Chapter V — On the indissolubility of the conjugal bond, and on divorce

I. QUESTION I. Whether the matrimonial bond be indissoluble? ANSWER. All Catholics affirm it. Theologians with St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 67, art. 1, repeat its firmness and perpetuity from natural right itself. This natural perpetuity God confirmed by his own divine right, Matthew 19: Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. … What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.

II. QUESTION II. What is to be said of the matrimony of unbelievers? ANSWER. That a true and legitimate matrimony, as it is a natural and civil contract, is contracted among unbelievers is certain. When both spouses are converted to the faith, their matrimony is not dissolved, as all theologians teach. If an unbelieving husband in the first centuries of the Church embraced the faith of Christ, and the unbelieving wife was willing to dwell peaceably, such cohabitation was lawful, as is had from 1 Corinthians 7. Theologians dispute whether at present this cohabitation of a believing husband with an unbelieving wife be lawful, who desires to dwell with her husband without contumely to the Creator. The more common opinion affirms it, since there exists no law which forbids such cohabitation. An opposite custom nevertheless obtains, by force of which such cohabitation is unlawful, unless the wife's conversion be prudently hoped for.

III. When one of the spouses is converted to the faith, the other persisting in unbelief, if the offspring be capable of guile, it enjoys its own liberty. If it be destitute of the use of reason, it ought to follow the parent converted to the faith of Christ. In doubt whether the offspring be endowed with the use of reason, judgment is to be made in favour of Religion.

IV. QUESTION III. If an unbelieving spouse consent to dwell peaceably with the believing spouse, can the believing spouse take another? ANSWER. Bellarmine affirms it; others deny it; others distinguish. St. Augustine, Book 1 On Adulterous Marriages, chapter 25, absolutely denies it. Similarly Innocent III, chapter Laudabilem, defends the negative opinion. But if the unbelieving spouse be unwilling to cohabit peaceably without contumely to the Creator, then the believing spouse, he being deserted, can enter upon another marriage, as St. Thomas expressly teaches, Suppl., q. 59, art. 5.

V. When one of the unbelievers is converted to the faith, the matrimony is not dissolved by Baptism, but by the subsequent nuptials. Wherefore if the unbelieving party, obstinate before the matrimony of the other spouse, and the believing party celebrated contrary nuptials, these would be null; and if these spouses were converted to the faith, they would have to be separated. Since the privilege of dissolving the conjugal bond has been granted by Christ in favour of the faith only, not of unbelief, as is had in chapter Quanto on Divorces. Similarly if a believer after admonishing the unbelieving spouse obstinate in unbelief contract matrimony, and then this second be dissolved by the death of the spouse, then that believer would not be bound to return to the former unbelieving spouse, even if he were converted to the faith. Since, the former matrimony having been lawfully dissolved, the believer became altogether free; and so he is not bound to return to the former converted spouse in the case of the death of the second wife.

VI. QUESTION IV. Whether the matrimony of the Jews became null through a bill of divorce? ANSWER. Some affirm it, others deny it. Christ the Lord, Matthew 19, says that Moses permitted the bill of divorce for the hardness of the Jews' heart. Therefore repudiation was not lawful. Therefore the matrimonial bond was not dissolved. And this negative opinion Sts. Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, Isidore, and Theophylact perspicuously teach. And this opinion St. Thomas calls the more common. But it is not of such moment that it ought to be discussed longer.

VII. QUESTION V. Whether the matrimony of Christians be dissolved through adultery? ANSWER. All Catholics deny it. And this truth is openly delivered in the Gospel, Luke 16, where these things are had: Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery. Which words are so to be disposed that they may more easily be understood: Whosoever shall put away his wife (which is not lawful save for fornication) and shall marry another, committeth adultery. Fornication makes the dismissal lawful, but by no means the celebration of a new marriage. The last words of the Evangelist declare the matter perspicuously: He that marrieth her that is put away, committeth adultery. A wife could not be put away save for fornication, as all confess. He therefore who marries her that is put away for the cause of fornication commits adultery. Therefore the conjugal bond is not dissolved. There is added the perpetual tradition of the Church.

VIII. QUESTION VI. Is the ratified and unconsummated matrimony of Christians dissolved by solemn profession in an approved Religion? ANSWER. All Catholics affirm it, and this truth was defined in the Council of Trent, session 24, canon 6, in these words: If anyone shall say that matrimony ratified and not consummated is not dissolved by the solemn religious profession of one of the spouses, let him be anathema. This definition of the Council rests upon the universal and perpetual tradition of the Church.

IX. Whether the Pontiff can dispense from the bond of a ratified matrimony, theologians dispute on either side. This is agreed among all, that most grave causes must urge, and that only for the greater utility and decorum of the Church can Pontiffs dispense from the aforesaid bond.

X. QUESTION VII. Whether the ratified and consummated matrimony of Christians be dissolved by entrance into Religion? ANSWER. The negative opinion is common and true. Since the Church has declared that only ratified matrimony is dissolved by monastic profession. If one of the spouses perpetrate adultery, the innocent spouse can enter Religion or vow perpetual chastity, because on account of the crime of adultery he has a right of perpetual divorce. One spouse nevertheless, with the other spouse's consent, can enter and profess a Religion; the consenting spouse nevertheless, remaining in the world, ought, if he be old, to emit a vow of chastity; if young, to enter Religion, as is established in chapter Cum sis. A husband, his wife being unwilling, whether before or after the matrimony consummated, cannot be initiated in sacred Orders. If, his wife being unwilling, he should receive sacred Orders, he could render but not ask the debt. With his wife consenting, a husband can become a priest, provided the wife herself profess an approved Religion, as is established in chapter Sane on the conversion of spouses.

XI. They dispute when a matrimony is to be called consummated. Some say it is the penetration of the woman's vessel without effusion of seed; but the more probable and more common opinion requires the emission of seed into the woman's vessel. Copulation had before matrimony does not suffice for the consummation of matrimony: for matrimony is perfected not through fornication, but through matrimonial copulation.

XII. QUESTION VIII. What is divorce, and whether the right to it be equal in each spouse? ANSWER. Divorce is that separation from bed, in which it is distinguished from repudiation, which brings in the dissolution of the bond. That divorce is lawful for the cause of adultery all affirm. In each spouse the right to divorce is equal, because in those things which pertain to the bed the rights of each spouse are equal. The innocent spouse, divorce being made, can either vow chastity or enter Religion, the guilty spouse being unwilling. But the guilty spouse can neither vow chastity nor enter Religion, so long as the innocent spouse retains the right of recalling him. If nevertheless the innocent spouse do not contradict, the change of state made by the guilty spouse is valid. If by the judge's sentence the guilty woman be thrust into a monastery, a biennium is granted to the innocent party to deliberate whether he will recall her. Within this biennium the woman's profession is null; the biennium having elapsed, it is held valid.

XIII. QUESTION IX. In what cases is divorce lawful among Christians? ANSWER. It is lawful: 1. From the consent of each spouse, out of a study of a holier life; 2. For the cause of adultery; 3. Immoderate savagery, if it be public and manifest, is a just cause of divorce; if occult, the judge's sentence is to be awaited; from bed nevertheless one can separate oneself, but not depart from the house; 4. If a danger of subversion threaten one spouse from the cohabitation, divorce is not only lawful but necessary; 5. If the other spouse have fallen away from the faith.

XIV. QUESTION X. What are the cases in which on account of fornication divorce is not lawful? ANSWER. Seven. 1. A husband cannot be separated from a fornicating wife, if he himself be similarly a fornicator. 2. If he himself have prostituted his wife. 3. If the wife, probably believing her absent husband dead, have married another. 4. If she have been secretly known by another entering the bed under the appearance of her husband. 5. If she have been oppressed by force. 6. If the husband, conscious of the adultery, have known his wife carnally. 7. If, matrimony having been contracted in unbelief, the man gave a bill of divorce, and the wife married another. If nevertheless both be converted to the faith, the man is bound to receive her.

XV. The will alone of committing adultery does not suffice for divorce; nay, neither do touches and kisses. Very many dispute whether carnal copulation without effusion of seed be a just cause of divorce. Some deny it; but the contrary opinion is common and true. The crime of sodomy is a sufficient cause of divorce. A secretly adulterous spouse cannot seek divorce from a publicly adulterous spouse. For he who is secretly an adulterer is guilty, not innocent. Therefore he cannot seek divorce. An innocent spouse morally certain concerning the other spouse's adultery can by right deny the debt before the judge's sentence; he cannot nevertheless depart from the adulterous spouse, the judge's sentence not being awaited. An innocent spouse is bound to make divorce from an adulterous wife, unless she repent, as holy Scripture teaches, Proverbs 18: He that keepeth an adulteress is foolish and wicked. A wife nevertheless is not bound to depart, because she cannot hinder her husband, nor coerce him, as a husband can his wife. It is disputed which spouse sins more gravely. If unchastity be regarded, adultery is more grave in a man than in a woman, says St. Augustine, Book 2 On Adulterous Marriages, chapter 8. If injustice be considered, an adulterous wife sins more wickedly on account of the uncertainty of offspring, whence grave absurdities follow.