Case LVI: Revalidation of Marriage After an Arbitrary Separation

Rufus and Veronica were married according to the rites of the Church, but as he had sinned with her sister before his marriage, and had obtained no dispensation, their marriage was invalid before the interior forum.

He left Veronica of his own accord, in consequence of family quarrels; long after, he went to confession and disclosed his anxiety regarding the invalidity of their marriage, asking for advice. The question arose: "Is a revalidation in the interior forum possible after a separation of this kind has taken place?"

It is certainly possible if they both renew their consent, provided they begin to live together again; but a sanatio in radice cannot be effected, if one party plainly no longer intends to regard the other as a partner.

Provided they are reconciled, a revalidation of their marriage can take place; but if they continue to live apart, an ecclesiastical recognition of the nullity of the first marriage might be obtained by means of oaths, and both would be free to marry again, though their children would be legitimate, owing to the bona fides of the one party.—Honorius Rett, O.F.M.