Question — Decretum of Gratian
Question III
GRATIAN. PART I. That spiritual or adopted children cannot be joined to natural children is attested by Pope Nicholas in his response to the inquiries of the Bulgars, [c. 2], saying thus:
GRATIANUS. I. Pars. Quod autem spirituales uel adoptiui filii naturalibus copulari non possint, Nykolaus Papa respondens ad consulta Bulgarorum [cap. 2.] testatur, ita dicens:
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C. I. One who is received from the sacred font is the son of the one by whom he is received.
A person ought to love the one who received him from the sacred font as a father.
Likewise: § 1. Between spiritual brothers and children there is a gratuitous and holy communion, which is not to be called consanguinity, but is to be held as spiritual kinship. Hence I judge that no lawful marriage whatever can take place between them, since the venerable laws do not permit marriages to be contracted even between those who are children by nature and those who are children by adoption.
Likewise: § 2. If marriage is not contracted between those whom adoption joins, how much more ought those whom regeneration of the Holy Spirit binds through the heavenly sacrament to abstain from carnal union with one another? Far more fittingly, therefore, he says, is one whom divine grace rather than human will chose to be his son or my brother called the son of my father or my brother; and more prudently do we separate them from mutual mingling of the body.
C. I. Qui de sacro fonte suscipitur filius eius est, a quo suscipitur.
Ita diligere debet homo eum, qui se suscepit de sacro fonte, sicut patrem. Item: §. 1. Est inter fratres et filios spirituales gratuita et sancta conmunio, que dicenda non est consanguinitas, sed habenda spiritualis proximitas. Unde inter eos arbitror non posse fieri quodlibet legale coniugium, quod quidem nec inter eos, qui natura, et eos, qui adoptione filii sunt, uenerandae leges matrimonia contrahi permittunt. Item: §. 2. Si inter eos non contrahitur matrimonium, quos adoptio iungit, quanto potius a carnali oportet inter se contubernio cessare quos per celeste sacramentum regeneratio Spiritus sancti uincit? Longe ergo inquit congruentius filius patris mei uel frater meus appellatur is, quem diuina gratia potius, quam humana uoluntas, ut filius eius uel frater meus esset, elegit; prudentiusque ab alterna corporis conmixtione secernimus.
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C. II. A spiritual daughter can in no way marry a natural son.
Likewise Bishop Zachary, servant of the servants of God, to the most reverend Theodore, bishop of the church of Pavia. Your venerable Fraternity offered us a letter by which you wished to ask us whether it is lawful for the son of a father who received another man’s daughter from sacred baptism to receive in marriage the girl received—that is, that father’s spiritual daughter—which it is cruel even to say, and which you asserted had occurred monstrously in your jurisdiction.
§ 1. But Your Holy Fraternity knows well that the Lord commanded Moses, saying: “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, or mother, or sister; for it is your nakedness.” Therefore, since we are commanded to abstain from our own blood kin, much more is it fitting that, with every excuse or argument set aside, we guard ourselves under the greatest strictness from the spiritual daughter of our father, lest one incur the wrath of divine judgment if, after being mingled in such a crime, one has by no means restrained the reins of lust. Hence all must also be kept from a mingling involving so great a crime, lest they perish perpetually. But Your Fraternity is in every way to strive to separate this man who, despising the salvation of his soul, has mingled himself in an impious marriage of this ruinous rashness, and to subject him to worthy penance, so that you may gain his soul, snatched from eternal damnation.
C. II. Filia spiritualis carnali filio nullo modo nubere potest.
Item Zacharias Episcopus, seruus seruorum Dei, reuerentissimo Theodoro Episcopo ecclesiae Ticinensis. Pitacium quod nobis tua ueneranda fraternitas obtulit, per quod nos sciscitari uoluisti, si liceat filio, cuius pater alterius filiam ex sacro baptismate suscepit, susceptam, id est spiritualem eius patris filiam (quod dici crudele est), in matrimonio suscipere, quod apud te enormiter asseruisti contigisse. §. 1. Sed bene tua sancta fraternitas conpertum habet, quod Dominus precepit Moysi, dicens: "Turpitudinem patris tui, uel matris, uel sororis non reuelabis; turpitudo enim tua est." Cum ergo a propria consanguinitate iubemur abstinere, multo magis a spirituali patris nostri filia omni excusatione aut argumento seposito sub nimia districtione nos cauere conuenit, ne in iram diuinae examinationis incidat, si quis tali facinore mixtus minime restrinxerit frena luxuriae. Unde etiam omnes cauendi sunt a tali sceleris conmixtione, ne in perpetuum pereant; sed hunc, qui huius perniciosae temeritatis, animae suae salutem despiciens, inpio se miscuit matrimonio, per omnia tua fraternitas studeat separare, et penitenciae dignae submittere, quatinus ab eterna erutam dampnatione animam eius lucreris.
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C. III. Let no one dare to give to his own son a girl whom he received from the sacred font.
Likewise Zachary and Deusdedit. One ought never to give in marriage to one’s own son a daughter whom one received from the sacred font, because in the divine judgment they are found to be siblings. If anyone mingled in such a crime has by no means restrained the reins of lust, he will be abhorred by the Catholic Church. But if he has been converted, after the separation let him perform penance for seven years. Let this condition apply to those who knew of it together with the principal actor; that is, let the collaborators and those consenting perform penance together with him.
PART II. GRATIAN. But children, whether born before or after the relationship of coparenthood, can lawfully be joined. Hence Urban II writes to Vitalis, priest of Brescia, saying:
C. III. Filio suo, quam de sacro fonte susceperit nullus tradere audeat.
Item Zacharias et Deusdedit. Non oportet filiam, quam de sacro fonte susceperit, aliquando filio suo in matrimonium tradere, quia in diuina sentencia germani esse inueniuntur. Si quis tali facinore conmixtus minime restrinxerit frena luxuriae, ab ecclesia catholica abhominabitur. Sed si conuersus fuerit, post separationem septem annis penitenciam gerat. Consciis simul cum auctore sit ista condicio, id est simul cum cooperatoribus et consentientibus peniteat. II. Pars. Gratian. Filii uero, siue ante conpaternitatem siue post nati fuerint, licite coniungi possunt. Unde Urbanus II. scribit Vitali Presbitero Brisciensi, dicens:
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[C. IV.]
“Concerning the matters on which Your Love consulted us, this seems to us to be the response according to judgment: both that there is baptism if, when necessity presses, a woman baptizes a boy in the name of the Trinity, and that the sons or daughters of spiritual parents, begotten before or after the relationship of coparenthood, can lawfully be joined, except for the person through whom they were made coparents.”
But Paschal II prohibits those begotten after the relationship of coparenthood from being joined, writing to Bishop Reginus:
[C. IV.]
"Super quibus consuluit nos tua dilectio, hoc uidetur nobis ex sentencia respondendum, ut et baptismus sit, si instante necessitate femina puerum in nomine Trinitatis baptizauerit, et quod spiritualium parentum filii uel filiae, ante uel post conpaternitatem genitae, possunt legitime coniungi, preter illam personam, qua conpatres sunt effecti."
Pascalis uero secundus, post compaternitatem genitos copulari prohibet, scribens Regino Episcopo:
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C. V. Those born of a co-father or co-mother after children have been received from the font cannot be joined.
But after a spiritual son or daughter has been received from the font, those who have been born of the co-father or co-mother cannot be joined in marriage, because secular laws forbid those not emancipated from being joined to adopted children.
C. V. Qui ex conpatre uel conmatre post susceptos filios de fonte nati fuerint, coniungi non possunt.
Post susceptum uero de fonte filium uel filiam spiritualem, qui ex conpatre uel conmatre nati fuerint, matrimonio coniungi non possunt, quia leges seculi non emancipatos adoptiuis prohibent copulari.
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[PALEA. C. VI.
The same is considered from Book XXIII of the Digest, under the title On the Rite of Marriage, in which it is read thus: Brotherhood acquired through adoption impedes marriages for as long as the adoption remains; and therefore I will be able to take as wife a woman whom my father adopted and emancipated. Equally, if, after I have been emancipated, he retains her in his power, we will be able to be joined in marriage. Therefore, one who wishes to adopt a son-in-law is advised to emancipate his daughter. Similarly, one who wishes to adopt a daughter-in-law is advised to emancipate his son.]
PART III. GRATIAN. But if anyone, through some fortuitous event, has taken the daughter of his co-mother as wife, he is not compelled to put her away. Hence it is read in the Council of Tribur, [c. 48]:
[PALEA. C. VI.
Idem ex libro XXIII. Digestorum, titulo de ritu nuptiarum, perpenditur, in quo ita legitur: Per adoptionem quesita fraternitas eousque inpedit nuptias, donec manet adoptio, ideoque eam, quam pater meus adoptauit et emancipauit, potero uxorem ducere. Eque et si me emancipato illam in potestate retinuerit, poterimus iungi matrimonio. Itaque uolenti generum adoptare, suadetur, ut filiam emancipet. Similiter suadetur ei, qui uelit nurum adoptare, ut emancipet filium. ] III. Pars. Gratian. Si quis uero aliquo fortuito casu filiam suae conmatris uxorem acceperit, non cogitur eam dimittere. Unde in Triburiensi Concilio legitur: [c. 48.]
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C. VII. One is not compelled to put away the daughter of one’s co-mother whom one took in marriage.
We neither define this by canonical institution nor reject it by any prohibition; but because of those who think differently about it, we record something in this place. If anyone has taken in marriage the daughter of his spiritual co-mother fortuitously and through circumstances so occurring, after mature counsel has been observed, let him keep her and duly devote himself to a respectable, legitimate marriage.
C. VII. Non cogitur quis dimittere filiam suae conmatris, quam duxit in coniugium.
Illud etiam nec canonica institutione diffinimus, nec interdictione aliqua refutamus, sed propter eos, qui diuerse de eo sentiunt, hoc loco aliquid conmemoramus. Si quis suae spiritualis conmatris filiam fortuitu et ita contingente rerum casu in coniugium duxerit, consilio maturiori seruato habeat, atque honeste legitimo coniugio operam det.
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