In the first year of his Pontificate (1566), in addition to the strong measures adopted against immorality and corruption, Pius V issued an edict laying down the most drastic penalties for disturbance of divine worship, profanation of Sundays and Feastdays, and blasphemy. Strolling, chatting and whispering in church were forbidden, as offending God in the Blessed Sacrament present on the altar and punished by fines or - incredible as it may seem now - by imprisonment and exile. The clergy, with the help of sacristans and other appointed officials, had to see that these regulations were observed.
(Page 32)
Abolition of priestly celibacy was advocated by the Emperor Maximilian as a solution for the dearth of vocations, and this solution was supported by certain of the Cardinals. Against this, Pius V unequivocally reaffirmed celibacy and at the same time the obligation of wearing clerical dress and religious habit - for then, as now, attempts were being made in various ways to make the clergy lose their outwardly recognizable characteristics. Further measures were taken by Pope Pius to procure better discipline, and sanctity, among priests.(Page33)
From Pius V, by Robin Anderson
