Consummation of Marriage According to the Common Opinion of Doctors

It must be said, says the Angelic Doctor, that frigidity impedes marriage more and more frequently than heat, because "it removes not only the commingling of seeds, but also the vigor of the members, by which conjunction is made"; 4 Sent., d. 34, q. 1, a. 2 ad 2.

Viva, De Matrimonio, q. 5, a. 10, n. 5, says: "Here they are called impotent who cannot have such intercourse, from which one flesh is made from two through the commingling of the seed of each, from which one flesh can issue."

Sylvius on the Supplement, q. 58, a. 1, question 1, says: "The impotence which invalidates marriage is impotence of carnal intercourse, that is, of that intercourse in which the seeds of man and woman are commingled... Of the notion of marriage is the handing over of power for carnal intercourse; but this intercourse cannot be made unless the seeds, or the things which are in place of seeds, can be commingled."

Pichler, Summa Iurisprudentiae, book 4, title 1, n. 75, says that marriage is "consummated" when it has been contracted not by consent alone, but also "completed and perfected by carnal intercourse, and that perfect, ... or of itself sufficient for the generation of offspring and making it so that the spouses through the commingling of seeds become one flesh."

Billuart, Summa S. Thomae, new edition, Paris, 1895, vol. 10, p. 161, says that marriage "is consummated when it is completed by marital carnal intercourse and commingling of seeds; because then the spouses become one flesh... I said, and commingling of seeds; because neither by mere penetration of the vessel without emission of seed, nor by the seed of the man alone without the seed of the woman, is marriage consummated in the forum of conscience, although it is presumed consummated in the external forum; because without the commingling of seeds apt for generation they do not become one flesh inchoatively, which inchoation is completed by offspring, in whose one flesh they are completely united."

Zacchias, Quaestiones Medico-Legales, Consil. 72, n. 11, says: "It is certain that spouses become one flesh, which is of the essence of marriage, not by penetration of the vessels, but by the commingling of seeds poured out on the part of each." And in the cited work, book 9, title 3, q. VII, nn. 2-3: "In the consummation of marriage potency for generating is required, because through generation, which follows from the mixture of the seed of each into one, husband and wife become one flesh... For what is that, that husband and wife become one flesh? Is it the simple conjunction of both through the members of generation? By no means: for this conjunction is fruitless unless generation can follow from it, or the separated seeds of each are not mingled for conceiving a fetus... Therefore where from coitus there is no hope of generation because the seeds of the spouses do not concur together, nor are united... husband and wife cannot become one flesh, and thus they cannot consummate marriage."

If theologians certainly were not lacking, indeed if there were many among the ancients, who required only male seed for the marital act, this was because they followed the opinion of Aristotle, who required only male seed for generation, without anything having to be supplied in it by the woman. Wherefore those theologians were never content precisely with the coitus itself in which the man alone had poured out seed, except because they believed that coitus by itself sufficient for generation; this sufficiency they themselves exclude under the other opinion of Galen and Hippocrates, which requires a twofold essential element, one on the part of the man, the other on the part of the woman, and which many also of the ancients, and those most learned, embraced.

And so, for example, De Iustis, who adheres to that Aristotelian opinion, De dispensatione matrimonii, book 2, c. 7, n. 10 ff., speaks in this way: "Only through perfect and consummated intercourse do man and woman become one flesh." Therefore, in order that affinity be contracted, "there is required the outpouring of true male seed in the vessel, which is sufficient for the generation of offspring... I said that the outpouring of male seed is required of necessity, because it is most probable that female seed is not required for generation; whence, although the woman does not emit seed, but only the man, affinity is contracted; nevertheless conversely it is not contracted if the woman alone emits seed and not the man." Therefore, if the contrary is most probable and certain, as it is at present, namely that female seed, or the ovule, is required for generation, neither according to De Iustis will intercourse be perfect, nor will there be consummation of marriage, nor will there be affinity.

And thus also Sanchez, De Matrimonio, book 2, d. 21, nn. 10, 11, who adhered to the same opinion of Aristotle, raises the question whether that opinion is certain, and responds: "But although this opinion is more common and more probable, nevertheless it is not so certain as some of its defenders think, since it rests on that sole philosophical principle, that female seed is not necessary for generation; and that is not certain, because many, as Hippocrates and many others, hold the contrary with sufficient probability. Since therefore the foundation is not certain, neither is the opinion resting on it... Wherefore I conclude that it is probable that marriage is not consummated unless the woman also emits seed. Proof: because for the consummation of marriage intercourse is required from which generation can follow... as is clearly gathered from the other Doctors, since they prove from this that marriage is consummated without female seed, because it is not necessary for generation; but it is probable that, unless the woman emits seed, generation cannot follow from that intercourse, as I have proved; therefore it likewise has the same probability that marriage is not consummated when only the man emits seed."

From this it is clearly had that, according to the opinion of all the ancient doctors, marriage is consummated by intercourse of itself simply apt for generation, namely which has all the elements so that generation can follow. And therefore if many of them thought marriage to be consummated when only the man poured out seed in the due vessel of the woman, this was because they held that the seed of the woman was not necessary for generation. But if it is held, as now seems certain, that the seed or ovule of the woman is necessary for generation, then that intercourse in which only the man pours out seed is neither of itself sufficient for generation, nor consequently is marriage consummated by it, nor does affinity arise from it; but there is altogether need of the commingling of the seeds of both, man and woman.