Question I

GRATIAN. PART I. That one who transfers his own son to himself as a spiritual son cannot render the marital due to his wife is proved by reason and authority. For by no authority is it permitted that anyone be carnally joined to his co-mother. But this man made his wife his co-mother; therefore, he will not be able thereafter to be joined carnally to her. Hence Deusdedit, Bishop of the Holy Roman Church, writes to Gordian, bishop of the church of Hispania and his dearest brother:

A deacon came to us bearing the letter of Your Holiness, reporting that, on the past Holy Saturday, certain men and women, because of the great influx of people, unknowingly received their own children from the sacred font. You therefore desire to know whether, on account of such a circumstance that occurred, the men and women ought to return to their own marital relations or not. Grieved by this matter, we investigated the sayings of our predecessors. We found in the archives of the Apostolic See that such things had already happened in the churches of Isauria and Ephesus, as well as Jerusalem and other churches. When the bishops of those cities also wished to know from this Apostolic See whether the men and women should return to their own bed, the holy Fathers of blessed memory Julius, Innocent, and Celestine, with the consent of a great many bishops and priests, forbade such things in the church of the Prince of the Apostles, prescribed, and confirmed that women and men, whoever for any reason received their own children, should in no way receive one another in marriage but should separate, lest, at the devil’s persuasion, such a vice grow strong. You know that, just as there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, so there are seven gifts of baptism, from the first nourishment of blessed salt and entrance into the church up to confirmation through chrism. Therefore, from the first up to the seventh, no Christian ought to receive his co-mother in marriage. And let anyone who has presumed to do so be bound by the bond of anathema until he has performed penance worthily.

Likewise from the Council of Verberie, c. 4. If anyone has held his stepson or stepdaughter before a bishop for confirmation, let him be separated from his wife and never receive another. The same applies to a woman.

PART II. GRATIAN. To the contrary, however, Nicholas writes to the bishop of Salona, saying:

You desire to know whether a woman who lifted from the sacred font her husband’s son born of another woman can afterward be joined to the same man. We decree that they can be joined for this reason: according to the sacred canons, unless by the consent of both, no spouse ought to put away a spouse on the pretext of religion. It leads to the great ruin of a wife who, bearing hatred for her husband or not considering his weakness, commits impiety as though for the sake of piety, especially since the Apostle commands: “Do not,” he says, “defraud one another, except by consent for a time, so that you may give yourselves to prayer; and return again to the same thing, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of continence.” Therefore, if it is proved not to have been done by the consent of both spouses, let them not defraud one another, but let them return to the same thing, especially since the Apostle says: “The wife does not have power over her own body, but the husband; just as the husband does not have power over his own body, but the woman.”

Likewise from the Second Council of Chalon, c. 4. It has been told to us that certain women, some carelessly and others fraudulently, held their own sons before bishops for confirmation so that they might be separated from their husbands. Hence we have judged it worthy that, if any woman through carelessness or some fraud has held her own son before a bishop for confirmation, she is to perform penance for as long as she lives because of her deceit or fraud; nevertheless, she is not to be separated from her husband.

Likewise from the Council of Mainz, c. 10, held in the cloister of Saint Alban. Concerning what you asked—if anyone took his goddaughter as wife, and concerning one who lay with his spiritual co-mother, and concerning one who baptized his own son and whose wife received him from the font for this purpose, that a separation of the marriage might occur: whether they can afterward remain in such a union—the response concerning such persons is as follows. If anyone has taken his goddaughter or his co-mother in marriage, we judge that they are to be separated and struck with grave penance.

But if legitimate spouses, one or both, deliberately acted so that they received their own son from the font, if they wish to remain unmarried, it is good; but if not, let grave penance be enjoined upon the one who plotted it, and let them remain together. And if the violator of the marriage survives the other, let that person be punished with the most severe penance and remain without hope of marriage.

Likewise Pope Nicholas to Rudolf, bishop of Bourges. Concerning those who hold their stepchildren before bishops for confirmation—that is, who support upon themselves the sons of their wives by a former husband while they are chrismated by the bishops—if it is done through ignorance, as you assert, although it is a sin, nevertheless it is not to be punished as far as separation of the marriage. Yet let them mourn and, washing this away by worthy penance, say to the Lord: “Remember not the offenses of our ignorance.”

Likewise Pope John to Anselm, bishop of the church of Limoges. This man present here, named Stephen, coming for the sake of prayer to the threshold of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, made known to our episcopate by his representation that, when his son lay at the extremity of life, not yet washed by the water of baptism, he baptized him because, in the absence of priests, extreme necessity compelled him; and he himself received him, holding him in his own hands. When this affair was disclosed to you, Your Reverence, as though burning with zeal for rectitude, judged that the aforesaid man was to be separated from his spouse. This ought by no means to be done, since Scripture says that a wife has been joined to a husband by the Lord, and: “What God has joined, let man not separate.” Hence the Lord too most openly commands in the Gospel that a man cannot put away his wife except for the cause of fornication. And we, relying upon the preeminent command of so great an authority, say that what necessity occasioned is to be let go and judged blameless. For this work of baptizing, according to canonical authority, is freely permitted to faithful laypersons to do if it should be necessary. Hence, if the aforesaid father, seeing his son dying in body, washed him with the sacred water of baptism lest he leave his soul to perish by perpetual death, so that he might snatch him from the power of the author of death and darkness and send him without doubt into the kingdom of Christ, there now to reign, he is praised for having done well. For that reason we judge him to remain joined without penalty, for as long as he lives, to his wife already long ago legitimately associated with him, and not in any way to be separated on this account contrary to the aforesaid divine authorities.

PART III. GRATIAN. A woman is called a spiritual daughter not only of the one who receives her, but also of the one who dips her in sacred baptism with the invocation of the threefold immersion. A woman who confesses her sins to a priest is also called the priest’s spiritual daughter. The mingling with all these is shameful and is to be struck with the same penalty. Hence Symmachus says:

All whom we receive in penance are our spiritual children, just as are those whom the water of sacred baptism regenerated either when we received them or when we immersed them under the invocation of the threefold immersion. Sylvester also teaches and admonishes every priest that no one should approach his female penitent for the purpose of fornication, because it is written: “All whom we receive in penance are our children, just as those received in baptism.” Therefore, if anyone has perpetrated this crime, let him not only lose the honor of his dignity but also subject himself to continual penance until death.

If any priest has fornicated with his spiritual daughter, let him know that he has committed grave adultery. Therefore, if the woman is a laywoman, let her leave all things, hand over her possessions to the poor, and, having converted, serve God in a monastery until death. But let the priest who gave an evil example to human beings be deposed from every office and perform penance by pilgrimage for fifteen years; afterward, let him go to a monastery and serve God there all the days of his life.

A bishop or priest ought not to mingle with women who have confessed their sins to him. If perhaps—which may it not be—this happens, let him perform penance as for a spiritual daughter: a bishop for fifteen years and a priest for twelve, and let him be deposed, provided that the matter has come to the knowledge of the people.

GRATIAN. By these authorities, therefore, it appears that whether a woman received from the sacred font her own son or only her husband’s son, she is not for that reason to be separated from her husband. The same must likewise be understood concerning a man.