Marital and Perfect Intercourse

To n. 958.

Truly marital intercourse is not imperfect intercourse, such as is had by penetration of the virile member within the vessel of the woman with the outpouring of male seed, while the woman is impotent for generation; rather, perfect intercourse is that which is completed by the commingling of seeds, namely of the male seed and of the female. For without this commingling of seeds the proximate principle of generation is not had; since a principle of this kind is not had except by the male seed and the ovule, and by the commingling of both, so that the former can fecundate the latter. For indeed, as marriage from its intrinsic end is for generation, so also marital and perfect intercourse is for generation as for its intrinsic end.

"In the generation of man," says St. Thomas, Quodlibet 5, a. 8, "as also of the other animals, the father's seed is the active principle, while the matter supplied by the mother is as the passive principle, from which the human body is formed." And Quodlibet 8, a. 5 ad 3: "For the conception of a human body two things concur: namely the matter from which the conceived thing is formed, and again the formative power which forms the conceived thing... The conceived matter is prepared by the generative power of the mother, but the formative power is in the father's seed." Moreover, according to St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 44, a. 1, marriage is the conjunction of man and wife for one generation and education of offspring and for one domestic life. Therefore marital and perfect intercourse cannot be that which is not of itself simply generative, but generative only on the part of the man and not also on the part of the woman, and accordingly unsuitable for generation. "I wish to procreate children, and for that reason I took a husband." C. Accepisti 1, de Frigidis. She therefore who is impotent for procreating children is also impotent for taking a husband. Certainly she "will never be able to be a mother or a wife." C. Fraternitatis 4, same title; as if it were said: she cannot be a mother, therefore neither can she be a wife. Hence the same St. Thomas, Catena Aurea on Matthew, c. 19, v. 15: "God created man as male and female on account of the necessity of generating children... And this is what is said: For this reason a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cling to his wife." And on the Epistle to the Ephesians, c. 5, lect. 10: "And because a man in respect to father and mother is inferior, not superior, therefore toward his wife, of whom he is the superior, and toward his children he is naturally more affected than toward his parents, and also because the wife is joined to him for the act of generation." And Contra Gentiles, book 3, c. 122: "Thus therefore the emission of seed ought to be ordered so that both suitable generation and the education of the begotten can follow. From this it is evident that every emission of seed in such a mode that generation, according to itself, cannot follow is contrary to the good of man; and if this is done deliberately, it must be a sin."

If marital and perfect intercourse is perfect only in the notion of intercourse, marriage will be had also among eunuchs, who can complete intercourse in the notion of intercourse; marriage will be consummated even if the man does not emit seed in that intercourse. The outpouring of seed is altogether extraneous to intercourse in the notion of intercourse, and does not in the least pertain to its completion. It pertains to intercourse generative of itself; and this cannot be of itself simply generative, or suitable for generation, unless it is such at the same time on the part of the man and on the part of the woman. As intercourse of an impotent man is not suitable for generation, so neither is intercourse of an impotent woman suitable for generation. Operation follows being.

Perfect intercourse is the intercourse of a man emitting seed in the due vessel of the woman, and accordingly of one not otherwise impotent for generation. For the due vessel of marital intercourse is not the mere vagina, but is the vessel apt for generation; Salmanticenses, de Matrimonio, tract. 9, c. 4, punct. 1, n. 2. The vagina is not the place in which the male seed ought to come to rest by the institution of nature, as in its natural terminus, but is only the way and channel through which that seed ought to arrive at the uterus and fecundate the ovule. Hence in intercourse there is naturally produced a movement of the muscles and of the ciliated epithelium of the mucous membrane, and at the same time there occurs a movement of descent of the uterus, which contracts spasmodically to draw in the seed; when this is completed, the seed then arrives at the ovule to be fecundated. Hence it is evident that, when the uterus and ovaries have been removed, there is not only a subsequent obstacle to generation, but an antecedent defect of the essential power of generation, and consequently a concomitant impotence for generating; since then intercourse remains substantially incomplete and imperfect, by the very fact that that union of the organs of the man and woman cannot be terminated in union, because of the aforesaid essential defect of the elements essentially required for generation, the male seed and the female ovule.

Nor is it of avail to say that that intercourse is certainly suitable for quieting concupiscence, even if it is not suitable for generation, and that marriage can still be licitly and validly contracted for quieting concupiscence, with the impotence of the woman for generating standing. For by what act will concupiscence be licitly quieted? Certainly not by intercourse of any kind whatsoever, but by marital intercourse. And what is this? That in which the man alone emits seed, while the woman's impotence for generating exists? But this is that which must be proved. Hence a clear begging of the principle is evident. For then it is already supposed that the marriage is valid, notwithstanding that impotence for generating.

Noldin (De Sacramentis, n. 577) calls carnal intercourse that which is "of itself apt for the generation of offspring."

Sanchez (De matrimonio, book VII, disp. 92, n. 28): "The contract of marriage consists essentially in the mutual obligation to perfect intercourse, of its own nature apt for the generation of offspring."

Santi (book IV, title 15, n. 1): "Perfect intercourse is that which... of itself is capable of operating toward generation."

Wernz (book IV, title 13, n. 342): "That intercourse is called perfect which of itself is apt for generating offspring, although by accident it does not in fact produce the generation of offspring, for example in women already pregnant or in men or women who are sterile, for example because of advanced age."

It is called apt of its own nature, or capable of itself, because it is not required that generation actually follow. Wherefore impotence, which is "the incapacity of a man or woman for perfect intercourse or for generating offspring" (Wernz, loc. cit.), is not to be confused with sterility, "because in sterility it is only by accident that generation does not follow, whereas in impotence it is per se or from an intrinsic defect of nature; in the former, generation does not follow because of some obstacle coming from without which impedes it, as from deficiency of heat or its excess; but in impotence for intercourse, generation does not follow from defect of those things which nature itself requires as necessary means to this end" (S. R. Rota, in one Platien., Nullity of Marriage, coram Mori).

And these things indeed are said as regards speculative doctrine. For, practically speaking, marriage will certainly not be impeded, both because practically it is not established concerning the absolute and perfect impotence of the woman, and because the question has not yet been settled.