"In preparation for the Council of Vienne (1311), the canonist William Durandus the Younger discussed the problem of clerical incontinence. Almost all the councils and many of the Roman pontiffs, he observed, have legislated against concubinage. All the penalties imposed have been of no avail in improving clerical morals. He then asked whether it would not be expedient for the Western Church to follow the practice of the East with regard to the vow of continence, especially since the Eastern custom dates back to apostolic times."
(From: John Lynch, "Critique of the Law of Celibacy in the Catholic Church
from the Period of the Reform Councils," _Celibacy in the Church_, eds.
William Basset and Peter Huizing (New York: Herder and Herder, 1972),
57-8.)
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Cardinal Nicholas Tudeschi, or Panormitanus:
"A century [after Bishop William Durandus] another canonist Panormitanus (1386-1445), know as _lucerna iuris_ because of his eminent authority, strongly endorsed priestly marriage. Cannot the Church permit clerics to contract marriage just as the Greeks do? 'I believe it can," answers Panormitanus, 'and this is indubitably true for those who are not bound by an implicit or explicit vow.' He argued that continence is not part of the substance of the order for secular clerics, nor is it of divine law, otherwise the Greeks would be sinning. The canonist concluded that it is not only within the power of the Church but it would be for the good of souls to make continence optional. Those who chose to remain continent would merit more by doing so voluntarily; those unwilling to be continent could marry and thus avoid the evil results which experience shows to follow from obligatory continence."
(From: John Lynch, "Critique of the Law of Celibacy in the Catholic Church from the Period of the Reform Councils," _Celibacy in the Church_, eds. William Basset and Peter Huizing (New York: Herder and Herder, 1972), 58.)