| Jeremiah 16:2
| Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have thee sons, and daughters, in this place.
| Place. It was going to be destroyed, and the cares of a family might interrupt the prophet. The Fathers believe that Jeremias never married, (see St. Jerome in Jeremias 23. Isidor.) which was then a rare example. (Calmet) --- He always lived a single life, and not only in time of tribulation. (St. Jerome, contra Jov. 1.) (Worthington) --- The Church enforces this law of God for her sacred ministers, in subdeacons and the higher orders. St. Paul shews the propriety of such a regulation, (1 Corinthians vii.) which innovators deem unnatural and tyrannical. How then could God enforce it once? With his grace we may observe celibacy like Jeremias. (Haydock)
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