Note 258-9 — Chapter III

Those callings in which a certain esprit de corps prevails such as that, for instance, of officials and officers, submit willingly to restrictions on marriage authoritatively imposed. The Catholic clergy submit even to a full prohibition of marriage. Such measures uniformly strengthen the isolation of the class from the nation as a whole. It is well known that, during the middle ages, theological views on the meritoriousness of all self-denial made voluntary celibacy very common. The Franciscan order counted at one time 150,000 monks and 28,000 nuns, the so-called members of the third order, or penitents, not included. (Helyot, Gesch. der Kloster und Ritterorden, V, 33.) The severity of the laws relating to fasting might also, according to Villermé, be regarded as a "preventive check." Compare supra, § 240, note I.