioninaction.org}}</ref> first proposed<ref>{{cite web |last1=Folla |first1=Pamela |title=The Sacrament of Confirmation |url=https://www.catholicireland.net/the-sacrament-of-confirmation/ |website=Catholicireland.net |date=30 November 1999}}</ref> by Erasmus in his ''Paraphrases''.

===Protestant===
Protestant views on Erasmus fluctuated depending on region and period, with continual support in his native Netherlands and in cities of the Upper Rhine area. However, following his death and in the late sixteenth century, many Reformation supporters saw Erasmus's critiques of Luther and lifelong support for the universal Catholic Church as damning, and second-generation Protestants were less vocal in their debts to the great humanist.

There was a tendency to downplay that many of the usages fundamental to Luther, Melancthon and Calvin, such as the forensic imputation of righteousness, grace as divine favour or mercy (rather than a medicine-like substance or habit), faith as trust (rather than a persuasion only), "repentance" over "doing penance" (as used by Luther in the first theses of the [[95 Theses]]), owed to Erasmus.{{refn|group=note|According to Lutheran historian Lowell Green, "credit is due Erasmus for providing the terminology of " faith" and "grace" for the Protestestant Reformation" as well as "imputation"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Lowell C. |title=The Influence of Erasmus upon Melanchthon, Luther and the Formula of Concord in the Doctrine of Justification |journal=Church History |date=1974 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=183–200
|jstor=3163951 |s2cid=170458328 |doi=10.2307/3163951 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3163951 |issn=0009-6407}}</ref>{{rp|186-188}} }}

Luther had attempted a Biblical analogy to justify his dismissal of Erasmus' thought: "He has done what he was ordained to do: he has introduced the ancient languages, in the place of injurious scholastic studies. He will probably die like Moses in the land of Moab…I would rather he would entirely abstain from explaining and paraphrasing the Scriptures, for he is not up to this work…to lead into the land of promise, is not his business…" <ref>{{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation |date=1910 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xiv.html |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> "Erasmus of Rotterdam is the vilest miscreant that ever disgraced the earth…He is a very Caiaphas."<ref group=note>{{cite web |last1=Luther |first1=Martin |title=The Table Talk of Martin Luther |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wj8uAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA283 |publisher=H. G. Bohn |language=en |date=1857}}'{{rp|283}} (translation: Hazlitt)
Also "Whenever I pray, I pray a curse upon Erasmus." "I hold Erasmus of Rotterdam to be Christ’s most bitter enemy." "With Erasmus it is translation and nothing else. He is never in earnest. He is ambiguous and a caviller" ''apud''
{{cite web |last1=Armstrong |first1=Dave |last2=Catholicism |first2=Biblical Evidence for |title=Luther's Insults of Erasmus in "Bondage of the Will" & "Table-Talk" |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/02/luthers-insults-erasmus-bondage-will-table-talk.html |website=Biblical Evidence for Catholicism |language=en |date=2 February 2017}}</ref>

Some historians have even said that "the spread of Lutheranism was checked by Luther’s antagonizing (of) Erasmus and the humanists."<ref name="Luther and the Reformation">{{cite book |last1=Eckert |first1=Otto J. |title=Luther and the Reformation |date=1955 |url=http://essays.wisluthsem.org:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/1262/EckertReformation.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref>{{rp|7}}

Erasmus' reception is also demonstrable among Swiss Protestants in the sixteenth century: he had an indelible influence on the biblical commentaries of, for example, [[Konrad Pellikan]], [[Heinrich Bullinger]], and [[John Calvin]], all of whom used both his annotations on the New Testament and his paraphrases of same in their own New Testament commentaries.<ref>{{cite book|title=Erasmus and Calvin on the Foolishness of God: Reason and Emotion in the Christian Philosophy |last=Essary |first=Kirk |year=2017 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781487501884}}</ref> [[Huldrych Zwingli]], the founder of the [[Reformed church|Reformed]] tradition, had a conversion experience after reading Erasmus' poem,'' 'Jesus' Lament to Mankind.' '' Zwingli's moralism, hermeneutics and attitude to patristic authority owe to Erasmus, and contrast with Luther's.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nauert |first1=Charles G. |title=Review of The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1988 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=725–727 |doi=10.2307/2861896 |jstor=2861896 |s2cid=164003270 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861896 |issn=0034-4338}}</ref>

[[Anabaptist]] scholars have suggested an 'intellectual dependence'<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kyle |first1=Richard |title=(Review) Erasmus, the Anabaptists, and the Great Commission |website=directionjournal.org |date=1999 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=126–127 |url=https://directionjournal.org/28/1/erasmus-anabaptists-and-great-commission.html |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> of Anabaptists on Erasmus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Darren T. |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam's Influence upon Anabaptism: The Case of Balthasar Hubmaie |date=2005 |publisher=Simon Fraser University |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56373505.pdf |access-date=6 August 2023}}</ref>

For [[evangelical]] Christianity, Erasmus had a strong influence<ref>{{cite web |last1=TeSlaa |first1=Kevin |last2=Treick |first2=Paul |title=Arminius and the Remonstrants |url=https://heidelbergseminary.org/2018/12/arminius-and-the-remonstrants/ |website=Heidelberg Seminary |access-date=19 August 2023 |date=31 December 2018}}</ref> on Arminius.

Erasmus' promotion of the recognition of [[adiaphora]] and toleration within bounds was taken up by many kinds of Protestants.

Erasmus' Greek New Testament was the basis of the [[Textus Receptus]] bibles, which were used for all Protestant bible translations from 1600 to 1900, notably including the [[Luther Bible]] and the [[King James Version]].

=== Character attacks ===
Writers have often explained Erasmus' failure to adopt their favoured position as manifesting some deep character flaw.

Luther's antipathy to Erasmus has continued to more recent times in some Lutheran teachers:

{{Blockquote|Oh how Erasmus placed honor above truth! To seek honor is a human frailty. To ever permit it to go to the point of placing honor and for that matter friendship, expediency, or anything else, above truth is to be blinded by the devil himself and to set a snare for others to be entrapped in his delusions. Such delusions Erasmus would support in pride, weakness, vacillation, and false love for peace and harmony." "Erasmus, the Judas of the Reformation" "this cultured and eloquent theological midget|source=Otto J. Eckert (1955)<ref name="Luther and the Reformation"/>{{rp|27,28,31}}}}

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917) explained "His inborn vanity and self-complacency were thereby increased almost to the point of becoming a disease; at the same time he sought, often by the grossest flattery, to obtain the favour and material support of patrons or to secure the continuance of such benefits."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Desiderius Erasmus |website=www.newadvent.org |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm}}</ref> According to Catholic historian Joseph Lortz (1962) "Erasmus remained in the church…but as a half Catholic…indecisive, hesitating, suspended in the middle."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ozment |first1=Steven |title=The Age of Reform 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe |date=28 September 1980 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18668-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kf5B2IMgOR8C |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|299}}

A 1920s American historian wrote "Erasmus's ambitions, fed by an innate vanity which at times repels by its frank self-seeking, included both fame and fortune" yet pulls back on another historian's view that his "irritable self-conceit, shameless importunity,…may lead one to a sense of contempt for the scholar", pointing out the reality of Erasmus' dire poverty in Paris. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Savage |first1=Howard J. |title=The First Visit of Erasmus to England |journal=PMLA |date=1922 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=94–112 |doi=10.2307/457209 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/457209 |issn=0030-8129}}</ref>

In the 20th century, various [[Psychoanalysis|pyschoanalyses]] were made of Erasmus by practitioners: these diagnosed him variously as "supremely egotistic, neurasthenic, morbidly sensitive, volatile, variable, and vacillating, injudicious, irritable, and querulous, yet always ... a baffling but interesting chararacter"; a "volatile neurotic, latent homosexual, hypochondriac, and psychasthenic"; having "a form of
narcissistic character disorder," a spiritualized, vengeful, "paranoid disposition" driven by "injured narcissism", "repeated persecutory preoccupations...(with) delusional states of paranoia toward the end of his life", repressed anger directed "father figures such as prelates and teachers," needing a "sense of victimization" <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |last2=Meissner |first2=W. W. |title=The Character of Erasmus |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1978 |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=598–624 |doi=10.2307/1861840 |jstor=1861840 |pmid=11610344 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1861840 |issn=0002-8762}}</ref>{{rp|598–624}}

Huizinga's biography (1924) treats him more sympathically, with phrases such as: a great and sincere need for concord and affection, profoundly in need of (physical and spiritual) purity, a delicate soul (with a delicate constitution), fated to an immoderate love of liberty,{{refn|group=note|"Out of the need for personal independence, he remained his entire life a man in the middle. Averting everything fanatical, extreme, or absurd, he was easily frightened by the prospect of unilateral personal engagement, even when it appeared to be ethically demanded. He preferred to persist in intellectual and spiritual self-discipline…"<ref name=ewolf/>}} having a dangerous fusion between inclination and conviction, restless but precipitate, a continual intermingling of explosion and reserve, fastidious, bashful, coquettish, a white-lier, evasive, suspicious, and feline. Yet "compared with most of his contemporaries he remains moderate and refined."<ref name=huiz />{{rp|Ch.xiv}}

===Name used===
* The European [[Erasmus Programme]] of [[International student|exchange students]] within the [[European Union]] is named after him. The [[Erasmus Programme]] scholarships enable students to spend up to a year of their university courses in a university in another European country.
* A peer-reviewed annual scholarly journal ''Erasmus Studies'' has been produced since 1981.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus Studies |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/eras-overview.xml |website=Brill |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Erasmus Prize]] is one of Europe's foremost recognitions for culture, society or social science. It was won by [[Wikipedia]] in 2015.
* The Erasmus Lectures are an annual lecture on religious subjects, given by prominent Christian (mainly Catholic) and Jewish intellectuals.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus Lectures |url=https://www.firstthings.com/erasmus-lectures |website=First Things |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
* The Erasmus Building in [[Luxembourg]] was completed in 1988 as the first addition to the [[Palais de la Cour de Justice|headquarters]] of the [[Court of Justice of the European Union]] (CJEU).<ref name=CJEU>{{cite web |title=Erasmus Building |url=https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3943794/en/ |publisher=Europa (web portal) |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The building houses the chambers of the judges of the CJEU's [[General Court (European Union)|General Court]] and three courtrooms.<ref name=CJEU />
* Several schools, faculties and universities in the [[Netherlands]] and [[Belgium]] are named after him, as is [[Erasmus Hall High School|Erasmus Hall]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York, USA.
* [[Queens' College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], has an Erasmus Building and an Erasmus Room. Until the early 20th century, Queens' College used to have a corkscrew that was purported to be "Erasmus' corkscrew", which was a third of a metre long; as of 1987, the college still had what it calls "Erasmus' chair".<ref>John Twigg, ''A History of Queens' College, Cambridge 1448–1986'' (Woodbridge, Suff.: Boydell Press, 1987).</ref>
* From 1997 to 2008, the American [[University of Notre Dame]] had an Erasmus Institute.<ref>{{cite web |title=No more Erasmus, but NDIAS and NDCEC continue |url=https://irishrover.net/2010/09/no-more-erasmus-but-ndias-and-ndcec-continue/ |website=Irish Rover |date=19 September 2010}}</ref>

===Intellectual===
* Theologian [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]] listed Erasmus in one of three key intellectual "events" in the Germanic age:{{refn|Von Balthasar, ''The Glory of the Lord'', Volume 5: ''The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age'', II.B.1.a. Origins of the Modern Period <ref name=balthasar />}}
** [[Duns Scotus]]-[[William of Ockham]]-[[Francisco Suárez]] and [[Meister Eckhart]]-[[Nicholas of Cusa]]-[[Ignatius of Loyola]]
** [[Martin Luther]]-Erasmus-[[Shakespeare]]
** [[Kant]]-[[Hegel]]-[[Marx]]

* Political journalist [[Michael Massing]] has written of the Luther-Erasmus [[#Dispute_on_Free_Will|free will]] debate as creating a fault line in Western thinking: Europe adopted a form of Erasmian humanism while America has been shaped by Luther-inspired individualism.<ref name=massing>Massing, 2022 ([https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing?variant=39387603533858 publisher's abstract])</ref>
* By the coming of the [[Age of Enlightenment]], Erasmus increasingly again became a more widely respected cultural symbol and was hailed as an important figure by increasingly broad groups.
* In a letter to a friend, Erasmus once had written: "That you are patriotic will be praised by many and easily forgiven by everyone; but in my opinion it is wiser to treat men and things as though we held this world the common fatherland of all."<ref>Letter 480, to Budé (ed. Allen)</ref> Thus, the universalist ideals of Erasmus are sometimes claimed to be important for fixing global governance.<ref>Page, James. 2015. [https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=17785 ''Fixing global governance''], Online Opinion, 29 October 2015.</ref>
* Catholic historian [[David_Knowles_(scholar)|Dom David Knowles]] wrote that a just appreciation of traditional Catholic doctrine was a necessary condition for appreciating Erasmus, "without which many otherwise gifted writers have repeated meaningless platitudes."<ref name=knowles>{{cite journal |last1=Knowles |first1=Dom David |title=Ch XI - Erasmus |journal=The Religious Orders in England |date=27 September 1979 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511560668.012}}</ref>

=== Quotes ===

Erasmus is credited with numerous quotes; many of them are not exactly original to him but are taken from his collections of sayings such as ''[[Adagia|Adages]]'' or ''[[Apophthegmatum opus|Apophthegmata]]''.<ref group=note>"No humanist inhabited, cultivated, and chased after ancient proverbs with as much passion as Desiderius Erasmus."{{cite journal |last1=Hui |first1=Andrew |title=The Infinite Aphorisms of Erasmus and Bacon |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2018 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=171–199 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03802003 |s2cid=172124407 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37604079 |issn=0276-2854}}</ref>

* In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]''
* The most disadvantageous peace is better than the justest war. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]''
* "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Library An Illustrated History|last=Murray|first=Stuart|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|year=2009|isbn=9781602397064|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/80 80–81]|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/80}}</ref>
* "Monkishness is not piety" ''Enchiridion''
* "Christ said (to St Peter) 'Feed my sheep', not 'Devour my sheep'." {{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
* Martin Luther is "a snake without a snakecharmer" ''Hyperaspistes II''
* "If I have my way, the farmer, the smith, the stone-cutter will read him (Christ), prostitutes and pimps will read him, even the Turks will read him. …If it be the [[Plowboy trope|ploughman guiding his plough]], let him chant in his own language the mystic psalms." [[Plowboy trope#Erasmus of Rotterdam (1516)|Paraphrase of St Matthew]]

He is also blamed for the mistranslation from Greek of "to call a bowl a bowl" as "[[Call a spade a spade|to call a spade a spade]]".<ref>[https://www.etymonline.com/word/spade Etymonline: spade(n.1)], accessed 2019-08-05</ref>

==Personal==
=== Clothing ===
[[File:Erasmus Duerer VandA E.4621-1910.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus by [[Albrecht Dürer]], 1526, engraved in [[Nuremberg]], Germany]]
Until Erasmus received his Papal dispensation to wear clerical garb, Erasmus wore versions of the local [[Religious habit#Canons regular|habit of his order]], the [[Canon regular|Canons regular of St Augustine]], which varied by region and house, unless traveling: in general, a black or perhaps white [[cassock]] with linen and lace choir [[rochet]] for liturgical contexts or ''sarotium'' (scarf), [[almuce]] (cape), perhaps with a long black cloak.<ref>Shoes, Boots, Leggings, and Cloaks: The Augustinian Canons and Dress in Later Medieval England [https://www-cambridge-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/shoes-boots-leggings-and-cloaks-the-augustinian-canons-and-dress-in-later-medieval-england/B282527E658BD79FCFBDB6100D5BDA93]</ref> He arranged for his clothing to be stuffed with fur to protect him against the cold.<ref name=":4" /> The habit counted with a collar of fur which usually covered his nape.<ref name=":4" />
From at least 1517, he dressed as a scholar-priest.<ref name=":4">Treu, Erwin (1959). pp.20–21</ref> He preferred warm and soft garments.<ref name=":4" />

Erasmus' portraits show him wearing a knitted scholar's bonnet.<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite journal |last1=Kruseman |first1=Geeske M. |title=Some Uses of Experiment for Understanding Early Knitting and Erasmus' Bonnet |journal=EXARC Journal |date=25 August 2018 |issue=EXARC Journal Issue 2018/3 |url=https://exarc.net/issue-2018-3/at/some-uses-experiment-understanding-early-knitting-and-erasmus-bonnet |language=en |issn=2212-8956}} |2={{cite journal |last1=Malcolm-Davies |first1=Jane |last2=Kruseman |first2=Geeske |title=Erasmus' bonnet |journal=Kostuum |date=1 January 2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/40168789/Erasmus_bonnet}} }}</ref>

=== Signet ring and personal motto ===
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger. Terminus, the Device of Erasmus (1532).jpg|thumb|200px|Painting of Erasmus as [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2018-10-31|title=Terminus, the Device of Erasmus|url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.166|access-date=2022-01-09|website=[[Cleveland Museum of Art]]|language=en}}</ref>]]
Erasmus chose the Roman god of borders and boundaries [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] as a personal symbol<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=78–79|language=de}}</ref> and had a [[Seal (emblem)|signet ring]] with a [[Herm (sculpture)|herm]] he thought depicted Terminus carved into a [[carnelian]].<ref name=":0" /> The herm was presented to him in Rome by his student [[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]] and in reality depicted the Greek god [[Dionysus]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=78–79}}</ref> The ring was also depicted in a portrait of his by the Flemish painter [[Quentin Matsys]].<ref name=":0" />

The herm became part of the Erasmus branding at Froben, and is on his tombstone.<ref name=panofsky/>{{rp|215}} In the early 1530s, Erasmus was portrayed as Terminus by Hans Holbein the Younger.<ref name=":1" />

He chose ''Concedo Nulli'' (Lat. ''I concede to no-one'') as his personal motto.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |date=2018-10-31 |title=Terminus, the Device of Erasmus |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.166 |access-date=2022-01-09 |website=[[Cleveland Museum of Art]] |language=en}}</ref> The obverse of the medal by Quintin Matsys featured the Terminus herm, the motto, and along the circumference "Contemplate the end of a long life" and [[Horace]]'s "Death is the ultimate boundary of things,"<ref name=panofsky>{{cite journal |last1=Panofsky |first1=Erwin |title=Erasmus and the Visual Arts |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |date=1969 |volume=32 |pages=200–227 |doi=10.2307/750613 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/750613 |issn=0075-4390}}</ref>{{rp|215}} which re-casts the motto as a ''[[memento mori]]''.

{{clear}}

===Representations===
[[File:HolbeinErasmusHands.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Holbein's studies of Erasmus's hands, in silverpoint and chalks, ca. 1523 ([[Louvre]])]]
{{Main| Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam}}
* [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]] painted him at least three times and perhaps as many as seven, some of the Holbein portraits of Erasmus surviving only in copies by other artists. Holbein's three profile portraits – two (nearly identical) profile portraits and one three-quarters-view portrait – were all painted in the same year, 1523. Erasmus used the Holbein portraits as gifts for his friends in England, such as [[William Warham]], the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Writing in a letter to Wareham regarding the gift portrait, Erasmus quipped that "he might have something of Erasmus should God call him from this place.") Erasmus spoke favourably of Holbein as an artist and person but was later critical, accusing him of sponging off various patrons whom Erasmus had recommended, for purposes more of monetary gain than artistic endeavor.
* [[Albrecht Dürer]] also produced portraits of Erasmus, whom he met three times, in the form of an [[engraving]] of 1526 and a preliminary charcoal sketch. Concerning the former Erasmus was unimpressed, declaring it an unfavorable likeness of him. Nevertheless, Erasmus and Dürer maintained a close friendship, with Dürer going so far as to solicit Erasmus's support for the Lutheran cause, which Erasmus politely declined. Erasmus wrote a glowing [[encomium]] about the artist, likening him to famous Greek painter of antiquity [[Apelles]]. Erasmus was deeply affected by his death in 1528.
[[File:Quinten Metsys (Massijs), bronze medal of 105 mm, commissioned in 1519 by Desiderius Erasmus.jpg|thumb|200px|Quinten Metsys (Massijs), medal commissioned by Desiderius Erasmus. 1519, bronze, 105 mm]]
* [[Quentin Matsys]] produced the earliest known portraits of Erasmus, including an oil painting in 1517<ref>{{Cite web|title=Quinten Massys (1465/6-1530) - Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/405759/desiderius-erasmus-1466-1536|access-date=2022-01-15|website=www.rct.uk|language=en}}</ref> and a medal in 1519.<ref>Stein, Wilhelm (1929), p.78</ref>
* In 1622, [[Hendrick de Keyser]] cast a [[statue of Erasmus]] in bronze replacing an earlier stone version from 1557. This was set up in the public square in Rotterdam, and today may be found outside the [[Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk (Rotterdam)|St. Lawrence Church]]. It is the oldest bronze statue in the Netherlands.
* Actor [[Ken Bones]] portrays Erasmus in [[David Starkey]]'s 2009 documentary series ''[[Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant]]''

=== Exhumation ===
In 1928, the site of Erasmus' grave was dug up, and a body identified in the bones and examined.<ref name=":4" /> In 1974, a body was dug up in a slightly different location, accompanied by an Erasmus medal. Both bodies have been claimed to be Erasmus'. However, it is possible neither is.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gleason |first1=John B. |title=The Allegation of Erasmus' Syphilis and the Question of His Burial Site |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=1 January 1990 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=122–139 |doi=10.1163/187492790X00085 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/10/1/article-p122_8.xml |access-date=19 July 2023 |language=en |issn=1874-9275}}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Works==
The ''Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus'' (2023)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=225–344 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_014|isbn=9789004539686 }}</ref> runs to 444 entries (120 pages), almost all from the latter half of his life.

===Complete editions===
The ''[https://www.jstor.org/bookseries/10.3138/j.ctt7p13p?page=1 Collected Works of Erasmus]'' (or ''CWE'') is an 84 volume set of English translations and commentary from the [[University of Toronto Press]]. As of May 2023, 66 of 84 volumes have been released. The ''[http://www.unionacademique.org/en/projects/24/erasmi-opera-omnia Erasmi opera omni]'', known as the ''Amsterdam Edition'' or ''ASD'', is a 65 volume set of the original Latin works. As of 2022, 59 volumes have been [https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD released].

===Letters===
{{main|List of Erasmus's correspondents}}
{{Blockquote|text=The best sources for the world of European [[Renaissance Humanism]] in the early sixteenth century is the correspondence of Erasmus.
|author=Froude
|title="Preface"
|source=''Life and Letters of Erasmus''
}}
Over 3,000 letters exist for a 52-year period, including to and from most Western popes, emperors, kings and their staff, as well as to leading intellectuals, bishops, reformers, fans, friends, and enemies.

===Religious and political===
[[File:Erasmo de Róterdam (1528) Manual del caballero cristiano.png|thumb|200px|alt=Enchiridion militis Christiani (1503).|''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani]]'' (1503), Spanish translation]]
[[File:HolbeinErasmusFollymarginalia.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Marginal drawing of Folly by Hans Holbein in the first edition of Erasmus's ''Praise of Folly'', 1515]]
[[File:Erasmus-crede-title.jpg|thumbnail|200px|[[A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede]], 2nd edition, 1533, English translation of ''Symbolum apostolorum'']]
* ''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani|Handbook of a Christian Knight (Enchiridion militis Christiani)]]'' (1503)
* ''[[#Sileni Alcibiadis (1515)|Sileni alcibiadis]]'' (1515)
* ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince|The Education of a Christian Prince (Institutio principis Christiani)]]'' (1516)
* ''The Quarrel of Peace'' (''Querela pacis'') (1517)
** (English translation<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_Peace |website=Wikisource}}</ref>)
* ''On the Immense Mercy of God'' (''De immensa misericordia dei'') (1524)
* ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will (De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio)]]'' (1524)
* ''Hyperaspistes'' 2 volumes (1526)
* ''The Institution of Christian Marriage'' (''Institutio matrimonii'') (1526)<ref name=":03" />
* ''Consultations on the War on the Turks'' (''Consultatio de bello turcis inferendo'') (1530)
* ''On the Preparation for Death'' (''De praeparatione ad mortem'') (1533)
* ''On the Apostles' Creed'' (''Symbolum apostolorum'')
* ''[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|The Preacher (Ecclesiastes)]]'' (1535)

===Comedy and satire===
* ''[[The Praise of Folly|In Praise of Folly (Moriae encomium - Stultitiae laus)]]'' (1511)
** (English translations<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Praise of Folly |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Praise_of_Folly |website=Wikisource}}</ref>)
* Preface to Plutarch's ''How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend'' (1514) (Dedication to [[Henry VIII]])
* ''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven]]'' (1514) (attrib.)
* ''[[Colloquies|Colloquies (Colloquia)]]'' (1518)
** (English translation <ref>{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=Familiar Colloquies |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Familiar_Colloquies |website=Wikisource}}</ref>)
* ''[[Ciceronianus]]'' (1528)

===Culture and education===
* ''[[Adagia|Adages (Adagiorum collectanea)]]'' (1500) all editions usually called ''Adagia''
** ''Three Thousand Adages'' (''Adagiorum chilliades tres'') (1508)
** ''Four Thousand Adages'' (''Adagiorum ciliades quatuor'') (1520)
* ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style|Foundations of the Abundant Style (De utraque verborum ac rerum copia)]]'' (1512) often called ''De copia''
* ''Introduction to the Eight Parts of Speech'' (''De constructione octo partium prationis'') (1515) - Erasmus' version of [[William Lily (grammarian)|Lily's Grammar]], sometimes called ''Brevissima Institutio''
* ''Language, or the uses and abuses of language, a most useful book'', (''Lingua, Sive, De Linguae usu atque abusu Liber utillissimus'') (1525)
* ''On the Correct Pronunciation of Latin and Greek'' (''De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione'') (1528)
* ''On Early Liberal Education for Children'' (''De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis'') (1529)
* ''[[On Civility in Children|On Civility in Children (De civilitate morum puerilium)]]'' (1530)
* ''[[Apophthegmatum opus]]'' (1531)
** includes ''Opusculi plutarchi'' (c.1514)
*** includes ''How to tell a flatterer from a friend''

===New Testament===
The 1516 edition had Erasmus' corrected [[Vulgate]] Latin and Greek versions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Andrew |title=The Date of Erasmus' Latin Translation of the New Testament |journal=Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society |volume=8 |issue=4 |date=1984 |pages=351–380 |jstor=41154623 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41154623}}</ref> The subsequent revised editions had Erasmus' new Latin version and the Greek. The 1527 edition had both the Vulgate and Erasmus' new Latin with the Greek. These were accompanied by substantial annotations, methodological notes and paraphrases, in separate volumes.

* ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]'' (1516)
** ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne|Novum Testamentum omne]]'' (1519, 1522, 1527,1536)
* ''In Novum Testamentum annotationes'' (1519, 1522, 1527,1535)
* ''[[Paraphrases of Erasmus]]'' (1517-1524)
** ''[[The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente]]'' (1548)

===Patristic and classical editions===
[[File:Irenaeus Contra haereses 1526 title page.jpg|thumbnail|200px|The title page of the princeps edition of Irenaeus's Against heresies, which was published by Erasmus at Johannes Froben's, Basel, 1526.]]
For the patristic and classical editions<ref>Some dates from {{cite book |last1=Bouyer |first1=Louis |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-the-bible/erasmus-in-relation-to-the-medieval-biblical-tradition/FD0040B9E6CD586D88C6DA9D1A7BAC99 |title=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition, Cambridge History of the Bible |date=1969 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521290173 |series=The Cambridge History of the Bible |volume=2 |pages=492–506 |chapter=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521042550.011 |access-date=23 July 2023}} and Schaff, ''History of the Christian Church'', ''op cit.''[https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html?queryID=26857203&resultID=162373]</ref> Erasmus was variously supervising editor and editor or translator, often working with others. He also contributed prefaces, notes and biographies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=Arnold |title=Thirtieth Annual Erasmus Birthday Lecture: Erasmus, the Church Fathers and the Ideological Implications of Philology |journal=Erasmus Society Yearbook |year=2011 |volume=31 |issue=December 2011 |pages=7–31 |doi=10.1163/027628511X597999}}</ref>

* Complete Works of [[Jerome]], nine volumes (1516) with biography, ed. ii (1526), ed. iii (1537, posthumous)
* Complete Works of [[Cyprian]] (1520)
* ''Commentary on the Psalms'' [[Arnobius the Younger]] (1522)
* Complete Works of [[Hilary of Poitiers]] (1523)
* ''Against Heresies'', [[Irenaeus]] (1526)
* Complete Works of [[Ambrose]] (and [[Ambrosiaster]]), four volumes (1527)
* Works of [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] (1522-1527)
* ''On Grace'' (''De gratia'') [[Faustus of Riez]] (1528)
* Complete Works of [[Augustine]] (1528, 1529)
* Works of [[Lactantius]] (1529)
* [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] (1529)
* Complete Works of [[John Chrysostom]], five volumes (1525-1530) with biography
* Works of [[Basil of Caesarea]] (1530)
* Homilies of [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] (1531)
* Complete Works of [[Origen]], two volumes (1536) with biography (posthumous)

Late in his publishing career, Erasmus produced editions of two pre-scholastic but post-patristic writers:

* ''On the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood'' (''De sacramento corporis et sanguinis Domini'') [[Alger of Liège]] (1530)
* Commentary on Psalms of [[Haymo of Halberstadt]] attrib. (1533)

Classical writers whose works Erasmus translated or edited include [[Lucian]] (1506), [[Euripides]] (1508), [[Distichs of Cato|Pseudo-Cato]] (1513), [[Quintus Curtius Rufus|Curtius]] (1517), [[Suetonius]] (1518), [[Cicero]] (1523), [[Ovid]] and [[Prudentius]] (1524), [[Galen]] (1526), [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] (1515, 1528), [[Plutarch]] (1512-1531), [[Aristotle]] (1531, Introduction to edition of [[Simon Grynaeus]]), [[Demosthenes]] (1532), [[Terence]] (1532), [[Ptolemy]] (1533), as well as [[Livy]], [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]], [[Libanius]], [[Galen]], [[Isocrates]] and [[Xenophon]]. Many of the ''Adagia'' translate adages from ancient and classical sources, notably from [[Aesop]]; many of ''Apophthegmata'' are from [[Platonists]] or [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]].

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
===Biographies===
* {{cite book |last1=Augustijn |first1=Cornelis |title=Erasmus: his life, works, and influence |date=1995 |publisher=Univ. of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=0802071775 |edition=Reprinted in paperback}}
* Barker, William (2022). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam: The Spirit of a Scholar.'' Reaktion Books
* {{cite book |last1=Bentley-Taylor |first1=David |title=My dear Erasmus: the forgotton reformer |date=2002 |publisher=Focus |location=Fearn |isbn=9781857926958}}
* Christ-von Wedel, Christine (2013). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* {{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=A. G. |last2=Jones |first2=Whitney R. D. |title=Erasmus: the reformer |date=2000 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |isbn=0413753301}}
* {{Cite book |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |last=Emerton |first=Ephraim |author-link=Ephraim Emerton |year=1899 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |oclc= 312661 |url=https://archive.org/details/desideriuserasmu00emeriala }}
* {{cite book |last1=Froude |first1=James Anthony |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus: lectures delivered at Oxford 1893-4 |date=1894 |publisher=Scribner's Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=/catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001182282 |language=en |author1-link=James Anthony Froude }}
* {{cite book |last1=Halkin |first1=Leon E. |title=Erasmus: A Critical Biography |date=1994 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-631-19388-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wIXPwAACAAJ |language=en |author1-link=Léon-Ernest Halkin }}
*{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |last2=Flower |first2=Barbara |title=Erasmus and the Age of Reformation,with a Selection from the Letters of Erasmus |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22900/22900-h/22900-h.htm |author1-link=Johan Huizinga }} in series, ''Harper Torchbacks'', and also in ''The Cloister Library''. New York: Harper & Row, 1957. xiv, 266 pp
** Dutch original by Huizinga (1924)
* {{cite book |last1=Jebb |first1=Richard Claverhouse |title=Erasmus |date=1897 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author1-link=Richard Claverhouse Jebb }}
* Pennington, Arthur Robert (1875). [https://archive.org/details/lifeandcharacte00penngoog/page/n242 ''The Life and Character of Erasmus''], pp. 219.
* {{cite book |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus |date=2004 |publisher=Continuum |location=London |isbn=9780826491558}}
* [[James Tracy (historian)|Tracy]], James D. (1997). [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft5q2nb3vp&brand=eschol ''Erasmus of the Low Countries'']. Berkeley – Los Angeles – London: University of California Press
* [[Stefan Zweig|Zweig]], Stefan (1937). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam''. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul. Garden City Publishing Co., Inc

===Topics===
* Bietenholz, Peter G. (2009). ''Encounters with a Radical Erasmus. Erasmus' Work as a Source of Radical Thought in Early Modern Europe''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* [[Ron Dart|Dart]], Ron (2017). ''Erasmus: Wild Bird''.
* Dodds, Gregory D. (2010). ''Exploiting Erasmus: The Erasmian Legacy and Religious Change in Early Modern England''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* Furey, Constance M. (2009). ''Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press
*Gulik, Egbertus van (2018). ''Erasmus and His Books''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* Payne, John B. (1970). ''Erasmus, His Theology of the Sacraments'', Research in Theology
* Martin, Terence J. (2016). ''[https://www.cuapress.org/9780813228099/truth-and-irony/ Truth and Irony - Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus]''. Catholic University of America Press
* MacPhail, Eric (ed) (2023). ''[https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/36025 A Companion to Erasmus]''. Leiden and Boston: Brill
* Massing, Michael (2022). ''[https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing Fatal Discord - Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind]''. HarperCollins
* McDonald, Grantley (2016). ''Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe: Erasmus, the Johannine Comma, and Trinitarian Debate''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press
* Ron, Nathan (2019). ''Erasmus and the “Other”: On Turks, Jews, and Indigenous Peoples''. Palgrave Macmillan Cham
* Ron, Nathan (2021). ''Erasmus: Intellectual of the 16th Century''. Palgrave Macmillan Cham
* Quinones, Ricardo J. (2010). ''Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter''. University of Toronto Press, 240 pp. Draws parallels between the two thinkers as voices of moderation with relevance today.
* Winters, Adam. (2005). ''Erasmus' Doctrine of Free Will''. Jackson, TN: Union University Press.

=== Non-English ===
* [[Marcel Bataillon|Bataillon, Marcel]] (1937) ''Erasme et l'Espagne'' , Librairie Droz (1998) ISBN 2-600-00510-2
** ''Erasmo y España: Estudios Sobre la Historia Espiritual del Siglo XVI'' (1950), Fondo de Cultura Económica (1997) ISBN 968-16-1069-5
* Garcia-Villoslada, Ricardo (1965) '''Loyola y Erasmo'', Taurus Ediciones, Madrid, Spain.
* Lorenzo Cortesi (2012) ''Esortazione alla filosofia. La Paraclesis di Erasmo da Rotterdam'', Ravenna, SBC Edizioni, {{ISBN|978-88-6347-271-4}}
* Pep Mayolas (2014) ''Erasme i la construcció catalana d'Espanya'', Barcelona, Llibres de l'Índex

===Primary sources===
* ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' (U of Toronto Press, 1974–2023). 84/86 volumes published as of mid 2023; see [https://web.archive.org/web/20120127150530/http://www.utppublishing.com/Controversies-Volume-78.html U. Toronto Press], in English translation
* ''The Correspondence of Erasmus'' (U of Toronto Press, 1975–2023), 21/21 volumes down to 1536 are published

Also:
* {{cite journal |last1=Rabil |first1=Albert |title=Erasmus: Recent Critical Editions and Translations |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=2001 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=246–251 |doi=10.2307/1262226 |jstor=1262226 |s2cid=163450283 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1262226 |issn=0034-4338}} Discusses both the Toronto translation and the entirely separate Latin edition published in Amsterdam since 1969

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Desiderius Erasmus}}
{{wikisource author}}
* {{SEP|erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus}}
* {{IEP|erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus}}
* "''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002254/http://newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm Desiderius Erasmus]''" entry in Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909 by Joseph Sauer
* {{Gutenberg author |id=3026}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Erasmus}}

===Non-English===
* [http://magistervenemus.wordpress.com/opera-omnia-erasmi/ Index of Erasmus's Opera Omnia (Latin)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100531204853/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/erasmus.html Opera] (Latin Library)
* {{DNB-Portal|118530666}}
* {{DDB|Person|118530666}}
* {{Helveticat}}

===Media===
* {{Librivox author |id=5005}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bmlsy In Our Time podcast] from BBC Radio 4 with [[Melvyn Bragg]], and guests [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]], [[Eamon Duffy]], and Jill Kraye.
* Desiderius Erasmus: ''"War is sweet to those who have no experience of it …" - Protest against Violence and War'' ( Publication series: Exhibitions on the History of Nonviolent Resistance, No. 1, Editors: [[:de:Christian Bartolf|Christian Bartolf]], Dominique Miething). Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, 2022. [https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/35224/Erasmus%20-%20'War%20is%20sweet%20to%20those%20who%20have%20no%20experience%20of%20it%20%E2%80%A6'%20-%20Protest%20against%20Violence%20and%20War.pdf PDF]


{{Subject bar |portal1= Bible |portal2= Christianity |portal3= Catholicism}}

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Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha

2023-12-03T02:50:04Z

Contaldo80: lovers

{{Short description|Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1523 to 1536}}
{{about||the later (1604) governor of Egypt, also named Ibrahim Pasha and also known by the epithet Maktul ("the Slain")|Maktul Hacı Ibrahim Pasha|other people|Ibrahim Pasha (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ibrahim
| honorific-suffix = [[Pasha]]
| image = Arolsen Klebeband 01 463 1 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Engraving of Ibrahim Pasha
| office1 = [[List of Ottoman Grand Viziers|28th]] [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]]
| term_start1 = 27 June 1523
| term_end1 = 5 March 1536
| monarch1 = [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Suleiman I]]
| predecessor1 = [[Piri Mehmed Pasha]]
| successor1 = [[Ayas Mehmed Pasha]]
| office2 = [[Ottoman Governor of Egypt]]
| term_start2 = 1525
| term_end2 = 1525
| monarch2 = [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Suleiman I]]
| predecessor2 = [[Güzelce Kasım Pasha]]
| successor2 = [[Güzelce Kasım Pasha]]
| office3 =
| term_start3 =
| term_end3 =
| monarch3 =
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| office4 =
| term_start4 =
| term_end4 =
| monarch4 =
| predecessor4 =
| successor4 =
| succeeding =
| birth_date = {{circa}} 1495
| birth_place = [[Parga]], [[Republic of Venice]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1536|3|5|1495|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Constantinople]], [[Ottoman Empire]]
| nationality = [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]
| blank1 =
| data1 =
| party =
| spouse = Muhsine Hatun<ref name=muhsine/>
| relations =
| children = Mehmed Şah Bey
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| profession =
| signature =
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}}

'''Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha''' ("Ibrahim Pasha of Parga"; {{circa}} 1495 – 5 March 1536), also known as '''Frenk Ibrahim Pasha''' ("the Westerner"), '''Makbul Ibrahim Pasha''' ("the Favorite"), which later changed to '''Maktul Ibrahim Pasha''' ("the Executed") after his execution in the [[Topkapı Palace]], was the first [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]] appointed by [[Sultan of the Ottoman Empire|Sultan]] [[Suleiman the Magnificent]].

Ibrahim, born as Orthodox Christian, was [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|enslaved]] during his youth. He and Suleiman became close friends and likely lovers in their youth. In 1523, Suleiman appointed Ibrahim as Grand Vizier to replace [[Piri Mehmed Pasha]], who had been appointed in 1518 by Suleiman's father, the preceding sultan [[Selim I]]. Ibrahim remained in office for the next 13 years. He attained a level of authority and influence rivaled by only a handful of other grand viziers of the Empire, but in 1536, he was executed on Suleiman's orders and his property (much of which was gifted to him by the Sultan) was confiscated by the state.

==Biography==
===Origin===
Ibrahim was born to [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox Christian]] parents in [[Parga]], [[Epirus]], then part of the [[Republic of Venice]]. His ethnicity is unknown, but he probably originally spoke a Slavic dialect and also knew Greek and Albanian. His father was either a sailor or a fisherman.<ref name=origin>{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ebru |title=The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha (ca. 1495-1536): The Rise of Sultan Süleyman's Favorite to the Grand Vizierate and the Politics of the Elites in the Early Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Empire |journal=Turcica |volume=41 |date=2009 |pages=5–6 |doi=10.2143/TURC.41.0.2049287 |quote=Originally, he probably spoke a Slavic dialect; sources mention that during the peace negotiations with the Habsburgs in 1533 he conversed in his mother tongue with Ferdinand I's representative Jerome of Zara, who was a Croatian... Venetian sources indicate that the pasha could also speak Greek and Albanian.}}</ref> Some time between 1499 and 1502 he was captured in a raid by [[Skender Pasha|Iskender Pasha]], the Ottoman governor of Bosnia, becoming a slave. He first met Prince [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Suleiman]] while residing at Iskender Pasha's estate near [[Edirne]], most likely in 1514. It was then that he was taken into Suleiman's service.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ebru |title=The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha (ca. 1495-1536): The Rise of Sultan Süleyman's Favorite to the Grand Vizierate and the Politics of the Elites in the Early Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Empire |journal=Turcica |volume=41 |date=2009 |pages=6–9|doi=10.2143/TURC.41.0.2049287 }}</ref>

===Political career===

After his rival [[Hain Ahmed Pasha]], the [[List of Ottoman governors of Egypt|governor of Egypt]], declared himself independent of the Ottoman Empire and was executed in 1524, Ibrahim Pasha traveled south to Egypt in 1525 and reformed the Egyptian provincial civil and military administration system. He promulgated an edict, the ''Kanunname'', outlining his system.<ref name="Raymond2001-191">{{cite book|last=Raymond|first=André|others=Translated by Willard Wood|title=Cairo: City of History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8CVAAAACAAJ|edition=Harvard|year=2001|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|location=Cairo, Egypt; New York|isbn=978-977-424-660-9|page=191}}</ref><ref name="HoltGray1975">{{cite journal|last1=Holt|first1=P. M.|last2=Gray|first2=Richard|editor1-last=Fage|editor1-first=J.D.|editor2-last=Oliver|editor2-first=Roland|title=Egypt, the Funj and Darfur|journal=The Cambridge History of Africa|location=London, New York, Melbourne|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=IV|year=1975|pages=14–57|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521204132.003|isbn=9781139054584}}</ref>

In a lavish ceremony in 1523, Ibrahim Pasha was married to Muhsine Hatun, the granddaughter of the same Iskender Pasha who had captured him more than two decades previously. This marriage appears to have been politically motivated as a method of integrating Ibrahim, an outsider, into the Ottoman elite. While Muhsine was initially skeptical about her new husband, they eventually formed a loving relationship. Although historians once believed that the woman Ibrahim married was [[Hatice Sultan (daughter of Selim I)|Hatice Sultan]], the sister of Sultan Suleiman, this had been based on scanty evidence and conjecture. As a result of research carried out by the historian Ebru Turan, including the discovery of multiple references to Muhsine in Venetian and Ottoman texts as well as a signed letter from her to Ibrahim, it is now accepted that Ibrahim's wife was Muhsine and not Hatice. They had at least a son, Mehmed Şah Bey.<ref name=muhsine>{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ebru |title=The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha (ca. 1495-1536): The Rise of Sultan Süleyman's Favorite to the Grand Vizierate and the Politics of the Elites in the Early Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Empire |journal=Turcica |volume=41 |date=2009 |pages=3–36|doi=10.2143/TURC.41.0.2049287 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Şahin |first=Kaya |title=Empire and Power in the reign of Süleyman: Narrating the Sixteenth-Century Ottoman World |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-107-03442-6 |pages=51}}
* {{Cite book |last=Peirce |first=Leslie |title=Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire |year=2017 |publisher=Basic Books |page=157 |quote=Muhsine, granddaughter of an illustrious statesman, is now largely accepted as Ibrahim's wife.}}</ref>

[[File:Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum 01.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum|Ibrahim Pasha Palace]] in [[Sultanahmet, Fatih|Sultanahmet]], [[Fatih]], now the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum.]] His palace, which still stands on the west side of the [[Hippodrome of Constantinople|Hippodrome]] in Istanbul, has been converted into the modern-day [[Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum]].

[[File:Draft of the 1536 Treaty negotiated between Jean de La Forest and Ibrahim Pacha expanding to the whole Ottoman Empire the privileges received in Egypt from the Mamluks before 1518.jpg|thumb|250px|Draft of the 1536 Treaty negotiated between French ambassador [[Jean de La Forêt]] and Ibrahim Pasha, a few days before his execution, expanding to the whole [[Ottoman Empire]] the privileges received by France in [[Eyalet of Egypt|Egypt]] from the [[Mamluks]] before 1518.]]

On the diplomatic front, Ibrahim's work with Western Christendom was a complete success. Portraying himself as "the real power behind the Ottoman Empire", Ibrahim used a variety of tactics to negotiate favorable deals with the leaders of the Catholic powers. The [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] diplomats even referred to him as "Ibrahim the Magnificent",<ref>Jenkins, H. D. (1970). Chapter 5L Ibrahim's Fall. In Ibrahim Pasha: Grand Vizir of Suleiman the Magnificent, 38-39. Essay, AMS Press.</ref> a play on Suleiman's usual sobriquet. In 1533, he convinced [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] to turn [[Ottoman Hungary|Hungary]] into an Ottoman vassal state. In 1535, he completed a monumental agreement with [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] that gave France favorable trade rights within the Ottoman Empire in exchange for joint action against the [[Habsburgs]]. This agreement would set the stage for joint [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|Franco-Ottoman naval maneuvers]], including the [[Ottoman wintering in Toulon|basing of the Ottoman fleet in southern France]] (in [[Toulon]]) during the winter of 1543–1544.

Although Ibrahim Pasha had long since converted to Islam, he maintained some ties to his roots, even bringing his parents to live with him in the Ottoman capital, where they also converted to Islam. His father took the name Yusuf and joined the Ottoman elite, becoming a governor in Epirus.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ebru |title=The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha (ca. 1495-1536): The Rise of Sultan Süleyman's Favorite to the Grand Vizierate and the Politics of the Elites in the Early Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Empire |journal=Turcica |volume=41 |date=2009 |pages=6|doi=10.2143/TURC.41.0.2049287 }}</ref>

As his power and wealth grew, so did his arrogance, and he behaved as if he were in charge, not the Sultan. This deeply troubled the Sultan's wife, [[Hurrem Sultan|Hurrem]], who plotted Ibrahim's downfall. After a dinner with the Sultan on 5 March 1536, Ibrahim Pasha went to bed. Upon arrival to his room, he was seized, and killed. Thus, Hurrem became the chief political advisor to her husband, the Sultan.<ref>[[Roger Bigelow Merriman]], ''Suleiman the Magnificent 1520-1566'' (1944) pp 184–185.</ref><ref>Jenkins (1911), 109-125.</ref>

==In popular media==
* In the internationally popular Turkish television series ''[[Muhteşem Yüzyıl]]'', Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha is portrayed by actor [[Okan Yalabık]].
* He appears as a unique Ottoman governor in the video game ''[[Civilization 6]]'' in the [[Civilization VI: Gathering Storm|Gathering Storm expansion]].

==See also==
* [[Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum]], formerly Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha's palace
* [[List of Ottoman grand viziers]]
* [[List of Ottoman governors of Egypt]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* Jenkins, Hester Donaldson. ''Ibrahim Pasha: grand vizir of Suleiman the Magnificent'' (1911) [https://archive.org/details/39020024820097-ibrahimpashagra/page/n69/mode/2up online]
* {{Cite book |last=Şahin |first=Kaya |title=Empire and Power in the Reign of Süleyman: Narrating the Sixteenth-Century Ottoman World |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-107-03442-6}}
*{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ebru |title=The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha (ca. 1495-1536): The Rise of Sultan Süleyman's Favorite to the Grand Vizierate and the Politics of the Elites in the Early Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Empire |journal=Turcica |volume=41 |date=2009 |pages=3–36|doi=10.2143/TURC.41.0.2049287 }} [http://onser.info/uploads/files/Marriage_of_Ibrahim_Pasha.pdf pnline]
{{refend}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]]|before=[[Piri Mehmed Pasha]]|after=[[Ayas Mehmed Pasha]]|years=27 June 1523 – 14 March 1536}}
{{succession box|title=[[Ottoman Governor of Egypt]]|before=[[Güzelce Kasım Pasha]]|after=[[Güzelce Kasım Pasha]]|years=1525}}
{{s-end}}

{{Grand Viziers of_Ottoman Empire}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahim, Pargali}}
[[Category:1495 births]]
[[Category:1536 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:16th-century Ottoman governors of Egypt]]
[[Category:16th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Converts to Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy]]
[[Category:Executed people from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Pashas]]
[[Category:Seraskers]]
[[Category:Suleiman the Magnificent]]
[[Category:Grand Viziers of Suleiman the Magnificent]]
[[Category:Ottoman governors of Egypt]]
[[Category:Ottoman people of the Ottoman–Persian Wars]]
[[Category:Former Greek Orthodox Christians]]
[[Category:People from Parga]]
[[Category:16th-century slaves]]
[[Category:16th century in Egypt]]
[[Category:Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Albanian people from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Royal favourites]]

Simon Tisdall

2023-11-30T19:56:16Z

Contaldo80:

{{Short description|English journalist}}
{{Third-party|date=February 2023}}
'''Simon Tisdall''' (born 1953) is a columnist for ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper and an assistant editor of the publication.

==Early life==
Tisdall was born in Manchester and educated at [[Holland Park School]] in Kensington, one of the first [[Comprehensive school|comprehensives]]. From 1971 to 1974, he studied history, politics and philosophy at [[Downing College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/galleryguide/0,6191,387396,00.html|title=View from elsewhere biographies|website=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

==Career==

He joined ''The Guardian'' in 1979. From 1989–94, he was the newspaper's US Editor and White House correspondent. From 1994–98, he was Foreign Editor. During 1996–98, he was the Foreign Editor of ''[[The Observer]]''.

==Political positions==
Tisdall has criticised Britain's close ties with [[Saudi Arabia]] and British involvement in the [[Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen|Saudi Arabian-led invasion into Yemen]]. In 2018, he wrote that "the UK-Saudi alliance is pernicious, encouraging the worst in both sides, and deeply corrosive of 'our values'. [Prime Minister Theresa] [[Theresa May|May]]’s main focus is not on the unnumbered Yemeni civilians who continue to die as a result of the Saudi-led, British-backed bombing campaign."<ref>{{cite news |title=Enough of the shameful kowtowing to the Saudis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/04/shameful-kowtowing-saudi-prince-visit-uk |work=The Guardian |date=4 March 2018}}</ref> Tisdall commends [[Angela Merkel]]'s "brave, open-door migration policy".<ref>{{cite news |title=As Angela Merkel's star dims, Europe is facing perhaps its biggest challenge since 1930s |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/28/angela-merkel-germany-elections-eu-europe|last=Tisdall|first=Simon|date=28 October 2018|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Tisdall wrote that [[Ethiopia]]'s Prime Minister [[Abiy Ahmed]] "should hand back his Nobel Peace Prize over his actions in the breakaway region" of [[Tigray Region|Tigray]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tisdall |first1=Simon |title=Ethiopia's leader must answer for the high cost of hidden war in Tigray |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/24/ethiopias-leader-must-answer-for-the-high-cost-of-hidden-war-in-tigray |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |date=24 January 2021 }}</ref>

In 2022, following the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]], Tisdall called for reforms to the [[United Nations]] which included an increase in the number of members of the [[United Nations Security Council]] and an end to the permanent members' right of veto.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tisdall |first=Simon |date=6 April 2022 |title=The United Nations has the power to punish Putin. This is how it can be done {{!}} Simon Tisdall |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/06/united-nations-putin-ukraine-catastrophic |access-date=12 April 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life==
He married Alison Kane in 1984 in [[Ross-on-Wye]] in [[Herefordshire]]. They live a few miles west of [[Bradford on Avon]] in [[Wiltshire]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/simontisdall ''Guardian'' profile]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tisdall, Simon}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:People from Bradford-on-Avon]]
[[Category:The Guardian journalists]]
[[Category:The Observer people]]
[[Category:People educated at Holland Park School]]

Simon Tisdall

2023-11-30T19:55:58Z

Contaldo80: need more substance than this to over egg this point

{{Short description|English journalist}}
{{Third-party|date=February 2023}}
'''Simon Tisdall''' (born 1953) is a columnist for ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper and an assistant editor of the publication.

==Early life==
Tisdall was born in Manchester and educated at [[Holland Park School]] in Kensington, one of the first [[Comprehensive school|comprehensives]]. From 1971 to 1974, he studied history, politics and philosophy at [[Downing College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/galleryguide/0,6191,387396,00.html|title=View from elsewhere biographies|website=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

==Career==

He joined ''The Guardian'' in 1979. From 1989–94, he was the newspaper's US Editor and White House correspondent. From 1994–98, he was Foreign Editor. During 1996–98, he was the Foreign Editor of ''[[The Observer]]''.

==Political positions==
Tisdall has criticised Britain's close ties with [[Saudi Arabia]] and British involvement in the [[Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen|Saudi Arabian-led invasion into Yemen]]. In 2018, he wrote that "the UK-Saudi alliance is pernicious, encouraging the worst in both sides, and deeply corrosive of 'our values'. [Prime Minister Theresa] [[Theresa May|May]]’s main focus is not on the unnumbered Yemeni civilians who continue to die as a result of the Saudi-led, British-backed bombing campaign."<ref>{{cite news |title=Enough of the shameful kowtowing to the Saudis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/04/shameful-kowtowing-saudi-prince-visit-uk |work=The Guardian |date=4 March 2018}}</ref> Tisdall commends [[Angela Merkel]]'s "brave, open-door migration policy".<ref>{{cite news |title=As Angela Merkel's star dims, Europe is facing perhaps its biggest challenge since 1930s |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/28/angela-merkel-germany-elections-eu-europe|last=Tisdall|first=Simon|date=28 October 2018|work=The Guardian}}</ref>
Tisdall wrote that [[Ethiopia]]'s Prime Minister [[Abiy Ahmed]] "should hand back his Nobel Peace Prize over his actions in the breakaway region" of [[Tigray Region|Tigray]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tisdall |first1=Simon |title=Ethiopia's leader must answer for the high cost of hidden war in Tigray |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/24/ethiopias-leader-must-answer-for-the-high-cost-of-hidden-war-in-tigray |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |date=24 January 2021 }}</ref>

In 2022, following the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]], Tisdall called for reforms to the [[United Nations]] which included an increase in the number of members of the [[United Nations Security Council]] and an end to the permanent members' right of veto.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tisdall |first=Simon |date=6 April 2022 |title=The United Nations has the power to punish Putin. This is how it can be done {{!}} Simon Tisdall |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/06/united-nations-putin-ukraine-catastrophic |access-date=12 April 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life==
He married Alison Kane in 1984 in [[Ross-on-Wye]] in [[Herefordshire]]. They live a few miles west of [[Bradford on Avon]] in [[Wiltshire]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/simontisdall ''Guardian'' profile]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tisdall, Simon}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:People from Bradford-on-Avon]]
[[Category:The Guardian journalists]]
[[Category:The Observer people]]
[[Category:People educated at Holland Park School]]

Mark Dunajtschik

2023-11-14T22:15:04Z

Contaldo80: knicanan was an ordinary prison camp to imprison Germans and not a concentration camp

{{Short description|New Zealand businessman, property developer and philanthropist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date= February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sir Mark Dunajtschik
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KNZM|size=100%}}
| image = Mark Dunajtschik KNZM (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Dunajtschik in 2023
| birth_name = Markus Dunajtschik
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1935}}
| birth_place = [[Yugoslavia]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = New Zealander
| education =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| employer =
| organization =
| known_for = Philanthropy
| notable_works =
| partner = Dorothy Spotswood
| relatives =
| awards =
| signature =
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}}
'''Sir Markus Dunajtschik''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KNZM|size=85%}} (born 1935) is a New Zealand businessman, property developer, and philanthropist. With his partner, Dorothy Spotswood, he donated $53 million towards the cost of [[Wellington]]'s new children's hospital, Te Wao Nui, which was opened in September 2022.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/130832637/new-year-honours-mark-dunajtschik-a-knight-just-3-years-after-becoming-a-kiwi |title=New Year Honours: Mark Dunajtschik a knight just 3 years after becoming a 'Kiwi' |first=Rachel |last=Thomas |date=31 December 2022 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |access-date=8 February 2023}}</ref>

In the [[2023 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|2023 New Year Honours]], Dunajtschik was appointed a [[Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit]], for services to philanthropy.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2023 |title=New Year honours list 2023 |date=31 December 2022 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=8 February 2023}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Mark Dunajtschik was born to ethnically German parents in what was then Yugoslavia in 1935. When he was nine, Yugoslavian forces under Marshal Tito sent Mark, his mother and his sister to a prison camp in [[Knićanin|Knicanin]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Oliver |title=From concentration camp survivor to Wellington mega-donor |url=https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/charities/from-concentration-camp-survivor-to-wellington-mega-donor |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=businessdesk.co.nz |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Manson |first=Bess |date=2022-04-08 |title=Wellington philanthropists on their most generous donation yet |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/300560694/wellington-philanthropists-on-their-most-generous-donation-yet |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> His grandmother died there.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The man who gave away $50 million |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/the-concentration-camp-survivor-building-a-hospital-for-wellingtons-kids/5763U3KSLPW65V57ZLZTGDIVSQ/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=NZ Herald |language=en-NZ}}</ref> Three years later he and his mother and sister escaped via Hungary and Austria and eventually to Germany.<ref name=":1" /> Dunajtschik's family settled in the Black Forest in 1949, and Dunajtschik's father, who had been a prisoner of war, was able to join them a year later.<ref name=":3" /> Mark moved to [[Reutlingen]] when he was 15, to train as a toolmaker.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last= |date=12 July 2022 |title=Property developer Mark Dunajtschik's $100 million gift to Wellington |url=https://www.propertynz.co.nz/news/property-developer-mark-dunajtschiks-100-million-gift-to-wellington |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Property Council New Zealand |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> While studying in Reutlingen, Dunajtschik ended up living in a home for disabled people, since it was difficult to find accommodation in post-war Germany. He states that this experience made him appreciate having a healthy mind and body and gave him insight that mentally or physically disabled people should be supported by those who are able.<ref name=":0" />

After completing his training. Dunajtschik moved to Canada<ref name=":3" /> and spent five years travelling in South America, Australia and New Zealand. After visiting New Zealand in 1955 and then travelling back to Europe, Dunajtschik decided to settle permanently in New Zealand. He arrived in Wellington in 1958.<ref name=":0" /> He set up a business, Precision Grinders, making and servicing tungsten carbide tools.<ref name=":0" /> Dunajtschik ran the company for 28 years before selling it to his nephew in 1987.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

== Property Investment ==
On retirement from his business, Dunajtschik took up property investment and development as an interest. He became successful at this, at one time having over 40 commercial and investment properties in his portfolio.<ref name=":2" /> Property investor [[Bob Jones (businessman)|Bob Jones]] reputedly stated that “all property developers go broke and the only exception is that bugger Mark Dunajtschik, and the reason he doesn't go broke is because he keeps his property".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vollemaere |first=Michelle |date=2020-11-12 |title=Top award for property developer who escaped concentration camp |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/300157548/top-award-for-property-developer-who-escaped-concentration-camp |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref>

Dunajtschik is known for his personal, 'hands-on' approach to his properties and negotiations.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=1 November 2020 |title=Wellington's Mark Dunajtschik receives Property Council's highest award |url=https://www.propertynz.co.nz/media-releases/wellingtons-mark-dunajtschik-receives-property-councils-highest-award |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Property Council New Zealand |language=en-US}}</ref> Dunajtschik stated in 2011 that he only invests in properties located between Wellington Railway Station and the Basin Reserve.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Nicola |date=21 September 2011 |title=Wellington CBD investment snapped up for altruistic reasons |url=https://www.nbr.co.nz/wellington-cbd-investment-snapped-up-for-altruistic-reasons/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=NBR {{!}} The Authority since 1970 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Buildings developed by Dunajtschik include Environment House, James Smith's,<ref name=":22" /> Harcourts building, HSBC Tower, and the Asteron Centre.<ref name=":02" />

=== Harcourts building ===
{{Main|Former Australian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited Head Office}}
In 2011 Dunajtschik applied to Wellington City Council for a permit to demolish the Harcourts building due to the costs of earthquake strengthening required to bring the building up to code.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schouten |first=Hank |date=29 January 2012 |title=Developer battles heritage rules |work=The Dominion-Post |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/commercial-property/6328663/Developer-battles-heritage-rules |accessdate=4 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last=Schouten |first=Hank |date=28 June 2011 |title=Steel-framed Chicago-style building faces wrecking ball |page=C4 |work=Dominion Post |via=Ebsco Masterflie Complete}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McBride |first=Kerry |date=2 October 2012 |title=Wrecking ball sought for heritage building |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/7755116/Wrecking-ball-sought-for-heritage-building |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> Dunajtschik argued that the building had lost value after the 2010 and 2011 [[2011 Christchurch earthquake|Christchurch earthquakes]], and said that although it would not fall down in a severe earthquake, the historic ornamentation on the façade was dangerous and would cost too much to make good.<ref name=":12" /> Engineers estimated it would cost $5 million to complete earthquake-strengthening.<ref name=":12" /> The Historic Places Trust was in favour of retaining the building. In May 2014 Dunajtschik won an appeal against an Environment Court ruling that had blocked his plans to demolish the building,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-05-02 |title=Dunajtschik wins Harcourts building appeal |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/commercial-property/10001960/Dunajtschik-wins-Harcourts-building-appeal |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> but by November that year a second Environment Court ruling had ruled against him and he reluctantly committed to a $10 million restoration of the building.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schouten |first=Hank |date=2014-11-23 |title=Harcourts owner backs restoration reluctantly |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/63468560/harcourts-owner-backs-restoration-reluctantly |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> At the time Dunajtschik joked that the building would be known as "Mark's Folly".

=== Asteron Centre ===
The Asteron Centre, designed by Warren and Mahoney Architects, opened in 2010 and won a Wellington Architecture Award for commercial architecture in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Asteron Centre |url=https://www.nzia.co.nz/awards/national/award-detail/3870 |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=NZ Institute of Architects (www.nzia.co.nz)}}</ref> It suffered minor cracking in the [[2013 Seddon earthquake]], which reappeared in the [[2016 Kaikōura earthquake]]. The main tenant, Inland Revenue, then evacuated its 2000 staff from the building after an engineering report raised concerns about earthquake resistance. Dunajtschik said at the time that the building was safe and would be remediated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Katarina |date=2016-11-24 |title=Asteron Centre is safe, insists developer as IRD shifts staff to other offices |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/86833394/earthquake-asteron-centre-evacuation-displaces-more-than-2000-workers |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> In July 2021 Inland Revenue again evacuated its staff from the building after a new engineering report indicated possible problems.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Catherine |date=2021-07-29 |title=Asteron Centre likely out of action for at least three months |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125908188/asteron-centre-likely-out-of-action-for-at-least-three-months |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=11 January 2022 |title=A thousand IRD staff to remain displaced for most of the year |url=https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/a-thousand-inland-revenue-staff-to-remain-displaced-for-most-of-the-year/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Newstalk ZB |language=en-nz}}</ref> The building was strengthened during 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |title=McKee Fehl - Asteron Centre |url=https://www.mckeefehl.co.nz/our-projects/asteron-house/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=www.mckeefehl.co.nz}}</ref> and Dunajtschik said that receiving the new code of compliance from Wellington City Council was the highlight of his year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-20 |title=New Year Honours 2023: Mark Dunajtschik, KNZM |url=https://www.nbr.co.nz/business/new-year-honours-2023-mark-dunajtschik-knzm/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=NBR {{!}} The Authority since 1970 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Philanthropy ==
Dunajtschik has supported many charities including the Wellington Free Ambulance, Hohepa, an organisation providing disability support, the [[Graeme Dingle]] Foundation and the Heart Trust.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wellington's Mark Dunajtschik receives Property Council's highest award |url=https://www.propertynz.co.nz/media-releases/wellingtons-mark-dunajtschik-receives-property-councils-highest-award |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Property Council New Zealand |language=en-US}}</ref> Dunajtschik enabled the setting up of Wellington's rescue helicopter service Life Flight Trust in 1975, when he paid for a helicopter for pilot [[Peter Button]]. Dunajtschik funded the service for ten years until commercial sponsorship was secured.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |last=Devlin |first=Collette |date=2017-07-11 |title=Hard times in postwar Germany motivate philanthropist who has given $50m hospital to Wellington |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/94588662/hard-times-in-postwar-germany-motivate-philanthropist-who-has-given-50m-hospital--to-wellington |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.lifeflight.org.nz/history/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=Life Flight |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Victoria University of Wellington ===
In 2016 Dunajtschik donated $2 million to [[Victoria University of Wellington|Victoria University]] to fund a [[Professor|Chair]] in sustainable energy systems, to be known as the Mark Dunajtschik Chair of Sustainable Energy. This will enable the university to set up a programme in sustainable energy systems.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=27 October 2017 |title=Leading in sustainable energy systems |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/victorious/2017/spring-2017/sustainable-energy-systems |access-date=2023-05-03 |website=Victoria University of Wellington |language=en}}</ref> In 2023 Dunajtschik donated $10 million to Victoria University to set up a mechanical engineering department. A laboratory and a research centre named after Dunajtschik will be established. Dunajtschik said that engineering had given him his beginning in life and that he wanted to enable other people to use their engineering skills to work in different places in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Justin |date=2023-03-27 |title=Sir Mark Dunajtschik donates $10m to Victoria University's engineering department |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/300840691/sir-mark-dunajtschik-donates-10m-to-victoria-universitys-engineering-department |access-date=2023-05-03 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref>

=== Wellington Children's Hospital Te Wao Nui ===
[[File:Te Wao Nui opening.jpg|thumb|right|Dunajtschik (left) and Dorothy Spotswood (second from left) at the opening of Te Wao Nui on 30 September 2022]]
In 2017 Dunajtschik and his partner Dorothy Spotswood committed $53 million to build a new children's hospital at [[Wellington Hospital, New Zealand|Wellington Hospital]]. Initially approached for a donation, Dunajtschik declared that he could build the hospital himself more cheaply and quickly than if it was left up to government. He said "most benefactors write out a cheque, but in this case, that wouldn't get nearly as much done for the money. I can use my skill as a builder and developer to get the maximum value out of the $50m I'm donating for our children."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Devlin |first=Katarina Williams and Collette |date=2017-07-10 |title=Philanthropist bankrolls new $50m children's hospital |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/94589341/philanthropist-bankrolls-new-50m-childrens-hospital |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> The project took five years and cost $100 million, with the government adding almost $46 million to Dunajtschik's contribution.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Desmarais |first=Felix |date=2018-11-07 |title=Wellington children's hospital gets $45 million funding boost from Government |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/108418933/wellington-childrens-hospital-gets-45-million-funding-boost-from-government |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> Deeply involved with the design of the building, Dunajtschik expressed some frustration with the bureaucratic process along the way.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news |last=Leslie |first=Demelza |date=30 September 2022 |title=New $110m children's hospital opens in Wellington thanks to 'fairy godparents' |language=en |work=Newshub |url=https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/09/new-110m-children-s-hospital-opens-in-wellington-thanks-to-fairy-godparents.html |access-date=2023-04-11}}</ref> Construction began in 2019 and the new hospital received its first patients in October 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The journey to a new children's hospital |url=https://whf.org.nz/wellington-childrens-hospital/the-journey-to-a-new-childrens-hospital/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Wellington Hospitals Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The new hospital service was named Te Wao Nui and the building was named the Mark Dunajtschik and Dorothy Spotswood Building.<ref name=":7" />

=== Legacy ===
Dunajtschik announced in May 2023 that his estate will be vested in a [[Foundation (nonprofit)|foundation]] in his name, to be managed by the Nikau Foundation. The new foundation will give grants to support people with intellectual and physical disabilities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Justin |date=2023-05-03 |title=Sir Mark Dunajtschik to leave his estate to the Nikau Foundation |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/wellington/131937531/sir-mark-dunajtschik-to-leave-his-estate-to-the-nikau-foundation |access-date=2023-05-03 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref>

== Honours and awards ==
In 2017 Dunajtschik won the business category of the 'Wellingtonian of the Year' awards, and was named the supreme winner, 'Wellingtonian of the Year', for his philanthropic work.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Iles |first=Julie |date=2018-09-26 |title=Celebrating 30 years of Wellingtonian accomplishment |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/107379800/celebrating-30-years-of-wellingtonian-accomplishment |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref> Dunajtschik stated at the time: "Wellington has been good to me and I want to be good to Wellington".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Swinnen |first=Lucy |date=2017-12-06 |title=Hospital philanthropist Mark Dunajtschik wins Wellingtonian of the Year award |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99607014/hospital-philanthropist-mark-dunajtschik-wins-wellingtonian-of-the-year-award |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref>

In 2020 the Property Council awarded Dunajtschik a lifetime membership award, the 'Property Council New Zealand Members’ Laureate', in recognition of his 20 years in the property industry and charitable work. The Property Council said Dunajtschick was “a shining example of ‘property for good’, consistently breaking the often-negative connotations that come with the role of property developer”.<ref name=":02" />

Dunajtschik was appointed a [[New Zealand Order of Merit|Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit]] in the [[2023 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|2023 New Year Honours]], for services to philanthropy.<ref name=":5" />

In 2023 Dunajtschik was named 'Senior New Zealander of the Year' at the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ryman Healthcare Senior New Zealander of the Year Award |url=https://nzawards.org.nz/awards/senior-new-zealander-year/ |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=nzawards.org.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pollock |first=Mathew |date=31 March 2023 |title=Mark Dunajtschik wins Senior New Zealander of the Year |url=https://www.rymanhealthcare.co.nz/ryman-news/mark-dunajtschik-wins-senior-new-zealander-of-the-year |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=www.rymanhealthcare.co.nz |language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Dunajtschik met his partner Dorothy Spotswood, who is also his business partner, at the Overland Club in Wellington in the 1960s. Dunajtschik had founded the club after a trip overland by motorbike from New Zealand to Europe in 1955, before he decided to settle permanently in Wellington.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doyle |first=Judith |date=27 September 2012 |title=Overland celebrates 50 years of high adventure |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/7734698/Overland-celebrates-50-years-of-high-adventure |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":03" /> The couple never married and have no children.<ref name=":3" /> Dunajtschik became a New Zealand citizen around 2019.<ref name=":4" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunajtschik, Mark}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:New Zealand businesspeople]]
[[Category:New Zealand philanthropists]]
[[Category:Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Businesspeople awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:Yugoslav expatriates in New Zealand]]

Bartolo Longo

2023-11-14T03:12:42Z

Contaldo80: not supported by the source

{{Short description|Italian lawyer and lay Dominican, beatified by the Catholic Church}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= [[Beatification|Blessed]]
|name= Bartolo Longo
|honorific_suffix= [[Third Order of Saint Dominic|T.O.S.D]], [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre|KHS]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1841|2|10|mf=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1926|10|05|1841|2|10|mf=y}}
|feast_day=October 5
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]]
|image=Bartolo-Longo.jpg
|imagesize=175px
|caption= Photograph of Blessed Bartolo Longo
|birth_place=[[Latiano]], near [[Brindisi]], [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]]
|death_place=[[Pompei]], [[Naples]], [[Campania]], [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]]
|titles= [[Confessor]] and [[Rosary|Apostle of the Rosary]]
|beatified_date=26 October 1980
|beatified_place=[[Saint Peter's Basilica]],
[[Vatican City]]
|beatified_by=[[Pope John Paul II]]
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes= [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre|Knight habit]]<ref name="eohs">{{cite web |author= |date=2023 |title=Saints of the Order – Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy |url=https://www.midatlanticeohs.com/saints-of-the-order/ |url-status=live |website=www.midatlanticeohs.com |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |publisher=[[Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202104421/https://www.midatlanticeohs.com/saints-of-the-order/ |archive-date=2 February 2023 |access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref> [[Rosary]]
|patronage=
|major_shrine=Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Pompei, [[Pompei]], [[Naples]], [[Italy]]
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}

'''Bartolo Longo''' (February 10, 1841 – October 5, 1926) was an [[Italians|Italian]] [[lawyer]] who has been [[Beatification|beatified]] by the [[Catholic Church]]. He was a former [[Satanism|Satanic priest]] who returned to the Catholic faith and became a [[third order]] [[Dominican Order|Dominican]], dedicating his life to the [[Rosary]] and the [[Virgin Mary]].<ref name="eohs"/> He was eventually awarded a [[papal knighthood]] of the [[Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]].<ref name="eohs"/>

==Early years==
Bartolo Longo, was born into a wealthy family on February 10, 1841, in the small town of [[Latiano]], near [[Brindisi]], in the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]].<ref name="rum">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/our-lady-of-pompeii-5310|title=Our Lady of Pompeii|website=www.ewtn.com|access-date=2023-07-23}}</ref> His parents were devout [[Catholics]]. In 1851, Longo's father died and his mother remarried a lawyer. Despite Longo's stepfather wanting him to study in order to become a [[teacher]], Longo was set on becoming a [[lawyer]]. In 1861, Longo succeeded in convincing his stepfather and was sent to the [[University of Naples]] to study [[law]].<ref name=brown>Brown, Ann M., "Apostle of the Rosary: Blessed Bartolo Longo", New Hope Publications. 2004. {{ISBN|1-892875-24-1}}</ref>

In the 1860s, the Catholic Church in Italy found itself at odds with the strong [[Italian nationalism|nationalistic movement]] that inspired the cause for ''[[Italian unification|Risorgimento]]''. General [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], who played a key role in [[Italian unification]], saw the [[papacy]] as an antagonist to Italian nationalism and actively campaigned for the [[Anti-clericalism|elimination of the papal office altogether]].<ref name=gg>Giuseppe Guerzoni, Garibaldi: con documenti editi e inediti, Florence, 1882, Vol. 11, 485.</ref> The Church in Europe was also competing with the growing popularity of [[Spiritualism]] and [[Occultism]].<ref name=conan>Conan, Doyle, "The History of Spiritualism Vol II", The Book Tree Co., CA, 2007</ref> Because of this, many students at the University of Naples took part in [[Criticism of the Catholic Church|public demonstrations against the pope]], dabbled in [[witchcraft]], and consulted Neapolitan [[Mediumship|mediums]].<ref name=conan/><ref name="sullivan">{{Cite news|url=http://catholicexchange.com/the-rosary-the-devils-defeat|title=The Rosary: The Devil's Defeat|date=27 July 2007|work=Catholic Exchange|access-date=28 August 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> During that time, Longo became involved with a movement that led him into a [[Satanism|Satanist cult]].{{fact}}. After some study and several "spiritual" experiences, he was ordained as a Satanic priest.<ref>Angelo Stagnaro, [http://www.catholic.org/saints/story.php?id=42086&page=1 "Blessed Bartolo Longo: The Ex-Satanist On the Path to Sainthood"], ''[[Catholic Herald]]'', 19 July 2011.</ref>

==Conversion to Catholicism==
[[File:Bartolo Longo A 22 anni.jpg|thumb|Bartolo Longo at age 22]]

In the following years, Longo's life became one of "[[Depression (mood)|depression]], nervousness, and confusion".<ref name=stagnaro/> Bothered by [[paranoia]] and [[anxiety]], he turned to a hometown friend, Vincenzo Pepe, for guidance. It was Pepe who convinced him, in Longo's account, to abandon [[Satanism]] and introduced him to the [[Dominican Order|Dominican friar]] and [[Catholic priest]] Alberto Radente, who led him to a devotion to the [[Virgin Mary]] and the [[Rosary]]. On October 7, 1871, Longo became a [[Third Order of Saint Dominic|Dominican tertiary]] and took the name "Rosario". Around this time, he reportedly visited a [[séance]] and held up a rosary, declaring: "I renounce spiritualism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood." He also came to know some [[Franciscans|Franciscan friars]] with whom he helped the poor and incurably ill for two years. Bartolo also kept up his law practice, which took him to the nearby village of [[Pompei]].<ref name=sullivan/> He went to Pompei to take care of the affairs of Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco.<ref name=rum/>

In Pompei, Longo later recounted, he was shocked at the erosion of the people's faith. He wrote, "Their religion was a mixture of superstition and popular tradition. [...] For their every need, [...] they would go to a witch, a sorceress, in order to obtain charms and witchcraft." Through talking to the citizens, Bartolo came to recognize their severe lack of catechesis. When he asked one man if there was only one God, the fellow answered: "When I was a child, I remember people telling me there were three. Now, after so many years, I don't know if one of them is dead or one has married."<ref name=sullivan/>

Longo wrote of his personal struggles with [[mental illness]], paranoia, depression, and anxiety. At one point, he noted struggling with [[suicidal thoughts]], but rejected them by recalling the promise of [[Saint Dominic|St. Dominic]]: "he who propagates my Rosary will be saved". Longo wrote that this promise is what convinced him to encourage public devotion to the [[Rosary]].<ref name=landry>Fr. Roger J. Landry, [http://www.catholicity.com/commentary/landry/00691.html "From Satanist to Saint"], 31 October 2008</ref>

==Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei==
{{Main|Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei}}
[[File:Icona Madonna Pompei.jpg|thumb|left|Our Lady of the Rosary with St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena]]

With the help of Countess Mariana di Fusco, he inaugurated a confraternity of the Rosary and in October 1873 started restoring a dilapidated church. He sponsored a festival in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary.

In 1875, Longo obtained as a gift a painting portraying [[Our Lady of the Rosary]], with Saint Dominic and [[Saint Catherine of Siena]]. M. Concetta de Litala, a [[Religious sister (Catholic)|religious sister]] of the Monastery of the Rosary at Porta Medina, had been holding it for the Dominican priest Alberto Radente. Radente had acquired it from a junk-shop dealer in Naples for a very small sum. The painting was in bad condition and Longo wrote of his immediate distaste of the poor artistic quality when he first saw it. However, he accepted the gift to conserve funds and to not insult Concetta. Longo raised funds to restore the image and placed it in the church in an effort to encourage pilgrimages.<ref name=cruz>Cruz, Joan Carroll, "Relics", 1984. p 88-89. {{ISBN|978-0-87973-701-6}}</ref><ref name=longo1>Longo, Bartolo. "History of the Sanctuary of Pompeii". 1895. p 14, 115, 226</ref>

Alleged miracles began to be reported and people began flocking in droves to the church. Longo was encouraged by the [[Bishop of Nola]] to begin the construction of a larger church—the cornerstone being laid on May 8, 1876. The church was consecrated in May 1891 by Cardinal La Valletta (representing [[Pope Leo XIII]]).<ref name=longo1/> In 1939, the church was enlarged to a basilica, known today as the [[Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei|Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Pompei]].

==Later life and death==
[[File:Blessed Bartolo Longo at Pompei.jpeg|thumb|200px|The remains of [[Beatification|Blessed]] Bartolo Longo (1841–1926), inside the [[Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei]] in [[Italy]].]]

At the suggestion of [[Pope Leo XIII]], Bartolo Longo and the Countess Mariana di Fusco were married on April 7, 1885. The couple remained continent (abstained from intercourse),<ref name=cna>Catholic News Agency [http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=615 "BLESSED BARTHOLOMEW LONGO"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223020923/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=615 |date=23 February 2014 }}, 5 October 2014</ref> and continued to perform many charitable works and provided for orphaned children and the children of prisoners, which was radical for its time.<ref name="anuletta">Auletta, Gennaro. "Il Beato Bartolomeo Longo". 1980. {{ISBN|978-8885291249}}</ref> In 1906 they donated the entire property of the [[Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei]] to the [[Holy See]]. Longo continued promoting the Rosary until his death on October 5, 1926, at the age of 85. The piazza on which his basilica stands has since been named in memory of Longo. His body is encased in a glass tomb and he is wearing the [[Mantle (clothing)|mantle]] of a Knight of the [[Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]], a papal order of knighthood.<ref name="eohs"/>

==Beatification==
Longo's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on February 1, 1939 and April 4, 1943. His cause was formally opened on February 28, 1947, and he was given the title [[Servant of God]].<ref name="index">{{cite book |title=Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum |date=January 1953 |publisher=Typis polyglottis vaticanis |page=31 |language=Latin}}</ref>

On October 26, 1980, Longo was [[beatified]] by [[Pope John Paul II]], who would call him the "Apostle of the Rosary" and mentioned him specifically in his apostolic letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" (The Rosary of the Virgin Mary).<ref>Pope John Paul II, [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae_en.html Rosarium Virginis Mariae]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bartolo Longo}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Bartolo Longo}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031210090406/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/travels/sub_index2003/trav_pompei-2003.htm Pope John Paul II's Pastoral Visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, 7 October 2003]
*[http://www.catholic.org/saints/story.php?id=42086&page=1 Biography of Blessed Bartolo Longo by Angelo Stagnaro]
*[http://www.catholicity.com/commentary/landry/00691.html From Satanist to Saint by Fr. Roger J. Landry, 31 October 2008]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141027201739/http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/pompei.html Frisk, M. Jean. "Our Lady of Pompeii", Marian Library, University of Dayton]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longo, Bartolo}}
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Hamas

2023-11-04T01:45:25Z

Contaldo80: the European Parliament and not the EU as a whole passed the resolution

{{short description|Palestinian political and military organization}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Islamic Resistance Movement|Islamic Resistance Movement of Azerbaijan|1920 Revolution Brigades{{!}}Islamic Resistance Movement (Iraq)}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox political party
| country = Palestine
| name = Islamic Resistance Movement
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|ar|حركة المقاومة الإسلامية}}}}
| colorcode = {{party color|Hamas}}
| logo = Hamas logo.png
| membership = 20,000-25,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dni.gov/nctc/ftos/hamas_fto.html|title=National Counterterrorism Center | FTOs|website=www.dni.gov}}</ref>
| leader1_title = Chairman of the Political Bureau
| leader1_name = [[Ismail Haniyeh]]
| leader2_title = Deputy Chairman
| leader2_name = [[Saleh al-Arouri]]
| wing1_title = Military wing
| wing1 = [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]]
| foundation = {{start date and age|1987|12|10}}
| founder = {{unbulleted list|[[Ahmed Yassin]]|[[Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi]]}}
{{Collapsible list
| title = {{nobold|...{{nbsp}}''and others''}}
| [[Mahmoud Zahar]]
| [[Mohammad Taha (Hamas)|Mohammad Taha]]
| [[Abdul Fatah Dukhan]]{{sfn|Abdelal|2016|p=122}}
| Ibrahim Fares Al-Yazouri{{sfn|Dalloul|2017}}
| 'Isa al-Nashshar{{sfn|Abu-Amr|1993|p=10}}
| Ibrahim Quqa{{sfn|Litvak|1998|p=151}}
| Mohammed Hassan Shama'a{{sfn|Barzak|2011}}
| [[Hassan Yousef (Hamas leader)|Hassan Yousef]]{{sfn|AFP|2019}}
}}
| ideology = {{ubl|class=nowrap|
|[[Palestinian nationalism]]{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|pp=66–67}}
|[[Islamism]]{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|pp=66–67}}{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=270}}
|[[Islamic nationalism]]{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|pp=66–67}}{{sfn|Stepanova|2008|p=113}}{{efn|"Hamas considers [[State of Palestine|Palestine]] the main front of ''jihad'' and viewed the uprising as an Islamic way of fighting the Occupation. The organisation's leaders argued that Islam gave the Palestinian people the power to confront Israel and described the Intifada as the return of the masses to Islam. Since its inception, Hamas has tried to reconcile nationalism and Islam. [...] Hamas claims to speak as a nationalist movement but with an Islamic-nationalist rather than a secular nationalist agenda."{{sfn|Cheema|2008|p=465}}}}{{efn|"Hamas is primarily a religious movement whose nationalist worldview is shaped by its religious ideology."{{sfn|Litvak|2004|pp=156–57}}}}
|[[Anti-Zionism]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mišʿal |first1=Šāʾûl |last2=Sela |first2=Avraham |last3=Selaʿ |first3=Avrāhām |title=The Palestinian Hamas: vision, violence, and coexistence ; [with a new introduction] |date=2006 |publisher=Columbia Univ. Press |location=New York |isbn=9780231116756 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdKnUys3mWAC&dq |access-date=20 October 2023}}</ref>
|[[Antisemitism]]{{sfn|Litvak|1998|loc=pp. 151–52: "This strong anti-Jewish stance distinguishes Hamas from the PLO organization"}}<ref name=hoffman/>

}}
| position =
| religion = [[Sunni Islam]]
| split = [[Muslim Brotherhood]]
| headquarters = [[Gaza City]], [[Gaza Strip]]
| affiliation1_title = [[Political alliance]]
| affiliation1 = [[Alliance of Palestinian Forces]]
| colours = {{color box|{{party color|Hamas}}|border=darkgray}} [[Green]]
| seats1_title = [[Palestinian Legislative Council]]
| seats1 = {{composition bar|74|132|hex={{party color|Hamas}}}}
| leader3_name = [[Yahya Sinwar]]
| leader3_title = Leader in the Gaza Strip
| leader4_name = [[Mohammed Deif]]
| leader4_title = Military commander
| leader5_title = Deputy military commander
| leader5_name = [[Marwan Issa]]
}}

{{Infobox militant organization
| name = Hamas
| active =
| ideology =
| clans =
| headquarters = [[Gaza City]], [[Gaza Strip]]
| size =
| partof =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| allies = '''State allies:'''
* {{flag|Afghanistan}}<ref>{{cite news |date=October 7, 2023 |title=Pakistan, Afghanistan show support to Palestine, calls for "cessation of hostilities" |newspaper=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/pakistan-afghanistan-show-support-to-palestine-calls-for-cessation-of-hostilities/articleshow/104245296.cms?from=mdr%5C |access-date=October 7, 2023 |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007183550/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/pakistan-afghanistan-show-support-to-palestine-calls-for-cessation-of-hostilities/articleshow/104245296.cms?from=mdr%5C |url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{flag|Algeria}}<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231014-qatar-iran-turkey-and-beyond-the-galaxy-of-hamas-supporters|title=Qatar, Iran, Turkey and beyond: Hamas's network of allies|date=October 14, 2023|website=France 24}}</ref>
* {{flag|Egypt}} (2011–2013)<ref>{{cite web |last=Kingsley |first=Patrick |title=Egyptian army questions Mohamed Morsi over alleged Hamas terror links |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/26/egyptian-army-question-morsi-hamas-links |website=The Guardian |date=July 26, 2013 |access-date=October 18, 2023}}</ref>
* {{flag|Iran}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Adviser to Iran's Khamenei expresses support for Palestinian attacks: Report |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/10/07/Adviser-to-Iran-s-Khamenei-expresses-support-for-Palestinian-attacks-Report |website=Al Arabiya |publisher=AFP |via=al-Arabiya |date=October 7, 2023}}</ref>
* {{flag|Israel}} (1980s)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tharoor |first=Ishaan |date=2021-12-01 |title=How Israel helped create Hamas |language=en-US |work=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/07/30/how-israel-helped-create-hamas/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-10-22 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
*{{flag|North Korea}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-north-korea-weapons-703e33663ea299f920d0d14039adfbb8|title=Evidence shows Hamas militants likely used some North Korean weapons in attack on Israel|website=Associated Press|date=October 19, 2023}}</ref>
* {{flag|Qatar}}<ref name="allies">{{cite news |url=https://amp.dw.com/en/who-is-hamas/a-57537872|title=What is Hamas and who supports it?|author=Ehl, David|publisher=Deutsche Welle|date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
* {{flag|South Africa}} (denied)<ref>{{cite news |author=Staff |title=South Africa says it discussed aid with Hamas leader, denies reports of support |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/south-africa-says-it-discussed-aid-with-hamas-leader-denies-reports-support-2023-10-18/ |date=October 18, 2023 |access-date=October 18, 2023}}</ref>
* {{flag|Sudan}} ([[2019 Sudanese coup d'état|until 2019]], occasionally since 2023)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abdelaziz |first1=Khalid |last2=Eltahir |first2=Nafisa |last3=Irish |first3=John |title=Sudan closes door on support for Hamas |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/after-fall-bashir-sudan-closes-door-support-hamas-2021-09-23/ |publisher=Reuters |date=September 23, 2021 |access-date=October 18, 2023}}</ref><ref name="allies"/><ref name="auto3"/>
* {{flag|Syria}} (until 2011, occasionally since 2022)<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/experts-weigh-in-on-regional-impact-of-syria-hamas-rapprochement-teaser-/6798449.html|title=Experts Weigh in on Regional Impact of Syria-Hamas Rapprochement|date=October 20, 2022|access-date=October 8, 2023|publisher=VOA News}}</ref><ref name="time">{{cite magazine |last=Gidda |first=Mirren |title=Hamas Still Has Some Friends Left |url=https://time.com/3033681/hamas-gaza-palestine-israel-egypt/ |magazine=Time |date=July 25, 2014 |access-date=October 18, 2023}}</ref>
* {{flag|Turkey}} (partly)<ref name="auto3"/>
* {{flag|Venezuela}}<ref name=PAL>{{cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190125-hamas-plo-slam-slam-blatant-us-interference-in-venezuela-affairs/|title=Hamas, PLO slam 'blatant US interference' in Venezuela affairs|date=25 January 2019|website=Middle East Monitor}}</ref>

'''Non-state allies:'''
* {{flag|Hezbollah}}
* {{flagicon image|Houthis Logo.png}} [[Houthi Movement|Houthis]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/01/yemen-houthis-release-saudi-palestinian-hamas-prisoners.html|title=Houthis, Hamas merge diplomacy around prisoner releases – Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East|publisher=Al-Monitor|date=5 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jns.org/hamas-awards-shield-of-honor-to-houthi-representative-in-yemen-sparking-outrage-in-saudi-arabia/ |title=Hamas awards 'Shield of Honor' to Houthi representative in Yemen, sparking outrage in Saudi Arabia |website=JNS.org |date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.svg}} [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad|Islamic Jihad]]<ref name="toi9oct">{{cite web |last=Fabian |first=Emanuel |title=Officer, 2 soldiers killed in clash with terrorists on Lebanon border; mortars fired|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/mortars-fired-from-lebanon-infiltrators-killed-as-6-israelis-hurt-in-gunfight/ |access-date=9 October 2023 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US |archive-date=9 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009170223/https://www.timesofisrael.com/mortars-fired-from-lebanon-infiltrators-killed-as-6-israelis-hurt-in-gunfight/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{flagicon image|PFLP Infobox Flag.svg}} [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine|PFLP]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.alahednews.com.lb/fastnewsdetails.php?fstid=217239 |title=الجبهة الشعبية: قرار الإدارة الأمريكية بتوفير الدعم للكيان هدفه تطويق النتائج الاستراتيجية لمعركة طوفان الأقصى |language=ar |trans-title= |website=alahednews.com.lb |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009000624/https://www.alahednews.com.lb/fastnewsdetails.php?fstid=217239 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.svg}} [[Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine|DFLP]]<ref name="auto9">{{cite news |url=https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/al-qassam-fighters-engage-iof-on-seven-fronts-outside-gaza: |title=Al-Qassam fighters engage IOF on seven fronts outside Gaza: Statement |date=8 October 2023 |website=Al Mayadeen English |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008121355/https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/al-qassam-fighters-engage-iof-on-seven-fronts-outside-gaza: |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-date=8 October 2023}}</ref>
* [[File:شعار عرين الاسود.png|link=|20px]] [[Lions' Den (militant group)|Lions' Den]]<ref name="roya">{{cite news |title=Qassam Brigades announces control of 'Erez Crossing' |url=https://en.royanews.tv/news/44975/2023-10-07|work=Roya News |date=7 October 2023 |access-date=7 October 2023 |archive-date=7 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007102147/https://en.royanews.tv/news/44975/2023-10-07 |url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Popular Mobilization Forces]]<ref>{{cite web |title=IRAN UPDATE, OCTOBER 14, 2023 |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-14-2023 |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=ISW}}</ref>
* {{flag|Al-Qaeda}} (alleged)<ref>{{cite web |date=13 October 2023 |title=Al-Qaeda's North and West African branches respond to the Hamas-led invasion of Israel |url=https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2023/10/al-qaedas-north-and-west-african-branches-respond-to-the-hamas-led-invasion-of-israel.php |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=[[FDD's Long War Journal]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Al Shabaab jihadists praise Hamas' attack, Kenya's counter-terrorism unit is on alert |date=October 12, 2023 |url=https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/Al-Shabaab-jihadists-praise-Hamas-attack-on-Kenyan-anti-terrorism-alert/ |publisher=Agenzia Nova |access-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012235735/https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/Al-Shabaab-jihadists-praise-Hamas-attack-on-Kenyan-anti-terrorism-alert/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Somalia: Al-Shabaab praises Hamas attack on Israel |url=https://somaliguardian.com/news/somalia-news/somalia-al-shabaab-praises-hamas-attack-on-israel/ |website=Somali guardian |date=October 12, 2023 |access-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012235740/https://somaliguardian.com/news/somalia-news/somalia-al-shabaab-praises-hamas-attack-on-israel/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* {{flagicon|Palestine}} [[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 October 2023 |title=Iran Update, October 17, 2023 |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-17-2023 |publisher=[[Institute for the Study of War]]}}</ref>
* {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_Al-Nasser_Salah_al-Deen_Brigades.svg}} [[Popular Resistance Committees]] (PRC)<ref>{{cite web |last=Fabian |first=Emanuel |title=IDF says it killed head of military wing of Gaza’s Popular Resistance Committees |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=19 October 2023 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-it-killed-head-of-military-wing-of-gazas-popular-resistance-committees/ |access-date=19 October 2023}}</ref>
| opponents = '''State opponents:'''
* {{flag|Bahrain}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-09 |title=Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses importance of providing full protection to citizens, ending battle between Hamas, Israeli Forces |url=http://www.mofa.gov.bh/Default.aspx?tabid=7824&language=en-US&ItemId=22667 |access-date=2023-10-09 |website= |publisher=Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs |archive-date=October 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010232441/https://www.mofa.gov.bh/Default.aspx?tabid=7824&language=en-US&ItemId=22667 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-09 |title=Bahrain denounces Hamas kidnappings |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/bahrain-denounces-hamas-kidnappings/ |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |archive-date=October 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010232440/https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/bahrain-denounces-hamas-kidnappings/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* {{flag|Egypt}}<ref name="allies"/>
* {{flag|Israel}}
* {{flag|Jordan}}<ref name="auto1">{{cite news |url=https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-716243 |title=Is Jordan planning to restore ties with Hamas? |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref>
* {{flag|United Arab Emirates}}<ref name="time"/>
'''Non-state opponents:'''
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Fatah.svg}} [[Fatah]] ([[Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process|reconciliation ongoing]])
* {{flag|ISIS}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/15/578172703/what-effect-isis-declaration-of-war-against-hamas-could-have-in-the-middle-east|title=What Effect ISIS' Declaration Of War Against Hamas Could Have In The Middle East|publisher=NPR}}</ref>
| designated_as_terror_group_by = * {{flag|Australia}}<ref name="auto2">{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/hamas-palestinian-listed-as-terrorist-group-australia-government/100839262 |title=Entirety of Hamas to be listed as a terrorist organisation |publisher=ABC News |date=February 17, 2022}}</ref>
* {{flag|Canada}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx |title=Currently listed entities |date=December 21, 2018}}</ref>
* {{flag|European Union}}<ref name="boffey">{{cite news |last=Boffey |first=Daniel |title=EU court upholds Hamas terror listing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/26/eu-court-upholds-hamas-terror-listing |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=July 26, 2017 |access-date=October 18, 2023}}</ref>
* {{flag|Israel}}<ref>[http://www.mod.gov.il/Defence-and-Security/Fighting_terrorism/Documents/teror16.11.xls Fighting terrorism].</ref>
* {{flag|Japan}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npa.go.jp/bureau/security/terrorism/031029/031029.pdf |title=National Police Agency |access-date=November 26, 2022 |archive-date=March 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328223242/https://www.npa.go.jp/bureau/security/terrorism/031029/031029.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/2005/ch3-a.pdf|title=Japan's Foreign Policy in Major Diplomatic Fields}}</ref>
* {{flag|Paraguay}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190820-paraguay-adds-hamas-hezbollah-to-terrorism-list/ |title=Paraguay adds Hamas, Hezbollah to terrorism list |date=August 20, 2019}}</ref>
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version|title=Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations|website=GOV.UK}}</ref>
* {{flag|United States}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/|title=Foreign Terrorist Organizations}}</ref>
| battles = {{plainlist|
* [[Israel–Palestine conflict]]
* [[Gaza–Israel conflict]]
* [[Fatah–Hamas conflict]]
* [[Israeli–Lebanese conflict]]
}}
}}

'''Hamas''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|h|ə|ˈ|m|æ|s}} {{respell|hə|MASS}}, {{IPAc-en|US|h|ə|ˈ|m|ɑː|s|audio=Hamas pronunciation.mp3}} {{respell|hə|MAHSS}};<ref>{{cite web |title=Hamas, n. meanings, etymology and more |website=Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hamas_n}}</ref> {{lang-ar|حماس|Ḥamās}}, {{IPA|ar|ħaˈmaːs|IPA}}),<ref name="MERIP 1989222">{{cite magazine |last=Taraki |first=Lisa |date=January–February 1989 |title=The Islamic Resistance Movement in the Palestinian Uprising |url=https://merip.org/1989/01/the-islamic-resistance-movement-in-the-palestinian-uprising/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[Middle East Report]] |location=Tacoma, WA |publisher=[[Middle East Research and Information Project|MERIP]] |issue=156 |pages=30–32 |doi=10.2307/3012813 |issn=0899-2851 |jstor=3012813 |oclc=615545050 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201212246/https://merip.org/1989/01/the-islamic-resistance-movement-in-the-palestinian-uprising/ |archive-date=February 1, 2022 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref> an acronym of its official name, the '''Islamic Resistance Movement''' ({{lang|ar|حركة المقاومة الإسلامية|rtl=yes}} {{transliteration|ar|Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah}}), is a [[Sunni]] [[Islamist]]<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Lopez |first=Anthony |title=The Handbook of Collective Violence: Current Developments and Understanding |last2=Ireland |first2=Carol |last3=Ireland |first3=Jane |last4=Lewis |first4=Michael |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2020 |isbn=9780429588952 |pages=239 |quote=The most successful radical Sunni Islamist group has been Hamas, which began as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine in the early 1980s. It used terrorist attacks against civilians - particularly suicide bombings – to help build a larger movement, going so far as to emerge as the recognized government of the Gaza Strip in the Palestine Authority.}}</ref> political and military organization  governing the [[Gaza Strip]] of the [[Israeli occupied territories|Israeli-occupied]] [[Palestinian territories]].{{sfn|Kear|2018|p=22}} Headquartered in [[Gaza City]], it also has a presence in the [[West Bank]] (the larger of the two Palestinian territories), in which its secular rival [[Fatah]] exercises control. Hamas is widely considered to be the "dominant political force" within the Palestinian territories.<ref name=":122">{{cite web |last1=Byman |first1=Daniel |last2=Palmer |first2=Alexander |date=October 7, 2023 |title=What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas Violence |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/07/hamas-attack-israel-declares-war-gaza-why-explained/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007230520/https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/07/hamas-attack-israel-declares-war-gaza-why-explained/ |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |access-date=October 8, 2023 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Urquhart |first=Conal |date=January 10, 2007 |title=Hamas leader acknowledges 'reality' of Israel |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/10/israel1 |access-date=October 9, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Aviad |first=G. |date=2009 |title=‘Hamas’ Military Wing in the Gaza Strip: Development, Patterns of Activity, and Forecast’ |url=https://www.inss.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FILE1272778269-1.pdf |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=Military and Strategic Affairs |quote=However, once Hamas became the dominant political force in Palestinian society...}}</ref>

In 1987, after the outbreak of the [[First Intifada]] against [[Israel]], Hamas was founded by Palestinian [[imam]] and activist [[Ahmed Yassin]]. It emerged out of his [[Mujama al-Islamiya]], which had been established in Gaza in 1973 as an Islamic charity involved with the [[Egypt]]-based [[Muslim Brotherhood]].<ref name=":0" /> Hamas became increasingly involved in the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] by the late 1990s;<ref name="barel">[http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/afghanistan-in-palestine-1.165006 "Afghanistan in Palestine"], by Zvi Bar'el, ''[[Haaretz]]'', July 26, 2005</ref> it opposed the [[Israel–Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition|Israel–PLO Letters of Mutual Recognition]] as well as the [[Oslo Accords]], which saw Fatah renounce "the use of [[Palestinian political violence|terrorism and other acts of violence]]" and [[Israel–Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition|recognize Israel]] in pursuit of a [[two-state solution]]. Hamas continued to advocate Palestinian armed resistance, won the [[2006 Palestinian legislative election]],{{sfn|Charrett|2020|pp=129–37}} gaining a majority in the [[Palestinian Legislative Council]],<ref name="SMF22">{{cite news |author=Madelene Axelsson |date=January 27, 2006 |title=Islamistisk politik vinner mark |language=sv |publisher=[[Stockholms Fria Tidning]] |url=http://www.stockholmsfria.nu/artikel/6296 |access-date=April 10, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927034525/http://www.stockholmsfria.nu/artikel/6296 |archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref> and [[Battle of Gaza (2007)|took control of the Gaza Strip]] from Fatah following a civil war in 2007.{{sfn|Davis|2016|pp=67–69}}{{sfn|Mukhimer|2012|pp=vii, 58}} Since then, it has run Gaza as a ''de facto'' [[Autocracy|autocratic]] and [[one-party state]].<ref>{{cite news |title=How powerful is Hamas? |work=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2023/10/10/how-powerful-is-hamas |access-date=October 17, 2023 |issn=0013-0613 |quote=In 2006, a year after Israel withdrew from Gaza, Hamas won a majority of seats in a Palestinian election and later formed a new unity government with Fatah, its nationalist rival. In June 2007, after a brief civil war, it assumed sole control of Gaza, leaving Fatah to run the Palestinian Authority (pa) in the West Bank. In response Israel and Egypt imposed a suffocating blockade on the coastal strip in 2007, strangling its economy and in effect confining its people in an open-air prison. There have been no elections since. Hamas has run Gaza as an oppressive one-party state, leaving some Palestinians there disenchanted with its leadership. Nevertheless, Palestinians widely consider it to be more competent than the ailing, corrupt pa.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gaza Strip: Freedom in the World 2020 Country Report |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/gaza-strip/freedom-world/2020 |access-date=October 17, 2023 |website=Freedom House |quote=Since 2007, Gaza has functioned as a de facto one-party state under Hamas rule}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Burton |first=Guy |date=2012 |title=Hamas and its Vision of Development |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41507185 |journal=Third World Quarterly |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=525–540 |issn=0143-6597 |quote=The joint Hamas-Fatah government did not last long. Within months the two sides were fighting again, eventually leading to a political split of the occupied territory, with Fatah controlling the West Bank and Hamas establishing a virtual one-party state in Gaza}}</ref>

While historically seeking an Islamic Palestinian state over the combined territory of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip (rejecting the [[two-state solution]]),<ref>{{Cite news |last=May |first=Tiffany |date=October 8, 2023 |title=A Quick Look at Hamas |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/world/middleeast/hamas-military-gaza-explained.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014102435/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/world/middleeast/hamas-military-gaza-explained.html |archive-date=October 14, 2023 |issn=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=The |date=October 9, 2023 |title=Two-state solution: Israeli-Palestinian history |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-state-solution |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> Hamas began negotiating with Israel and the 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in [[Palestinian Cairo Declaration|2005]], [[Palestinian Prisoners' Document|2006]] and [[Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement|2007]].<ref name=seurat1719>{{harvnb|Seurat|2019|p=17-19}}</ref> In 2017, Hamas released a new charter that supported a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without recognizing Israel.<ref>{{cite news |title= What does Israel's declaration of war mean for Palestinians in Gaza?|publisher=Al Jazeera |url= https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/9/what-does-israels-declaration-of-war-mean-for-palestinians-in-gaza}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=What will the Israeli-Palestinian conflict look like in 30 years?|url= https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-760004 |quote= Even Hamas in 2017 said it was ready to accept a Palestinian state with 1967 borders if it is clear this is the consensus of the Palestinians.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Hamas accepts Palestinian state with 1967 borders: Khaled Meshaal presents a new document in which Hamas accepts 1967 borders without recognising state of Israel Gaza?|publisher=Al Jazeera |date=2 May 2017 |url= https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/2/hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders}}</ref><ref name=borders1967>Sources that believe that Hamas' 2017 charter accepted the 1967 borders:

*{{cite book|title=Gaza Under Hamas|publisher=[[I. B. Tauris]]|author=Bjorn Brenner|page=206}}
*{{cite book|title=The Many Faces of Political Islam, Second Edition|author=[[Mohammed Ayoob]]|publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]]|page=133}}
*{{cite book|title=Diaspora Entrepreneurs and Contested States|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|author=Maria Koinova|page=150}}
*{{cite news|title=Conflict in the Modern Middle East: An Encyclopedia of Civil War, Revolutions, and Regime Change |author= Jonathan Zartman|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|page=230}}
*{{cite book|title=Routledge Companion to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict|editor= Asaf Siniver}}
*{{harvnb|Seurat|2019|p=61-62}}
</ref> Hamas's repeated offers of a [[hudna|truce]] (for a period of 10–100 years<ref name=atran/>) based on the 1967 borders are seen by many as being consistent with a two-state solution,<ref>{{cite book|title=Reconstructing Jihad Amid Competing International Norms|author=[[Halim Rane]]|page=34|year=2009|quote=Asher Susser, director of the Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, conveyed to me in an interview that “Hamas’ ‘hudna' is not significantly different from Sharon’s ‘long-term interim agreement.” Similarly, Daniel Levy, a senior Israeli official for the Geneva Initiative (GI), informed me that certain Hamas officials find the GI acceptable, but due to the concerns about their Islamically oriented constituency and their own Islamic identity, they would “have to express the final result in terms of a “hudna,” or “indefinite" ceasefire,” rather than a formal peace agreement.”}}</ref>{{sfn|Baconi|2018|p=108|ps=Hamas’s finance minister in Gaza stated that “a long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas and a two-state settlement are the same. It’s just a question of vocabulary.”}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Palestinian Chicago|author=Loren D. Lybarger|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=2020|page=199|quote=Hamas too would signal a willingness to accept a long-term "hudna" (cessation of hostilities, truce) along the armistice lines of 1948 (an effective acceptance of the two-state formula).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Hamas, Jihad and Popular Legitimacy|year=2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|author=Tristan Dunning|page=179-180}}</ref> while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former [[Mandatory Palestine]].<ref name="Alsoos">{{cite journal |last1=Alsoos |first1=Imad |title=From jihad to resistance: the evolution of Hamas’s discourse in the framework of mobilization |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |date=2021 |volume=57 |issue=5 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2021.1897006}}</ref><ref name="Faeq">{{cite journal |last1=Faeq |first1=Nasir |last2=Jahnata |first2=Diego |title=The Historical Antecedents of Hamas |journal=International Journal of Social Science Research and Review |date=2020 |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=33|doi=10.47814/ijssrr.v3i3.49}}</ref> Under the ideological principles of [[Islamism]], Hamas promotes [[Palestinian nationalism]] in an [[Religious nationalism|Islamic context]]; it has pursued a policy of ''[[jihad]]'' (armed struggle) against Israel.{{efn|"Hamas is a radical Islamic fundamentalist organization that has stated that its highest priority is a Jihad (holy war) for the liberation of Palestine."{{sfn|Cordesman|2002|p=243}}}} It has a social service wing, [[Dawah]], and a military wing, the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]].{{efn|"In politics everything is possible. Iraq, for instance, has the [[Badr Organization|Badr Brigade]], which is a military arm of the [[Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq|Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution]] in Iraq and has joined the political process in the country. Members of the Badr Brigade have joined the security service in Iraq. In Iraq the USA has been trying to tackle the insurgent issue through negotiations. Hizbullah in Lebanon is a political party, and it also has its militant organisations. The [[Mujahideen]], who were the leading militants in Afghanistan, have joined the political process in their country after more than 20 years of war. Being a militant and joining the political platform is not a sin. If we leave the Middle East and look at Sinn Fein, for example, in Northern Ireland, this group was fighting the British government and then, through engagement and direct negotiation, extremist influence was marginalised, and Sinn Fein found an opportunity to moderate itself."{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=681}}}}{{efn|"The idea of a militant movement like Hamas possessing both political and military personas simultaneously is not especially new, with the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]]/[[Sinn Féin]] and the Lebanese movement [[Hezbollah]] being two often cited examples. However, this study argues that given the role that resistance plays in the Palestinian narrative, Hamas's dual resistance is a more comprehensive and integrated strategy than that possessed by other so-called hybrid or dual-status movements. This is because Hamas has managed to synergise its political and armed resistance efforts, and it does this to further its self-determination agendas."{{sfn|Kear|2018|p=7}}}} Since the mid-1990s,<ref name=":0" /> Hamas has gained widespread popularity within Palestinian society for its [[Anti-Zionism|anti-Israeli stance]].<ref name=":222">{{cite web |last=Krauss |first=Joseph |title=Poll finds dramatic rise in Palestinian support for Hamas |url=https://apnews.com/article/hamas-middle-east-science-32095d8e1323fc1cad819c34da08fd87 |publisher=AP News |date=June 15, 2021 |access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Phillips|2011|p=75}} The group's attacks, including [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|suicide bombings]] against civilian targets and [[Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel|indiscriminate rocket attacks]], have led many countries and academics<ref name=":1" /> to [[List of designated terrorist groups|designate Hamas a terrorist organization]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Counterterrorism Center | Groups - Hamas |url=https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/hamas.html |website=www.dni.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dupret |first1=Baudouin |last2=Lynch |first2=Michael |last3=Berard |first3=Tim |title=Law at Work: Studies in Legal Ethnomethods |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2015 |pages=279 |quote=[It has been alleged that] Hamas cynically abuses its own civilian population and their suffering for propaganda purposes. |isbn=9780190210243}}</ref><ref name="boffey" /> A 2018 attempt to condemn Hamas for "acts of terror" at the [[United Nations]] failed.{{efn|A two-thirds majority was required for the motion to pass. 87 voted in favour, 58 against, 32 abstained and 16 did not vote.{{sfn|DW|2018}}}}

The Gaza Strip is currently [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip|under blockade]]. Israel and Hamas have fought a number of wars there, including [[Gaza War (2008–2009)|in 2008–09]], [[2012 Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip|in 2012]] and [[2014 Gaza War|in 2014]]. In the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war|2023 war]], Hamas launched "[[Operation Al-Aqsa Flood]]" and its fighters broke through the [[Gaza–Israel barrier|Gaza barrier]], attacked Israeli military bases, massacred civilians and [[Kidnappings during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war|took civilian and soldier hostages]] back to Gaza.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |last=Debre |first=Isabel |date=October 8, 2023 |title=Israeli hostage crisis in Hamas-ruled Gaza becomes a political trap for Netanyahu |url=https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-military-prisoners-hostage-hamas-soldiers-e75729364f8c0b453da272365c16d136 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014211944/https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-military-prisoners-hostage-hamas-soldiers-e75729364f8c0b453da272365c16d136 |archive-date=October 14, 2023 |access-date=October 15, 2023 |publisher=AP News}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web |last1=Gold |first1=Hadas |last2=Murphy |first2=Paul P. |last3=Salma |first3=Abeer |last4=Dahman |first4=Ibrahim |last5=Khadder |first5=Kareem |last6=Mezzofiore |first6=Gianluca |last7=Goodwin |first7=Allegra |title=Hamas captures hostages as Israelis share photos of those missing |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/07/middleeast/hostages-hamas-israel-gaza/index.html |url-status=live |publisher=CNN |date=October 8, 2023 |access-date=October 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014210614/https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/07/middleeast/hostages-hamas-israel-gaza/index.html |archive-date=October 14, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":122" /> The attack has been described as the biggest military setback for Israel since the [[Yom Kippur War|1973 Arab–Israeli War]]. In response, Israel [[October 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip|intensified the existing Gaza blockade]] and began a large-scale aerial bombardment campaign over the territory in preparation for [[2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip|a ground assault]], having announced its intention to destroy Hamas.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nakhoul |first1=Samia |last2=Saul |first2=Jonathan |title=How Israel was duped as Hamas planned devastating assault |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/ |url-status=live |publisher=Reuters |date=October 8, 2023 |access-date=October 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009020650/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/ |archive-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref> The [[European Parliament]] and the [[United States|US]] have also called for the elimination of Hamas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=ToI |last2=Agencies |title=European Parliament calls for Hamas to be ‘eliminated,’ urges release of hostages |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/european-parliament-calls-for-hamas-to-be-eliminated-urges-release-of-hostages/ |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-19 |title=MEPs condemn Hamas attack on Israel and call for a humanitarian pause {{!}} News {{!}} European Parliament |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20231013IPR07136/meps-condemn-hamas-attack-on-israel-and-call-for-a-humanitarian-pause |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.europarl.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bose |first=Nandita |last2=Jackson |first2=Katharine |date=2023-10-16 |title=Biden says Hamas must be eliminated, US officials warn of escalation |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/conflict-middle-east-could-escalate-us-national-security-adviser-warns-2023-10-15/ |access-date=2023-10-21}}</ref>

==Etymology==
''Hamas'' is an [[acronym]] of the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] phrase {{lang|ar|حركة المقاومة الإسلامية}} or {{transliteration|ar|Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah}}, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement". This acronym, HMS, was later glossed in the [[Hamas Covenant]]{{sfn|Jefferis|2016|p=119}} by the Arabic word {{transliteration|ar|ḥamās}} ({{lang|ar|حماس}}) which itself means "zeal", "strength", or "bravery".{{sfn|Herzog|2006|p=84}}

==History==
{{main|History of Hamas}}

=== Origins ===
When Israel [[Israeli-occupied territories|occupied the Palestinian territories]] in 1967, the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] members there did not take active part in the resistance, preferring to focus on social-religious reform and on restoring Islamic values.{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|pp=322–23}} This outlook changed in the early 1980s, and Islamic organizations became more involved in Palestinian politics.{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|pp=323}} The driving force behind this transformation was [[Sheikh Ahmed Yassin]], a Palestinian refugee from [[Al-Jura]].{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|pp=323}} Of humble origins and [[quadriplegic]],{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|pp=323}} he persevered to become one of the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders in Gaza. His charisma and conviction brought him a loyal group of followers, upon whom he, as a quadriplegic, depended for everything—from feeding him, to transporting him to and from events, and to communicate his strategy to the public.{{sfn|Jefferis|2016|pp=50–51}} In 1973, Yassin founded the social-religious charity [[al-Mujama al-Islamiya]] ("Islamic center") in Gaza as an offshoot to the Muslim Brotherhood.{{sfn|Abu Amr|1994|p=16}}{{sfn|Singh|2013|p=153}}

Israeli authorities in the 1970s and 1980s showed indifference to ''al-Mujama al-Islamiya''. They viewed it as a religious cause that was significantly less militant against Israel than Fatah and the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]]; many also believed that the infighting between Islamist Islamic organizations and the PLO would lead to the latter's weakening.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Higgins |first=Andrew |date=January 24, 2009 |title=How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123275572295011847 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926212507/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123275572295011847.html |archive-date=September 26, 2009 |quote=When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank. "When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake," says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. "But at the time nobody thought about the possible results." Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. "Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons," Mr. Olmert said last Saturday. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran.}}</ref>{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=24}}{{sfn|Mattar|2005|p=195}}{{sfn|Hassan|2014|p=80}}{{sfn|Abu Amr|1994|p=35}} Thus, the Israeli government did not intervene in fights between PLO and Islamist forces.<ref name=":0" /> Israeli officials disagree on how much governmental indifference (or even support) of these disputes led to the rise of Islamism in Palestine. Some, such as [[Arieh Spitzen]], have argued that "even if Israel had tried to stop the Islamists sooner, he doubts it could have done much to curb political Islam, a movement that was spreading across the Muslim world." Others, including Israel's religious affairs official in Gaza, [[Avner Cohen]], believed that the indifference to the situation fueled Islamism's rise, stating it was "Israel's creation" and failure.<ref name=":0" /> Others attribute the rise of the group to [[State Sponsors of Terrorism (U.S. list)|state sponsors]], including [[Iran]].<ref name=":0" />

In 1984 Yassin was arrested after the Israelis found out that his group collected arms,<ref name=":0" /> but released in May 1985 as part of a [[Jibril Agreement|prisoner exchange]].{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=35}}{{sfn|Mannes|2004|p=114}} He continued to expand the reach of his charity in Gaza.<ref name=":0" /> Following his release, he set up ''al-Majd'' (an acronym for Munazamat al-Jihad wa al-Da'wa), headed by former student leader [[Yahya Sinwar]] and [[Rawhi Mushtaha]], tasked with handling internal security and hunting local informants for the Israeli intelligence services.{{sfn|Mishal|Sela|2006|p=34}}{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|p=116}} At about the same time, he ordered former student leader [[Salah Shehade]] to set up ''al-Mujahidun al-Filastiniun'' (Palestinian fighters), but its militants were quickly rounded up by Israeli authorities and had their arms confiscated.{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=103}}{{efn|It is unclear whether these groups were set up in 1985 or 1986.}}

The idea of Hamas began to take form on December 10, 1987, when several members of the Brotherhood{{efn|Abu Amr states the following people who attended that day: Dr. 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Rantisi (40), a physician residing in [[Khan Yunis]]; Dr. Ibrahim al-Yazuri (45), a pharmacist residing in Gaza city; Shaykh Salih Shehada (40), a University instructor from [[Beit Hanoun]]; 'Isa al-Nashshar (35), an engineer in [[Rafah]]; Muhammad Sham'a (50), a teacher in [[Al-Shati Camp|al-Shati refugee camp]] and 'Abd al-Fattah Dukhan (50), a school principal at [[Nuseirat Camp|al-Nusayrat refugee camp]].{{sfn|Abu-Amr|1993|p=10}}}} convened the day after an incident in which an Israeli army truck had crashed into a car at a [[Israeli checkpoint|Gaza checkpoint]] killing four Palestinian day-workers. They met at Yassin's house and decided that they too needed to react in some manner as the protest riots sparking the [[First Intifada]] erupted.{{sfn|Hueston|Pierpaoli|Zahar|2014|p=67}} A leaflet issued on the December 14 calling for resistance is considered to mark their first public intervention, though the name Hamas itself was not used until January 1988.{{sfn|Abu-Amr|1993|p=10}} Yassin was not directly connected to the organization but he gave it his blessing.{{sfn|Hueston|Pierpaoli|Zahar|2014|p=67}} In a meeting with the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood in February 1988, it too gave its approval.{{sfn|Hueston|Pierpaoli|Zahar|2014|p=68}} To many Palestinians it appeared to engage more authentically with their national expectations, since it merely provided an Islamic version of what had been the PLO's original goals, armed struggle to liberate all of Palestine, rather than the territorial compromise the PLO acquiesced in—a small fragment of Mandatory Palestine.{{sfn|Mishal|Sela|2006|pp=14–15}}

Creating Hamas as an entity distinct from the Muslim Brotherhood was a matter of practicality; the Muslim Brotherhood refused to engage in violence against Israel,{{sfn|AFPC|2014|pp=272–78}} but without participating in the intifada, the Islamists tied to it feared they would lose support to their rivals the [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]] and the [[PLO]]. They also hoped that by keeping its militant activities separate, Israel would not interfere with its social work.{{efn|'In truth, the creation of Hamas as a separate entity from the Muslim Brotherhood was done precisely to prevent Israeli authorities from targeting the organizations' greater activities, in the hopes that it would leave them relatively immune. Moreover, Hamas was created essentially because the Islamicists connected to the Muslim Brotherhood feared that without their direct participation in the first Intifada, they would lose supporters to both the PIJ and the PLO, the latter of which was anxious to reassert itself in the Palestinian territories after being marginalized following its expulsion from Lebanon. As authors Mishal and Sela, explain, "The Mujamma's decision to adopt a 'jihad now' policy against 'enemies of Allah' (through the creation of Hamas) was thus largely a matter of survival.'{{sfn|Mishal|Sela|2006|p=35}}{{sfn|Gleis|Berti|2012|p=119}}}}

In August 1988, Hamas published the [[Hamas Charter]], wherein it defined itself as a chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its desire to establish "an Islamic state throughout Palestine".{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|p=324}}

=== First Intifada ===
{{See also|First Intifada}}
Hamas's first strike against Israel came in the spring 1989 as it [[Killing of Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon|abducted and killed Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon]], two Israeli soldiers.{{sfn|Holtmann|2009|p=13}} At the time, Shehade and Sinwar served time in Israeli prisons and Hamas had set up a new group, Unit 101, headed by [[Mahmoud al-Mabhouh]], whose objective was to abduct soldiers.{{sfn|Filiu|2014|pp=206–07}} The discovery of Sasportas' body triggered, in the words of [[Jean-Pierre Filiu]], 'an extremely violent Israeli response': hundreds of Hamas leaders and activists, among them Yassin, who was sentenced to life in prison, were arrested,{{sfn|Filiu|2014|p=207}} and Hamas was outlawed.{{sfn|Mannes|2004|p=114}} This mass detention of activists, together with a further wave of arrests in 1990, effectively dismantled Hamas and, devastated, it was forced to adapt;{{sfn|Byman|2011|p=99}}{{sfn|Filiu|2014|p=207}} its command system became regionalized to make its operative structure more diffuse,{{sfn|Phillips|2011|p=75}} and to minimize the chances of being detected.{{sfn|Gunning|2007|p=135}}

Anger following the [[1990 Temple Mount riots|al-Aqsa massacre]] in October 1990 in which Muslim worshippers had tried to prevent Jewish extremists from placing a foundation stone for the [[Third Temple]] on the [[Temple Mount]] and Israeli police used live fire against [[Palestinians]] in the [[Al-Aqsa]] compound, killing 17, caused Hamas to intensify its campaign of abductions. Hamas declared every Israeli soldier a target{{sfn|Van Engeland|2015|p=319}} and called for a "jihad against the Zionist enemy everywhere, in all fronts and every means."{{sfn|Slater|2020|p=280}}

Hamas reorganized its units from ''al-Majd'' and ''al-Mujahidun al-Filastiniun'' into a military wing called the ''Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades'' led by [[Yahya Ayyash]] in the summer of 1991 or 1992.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=68}}{{efn|Davis, de Búrca, and Dalacoura write that the Brigades were formed in 1991,{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=83}}{{sfn|de Búrca|2014|pp=100–02}}{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|p=71}} Najib & Friedrich write that they were formed in the summer of 1991,{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=103}} and O'Malley that they were formed in 1992.{{sfn|O'Malley|2015|p=118}}}} The name comes from the [[Palestinian nationalism|militant Palestinian nationalist]] leader Sheikh [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam]] who fought against the British and whose death in 1935 sparked the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]].{{sfn|Guidère|2012|p=173}} Though its members sometimes referred to themselves as "Students of Ayyash", "Students of the Engineer", or "Yahya Ayyash Units".{{sfn|Van Engeland|2015|p=319}}

Ayyash, an engineering graduate from [[Birzeit University]], was a skillful bomb maker and greatly improved Hamas' striking capability,{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=89}} earning him the nickname ''al-Muhandis'' ("the Engineer"). He is thought to have been one of the driving forces in Hamas' use of suicide bombings, arguing that "we paid a high price when we only used slingshots and stones. We need to exert more pressure, make the cost of the occupation that much more expensive in human lives, that much more unbearable".{{sfn|de Búrca|2014|p=109}} Until his assassination by Shin Bet in 1996,{{sfn|Van Engeland|2015|p=319}} almost all bombs used on suicide missions were constructed by him.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=90}}

In December 1992 Israel responded to the killing of a border police officer by exiling 415 members of Hamas and [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]] to Southern Lebanon, at the time occupied by Israel.{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|pp=71–72}} There Hamas established contacts with [[Hezbollah]], Palestinians living in refugee camps, and learnt how to construct suicide and car bombs.{{sfn|Mannes|2004|p=115}}{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|pp=71–72}} Israel accompanied the deportations by the imposition of a two-week curfew on the Strip, causing an income shortfall for its economy of $1,810,000 per diem.{{sfn|Roy|1993|p=22}} The deportees were allowed to return nine months later.{{sfn|Mannes|2004|p=115}} The deportation provoked international condemnation and a unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the action.{{sfn|Platt|2010}}{{sfn|Chehab|2007|p=115}} Hamas ordered two car bombs in retaliation for the deportation.{{sfn|Slater|2020|p=280}}

Hamas first [[suicide attack|suicide bombing]] took place at [[Mehola Junction bombing|Mehola Junction]] in the West Bank in April 1993 using a car parked between two buses,{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=11–12}} carrying soldiers.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=102}} Aside from the bomber, the blast killed a Palestinian who worked in a nearby settlement.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=11–12}} The bomb design was flawed but Hamas would soon learn how to manufacture more lethal bombs.{{sfn|Byman|2011|p=100}}

In the first years of the Intifada, Hamas violence was restricted to Palestinians; [[Collaborationism|collaborators]] with Israel and individuals it defined as "moral deviants," that is, drug dealers and prostitutes known to enjoy ties with Israeli criminal networks,{{sfn|Swedenburg|2003|p=196}} or for engaging in loose behavior, such as seducing women in hairdressing salons with alcohol, behaviour Hamas considered was encouraged by Israeli agents.{{efn|Islah Jad writes: "The Arabic word {{transliteration|ar|isqat}} has various literal meanings, most pertinently to 'tumble' or 'fall,' as into a trap. In the Palestinian context, it refers specifically to the methods used by the Israelis to manipulate or seduce victims and force them to work against their people's national interests."{{sfn|Jad|2018|p=132}}}} Hamas leaders likened their rooting out of collaborators to what the [[French resistance]] did with Nazi collaborators in World War II. In 1992 alone they executed more than 150.{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|pp=118–20}} In Western media this was reported as typical "intercommunal strife" among Arabs.{{sfn|Swedenburg|2003|p=196}}

Hamas's actions in the First Intifada expanded its popularity. In 1989 fewer than three percent of the Palestinians in Gaza supported Hamas.{{sfn|Byman|2011|p=99}} By October 1993 this figure had increased to 13%, a number that still paled in comparison to Fatah which enjoyed the support of 45% of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=86}}

=== Oslo years ===
In February 1994, [[Baruch Goldstein]], a Jewish settler in military fatigues, [[Cave of the Patriarchs massacre|massacred]] 29 Muslims at prayer in the [[Ibrahimi Mosque]] in [[Hebron]] in the [[West Bank]] during the month of [[Ramadan]]. An additional 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the ensuing riots.{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=34}} Israeli Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]] condemned the massacre but fearing a confrontation with Hebron's violent settler community, he refused to withdraw them,{{sfn|Slater|2020|p=280}} and Hamas swore to avenge the deaths. In a communique it announced that if Israel didn't discriminate between "fighters and civilians" then it would be "forced ... to treat the Zionists in the same manner. Treating like with like is a universal principle."{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|p=92}}

The Hebron massacre had a profound effect on Hamas' militancy. For its first seven years, it attacked only what it saw as "legitimate military targets," Israeli soldiers and military installations.{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=106}} But following the massacre, it felt that it no longer had to distinguish between military and civilian targets. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank, Sheikh Ahmed Haj Ali, later argued that "had there not been the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, there would have been no suicide bombings." Al-Rantisi in an interview in 1998 stated that the suicide attacks "began after the massacre committed by the terrorist Baruch Goldstein and intensified after the assassination of Yahya Ayyash."{{sfn|Caridi|2012|p=282}} Musa Abu Marzouk put the blame for the escalation on the Israelis: "We were against targeting civilians ... After the Hebron massacre we determined that it was time to kill Israel's civilians ... we offered to stop if Israel would, but they rejected that offer."{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|p=93}}

According to Matti Steinberg, former advisor to Shin Bet and one of Israel's leading experts on Hamas, the massacre laid to rest an internal debate within Hamas on the usefulness of indiscriminate violence: "In the Hamas writings there is an explicit prohibition against indiscriminate harm to helpless people. The massacre at the mosque released them from this taboo and introduced a dimension of measure for measure, based on citations from the Koran."{{sfn|Slater|2020|p=280}}
[[File:פיגוע באוטובוס קו 5 בתל-אביב.jpg|thumb|The aftermath of the 1994 [[Dizengoff Street bus bombing]] in Tel Aviv]]
On April 6, a suicide bomber [[Afula bus suicide bombing|blew up his car]] at a crowded bus stop in [[Afula]], killing eight Israelis and injuring 34.{{sfn|Stork|Kane|2002|p=66}}{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=34}} An additional five Israelis were killed and 30 injured as a [[Hadera bus station suicide bombing|Palestinian detonated himself]] on a bus in [[Hadera]] a week later.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Chronological Review of Events/April 1994 - DPR review |url=https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-204809/ |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=Question of Palestine |language=en-US}}</ref> Hamas claimed responsibility for both attacks.<ref name=":7" /> The attacks may have been timed to disrupt negotiations between Israel and PLO on the implementation of the [[Oslo I Accord]].{{sfn|Stork|Kane|2002|p=66}} A [[Dizengoff Street bus bombing|bomb on a bus]] in downtown [[Tel Aviv]] in October 1994, killing 22 and injuring 45.{{sfn|Rubin|2009|p=133}}

In late December 1995, Hamas promised the [[Palestinian Authority]] (PA) to cease military operations. But it was not to be as [[Shin Bet]] assassinated Ayyash, the 29-year-old leader of the al-Qassam Brigades on January 5, 1996, using a booby-trapped cellphone given to Ayyash by his uncle who worked as an informer.{{sfn|Martin|2011|p=81}} Nearly 100,000 Gazans, about 11% of the total population, marched in his funeral.{{sfn|Martin|2011|p=81}} Hamas resumed its campaign of suicide bombings which had been dormant for a good part of 1995 to retaliate the assassination.{{sfn|Kimmerling|2009|pp=372–73}}

In September 1997, Israel's Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] ordered the assassination of Hamas leader [[Khaled Mashal]] who lived in Jordan.{{sfn|Johnson|2007|p=65}} Two Mossad agents entered Jordan on false Canadian passports and sprayed Mashal with a nerve agent on a street in Amman.{{sfn|Johnson|2007|p=65}} They were caught however and King Hussein threatened to put the agents on trial unless Israel provided Mashal with an antidote and released Yassin.{{sfn|Johnson|2007|p=65}} Israel obliged and the antidote saved Mashal's life.{{sfn|Johnson|2007|p=65}} Yassin was returned to Gaza where he was given a hero's welcome with banners calling him the "sheikh of the Intifada". Yassin's release temporarily boosted Hamas' popularity and at a press conference Yassin declared: "There will be no halt to armed operations until the end of the occupation ... we are peace-seekers. We love peace. And we call on them [the Israelis] to maintain peace with us and to help us in order to restore our rights by peace."{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|p=98}}

Although the suicide attacks by the al-Qassam Brigades and other groups violated the 1993 [[Oslo accords]] (which Hamas opposed{{sfn|Goerzig|2010|p=57}}), Arafat was reluctant to pursue the attackers and may have had inadequate means to do so.{{sfn|Kimmerling|2009|pp=372–73}}

While the Palestinians were used to the idea that their young were willing to die for the struggle, the idea that they would strap explosives to their bodies and blow themselves up was a new and not well-supported development.{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|p=93}} A poll taken in 1996 after the wave of suicide bombings Hamas carried out to retaliate Israel's assassination of Ayyash showed that most 70% opposed the tactic and 59% called for Arafat to take action to prevent further attacks.{{sfn|Cragin|2006|p=1998}} In the political arena Hamas continued to trail far behind its rival Fatah; 41% trusted Arafat in 1996 but only 3% trusted Yassin.{{sfn|Milton-Edwards|Farrell|2013|p=96}}

In 1999 Hamas was banned in Jordan, reportedly in part at the request of the United States, Israel, and the [[Palestinian Authority]].{{sfn|Hirst|1999}} Jordan's King Abdullah feared the activities of Hamas and its Jordanian allies would jeopardize peace negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and accused Hamas of engaging in illegitimate activities within Jordan.{{sfn|Maddy-Weitzman|2002|pp=352–53}} In mid-September 1999, authorities arrested Hamas leaders Khaled Mashal and Ibrahim Ghosheh on their return from a visit to Iran, and charged them with being members of an illegal organization, storing weapons, conducting military exercises, and using Jordan as a training base.{{sfn|Maddy-Weitzman|2002|pp=352–53}}{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=45}} The Hamas leaders denied the charges.{{sfn|Maddy-Weitzman|2002|p=353}} Mashal was exiled and eventually settled in Damascus in Syria in 2001.{{sfn|Tucker|2019|p=808}} As a result of the [[Syrian civil war]] he distanced himself from Bashar al-Assad's regime in 2012 and moved to Qatar.{{sfn|Tucker|2019|p=808}}

===Second Intifada===
{{main|Second Intifada}}
In contrast to the preceding uprising, the [[Al-Aqsa Intifada|Al-Aqsa or Second Intifada]] began violently, with mass demonstrations and lethal Israeli counter-insurgency tactics. Prior to the incidents surrounding [[Ariel Sharon]]'s visit to the [[Temple Mount]], Palestinian support for violence against Israelis and for Hamas had been gauged to be 52% and 10%, respectively. By July of the following year, after almost a year of savage conflict, polling indicated that 86% of Palestinians endorsed violence against Israelis and support for Hamas had risen to 17%.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=105}}

The al-Qassam Brigades were among the many militant groups that launched both military-style attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli civilian and military targets in this period. In the ensuing years almost 5000 Palestinians and over 1100 Israelis were killed.{{sfn|Fouberg|Murphy|2020|p=215}} While there was a large number of Palestinian attacks against Israelis, the Palestinians' most effective form of violence were suicide attacks; in the first five years of the intifada a little more than half of all Israeli deaths were victims of suicide attacks. Hamas was responsible for about 40% of the 135 suicide attacks in the period.{{sfn| Benmelech|Berrebi|2007|pp=223–38}}

Whatever the immediate circumstances triggering the uprising, a more general cause, writes US political science professor Jeremy Pressman, was "popular Palestinian discontent [that] grew during the Oslo peace process because the reality on the ground did not match the expectations created by the peace agreements".{{sfn|Pressman|2006|p=114}} Hamas would be the beneficiary of this growing discontent in the 2006 Palestinian Authority legislative elections.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

According to Tristan Dunning, Israel has never responded to repeated offers by Hamas over subsequent years for a ''[[quid pro quo]]'' moratorium on [[Civilian casualty|attacks against civilians]]'.{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=61}} It has engaged in several ''tadi'a'' (periods of calm), and proposed a number of ceasefires.{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=61}} In January 2004, Hamas leader [[Ahmed Yassin]], prior to his assassination, said that the group would end armed resistance against Israel for a 10-year ''[[hudna]]''.{{efn|Hamas' former spokesman and Deputy Foreign Minister in Gaza, Ahmed Yousef, explained in a New York Times op-ed what this meant juridically. (A ''hudna'') 'typically cover(s) 10 years and (is) recognized in Islamic jurisprudence as a legitimate and binding contract. A ''hudna'' extends beyond the Western concept of a ceasefire and obliges parties to use the period to seek a permanent, non-violent resolution to their differences'.{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=179}}}} in exchange for a Palestinian state in the [[West Bank]], [[Gaza Strip]], and [[East Jerusalem]], and that restoring Palestinians' "historical rights" (relating to the [[1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight]]) "would be left for future generations". His views were quickly echoed by senior Hamas official [[Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi]], who added that Hamas envisaged a "phased liberation".{{sfn|Amayreh|2004}} Israel's response was to assassinate Yassin in March in a [[targeted Israeli air strike]], and then al-Rantisi in a similar air strike in April.{{sfn|Kimmerling|2009|p=268}}

===2006 presidential and legislative elections===

[[File:03-03-2020 Ismail Haniyeh.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Ismail Haniyeh]] became the prime minister of the [[Palestinian National Authority]] in 2006.]]
Hamas had boycotted the [[1996 Palestinian general election]] and the [[2005 Palestinian presidential election]], but decided to participate in the [[2006 Palestinian legislative election]], the first to take place after the death of [[Yasser Arafat]]. The [[EU]] figured prominently in the proposal that democratic elections be held in the [[Palestinian territories]].{{sfn|Bouris|2014|p=54}} In the run-up to the polling day, the [[2004 United States presidential election|US administration]]'s [[Condoleezza Rice]], Israel's [[Tzipi Livni]] and British Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] all expressed reservations about allowing Hamas to compete in a democratic process.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=680}} Hamas ran on a platform of clean government, a thorough overhaul of the corrupt administrative system, and the issue of rampant lawlessness.{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=115}}{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=677}} The [[Palestinian National Authority|Palestinian Authority (PA)]], notoriously accused of corruption, chose to run [[Marwan Barghouti]] as its leading candidate, who was serving five life sentences in Israel. The US donated two million dollars to the [[Palestinian National Authority|PA]] to improve its media image. Israel also assisted the PA by allowing Barghouti to be interviewed in prison by Arab television and by permitting 100,000 Palestinians in [[East Jerusalem]] to vote.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=677}}

Crucially, the election took place shortly after Israel had [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|evacuated its settlements in Gaza]].{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=675}} The evacuation, executed without consulting [[Fatah]], gave currency to Hamas' view that resistance had compelled Israel to leave Gaza.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=679}} In a statement Hamas portrayed it as a vindication of their strategy of armed resistance ("Four years of resistance surpassed 10 years of bargaining") and [[Mohammed Deif]] attributed "the Liberation of Gaza" to his comrades "love of martyrdom".{{sfn|Brym|Araj|2006|p=1980}}

Hamas, intent on reaching power by political means rather than by violence, announced that it would refrain from attacks on Israel if Israel were to cease its offensives against Palestinian towns and villages.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|pp=676–77}} Its election manifesto dropped the Islamic agenda, spoke of sovereignty for the [[Palestinian territories]], including Jerusalem (an implicit endorsement of the [[two-state solution]]), while making no mention about its claims to [[Palestine (region)|all of Palestine]]. It mentioned "armed resistance" twice and affirmed in article 3.6 that there existed a [[right to resist]] the "terrorism of occupation".{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=115}} A [[Palestinian Christians|Palestinian Christian]] figured on its candidate list.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=686, n.21}}

Hamas won 76 seats, excluding four won by independents supporting Hamas, and Fatah only 43.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=675}} The election was judged by international observers to have been "competitive and genuinely democratic". The EU said that they had been run better than elections in some members countries of the union, and promised to maintain its financial support.{{sfn|Bouris|2014|p=54}} Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates urged the US to give Hamas a chance, and that it was inadvisable to punish Palestinians for their choice, a position also endorsed by the [[Arab League]] a month later.{{sfn|Zweiri|2006|p=682}} The EU's promise was short-lived; three months later, in violating of its core principles regarding free elections, it abruptly froze financial assistance to the Hamas-led government, following the example set by the US and Canada. It undertook to instead channel funds directly to people and projects, and pay salaries only to Fatah members, employed or otherwise.{{sfn|Bouris|2014|p=55}}

Hamas assumed the administration of Gaza following its electoral victory and introduced radical changes. It inherited a chaotic situation of lawlessness, since the economic sanctions imposed by Israel, the US and the Quartet had crippled the PA's administrative resources, leading to the emergence of numerous mafia-style gangs and terror cells modeled after [[Al Qaeda]].{{sfn|Tocci|2013|p=42}} Writing in ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', [[Daniel Byman]] later stated:
<blockquote>After it took over the Gaza Strip Hamas revamped the police and security forces, cutting them 50,000 members (on paper, at least) under Fatah to smaller, efficient forces of just over 10,000, which then cracked down on crime and gangs. No longer did groups openly carry weapons or steal with impunity. People paid their taxes and electric bills, and in return authorities picked up garbage and put criminals in jail. Gaza-neglected under Egyptian and then Israeli control, and misgoverned by Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and his successors-finally has a real government.'{{sfn|Byman|2010|p=52}}{{efn|"Aside from Hamas' stated goal to 'serve the people', this desire for security reform, again, perhaps is unsurprising given that Hamas was frequently the target of these apparatuses as an opposition movement. Hamas' security apparatus in the Gaza Strip is presently politicized as well, but it has managed to institute the rule of law and order which had eluded the previous Fatah-led forces, despite the Hamas government employing only a fraction of the resources and personnel. Indeed, Hamas streamlined the security forces, reducing the number of personnel from 56,887 prior to its armed seizure of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 to around 15,000 today. In contrast to its West Bank counterparts, moreover, the Hamas security sector is unambiguously under civilian control in line with Western modes of governance, and is thus, according to Sayigh, more accountable."{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=117}}}}</blockquote>

In early February 2006, Hamas offered Israel a ten-year truce "in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories: the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem,"<ref name="Hamas-who">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10973970/Who-are-Hamas-In-60-seconds.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718120513/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10973970/Who-are-Hamas-In-60-seconds.html|archive-date=July 18, 2014|title=Who are Hamas? In 60 seconds |last=Bolton |first=Olivia |date=July 21, 2014 |website=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=October 15, 2019}}</ref> and recognition of Palestinian rights including the "right of return".<ref name="ynetnews1">[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3223438,00.html Peace with Israel for withdrawal to '67 borders], Ynetnews March 3, 2006</ref> Mashal added that Hamas was not calling for a final end to armed operations against Israel, and it would not impede other Palestinian groups from carrying out such operations.<ref name="telegraph-2006">{{cite news|date=February 9, 2006|title=Hamas offers deal if Israel pulls out|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1510074/Hamas-offers-deal-if-Israel-pulls-out.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1510074/Hamas-offers-deal-if-Israel-pulls-out.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|location=London|first=Tim|last=Butcher|access-date=May 4, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

After the election, the [[Quartet on the Middle East]] (the United States, Russia, the European Union (EU), and the United Nations) stated that assistance to the Palestinian Authority would only continue if Hamas renounced violence, recognized Israel, and accepted previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements, which Hamas refused to do.<ref>{{cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/22cnd-mideast.html|title=Hamas Refuses to Recognize Israel|work=The New York Times|date=September 22, 2006}}</ref> The Quartet then imposed a freeze on all international aid to the Palestinian territories.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6469217.stm "Palestinian sanctions to remain"], BBC News, March 20, 2007</ref> In 2006 after the Gaza election, the Hamas leader sent a letter addressed to George W. Bush, in which he, among other things, declared that Hamas would accept a state on the 1967 borders including a truce. However, the Bush administration did not reply.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ravid |first=Barak |title=In 2006 letter to Bush, Haniyeh offered compromise with Israel |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/in-2006-letter-to-bush-haniyeh-offered-compromise-with-israel-1.257213 |work=Haaretz |date=June 6, 2006 |access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref>

===Hamas–Fatah conflict===
{{main|Fatah–Hamas conflict|Battle of Gaza (2007)}}
[[File:Bethlehem-hamasrally.JPG|thumb|Hamas rally in [[Bethlehem]]]]After the formation of the Hamas-led cabinet on March 20, 2006, tensions between Fatah and Hamas militants progressively rose in the Gaza strip as Fatah commanders refused to take orders from the government while the Palestinian Authority initiated a campaign of demonstrations, assassinations and abductions against Hamas, which led to Hamas responding.{{sfn|Rose|2008}} Israeli intelligence warned Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas had planned to kill him at his office in Gaza. According to a Palestinian source close to Abbas, Hamas considers president Abbas to be a barrier to its complete control over the Palestinian Authority and decided to kill him. In a statement to Al Jazeera, Hamas leader Mohammed Nazzal accused Abbas of being party to the besieging and isolation of the Hamas-led government.<ref>Mahnaimi, Uzi. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2168494,00.html "Israel foils plot to kill Palestinian president"], ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', May 7, 2006</ref>

On June 9, 2006, during an Israeli artillery operation, [[Gaza beach blast|an explosion]] occurred on a busy Gaza beach, killing eight Palestinian civilians.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/frontpage/story/0,,1794536,00.html|title=Death on the Beach: Seven Palestinians killed as Israeli shells hit family picnic|newspaper=The Guardian|date=June 10, 2006|location=London|first=Chris|last=McGreal|access-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-06/11/01.shtml |title=Palestinian Child Buries Slain Family |website=[[IslamOnline.net]] |date=June 11, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207074400/http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-06/11/01.shtml |archive-date=December 7, 2008}}</ref> It was assumed that Israeli shellings were responsible for the killings, but Israeli government officials denied this.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/1063909381.html?dids=1063909381:1063909381&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+20%2C+2006&author=YAAKOV+KATZ&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=01&desc=HRW+says+it+can%27t+refute+IDF+Gaza+beach+findings+blast|title=HRW says it can't refute IDF Gaza beach findings blast|date=June 20, 2006|access-date=May 27, 2010|first=Yaakov|last=Katz|work=The Jerusalem Post|archive-date=August 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805010917/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/1063909381.html?dids=1063909381:1063909381&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+20%2C+2006&author=YAAKOV+KATZ&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=01&desc=HRW+says+it+can%27t+refute+IDF+Gaza+beach+findings+blast}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/1071649401.html?dids=1071649401:1071649401&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+22%2C+2006&author=YAAKOV+KATZ&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=04&desc=IDF%3A+Second+piece+of+shrapnel+not+ours|title=IDF: Second piece of shrapnel not ours|date=June 22, 2006|access-date=May 27, 2010|first=Yaakov|last=Katz|work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> Hamas formally withdrew from its 16-month [[ceasefire]] on June 10, taking responsibility for the subsequent [[Qassam rocket]] attacks launched from Gaza into Israel.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/15/international/i025402D49.DTL&type=politics |title=Militants Fire Rockets Into South Israel |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 5, 2010 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125184640/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2006%2F06%2F15%2Finternational%2Fi025402D49.DTL&type=politics |archive-date=January 25, 2009}}</ref>

On June 25, two Israeli soldiers were killed and another, [[Gilad Shalit]], captured following an incursion by the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]], [[Popular Resistance Committees]] and [[Army of Islam (Gaza Strip)|Army of Islam]]. In response, the Israeli military launched [[Operation Summer Rains]] three days later, to secure the release of the kidnapped soldier,<ref name="GoalsOfOp">{{cite news|title=PM: We will not recapture Gaza |date=July 2, 2006 |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3268440,00.html |work=[[Ynetnews]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120093842/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3268440%2C00.html |archive-date=January 20, 2008}}</ref><ref name="un.org">{{cite news|title=Israelis, Palestinians urged to 'step back from the brink', avert full-scale conflict, as Security Council debates events in Gaza|publisher=[[United Nations]]|date=June 30, 2006|url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8768.doc.htm}}</ref> arresting 64 Hamas officials. Among them were 8 [[Palestinian Authority]] cabinet ministers and up to 20 members of the [[Palestinian Legislative Council]],<ref name="un.org"/> The arrests, along with other events, effectively prevented the Hamas-dominated legislature from functioning during most of its term.<ref name="haaretz20100125">{{cite news|title=Fatah and Hamas no nearer to unity as Palestinian parliament's term ends|newspaper=Haaretz|date=January 25, 2010|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/fatah-and-hamas-no-nearer-to-unity-as-palestinian-parliament-s-term-ends-1.262054}}</ref><ref name="haaretz20090623">{{cite news|title=Israel releases jailed Hamas parliament speaker|work=Haaretz|date=June 23, 2009|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-releases-jailed-hamas-parliament-speaker-1.278644}}</ref> [[Gilad Shalit|Shalit]] was held captive until 2011, when he was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/meast/gilad-shalit-fast-facts/|title=Gilad Shalit Fast Facts|date=August 8, 2014|publisher=CNN|access-date=July 17, 2015}}</ref> Since then, Hamas has continued building a network of internal and cross-border tunnels,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/02/tunnels-hamas-israel-struggle-gaza-war Inside the tunnels Hamas built: Israel's struggle against new tactic in Gaza war]. The Guardian</ref> which are used to store and deploy weapons, shield militants, and facilitate cross-border attacks. Destroying the tunnels was a primary objective of Israeli forces in the [[2014 Israel–Gaza conflict]].<ref name="Rudoren">{{cite news |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/world/middleeast/tunnels-lead-right-to-heart-of-israeli-fear.html?|title=Tunnels Lead Right to the Heart of Israeli Fear|last=Rudoren|first=Jodi|date=July 28, 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/7927-palestinian-government-criticises-un-position-on-gaza-tunnel|title=Palestinian government criticises UN position on Gaza tunnel|date=October 23, 2013|work=Middle East Monitor|access-date=July 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811140312/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/7927-palestinian-government-criticises-un-position-on-gaza-tunnel|archive-date=August 11, 2014}}</ref>

In February 2007 Saudi-sponsored negotiations led to the [[Hamas & Fatah Mecca Agreement]] to form a unity government, signed by [[Mahmoud Abbas]] on behalf of Fatah and [[Khaled Mashal]] on behalf of Hamas. The new government was called on to achieve Palestinian national goals as approved by the Palestine National Council, the clauses of the Basic Law and the National Reconciliation Document (the "Prisoners' Document") as well as the decisions of the Arab summit.<ref name="canadafreepress.com">{{cite news|title=The Palestinian National Unity Government|url=http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/inss022407.htm|access-date=June 4, 2010|date=February 24, 2007}}</ref>

In March 2007, the [[Palestinian Legislative Council]] established a [[Palestinian March 2007 National Unity Government|national unity government]], with 83 representatives voting in favor and three against. Government ministers were sworn in by [[Mahmoud Abbas]], the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, at a ceremony held simultaneously in Gaza and Ramallah. In June that year, renewed fighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rose|first=David|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804|title=The Gaza Bombshell|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=October 20, 2009|access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref> In a leaked comment by [[Amos Yadlin|Major General Yadlin]] to the American Ambassador [[Richard Jones (U.S. diplomat)|Richard H Jones]] at this point (June 12, 2007), Yadlin emphasized Hamas's electoral victory and an eventual Fatah withdrawal from Gaza would be advantageous to Israeli interests, in that the PLO's relocation to the West Bank would allow Israel to treat the Gaza Strip and Hamas as a hostile country.{{efn|:'(Yadlin) commented that if Fatah decided it had lost Gaza, there would be calls for Abbas to set up a separate regime in the West Bank. While not necessarily reflecting a consensus GOI (Government of Israel) view, Yadlin commented that such a development would please Israel since it would enable the IDF (Israel's occupying force) to treat Gaza as a hostile country rather than having to deal with Hamas as a non-state actor.'{{sfn|Charrett|2020|p=10}}}} In the course of the June [[2007 Battle of Gaza]], Hamas exploited the near total collapse of Palestinian Authority forces in Gaza to seize<ref name="gazawar">[http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/090202_gaza_war.pdf The "Gaza War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805203522/http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/090202_gaza_war.pdf |date=August 5, 2010 }} (PDF). Retrieved on August 21, 2010.</ref> control of Gaza, ousting Fatah officials. President Mahmoud Abbas then dismissed the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government<ref>{{cite news|last=McGirk|first=Tim|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1632614,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616055331/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1632614,00.html|archive-date=June 16, 2007|title=What Happens After Hamas Wins? |magazine=Time |date=June 13, 2007|access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref> and outlawed the Hamas militia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Abbas forms cabinet, outlaws Hamas militias|author=Daraghmeh, M.|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/06/17/abbas_forms_cabinet_outlaws_hamas_militias.html|newspaper=The Star|date=June 17, 2007|access-date=June 7, 2013}}</ref> At least 600 Palestinians died in fighting between Hamas and Fatah.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3409548,00.html|title=Over 600 Palestinians killed in internal clashes since 2006 |work=Ynetnews |date=June 6, 2007|access-date=August 24, 2010}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]], a US-based group, accused both sides in the conflict of [[torture]] and [[war crime]]s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/13/israel3 "Fatah supporters surrender to Hamas"] ''The Guardian'' (UK), June 13, 2007</ref>

Human Rights Watch estimates several hundred Gazans were "maimed" and tortured in the aftermath of the Gaza War. 73 Gazan men accused of "collaborating" had their arms and legs broken by "unidentified perpetrators" and 18 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel, who had escaped from Gaza's main prison compound after Israel bombed the facility, were executed by Hamas security officials in the first days of the conflict.<ref name="HRW1">[https://www.hrw.org/en/node/82359/section/2 Under Cover of War|Human Rights Watch]. Human Rights Watch (April 20, 2009). Retrieved on August 21, 2010.</ref><ref name="btselem.org">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080510125140/http://www.btselem.org/English/Inter_Palestinian_Violations/ B'Tselem – Violations of the human rights of Palestinians by Palestinians – Severe human rights violations in inter-Palestinian clashes]. Btselem.org (November 12, 2007). Retrieved on August 21, 2010.</ref> Hamas security forces attacked hundreds of Fatah officials who supported Israel. Human Rights Watch interviewed one such person:

{{blockquote|There were eight of us sitting there. We were all from Fatah. Then three masked militants broke in. They were dressed in brown camouflage military uniforms; they all had guns. They pointed their guns at us and cursed us, then they began beating us with iron rods, including a 10-year-old boy whom they hit in the face. They said we were "collaborators" and "unfaithful".

They beat me with iron sticks and gun butts for 15 minutes. They were yelling: "You are happy that Israel is bombing us!" until people came out of their houses, and they withdrew.<ref name="HRW1" />}}

In March 2012 Mahmoud Abbas stated that there were no political differences between Hamas and Fatah as they had reached agreement on a joint political platform and on a truce with Israel. Commenting on relations with Hamas, Abbas revealed in an interview with Al Jazeera that "We agreed that the period of calm would be not only in the Gaza Strip, but also in the West Bank," adding that "We also agreed on a peaceful popular resistance [against Israel], the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and that the peace talks would continue if Israel halted settlement construction and accepted our conditions."<ref name=ATKJpost>{{cite news|last=Abu Toameh|first=Khaled|title=No political differences between Fatah, Hamas|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=260473|access-date=February 14, 2013|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=March 5, 2012}}</ref><ref name=IBZToI>{{cite news|last=Ben Zion|first=Ilan|title=Abbas: 'Hamas wants Palestinian state with '67 borders'|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-hamas-wants-palestinian-state-with-67-borders/|access-date=February 14, 2013|newspaper=The Times of Israel|date=March 3, 2012}}</ref> Progress was stalled, until an [[2014 Fatah–Hamas Gaza Agreement|April 2014 agreement]] to form a compromise unity government, with elections to be held in late 2014.<ref name="unity">{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/Politics-Fatah-Hamas-unity-talks-breed-Likud-harmony-351723|title=Politics: Fatah-Hamas unity talks breed Likud harmony|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=June 21, 2014|first=Herb|last=Keinon}}</ref> These elections did not take place and following a new agreement, the [[next Palestinian general election]] was scheduled to take place by the end of March 2021, but did not happen.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fatah, Hamas say deal reached on Palestinian elections |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/24/fatah-hamas-say-deal-reached-on-palestinian-elections|publisher=[[Al Jazeera]]|date=September 24, 2020|access-date=November 3, 2020}}</ref>

=== 2008–2009 Gaza War ===
{{main|Gaza War (2008–2009)}}
{{further|United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict}}
On 24 April 2008, Hamas through Egyptian mediators proposed to Israel a six-month truce inside the [[Gaza Strip]], thus excluding the [[West Bank]] from his proposal. Israel on 25 April 2008 rejected the proposal, reluctant that such an agreement would strengthen Hamas against their rivals in the [[Palestinian Territories]], [[Fatah]], based on the [[West Bank]], at that time running the [[Palestinian National Authority]] and as such currently negotiating peace with Israel. Also Israel rejected the proposal because Israel presumed that Hamas would use the truce to prepare for more fighting rather than peace.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/25/israelandthepalestinians Israel rejects Gaza ceasefire] ''The Guardian'' (UK), April 25, 2008</ref>

On June 17, 2008, Egyptian mediators announced that an informal truce had been agreed to between Hamas and Israel.<ref name="truce">{{cite news |title=Israel-Hamas truce announced |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=June 17, 2008 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2008/6/17/israel-hamas-truce-announced |access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061700659.html|title=Israel, Hamas Agree on Gaza Strip Truce|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 18, 2008|access-date=August 2, 2011|first1=Griff|last1=Witte|first2=Ellen|last2=Knickmeyer|url-access=limited}}</ref> Hamas agreed to cease rocket attacks on Israel, while Israel agreed to allow limited commercial shipping across its border with [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]], barring any breakdown of the tentative peace deal; Hamas also hinted that it would discuss the release of [[Gilad Shalit]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7460504.stm|title=Israel agrees to Gaza ceasefire|publisher=BBC News|date=June 18, 2008|access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref> Israeli sources state that Hamas also committed itself to enforce the ceasefire on the other Palestinian organizations.<ref name="ITIC">{{cite web|date=December 2008|title=The Six Months of the Lull Arrangement|publisher=Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center |url=http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/data/pdf/PDF_08_300_2.pdf|access-date=October 9, 2013}}</ref> Even before the truce was agreed to, some on the Israeli side were not optimistic about it, [[Shin Bet]] chief [[Yuval Diskin]] stating in May 2008 that a ground incursion into Gaza was unavoidable and would more effectively quell arms smuggling and pressure Hamas into relinquishing power.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/07/israel-gaza2 "US embassy cables: US talks to Israeli security chief about Arabs and Gaza"] ''[[The Guardian (UK)]]'', April 7, 2011 'Diskin said that Israel does not like the tahdiya—seeing it as a means whereby Hamas and other groups can regroup and re-arm—but also dislikes the current situation. The ISA, he said, believes that the best option now is a large-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip that allows the IDF to take over the southern part of the Gaza Strip and to stop smuggling and increase pressure on Hamas. "If you do this, it will cause big problems for Hamas' survival in the Gaza Strip," he said.'</ref>

While Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire, the lull was sporadically violated by other groups, sometimes in defiance of Hamas.<ref name="ITIC"/><ref name="hamasstatement">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hamas-continued-rocket-fire-by-fatah-armed-group-harms-palestinian-interests-1.248631 |title=Hamas: Continued rocket fire by Fatah armed group harms Palestinian interests |newspaper=Haaretz |author=Avi Isacharoff |author2=Yuval Azoulay |date=June 27, 2008 |access-date=April 16, 2014}}</ref><ref name="hamasarrestsreuters">[https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL103182282 "Hamas arrests militants after rocket fire"], Reuters, July 10, 2008</ref> For example, on June 24 [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]] launched rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot; Israel called the attack a grave violation of the informal truce, and closed its border crossings with Gaza.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7472819.stm "Israel closes Gaza after rockets"] BBC News, June 25, 2008</ref> On November 4, 2008, Israeli forces, in an attempt to stop construction of a tunnel, killed six Hamas gunmen in a raid inside the [[Gaza Strip]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians "Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', November 5, 2008.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/04/israel-gaza-hamas-hidden-agenda Why Israel went to war in Gaza], ''[[The Guardian]]'', January 4, 2008.</ref> Hamas responded by resuming rocket attacks, a total of 190 rockets in November according to Israel's military.<ref>{{cite news |author=Robin Lustig|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2009/01/gaza_the_numbers.html|title=Gaza: the numbers|publisher=BBC News|date=January 6, 2009|access-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}

[[File:Orphanschoolmosque.jpg|thumb|Destroyed building in [[Rafah]], January 12, 2009]]

When the six-month truce officially expired on December 19, Hamas launched 50 to more than 70 rockets and mortars into Israel over the next three days, though no Israelis were injured.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/24/Rockets_from_Gaza_bombard_Israeli_area/UPI-97171230119628/|title=Rockets from Gaza bombard Israeli area |publisher=UPI |access-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Hamas 'might renew truce' in Gaza">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7797144.stm|title=Hamas 'might renew truce' in Gaza|date=December 23, 2008|access-date=December 27, 2008|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> On December 21, Hamas said it was ready to stop the attacks and renew the truce if Israel stopped its "aggression" in Gaza and opened up its border crossings.<ref name="Hamas 'might renew truce' in Gaza"/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081228123536/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1868829,00.html?iid=tsmodule "Why Israel Attacked"] ''Time'' magazine. December 27, 2008</ref>

On December 27 and 28, Israel implemented [[Operation Cast Lead]] against Hamas. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said "We warned Hamas repeatedly that rejecting the truce would push Israel to aggression against Gaza." According to Palestinian officials, over 280 people were killed and 600 were injured in the first two days of airstrikes.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/29/israelandthepalestinians-middleeast Civilian death toll rises after second day of air strikes] ''The Guardian'' (UK), December 29, 2008</ref> Most were Hamas police and security officers, though many civilians also died.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> According to Israel, militant training camps, rocket-manufacturing facilities and weapons warehouses that had been pre-identified were hit, and later they attacked rocket and mortar squads who fired around 180 rockets and mortars at Israeli communities.<ref name="airstrikes">[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28397813 Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill more than 200] NBC News, December 28, 2008</ref> Chief of Gaza police force [[Tawfiq Jabber]], head of the General Security Service Salah Abu Shrakh,<ref>[http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231950866724&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull IAF kills Hamas strongman Siam – Confronting Hamas], ''The Jerusalem Post'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203063735/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231950866724&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |date=February 3, 2012}}</ref> senior religious authority and security officer [[Nizar Rayyan]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7807430.stm|title=Obituary: Nizar Rayyan|date=January 1, 2009|access-date=January 9, 2009|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> and Interior Minister [[Said Seyam]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7831870.stm|title=Key Hamas Leader Killed|date=January 15, 2009|access-date=January 15, 2009|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> were among those killed during the fighting. Although Israel sent out thousands of cell-phone messages urging residents of Gaza to leave houses where weapons may be stored, in an attempt to minimise civilian casualties,<ref name="airstrikes" /> some residents complained there was nowhere to go because many neighborhoods had received the same message.<ref name="airstrikes" /><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/middleeast/06scene.html?fta=y "Warnings Not Enough for Gaza Families"] ''The New York Times'', January 5, 2009</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/middleeast/06mideast.html?fta=y "Israel Deepens Gaza Incursion as Toll Mounts"] ''The New York Times'', January 5, 2009</ref> Israeli bombs landed close to civilian structures such as schools,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7814054.stm|title=Strike at Gaza school 'kills 40'|date=January 7, 2009|access-date=January 9, 2009|publisher=BBC News
|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7819492.stm|title=Israel 'shelled civilian shelter'|date=January 9, 2009|access-date=January 9, 2009|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> and some alleged that Israel was deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/18/israel-war-crimes-gaza-conflict "Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village"] ''The Guardian'' January 18, 2009</ref>

Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on January 17, 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7835794.stm|title=Israel declares ceasefire in Gaza|date=January 18, 2009|access-date=January 19, 2009|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> Hamas responded the following day by announcing a one-week ceasefire to give Israel time to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7836205.stm|title=Hamas announces ceasefire in Gaza|date=January 18, 2009|access-date=January 19, 2009|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> Israeli, Palestinian, and third-party sources [[Gaza War (2008–09)#Casualties|disagreed on the total casualty figures]] from the Gaza war, and the number of Palestinian casualties who were civilians.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel, Hamas probes on Gaza violations inadequate|author=Agence France-Presse|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/Israel--Hamas-probes-on-Gaza-violations-inadequate/-/1068/1015246/-/tpwqje/-/index.html|newspaper=Daily Nation|date=September 21, 2010|access-date=June 7, 2013|archive-date=October 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002133608/http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/Israel--Hamas-probes-on-Gaza-violations-inadequate/-/1068/1015246/-/tpwqje/-/index.html}}</ref> In November 2010, a senior Hamas official acknowledged that up to 300 fighters were killed and "In addition to them, between 200 and 300 fighters from the Al-Qassam Brigades and another 150 security forces were martyred." These new numbers reconcile the total with those of the Israeli military, which originally said were 709 "terror operatives" killed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hF7u6SVbHfZSeLKnM97LlsaGWg_Q?docId=CNG.af5a1cb25e03ecc70924e5a7787c7aa3.831|title=Hamas says 300 Fighters Killed in Gaza war|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=November 1, 2010|access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Liel|first=Alon|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=193521|title=Hamas confirms losses in Cast Lead for first time|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=November 1, 2010|access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref>

==== After the Gaza War ====
[[File:25th anniversary of Hamas (21).jpg|thumb|25th anniversary of Hamas celebrated in Gaza, December 8, 2012]]
On August 16, 2009, Hamas leader [[Khaled Mashal]] stated that the organization is ready to open dialogue with the [[Obama administration]] because its policies are much better than those of former US president [[George W. Bush]]: {{quote|As long as there's a new language, we welcome it, but we want to see not only a change of language, but also a change of policies on the ground. We have said that we are prepared to cooperate with the US or any other international party that would enable the Palestinians to get rid of occupation."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=152001|title=Mashaal: Hamas can speak with Obama|last=Abu Toameh|first=Khaled|date=August 16, 2009|newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|access-date=August 17, 2009}}</ref>}} Despite this, an August 30, 2009, speech during a visit to Jordan<ref>[https://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http://ammonnews.net/article.aspx%3FarticleNO%3D44365&sl=ar&tl=en Speech of Khaled Meshaal] August 30, 2009 (rough automated translation from Arabic)</ref> in which Mashal expressed support for the [[Palestinian right of return]] was interpreted by David Pollock of the [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]] as a sign that "Hamas has now clearly opted out of diplomacy."<ref name="Pollock">Pollock, David. [http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3112 "Rejectionists Readying to Counter U.S. Peace Push".] ''[[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]]''. September 1, 2009.</ref> In an interview in May 2010, Mashal said that if a Palestinian state with real sovereignty was established under the conditions he set out, on the borders of 1967 with its capital Jerusalem and with the right of return, that will be the end of the Palestinian resistance, and then the nature of any subsequent ties with Israel would be decided democratically by the Palestinians.<ref>[http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11032#frame_top Video interview of Khaled Meshal by Charlie Rose, May 28, 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923141345/http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11032 |date=September 23, 2010}} Click on small "transcript" link at top of comments section to view transcript; scroll up to view video.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64T2AM20100530 Hamas renews offer to end fight if Israel withdraws] Reuters, May 30, 2010.</ref> In July 2009, Khaled Mashal, Hamas's political bureau chief, stated Hamas's willingness to cooperate with a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which included a Palestinian state based on [[1967 borders]], provided that [[Palestinian refugees]] be given the [[Palestinian right of return|right to return]] to Israel and that [[East Jerusalem]] be recognized as the new state's capital.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124899975954495435|title=Hamas Chief Outlines Terms for Talks on Arab-Israeli Peace|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 31, 2009|access-date=June 21, 2012}}</ref>

In 2011, after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, Hamas distanced itself from the Syrian regime and its members began leaving Syria. Where once there were "hundreds of exiled Palestinian officials and their relatives", that number shrunk to "a few dozen".<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-rebels-iran-idUSTRE7B20CS20111203 Post-Assad Syria would drop special Iran ties] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015233322/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/03/us-syria-rebels-iran-idUSTRE7B20CS20111203 |date=October 15, 2015 }}| Reuters |December 3, 2011</ref> In 2012, Hamas publicly announced its support for the [[Syrian opposition]].<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-palestinians-idUSTRE81N1CC20120224 "Hamas ditches Assad, backs Syrian revolt"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109165707/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/24/us-syria-palestinians-idUSTRE81N1CC20120224 |date=November 9, 2015 }}. Reuters. February 24, 2012.</ref> This prompted Syrian state TV to issue a "withering attack" on the Hamas leadership.<ref name=nytoct12>[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/world/middleeast/syrian-state-tv-lashes-out-at-hamas-leader-khaled-meshal.html?hp&_r=0 "Syria Berates Hamas Chief, an Old Ally, on State TV"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 2, 2012.</ref> Khaled Mashal said that Hamas had been "forced out" of Damascus because of its disagreements with the Syrian regime.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21363104 "Hamas and Fatah in unity talks, says Khaled Meshaal"]. [[BBC News]], February 7, 2013.</ref> In late October, [[Syrian Army]] soldiers shot dead two Hamas leaders in [[Daraa]] refugee camp.<ref>[http://it.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=532288 "2 Hamas leaders killed in Syria, sources say"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629023016/http://it.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=532288 |date=June 29, 2013}}. [[Ma'an News Agency]], October 29, 2012.</ref> On November 5, 2012, the Syrian state security forces shut down all Hamas offices in the country.<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161750#.USZRsjfN8fS "Syria Shuts Down Hamas Offices"]. [[Arutz Sheva]], November 6, 2012.</ref> In January 2013, another two Hamas members were found dead in Syria's Husseinieh camp. Activists said the two had been arrested and executed by state security forces.<ref>[http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/62088/World/Region/NGO-accuses-Damascus-of-killing-two-Hamas-members-.aspx "NGO accuses Damascus of killing two Hamas members in Syria"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116024132/http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/62088/World/Region/NGO-accuses-Damascus-of-killing-two-Hamas-members-.aspx |date=November 16, 2017 }}. [[Al-Ahram]] Online, January 9, 2013.</ref> In 2013, it was reported that the military wing of Hamas had begun training units of the [[Free Syrian Army]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Hamas-reportedly-training-Syrian-rebels-in-Damascus-308795 |title=Military wing of Hamas training Syrian rebels |date=April 5, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |agency=Reuters |access-date=April 16, 2014}}</ref> In 2013, after "several intense weeks of indirect three-way diplomacy between representatives of Hamas, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority", no agreement was reached.<ref name="26 March Sada">{{cite web|last=Kotsev|first=Victor|title=A Spring Revival for the Peace Process?|url=http://carnegieendowment.org/2013/03/26/spring-revival-for-peace-process/ftkq|publisher=Sada|access-date=March 29, 2013|date=March 26, 2013}}</ref> Also, intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks stalled and, as a result, during Obama's visit to Israel, Hamas launched five rocket strikes on Israel.<ref name="26 March Sada" /> In November, [[Isra Almodallal]] was appointed the first spokeswoman of the group.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/11/11/hamas-appoints-first-spokeswoman/ |title=Hamas appoints first spokeswoman |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=November 11, 2023 |access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref>

=== 2014 Gaza War–2022 ===
During the [[2014 Gaza War]], Israel launched Operation Protective Edge to counter increased Hamas rocket fire from Gaza. The conflict ended with a permanent cease-fire after 7 weeks, and more than 2,200 dead. 64 of the dead were Israeli soldiers, 7 were civilians in Israel (from rocket attacks), and 2,101 were killed in Gaza, of which according to [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs|UN OCHA]] at least 1,460 were civilians. Israel says 1,000 of the dead were militants. Following the conflict, [[Mahmoud Abbas]] president of the Palestinian Authority, accused Hamas of needlessly extending the fighting in the Gaza Strip, contributing to the high death toll, of running a "shadow government" in Gaza, and of illegally executing scores of Palestinians.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/world/middleeast/gaza-strip-palestinian-leader-assails-hamas-calling-unity-pact-into-question.html?_r=0 Palestinian Leader Assails Hamas, Calling Unity Pact Into Question]. Jodi Rudrensept. August 7, 2014. ''New York Times''.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-blames-hamas-for-prolonged-battle-with-israel/|title=Abbas blames Hamas for prolonged battle with Israel|website=The Times of Israel}}</ref><ref>[http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Abbas-hints-PA-close-to-ending-unity-deal-with-Hamas-374626 Abbas hints PA close to ending unity agreement with Hamas]. Khaled Abu Toameh, September 7, 2014.</ref> Hamas has complained about the slow delivery of reconstruction materials after the conflict and announced that they were diverting these materials from civilian uses to build more infiltration tunnels.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Hamas-criticizes-construction-delays-as-Israeli-plot-379823 |title=Hamas criticizes construction delays as Israeli plot |date=October 26, 2014 |website=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=October 26, 2014}}</ref>

In 2016, Hamas began security co-ordination with Egypt to crack down on Islamic terrorist organizations in Sinai, in return for economic aid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/08/israel-egypt-hamas-cooperation-security-islamic-state-sinai.html|title=Israel, Hamas, Egypt indirectly cooperating against IS|last=spollatschek|date=August 18, 2017|website=Al-Monitor|access-date=January 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024100456/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/08/israel-egypt-hamas-cooperation-security-islamic-state-sinai.html|archive-date=October 24, 2017}}</ref>

In early 2017, Hamas established the [[Supreme Administrative Committee (Gaza)|Supreme Administrative Committee]] to oversee Gaza's ministries. Abbas decried the move as Hamas creating a shadow government and trying to entrench its control in Gaza.<ref name="CNN">{{cite news |last1=Liebermann |first1=Oren |title=Hamas makes move toward Palestinian reconciliation |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/17/middleeast/mideast-hamas-gaza-west-bank/index.html |access-date=25 October 2023 |work=[[CNN}]] |date=2017-09-17}}</ref> On 17 September 2017, Hamas announced it was dissolving the committee in response to Egypt's efforts as part of the [[Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Abu Amer |first1=Adnan |title=Hamas awaits Abbas' response after dissolving Gaza administrative committee |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2017/09/hamas-dissolve-administrative-committee-gaza-fatah-reconcile.html |access-date=25 October 2023 |work=[[Al-Monitor]] |date=2017-09-22}}</ref>

In October 2017, Fatah and Hamas signed yet another [[2017 Fatah–Hamas Agreement|reconciliation agreement]]. The partial agreement addresses civil and administrative matters involving Gaza and the West Bank. Other contentious issues such as national elections, reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and possible demilitarization of Hamas were to be discussed in the next meeting in November 2017, due to a new step-by-step approach.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/10/13/will-hamas-fatah-reconciliation-deal-succeed/ |title=Will Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal succeed? |first=Jonathan |last=Cook |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=October 13, 2017 |access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref>

Between 2018 and 2019, Hamas participated in "[[2018–2019 Gaza border protests|the Great March of Return]]" along the Gaza border with Israel. At least 183 Palestinians were killed.<ref>[https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIOPT/A_HRC_40_74.pdf ''Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory''], [[Human Rights Council]], February 25, 2019, p.6.</ref>

In May 2021, after tensions escalated in [[Sheikh Jarrah]] and the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Israel and Hamas [[2021 Israel–Palestine crisis|clashed in Gaza]] once again. After eleven days of fighting, at least 243 people were killed in Gaza and 12 in Israel.<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 22, 2021|title=Israel-Gaza ceasefire holds despite Jerusalem clash|publisher=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57195537|access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref>

===2023 Israel–Hamas war===
{{main|2023 Israel–Hamas war}}
[[File:Gaza envelope after coordinated surprise offensive on Israel, October 2023 (KBG GPO09).jpg|thumb|A blood-stained home floor in the aftermath of the [[Nahal Oz massacre]]]]
[[File:Damage in Gaza Strip during the October 2023 - 35.jpg|thumb|Civilian casualty in Gaza during the Israel–Hamas war, which was started by Hamas attacking Israel, October 2023]]
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched [[2023 Israel–Hamas war|an invasion]], breaching the [[Gaza–Israel barrier]]. For months prior to the attack, Hamas had been leading Israeli intelligence to believe that they were not seeking conflict.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Nakhoul|first1=Samia|last2=Saul|first2=Jonathan|date=October 9, 2023|title=How Hamas duped Israel as it planned devastating attack|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/ |publisher=Reuters|access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref> Hamas fighters proceeded to massacre hundreds of civilians at [[Re'im music festival massacre|a music festival]] and in [[Be'eri massacre|kibbutz Be'eri]] and take hostages in Southern Israel back to the Gaza Strip. In total, more than 1,400 people were killed in Israel, making this the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants since the foundation of Israel in 1948.<ref name="reuters1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/nato-ministers-shown-horrific-video-hamas-attack-2023-10-12/|title=Israel releases images of slain children to rally support|last=Davison|first=John|last2=Pamuk|first2=Humeyra|last3=Siebold|first3=Sabine|date=October 13, 2023|publisher=Reuters|access-date=October 19, 2023}}</ref> International human rights groups, medical personnel, and journalists have chronicled the militants' onslaught, detailing the killing of women, children, and the elderly, alongside young men and soldiers.<ref name="reuters1"/><ref>{{cite news |last=|first=|date=October 7, 2023 |title=Israel attack: PM says Israel at war after 70 killed in attack from Gaza |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67036625 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref><ref name="cas2">{{Cite news |date=15 October 2023 |title=Over 1,400 Killed In Hamas Attacks On Israel: PM Office |work=Barron's |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/over-1-400-killed-in-hamas-attacks-on-israel-pm-office-787d2b0f?refsec=topics_afp-news |access-date=15 October 2023}}</ref> Senior Hamas official [[Khaled Mashal]] stated said that the group was fully aware of the consequences of attack on Israel, stating that Palestinian liberation comes with "sacrifices".<ref name="arabnews">{{cite web |title=Hamas official says group ‘well aware’ of consequences of attack on Israel, Palestinian liberation comes with ‘sacrifices’ |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2394966/amp |publisher=ARAB NEWS |date=20 October 2023}}</ref>

On 13 October 2023, Israeli Defense Minister [[Yoav Gallant]] called on Palestinians to [[2023 evacuation of northern Gaza|evacuate northern Gaza]], including [[Gaza City]], saying: {{quote|The camouflage of the terrorists is the civil population. Therefore, we need to separate them. So those who want to save their life, please go south. We are going to destroy Hamas infrastructures, Hamas headquarters, Hamas military establishment, and take these phenomena out of Gaza and out of the Earth."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fischler |first1=Jacob |title=U.S. stresses support for Israel as 1 million residents of North Gaza ordered to evacuate |url=https://coloradonewsline.com/2023/10/13/u-s-stresses-support-for-israel-as-1-million-residents-of-north-gaza-ordered-to-evacuate/ |work=Colorado Newsline |date=13 October 2023}}</ref>}}

==Policy positions==
===Two-state solution===
Hamas' policy towards a 'two-state solution' (Israel next to Palestine) and towards Israel has evolved. Historically, Hamas envisioned a Palestinian state on all of [[mandatory Palestine|the territory that belonged to the British Mandate for Palestine]] (that is, from the [[Jordan River]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea]]).{{sfn|O'Malley|2015|p=118}} In 2005, Hamas signed the [[Palestinian Cairo Declaration]] which (re)confirmed the Palestinians' "right to resistance in order to end the occupation"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070704163620/http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=2&id=849 ''Text of the Palestinian 2005 Cairo Declaration''], 19 March 2005</ref> and agreed to let PLO handle talks with Israel; Leila Seurat writes this implied an acceptance of a truce with Israel.{{sfn|Seurat|2019|p=32}} In 2006, Hamas signed the [[Palestinian Prisoners' Document#Second version: "National Conciliation Document"|second version of (originally) 'the Palestinians' Prisoners Document']] which supports the quest for a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.<ref name=bbc_abbas_risks_all>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5052288.stm ''Abbas risks all with vote strategy'']. Roger Hardy, BBC, 8 June 2006</ref><ref name=seurat47>{{harvnb|Seurat|2019|p=47}}</ref> This document also recognized authority of the [[President of the Palestinian National Authority]] to negotiate with Israel.<ref name=seurat47/> In 2017, Hamas unveiled a new charter that many scholars believed accepted a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.<ref name=borders1967/>

In 2006 interview, [[Ismail Haniyeh]], senior political leader of Hamas and at that time Prime Minister of the [[Palestinian National Authority]], accepted a Palestinian state "within the 1967 borders, living in calm."<ref>{{cite news|title=Is Hamas Ready to Deal?|author=SCOTT ATRAN|publisher=[[New York Times]]|date=2006-08-17}}</ref> In May 2010, [[Khaled Mashal]], then chairman of the [[Hamas#Political Bureau|Hamas Political Bureau]] said that the state of Israel living next to "a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967" would be acceptable for Hamas. In November 2010, [[Ismail Haniyeh]]{{efn|Haniyeh at the time was the [[Prime Minister of the State of Palestine]] but dismissed<ref name=bbc_dissolve>{{cite news|title=Abbas sacks Hamas-led government |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6754499.stm|date= 14 June 2007|access-date=14 June 2007|newspaper=BBC News}}</ref> by his President [[Mahmoud Abbas|Abbas]] in 2007}}) also proposed a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, though added three further conditions: "resolution of [[Palestinian refugees#Palestinian views|the issue of refugees]]", "the release of Palestinian prisoners", and "Jerusalem as its capital".<ref name="Beinart" >[[Peter Beinart]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=v0U1fjErMGkC&pg=PT231 ''The Crisis of Zionism,''] Melbourne University Press 2012, p. 219. Statement of Mashal in May 2010: 'If Israel withdraws to the borders of 1967, it doesn't mean that it gives us back all the land of the Palestinians. But we do consider this as an acceptable solution to have a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967... the Palestinian state will have a referendum and the Palestinian people will decide. We in Hamas will respect the decision of the Palestinian majority.' Haniyeh in November 2010: 'We accept a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the resolution of [[Palestinian refugees#Palestinian views|the issue of refugees]]…. Hamas will respect the results (of a referendum) regardless of whether it differs with its ideology and principles.' (Beinart refers to the original sources of those statements, respectively ''[[Current Affairs (magazine)|Current Affairs]]'' 28 May 2010 and ''[[Haaretz]]'' 1 December 2010.)</ref><ref name="UWR" >David Whitten, Smith, Elizabeth Geraldine Burr, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5v-iBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 ''Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace''], Rowman & Littlefield, 2014 p. 250</ref>

In the 1988 charter, Hamas' declared objectives were to wage an armed struggle against Israel,{{sfn|O'Malley|2015|p=118}} liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation and transform the country into an [[Islamic state]].{{sfn|Dalacoura|2012|p=67}}

In March 2006, Hamas released its official legislative program. The document clearly signaled that Hamas could refer the issue of recognizing Israel to a national referendum. Under the heading "Recognition of Israel", it stated simply (AFP, 3/11/06): "The question of recognizing Israel is not the jurisdiction of one faction, nor the government, but a decision for the Palestinian people." This was a major shift away from their 1988 charter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2974|title=Nixed Signals|author=Seth Ackerman|date=September–October 2006|work=Extra!|publisher=[[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]]|access-date=March 18, 2012}}</ref> A few months later, via [[University of Maryland]]'s Jerome Segal, Hamas sent a letter to US President George W. Bush, stating that they "don't mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders", and asked for direct negotiations.<ref name="Hatz 14Aug2008"/>

In 2007, Hamas signed the [[Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement]].{{sfn|Seurat|2019|p=49}} At the time of signing this agreement, [[Moussa Abu Marzouk]] said regarding the recognition of Israel:
<blockquote>I can recognize the presence of Israel as a fait accompli (amr wâqi‘) or, as the French say, a de facto recognition, but this does not mean that I recognize Israel as a state.{{sfn|Seurat|2019|p=50}}</blockquote>
Marzouk further added that the charter could not be altered because it would look like a compromise not acceptable to the 'street' and risk fracturing the party's unity. Hamas leader [[Khaled Meshaal]] has stated that the Charter is "a piece of history and no longer relevant, but cannot be changed for internal reasons". [[Ahmed Yousef]], senior adviser to [[Ismail Haniyeh]], added in 2011 that it reflected the views of the Elders in the face of a 'relentless occupation.' The details of its religious and political language had not been examined within the framework of international law, and an internal committee review to amend it was shelved out of concern not to offer concessions to Israel, as had Fatah, on a silver platter.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=41}} While Hamas representatives recognize the problem, one official notes that Arafat got very little in return for changing the PLO Charter under the Oslo Accords, and that there is agreement that little is gained from a non-violent approach.<ref name="Duss" >Matthew Duss, [http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/190832/remember-gaza 'Remember Gaza?],' [[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet Magazine]] May 8, 2015.</ref> Richard Davis says the dismissal by contemporary leaders of its relevance and yet the suspension of a desire to rewrite it reflects the differing constituencies Hamas must address, the domestic audience and international relations.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=41}} The charter itself is considered an 'historical relic.'<ref>Wendy Pearlman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Rn3CgDAymEC&pg=PA137 ''Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement''], Cambridge University Press, 2011 p. 137.</ref>

In an April 2008 meeting between Hamas leader [[Khaled Mashal]] and former US President [[Jimmy Carter]], an understanding was reached in which Hamas agreed it would respect the creation of a Palestinian state in the territory seized by Israel in the 1967 [[Six-Day War]], provided this were ratified by the Palestinian people in a referendum.<ref name=jazeera,22Apr2008>Al Jazeera, [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2008/04/2008615098393788.html "Hamas ready to accept 1967 borders"]. April 22, 2008.</ref> In 2009, in a letter to UN Secretary General [[Ban Ki-moon]], Haniyeh repeated his group's support for a two-state settlement based on 1967 borders: "We would never thwart efforts to create an independent Palestinian state with borders [from] June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital."<ref name="offer 2009">{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/haniyeh-to-un-chief-hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-in-67-borders-1.7460|title=Haniyeh to UN chief: Hamas accepts Palestinian state in '67 borders|author=Yoav Segev|date=September 22, 2009|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=February 25, 2012}}</ref> On December 1, 2010, Ismail Haniyeh again repeated, "We accept a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the resolution of the issue of refugees," and "Hamas will respect the results [of a referendum] regardless of whether it differs with its ideology and principles."<ref name="offer 2010">{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-vows-to-honor-palestinian-referendum-on-peace-with-israel-1.328234|title=Hamas Vows to Honor Palestinian Referendum on Peace with Israel: Islamist Leader Ismail Haniyeh Says He Would Accept a Deal with Israel Based on 1967 Borders and Denies that Gaza has Become a Stronghold for Al-Qaida|date=December 1, 2010|newspaper=Haaretz|agency=Reuters|access-date=February 25, 2012}}</ref>

In November 2011, Hamas leader [[Khaled Mishal]] made an agreement with [[Mahmoud Abbas]] in Cairo, in which he committed to respecting the 1967 borders.{{sfn|Seurat|2019|p=56}}

In February 2012, according to the Palestinian authority, Hamas forswore the use of violence. Evidence for this was provided by an eruption of violence from [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]] in March 2012 after an Israeli assassination of a Jihad leader, during which Hamas refrained from attacking Israel.<ref name="IBZ 14Mar2012">{{cite news |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/37526/ |title=The eye of the Islamic Jihad storm |first=Ilan |last=Ben Zion |date=March 14, 2012 |work=The Times of Israel|access-date=October 9, 2023}}</ref> "Israel—despite its mantra that because Hamas is sovereign in Gaza it is responsible for what goes on there—almost seems to understand," wrote Israeli journalists Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, "and has not bombed Hamas offices or installations".<ref name="Tab">{{cite news |first=Marc |last=Tracy |author-link=Marc Tracy |date=March 12, 2012 |title=Terrorist Killing Prompts Gaza Rocket Exchange |work=Tablet Magazine |url=http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/93795/terrorist-killing-prompts-gaza-rocket-exchange/ |access-date=March 31, 2012}}</ref>

''[[The Atlantic]]'' magazine columnist [[Jeffrey Goldberg]], along with other analysts, believes Hamas may be incapable of permanent reconciliation with Israel.<ref name="Hamas's Insults">{{cite news |url-access=subscription |last=Erlanger |first=Steven |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/world/middleeast/01hamas.html |title=In Gaza, Hamas's Insults to Jews Complicate Peace |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 1, 2008 |access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/nizar_rayyan_of_hamas_on_gods.php "Nizar Rayyan of Hamas on God's Hatred of Jews"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122023505/http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/nizar_rayyan_of_hamas_on_gods.php |date=January 22, 2009 }}, ''[[The Atlantic]]'', (January 2, 2009).</ref>

Co-founder Yassin of Hamas was convinced that Israel was endeavouring to destroy Islam, and concluded that loyal Muslims had a religious obligation to destroy Israel.{{sfn|Neack|2008|p=101}} The short-term goal of Hamas was to liberate [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], including modern-day Israel, from [[Israeli occupation]]. Some academics argue that the long-term aim seeks to establish an [[Islamic republic|Islamic state]] from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, remarkably similar to, and perhaps derived from, the Zionist notion of the same area under a Jewish majority.{{efn|In nutshell, the notion of "Palestine from the river to the sea" is nothing but the boundaries of [[Eretz Israel]] as imagined by the first Zionists. The notion was enshrined in the founding charter of the ruling Likud party, which states that "between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." One can thus entertain the chilling irony that Hamas owes its cherished slogan to the Zionists. After all, what is "free Palestine from the river to the sea" but a utopian parody of "Greater Israel"?{{sfn|Assi|2018}}}}<ref name=Frankel/><ref name=Whitten/><ref name=Fawcett/><ref name=Malley/><ref name=Dunning/>

=== Hudna proposals ===
When Hamas won a majority in the January [[2006 Palestinian legislative election]], [[Ismail Haniyeh]], the then newly elected [[Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority]], sent messages both to US President [[George W. Bush]] and to Israel's leaders, asking to be recognized and offering a long-term truce and the establishment of a border on the lines of 1967. No response came.<ref name="Kamel" >Dr. Lorenzo Kamel, [http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.608906 "Why do Palestinians in Gaza support Hamas?"], ''Haaretz'', August 5, 2014</ref> Haniyeh's proposal reportedly was a fifty-year armistice with Israel, if a Palestinian state is created along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.<ref>{{cite book|title=Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|author=Sumantra Bose|page=283}}</ref> A Hamas official added that the armistice would renew automatically each time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slater |first=Jerome |title=Mythologies Without End: The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=285}}</ref> In mid-2006, [[University of Maryland]]'s Jerome Segal suggested that a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas's ''de facto'' recognition of Israel.<ref name="Hatz 14Aug2008">{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/in-2006-letter-to-bush-haniyeh-offered-compromise-with-israel-1.257213|title=In 2006 letter to Bush, Haniyeh offered compromise with Israel|author=Barak Ravid|date=August 14, 2008|access-date=March 18, 2012|work=Haaretz}}</ref> Hamas's spokesperson, [[Ahmed Yousef]], said that a "hudna" is more than a ceasefire and it "obliges parties to use the period to seek a permanent, non-violent resolution to their differences."{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=179}}

In November 2008, in a meeting, on Gaza Strip soil, with 11 [[Europe]]an members of parliaments, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh re-stated that Hamas was willing to accept a Palestinian state "in [[Six-Day War|the territories of 1967]]" ([[Gaza Strip]] and [[West Bank]]), and offered Israel a long-term truce if Israel recognized the [[Palestinian right of return|Palestinians' national rights]]; and stated that Israel rejected this proposal.<ref name="offer 2008">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/haniyeh-hamas-willing-to-accept-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders-1.256915 |title=Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders |author=Amira Hass |date=November 9, 2008 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=April 16, 2014}}</ref> A Hamas finance minister around 2018 contended that such a "long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas and a two-state settlement are the same”.{{sfn|Baconi|2018|p=108|ps=Hamas’s finance minister in Gaza stated that “a long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas and a two-state settlement are the same. It’s just a question of vocabulary.”}}

Mkhaimer Abusada, a political scientist at [[Al Azhar University]], in September 2009 wrote that Hamas talks "of hudna [temporary ceasefire], not of peace or reconciliation with Israel. They believe over time they will be strong enough to liberate all historic Palestine."<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Several more authors have warned around 2020, that, if Israel would accept such a proposal (a Palestinian state "in the territories of 1967" combined with a long-term truce), Hamas would retain its objective of establishing one state in former [[Mandatory Palestine]].<ref name="Alsoos"/><ref name="Faeq"/> Hamas has offered Israel a "[[hudna]]" (a ceasefire or armistice) ranging from 10 years, to 30, 40 or even 100 years, if it withdraws to the 1967 borders.<ref name=atran>{{cite journal|author=Scott Atran, Robert Axelrod|title=Reframing Sacred Values|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1571-9979.2008.00182.x|journal=Negotiation Journal|date=2008}}</ref>{{Better source|reason=This source seems not to give useful, detailed information, about: when did Hamas offer which hudna, under which conditions?|date=October 2023}}{{Clarify|reason=Unclear: when did they offer which hudna, under which conditions? |date=October 2023}}

===Religious policy===
====In the Gaza Strip====
{{Main|Islamization of the Gaza Strip}}
The gender ideology outlined in the Hamas charter, the importance of women in the religious-nationalist project of liberation is asserted as no lesser than that of males. Their role was defined primarily as one of manufacturing males and caring for their upbringing and rearing, though the charter recognized they could fight for liberation without obtaining their husband's permission and in 2002 their participation in jihad was permitted.{{sfn|Davis|2017|p=55}} The doctrinal emphasis on childbearing and rearing as woman's primary duty is not so different from Fatah's view of women in the First Intifada and it also resembles the outlook of Jewish settlers, and over time it has been subjected to change.{{sfn|Shitrit|2015|pp=73–74}}{{sfn|Phillips|2011|p=81}}

In 1989, during the First Intifada, a small number of Hamas followers{{sfn|Shitrit|2015|p=74}} {{cn span |text=campaigned for the wearing of the [[hijab]], which is not a part of traditional women's attire in Palestine,|date=October 2023}} for polygamy, and also insisted women stay at home and be segregated from men. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn 'just to avoid problems on the streets'.{{sfn|Rubenberg|2001|pp=230–31}} The harassment dropped drastically when, after 18 months [[Unified National Leadership of the Uprising|UNLU]] condemned it,{{sfn|Gerner|2007|p=27}} though similar campaigns reoccurred.

Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, some of its members have attempted to impose Islamic dress or the [[hijab]] head covering on women.<ref name="ReferenceB">[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/world/middleeast/06gaza.html Hamas Fights Over Gaza's Islamist Identity] ''The New York Times'', September 5, 2009</ref><ref name="xinhua">{{cite news |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/03/content_12748559.htm |title=Hamas encourages Gaza women to follow Islamic code _English_Xinhua |publisher=Xinhua News Agency |date=January 3, 2010 |access-date=August 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514030330/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/03/content_12748559.htm |archive-date=May 14, 2011}}</ref> The government's "Islamic Endowment Ministry" has deployed Virtue Committee members to warn citizens of the dangers of immodest dress, card playing, and dating.<ref name="bloomberg">[https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aB2RfynNbLmk Hamas Bans Women Dancers, Scooter Riders in Gaza Push] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118123632/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aB2RfynNbLmk |date=November 18, 2015}} By Daniel Williams, Bloomberg, November 30, 2009</ref> There are no government laws imposing dress and other moral standards, and the Hamas education ministry reversed one effort to impose Islamic dress on students.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> There has also been successful resistance to attempts by local Hamas officials to impose Islamic dress on women.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/18/hamas-gaza-islamist-dress-code Hamas patrols beaches in Gaza to enforce conservative dress code] ''The Guardian'' (UK), October 18, 2009</ref> Hamas officials deny having any plans to impose Islamic law, one legislator stating that "What you are seeing are incidents, not policy," and that Islamic law is the desired standard "but we believe in persuasion".<ref name="bloomberg" />

In 2013, [[UNRWA]] canceled its annual marathon in Gaza after Hamas rulers prohibited women from participating in the race.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rettig |first=Haviv |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/un-cancels-gaza-marathon-over-hamas-ban-on-women/ |title=UN Cancels Gaza Marathon |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=March 5, 2013 |access-date=March 27, 2013}}</ref>

====In the West Bank====
In 2005, the human rights organization [[Freemuse]] released a report titled "Palestine: [[Taliban]]-like attempts to censor music", which said that [[Music of Palestine|Palestinian musicians]] feared that harsh religious laws against music and concerts will be imposed since Hamas group scored political gains in the Palestinian Authority local elections of 2005.<ref name="freemuse">{{cite news |url=http://www.freemuse.org/sw10095.asp |title=Palestine: Taliban-like attempts to censor music |publisher=Freemuse.org |date=August 17, 2006 |access-date=August 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807211707/http://www.freemuse.org/sw10095.asp |archive-date=August 7, 2011}}</ref>

The attempt by Hamas to dictate a cultural code of conduct in the 1980s and early 1990s led to a violent fighting between different Palestinian sectors. Hamas members reportedly burned down stores that stocked videos they deemed indecent and destroyed books they described as "heretical".<ref name="barel"/>

In 2005, an outdoor music-and-dance performance in [[Qalqiliya]] was suddenly banned by the Hamas-led municipality, for the reason that such an event would be "[[haram]]", i.e. forbidden by Islam.<ref name="otterbeck">"Battling over the public sphere: Islamic reactions to the music of today". Jonas Otterbeck. ''Contemporary Islam''. Volume 2, Number 3, 211–28,{{doi|10.1007/s11562-008-0062-y}}. "... the over-all argument was that the event was haram"</ref> The municipality also ordered that music no longer be played in the Qalqiliya zoo, and mufti Akrameh Sabri issued a [[Fatwa|religious edict]] affirming the municipality decision.<ref name="barel"/> In response, the Palestinian national poet [[Mahmoud Darwish]] warned that "There are Taliban-type elements in our society, and this is a very dangerous sign."<ref name="freemuse"/><ref name="barel"/><ref name="darwish">"Palestinians Debate Whether Future State Will be Theocracy or Democracy". [[Associated Press]], July 13, 2005.</ref><ref name="newhumanist">[http://newhumanist.org.uk/937/gaza-taliban Gaza Taliban?] by Editorial Staff, ''The New Humanist'', volume 121 issue 1, January/February 2006</ref>

The Palestinian columnist Mohammed Abd Al-Hamid, a resident of Ramallah, wrote that this religious coercion could cause the migration of artists, and said "The religious fanatics in Algeria destroyed every cultural symbol, shattered statues and rare works of art and liquidated intellectuals and artists, reporters and authors, ballet dancers and singers—are we going to imitate the Algerian and Afghani examples?"<ref name="barel"/>

===Erdoğan's Turkey as a role model===
Some Hamas members have stated that the model of Islamic government that Hamas seeks to emulate is that of Turkey under the rule of [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]]. The foremost members to distance Hamas from the practices of the Taliban and to publicly support the Erdoğan model were [[Ahmed Yousef]] and [[Ghazi Hamad]], advisers to Prime Minister Hanieh.<ref name="Sayigh">[http://www.brandeis.edu/crown/publications/meb/MEB41.pdf Hamas Rule in Gaza: Three Years On], [[Yezid Sayigh]], Crown Center for Middle East studies, March 2010</ref><ref>See also: [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/letters-from/letter-from-gaza?page=show Letter from Gaza], Hamas's tunnel diplomacy, By Thanassis Cambanis, June 18, 2010. Foreign Affairs. "They want to know if we are more like the Taliban or Erdogan. They will see that we are closer to Erdogan."</ref> Yusuf, the Hamas deputy foreign minister, reflected this goal in an interview with a Turkish newspaper, stating that while foreign public opinion equates Hamas with the Taliban or [[al-Qaeda]], the analogy is inaccurate. Yusuf described the Taliban as "opposed to everything", including education and women's rights, while Hamas wants to establish good relations between the religious and secular elements of society and strives for human rights, democracy and an open society.<ref>[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=box-2010-06-10 Hamas: 'We want Erdoğan's model, not Taliban's']. Cansu Çamlibel, ''The Daily [[Hurriyet]]''. June 10, 2010</ref> According to professor [[Yezid Sayigh]] of [[King's College London|King's College]] in London, how influential this view is within Hamas is uncertain, since both Ahmad Yousef and Ghazi Hamad were dismissed from their posts as advisers to Hamas Prime Minister [[Ismail Hanieh]] in October 2007.<ref name="Sayigh"/> Both have since been appointed to other prominent positions within the Hamas government. Khaled al-Hroub of the West Bank-based and anti-Hamas<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/world/middleeast/21mideast.html A Leader of Hamas Warns of West Bank Peril for Fatah] ''The New York Times''. June 21, 2006. "Mr. Sawaf's West Bank office in Ramallah has been destroyed, and the Palestinian paper ''Al Ayyam'' has refused to continue printing his paper in the West Bank."</ref> Palestinian daily ''Al Ayyam'' added that despite claims by Hamas leaders that it wants to repeat the Turkish model of Islam, "what is happening on the ground in reality is a replica of the Taliban model of Islam."<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hamas-Gaza-extremism.-a0211366448 Hamas-Gaza-extremism], ''The Weekly Middle East Reporter'' (Beirut, Lebanon), August 8, 2009</ref> <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-says-hamas-is-not-terrorist-organisation-2023-10-25/|title=Turkey's Erdogan says Hamas is not terrorist organisation, cancels trip to Israel|publisher=Reuters}}</ref>

===Hamas Charter===
{{main|Hamas Charter}}
Hamas published its charter in August 1988, wherein it defined itself as a chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its desire to establish "an Islamic state throughout Palestine".{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|p=324}} The foundational document was, according to [[Khaled Hroub]], written by a single individual and made public without going through the usual prior consultation process.{{efn|'The Charter was written in early 1988 by one individual and was made public without appropriate general Hamas consultation, revision or consensus, to the regret of Hamas's leaders in later years. The author of the Charter was one of the 'old guard' of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, completely cut off from the outside world. All kinds of confusions and conflations between Judaism and Zionism found their way into the Charter, to the disservice of Hamas ever since, as this document has managed to brand it with charges of 'anti-Semitism' and a naïve world-view' Hamas leaders and spokespeople have rarely referred to the Charter or quoted from it, evidence that it has come to be seen as a burden rather than an intellectual platform that embraces the movement's principles.'{{sfn|Hroub|2006|p=33}}}} It was then signed on August 18, 1988. It contains both [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] passages and characterizations of Israeli society as [[Nazism|Nazi]]-like in its cruelty,<ref>Ronni Shaked, 'Ethos of Conflict of the Palestinian Society,' in Keren Sharvit, Eran Halperin (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ysdyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA142 ''A Social Psychology Perspective on The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Celebrating the Legacy of Daniel Bar-Tal,''] Springer, 2016 Volume 2 pp. 133–49 [142].</ref> and [[Irredentism|irredentist claims]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hroub|2006b|p=6}}cited Michael Schulz, "Hamas Between Sharia Rule and Demo-Islam", in Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer, Joakim Öjendal (eds.),[https://books.google.com/books?id=cTXekQIjsLgC&pg=PA202 ''Globalization and Challenges to Building Peace''], pp. 195–201: 'Hamas continues to be characterized with reference to its 1988 charter drawn up less than a year after the movement was established in direct response to the outbreak of the third intifada and when its raison d'être was armed resistance to the occupation. Yet when its election and post-election documents are compared to the charter, it becomes clear that what is being promoted is a profondly different organization'</ref><ref>'The non-Zionist Jew is one who belongs to the Jewish culture, whether as a believer in the Jewish faith or simply by accident of birth, but...(who) takes no part in aggressive actions against our land and our nation. ... Hamas will not adopt a hostile position in practice against anyone because of his ideas or his creed but will adopt such a position if those ideas and creed are translated into hostile or damaging actions against our people.' (1990) [[Khaled Hroub]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=-XsW4-8VVJ4C&pg=PA31 p. 34].</ref><ref name=FogOfPeace>{{cite book |last1=Picco |first1=Giandomenico |author1-link=Giandomenico Picco |last2=Rifkind |first2=Gabrielle |author2-link=Gabrielle Rifkind |title=The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhKsDwAAQBAJ |publisher=I.B. Tauris |pages=47–48 |date=2013 |access-date=January 16, 2021 |isbn=978-0857723437}}</ref> It declares all of Palestine a ''[[waqf]]'', an unalienable religious property consisting of land endowed to [[Islam|Muslim]]s in perpetuity by God,{{sfn|Robinson|2004|p=130}}{{efn|'The second major component in Palestine's sanctity, according to Hamas, is its designation as a waqf by the Caliph [[Omar|'Umar b. al-Khattab]]. When the Muslim armies conquered Palestine in the year 638, the Hamas Charter says, the Caliph 'Umar b. al-Khattab decided not to divide the conquered land among the victorious soldiers, but to establish it as a waqf, belonging to the entire Muslim nation until the day of resurrection.'{{sfn|Litvak|1998|p=153}}}}<ref name="Weimann">Gabriel Weimann,[https://archive.org/details/terroroninternet00weim/page/82 ''Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenges''], [[United States Institute of Peace|US Institute of Peace Press]], 2006 p. 82.</ref> with religious coexistence under Islam's rule.<ref>Jim Zanotti, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ajKhf9y93nkC&pg=PA15 ''Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress''], Diane Publishing, 2011 p. 15.</ref> The charter rejects a [[two-state solution]], stating that [[Israeli Palestinian conflict|the conflict]] cannot be resolved "except through [[jihad]]".<ref>Zanotti, p. 15.</ref><ref>Roberts [https://books.google.com/books?id=xveCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 p. 68]:'The Charter condemns world Zionism and the efforts to isolate Palestine, defines the mission of the organization, and locates that mission within Palestinian, Arab and Islamic elements. It does not condemn the West or non-Muslims, but does condemn aggression against the Palestinian people, arguing for a defensive jihad. It also calls for fraternal relations with the other Palestinian nationalist groups'.</ref>

Article 6 states that the movement's aim is to "raise the banner of [[Allah]] over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned".<ref name="Yale">{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp|title=Hamas Covenant 1988: The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement|access-date=February 15, 2009|work=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy|publisher=Yale Law School|date=August 18, 1988}}</ref><ref>Shaul Mishal, Avraham Sela,[https://books.google.com/books?id=AO-tZkbPDKYC&pg=PA178 ''The Palestinian Hamas: vision, violence, and coexistence''], Columbia University Press, 2006 p. 178.</ref> It adds that, "when our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims",<ref name="Tessler" >Mark A. Tessler [https://books.google.com/books?id=3kbU4BIAcrQC&pg=PA696 ''A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict''], Indiana University Press, 1994 pp. 546, 696</ref> for which the whole of the land is non-negotiable, a position likened, without the racist sentiments present in the Hamas charter, to that in the [[Likud]] party platform and in movements such as [[Gush Emunim]]. For Hamas, to concede territory is seen as equivalent to renouncing Islam itself.{{sfn|Beinart|2012|p=219, n.53}}<ref name="Emmett">Ayala H. Emmett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7BazOwasdNMC&pg=PA101 ''Our Sisters' Promised Land: Women, Politics, and Isr aeli-Palestinian Coexistence,''] University of Michigan Press, 2003 pp. 100–02.</ref><ref name=Frankel>Glenn Frankel, [https://archive.org/details/beyondpromisedla00fran/page/390 ''Beyond the Promised Land: Jews and Arabs on the Hard Road to a New Israel,''] [[Simon and Schuster]], 1996 pp. 389–91, cites Binjamin Netanyahu as declaring: 'You say the Bible is not a property deed. But I say the opposite-the Bible is our mandate, the Bible is our deed'. [[Yitzhak Rabin]] at the time charged that "Bibi Netyanyahu is a Hamas collaborator. ... Hamas and Likud have the same political goal.'</ref><ref name=Whitten>David Whitten Smith, Elizabeth Geraldine Burr,[https://books.google.com/books?id=5v-iBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 ''Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace''], [[Rowman & Littlefield]], 2014 2nd.ed. pp. 250–51 for a comparison of similarities regarding ownership of the land in the Likud and Hamas platforms.</ref><ref name=Fawcett>Louise Fawcett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nNUiHaUzzNgC&pg=PA249 ''International Relations of the Middle East''], [[Oxford University Press]] 2013 p. 49: 'The Hamas platform calls for full Muslim-Palestinian control of the Mediterranean to the Jordan River—the mirror image of Likud's platform for Jewish control of the same land.'</ref><ref name=Malley>{{harvnb|O'Malley|2015|p=26|ps=: Israel incessantly invokes provisions of Hamas's charter that call for the elimination of Jews and the destruction of Israel, and its refusal to recognize the state of Israel. ... Hamas also calls attention to the clauses in the Likud charter that explicitly denounce a two-state solution. A double standard, says Hamas.}}</ref><ref>[[Noam Chomsky]], in Elliot N. Dorff, Danya Ruttenberg, Louis E Newman (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=JgfA4moXzEoC&pg=PA26 ''Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: War and National Security''], [[Jewish Publication Society]], 2010 pp. 26–27</ref><ref name=Dunning>{{citation|title=Israel's policy on statehood merits the same scrutiny as Hamas gets|last=Dunning|first=Tristan|url=http://theconversation.com/israels-policy-on-statehood-merits-the-same-scrutiny-as-hamas-gets-33897|date=November 20, 2014}}</ref>

The violent language against all Jews in the original Hamas charter is [[antisemitic]] and has been characterized by some as [[genocidal]].<ref name=":4">{{cite book |last1=Bayefsky |first1=Anne F. |last2=Blank |first2=Laurie R. |title=Incitement to Terrorism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHxTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |publisher=BRILL |date=March 22, 2018 |quote=The governing charter of Hamas, "The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement," openly dedicates Hamas to genocide against the Jewish people. |isbn=978-90-04-35982-6}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last=Breedon |first=Jennifer R. |date=2015–2016 |title=Why the Combination of Universal Jurisdiction and Polical Lawfare Will Destroy the Sacred Sovereignty of States |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jglojpp2&id=411&div=&collection= |journal=Journal of Global Justice and Public Policy |volume=2 |pages=389 |quote=The Hamas Charter not only calls for the militant, perhaps genocidal, liberation of Palestine (e.g., "raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine"), but also demonstrates anti-Semitic, murderous intent.}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite journal |last=Tsesis |first=Alexander |date=2014–2015 |title=Antisemitism and Hate Speech Studies |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/rjlr16&id=352&div=&collection= |journal=Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion |volume=16 |pages=352 |quote=For Jews, the Holocaust remains a real concern in an age when Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization, continues to advocate genocide in its core Charter.}}</ref>

In May 2017, Hamas unveiled a rewritten charter, in an attempt to moderate its image. It maintains the longstanding goal of an Islamist Palestinian state covering all of the area of today's Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip, and that the State of Israel is illegal and illegitimate. It now states that Hamas is anti-Zionist rather than anti-Jewish, but describes Zionism as part of a conspiratorial global plot, as the enemy of all Muslims, and a danger to international security, and blames the Zionists for the conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. It rejects the Oslo Accords and affirms Hamas' commitment to the use of force. It also claims to support democracy, but Hamas has still never held an election since 2006.<ref name=hoffman>{{cite news |last1=Hoffman |first1=Bruce |title=Understanding Hamas’s Genocidal Ideology |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/hamas-covenant-israel-attack-war-genocide/675602/ |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=The Atlantic |date=10 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-charter-1637794876|title=Hamas in 2017: The document in full|website=MiddleEastEye|access-date=January 6, 2018}}</ref>

==Organization==

===Leadership and structure===
[[File:Hamasleadership.png|thumb|Map of key Hamas leadership nodes. 2010]]
Hamas inherited from its predecessor a tripartite structure that consisted in the provision of social services, of religious training and military operations under a Shura Council. Traditionally it had four distinct functions: (a) a charitable social welfare division (''dawah''); (b) a military division for procuring weapons and undertaking operations (''al-Mujahideen al Filastinun''); (c) a security service (''Jehaz Aman''); and (d) a media branch (''A'alam'').{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=10–11}} Hamas has both an internal leadership within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and an external leadership, split between a Gaza group directed by [[Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook]] from his exile first in Damascus and then in Egypt, and a Kuwaiti group (''Kuwaidia'') under [[Khaled Mashal]].{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=11–12}} The Kuwaiti group of Palestinian exiles began to receive extensive funding from the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Gulf States]] after its leader Mashal broke with [[Yasser Arafat]]'s decision to side with [[Saddam Hussein]] in the [[Invasion of Kuwait]], with Mashal insisting that Iraq withdraw.{{sfn|Roy|2013|p=30}} On May 6, 2017, [[Majlis al-Shura|Hamas' Shura Council]] chose [[Ismail Haniya]] to become the new leader, to replace Mashal.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/06/middleeast/hamas-leadership-ismail-haniya/index.html|title=Ismail Haniya elected new Hamas leader|author=Andrew Carey and Joe Sterling|publisher=CNN|date=May 6, 2017}}</ref>

The exact structure of the organization is unclear as it is shrouded in a veil of secrecy in order to conceal operational activities. Formally, Hamas maintains the wings are separate and independent, but this has been questioned. It has been argued that its wings are both separate and combined for reasons of internal and external political necessity. Communication between the political and military wings of Hamas is made difficult by the thoroughness of Israeli intelligence surveillance and the existence of an extensive base of informants. After the assassination of [[Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi]] the political direction of the militant wing was diminished and field commanders given wider discretional autonomy over operations.{{sfn|Davis|2016|pp=44–45}}

====Political Bureau====
Hamas's overarching governing body is the [[Majlis al-Shura]] (Shura Council), based on the [[Qur'an]]ic concept of consultation and popular assembly ({{transliteration|ar|[[shura]]}}), which Hamas leaders argue provides for democracy within an Islamic framework.<ref>A. Hovdenak, "Hamas in Transition:The Failure of Sanctions", in Michelle Pace, Peter Seeberg (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=RgLcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 ''The European Union's Democratization Agenda in the Mediterranean''], Routledge, 2013 pp. 50–79 [64].</ref> As the organization grew more complex and Israeli pressure increased, the Shura Council was renamed the General Consultative Council, with members elected from local council groups. The council elects the 15-member Political Bureau (''al-Maktab al-Siyasi'')<ref>Peter Mandaville,[https://books.google.com/books?id=2bvcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 ''Islam and Politics''], Routledge, 2014 Rev.ed, p. 282.</ref> that makes decisions for Hamas. Representatives come from Gaza, the West Bank, leaders in exile and [[Administrative detention|Israeli prisons]].<ref name="Berti" >Benedetta Berti, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EUcDAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 ''Armed Political Organizations: From Conflict to Integration''], JHU Press, 2013 p. 88.</ref> The Political Bureau was based in [[Damascus]] until the [[Syrian Civil War]] until Hamas's support for the civil opposition to [[Bashar al-Assad]] led to the office's relocation to [[Qatar]] in January 2012, .<ref name="Berti" /><ref>Mohammed Ayoob, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ph6eAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT47 ''Will the Middle East Implode?''], John Wiley & Sons, 2014 p. 47.</ref>

===Finances and funding===
Hamas, like its predecessor the Muslim Brotherhood, assumed the administration of Gaza's waqf properties, endowments which extend over 10% of all real estate in the Gaza Strip, with 2,000 acres of agricultural land held in religious trusts, together with numerous shops, rentable apartments and public buildings.{{sfn|Abu-Amr|1993|p=8}}

In the first five years of the 1st Intifada, the Gaza economy, 50% of which depended on external sources of income, plummeted by 30–50% as Israel closed its labour market and remittances from the [[Palestinian diaspora|Palestinian expatriates]] in the Gulf countries dried up following the 1991–1992 [[Gulf War]].{{sfn|Roy|1993|p=21}} At the 1993 Philadelphia conference, Hamas leaders' statements indicated that they read [[George H. W. Bush]]'s outline of a [[New world order (politics)|New World Order]] as embodying a [[New World Order (conspiracy theory)|tacit aim]] to destroy Islam, and that therefore funding should focus on enhancing the Islamic roots of Palestinian society and promoting jihad, which also means zeal for social justice, in the occupied territories.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=148}} Hamas became particularly fastidious about maintaining separate resourcing for its respective branches of activity—military, political and social services.{{sfn|Vittori|2011|p=72}} It has had a holding company in East Jerusalem (''Beit al-Mal''), a 20% stake in Al Aqsa International Bank which served as its financial arm, the Sunuqrut Global Group and al-Ajouli money-changing firm.{{sfn|Vittori|2011|p=73}}

By 2011, Hamas's budget, calculated to be roughly US$70 million, derived even more substantially (85%) from foreign, rather than internal Palestinian, sources.{{sfn|Vittori|2011|p=73}} Only two Israeli-Palestinian sources figure in a list seized in 2004, while the other contributors were donor bodies located in Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Germany, the United States, United Arab Emirates, Italy and France. Much of the money raised comes from sources that direct their assistance to what Hamas describes as its charitable work for Palestinians, but investments in support of its ideological position are also relevant, with Persian Gulf States and Saudi Arabia prominent in the latter. Matthew Levitt claims that Hamas also taps money from corporations, criminal organizations and financial networks that support terror.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=143–44}} It is also alleged that it engages in cigarette and drug smuggling, multimedia copyright infringement and credit card fraud.{{sfn|Vittori|2011|p=73}} The United States, Israel and the EU have shut down many charities and organs that channel money to Hamas, such as the Holy Land Foundation for Relief.{{sfn|Clarke|2015|p=97}} Between 1992 and 2001, this group is said to have provided $6.8 million to Palestinian charities of the $57 million collected. By 2001, it was alleged to have given Hamas $13 million, and was shut down shortly afterwards.<ref>Interpal and Development and the Al-Aqsa Charitable Foundation Fund. pp. 146, 154–59.</ref>

About half of Hamas's funding came from states in the Persian Gulf down to the mid-2000s. Saudi Arabia supplied half of the Hamas budget of $50 million in the early 2000s,<ref name="Burfeindt">Marsh E. Burfeindt, 'Rapprochement with Iran', in Thomas A. Johnson (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=tu5m8_0iUSoC&pg=PA198 ''Power, National Security, and Transformational Global Events: Challenges Confronting America, China, and Iran'']. CRC Press. 2012. pp. 185–235 [198].</ref> but, under US pressure, began to cut its funding by cracking down on Islamic charities and private donor transfers to Hamas in 2004,<ref name="Vittori">Jodi Vittori, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ra_GAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 ''Terrorist Financing and Resourcing''], Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 pp. 72–74, 193 notes 50, 51.</ref> which by 2006 drastically reduced the flow of money from that area. Iran and Syria, in the aftermath of Hamas's 2006 electoral victory, stepped in to fill the shortfall.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=173}}{{sfn|Gleis|Berti|2012|p=156}} Saudi funding, negotiated with third parties including Egypt, remained supportive of Hamas as a Sunni group but chose to provide more assistance to the PNA, the electoral loser, when the EU responded to the outcome by suspending its monetary aid.<ref>Robert Mason, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZaIcBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 ''Foreign Policy in Iran and Saudi Arabia: Economics and Diplomacy in the Middle East''], [[I.B. Tauris]], 2015 pp. 48–49</ref> During the 1980s, Iran began to provide 10% of Hamas's funding, which it increased annually until by the 1990s it supplied $30 million.<ref name =Burfeindt/> It accounted for $22 million, over a quarter of Hamas's budget, by the late 2000s.<ref name="Vittori"/> According to Matthew Levitt, Iran preferred direct financing to operative groups rather than charities, requiring video proof of attacks.<ref name =Vittori/>{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=172–74}} Much of the Iran funding is said to be channeled through [[Hezbollah]].<ref name="Vittori"/> After 2006, Iran's willingness to take over the burden of the shortfall created by the drying up of Saudi funding also reflected the geopolitical tensions between the two, since, though Shiite, Iran was supporting a Sunni group traditionally closely linked with the Saudi kingdom.<ref>Lawrence Rubin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TzeOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 ''Islam in the Balance: Ideational Threats in Arab Politics'']. Stanford University Press, 2014 p. 104</ref> The US imposed sanctions on Iran's Bank Saderat, alleging it had funneled hundreds of millions to Hamas.<ref>Jalil Roshandel, Alethia H. Cook, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0c_IAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 ''The United States and Iran: Policy Challenges and Opportunities''], Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. p. 104.</ref> The US has expressed concerns that Hamas obtains funds through Palestinian and Lebanese sympathizers of Arab descent in the [[Foz do Iguaçu]] area of the tri-border region of Latin America, an area long associated with arms trading, drug trafficking, contraband, the manufacture of counterfeit goods, money-laundering and currency fraud. The State Department adds that confirmatory information of a Hamas operational presence there is lacking.<ref>Mark P. Sullivan, [https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/128377.pdf 'Latin America: Terrorism Issues']. Congressional Research Service. July 14, 2009. p. 4.</ref>

After 2009, [[sanctions on Iran]] made funding difficult, forcing Hamas to rely on religious donations by individuals in the West Bank, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Funds amounting to tens of millions of dollars raised in the Gulf states were transferred through the [[Rafah Border Crossing]]. These were not sufficient to cover the costs of governing the Strip and running the al Qassam Brigades, and when tensions arose with Iran over support of President Assad in Syria, Iran dropped its financial assistance to the government, restricting its funding to the military wing, which meant a drop from $150 million in 2012 to $60 million the following year. A further drop occurred in 2015 when Hamas expressed its criticisms of Iran's role in the [[Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)|Yemeni Civil War]].<ref>Davis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kGWFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 p. 173].</ref>

In 2017, the PA government imposed its own sanctions against Gaza, including, among other things, cutting off salaries to thousands of PA employees, as well as financial assistance to hundreds of families in the Gaza Strip. The PA initially said it would stop paying for the electricity and fuel that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip, but after a year partially backtracked.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/palestinian-authority-rejects-israeli-us-ideas-to-help-gaza-560921|title=Palestinian Authority rejects Israeli, U.S. ideas to help Gaza|website=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> The Israeli government has allowed millions of dollars from Qatar to be funneled on a regular basis through Israel to Hamas, to replace the millions of dollars the PA had stopped transferring to Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] explained that letting the money go through Israel meant that it could not be used for terrorism, saying: "Now that we are supervising, we know it's going to humanitarian causes."<ref>[[The Jerusalem Post]], March 12, 2019, [https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Netanyahu-Money-to-Hamas-part-of-strategy-to-keep-Palestinians-divided-583082 "Netanyahu: Money to Hamas Part of Strategy to Keep Palestinians Divided"]</ref>

===Social services wing===
Hamas developed its social welfare programme by replicating the model established by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. For Hamas, charity and the development of one's community are both prescribed by religion and to be understood as forms of resistance.{{sfn|Dunning|2016|p=136}} In Islamic tradition, {{transliteration|ar|dawah}} ({{translation|literal=yes|"the call to God"}}) obliges the faithful to reach out to others by both proselytising and by charitable works, and typically the latter centre on the mosques which make use of both {{transliteration|ar|[[waqf]]}} endowment resources and charitable donations ({{transliteration|ar|[[zakat]]}}, one of the five pillars of Islam) to fund grassroots services such as nurseries, schools, orphanages, soup kitchens, women's activities, library services and even sporting clubs within a larger context of preaching and political discussions.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=16–23}} In the 1990s, some 85% of its budget was allocated to the provision of social services.{{sfn|Phillips|2011|p=78}} Hamas has been called perhaps the most significant social services actor in Palestine. By 2000, Hamas or its affiliated charities ran roughly 40% of the social institutions in the West Bank and Gaza and, with other Islamic charities, by 2005, was supporting 120,000 individuals with monthly financial support in Gaza.{{sfn|Shitrit|2015|p=71}} Part of the appeal of these institutions is that they fill a vacuum in the administration by the PLO of the Palestinian territories, which had failed to cater to the demand for jobs and broad social services, and is widely viewed as corrupt.{{sfn|Phillips|2011|p=75}} As late as 2005, the budget of Hamas, drawing on global charity contributions, was mostly tied up in covering running expenses for its social programmes, which extended from the supply of housing, food and water for the needy to more general functions such as financial aid, medical assistance, educational development and religious instruction. A certain accounting flexibility allowed these funds to cover both charitable causes and military operations, permitting transfer from one to the other.{{sfn|Davis|2016|pp=47ff}}

The {{transliteration|ar|dawah}} infrastructure itself was understood, within the Palestinian context, as providing the soil from which a militant opposition to the occupation would flower.{{efn|'In a 1995 lecture, Sheikh Jamil Hamami, a party to the foundation of Hamas and a senior member of its West Bank leadership, expounded the importance of Hamas' {{transliteration|ar|dawa}} infrastructure as the soil from which militancy would flower.'{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=23}}}} In this regard it differs from the rival [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Palestinian Islamic Jihad]] which lacks any social welfare network, and relies on spectacular terrorist attacks to recruit adherents.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=25–26}} In 2007, through funding from Iran, Hamas managed to allocate at a cost of $60 million, monthly stipends of $100 for 100,000 workers, and a similar sum for 3,000 fishermen [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip#Effect on the fishing industry|laid idle by Israel's imposition of restrictions]] on fishing offshore, plus grants totalling $45 million to detainees and their families.<ref>Mohsen Saleh, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LGVkCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA198 ''The Palestinian Strategic Report 2006''], Al Manhal, 2007 p. 198.</ref> [[Matthew Levitt]] argues that Hamas grants to people are subject to a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of how beneficiaries will support Hamas, with those linked to terrorist activities receiving more than others.<ref>James J.F. Forrest, "Conclusion", in James Dingley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CVJ_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA290 ''Combating Terrorism in Northern Ireland''], Routledge, 2008 pp. 280–300 [290].</ref> Israel holds the families of suicide bombers accountable and bulldozes their homes, whereas the families of Hamas activists who have been killed or wounded during militant operations are given an initial, one-time grant varying between $500–$5,000, together with a $100 monthly allowance. Rent assistance is also given to families whose homes have been destroyed by Israeli bombing though families unaffiliated with Hamas are said to receive less.{{sfn|Phillips|2011|p=81}}{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=122–23}}

Until 2007, these activities extended to the West Bank, but, after a PLO crackdown, now continue exclusively in the Gaza Strip.{{sfn|Davis|2016|p=48}} After the [[2013 Egyptian coup d'état]] deposed the elected Muslim Brotherhood government of [[Mohamed Morsi]] in 2013, Hamas found itself in a financial straitjacket and has since endeavoured to throw the burden of responsibility for public works infrastructure in the Gaza Strip back onto the Palestinian National Authority, but without success.{{sfn|Davis|2016|pp=48–49}}

===Military wing===
{{main|Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades}}
[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Weapons Found in a Mosque During Cast Lead (2).jpg|upright|thumb|Weapons found in a mosque during [[Operation Cast Lead]], according to the IDF]]
The [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]] is Hamas's military wing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Beaumont |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Beaumont (journalist) |date=2023-10-12 |title=What is Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza? |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/12/what-is-hamas-the-militant-group-that-rules-gaza |access-date=2023-10-16 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> By the time of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Hamas's laboratories had devised a primitive form of rocketry, the Qassam 1, which they first launched in October 2000, carrying a {{convert|500|g|abbr=on}} warhead with a throw range of {{convert|4|km|abbr=on}}. Both propellant and the explosive were manufactured from chemical fertilizers, though TNT was also tried.{{sfn|Sabry|2015|p=65}} Over the next five years of the conflict, a {{convert|3|kg|abbr=on}}-warhead-armed version with a strike range of {{convert|6|km|abbr=on}}–{{convert|8|km|abbr=on}}, the Qassam 2, was also produced{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=107}} and in an incremental rise, these rocket types were fired towards Israeli settlements along the Gaza Strip: 4 in 2001, 35 in 2002, 155 in 2003, 281 in 2004, and 179 in 2005. By 2005, the Qassam 3 had been engineered with a {{convert|12|km|abbr=on}}–{{convert|14|km|abbr=on}} range and a {{convert|15|kg|abbr=on}} warhead. By 2006, 942 such rockets were launched into southern Israel.{{sfn|Sabry|2015|p=67}} During the [[Gaza War (2008–09)|War with Israel in 2008–2009]], Hamas deployed [[BM-21 Grad|122-mm Grad rocketry]] with a {{convert|20|km|abbr=on}}–{{convert|40|km|abbr=on}} range and a {{convert|30|kg|abbr=on}} warhead and a variety of guided [[9M133 Kornet|Kornet]] antitank missiles.{{sfn|Sabry|2015|p=73}} By 2012 Hamas had engineered a version of the [[Fajr-5]] rocket, which was capable of reaching as far as [[Tel Aviv]], as was shown after the assassination of [[Ahmed Jabari]] in that year. In the 2014 war its advanced rocketry reached Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and [[Haifa]].{{sfn|Jefferis|2016|p=119}}

While the number of members is known only to the Brigades leadership, Israel estimates the Brigades have a core of several hundred members who receive [[Military training|military style training]], including training in Iran and in [[Syria]] (before the Syrian Civil War).{{sfn|Guidère|2012|p=173}} Additionally, the brigades have an estimated 10,000–17,000 operatives,{{sfn|Shitrit|2015|p=71}}{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=106}} forming a backup force whenever circumstances call for reinforcements for the Brigade. Recruitment training lasts for two years.{{sfn|Guidère|2012|p=173}} The group's ideology outlines its aim as the liberation of Palestine and the restoration of Palestinian rights under the dispensations set forth in the Qur'an, and this translates into three policy priorities:

<blockquote>To evoke the spirit of Jihad (Resistance) among Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims; to defend Palestinians and their land against the Zionist occupation and its manifestations; to liberate Palestinians and their land that was usurped by the Zionist occupation forces and settlers.{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=105}}</blockquote>

According to its official stipulations, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades' military operations are to be restricted to operating only inside Palestine, engaging with Israeli soldiers,{{efn|'Consistent attacks on army units by Hamas activists are as new as the use of anti-tank missiles against civilian homes by the Israeli military.'{{sfn|Roy|1993|p=21}}}} and in exercising the right of self-defense against armed settlers. They are to avoid civilian targets, to respect the enemy's humanity by refraining from mutilation, defacement or excessive killing, and to avoid targeting Westerners either in the occupied zones or beyond.{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|pp=105–06}}

[[File:2013 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades exercise (8).jpg|thumb|Exercise of al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City, January 27, 2013]]
Down to 2007, the Brigades are estimated to have lost some 800 operatives in conflicts with Israeli forces. The leadership has been consistently undermined by targeted assassinations. Aside from [[Yahya Ayyash]] (January 5, 1996), it has lost [[Emad Akel]] (November 24, 1993), [[Salah Shehade]] (July 23, 2002), [[Ibrahim al-Makadmeh]] (March 8, 2003), [[Ismail Abu Shanab]] (August 21, 2003), [[Ahmed Yassin]] (March 22, 2004), and [[Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi]] (April 17, 2004).{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|p=107}}{{sfn|Hueston|Pierpaoli|Zahar|2014|p=67}}

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades groups its fighters in 4–5 man cells, which in turn are integrated into companies and battalions. Unlike the political section, which is split between an internal and external structure, the Brigades are under a local Palestinian leadership, and disobedience with the decisions taken by the political leadership have been relatively rare.{{sfn|Najib|Friedrich|2007|pp=107–08}}

Although the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades are an integral part of Hamas, the exact nature of the relationship is hotly debated. They appear to operate at times independently of Hamas, exercising a certain autonomy.{{sfn|Davis|2004|p=100}}{{sfn|Herrick|2011|p=?}}<ref>Mandaville, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2bvcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 p. 282].</ref>{{sfn|Levitt|2008|pp=89ff.}}<ref>John L.Esposito, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SlhxoTHLxeMC&pg=PA231 ''Islam and Violence''], [[Syracuse University Press]], 1998, p. 231.</ref> Some cells have independent links with the external leadership, enabling them to bypass the hierarchical command chain and political leadership in Gaza.{{sfn|Gunning|2007|pp=123–55|ps=: p. 134}} Ilana Kass and Bard O'Neill, likening Hamas's relationship with the Brigades to the political party [[Sinn Féin]]'s relationship to the military arm of the [[Irish Republican Army]], quote a senior Hamas official as stating: "The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade is a separate armed military wing, which has its own leaders who do not take their orders from Hamas and do not tell us of their plans in advance."{{sfn|Kass|O'Neill|1997|p=267}}{{efn|[[Matthew Levitt]] on the other hand claims that Hamas's welfare institutions act as a mere façade or front for the financing of terrorism, and dismisses the idea of two wings as a 'myth'.{{sfn|Herrick|2011|p=179}} He cites Ahmad Yassin stating in 1998: "We can not separate the wing from the body. If we do so, the body will not be able to fly. Hamas is one body."{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=24}}}}

===Media===

==== Al-Aqsa TV ====
{{main|Al-Aqsa TV}}
[[Al-Aqsa TV]] is a television channel founded by Hamas.<ref>{{Cite news|date=January 1, 2009|title=Hamas leader killed in air strike|publisher=BBC News |location=London|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7807124.stm}}</ref> The station began broadcasting in the Gaza Strip on January 9, 2006,<ref name="news24_alaqsa_tv">{{cite news|title=Hamas TV station shut down|url=http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1867389,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009220331/http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0%2C%2C2-10-1462_1867389%2C00.html|archive-date=October 9, 2007|access-date=October 9, 2007}}, news24.com, January 22, 2006</ref><ref name="adl_al_aqsa_tv">{{cite web|title=Terrorism: Al Aqsa TV|url=http://www.adl.org/terrorism/profiles/al_aqsa_tv.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120114454/http://www.adl.org/terrorism/profiles/al_aqsa_tv.asp|archive-date=January 20, 2013|publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League|ADL]]}}</ref> less than three weeks before the [[2006 Palestinian legislative election|Palestinian legislative elections]]. It has shown television programs, including some children's television, which deliver antisemitic messages.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 16, 2008|title=Anti-Semitic Hate Speech in the Name of Islam|publisher=Spiegel Online International|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,553724,00.html}}</ref> Hamas has stated that the television station is "an independent media institution that often does not express the views of the Palestinian government headed by Ismail Haniyeh or of the Hamas movement," and that Hamas does not hold antisemitic views.<ref name="Hamas Condemns the Holocaust">[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/12/hamascondemnstheholocaust Hamas Condemns the Holocaust] ''The Guardian'' May 12, 2008</ref> The programming includes ideologically tinged children's shows, news talk, and religiously inspired entertainment.<ref name="npr_al_aqsa_tv">{{cite news|title=Hamas Launches Television Network|publisher=[[NPR]]|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5186883|access-date=February 3, 2006}}</ref> According to the [[Anti-Defamation League]], the station promotes terrorist activity and incites hatred of Jews and Israelis.<ref name="adl_al_aqsa_tv" /> Al-Aqsa TV is headed by [[Fathi Ahmad Hammad]], chairman of al-Ribat Communications and Artistic Productions—a Hamas-run company that also produces Hamas's radio station, ''Voice of al-Aqsa'', and its biweekly newspaper, ''The Message''.<ref name="guardian_johnson">{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Alan|date=May 15, 2008|title=Hamas and antisemitism|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/15/hamasandantisemitism}}</ref>

==== Al-Fateh magazine ====
{{disputed section|date=October 2023}}
{{main|Al-Fateh}}
''Al-Fateh'' ("the conqueror") is the Hamas children's magazine, published biweekly in London, and also posted in an online website. It began publication in September 2002, and its 108th issue was released in mid-September 2007. The magazine features stories, poems, riddles, and puzzles, and states it is for "the young builders of the future".<ref name="OnlineTerrorists">{{cite web |url=http://globalpolitician.com/24252-terror |title=Online Terrorists Prey on the Vulnerable |publisher=Globalpolitician.com |access-date=August 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720001052/http://globalpolitician.com/24252-terror |archive-date=July 20, 2011}}</ref>

According to the [[Anti-Defamation League]], al-Fateh promotes violence and antisemitism, with praise for and encouragement to become suicide bombers, and that it "regularly includes photos of children it claims have been detained, injured or killed by Israeli police, images of children firing slingshots or throwing rocks at Israelis and children holding automatic weapons and firebombs."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/al_fateh_hamas.htm |title=Hamas Magazine for Kids Promotes Martyrdom and Hatred |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=August 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804222805/http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/al_fateh_hamas.htm |archive-date=August 4, 2011}}</ref>

==Violence==
Hamas has used both political activities and violence in pursuit of its goals. For example, while politically engaged in the 2006 Palestinian Territories parliamentary election campaign, Hamas stated in its election manifesto that it was prepared to use "armed resistance to end [[Israeli-occupied territories|the occupation]]".<ref name="SMF">{{cite news|url=http://www.stockholmsfria.nu/artikel/6296|title=Islamistisk politik vinner mark|author=Madelene Axelsson|date=January 27, 2006|publisher=[[Stockholms Fria Tidning]]|language=sv|access-date=April 10, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927034525/http://www.stockholmsfria.nu/artikel/6296|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref>

From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks into Israel.<ref name="fox1">[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473448,00.html Israel At 'War to the Bitter End,' Strikes Key Hamas Sites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122001830/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473448,00.html |date=November 22, 2010}} December 29, 2008, Fox News</ref>

===Attacks on civilians===
[[File:HAMAS suicide bombing in Jerusalem on 25 February (DoS Publication 10321).png|upright|thumb|Aftermath of 1996 [[Jaffa Road bus bombings]] in which 26 people were killed]]

Hamas has attacked Israeli civilians. Hamas's most deadly suicide bombing was an attack on a [[Netanya]] hotel on March 27, 2002, in which 30 people were killed and 140 were wounded. The attack has also been referred to as the [[Netanya suicide attack|Passover massacre]] since it took place on the first night of the Jewish festival of [[Passover]] at a [[Passover Seder|Seder]].

Hamas has defended suicide attacks as a legitimate aspect of its [[asymmetric warfare]] against Israel. In 2003, according to Stephen Atkins, Hamas resumed suicide bombings in Israel as a retaliatory measure after the failure of peace talks and an Israeli campaign targeting members of the upper echelon of the Hamas leadership.{{efn|'This ceasefire ended when Israel started targeting Hamas leaders for assassination in July 2003. Hamas retaliated with a suicide bombing in Israel on August 19, 2003, that killed 20 people, including 6 children. Since then Israelis have mounted an assassination campaign against the senior leadership of Hamas that has killed 13 Hamas members, including Ismail Abu Shanab, one of the most moderate leaders of Hamas. ... After each of these assassinations, Hamas has sent a suicide bomber into Israel in retaliation.'{{sfn|Atkins|2004|p=123}}}} but they are considered as [[crimes against humanity]] under international law.<ref>{{cite web |author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |url=https://www.refworld.org/country,,HRW,COUNTRYREP,ISR,,3dc9379d4,0.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416012248/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,COUNTRYREP,ISR,,3dc9379d4,0.html |archive-date=April 16, 2013 |title=Refworld | Erased In A Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians |publisher=UNHCR |access-date=March 27, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Saarnivaara|first=Minn|title=Suicide Campaigns as a Strategic Choice: The Case of Hamas |journal=Policing|volume=2|issue=4|pages=423–33|year=2008|doi=10.1093/police/pan061}}</ref> In a 2002 report, Human Rights Watch stated that Hamas leaders "should be held accountable" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" committed by the al-Qassam Brigades.<ref name="hrw.org-bombing">[https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl-pa/ISRAELPA1002-05.htm#P735_169095 Erased In A Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians] V. Structures and Strategies of the Perpetrator Organizations, [[Human Rights Watch]], October 2002. {{ISBN|1564322807}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/06/30/indiscriminate-fire-0 |title=Indiscriminate Fire, Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel and Israeli Artillery Shelling in the Gaza Strip |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=June 30, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |archive-date=May 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524155207/http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/06/30/indiscriminate-fire-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/08/28/civilians-under-assault |title=Civilians under Assault, Hezbollah's Rocket Attacks on Israel in the 2006 War |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=August 28, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |archive-date=May 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524155118/http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/08/28/civilians-under-assault }}</ref>

In May 2006, Israel arrested a top Hamas official, [[Ibrahim Hamed]], who Israeli security officials alleged was responsible for dozens of [[suicide bombings]] and other attacks on Israelis.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3254071,00.html|title=Top Hamas fugitive nabbed|website=Ynetnews |date=May 23, 2006}}</ref> Hamed's trial on those charges has not yet concluded.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/who-are-the-deadly-terrorists-israel-refuses-to-release-for-shalit-1.272300 |title=Who are the deadly terrorists Israel refuses to release for Shalit? |author=Barak Ravid |newspaper=Haaretz |date=March 17, 2009 |access-date=April 16, 2014}}</ref> In 2008, Hamas explosives engineer Shihab al-Natsheh organized a deadly [[2008 Dimona suicide bombing|suicide bombing in Dimona]].<ref name="Dimona">{{cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Rory |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/06/israelandthepalestinians.international|title=Hamas says it was behind suicide blast in Israel|newspaper=The Guardian|date=February 5, 2008|access-date=September 22, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=News Agencies and Haaretz Service|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-troops-in-hebron-kill-hamas-man-behind-dimona-attack-1.285314|title=Israeli troops in Hebron kill Hamas man behind Dimona attack|newspaper=Haaretz|date=July 27, 2008|access-date=September 22, 2014}}</ref>

Since 2002, paramilitary soldiers of al-Qassam Brigades and other groups have used homemade Qassam rockets to hit Israeli towns in the [[Negev]], such as [[Sderot]]. Al-Qassam Brigades was estimated in 2007 to have launched 22% of the rocket and mortar attacks,<ref name=ITIC-2007-pages>{{cite report|url=http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/terror_07e.pdf |pages=11, 28 |title=Anti-Israeli Terrorism in 2007 and its Trends in 2008 |work=Intelligence and Terrorism Information Cente |publisher=Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center |date=May 2008 |access-date=June 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013092026/http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/terror_07e.pdf |archive-date=October 13, 2009}}</ref> which killed fifteen people between the years 2000 and 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Victims+of+Palestinian+Violence+and+Terrorism+sinc.htm |title=Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000 |work=GxMSDev |access-date=July 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403024612/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%2BObstacle%2Bto%2BPeace/Palestinian%2Bterror%2Bsince%2B2000/Victims%2Bof%2BPalestinian%2BViolence%2Band%2BTerrorism%2Bsinc.htm |archive-date=April 3, 2007}}</ref> The introduction of the ''Qassam-2'' rocket in 2008 enabled Palestinian paramilitary groups to reach, from Gaza, such Israeli cities such as [[Ashkelon]].<ref>{{cite web |title=BICOM Fact Sheet 2: Ashkelon – the changing scenario |url=http://www.bicom.org.uk/background/research-and-analysis/bicom-analysis/bicom-fact-sheet-2--ashkelon---the-changing-scenario |website=[[Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre]] |access-date=October 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310112010/http://www.bicom.org.uk/background/research-and-analysis/bicom-analysis/bicom-fact-sheet-2--ashkelon---the-changing-scenario |archive-date=March 10, 2008 |date=March 5, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2008, Hamas leader [[Khaled Mashal]], offered that Hamas would attack only military targets if the IDF would stop causing the deaths of Palestinian civilians.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632372365&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609190105/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632372365&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |archive-date=June 9, 2008 |title=Mashaal offers to cease civilian attacks |access-date=June 1, 2016}} March 31, 2008, ''The Jerusalem Post''</ref> Following a June 19, 2008, ceasefire, the al-Qassam Brigades ended its rocket attacks and arrested Fatah militants in Gaza who had continued sporadic rocket and mortar attacks against Israel. The al-Qassam Brigades resumed the attacks after the November 4 Israeli incursion into Gaza.<ref name="ITIC"/><ref name="ynetnews.com">[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3626260,00.html "Qassam lands in western Negev, no injuries"] ''[[Ynetnews]]'', November 20, 2008</ref>

On June 15, 2014, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of involvement in the [[2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers|kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers]] (including one who held American citizenship), saying "This has severe repercussions."<ref name="NetanyahuHamas">{{cite news|title=Netanyahu blames Hamas for the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens|url=http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Netanyahu-blames-Hamas-for-the-kidnapping-of-the-three-Israeli-teens-359364|access-date=July 19, 2014|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> On July 20, 2014, nearly two weeks into [[Operation Protective Edge]], Netanyahu in an interview with CNN described Hamas as "genocidal terrorists."<ref name="IsraelPM">{{cite news|title=Hamas genocidal terrorists says Netanyahu|url=http://www.israelnews.net/index.php/sid/223948551/scat/f81a4d9d561822ee/ht/Hamas-genocidal-terrorists-says-Netanyahu|access-date=July 19, 2014|publisher=Israel News.Net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105215245/http://www.israelnews.net/index.php/sid/223948551/scat/f81a4d9d561822ee/ht/Hamas-genocidal-terrorists-says-Netanyahu|archive-date=November 5, 2014}}</ref>

On August 5, 2014, Israel announced that Israeli security forces arrested Hussam Kawasme, in [[Shuafat]], in connection with the murders of the teens.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Middle-East/Kidnap-and-murder-of-Israeli-teens-Palestinian-suspect-held-police-say/articleshow/39719757.cms|title=Kidnap and murder of Israeli teens: Palestinian suspect held, police say|work=The Times of India|access-date=July 17, 2015}}</ref> During interrogation, Kawasme admitted to being the mastermind behind the attack, in addition to securing the funding from Hamas.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.therakyatpost.com/world/2014/08/06/palestinian-suspect-held-kidnap-murders-3-israelis/|title=Palestinian suspect held over kidnap murders of 3 Israelis|work=The Rakyat Post|access-date=July 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720211533/http://www.therakyatpost.com/world/2014/08/06/palestinian-suspect-held-kidnap-murders-3-israelis/|archive-date=July 20, 2015}}</ref> Officials have stated that additional people arrested in connection with the murders are still being held, but no names have been released.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-arrests-suspected-ringleader-of-cell-that-nabbed-teens/|title=Israel arrests suspected ringleader of cell that killed teens|work=The Times of Israel|access-date=July 17, 2015}}</ref>

On August 20, [[Saleh al-Arouri]], a Hamas leader then in exile in Turkey, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens. He delivered an address on behalf of [[Khaled Mashal]] at the conference of the [[International Union of Muslim Scholars]] in [[Istanbul]], a move that might reflect a desire by Hamas to gain leverage.<ref name="HamasAcc">Jack Khoury, [http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.611676 "Hamas claims responsibility for three Israeli teens' kidnapping and murder"], ''Haaretz'', August 21, 2014.</ref> In it he said: {{quote|Our goal was to ignite an [[wikt:intifada|intifada]] in the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as within the 1948 borders. ... Your brothers in the [[Al-Qassam Brigades]] carried out this operation to support their imprisoned brothers, who were on a hunger strike. ... The [[mujahideen]] captured these settlers in order to have a swap deal.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/4437.htm |title=MEMRI: Hamas Leadership Acknowledges Responsibility for Kidnapping Three Israeli Teens |publisher=MEMRI |access-date=August 22, 2014}}</ref>{{better source|Middle East Media Research Institute is listed as having additional considerations at [[WP:RS/P]]. It is not a reliable source. Better sources should be used for claims about contentious matters, particularly ones which MEMRI has an established bias about|date=October 2023}}}} Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal accepted that members of Hamas were responsible, stating that he knew nothing of it in advance and that what the leadership knew of the details came from reading Israeli reports.<ref name="HamasAcc2">[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4562328,00.html 'Mashal: Hamas was behind murder of three Israeli teens,'] [[Ynet]] August 22, 2014.</ref> Meshaal, who had headed Hamas's exiled political wing since 2004, has denied being involved in the "details" of Hamas's "military issues," but "justified the killings as a legitimate action against Israelis on 'occupied' lands."<ref>{{cite news|last=Isikoff|first=Michael|url=https://news.yahoo.com/in-personal-plea--top-hamas-leader-calls-on-obama-to-stop--holocaust--in-gaza-180315615.html|title=In personal plea, top Hamas leader calls on Obama to stop 'holocaust' in Gaza|work=Yahoo! News|date=August 25, 2014|access-date=September 2, 2014}}</ref>

During the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war]], Hamas infiltrated homes, shot civilians en masse, and took scores of Israeli civilians and soldiers as hostages into Gaza.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> According to [[Human Rights Watch]], the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and taking of civilians as hostages amount to [[war crime]]s under international humanitarian law.<ref>{{cite web |date=9 October 2023 |title=Israel/Palestine: Devastating Civilian Toll as Parties Flout Legal Obligations |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/09/israel/palestine-devastating-civilian-toll-parties-flout-legal-obligations |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009202840/https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/09/israel/palestine-devastating-civilian-toll-parties-flout-legal-obligations |archive-date=9 October 2023 |website=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref> During its October 2023 offensive against Israel, Hamas [[Re'im music festival massacre|massacred over 260 people at a music festival]], while abucting others.<ref name="Morris2023">{{Cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Loveday |last2=Piper |first2=Imogen |last3=Sohyun Lee |first3=Joyce |last4=George |first4=Susannah |date=8 October 2023 |title=How a night of dancing and revelry in Israel turned into a massacre |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/08/israel-festival-attack-gaza-militants/ |url-status=live |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008200354/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/08/israel-festival-attack-gaza-militants/ |archive-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> During the same offensive, it also was reported that Hamas had massacred the population of the [[Kfar Aza]] kibbutz.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lubell |first=Maayan |date=October 10, 2023 |title=Bodies of residents and militants lie in the grounds of ravaged Israeli kibbutz |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/bodies-residents-militants-lie-grounds-ravaged-israeli-kibbutz-2023-10-10/ |access-date=October 10, 2023}}</ref> About 10 percent of the residents of the [[Be'eri]] kibbutz were killed.<ref>{{cite news |title=10 Percent of Kibbutz Population Found Dead After Hamas Massacre in Southern Israel |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-10/ty-article/.premium/10-percent-of-kibbutz-population-found-dead-after-hamas-massacre-in-southern-israel/0000018b-191c-df31-a99f-7ddf54fa0000 |work=Haaretz |date=10 October 2023}}</ref> Video footage shows children being deliberately killed during the kibbutz attacks,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Rory |date=2023-10-23 |title=Israel shows footage of Hamas killings ‘to counter denial of atrocities’ |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/israel-shows-footage-of-hamas-killings-to-counter-denial-of-atrocities |access-date=2023-10-26 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> as well as what appears to be an attempt to decapitate a living person using a garden hoe.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 October 2023 |title=Israel shows Hamas bodycam attack footage to journalists |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67198270 |access-date=26 October 2023}}</ref>

===Rocket attacks on Israel===
{{also|Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel}}
{{Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel}}
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have launched thousands of rockets into Israel since 2001, killing 15 civilians, wounding many more, and posing an ongoing threat to the nearly 800,000 Israeli civilians who live and work in the weapons' range. Hamas officials have said that the rockets were aimed only at military targets, saying that civilian casualties were the "accidental result" of the weapons' poor quality. According to Human Rights Watch, statements by Hamas leaders suggest that the purpose of the rocket attacks was indeed to strike civilians and civilian objects. From January 2009, following [[Operation Cast Lead]], Hamas largely stopped launching rocket attacks on Israel and has on at least two occasions arrested members of other groups who have launched rockets, "showing that it has the ability to impose the law when it wants".<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/en/node/89574/section/3 HRW report] April 11, 2010</ref> In February 2010, Hamas issued a statement regretting any harm that may have befallen Israeli civilians as a result of Palestinian rocket attacks during the Gaza war. It maintained that its rocket attacks had been aimed at Israeli military targets but lacked accuracy and hence sometimes hit civilian areas. Israel responded that Hamas had boasted repeatedly of targeting and murdering civilians in the media.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Al-Mughrabi, Nidal|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6141LC|title=Hamas "regrets" civilian deaths, Israel unmoved|publisher=[[Reuters]]|date=February 5, 2010}}</ref>

According to one report, commenting on the 2014 conflict, "nearly all the 2,500–3,000 rockets and mortars Hamas has fired at Israel since the start of the war seem to have been aimed at towns", including an attack on "a kibbutz collective farm close to the Gaza border", in which an Israeli child was killed.<ref name="Training Manual">{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Luke|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-gaza-hamas-document-idUSKBN0GO0D120140824|title=Israel says it found Hamas training manual in Gaza|publisher=Reuters|date=August 24, 2014|access-date=August 25, 2014|archive-date=August 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824134841/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/24/us-mideast-gaza-hamas-document-idUSKBN0GO0D120140824|url-status=live}}</ref> Former Israeli Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi stated that "Hamas has expressed pride in aiming long-range rockets at strategic targets in Israel including the nuclear reactor in Dimona, the chemical plants in Haifa, and Ben-Gurion Airport", which "could have caused thousands" of Israeli casualties "if successful".<ref>{{cite web|last=Halevi|first=Jonathan D.|url=http://jcpa.org/hamas-threat-no-different-from-isis/|title=The Hamas Threat to the West Is No Different from ISIS|publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs|date=August 4, 2014|access-date=August 25, 2014}}</ref>

In July 2008, [[Barack Obama]], then the Democratic presidential candidate, said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."<ref>Steven Lee Myers and Helene Cooper, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/washington/29diplo.html Obama Defers to Bush, for Now, on Gaza Crisis], New York Times December 28, 2009</ref> On December 28, 2008, Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] said in a statement: "the United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel."<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473167,00.html U.S. Condemns Hamas in Midst of Israeli Strikes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625060725/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473167,00.html |date=June 25, 2013}}, Fox News December 28, 2008</ref> On March 2, 2009, Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] condemned the attacks.<ref>[https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gid-B97gmhLgqf8brVLEKN46E-Lw Clinton calls for 'durable' Gaza truce, condemns rockets], AFP March 2, 2009</ref>

On October 7, 2023, Hamas claimed responsibility for a barrage of missile attacks originating from the Gaza strip.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-07/israel-targets-hamas-military-operation-rocket-attacks/102947766 |title='We are at war': Palestinian militants launch new military operation, Israel strikes targets in Gaza |publisher=ABC News |date=October 7, 2023}}</ref>

===Attempts to derail 2010 peace talks===
{{see also|2010 Palestinian militancy campaign}}
In 2010, Hamas, who have been actively sidelined from the peace talks by Israel, spearheaded a coordinated effort by 13 [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] militant groups, in attempt to derail the stalled [[Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in 2010|peace talks]] between Israel and [[Mahmoud Abbas]], President of the [[Palestinian Authority]]. According to the Israeli [[Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories]] Major Gen. Eitan Dangot, Israel seeks to work with [[Salam Fayyad]], to help revive the Palestinian economy, and hopes to ease restrictions on the Gaza Strip further, "while somehow preventing the Islamic militants who rule it from getting credit for any progress". According to Dangot, Hamas must not be seen as ruling successfully or be allowed to "get credit for a policy that would improve the lives of people".<ref>{{cite news |title=IDF general lays out plan for reviving Gaza economy |agency=The Associated Press |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-general-lays-out-plan-for-reviving-gaza-economy-1.321256 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=October 26, 2010 |access-date=June 7, 2013}}</ref> The campaign consists of attacks against Israelis in which, according to a Hamas declaration in early September, "all options are open".<ref name=Weiss>{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0904/1224278203442.html|title=Islamist groups attempt to derail Middle East talks|author=Weiss, Mark|date=September 4, 2010|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref name=Mitnick>[http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0831/Hamas-targets-Israeli-Palestinian-talks-by-killing-four-Israelis "Hamas targets Israeli-Palestinian talks by killing four Israelis; Hamas took responsibility for the fatal shooting of four Israeli settlers outside Hebron today, on the eve of Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington,"] Joshua Mitnick, August 31, 2010, ''Christian Science Monitor''.</ref><ref name=jerusalempoststaff>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=186963|title=Hamas to launch 'more effective attacks' on Israel|date=September 3, 2010|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref><ref name=excathedraeditorial>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090705977.html|title=The Shadow of Hamas|date=September 8, 2010|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 7, 2013}}</ref> The participating groups also include [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]], the [[Popular Resistance Committees]] and an unnamed splinter group of [[Fatah]].<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6811J620100902 Gaza militants vow wave of attacks against Israel], Reuters September 2, 2010</ref>

As part of the campaign, on August 31, 2010, 4 Israeli settlers, including a [[pregnant]] woman, [[August 2010 West Bank shooting|were killed by Hamas militants]] while driving on [[Highway 60 (Israel–Palestine)|Route 60]] near the settlement [[Kiryat Arba]], in the West bank. According to witnesses, militants opened fire on the moving vehicle, but then "approached the car" and shot the occupants in their seats at "close range". The attack was described by Israeli sources as one of the "worst" terrorist acts in years.<ref>{{Cite news|author1=Kershner, Isabel|author-link1=Isabel Kershner|author2=Landler, Mark |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/middleeast/01settlers.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/middleeast/01settlers.html |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Israeli Settlers Killed in West Bank|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 31, 2010|access-date=September 7, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Liel |first=Alon |url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=186640 |title=Abbas condemns Hamas attack; 4 Israelis shot dead |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=August 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901202018/http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=186640 |archive-date=September 1, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11148097 |publisher=BBC News |title=US says Hebron attack must not derail Middle East talks |date=September 1, 2010}}</ref> A senior Hamas official said that [[Israeli settlers]] in the West Bank are legitimate targets since "they are an army in every sense of the word".<ref name="4 Israelis killed by Hamas">{{cite news |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2010-09/01/c_13472957.htm |title=4 Israelis killed by Hamas |publisher=Xinhua News Agency |date=September 1, 2010 |access-date=August 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807071834/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2010-09/01/c_13472957.htm |archive-date=August 7, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Hamas official: Israeli settlers are a legitimate military target">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-official-israeli-settlers-are-a-legitimate-military-target-1.312108 |title=Hamas official: Israeli settlers are a legitimate military target |newspaper=Haaretz |date=September 1, 2010 |access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref>

===Guerrilla warfare===
[[File:Weapons Found in Shuja'iya, Gaza (14552909800).jpg|thumb|Hamas anti-tank rockets, captured by Israel Defense Forces during Operation Protective Edge]]
Hamas has made great use of [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]] in the Gaza Strip and to a lesser degree the West Bank.<ref name="ynetnews_weight">{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3310425,00.html|work=[[Ynetnews]] |date=October 3, 2006|title=Report: Hamas weighing large-scale conflict with Israel}}</ref> It has successfully adapted these techniques over the years since its inception. According to a 2006 report by rival Fatah party, Hamas had smuggled between several hundred and 1,300 tons of advanced rockets, along with other weaponry, into Gaza.<ref name="ynetnews_weight" />

Hamas has used [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]] and [[anti-tank rocket]]s against the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] in Gaza. The latter include standard [[RPG-7]] warheads and home-made rockets such as the [[Al-Bana]], Al-[[Batar]] and Al-[[Yasin (RPG)|Yasin]]. The IDF has a difficult, if not impossible, time trying to find hidden weapons caches in Palestinian areas—this is due to the high local support base Hamas enjoys.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humanities.uci.edu/history/levineconference/papers/aburaiya.pdf#search=%22hamas%20enjoys%20great%20popular%20support%22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031104083809/http://www.humanities.uci.edu/history/levineconference/papers/aburaiya.pdf#search=%22hamas%20enjoys%20great%20popular%20support%22|archive-date=November 4, 2003|author=Issam Aburaiya|date=October 3, 2006|title=Hamas and Palestinian Nationalism}}</ref>

===Extrajudicial killings of rivals===
In addition to killing Israeli civilians and armed forces, Hamas has also murdered suspected Palestinian Israel collaborators and Fatah rivals.<ref>{{cite news |last=[[Corey Flintoff]] |date=31 July 2008 |title=Palestinian Rivals Accused Of Human Rights Abuses |publisher=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93143826}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1159712646109&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News|title=Fatah, Hamas gunbattles kill 7|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=October 1, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805234113/http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar%2FLayout%2FArticle_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1159712646109&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News%2FNews|archive-date=August 5, 2011}}</ref> According to the [[Associated Press]], collaborating with Israel is a crime punishable by death in Gaza.<ref>{{cite web |last=Associated Press |date=2021-04-02 |title=Gaza Activist: After Lengthy Torture, Hamas Forced Me to Divorce |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/middle-east_gaza-activist-after-lengthy-torture-hamas-forced-me-divorce/6204063.html |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=[[Voice of America]]}}</ref> Hundreds of Palestinians were executed by both Hamas and Fatah during the [[First Intifada]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Yosif Mahmoud Haj-Yahis|title=Alleged Palestinian Collaborators with Israel and Their Families: A Study of Victims of Internal Political Violence|publisher=Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem|year=2009|pages=18–19|display-authors=etal}}</ref> In the wake of the 2006 Israeli conflict with Gaza, Hamas was accused of systematically rounding up, torturing and summarily executing Fatah supporters suspected of supplying information to Israel. Human Rights Watch estimates several hundred Gazans were "maimed" and tortured in the aftermath of the conflict. Seventy-three Gazan men accused of "collaborating" had their arms and legs broken by "unidentified perpetrators", and 18 Palestinians accused of helping Israel were executed by Hamas security officials in the first days of the conflict.<ref name="HRW1"/><ref name="btselem.org"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Kalman |first=Matthew |title=Hamas executes suspected Fatah traitors in Gaza |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/21/MNHV15EHUT.DTL |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 22, 2009 |access-date=September 7, 2013}}</ref> In November 2012, Hamas's Izzedine al-Qassam brigade publicly executed six Gaza residents accused of collaborating with Israel. According to the witnesses, six alleged informers were shot dead one by one in [[Gaza City]], while the corpse of the sixth victim was tied by a cable to the back of a motorcycle and dragged through the streets.<ref>{{cite news|author=The Associated Press |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/20/hamas-kill-suspected-informers-gaza-israel.html |title=Hamas militants kill 6 suspected informers, witnesses say |publisher=CBC News |date=November 20, 2012 |access-date=January 6, 2013}}</ref> In 2013, Human Rights Watch issued a statement condemning Hamas for not investigating and giving a proper trial to the 6 men. Their statement was released the day before Hamas issued a deadline for "collaborators" to turn themselves in, or they will be pursued "without mercy".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/rights-group-pans-hamas-for-not-probing-executions/|title=Rights group pans Hamas for not probing executions|newspaper=The Times of Israel}}</ref> During the [[2014 Israel-Gaza conflict]], Hamas executed at least 23 accused collaborators after three of its commanders were assassinated by Israeli forces, with [[Amnesty International]] also reporting instances of torture used by Hamas forces.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 27, 2015 |title=Amnesty International: Hamas guilty of torture, summary executions |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/amnesty-international-hamas-guilty-of-torture-summary-executions/2015/05/27/4d1ee6b1-ac6a-420f-b7a7-80aa62d24b86_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126163031/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/amnesty-international-hamas-guilty-of-torture-summary-executions/2015/05/27/4d1ee6b1-ac6a-420f-b7a7-80aa62d24b86_story.html |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref name="Executions">{{cite news|title=Large number of alleged Israeli informers killed in Gaza|url=http://www.palestiniannews.net/index.php/sid/225005191|date=August 22, 2014|access-date=August 23, 2014|publisher=Palestinian News.Net|archive-date=August 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115720/http://www.palestiniannews.net/index.php/sid/225005191|url-status=dead}}</ref> An Israeli source denied that any of the commanders had been targeted on the basis of human intelligence.<ref name="Not collaborators"/>

Frequent killings of unarmed people have also occurred during Hamas-Fatah clashes.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2090520.stm |title=Middle East | Unrest erupts in Gaza Strip |publisher=BBC News |date=July 3, 2002 |access-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Levinson |first=Charles |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/10/wirq310.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615173959/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F06%2F10%2Fwirq310.xml |archive-date=June 15, 2007 |title=Shot by their own side, healed by the enemy |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=June 10, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |location=London}}</ref> NGOs have cited a number of [[summary execution]]s as particular examples of violations of the rules of warfare, including the case of Muhammad Swairki, 28, a cook for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard, who was thrown to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story apartment building in Gaza City.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2007/06/13/isrlpa16156.htm|title=Gaza: Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|date=June 13, 2007}}</ref> Hamas security forces reportedly shoot and torture Palestinians who opposed Hamas rule in Gaza.<ref>{{Cite web |last=[[Agence France-Presse]] |date=2009-04-21 |title=Hamas must stop killings: HRW |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/04/21/2003441620 |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=[[Taipei Times]]}}</ref> In one case, a Palestinian had criticized Hamas in a conversation on the street with some friends. Later that day, more than a dozen armed men with black masks and red [[kaffiyeh]] took the man from his home, and brought him to a solitary area where they shot him three times in the lower legs and ankles. The man told Human Rights Watch that he was not politically active.<ref name="HRW1"/>

On August 14, 2009, Hamas fighters stormed the Mosque of cleric [[Abdel-Latif Moussa]].<ref>{{cite news|publisher=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8202553.stm|title=Mosque gun battle rages in Gaza|date=August 14, 2009|location=London}}</ref> The cleric was protected by at least 100 fighters from [[Jund Ansar Allah]] ("Army of the Helpers of God"), an Islamist group with links to Al-Qaeda. The resulting battle left at least 13 people dead, including Moussa and 6 Hamas fighters, and 120 people injured.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8202746.stm|title=Gaza Islamist leader dies in raid|date=August 15, 2009|publisher=BBC News|location=London}}</ref> According to Palestinian president [[Mahmoud Abbas]], during [[2014 Israel–Gaza conflict]], Hamas killed more than 120 Palestinian youths for defying house arrest imposed on them by Hamas, in addition to 30–40 Palestinians killed by Hamas in extrajudicial executions after accusing them of being collaborators with Israel.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/abbas-hints-pa-close-to-ending-unity-deal-with-hamas-374626|title=Abbas hints PA close to ending unity agreement with Hamas|website=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> Referring to the killing of suspected collaborators, a Shin Bet official stated that "not even one" of those executed by Hamas provided any intelligence to Israel, while the Shin Bet officially "confirmed that those executed during Operation Protective Edge had all been held in prison in Gaza in the course of the hostilities".<ref name="Not collaborators">{{cite news|last1=Klein|first1=Aaron J.|last2=Ginsburg|first2=Mitch|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/none-of-alleged-gaza-collaborators-were-israeli-assets-intel-official-says/|title=None of alleged Gaza collaborators were Israeli assets, intel official says|newspaper=The Times of Israel|date=September 3, 2014|access-date=September 23, 2014}}</ref>

===2011–2013 Sinai insurgency===
{{see also|Sinai insurgency}}
Hamas has been accused of providing weapons, training and fighters for Sinai-based insurgent attacks,<ref name="Sinai-based jihadists">{{cite news|last=Ben |first=Ariel |url=http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Hamas-denies-32-of-its-operatives-killed-in-Sinai-319606 |title=Hamas denies 32 of its operatives killed in Sinai | JPost | Israel News |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Ben |first=Ricky |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/five-hamas-members-arrested-over-egyptian-police-massacre/ |title=Five Hamas members arrested over Egyptian police massacre |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=August 28, 2013 |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref> although Hamas strongly denies the allegations, calling them a smear campaign aiming to harm relations with Egypt.<ref name="Sinai-based jihadists"/> According to the Egyptian Army, since the ouster of Egypt's Muslim-Brotherhood president [[Mohamed Morsi]], over 600 Hamas members have entered the Sinai Peninsula through smuggling tunnels.<ref name="Hamas in Sinai">{{cite web |url=http://onswipe.upi.com/upi/#!/entry/600-hamas-operatives-said-to-be-in-sinai-peninsula,52077f97da27f5d9d00902a8 |title=Top News, Latest headlines, Latest News, World News & U.S News |publisher=Onswipe.upi.com |date=July 29, 2014 |access-date=August 2, 2014  |archive-date=November 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122200005/http://onswipe.upi.com/upi#!/entry/600-hamas-operatives-said-to-be-in-sinai-peninsula,52077f97da27f5d9d00902a8 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In addition, several weapons used in Sinai's insurgent attacks are being traced back to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to the army.<ref name="Hamas in Sinai"/> The four leading insurgent groups in the Sinai have all reportedly maintained close ties with the Gaza Strip.<ref name="Times of Israel Army of Islam"/> Hamas called the accusation a "dangerous development".<ref>[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201372681521367742.html Morsi accused of plotting with Hamas]. [[Al Jazeera English]]. July 26, 2013.</ref> Egyptian authorities stated that the [[2011 Alexandria bombing]] was carried out by the Gaza-based [[Army of Islam (Gaza Strip)|Army of Islam]], which has received sanctuary from Hamas and earlier collaborated in the capture of Gilad Shalit.<ref name="Times of Israel Army of Islam">{{cite news|last=Issacharoff|first=Avi|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-grapples-with-gaza-based-sinai-jihadists/|title=Egypt's ire raised as Hamas harbors Sinai jihadists|newspaper=The Times of Israel|date=August 22, 2013|access-date=September 30, 2014|quote=Their leader, Mohammed Dormosh, is well known for his ties to the Hamas leadership.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://m.aljazeera.com/story/201112311414915283|title=Egypt blames Gaza group for bombing|publisher=Al Jazeera|date=January 23, 2011|access-date=September 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006164228/http://m.aljazeera.com/story/201112311414915283|archive-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Gold|first=Dore|url=http://jcpa.org/the-myth-of-the-moderate-hamas/|title=The Myth of the Moderate Hamas|publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs|date=April 27, 2014|access-date=September 30, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/army-of-islam-says-shalit-now-solely-under-control-of-hamas-1.224805|title=Army of Islam says Shalit now solely under control of Hamas|newspaper=Haaretz|date=July 4, 2007|access-date=September 30, 2014|quote=We at Army of Islam made the preparations for operation 'Dissipating Illusion,' which was carried out in cooperation with the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and the Popular Resistance Committees Salah a-Din. We kidnapped Gilad Shalit and handed him over to Hamas.}}</ref> Army of Islam members linked to the [[August 2012 Sinai attack]] have reportedly sought refuge in the Gaza Strip.<ref name="Times of Israel Army of Islam"/> Egypt stated that Hamas directly provided logistical support to the Muslim Brotherhood militants who carried out the [[December 2013 Mansoura bombing]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/90650.aspx|title=Egyptian interior minister accuses Hamas of supporting Mansoura attackers|newspaper=Al-Ahram|date=January 2, 2014|access-date=September 30, 2014|archive-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006100358/http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/90650.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Terrorist designation===
The United States designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation in 1995, as did Canada in November 2002,<ref name="AFPC-NA">[https://books.google.com/books?id=9fQ3AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 ''The World Almanac of Islamism: 2014''], [[American Foreign Policy Council]]/[[Rowman & Littlefield]], 2014, p. 15.</ref> and the United Kingdom in November 2021.<ref name="auto"/> The [[European Union]] designated Hamas's military wing in 2001 and, under US pressure,{{sfn|Gunning|2004|p=234}} designated Hamas in 2003.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|pp=50–51}} Hamas challenged this decision,<ref>[http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150119_01_en.htm Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the decision to appeal the Judgment regarding Hamas], January 19, 2015</ref> which was upheld by the [[European Court of Justice]] in July 2017.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-palestinians-hamas-idUSKBN1AB0VE|title=EU court keeps Hamas on terrorism list, removes Tamil Tigers|date=July 26, 2017|publisher=[[Reuters]]|quote=The lower court had found that the listing was based on media and internet reports rather than decisions by a "competent authority". But the ECJ said such decisions were not required for groups to stay on the list, only for their initial listing.}}</ref> Japan<ref>According to Michael Penn, ([https://books.google.com/books?id=ly8zBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA205 ''Japan and the War on Terror: Military Force and Political Pressure in the US-Japanese Alliance''], [[I.B. Tauris]] 2014 pp. 205–06), Japan initially welcomed the democratic character of the elections that brought Hamas to power, and only set conditions on its aid to Palestine, after intense pressure was exerted by the Bush Administration on Japan to alter its policy.</ref> and New Zealand<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.police.govt.nz/advice/personal-community/counterterrorism/designated-entities/lists-associated-with-resolution-1373 |title=Lists associated with Resolution 1373 |publisher=New Zealand Police |date=July 20, 2014}}</ref> have designated the military wing of Hamas as a terrorist organization.<ref>David Sobek,[https://books.google.com/books?id=BiWsx7ClSpEC&pg=PT45 ''The Causes of War''], John Wiley & Sons, 2013 p. 45.</ref> The organization is banned in Jordan.{{sfn|Levitt|2006|p=49}}

Hamas is not regarded as a terrorist organization by Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran,<ref name="books.google.com">Alethia H. Cook, "The Subtle Impact of Iran on the Flotilla Incident", in Thomas E. Copeland (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=bsuYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 ''Drawing a Line in the Sea: The Gaza Flotilla Incident and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict''], Lexington Books, 2011 pp. 35–44 [36].</ref> Russia,<ref>Robert O. Freedman, 'Russia,' in Joel Peters, David Newman (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=kftqQdNNDWAC&pg=PA331 ''The Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict''], Routledge, 2013 pp. 325–33 [331]</ref> Norway,{{efn|"In 2006, Norway explicitly distanced itself from the EU proscription regime, claiming that it was causing problems for its role as a 'neutral facilitator.'"{{sfn|Haspeslagh|2016|p=199}}}} Turkey, China,<ref>David J. Whittaker (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=SOhJQbP77h0C&pg=PA84 ''The Terrorism Reader''], Routledge (2001), 2012, p. 84.</ref> Egypt, Syria, and Brazil.<ref name="Samuel Feldberg pp. 187">Samuel Feldberg,'Israel and Brazil:An Emerging Power and its Quest for Influence in the Middle East,' in Colin Shindler (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=d7f2AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 ''The World Powers:Diplomatic Alliances and International Relations Beyond the Middle East''], I.B. Tauris, 2014 pp. 187–99</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2012/11/21/9-questions-about-israel-gaza-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/|title=9 questions about Israel-Gaza you were too embarrassed to ask|first=Max|last=Fisher|date=November 21, 2012|access-date=January 6, 2018|via=www.WashingtonPost.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Amossy|2017|p=273, n4}}{{Excessive citations inline|date=October 2023}} "Many other states, including Russia, China, Syria, Turkey and Iran consider the (armed) struggle waged by Hamas to be legitimate."{{sfn|Brenner|2017|p=203, n.27}}

According to Tobias Buck, Hamas is "listed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU, but few dare to treat it that way now" and in the Arab and Muslim world it has lost its pariah status and its emissaries are welcomed in capitals of Islamic countries.<ref>{{cite news |last=Buck |first=Tobias |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/80ce6306-348e-11e2-8986-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Cyoz9WeU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210201246/https://www.ft.com/content/80ce6306-348e-11e2-8986-00144feabdc0#axzz2Cyoz9WeU |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Five lessons from the Gaza conflict |work=Financial Times |date=November 22, 2012 |access-date=January 6, 2013}}</ref> While Hamas is considered a terrorist group by several governments and some academics, others regard Hamas as a complex organization, with [[terrorism]] as only one component.<ref>[[Krista E. Wiegand]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=H96cqNJ0fTAC&pg=PA124 ''Bombs and Ballots: Governance by Islamist Terrorist and Guerrilla Groups''], [[Ashgate Publishing]], Revised edition 2013 p. 124. "Officially, Hamas is considered by American and Israeli policymakers and some academics as the epitome of a terrorist group. [...] Due to the gravity and consequences of Hamas's use of terrorism as a tactic, all other aspects of Hamas, including its extensive social services programs and its role as a political party are overshadowed and often ignored by policy makers. Others recognize the complexity of Hamas as an organization and suggest that Hamas will continue to transform itself into a full political party and eventually disarm and cease all violent tactics. They view Hamas as a complex organization with terrorism as only one component, which is likely to evolve into a non-violent political party."</ref><ref>Luke Peterson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nrsbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 ''Palestine-Israel in the Print News Media: Contending Discourses''], [[Routledge]] 2014 p. 99.</ref>

{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style=width:9em; |Country
!Designated as terrorist org.
! class=unsortable |Comments
|-
|{{flagcountry|Australia}}
|{{yes N}} || Australia announced they would designate Hamas as a terrorist organization in its entirety in 2022. Prior to that, Hamas's military wing, the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]], were recognized as one but the political branch were not.<ref>{{cite web|title=Australia to list Palestinian group Hamas as terrorist organisation|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-to-list-palestinian-group-hamas-as-terrorist-organisation/a0244890-284e-49cd-844b-acdc5d44702f|access-date=February 17, 2022|publisher=SBS News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Australia to designate Hamas as terror group: 'No place for hateful ideologies'|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/no-place-for-hateful-ideologies-australia-to-designate-hamas-as-terror-group/|access-date=February 17, 2022 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Australia says it will list Hamas as 'terrorist' group|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/17/australia-to-list-hamas-as-terror-group|access-date=February 17, 2022|publisher=Al Jazeera}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades|url=https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/Listedterroristorganisations/Pages/HamassIzzal-Dinal-QassamBrigades.aspx |publisher=Australian National Security |access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-date=May 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521092637/https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/Listedterroristorganisations/Pages/HamassIzzal-Dinal-QassamBrigades.aspx}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Brazil}}
|{{no Y}} || Brazil does not designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.<ref name="Samuel Feldberg pp. 187"/>{{sfn|Penn|2014|p=205}} The Brazilian government only classifies organizations as terrorists when the [[United Nations]] does so.<ref>{{cite news |title=Por que Brasil não classifica Hamas como 'grupo terrorista' |url=https://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2023/10/09/por-que-brasil-nao-classifica-hamas-como-grupo-terrorista.ghtml |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=G1 |date=9 October 2023 |language=pt |trans-title=Why Brazil doesn't classify Hamas as a terrorist group}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Canada}}
|{{yes N}} || Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Government of Canada has listed Hamas as a terrorist entity, thus establishing it as a terrorist group, since 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Currently listed entities |publisher=Public Safety Canada, Government of Canada |date=March 24, 2014 |url=http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-eng.aspx}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About the Anti-terrorism Act |publisher=Department of Justice, Government of Canada |date=September 12, 2013 |url=http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/ns-sn/act-loi.html}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|China}}
|{{no Y}} || As of 2006, China does not designate Hamas to be a terrorist organization and acknowledges Hamas to be the legitimately elected political entity in the Gaza Strip that represents the Palestinian people. In June 2006, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated: "We believe that the Palestinian government is legally elected by the people there and it should be respected."<ref name="China's Palestine Policy">{{cite news|last=Zambelis |first=Chris |url=http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=34662 |title=China's Palestine Policy |newspaper=Jamestown |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-china-bank-is-not-the-issue-here-dude/ |title=The China bank is not the issue here, dude |work=The Times of Israel |date=December 18, 2013 |access-date=March 30, 2014 |author=Joshua Davidovich}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Egypt}}
|{{no Y}} || In June 2015, Egypt's appeals court overturned a prior ruling that listed Hamas as a terrorist organization.<ref>{{cite news|title=Egypt court overturns Hamas terror blacklisting|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33034249|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=June 6, 2015|access-date=May 24, 2018}}</ref> In February 2015, Cairo's Urgent Matters Court designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, as part of a crack down on the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] movement following the [[2013 Egyptian coup d'état]]. The court accused Hamas of carrying terrorist attacks in Egypt through tunnels linking the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip.<ref>[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/egyptian-court-declares-hamas-terrorist-group-150228122454458.html 'Egyptian court declares Hamas a 'terrorist' group'], [[Al Jazeera]] February 28, 2015.</ref> In March 2014, the same court outlawed Hamas' activities in Egypt, ordered the closure of its offices and to arrest any Hamas member found in the country.<ref>{{cite web|title=Egypt court designates Hamas 'terrorist" group|url=http://aa.com.tr/en/politics/egypt-court-designates-hamas-terrorist-group/71025|publisher=[[Anadolu Agency]]|access-date=January 28, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Egypt vows to arrest Hamas members, seize assets|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/egypt-vows-arrest-hamas-members-seize-assets-974540193|publisher=[[Middle East Eye]]|access-date=January 28, 2017}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|European Union}}
|{{yes N}} || The EU designated Hamas as a terrorist group from 2003. In December 2014, the General Court of the European Union ordered that Hamas be removed from the register. The court stated that the move was technical and was not a reassessment of Hamas's classification as a terrorist group. In March 2015, EU decided to keep Hamas on its terrorism blacklist "despite a controversial court decision", appealing the court's judgment.<ref name="EUkeeps">
* [http://www.euractiv.com/sections/global-europe/eu-keeps-hamas-terror-list-despite-court-ruling-313341 EU keeps Hamas on terror list despite court ruling], March 27, 2015
* [http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150119_01_en.htm Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the decision to appeal the Judgment regarding Hamas], January 19, 2015</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=EU court takes Hamas off terrorist organisations list|publisher=BBC News|date=December 17, 2014|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30511569|access-date=January 6, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=EU Court Strikes Down Inclusion of Hamas on Terror List|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-court-strikes-down-inclusion-of-hamas-on-terror-list-1418808890|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=December 17, 2014|access-date=January 6, 2015|last1=Norman|first1=Laurence}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=EU court rules Hamas should be taken off terror list|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/17/hamas-terror-list-removal/20524251/|website=USA Today|access-date=January 6, 2015}}</ref><ref name="eu">* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1441311/Hamas-is-added-to-EUs-blacklist-of-terror.html Hamas is added to EU's blacklist of terror], By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor, September 12, 2003, The Telegraph. "The European Union yesterday put Hamas on its blacklist of terrorist organisations."
* [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003E0651:EN:HTML Council Common Position 2003/651/CFSP], September 12, 2003, lists "Hamas (including Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem)"
* [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:144:0025:01:EN:HTML Council Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006 updating Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism and repealing Common Position 2006/231/CFSP] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524175551/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:144:0025:01:EN:HTML |date=May 24, 2013}} lists "Hamas (including Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem)"
* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96619,00.html EU Nations Agree to Freeze Hamas Assets], Fox News, September 6, 2003
* [http://www.europolitics.info/eu-middle-east-hamas-officially-included-on-blacklist-of-terrorist-organisations-artr184675-44.html EU/Middle East: Hamas Officially Included on Blacklist of Terrorist Organisations] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524235715/http://www.europolitics.info/eu-middle-east-hamas-officially-included-on-blacklist-of-terrorist-organisations-artr184675-44.html |date=May 24, 2013}}, Tuesday September 16, 2003, European Report
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3100518.stm BBC: EU blacklists Hamas political wing], BBC News
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4040571.stm BBC: Hamas was put on the EU terror list in 2003], BBC News
* [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/solana-denies-direct-contact-with-hamas/226728.html Solana Denies Direct Contact With Hamas], The Moscow Times
* [http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93161.php Mr. Solana goes to Damascus for some peace talks] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318135549/http://www.neurope.eu/articles/93161.php |date=March 18, 2009}}, New Europe</ref><ref>Barak Ravid, [http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.632317 "EU court orders Hamas removed from terror list"], ''Haaretz'', December 17, 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4604665,00.html "Hamas removed from EU terrorist list on technicality"], [[Reuters]], December 17, 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=747815 'EU court orders Hamas removal from terror blacklist"], {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217114849/http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=747815 |date=December 17, 2014}} [[Ma'an News Agency]], December 17, 2014.</ref> In July 2017, this appeal was upheld by the [[European Court of Justice]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-palestinians-hamas-idUSKBN1AB0VE|title=EU court keeps Hamas on terrorism list, removes Tamil Tigers|date=July 26, 2017|publisher=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{CELEX|32020D1132|text=Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1132 of July 30, 2020, updating the list of persons, groups and entities subject to Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism, and repealing Decision (CFSP) 2020/20}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|India}}
|{{no Y}} || Hamas is not regarded as a terrorist organization by India,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/seriously-former-israeli-envoy-shocked-shashi-tharoor-clarifies-hamas-statement-101697074953783.html|title='Seriously': Former Israeli envoy 'shocked'; Shashi Tharoor clarifies statement on Hamas|date=October 12, 2023|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref> though individual Indian leaders have condemned certain Hamas' attacks as terrorist.
|-
|{{flagcountry|Iran}}
|{{no Y}} || Hamas is not regarded as a terrorist organization by Iran.<ref name="books.google.com"/>{{sfn|Brenner|2017|p=203, n.27}}
|-
|{{flagcountry|Israel}}
|{{yes N}} || The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs states, "Hamas maintains a terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank, and acts to carry out terrorist attacks in the territories and Israel."<ref name="mfa.gov.il">[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/7/The%20Financial%20Sources%20of%20the%20Hamas%20Terror%20Organiza The Financial Sources of the Hamas Terror Organization], July 30, 2003</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Japan}}
|{{yes N}} || As of 2005, Japan had frozen the assets of 472 terrorists and terrorist organizations including those of Hamas.<ref name="Japan's Diplomatic Bluebook 2005">{{cite web |url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/2005/ch3-a.pdf |title=Japan's Diplomatic Bluebook 2005|year=2005}} "In accordance with the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, it <nowiki>[Japan]</nowiki> has frozen the assets of a total of 472 terrorists and terrorist organizations, including ..., as well as those of Hamas ..."</ref> However, in 2006 it publicly acknowledged that Hamas had won the [[2006 Palestinian legislative election]]s democratically.<ref>Michael Penn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=F57sAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 ''Japan and the War on Terror: Military Force and Political Pressure in the US-Japanese Alliance''], I.B. Tauris 2014 p. 206</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Jordan}}
|{{no Y}} || Hamas was banned in 1999, reportedly in part at the request of the United States, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.{{sfn|Hirst|1999}} In 2019, Jordanian sources are said to have revealed "that the Kingdom refused a request from the General Secretariat of the Arab League in late March to ban Hamas and list it as a terrorist organization."<ref>{{cite news |title=Hamas and Jordan are gradually getting closer, after a long estrangement |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190513-hamas-and-jordan-are-gradually-getting-closer-after-a-long-estrangement/|publisher=MEMO|date=May 13, 2019|access-date=October 29, 2020}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=October 2020}}
|-
|{{flagcountry|New Zealand}}
|{{partial}} || The military wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has been listed as a terrorist entity since 2010.<ref name="NZ-r1373-terrorlist">{{cite web |url=http://www.police.govt.nz/advice/personal-community/counterterrorism/designated-entities/lists-associated-with-resolution-1373 |title=Lists associated with Resolution 1373 |publisher=New Zealand Police |date=July 20, 2014 |access-date=August 16, 2014}}</ref> New Zealand PM [[Chris Hipkins]] reiterated on October 2023 that "Hamas is recognised by New Zealand as a terrorist organisation".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Russell Palmer |date=2023-10-08 |title=New Zealand politicians speak out over Israel-Hamas violence |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/election-2023/499705/new-zealand-politicians-speak-out-over-israel-hamas-violence |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=[[Radio New Zealand]] |language=en-nz}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Norway}}
|{{no Y}} ||Norway does not list Hamas as a terrorist organization.<ref>{{cite news |title=Norway to Revise Terrorist Organizations List After the Elections|url=https://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3734-norway-to-revise-terrorist-organizations-list-after-the-elections|publisher=The Nordic Page|quote="Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Japan classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, while Norway, Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Arab nations do not."|date=May 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812213421/https://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3734-norway-to-revise-terrorist-organizations-list-after-the-elections|access-date=October 29, 2020|archive-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> Norway distanced itself from the European Union in 2006, claiming that its listing was causing problems for its role as a 'neutral facilitator.'{{sfn|Haspeslagh|2016|p=199}} After Progress Party leader [[Sylvi Listhaug]] criticized PM [[Jonas Gahr Støre]] at the start of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war for not calling Hamas a terrorist organization, Støre said that it was an organization that carried out terrorist acts but he would not change Norway's listing.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mathias Hagen |last2=Even Hye T. Barka |date=2023-10-11 |title=Listhaug tordnet mot Støres ord – nå snur han |trans-title=Listhaug thundered at Støre's words – now he turns |url=https://www.nettavisen.no/5-95-1386061 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=[[Nettavisen]] |language=no}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Paraguay}}
|{{partial}} || The military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is listed as a terrorist organization.{{Cn|date=October 2023|reason=In the infobox, the reference for Paraguay doesn’t specify that it specifically designates Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades as a terrorist organisation, but Hamas as a whole}}
|-
|{{flagcountry|Philippines}}
|{{no Y}} ||Hamas is not considered as a terrorist organization by the Philippines. The [[National Security Council (Philippines)|National Security Council]] has proposed considering Hamas as a terrorist group as a response to the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Laqui |first1=Ian |title=National Security Council pushes to designate Hamas as terrorists |url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/10/13/2303440/national-security-council-pushes-designate-hamas-terrorists |access-date=13 October 2023 |work=The Philippine Star |date=13 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Why the Philippines might declare Hamas a terror group |url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/10/14/23/why-ph-might-declare-hamas-a-terror-group |access-date=14 October 2023 |work=ABS-CBN News |date=14 October 2023}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Qatar}}
|{{no Y}} ||The Qatari government has a designated terrorist list. As of 2014, the list contained no names, according to ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.<ref name="Mendick">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11233407/Terror-financiers-are-living-freely-in-Qatar-US-discloses.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11233407/Terror-financiers-are-living-freely-in-Qatar-US-discloses.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Terror financiers are living freely in Qatar, US discloses |work=The Telegraph |date=November 16, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In September 2020, Qatar brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that is reported to include "plans to build a power station operated by Qatar, the provision of $34 million for humanitarian aid, provision of 20,000 COVID-19 testing kits by Qatar to the Health Ministry, and a number of initiatives to reduce unemployment in the Gaza Strip."<ref>{{cite news |title=Israel and Qatar have an unlikely partnership for dealing with Gaza|url=https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/israel-and-qatar-have-an-unlikely-partnership-for-dealing-with-gaza-641878|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=September 10, 2020|access-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Russia}}
|{{no Y}} ||Russia does not designate Hamas a terrorist organisation, and held direct talks with Hamas in 2006, after Hamas won the Palestine elections, stating that it did so to press Hamas to reject violence and recognise Israel.<ref name="auto4">{{cite news|last=Eke|first=Steven|title=Moscow risks anger over Hamas visit|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4769204.stm|publisher=BBC News|access-date=May 18, 2010|date=March 3, 2006}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Saudi Arabia}}
|{{no Y}} ||Saudi Arabia banned the Muslim Brotherhood in 2014 and branded it a terrorist organization. While Hamas is not specifically listed, a non-official Saudi source stated that the decision also encompasses its branches in other countries, including Hamas.<ref name="saudiban">{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/hamas-saudi-muslim-brotherhood-qatar-terror.html|title=Hamas seeks to retain Saudi ties despite Brotherhood ban – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East|work=Al-Monitor|date=March 19, 2014 |access-date=July 17, 2015}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=October 2020}} As of January 2020, ties between Saudi Arabia and Hamas remain strained despite attempts at a rapprochement. Wesam Afifa, director general of [[Al-Aqsa TV]] is quoted as saying that "Saudi Arabia did not sever ties with Hamas, and even when Riyadh made public its list of terrorists in 2017, Hamas was not added to the list."<ref>{{cite news |title=Reconciliation drive between Hamas, Saudis hits wall |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/regional-mediation-restore-hamas-saudi-ties-failed-condition.html|publisher = MEMO|date=January 21, 2020|access-date=October 31, 2020}}</ref> In 2020, Saudi Arabia arrested 68 Palestinian and Jordanian citizens associated with Hamas in a special terrorism court. However, in 2022, Saudi Arabia released a number of those detainees in recent months, including senior member Mohammad Al-Khodary, who was set free in October, following statements by Hamas leaders expressing their desire for improved relations with the country.<ref>{{cite news |title=Senior Hamas official released from Saudi Arabia, heads to Jordan|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/19/saudi-arabia-frees-senior-hamas-official
|publisher = Al Jazeera|date=October 19, 2022|access-date=October 28, 2023}}</ref> In 2023, during Ramadan, senior members of Hamas, including Ismail Haniyeh, Mousa Marzook, Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal arrived in Saudi Arabia to mend Hamas’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. They were spotted performing Umrah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite news |title=Senior Hamas delegation seen in Saudi Arabia ahead of expected rapprochement talks|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-hamas-delegation-seen-in-saudi-arabia-ahead-of-expected-rapprochement-talks/|publisher = Times of Israel|date=April 18, 2023|access-date=October 28, 2023}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Switzerland}}
|{{no Y}} ||Switzerland has not designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in accordance with [[Swiss neutrality]]. Switzerland has had direct contacts with all major stakeholders in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including Hamas.{{refn|{{Citation |author=[[Swiss Federal Council]] |date=May 11, 2016 |title=Verbindungen des EDA zur Hamas |type=Statement regarding interpellation # 16.3151 from 2016-03-17 by Erich Siebenthal, member of the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]] |publisher=The Swiss parliament |url=https://www.parlament.ch/en/ratsbetrieb/suche-curia-vista/geschaeft?AffairId=20163151 |access-date=June 5, 2017}}}} On 11 October 2023, the Swiss government stated that Hamas should be designated as a terrorist organization.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-11 |title=Federal Council condemns terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel and enhances Switzerland's capacity to act |url=https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-98145.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=[[Federal Council (Switzerland)]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Beyza Binnur Donmez |date=2023-10-28 |title=Palestinian ambassador to UN in Geneva says immediate cease-fire must be 'first goal' |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/palestinian-ambassador-to-un-in-geneva-says-immediate-cease-fire-must-be-first-goal/3033983 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=[[Anadolu Agency]]}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|Syria}}
|{{no Y}} ||Syria does not designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. Syria is among other countries that consider Hamas' armed struggle to be legitimate.{{sfn|Brenner|2017|p=203, n.27}}
|-
|{{flagcountry|Turkey}}
|{{no Y}} ||The Turkish government met with Hamas leaders in February 2006, after the organization's victory in the Palestinian elections. In 2010, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described Hamas as "resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land".<ref>{{cite news|title=Erdogan: 'Hamas is not a terrorist organization'|author=Lazaroff, T.|url=http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Erdogan-Hamas-is-not-a-terrorist-organization|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=May 13, 2011|access-date=June 7, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=davutoglu-meets-hamas-chief-in-damascus-2010-07-20 |title=Turkish FM Davutoğlu meets Hamas chief amid Israel row |newspaper=Hurriyet Daily News |access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}
|{{yes N}} ||Hamas in its entirety is proscribed as a terrorist group and banned under the Terrorism Act. "The government now assess that the approach of distinguishing between the various parts of Hamas is artificial. Hamas is a complex but single terrorist organisation."<ref name="auto"/>
|-
|{{flagcountry|United Nations}}
|{{no Y}} ||The list of United Nations designated terrorist groups does not include Hamas.<ref>{{cite news|title=United Nations designated terrorist groups and targeted sanctions|url=https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/terrorism/module-1/key-issues/UN-designated-terrorist-groups.html |publisher=UNODC|date=June 2018|access-date=October 31, 2020|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030101318/https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/terrorism/module-1/key-issues/UN-designated-terrorist-groups.html}}</ref> On December 5, 2018, the UN rejected a US resolution aimed at unilaterally condemning Hamas for [[Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel]] and other violence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/unispal/document/activities-of-hamas-and-other-militant-groups-in-gaza-ga-draft-resolution/|title=Activities of Hamas and Other Militant Groups in Gaza – GA Draft Resolution (A/73/L.42)|first=Christopher|last=Heaney}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=December 6, 2018 |title=US resolution to condemn activities of Hamas voted down in General Assembly |work=UN News |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/12/1027881 |access-date=October 29, 2020}}</ref>{{sfn|DW|2018}}<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Resolution Against Hamas Is Defeated in the United Nations |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-general-assembly-rejects-labeling-hamas-a-terrorist-group-1544148593|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal g|date=December 6, 2018|access-date=October 7, 2020}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagcountry|United States}}
|{{yes N}} ||Lists Hamas as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization".<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |title=Country reports on terrorism |url=https://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/45394.htm |date=May 27, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050511025028/http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/45394.htm |archive-date=May 11, 2005 |publisher=U.S. State Dept. |access-date=January 26, 2008}}</ref> The State Department decided to add Hamas to its [[US State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations]] in April 1993.{{sfn|CRS|1993}} {{as of|2023}}, it is still listed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ |title=Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations |publisher=U.S. State Dept. |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020125055/https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ |archive-date=October 20, 2023}}</ref>
|}

==Criticism==
{{main|Criticism of Hamas}}
Aside from its use of [[political violence]] in pursuit of its goals, the Palestinian political and military group Hamas has been [[Criticism of Hamas|widely criticised for a variety of reasons]], including the use of antisemitic [[hate speech]] by its representatives, its specific use of [[human shields]] and [[child combatants]] as part of its military operations, its restriction of [[political freedom]]s within the [[Gaza Strip]], and [[human rights abuses]].

==Support==
===Israeli policy towards Hamas===
[[Benjamin Netanyahu]] had been Israel's prime minister for most of the two decades preceding the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war]], and was criticized for having championed a policy of empowering Hamas in Gaza.<ref name="TOI123"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/15/israels-big-new-shift-in-hamas-policy/|title=Israel’s Big New Shift in Hamas Policy|work=Foreign Policy|accessdate=28 October 2023|date=15 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history|title=Benjamin Netanyahu failed Israel|work=Vox|date=9 October 2023|accessdate=28 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/16/how-benjamin-netanyahu-empowered-hamas/|work=The Telegraph|title=How Benjamin Netanyahu empowered Hamas ... and broke Israel|accessdate=28 October 2023|date=16 October 2023}}</ref> This policy was part of a strategy to sabotage a [[two-state solution]] by confining the Palestinian Authority to the West Bank and weakening it, and to demonstrate to the Israeli public and western governments that Israel has no partner for peace.<ref name="CBS11"/> This criticism was leveled by several Israeli officials, including former prime minister [[Ehud Barak]], and former head of [[Shin Bet]] security services [[Yuval Diskin]].<ref name="CBS11">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/netanyahu-israel-gaza-hamas-1.7010035|title=How Netanyahu's Hamas policy came back to haunt him — and Israel|accessdate=28 October 2023|date=28 October 2023|work=CBS News}}</ref> Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority were also critical of Israel under Netanyahu allowing suitcases of Qatari money to be given to Hamas,<ref name="CBS11"/> in exchange for maintaining the ceasefire.<ref name="TOI123"/> The ''[[Times of Israel]]'' reported after the Hamas attack that Netanyahu's policy to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset had "blown up in our faces".<ref name="TOI123">{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/|title=For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces|work=The Times of Israel|date=8 October 2023|accessdate=28 October 2023}}</ref>

In 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu said at a meeting of his [[Likud]] party: "Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy — to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beauchamp |first1=Zack |date=9 October 2023 |title=Benjamin Netanyahu failed Israel |work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |url=https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history |access-date=October 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010010626/https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history |archive-date=October 10, 2023}}</ref>

=== Public support ===
A poll conducted in 2021 found that 53% of Palestinians believed Hamas was "most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people", while only 14% preferred Abbas's Fatah party.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 15, 2021 |title=Poll finds dramatic rise in Palestinian support for Hamas |publisher=Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/hamas-middle-east-science-32095d8e1323fc1cad819c34da08fd87}}</ref> At the same time, a majority of Gazans saw Hamas as corrupt as well, but were frightened to criticize the group.<ref>Fattel, Isabel. [https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/10/what-is-hamas/675594/ "What is Hamas?"] ''The Atlantic''. 9 October 2023. 9 October 2023.</ref> Polls conducted in 2023 found that support for Hamas among Palestinians was around 27–31%.<ref>{{cite web |date=13 September 2023 |title=Public Opinion Poll No (89) |url=https://pcpsr.org/en/node/955 |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=[[Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research]]}}</ref>

Public opinions of Hamas deteriorated after it took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Prior to the takeover, 62% of Palestinians had held a favorable view of the group, while a third had negative views. According to a 2014 Pew Research just prior to the [[2014 Israel–Gaza conflict]], only about a third had positive opinions and more than half viewed Hamas negatively. Furthermore, 68% of Israeli Arabs viewed Hamas negatively.<ref name="pew2014">[http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/ Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East]. Pew Research. July 1, 2014.</ref> In July 2014, 65% of Lebanese viewed Hamas negatively. In Jordan and Egypt, roughly 60% viewed Hamas negatively, and in Turkey, 80% had a negative view of Hamas. In Tunisia, 42% had a negative view of Hamas, while 56% of Bangladeshis and 44% of Indonesians had a negative opinion of Hamas.<ref name="pew2014"/>

Hamas popularity surged after the [[2014 Israel–Gaza conflict|war in July–August 2014]] with polls reporting that 81 percent of Palestinians felt that Hamas had "won" that war.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hamas popularity 'surges after Gaza war'|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/hamas-popularity-surges-after-gaza-war-20149215723979443.html|publisher=Al Jazeera English|date=September 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Poll: Hamas popularity surges after war with Israel|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/09/02/poll-hamas-popularity-surges-after-war-with-israel/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 2, 2014}}</ref> A June 2021 opinion poll found that 46% of respondents in [[Saudi Arabia]] supported rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas during the [[2021 Israel–Palestine crisis]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Recent Saudi Poll: Increased Support for Moderate Islam, Hamas, and Ties with Arab Partners |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/recent-saudi-poll-increased-support-moderate-islam-hamas-and-ties-arab-partners |publisher=The Washington Institute |date=August 27, 2021}}</ref> A March/April 2023 poll found that 60% of Jordanians viewed Hamas firing rockets at Israel at least somewhat positively.<ref>{{cite news |last=Almaari |first=Faris |title=New Public Opinion Poll: Jordanians Favor De-escalation in the Region, But Sentiment Against Israel Remains |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/new-public-opinion-poll-jordanians-favor-de-escalation-region-sentiment-against |publisher=The Washington Institute |date=June 9, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Pro Hamas Rally in Damascus.jpg|thumb|Pro-Hamas rally in Damascus]]

=== International support ===
{{See also|Foreign relations of Hamas}}
[[File:Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh meeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.jpg|thumb|Hamas leader [[Ismail Haniyeh]] and Iranian Supreme Leader [[Ali Khamenei]] in 2012]]
Hamas has always maintained leadership abroad. The movement is deliberately fragmented to ensure that Israel cannot kill its top political and military leaders.<ref name="theatlantic.com">{{cite news |last=Schanzer |first=Jonathan |title=How Hamas Lost the Arab Spring |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/how-hamas-lost-the-arab-spring/277102/ |website=[[The Atlantic]] |date=June 21, 2013}}</ref> Hamas used to be strongly allied with both Iran and Syria. Iran gave Hamas an estimated $13–15 million in 2011 as well as access to long-range missiles. Hamas's political bureau was once located in the Syrian capital of Damascus before the start of the Syrian civil war. Relations between Hamas, Iran, and Syria began to turn cold when Hamas refused to back the government of Syrian President [[Bashar al-Assad]]. Instead, Hamas backed the Sunni rebels fighting against Assad. As a result, Iran cut funding to Hamas, and Iranian ally Hezbollah ordered Hamas members out of Lebanon.<ref name="time"/> Hamas was then forced out of Syria, and subsequently has tried to mend fences with Iran and Hezbollah.<ref name="time"/> Hamas contacted Jordan and Sudan to see if either would open up its borders to its political bureau, but both countries refused, although they welcomed many Hamas members leaving Syria.<ref name="al-monitor.com">{{cite news |title=Hamas Ties to Qatar Have Cost |url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/hamas-qatar-relationship-independence.html# |date=April 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616195431/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/hamas-qatar-relationship-independence.html |archive-date=June 16, 2016}}</ref>

From 2012 to 2013, under the leadership of [[Muslim Brotherhood]] President [[Mohamed Morsi]], Hamas had the support of Egypt. However, when Morsi was removed from office, his replacement [[Abdul Fattah al-Sisi]] outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood and destroyed the tunnels Hamas built into Egypt. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are likewise hostile to Hamas. Like Egypt, they designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and Hamas was viewed as its Palestinian equivalent.<ref name="time"/>

==== Qatar and Turkey ====
{{see also|Qatar and state-sponsored terrorism|Qatari support for Hamas|Turkish support for Hamas}}
According to Middle East experts, now Hamas has two firm allies: Qatar and Turkey. Both give Hamas public and financial assistance estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.<ref name="time"/> Qatar has transferred more than $1.8 billion to Hamas.<ref>{{cite news |title=Middle East What is Hamas? Who supports Hamas? What you need to know |url=https://www.dw.com/en/who-is-hamas/a-57537872 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=May 15, 2021}}</ref> Shashank Joshi, senior research fellow at the [[Royal United Services Institute]], says that "Qatar also hosts Hamas's political bureau which includes Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal." Meshaal also visits Turkey frequently to meet with Turkish Prime Minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]].<ref name="time"/> Erdogan has dedicated himself to breaking Hamas out of its political and economic seclusion. On [[Television in the United States|US television]], Erdogan said in 2012 that "I don't see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is a [[political party]]."<ref name="theatlantic.com"/>

Qatar has been called Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally.<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 15, 2021|title=Who is Hamas? Who supports Hamas? What you need to know|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]|url=https://www.dw.com/en/who-is-hamas/a-57537872}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=June 19, 2017|title=Hamas is feeling the pain of Qatar's crisis, and is looking to Egypt for help|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-qatar-hamas-egypt-20170619-story.html}}</ref> In 2007, Qatar was, with Turkey, the only country to back Hamas after the group ousted the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip.<ref name="time"/> The relationship between Hamas and Qatar strengthened in 2008 and 2009 when Khaled Meshaal was invited to attend the Doha Summit where he was seated next to the then Qatari Emir [[Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani]], who pledged $250 million to repair the damage caused by Israel in the Israeli war on Gaza.<ref name="al-monitor.com"/> These events caused Qatar to become the main player in the "Palestinian issue". Qatar called Gaza's blockade unjust and immoral, which prompted the Hamas government in Gaza, including former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, to thank Qatar for their "unconditional" support. Qatar then began regularly handing out political, material, humanitarian and charitable support for Hamas.<ref name="al-monitor.com"/>
[[File:Numan Kurtulmuş İsmail Heniye.jpeg|thumb|Haniyeh with Turkish Minister of Culture [[Numan Kurtulmuş]], 20 November 2012]]
In 2012, Qatar's former Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, became the first head of state to visit Gaza under Hamas rule. He pledged to raise $400 million for reconstruction.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/23/qatari-emir-welcome-gaza-visit|title=Qatari emir's visit to Gaza is a boost for Hamas|first1=Ian|last1=Black|first2=Harriet|last2=Sherwood|date=October 23, 2012|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Sources say that advocating for Hamas is politically beneficial to Turkey and Qatar because the Palestinian cause draws popular support amongst their citizens at home.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/06/world/meast/mideast-hamas-support/index.html|title=Which Mideast power brokers support Hamas? |first=Josh |last=Levs|date=August 6, 2014 |publisher=CNN}}</ref>

Speaking in reference to Qatar's support for Hamas, during a 2015 visit to Palestine, Qatari official Mohammad al-Emadi, said Qatar is using the money not to help Hamas but rather the Palestinian people as a whole. He acknowledges however that giving to the Palestinian people means using Hamas as the local contact. Emadi said, "You have to support them. You don't like them, don't like them. But they control the country, you know."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/06/18/414693807/why-israel-lets-qatar-give-millions-to-hamas|title=Why Israel Lets Qatar Give Millions To Hamas|publisher=NPR}}</ref> Some argue that Hamas's relations with Qatar are putting Hamas in an awkward position because Qatar has become part of the regional Arab problem. However, Hamas claims that having contacts with various Arab countries establishes positive relations which will encourage Arab countries to do their duty toward the Palestinians and support their cause by influencing public opinion in the Arab world.<ref name="al-monitor.com"/> In March 2015, Hamas has announced its support of the [[Saudi Arabia]]n-led [[Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen|military intervention in Yemen]] against the [[Shia Islam|Shia]] [[Houthis]] and forces loyal to former President [[Ali Abdullah Saleh]].<ref>[http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/725241 Hamas supports military operation for political legitimacy in Yemen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807021350/http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/725241 |date=August 7, 2016}}. Arab News. March 30, 2015.</ref>

In May 2018, [[Turkish president]] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan [[tweeted]] to the [[Prime Minister of Israel]] [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] that Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a resistance movement that defends the Palestinian homeland against an occupying power. During that period there were conflicts between Israeli troops and Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip, due to the decision of the United States to move [[Embassy of the United States, Israel|their embassy to Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/246031|title=Erdogan: Hamas is not a terrorist organization|website=Israel National News|date=May 16, 2018}}</ref> Also in 2018 the [[Israel Security Agency]] accused [[SADAT International Defense Consultancy]] (a Turkish [[private military company]] with connections to the Turkish government) of transferring funds to Hamas.<ref>{{cite web |title=Turkish Militias and Proxies |url=https://trendsresearch.org/research/turkish-militias-and-proxies/ |website=trendsresearch |date=January 25, 2021 |author1=Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak |author2=Dr. Jonathan Spyer |access-date=April 17, 2022 |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516150904/https://trendsresearch.org/research/turkish-militias-and-proxies/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In February 2020, Hamas leader [[Ismail Haniyeh]] met with Turkish President Erdoğan.<ref>{{cite news|title=US Criticizes Turkey for Hosting Hamas Leaders|url=https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-criticizes-turkey-hosting-hamas-leaders|work=VOA News|date=26 August 2020}}</ref> On 26 July 2023, Haniyeh met with Erdoğan and Palestinian Authority President [[Mahmoud Abbas]]. Behind the meeting was Turkey's effort to reconcile [[Fatah]] with Hamas.<ref>{{cite news |title=Erdogan hosts PA’s Abbas, Hamas head Haniyeh to prepare for détente talks |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-hosts-pas-abbas-hamas-head-haniyeh-to-prepare-for-detente-talks/ |work=The Times of Israel |date=26 July 2023}}</ref> On 7 October 2023, the day of the [[2023 Hamas attack on Israel|Hamas attack on Israel]], Haniyeh was in [[Istanbul]], Turkey.<ref>{{cite news |title=Report: Hamas chiefs were asked to leave Turkey after October 7 attacks |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-hamas-chiefs-were-asked-to-leave-turkey-after-october-7-attacks/ |work=The Times of Israel |date=23 October 2023}}</ref> On 21 October 2023, Haniyeh spoke with Erdoğan about the latest developments in the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war|Israel–Hamas war]] and the current situation in Gaza.<ref>{{cite news |title=Turkey's Erdogan discussed Gaza with Hamas leader - Turkish presidenc |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-discussed-gaza-with-hamas-leader-turkish-presidency-2023-10-21/ |work=Reuters |date=21 October 2023}}</ref> On 25 October 2023, Erdoğan said that Hamas was not a terrorist organisation but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.<ref>{{cite news |title=Turkey's Erdogan says Hamas is not terrorist organisation, cancels trip to Israel |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-says-hamas-is-not-terrorist-organisation-2023-10-25/ |work=Reuters |date=25 October 2023}}</ref>

==Lawsuits==
{{See also|Anti-terrorism legislation}}

===In the United States===
The [[charitable trust]] [[Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development]] was accused in December 2001 of funding Hamas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/po837.htm |title=PO-837: Secretary O'Neill – Statement on the Blocking of Hamas Financiers' Assets |publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury |date=December 4, 2001 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829234312/http://ustreas.gov/press/releases/po837.htm |archive-date=August 29, 2009}}</ref><ref>Bush Freezes Financial Assets of Three Groups Linked to Hamas", White House News Conference, December 4, 2001. Transcript release by the U.S. Department of Justice.</ref><ref>"Funding evil: how terrorism is financed – and how to stop it" Ehrenfeld, Rachel. p. 100</ref> The [[US Justice Department]] filed 200 charges against the foundation. The case first ended in a [[Mistrials|mistrial]], in which jurors acquitted on some counts and were deadlocked on charges ranging from tax violations to [[providing material support for terrorists]]. In a retrial, on November 24, 2008, the five leaders of the Foundation were convicted on 108 counts.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/us/25charity.html |title=Five Convicted in Terrorism Financing Trial |access-date=December 29, 2008 |url-access=subscription |author=Kovach, Gretel C. |date=November 24, 2008 |newspaper=New York Times}}</ref>

Several US organizations were either shut down or held liable for financing Hamas in early 2001, groups that have origins from the mid-1990s, among them the [[Holy Land Foundation]] (HLF), [[Islamic Association for Palestine]] (IAP), and Kind Hearts. The US Treasury Department specially designated the HLF in 2001 for terror ties because from 1995 to 2001 the HLF transferred "approximately $12.4 million outside of the United States with the intent to contribute funds, goods, and services to Hamas." According to the Treasury Department, Khaled Meshal identified one of HLF's officers, Mohammed El-Mezain as "the Hamas leader for the US". In 2003, IAP was found liable for financially supporting Hamas, and in 2006, Kind Hearts had their assets frozen for supporting Hamas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thetower.org/3260oc-former-treasury-official-same-network-that-funded-hamas-in-u-s-backs-boycotts-of-israel/|title=Former Treasury Official: Same Network That Funded Hamas in U.S. Backs Boycotts of Israel|date=April 20, 2016|website=The Tower}}</ref>

In 2004, a federal court in the United States found Hamas liable in a civil lawsuit for the 1996 [[Murder of Yaron and Efrat Ungar|murders of Yaron and Efrat Ungar]] near [[Bet Shemesh]], Israel. Hamas was ordered to pay the families of the Ungars $116 million.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Bombardieri, Marcella|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/01/29/116m_awarded_in_terrorism_suit/|title=$116m awarded in terrorism suit|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=January 29, 2004 |access-date=September 1, 2011}}</ref> The Palestinian Authority settled the lawsuit in 2011. The settlement terms were not disclosed.<ref>{{cite news|title=APNewsBreak: Palestinian Authority Settles RI Suit|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/apnewsbreak-palestinian-authority-settles-risuit/|publisher=CBS News |date=February 14, 2011|access-date=October 29, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> On August 20, 2004, three Palestinians, one a naturalized American citizen, were charged with a "lengthy racketeering conspiracy to provide money for terrorist acts in Israel".<ref>{{cite news|first1=Eric|last1=Rich|first2=Jerry|last2=Markon|title=Va. Man Tied to Hamas Held as Witness|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28476-2004Aug24.html|access-date=September 18, 2014|newspaper=washingtonpost.com|date=August 25, 2004}}</ref> The indicted included [[Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook]], who had left the US in 1997.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jordan to Let Terror Suspect Held in U.S. Into Kingdom|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/01/world/jordan-to-let-terror-suspect-held-in-us-into-kingdom.html?searchResultPosition=4 |url-access=subscription|newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 1, 1997|access-date=November 3, 2020}}</ref> On February 1, 2007, two men were acquitted of contravening United States law by supporting Hamas. Both men argued that they helped move money for Palestinian causes aimed at helping the Palestinian people and not to promote terrorism.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020101377.html?nav=rss_world |title=Two Men Acquitted of Conspiracy To Fund Hamas Activities in Israel |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= February 2, 2007|access-date=May 27, 2010|first=Dan|last=Eggen}}</ref>

In January 2009, a Federal prosecutor accused the [[Council on American-Islamic Relations]] (CAIR) of having links to a charity designated as a support network for Hamas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/30/fbi-cut-ties-cair-following-terror-financing-trial/ |title=FBI Cuts Ties With CAIR Following Terror Financing Trial |publisher=Fox News |access-date=May 27, 2010 |date=January 30, 2009}}</ref> The Justice Department identified CAIR as an "un-indicted co-conspirator" in the Holy Land Foundation case.<ref>{{cite news |last=Yager |first=Jordy |url=http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63023-republicans-accuse-muslim-advocacy-group-of-trying-to-plant-spies |title=House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies |newspaper=The Hill |date=October 14, 2009 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |archive-date=December 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207223906/https://thehill.com/homenews/house/63023-republicans-accuse-muslim-advocacy-group-of-trying-to-plant-spies |url-status=dead}}</ref> Later, a federal appeals court removed that label for all parties and instead, named them "joint venturers".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://jewishjournal.com/nation/article/court_removes_co-conspirator_tag_from_muslim_groups_20101022/|title=Court removes 'co-conspirator' tag from Muslim groups|work=Jewish Journal|date=October 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024060151/https://jewishjournal.com/nation/article/court_removes_co-conspirator_tag_from_muslim_groups_20101022/|access-date=March 19, 2011|archive-date=October 24, 2010}}</ref> CAIR was never charged with any crime, and it complained that the designation had tarnished its reputation.<ref>Gerstein, Josh. (October 20, 2010). [http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1010/Judge_Feds_violated_Islamic_groups_rights.html?showall Judge: Feds violated U.S. Islamic group's rights]. ''[[Politico]]''. Retrieved on March 19, 2011.</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}

===In Germany===
A German federal court ruled in 2004 that Hamas was a unified organisation whose humanitarian aid work could not be separated from its "terrorist and political activities".<ref name="Expatica.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/germany-bans-hamas-linked-donor-group_82832.html |title=Germany bans Hamas-linked donor group |publisher=Expatica.com |access-date=August 24, 2010 |archive-date=August 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805025814/http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/germany-bans-hamas-linked-donor-group_82832.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> In July 2010, Germany outlawed Frankfurt-based International Humanitarian Aid Organization (IHH e.V.), saying it had used donations to support Hamas-affiliated relief projects in Gaza.<ref name="Hilfsorganisation">{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3918670,00.html |title=Germany bans group accused of Hamas links |website=Ynetnews |date=July 12, 2010 |access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref><ref name="IHH"/> German Interior Minister [[Thomas de Maiziere]] said that while presenting their activities to donors as humanitarian assistance, IHH e.V. had "exploited trusting donors' willingness to help by using money that was given for a good purpose for supporting what is, in the final analysis, a terrorist organization".<ref name="Hilfsorganisation"/><ref name="IHH">{{cite news |author=DPA |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/germany-outlaws-ihh-over-claimed-hamas-links-1.301483 |title=Germany outlaws IHH over claimed Hamas links |newspaper=Haaretz |date=December 7, 2010|access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-215989-germany-ihh-ev-ban-shameful-illegal-says-group-leader.html Germany IHH e.V. ban shameful, illegal, says group leader] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009062640/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-215989-germany-ihh-ev-ban-shameful-illegal-says-group-leader.html |date=October 9, 2014}} Today's Zaman, July 14, 2010</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Palestine|Islam|Politics}}
* [[Hamastan]]
* [[History of Hamas]]
* [[Human rights in the Palestinian National Authority]]
* [[List of political parties in the Palestinian National Authority]]

==Notes and references==
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
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|title=Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects
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|first=Ekaterina
|publisher=[[Stockholm International Peace Research Institute|SIPRI]] / Oxford University Press
|year=2008
|url=http://books.sipri.org/files/RR/SIPRIRR23.pdf
|isbn=978-0199533558
|access-date=May 5, 2015
|archive-date=March 10, 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310143530/http://books.sipri.org/files/RR/SIPRIRR23.pdf
}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Stork
|first1=Joe
|last2=Kane
|first2=Kristen
|title=Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGiot772MSEC&pg=PA66
|year=2002
|publisher=Human Rights Watch
|isbn=978-1564322807
|pages=66–
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Swedenburg
|first=Ted
|title=Memories of Revolt: The 1936–1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lvdIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA196
|year=2003
|publisher=University of Arkansas Press
|isbn=978-1610752633
|pages=196–
}}
* {{cite book
|first=Spencer C.
|last=Tucker
|title=Middle East Conflicts from Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dm6pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA808
|year=2019
|publisher=ABC-CLIO
|isbn=978-1440853531
|pages=808–
}}
* {{cite book
|chapter=Hamas
|last=Van Engeland
|first=Alincée
|title=Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present
|editor-last=Ross
|editor-first=Jeffrey Ian
|publisher=Routledge
|year=2015
|pages=319–23
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFfrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA319
|isbn=978-1317461098
}}
* {{cite web
|title=Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups' Rocket Attacks
|last=Van Esveld
|first=Bill
|publisher=Human Rights Watch
|date=August 6, 2009
|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/08/06/rockets-gaza/harm-civilians-palestinian-armed-groups-rocket-attacks
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Terrorist Financing and Resourcing
|last=Vittori
|first=Jodi
|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan
|year=2011
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ra_GAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193
|isbn=978-0230117716
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Yousef |first=M.H.
|author-link=Mosab Hassan Yousef
|title=Son of Hamas |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |location=Carol Stream, IL
|year=2010 |page=288 |isbn=978-1414333076
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The World Almanac of Islamism: 2014
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fQ3AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15
|year=2014
|publisher=American Foreign Policy Council / Rowman & Littlefield
|isbn=978-1442231443
|ref={{sfnref |AFPC |2014}}
|pages=15
}}
{{refend}}

==== Journal articles ====
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Hamas: A Historical and Political Background
|last=Abu-Amr |first=Ziad
|journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]]
|date=Summer 1993
|volume=22
|issue=4
|pages=5–19
|doi=10.2307/2538077
|jstor=2538077
}}
* {{cite journal
|last1=Benmelech |first1=Efraim
|last2=Berrebi |first2=Claude
|title=Human Capital and the Productivity of Suicide Bombers
|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives
|publisher=American Economic Association
|volume=21
|issue=3
|date=July 1, 2007
|issn=0895-3309 |doi=10.1257/jep.21.3.223
|pages=223–38 |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.21.3.223}}
* {{cite journal
|last1=Brym |first1=R. J.
|last2=Araj |first2=B.
|title=Suicide Bombing as Strategy and Interaction: The Case of the Second Intifada
|journal=Social Forces
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|volume=84
|issue=4
|date=June 1, 2006
|issn=0037-7732
|doi=10.1353/sof.2006.0081
|pages=1969–86 |s2cid=146180585
}}
* {{cite journal
|title=How to Handle Hamas: The Perils of Ignoring Gaza's Leadership
|last=Byman
|first=Daniel
|author-link=Daniel Byman
|journal=Foreign Affairs
|date=September–October 2010
|volume=89
|issue=5
|pages=45–62
|jstor=20788644
}}
* {{cite journal |title=The strategic calculus of terrorism: Substitution and competition in the Israel-Palestine conflict
|last1=Clauset |first1=Aaron
|last2=Heger |first2=Lindsay
|last3=Young |first3=Maxwell
|last4=Gleditsch |first4=Kristian Skrede
|journal=[[Cooperation and Conflict]]
|date=March 2010
|volume=45
|issue=1
|pages=6–33
|doi=10.1177/0010836709347113
|jstor=45084592
|s2cid=2091170
|doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite journal |title=Peace with Hamas? The Transforming Potential of Political Participation
|last=Gunning |first=Jeroen
|journal=International Affairs |publisher=[[Royal Institute of International Affairs]]
|volume=80
|issue=2
|pages=233–55
|date=March 2004
|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00381.x
|jstor=3569240
}}
* {{Cite journal |title=Can Hamas Be Tamed?
|last=Herzog |first=Michael
|journal=Foreign Affairs
|volume=85
|issue=2
|pages=83–94
|date=March–April 2006
|doi=10.2307/20031913
|jstor=20031913
}}
* {{cite journal |title=A 'New Hamas' through Its New Documents
|last=Hroub |first=Khaled
|journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]]
|date=Summer 2006b
|volume=35
|issue=4
|pages=6–27
|doi=10.1525/jps.2006.35.4.6
|jstor=10.1525/jps.2006.35.4.6 }}
* {{cite journal |title=Hamas in Power
|last=Klein |first=Menachem
|journal=[[Middle East Journal]]
|date=Summer 2007
|volume=61
|issue=3
|pages=442–59
|doi=10.3751/61.3.13
|jstor=4330419
}}
* {{cite journal |title=The Islamization of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The Case of Hamas
|last=Litvak |first=Meir
|author-link=Meir Litvak
|journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies]]
|date=January 1998
|volume=34
|issue=1
|pages=148–63
|doi=10.1080/00263209808701214
|jstor=4283922
}}
* {{Cite journal |title=The Ascendance of Political Islam: Hamas and Consolidation in the Gaza Strip
|last=Milton-Edwards |first=Beverley
|journal=[[Third World Quarterly]]
|volume=29
|issue=8
|pages=1585–99
|year=2008
|doi=10.1080/01436590802528739
|jstor=20455131
|s2cid=154386730
}}
* {{cite journal |title=The Pragmatic Dimension of the Palestinian Hamas: A Network Perspective
|last=Mishal |first=Shaul
|author-link=Shaul Mishal
|journal=[[Armed Forces & Society]]
|date=July 2003
|volume=29
|issue=4
|pages=569–89
|doi=10.1177/0095327X0302900406
|s2cid=145575473
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228748214
}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Pape |first=Robert A.
|title=The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism
|journal=American Political Science Review |volume=97 |issue=3 |date=August 27, 2003
|issn=1537-5943
|doi=10.1017/S000305540300073X
|pages=343–61
|hdl=1811/31746
|s2cid=1019730
|url=http://danieldrezner.com/research/guest/Pape1.pdf
|access-date=October 27, 2020 |hdl-access=free}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Pressman |first=Jeremy
|title=The Second Intifada: Background and Causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
|journal=Journal of Conflict Studies |volume=23 |issue=2
|date=February 21, 2006 |issn=1715-5673
|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/article/view/220 |access-date=October 29, 2020}}
* {{cite journal |title=The EU and the Middle East Quartet: A case of (in)effective multilateralism
|last=Tocci |first=Nathalie
|journal=[[Middle East Journal]]
|date=Winter 2013
|volume=67
|issue=1
|pages=29–44
|doi=10.3751/67.1.12
|jstor=23361691
|s2cid=144645884}}
* {{cite journal |title=Gaza: New Dynamics of Civic Disintegration
|last=Roy |first=Sara
|author-link=Sara Roy
|journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]]
|date=Summer 1993
|volume=22
|issue=4
|pages=20–31
|doi=10.2307/2538078
|jstor=2538078
}}
* {{Cite journal |title=The Hamas Victory: Shifting Sands or Major Earthquake?
|last=Zweiri |first=Mahjoob
|journal=[[Third World Quarterly]]
|volume=27
|issue=4
|pages=675–87
|year=2006
|doi=10.1080/01436590600720876
|jstor=4017731
|s2cid=153346639
}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Filiu|first=Jean-Pierre|date=2012|title=The Origins of Hamas: Militant Legacy or Israeli Tool?|url=https://hal-sciencespo.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03473857|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=41|issue=3|pages=54–70|doi=10.1525/jps.2012.XLI.3.54}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Tianshe |date=July 17, 2018 |orig-date=Offline published in 2010|title=Support or Hostility: the Relationship between Arab Countries and Hamas|journal=Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (In Asia) |volume=4 |issue=2|pages=100–20 |doi=10.1080/19370679.2010.12023158 |doi-access=free }}

{{refend}}

==== Other ====
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite news|title=Youths' Suicide Mission Stuns Palestinians
|publisher=[[ABC News]]
|date=April 25, 2002
|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79948&page=1
}}
* {{cite news |ref={{harvid|AFP|2019}} |title=Hamas West Bank leader given six-month detention without trial
|agency=Agence France-Presse
|publisher=[[Arab News]]
|date=April 8, 2019
|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1479531/middle-east
}}
* {{cite news |title=Running out of time
|last=Amayreh |first=Khaled
|work=[[Al-Ahram]]
|date=January 29 – February 4, 2004
|issue=675
|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/675/re1.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120061025/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/675/re1.htm |archive-date=January 20, 2010
}}
* {{cite news|title=Hamas Owes Its 'Palestine From the River to the Sea' Slogan to Zionism
|last=Assi
|first=Seraj
|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]|url-access=subscription
|date=December 16, 2018
|url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-hamas-owes-its-from-the-river-to-the-sea-slogan-to-zionists-1.6746730
}}
* {{cite news |title=Muhammad Hassan Shama, little-known Hamas founder
|last=Barzak |first=Ibrahim
|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]
|date=June 11, 2011
|url=http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2011/06/11/muhammad_hassan_shama_little_known_hamas_founder/
}}
* {{cite news |ref={{harvid|DW|2018}} |title=UN General Assembly rejects US resolution to condemn Hamas
|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]
|date=December 7, 2018
|url=https://www.dw.com/en/un-general-assembly-rejects-us-resolution-to-condemn-hamas/a-46623413
}}
* {{cite web
|title=Hamas: The Organizations, Goals and Tactics of a Militant Palestinian Organization
|url=https://fas.org/irp/crs/931014-hamas.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060106203238/https://fas.org/irp/crs/931014-hamas.htm
|archive-date=January 6, 2006
|date=October 14, 1993
|publisher=CRS Issue Brief
|ref={{sfnref|CRS|1993}}
}}
* {{cite web |title=Interview with Dr Ibrahim Al-Yazouri, a founder of Hamas
|last=Dalloul |first=Motasem A
|publisher=[[Middle East Monitor]]
|date=December 14, 2017
|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171214-interview-with-dr-ibrahim-al-yazouri-a-founder-of-hamas/
}}
* {{cite news
|title=Blowback: How Israel Went From Helping Create Hamas to Bombing It
|website=The Intercept |date=February 19, 2018
|url=https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/hamas-israel-palestine-conflict/
|ref={{sfnref |The Intercept |2018}}
|access-date=October 27, 2020}}
* {{cite news
|last=Higgins |first=Andrew |title=How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas
|website=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 24, 2009
|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123275572295011847
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926212507/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123275572295011847.html
|archive-date=September 26, 2009
|access-date=October 27, 2020}}
* {{cite news
|last=Hirst |first=David
|title=Jordan curbs Hamas |website=The Guardian
|date=November 22, 1999
|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/22/israel
|access-date=October 28, 2020}}
* {{cite web
|last=Platt |first=Edward
|title=For Arabs in Israel, a house is not a home
|website=New Statesman
|date=August 30, 2010
|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2010/08/israel-palestinian-jerusalem
|access-date=October 27, 2020}}
* {{cite news |title=The Proof Is in the Paper Trail
|last=Rose |first=David
|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]
|date=March 5, 2008
|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza_documents200804
|access-date=August 1, 2011
}}

{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q38799|c=Category:Hamas|n=no|wikt=Hamas|species=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|b=no|v=no}}
* {{Official website}} {{in lang|ar}}
* [https://hamas.ps/en/ Official website] {{in lang|en}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090327103910/http://www.cfr.org/publication/9811/hamas_leaders.html Hamas leaders] [[Council on Foreign Relations|CFR]]
* [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp Hamas Charter]
* [http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) (includes interpretation)]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/world/middleeast/24gaza.html Hamas Shifts From Rockets to Public Relations] ''The New York Times'', July 23, 2009
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100728103620/http://www.qassam.ps/statement-1319-Twenty_two_years_on_the_start_of_Hamas_movement.html 22 years on the start of Hamas] [[Al-Qassam Brigades]]' Information Office
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720065737/http://www.phrmg.org/Fatah%20and%20hamas%20abuses%20since%20June%202007%20report%20_2_.pdf Fatah and Hamas Human Rights Violations in the Palestinian Occupied Territories in 2007] by Elizabeth Freed of [[Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group]]
* Sherifa Zuhur, [https://fas.org/man/eprint/zuhur.pdf Hamas and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics] (PDF file) December 2008
* [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3343944,00.html "Hamas threatens attacks on US: Terrorist warns 'Middle East is full of American targets{{'"}}] ''Ynetnews''. December 24, 2006. Accessed July 20, 2014.

{{Hamas}}
{{Palestinian political parties}}
{{Islamism}}
{{Israeli-Palestinian Conflict}}
{{Military of the Arab world}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamas}}
[[Category:Hamas| ]]
[[Category:1987 establishments in the Palestinian territories]]
[[Category:Anti-Zionism in the Palestinian territories]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in the Middle East]]
[[Category:Holocaust denial]]
[[Category:Islam and antisemitism]]
[[Category:Islamism in Israel]]
[[Category:Islamism in the State of Palestine]]
[[Category:Islamic political parties]]
[[Category:Islamic fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Jihadist groups]]
[[Category:Muslim Brotherhood]]
[[Category:National liberation movements]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Japan]]
[[Category:Palestinian militant groups]]
[[Category:Palestinian nationalist parties]]
[[Category:Palestinian political parties]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1987]]
[[Category:Rebel groups that actively control territory]]
[[Category:Resistance movements]]
[[Category:Sunni Islamist groups]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Australia]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Canada]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Jordan]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Paraguay]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Israel]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by the European Union]]

Talk:List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:18:58Z

Contaldo80: /* Rejected allegations */

{{Talk header|search=yes|archive_age=90|archive_bot=Lowercase sigmabot III}}
{{WikiProjectBannerShell|1=
{{WikiProject Catholicism |class=List |importance=Mid}}
{{WikiProject Sexology and sexuality |class=list |importance=Low}}
{{WikiProject Biography |living=no |class=list|politician-work-group=yes|politician-priority=|listas=Sexually active popes}}
{{WikiProject Lists |class=list |importance=Low}}
}}
{{oldafdmulti| date = 7 May 2005 | result = '''keep''' | page = List of sexually active popes | date2 = 9 January 2013 (UTC) | result2 = '''keep''' | page2 = List of sexually active popes (2nd nomination) }}
{{Press
| subject = article and talk page
| author = Caitlin Dewey
| title = The most fascinating Wikipedia articles you haven’t read
| org = Washington Post
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11/05/the-most-fascinating-wikipedia-articles-you-havent-read/
| date = 5 November 2015
| quote = Wikipedia’s 'List of sexually active popes' is both useful and frivolous, impressive and incomplete. ... But I’m really into the entry’s talk page. Since its creation more than a decade ago, this particular list has been argued over, corrected, and expanded with vigor. One user went after some pretty egregious errors when it comes to Catholic terminology.
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151106041118/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11/05/the-most-fascinating-wikipedia-articles-you-havent-read/
| accessdate = 10 November 2015
}}
{{User:MiszaBot/config
| algo = old(90d)
| archive = Talk:List of sexually active popes/Archive %(counter)d
| counter = 1
| maxarchivesize = 150K
| archiveheader = {{Automatic archive navigator}}
| minthreadstoarchive = 1
| minthreadsleft = 4
}}
{{Press
| subject = article
| author = Naaman Zhou
| title = Wikipedia, in the Flesh
| org = New Yorker
| url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/25/wikipedia-in-the-flesh
| date = 18 April 2022
| quote = They discussed a game in which audience members guess which article is longer: 'List of fictional worms' or 'List of sexually active popes.' The answer was worms. Kavner suggested offering bonus points to anyone who could name a fictional worm or a sexually active pope.
| accessdate = 28 April 2022
}}

== Clerical celibacy is not a doctrine! ==

The article states "According to the doctrines of the Catholic Church, the pope (along with other clergy) is expected to be celibate, and is expected to be chaste as well." This is factually incorrect because clerical celibacy is not a doctrine. It is a discipline, imposed on priests of the Latin Rite, and some *BUT NOT ALL* of the Eastern Catholic Churches. In some of the Eastern Churches, married men may be ordained to the priesthood. (But, a single man, once ordained, cannot marry afterward.)

(EDIT -- I just made a correction to above noted sentence in the article, 19 Apr 2005, 18:02 EDIT)

Also it should be noted that for a single person, chastity and celibacy are the same thing. But for a married person, chastity is faithfulness to one's spouse, and responsible use of the gift of sexuality.
[[User:WhFastus|WhFastus]]

==VfD==

On [[April 27]], this article was nominated for deletion. The discussion can be found at [[Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/List of sexually active popes]]. The result was keep. —[[User:Xezbeth|Xezbeth]] 09:31, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

== Liber Gomorrhianus/Pope Benedict IX ==

Does Liber Gomorrhianus actually accuse Pope Benedict IX of sodomy, bestiality and orgies? I can't find a source outside of Wikipedia that makes that claim, and the only source given in this article is Liber Gomorrhianus, which appears to only be available in Latin. So who here can confirm that Liber Gomorrhianus actually says this? --[[User:PluniaZ|PluniaZ]] ([[User talk:PluniaZ|talk]]) 00:07, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

https://archive.org/details/bookofgomorrahel0000pete Here’s a translation. It does not seem to contain those accusations, as far as I can see. [[User:Perennialpoet|Perennialpoet]] ([[User talk:Perennialpoet|talk]]) 13:14, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

== Pope Boniface VIII ==

Should there be note about [[Pope Boniface VIII]]? [[User:Victorgrigas|Victor Grigas]] ([[User talk:Victorgrigas|talk]]) 17:36, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

== Rejected allegations ==

Someone has gone through this article and added footnotes sporadically where they believe that "modern historians" have rejected claims of sexual activity. This won't do. By all means state which "modern historians" have challenged the view and why as part of the section discussing each of the claims. But without having a source that says specifically "modern historians have generally rejected this claim about pope x" then we are reinforcing bias. Particulalrly concerning where the "modern historians" cited turn out to be Catholic priests (!) - hardly impartial and reliable sources to fall back on. I accept some editors get uncomfortable with this topic but let's try and be as neutral as we can shall we?[[User:Contaldo80|Contaldo80]] ([[User talk:Contaldo80|talk]]) 00:31, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

== Clement VII ==

Removal of some material in this article is being done on wooly grounds. There is a source that makes the claim he has a son. Yet an editor has removed it after referring obliquely to other "modern historians". Provide the source and let's consider how to address this section. Thanks. [[User:Contaldo80|Contaldo80]] ([[User talk:Contaldo80|talk]]) 01:05, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:16:35Z

Contaldo80: This is a biased sentence.

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|-
|[[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]]
|1523–1534
|Not married. Relationship with a slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio
|Yes (one)
|Identified as [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro de' Medici]], Duke of Florence.<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes'', page 74: "Clement now made Alessandro de Medici "his illegitimate son by a slave" into the first duke of Florence", McFarland & Company, 1998, {{ISBN|0-7864-2071-5}}</ref><ref>Mara Wade, ''Gender Matters: Discourses of violence in early modern literature and the arts'', Editions Rodopi, 2013</ref>
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]".<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:10:12Z

Contaldo80: /* Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders */ second source. I can provide more if needed

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|-
|[[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]]
|1523–1534
|Not married. Relationship with a slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio
|Yes (one)
|Identified as [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro de' Medici]], Duke of Florence.<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes'', page 74: "Clement now made Alessandro de Medici "his illegitimate son by a slave" into the first duke of Florence", McFarland & Company, 1998, {{ISBN|0-7864-2071-5}}</ref><ref>Mara Wade, ''Gender Matters: Discourses of violence in early modern literature and the arts'', Editions Rodopi, 2013</ref>
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]".<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

Talk:List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:05:29Z

Contaldo80: /* Clement VII */ new section

{{Talk header|search=yes|archive_age=90|archive_bot=Lowercase sigmabot III}}
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{{oldafdmulti| date = 7 May 2005 | result = '''keep''' | page = List of sexually active popes | date2 = 9 January 2013 (UTC) | result2 = '''keep''' | page2 = List of sexually active popes (2nd nomination) }}
{{Press
| subject = article and talk page
| author = Caitlin Dewey
| title = The most fascinating Wikipedia articles you haven’t read
| org = Washington Post
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11/05/the-most-fascinating-wikipedia-articles-you-havent-read/
| date = 5 November 2015
| quote = Wikipedia’s 'List of sexually active popes' is both useful and frivolous, impressive and incomplete. ... But I’m really into the entry’s talk page. Since its creation more than a decade ago, this particular list has been argued over, corrected, and expanded with vigor. One user went after some pretty egregious errors when it comes to Catholic terminology.
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151106041118/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11/05/the-most-fascinating-wikipedia-articles-you-havent-read/
| accessdate = 10 November 2015
}}
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{{Press
| subject = article
| author = Naaman Zhou
| title = Wikipedia, in the Flesh
| org = New Yorker
| url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/25/wikipedia-in-the-flesh
| date = 18 April 2022
| quote = They discussed a game in which audience members guess which article is longer: 'List of fictional worms' or 'List of sexually active popes.' The answer was worms. Kavner suggested offering bonus points to anyone who could name a fictional worm or a sexually active pope.
| accessdate = 28 April 2022
}}

== Clerical celibacy is not a doctrine! ==

The article states "According to the doctrines of the Catholic Church, the pope (along with other clergy) is expected to be celibate, and is expected to be chaste as well." This is factually incorrect because clerical celibacy is not a doctrine. It is a discipline, imposed on priests of the Latin Rite, and some *BUT NOT ALL* of the Eastern Catholic Churches. In some of the Eastern Churches, married men may be ordained to the priesthood. (But, a single man, once ordained, cannot marry afterward.)

(EDIT -- I just made a correction to above noted sentence in the article, 19 Apr 2005, 18:02 EDIT)

Also it should be noted that for a single person, chastity and celibacy are the same thing. But for a married person, chastity is faithfulness to one's spouse, and responsible use of the gift of sexuality.
[[User:WhFastus|WhFastus]]

==VfD==

On [[April 27]], this article was nominated for deletion. The discussion can be found at [[Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/List of sexually active popes]]. The result was keep. —[[User:Xezbeth|Xezbeth]] 09:31, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

== Liber Gomorrhianus/Pope Benedict IX ==

Does Liber Gomorrhianus actually accuse Pope Benedict IX of sodomy, bestiality and orgies? I can't find a source outside of Wikipedia that makes that claim, and the only source given in this article is Liber Gomorrhianus, which appears to only be available in Latin. So who here can confirm that Liber Gomorrhianus actually says this? --[[User:PluniaZ|PluniaZ]] ([[User talk:PluniaZ|talk]]) 00:07, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

https://archive.org/details/bookofgomorrahel0000pete Here’s a translation. It does not seem to contain those accusations, as far as I can see. [[User:Perennialpoet|Perennialpoet]] ([[User talk:Perennialpoet|talk]]) 13:14, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

== Pope Boniface VIII ==

Should there be note about [[Pope Boniface VIII]]? [[User:Victorgrigas|Victor Grigas]] ([[User talk:Victorgrigas|talk]]) 17:36, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

== Rejected allegations ==

Someone has gone through this article and added footnotes sporadically where they believe that "modern historians" have rejected claims of sexual activity. This won't do. By all means state which "modern historians" have challenged the view and why as part of the section discussing each of the claims. But without having a source that says specifically "modern historians have generally rejected this claim about pope x" then we are reinforcing bias. I accept some editors get uncomfortable with this topic but let's try and be as objective as we can shall we.[[User:Contaldo80|Contaldo80]] ([[User talk:Contaldo80|talk]]) 00:31, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

== Clement VII ==

Removal of some material in this article is being done on wooly grounds. There is a source that makes the claim he has a son. Yet an editor has removed it after referring obliquely to other "modern historians". Provide the source and let's consider how to address this section. Thanks. [[User:Contaldo80|Contaldo80]] ([[User talk:Contaldo80|talk]]) 01:05, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:03:36Z

Contaldo80: Undid revision 1167522330 by Tomorrow and tomorrow (talk)Restored

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|-
|[[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]]
|1523–1534
|Not married. Relationship with a slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio
|Yes (one)
|Identified as [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro de' Medici]], Duke of Florence.<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes'', page 74: "Clement now made Alessandro de Medici "his illegitimate son by a slave" into the first duke of Florence", McFarland & Company, 1998, {{ISBN|0-7864-2071-5}}</ref>
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]".<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:02:30Z

Contaldo80: /* Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders */

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]".<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:01:39Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women and men */ Verified

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref> In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:01:15Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women and men */ Verified

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref><ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T01:00:20Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with men */

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]] because he was attracted to him.<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:59:08Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */ Verified. Material consistemt with source

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:58:24Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */ Pretty dodgy source - can we get a second source to back up this claim? Seems an outlier

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}}
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:55:36Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */ Source

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref>[[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}}
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:54:07Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */ Not sure we can include Kirsch - he's a catholic priest. Strong likelihood of bias

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, Monsignor [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} [[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}}
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:51:50Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */ Removed self published source and provided new source

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref><ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] says, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} [[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}}
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:48:03Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and [[Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 |title=Lindsay Brook, "Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages" |date=2008-04-13 |access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=y|date=November 2016}}{{Better source needed|date=November 2016}}<ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] says, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} [[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}}
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]

List of sexually active popes

2023-10-27T00:46:00Z

Contaldo80: /* Relationships with women */ source fix

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg|thumb|Pope [[Pope Paul III|Paul III Farnese]] had 4 illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].]]
This is a '''list of sexually active popes''', [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]] who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly [[human sexual behavior|sexually active]] before their election as [[pope]], and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

== Background ==
{{Main article|Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|Catholic teachings on sexual morality}}

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed{{By whom|date=June 2021}} by many that most of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Twelve Apostles]] were married and had families. The [[New Testament]] (Mark 1:29–31;<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:29–31}}</ref> Matthew 8:14–15;<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|8:14–15}}</ref> Luke 4:38–39;<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|4:38–39}}</ref> 1 Timothy 3:2, 12;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2–12}}</ref> Titus 1:6)<ref>{{bibleverse|Titus|1:6}}</ref> depicts at least Peter as being married, and [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[priests]] and [[deacons]] of the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the [[Church Fathers]], synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Celibacy of the Clergy}}</ref> the [[Second Council of the Lateran|Second Lateran Council]] (1139) made the promise to remain [[clerical celibacy|celibate]] a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the [[Latin Church]]. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of [[Sacrament of marriage|matrimony]] and each sexual act thus committed considered a [[mortal sin]].

== Popes who were legally married ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign(s)
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Saint Peter]]
|30/33–64/68
|Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, ''penthera'') is mentioned in the [[Gospel]] verses {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:14–15|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Luke|4:38|KJV}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|1:29–31|KJV}}, and who [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife|was healed by Jesus]] at her home in [[Capernaum]]. {{Bibleref2|1 Cor.|9:5}} asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "[[Saint Peter#Names and etymologies|Cephas]]" (Peter). [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."<ref>Cited by Eusebius, ''Church History'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm III, 30]. Full text at [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.vii.xi.html Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' VII, 11].</ref>
|Yes<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|title=Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)|publisher=Newadvent.org|access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>
|Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as [[Saint Petronilla]]. This is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names.<ref>{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=St. Petronilla}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/StPetronilla/StPetronilla.htm |title=St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla |publisher=Saintpetersbasilica.org |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|483–492
|Widowed before his election as pope
|Yes
|Himself the son of a priest, he fathered two children, one of whom was the mother of Pope [[Gregory the Great]].<ref>R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Hormisdas|Hormisdas]]
|514–523
|Widowed before he took holy orders
|Yes
|Father of [[Pope Silverius]].<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch|wstitle=Pope St. Hormisdas |volume=7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Adrian II|Adrian II]]
|867–872
|Married to [[Stephania (wife of Adrian II) |Stephania]] before he took holy orders,<ref>{{cite CE1913|first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Adrian II |volume=1}}</ref> she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the [[Lateran Palace]]
|Yes (a daughter)
|His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of [[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], the Church's chief librarian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dopierała |first=K. |title=Księga Papieży |publisher=Pallotinum |location=Poznań |year=1996 |page=106}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XVII|John XVII]]
|1003
|Married before his election as pope
|Yes (three sons)
|All of his children became priests.<ref>* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XVII (XVIII) |volume=8}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Clement IV|Clement IV]]
|1265–1268
|Married before taking holy orders
|Yes (two daughters)
|Both children entered a [[convent]]<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=4 |first=James Francis |last=Loughlin |wstitle=Pope Clement IV}}</ref>
|-
|style=white-space:nowrap|[[Pope Honorius IV|Honorius IV]]
|1285–1287
|Widowed before entering the clergy
|Yes (at least two sons)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1261.htm|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli|publisher=Fiu.edu|access-date=2011-10-18}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2013}}</ref>
|
|}

== Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders ==

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Pius II|Pius II]]
|1458–1464
|Not married
|Yes (at least two)
|Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in [[Strasbourg]] with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=12
|first=Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Pius II}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]]
|1484–1492
|Not married
|Yes (two)
|Both born before he entered the clergy.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first= Nicholas Aloysius |last=Weber |wstitle=Pope Innocent VIII}}</ref> Married elder son [[Franceschetto Cybo]] to [[Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici|the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici]], who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became [[Pope Leo X]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Girolamo Savonarola |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgirolamosa00rido |url-access=registration |year=1959 |first=Roberto |last=Ridolfi|publisher=New York, Knopf }}</ref> His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
|}

== Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders ==
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Julius II|Julius II]]
|1503–1513
|Not married
|Yes (three daughters)
|Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was [[Felice della Rovere]] (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=8 |first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Julius II }}</ref> The schismatic [[Conciliabulum of Pisa]], which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a [[sodomy|sodomite]].<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', page 278 ([[Harvard University Press]], 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-674-01197-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
|1534–1549
|Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistress
|Yes (three sons and one daughter)
|Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] the first [[duke of Parma]].<ref>Jean de Pins, ''Letters and Letter Fragments'', page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) {{ISBN|978-2-600-01101-3}}</ref><ref>Katherine McIver, ''Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power'', page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) {{ISBN|0-7546-5411-7}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]]
|1559–1565
|Not married
|Allegedly three

| One was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Miles|last=Pattenden|title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
|1572–1585
|Not married. Affair with Maddalena Fulchini
|Yes
| Received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of [[Giacomo Boncompagni]] in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him [[Gonfalonier]] of the Church, governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=7
|first=Michael |last=Ott |wstitle=Pope Gregory XIII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1565.htm#Boncompagni |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni |publisher=Fiu.edu |date=2007-12-03 |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|1823–1829
|Not married
|Allegedly three
|As a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as [[nuncio]] in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children.<ref>''Letters from Rome'' in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+children&pg=PA468 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11], pp. 468–471.</ref>
|}

== Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate ==
A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

===Relationships with women===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]]
|904–911
|Not married
|Yes (at least one)
|Accused of being the illegitimate father of [[Pope John XI]] by [[Marozia]], the fifteen year old daughter of [[Teodora]] and [[Teofilatto]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |volume=13
|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |wstitle=Pope Sergius III}}</ref><ref>George Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes'', McFarland, 1998</ref> Such accusations lay in [[Liutprand of Cremona]]'s ''Antapodosis''<ref name="fmg.ac">{{cite book|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |first=Lindsay |last=Brook |title=Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 }}</ref> and the [[Liber Pontificalis]].<ref>Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)</ref><ref>Reverend Horace K. Mann, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13'' quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)</ref><ref>Anura Gurugé, ''The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI'', page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. ''Liber Pontificalis'', among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-615-35372-2}}</ref> The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist [[Flodoard]] (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of [[Alberic II of Spoleto|Alberic II]], the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband [[Alberic I of Spoleto|Alberic I]], so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.{{fact}} Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of [[Pope Formosus]].<ref>Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), ''Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations''. Paris:Tallandier. {{ISBN|2-02-059006-9}}, p. 163.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John X|John X]]
|914–928
|Not married. Affairs with Theodora and Marozia.
|No
|Had romantic affairs with both [[Theodora (senatrix)|Theodora]] and her daughter Marozia, according to [[Liutprand of Cremona]] in his ''Antapodosis''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-13 |title=Lindsay Brook, "Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages" |date=2008-04-13 |access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=y|date=November 2016}}{{Better source needed|date=November 2016}}<ref>[[Joseph McCabe]], ''Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World'', page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)</ref>However, [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] says, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated."<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08425b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref>
|-
|[[Pope John XII|John XII]]
|955–964
|Not married
|No
|Accused by adversaries of [[adultery]] and [[incest]].<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII">{{cite CE1913 |volume=8
|first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch |wstitle=Pope John XII}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Malachi |title=Decline and Fall of the Roman Church |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1981 |isbn=0-553-22944-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloft00mala }} p. 105</ref> [[Benedict of Soracte]] noted that he had "a collection of women". According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]],<ref name="fmg.ac" /> "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held".<ref>The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin</ref> Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,<ref name="CE1913, Pope John XII" /> others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.<ref>Peter de Rosa, ''Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy'', Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.</ref><ref>Hans Kung, ''The Catholic Church: A Short History'' (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79</ref><ref>''The Popes' Rights & Wrongs'', published by Truber & Co., 1860</ref><ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]]
|1492–1503
|Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese.
|Possibly
| Had a long affair with [[Vannozza dei Cattanei]] while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia|Giovanni Borgia]], [[Gioffre Borgia]], and [[Lucrezia Borgia|Lucrezia]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} [[G. J. Meyer]] has argued that the birth dates of the four in comparison with Alexander's known whereabouts actually preclude him having fathered any of them.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite book |author=[[G. J. Meyer]] |title=[[The Borgias: The Hidden History]] |publisher=Bantam |year=2014 |isbn=978-0345526922 |pages=239–247 |chapter=Background: The paternity question: An apology}}</ref> A later mistress, [[Giulia Farnese]], was the sister of [[Pope Paul III|Alessandro Farnese]], giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes'', [[Yale University Press]], 2006</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}}
|}

===Relationships with men===
{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Notes
|-
|[[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
|1464–1471
|Not married. Alleged affair with a [[Page (servant)|page]]
|Thought to have died of [[indigestion]] arising from eating melon,<ref>Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/</ref><ref>"Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9HwuAQAAIAAJ&q=1471&pg=PA175 p. 175]</ref> though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page.<ref>Leonie Frieda, ''The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527'', chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-06-156308-9}}</ref><ref>Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.</ref><ref>Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]]
|1471–1484
|Not married
|According to [[Stefano Infessura]], Sixtus was a "lover of boys and [[sodomy|sodomites]]" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM6DAz1tefoC |title=Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken |date=2007-07-30 |access-date=2013-06-23|last1=Ellis |first1=Havelock }}</ref><ref name="NC">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |title=Sex Lives of the Popes |publisher=Prion |year=1996 |page=160|id={{ASIN|185375546X|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>Stefano Infessura, ''Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494)'', Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156</ref> Infessura had partisan allegiances to the [[Colonna]] family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.<ref>Egmont Lee, ''Sixtus IV and Men of Letters'', Rome, 1978</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]
|1513–1521
|Not married
|Accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by [[Francesco Guicciardini]] and [[Paolo Giovio]]). Some {{Who|date=July 2023}} suggest he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to [[Marcantonio Flaminio]].<ref>C. Falconi, ''Leone X'', Milan, 1987</ref> Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual.<ref>Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, ''Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita'', Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; {{harvnb|Roscoe|1806|pp=478–486}}; and {{harv|Pastor|1908|pp=80f. with a long footnote}}. Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]], ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; {{harvnb|Vaughan|1908|p=280}}; [[Carlton J. H. Hayes|Hayes, Carlton Huntley]], article "Leo X" in ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'', Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); [[Mandell Creighton|Creighton, Mandell]], ''A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome'', London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', (2000, vol.3) and ''[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]'' (2005, vol. 64); and [[Paul Strathern|Strathern, Paul]] ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, [[Ludwig von Pastor]] and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.</ref>
|-
|[[Pope Julius III|Julius III]]
|1550 - 1555
|Not married. Alleged affair with enobled cardinal
|Accusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]], who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromptom |first=Louis |date=2007-10-11 |title=Julius III |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Joe |title=Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment |publisher=Summa Publications |year=2003 |isbn=1883479428 |edition=1st |location=USA |pages=69 |language=English}}</ref>
|}

===Relationships with women and men===

{| class="wikitable"
!width=10%|Name
!width=10%|Reign
!Relationship
!Offspring
!Notes
|-

|[[Benedict IX]]
|1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048
|Not married
|No
|Accused by Bishop Benno of [[Piacenza]] of "many vile adulteries".<ref>"Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." {{cite journal|last=Dümmler |first=Ernst Ludwig |author-link=Ernst Dümmler |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1891 |location=Hannover |pages=584 |volume=I |edition=Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/$FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713211642/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/A9E60829767DA2D2C1256D6B0074177B/%24FILE/AlimBonizoAdamicum.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-13 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}}<ref>''The Book of Saints'', by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-5300-7}}</ref> Pope [[Victor III]] referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts".<ref>"''Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre''." {{cite journal|last=Victor III |first=Pope |author-link=Pope Victor III |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite |publisher=Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters |year=1934 |location=Hannover |pages=141 |edition=Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis |url=http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/(volumiID)/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/$FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |access-date=2008-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715072854/http://www.uan.it/alim/letteratura.nsf/%28volumiID%29/D8115E7BB6446DC9C1256D660075CE62/%24FILE/AlimDesiderioDialogi.doc?openelement |archive-date=2007-07-15 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2023}} In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.<ref>Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, ''The Love Affairs of the Vatican'', 1912, pp. 81–82.</ref>
|}

== See also ==
*[[Pope Joan]]
*[[Antipope John XXIII]]
*[[Marius Virpša]] and [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Antipope Felix V]]
*[[Clerical celibacy#Clerical continence in Christianity|History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bunson, Matthew, ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'', Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
* Cawthorne, Nigel, ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Prion, London, 1996.
* Chamberlin, E.R.,''The Bad Popes'', Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
* Mathieu-Rosay, Jean, ''La véritable histoire des papes'', Grancher, Paris, 1991
* McBrien, Richard P., ''Lives of the Popes'', Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
*{{cite book |last=Pastor |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |year=1908 |title=History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources |volume=8 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co |url={{GBurl|uqUPAAAAMAAJ}} }} (English translation)
*{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=William |author-link=William Roscoe |year=1806 |title=The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth |edition=2nd |volume=4 |location=London}}
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard, ''The Papacy'', [[Columbia University Press]], New York, 1984.
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Herbert M. |year=1908 |title=The Medici Popes|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99911 |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Co.}}
* Wilcox, John, ''Popes and Anti-Popes'', Xlibris Corporation, 2005.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* Williams, George L., ''Papal Genealogy'', McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Illegitimate children of popes| ]]
[[Category:Lists of Catholic popes|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Papal family members| ]]
[[Category:Papal mistresses| ]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Clergy sexuality|Popes, sexually active]]
[[Category:Sexuality of individuals|Popes]]
[[Category:Women and the papacy|Sexually active popes]]
[[Category:Clerical celibacy]]