In June, 1532, the protestant and Roman-catholic delegates arrived at Nuremburg to arrange the religious peace. The celibacy of the clergy immediately became one of the points discussed. It appeared to the chiefs of the papacy impossible to concede that article. ‘Rather abolish the mass entirely,’ exclaimed the Archbishop of Mayence, ‘than permit the marriage of priests.’ ‘They must come to that at last,’ said Luther; ‘God is overthrowing the mighty from their seat.’[227] Cranmer was of his opinion. ‘It is better,’ he said, ‘for a minister to have his own wife than to have other men’s wives, like the priests.’[228] ‘What services may not a pious wife do for the pastor her husband,’ added Osiander, ‘among the poor, the women, and the children?’ Cranmer had lost his wife at Cambridge, and his heart yearned for affection. Osiander’s family presented him a touching picture of domestic happiness. One of its members was a niece of Osiander’s wife.[229] Cranmer, charmed with her piety and candor, and hoping to find in her the virtuous woman who is a crown to her husband, asked her hand and married her, not heeding the unlawful command of those who ‘forbid to marry.’[230] Still Cranmer did not forget his mission. The King of England was desirous of forming an alliance with the German protestants, and his agent made overtures to the electoral prince of Saxony. ‘First of all,’ answered the pious John Frederick, ‘the two kings (of France and England) must be in harmony with us as to the articles of faith.’[231] The alliance failed; but at the same moment, affairs took an unexpected turn. The emperor, who was marching against Solyman, desired the help of the King of England, and Granvelle had some talk with Cranmer on the subject. The latter was procuring carriages, horses, boats, tents, and other things necessary for his journey, with the intention of rejoining the emperor at Lintz, when a courier suddenly brought him orders to return to London.[232] It was very vexatious. Just as he was on the point of concluding an alliance with the nephew of Queen Catherine, in which the matter of the divorce would consequently be arranged, Henry’s envoy had to give up everything. He wondered anxiously what could be the motive of this sudden and extraordinary recall. The letters of his friends explained it. [Sidenote: Cranmer’s Hesitation.]