celibacy, church district synod, tertiaries and the Beginas

celibacy

The prohibition for priests to get married. The first church law requiring celibacy from priests can be dated back to 300 AD. It did not become general until the 12th century in spite of the repeated resolutions of councils. Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) and his followers supported the idea and the universal councils(Lateran I: 1123, Lateran II: 1139) made it obligatory. In Hungary 11th-12th-century councils accepted married priests at first, but the second council of Esztergom banned the marriage of priests, and married people were not allowed to be consecrated. Despite this fact celibacy became general only by the beginning of the 13th century. Until that time there were not only married priests, but also married deans.

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church disteric synod

It was a meeting of church persons led by bishops in Hungary from the 11th century, where the priests of the church district gathered and the resolutions made there were kept later. The texts of synod resolutions (synodic books) have survived mainly from the Esztergom church district: from Esztergom (1382, 1450, 1493), from Nyitra (1494) and Veszprém (1515). They were primarily written for chief deans and deans, as a regulation for pastoring and church governing. They also dealt with the duties, religious life and habits of secular church-goers.

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tertiaries and the Beginas

Fraternal organisations of secular persons, in which they tried to live according to the gospels. Both men and women could join the tertiaries. Their first groups appeared in the west around the end of the 11th century. The Benedictine and Premontrean directed them, but the movement did not become popular until the formation of the Franciscan and Dominican orders. In Hungary the Franciscan woman teriaries had about 30 houses. They were called Sisters and Beginas, and they lived in accordance with convent regulations, but they did not take the vows of a nun.

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