Question — Decretum of Gratian
Question VIII
GRATIAN. Therefore, since it has been proved that this man cannot put away his wife and take another, it is asked whether it is lawful for him to sin under this condition: that he might lead an unbelieving woman to the faith. Augustine affirms that this cannot be done, speaking thus in Book I On Adulterous Marriages, [c. 24]:
GRATIANUS. Cum itaque probatum sit, quod hic uxorem suam dimittere, et aliam ducere non potest, queritur, si liceat ei hac condicione peccare, ut infidelem ad fidem adducat? Quod non posse fieri Augustinus affirmat, in libro [I.] de adulterinis coniugiis [c. 24.] ita dicens:
Friedberg, col. 1147/1148
SOLE CHAPTER. No one ought to depart from a vow of continence, even if an unbelieving woman promises that she will become Christian.
Not only is adultery not to be committed—which certain persons do, but everyone who puts away his wife and takes another commits it, even if he has taken her for this reason, that he may make her Christian—but also whoever, not bound to a wife, has vowed continence to God ought in no way to sin by this compensation, so that he therefore believes that he is to take a wife because the woman who seeks marriage with him has promised that she will become Christian. For what was lawful for someone before he vowed will not be lawful when he has vowed that he will never do it, provided that he vowed that which is to be vowed, such as perpetual virginity; or, after marriages have been experienced, the chastity of widowhood by those released from the marital bond; or continual continence by faithful and chaste spouses who vow by consent and release the carnal dues to one another—which it is not right for the one to vow without the other. These things, therefore, and any others that are most rightly vowed, once human beings have vowed them, are to be broken under no condition, since they vowed them without any condition.
C. UN. Non debet aliquis a continentiae uoto recedere, etiamsi infidelis Christianam se fieri polliceatur.
Non solum mechandum non est, (quod faciunt quidam, sed omnis, qui dimittit uxorem suam, et ducit alteram, etsi propterea duxerit, ut Christianam faciat,) sed etiam quisquis non alligatus uxori continentiam Deo uouit, nullo modo debet ista conpensatione peccare, ut ideo credat uxorem sibi esse ducendam, quia promisit que nuptias eius appetit, futuram se esse Christianam. Quod enim cuiquam ante, quam uouisset, licebat, cum id se numquam facturum uouerit, non licebit: si tamen id uouerit, quod uouendum sit, sicuti est perpetua uirginitas, uel post experta conubia solutis a uinculo coniugali uidualis castitas, seu ex consensu uouentibus et carnalia debita sibi inuicem relaxantibus fidelibus castisque coniugibus (quod alterum sine altera, uel alteram sine altero uouere fas non est) iugis continentia. Hec ergo, et si qua alia sunt, que rectissime uouentur, cum homines uouerint, nulla condicione rumpenda sunt, que sine ulla condicione uouerunt.
Friedberg, col. 1147/1148