186 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL
A unique and exceptional case of sociological determination
 through the intersection of social circles is that
of the Catholic clergy. No social group or class is excluded
from providing priests and monks. The Catholic clergy is
a social circle which in theory intersects all existing circles
in so far as they are primary groups. But its peculiar characteristic
 is the fact that it lifts the individual fully and
completely out of his former circles. With his entrance into
this circle the individual loses all connections with his
former associations and renounces his former sociological
identity, including his name. The intersection does not
exist for the individual priest, but only for the class as a
whole. As a whole it is a group to which former members
of all classes and circles belong. As a whole it is sociologically
 determined by the fact that it has identical relations
to all other classes. But the individual priest does not possess
 an individuality in the general sense of the term. Berause
 he is entirely priest, he must be entirely priest.
The most radical means by which the individual priest
is kept out of the intersection of social circles is celibacy.
Marriage leads to such a complete and binding sociological
fixation that a married individual can often not fully realize
 his logical position in his other social circles.
For that reason certain associations have refused membership
 to married men. The journeymen guilds of the
Middle Ages were often closed to married individuals
who were otherwise fully eligible. The reason for this was
that their group unity could be preserved only by a complete
 equality and homogeneity and by a free circulation
of members throughout the whole area over which the
group extended. The acceptance of married men would
have created inequality and impeded the libertv of action
of a part of its members.
But apart from the actual content of the associations,