Question III

GRATIAN. Whether one who had one wife before baptism and another after baptism is to be reckoned twice-married is evident from the authority of Jerome. For he says on Paul’s epistle to Timothy:

A bishop must be the husband of one wife. But this means after baptism. Yet if he had one wife before baptism and another after baptism, he is not to be reckoned twice-married, since, after being entirely made new through baptism, all old things have been forgiven him. Augustine, however, and Innocent testify to the contrary. For Augustine says on Paul’s epistle to Titus:

They understand more acutely who have judged that not even one who had one wife before baptism and another after baptism is to be ordained. For in baptism crimes are abolished; the bond of marriage is not dissolved. Just as a woman who was violated while a catechumen cannot be consecrated among God’s virgins, so also one who had one wife before baptism and another after baptism is to be reckoned none other than twice-married. For he has lost something, not as to the merit of life, but as to the sacrament of the sign.

GRATIAN. Likewise Innocent, writing to Bishops Rufus and Eusebius of Macedonia, proves by many arguments that such a man is to be reckoned twice-married. Therefore, because this man whose case is presently at issue had one wife before baptism and another after baptism, he is judged twice-married; and although he excels in merit of life and skill in knowledge, nevertheless he cannot be ordained as a bishop.