Question V

GRATIAN. Concerning how the degrees of consanguinity are to be reckoned, blessed Isidore speaks as follows:

The series of consanguinity is distinguished in six degrees in this manner: let the son and daughter—that is, the brother and sister—be the trunk itself. When they have been separated apart, these little branches emerge from the root of that trunk: grandson and granddaughter, the first; great-grandson and great-granddaughter, the second; great-great-grandson and great-great-granddaughter, the third; descendants in the next generation, the fourth; descendants in the following generation, the fifth; the grandson of the male descendant and the granddaughter of the female descendant of that generation, the sixth.

Likewise Alexander II writes to the clergy of Naples and to all bishops and judges established throughout Italy concerning this matter, saying as follows. A newly arisen question concerning the degrees of consanguinity has been brought to the Apostolic See. Certain persons unskilled in the laws and canons, stirring up this question, strive to number those same degrees of relationship contrary to the sacred canons and ecclesiastical custom, affirming in a new and unheard-of error that full brothers or sisters are among themselves in the second generation, their sons or daughters in the fourth, and their grandsons or granddaughters in the sixth. Reckoning the line of descent in this manner and terminating it in the sixth degree of this kind, they say that thereafter men and women can contract the rights of marriage with one another. And to confirm this profane error they assume as an argument the secular laws which Emperor Justinian promulgated concerning the successions of blood relatives. Trusting in these, they attempt to show that brothers are numbered in the second degree, their children in the fourth, and grandsons and granddaughters in the sixth. By thus terminating the genealogical line, they strive by a certain perverse cunning to disturb the reckoning of the holy Fathers and the ancient computation of the Church handed down even to us. But with God’s favor, we took care to examine this question at a synod held in the Lateran consistory, bishops, clerics, and judges from diverse provinces having been summoned for this work.

§ 1. Finally, after the laws and sacred canons had long been discussed, we found distinctly that one computation is made by the laws and another by the canons for different reasons. For in the laws mention of the degrees was made for no reason other than that inheritance or succession might be transferred among blood relatives from one person to another. But in the canons the line of descent is reckoned so that it may be shown openly down to what generation one must abstain from marriages with blood relatives. There it is prescribed that inheritance be conferred upon relatives in a lawful manner; here, that marriages be celebrated rightly and canonically among the faithful. In the laws the degrees are not distinctly numbered except down to the sixth; but in the canons they are distinguished down to the seventh generation. Therefore, for this reason—because inheritances cannot be transferred except from one person to another—the secular emperor took care to assign individual degrees to individual persons. But because marriages cannot occur without two persons, the sacred canons therefore place two persons in one degree.

§ 2. Nevertheless, if each computation is considered attentively and subtly, it will be most manifest that they have understood the same thing, that the same judgment is in them, and that they arrive at the same terminus. For Justinian did not define in his laws the degree down to which consanguinity itself endures. But the canons number no generation beyond the seventh. For after defining the sixth degree, the emperor added in those laws: “Let it suffice to have shown thus far how the degrees of kinship are numbered. For from these it is plain to understand how we ought to number the further degrees. For each person generated adds a degree.” Behold, in these words it is openly shown that degrees of the kind these persons reckon ought to be numbered not only down to the sixth but even beyond it, since he decrees that further degrees beyond the sixth are to be numbered. For where he names further degrees, he openly indicates that there are not only six degrees, but that when six have ended still others are to be numbered. Nor is this remarkable, since in what precedes the emperor himself affirmed a right even in the tenth degree; by saying this he confesses more clearly than light that there are not only six.

§ 3. Therefore, let those whom an error of this kind has hitherto struck awaken and, if they can, direct the keenness of their minds. For indeed, where succession is transferred among agnates or cognates according to the laws, there is no doubt that they are blood relatives. For they would not succeed to one another unless, according to Justinian’s testimony, they were related to one another in the tenth degree; therefore, those who thus succeed to one another are blood relatives to one another. But if they are blood relatives to one another in the tenth degree, consanguinity is not terminated—as those persons acknowledge—in the sixth degree alone. What, then, will they say? For when the degrees are reckoned as they number them, consanguinity either ends in the sixth degree or it does not. But if it ends, the laws upon which they rely, which command blood relatives to succeed to one another in the tenth degree, will be false. But if consanguinity does not end in a sixth degree of this kind, those who refuse to reckon consanguinity beyond that sixth degree will be speakers of falsehood. Therefore, either the laws will be false or those who terminate the generation in this way.

§ 4. But so that the laws may be truthful and the canons true, let us say what the truth maintains: namely, that consanguinity is not terminated in a sixth degree of this kind, and according to the canons it is terminated in the seventh degree. For each computation, as we said above, is concluded at one end. Indeed, two legal degrees make one canonical degree. Accordingly, brothers who according to the secular laws are said to be in the second degree are numbered in the first according to the canons. The sons of brothers, who are numbered there in the fourth, are reckoned here in the second; but grandsons, who are there in the sixth, are numbered here in the third. So thereafter those who are written in the laws to be in the eighth and tenth are defined in the canons to be in the fourth and fifth. And the same is to be understood concerning the rest: those who according to the canons are said to be in the sixth or seventh are understood according to the laws to be in the twelfth or fourteenth.

§ 5. Most prudent Pope Gregory, understanding this computation, when asked in what generation the faithful ought to be joined, adduced the secular laws themselves as testimony and wrote back to Augustine, bishop of the English, as follows: “A certain earthly law in the Roman republic permits the son and daughter either of a brother and sister, of two full brothers, or of two sisters to be joined. But we have learned by experience that offspring cannot grow from such a union. Hence it is necessary that the union of the faithful may lawfully be joined in the third or fourth generation. For one must altogether abstain from the second, which we mentioned.” Behold, it is openly shown here that the sons and daughters of brothers are numbered in the second generation. And if the sons or daughters of brothers are numbered in the second, it cannot be that the brothers themselves are not in the first. But if brothers are reckoned in the first, their children in the second, there is no doubt that their grandchildren are in the third, great-grandchildren in the fourth, and so concerning the rest down to the seventh.

§ 6. But there are certain persons who take from these words of Saint Gregory, in which he says that the faithful may be joined in the third or fourth generation, an occasion for contracting unlawful marriages, saying that they can justly do what so prudent a doctor defined by his judgment. Accordingly, those who strive to defend themselves with this covering should observe in the judgments of the same Father that he commanded this not generally to everyone but specially to the nation of the English. For afterward, when asked by Felix, prelate of Messina in Sicily, whether what he had commanded Augustine was to be observed generally by the whole Church, he showed most openly that he had commanded this to no others than that nation, lest they abandon the good they had begun through fear of harsher things. But he judged that, after they had been consolidated in the faith with a firm root, this was always to be observed by them and by the universal Church: that no one should dare to join to himself in marriage anyone from his own consanguinity or affinity within the seventh generation.

§ 7. Behold, it has been openly shown from both the words of the law itself and the authority of most prudent Pope Gregory what we ought to understand concerning the numbering of the degrees of consanguinity. Yet another reason also refutes those adversaries in like manner. For if, as they acknowledge, consanguinity ended in that sixth degree, all the little branches of persons contained beyond that degree in the depiction of the tree would have to be cut off as superfluous. But because all those who are numbered in the depiction of the aforesaid tree consist from one kindred, they can never be separated from one another without diminishing the consanguinity, just as hands, arms, and feet cannot be cut from one’s own body without injury to the person.

§ 8. That precept of the sacred canons which commands abstention from one’s own consanguinity for as long as the generation is recalled or retained in memory also does not disagree with the aforesaid reckoning of kindred. For it is numbered canonically and customarily in seven degrees, beyond which neither consanguinity is found, nor are names of degrees discovered, nor can succession be extended any farther, nor can the generation be recalled from memory by anyone.

§ 9. But lest any ambiguity henceforth be able to remain in this reckoning of consanguinity, we have judged that another numbering which certain persons make must also be examined in this disputation. For there are certain persons who begin to number the genealogy not from brothers but from their children, that is, paternal or maternal cousins, saying that the children of brothers ought to be reckoned in the first generation because the brothers exist as a certain trunk from which the other little branches arise. But neither can this reckoning of degrees, if rightly understood, differ in judgment from that which we explained above. For those who take the beginning of the numbering from the children of brothers do not advance beyond the sixth generation. Rather, just as there are six ages of the whole world and likewise six of human life, so too they think that only six generations are to be reckoned in consanguinity; when these have ended, they say that the beginning of a new union can be made, so that they can, as it were, call back the fleeing consanguinity.

§ 10. Accordingly, this computation, which begins from the children of brothers and is numbered down to the sixth, has as much force as that which begins from brothers and reckons down to the seventh. Nor does any difference exist in sense, although a variation appears in the number of degrees. For the last generation, if it takes the beginning of the numbering from brothers, is found to be the seventh; if from the children of brothers, it is found to be the sixth. Therefore, with the degrees of consanguinity determined in this way, by apostolic authority we admonish you, brothers and sons, that you make known to everyone that the genealogical line is to be reckoned just as the holy Fathers decreed that it be numbered and as the ancient custom of the holy and universal Church is shown long ago to have reckoned it through long periods. For if anyone with a perverse and obstinate mind wishes to deviate from the right path of the Apostolic See and contends that in celebrating marriages the degrees of kindred are to be numbered otherwise than by us, first that person will be struck by heavenly punishment for his rashness, and afterward let him know that he is to be slain by the sword of perpetual anathema.

Likewise Gregory. Moreover, concerning affinity, which you say is the kinship that pertains to the husband on the wife’s side or to the wife on the husband’s side, the reason is most manifest: if, according to the divine sentence, my wife and I are one flesh, then surely her kindred and mine become one relationship for her and for me. Therefore, my wife’s sister and I will be in one and the first degree; but her son will be in the second degree from me, and her granddaughter in the third. The same must be done from either side in the other successions.

§ 1. But I ought to regard the wife of a relative, of whatever degree he may be, just as though she were a woman of my own relationship in that same degree. Undoubtedly, the same is fittingly to be observed by my wife concerning her husband’s relationship in all degrees of kinship. But those who think otherwise are antichrists, against whom you ought to guard all the more solicitously insofar as you detect more openly that they assail the divine laws.

Likewise Pope Zacharias. We reckon the degrees of kindred in this manner: indeed, my brother and I are one generation and make the first degree; we are separated by no degree. Again, my son and my brother’s son are the second generation and make the second degree; nor are they separated from one another by any degree. And the other successions are reckoned in this manner. Moreover, concerning affinity, which you call kindred, etc., as above in the chapter of Gregory.

Likewise Pope Alexander II. But that your wife’s brother or sister are called cognati occurs by the law of equivocation and the necessity of common usage rather than through any ground of kinship. For a brother’s wife is called fratrissa rather than cognata. A husband’s brother is called levir. The wives of two brothers are called ianitrices, as though wearing out the same door or entering through the same door. A husband’s sister is called glos. But a sister’s husband has no special name, nor does a wife’s brother.

Likewise Isidore. In the first degree, the father and mother are contained in the ascending line; the son and daughter in the descending line. No other persons are joined to them.

§ 1. In the second degree, the grandfather and grandmother are contained in the ascending line; the granddaughter in the descending line; brother and sister in the transverse line. These persons are doubled. For grandfather and grandmother are understood both from the father and from the mother. These persons are likewise doubled in the following degrees, in the same order, according to the substance of those who stand in each degree. (These persons in the second degree are called double for this reason: there are two grandfathers, paternal and maternal. Likewise, there are two kinds of grandchildren, those begotten from a son and those from a daughter. Brother and sister come from the transverse line, that is, either the father’s brother or the mother’s brother, who is named either paternal uncle or maternal uncle; and they themselves too are doubled in this order.)

§ 2. In the third degree there come above the great-grandfather and great-grandmother; below, the great-grandson and great-granddaughter. From the oblique line come a brother’s or sister’s son or daughter; paternal uncle and paternal aunt, that is, the father’s brother and sister; maternal uncle and maternal aunt, that is, the mother’s brother and sister.

§ 3. In the fourth degree there come above the great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother; below, the great-great-grandson and great-great-granddaughter. From the oblique line come a brother’s or sister’s grandson and granddaughter; male and female paternal cousins, that is, a paternal uncle’s son or daughter; male and female maternal cousins, that is, a maternal uncle’s or maternal aunt’s son or daughter; male and female cousins through a paternal aunt, that is, a paternal aunt’s son or daughter; likewise, the cousins who are born from two sisters. To these are added the great paternal uncle and great paternal aunt, that is, the paternal grandfather’s brother and sister; and the great maternal uncle and great maternal aunt, that is, the brother and sister of either the paternal or maternal grandmother.

§ 4. In the fifth degree there come above the third great-grandfather and third great-grandmother; below, the third great-grandson and third great-granddaughter. From the oblique line come a brother’s or sister’s great-grandson and great-granddaughter; the son or daughter of a male or female paternal cousin, a male or female cousin through a paternal aunt, or a male or female maternal cousin; the nearer male cousin and nearer female cousin, that is, the son or daughter of a great paternal uncle, great paternal aunt, great maternal uncle, or great maternal aunt. To these are added the great-great paternal uncle and great-great paternal aunt. These are the brother and sister of the paternal great-grandfather; also the great-great maternal uncle and great-great maternal aunt. These are the brother and sister of the paternal and maternal great-grandmother and of the maternal great-grandfather. (This class cannot be declared in any degrees other than that in which it is written, nor by any other terms.)

§ 5. In the sixth degree there come above the fourth great-grandfather and fourth great-grandmother; below, the fourth great-grandson and fourth great-granddaughter. From the oblique line come a brother’s or sister’s great-great-grandson and great-great-granddaughter; the grandson and granddaughter of a male or female paternal cousin, a male or female cousin through a paternal aunt, a male or female maternal cousin, a great paternal uncle, great paternal aunt, great maternal uncle, or great maternal aunt; the son or daughter of a nearer maternal cousin; the paternal great-great-great-uncle and paternal great-great-great-aunt. These are the brother and sister of the paternal great-great-grandfather; also the maternal great-great-great-uncle and maternal great-great-great-aunt. These are the brother and sister of the paternal and maternal great-great-grandmother and of the maternal great-great-grandfather. (These too cannot be explained more fully than the author himself discussed them.)

§ 6. Those who are blood relatives in the direct line above and below in the seventh degree are not called by names proper to them; but in the transverse line are contained a brother’s or sister’s third great-grandson and third great-granddaughter, and the sons and daughters of a maternal cousin.

§ 7. Six degrees of succession were established for this reason: beyond them, by the nature of things, neither can names be found nor can succession be extended farther. (In these six degrees are contained all the names of every relationship; beyond them neither is affinity found nor can succession be propagated farther.)

GRATIAN. By the authority of blessed Isidore, Gregory, and Alexander, it has been sufficiently shown how many degrees of consanguinity or affinity there are, how they are to be reckoned, and by what names they are called.