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John of Ford's Life of Wulfric of Haselbury  reports without censure that the parish priest of Haselbury Plucknett, who was a close friend and supporter of St. Wulfric (who had walled himself up in the guy's church), was married.  His son, Brihtric, succeeded him as parish priest, but seems to have remained celibate. 

BTW, Brihtric is the character in the famous miracle story, quoted by Chibnall and others, in which he hears that Wulfric, who seems to have had a flair for the dramatic, has cured a man who had been deaf and dumb since birth, endowing him with the ability to speak not only English but French.  When B hears of the miracle, he is furious: he storms into Wulfric's cell, protesting that he has been W's friend, confidante, and supporter for years, but he's still stuck speaking only English and cannot communicate with his own bishop, while this utter stranger, who would have been happy enough to speak one language, is gifted with two.

It's been a dozen years since I've read the text, but my recollection is that Wulfric died in the 1130s and John wrote the Vita  not long thereafter.  I don't have it handy, but an English translation is out, or will be out soon, from Cistercian Pubs.

A good place to check this out might be H. C. Lea's massive book on clerical celibacy -- very old, obviously, but I hear it's still pretty good on the subject.

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Patrick J. Nugent
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA

(765) 983-1413
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