Early priests were married; the prohibition against sexual contact goes back to the Jewish tradition, in which priests were asked to refrain from sexual contact, in order to purify themselves, for a certain period before the sacrifice. Early priests found themselves presiding over the Eucharist so often that the Church calendar left them no days in which they were permitted to have sex with their wives.

Early efforts to impose celibacy upon priests, and their wives, were very difficult to enforce.