§ 3. On the Causes of Dispensations

861. The Council of Trent²⁵⁹ established: "In contracting marriages, either no dispensation at all is to be given, or it is to be given rarely, and that for a cause and gratuitously." In other words: for a licit dispensation a just cause is always required; but for a valid dispensation from impediments of ecclesiastical law the supreme legislator, namely, the Supreme Pontiff, does not indeed need a cause, since he is above the whole ecclesiastical law, but in fact he is not judged to dispense when a cause is lacking. All others inferior to the Supreme Pontiff, however, dispense neither licitly nor validly without a just cause. The reason is that the Pope does not delegate this faculty of dispensing unless it is exercised prudently and for a reasonable cause. If, however, the one dispensing thinks that a true cause is present which is in fact absent because of error or even because of deceit, the dispensation is not thereby invalidated, as will be said below. But in doubt concerning the sufficiency of the cause, a valid dispensation is licitly sought and granted.²⁶⁰

Kinds of causes.

a) Final causes (motive causes) are those which suffice by themselves for obtaining a dispensation. Impelling causes (impulsive causes) are those which by themselves alone do not suffice for obtaining a dispensation, but nevertheless assist toward this effect. Hence, if one final cause and several impelling causes are adduced, a dispensation is obtained more easily than if the final cause alone is present.

b) Defaming causes (dishonorable, shameful causes) are those which arise from an offense and are wont to produce infamy. Honorable causes have the mark neither of an offense nor of infamy. Since great harm can easily arise from defaming causes, for example, from illicit intercourse, unless a dispensation for entering matrimony is granted, those causes are wont to be very efficacious for obtaining a dispensation.

c) Canonical causes are those which in law or according to the style of the Roman Curia are held to be final and sufficient. Non-canonical causes, which are also called reasonable or certain causes, are those which by themselves alone do not suffice for obtaining a dispensation; wherefore, if a dispensation is nevertheless granted because of them alone, it is said to be granted "without a cause," that is, without a canonical cause. Canonical causes are the same as final causes, while non-canonical causes are equivalent to impulsive causes.

²⁵⁹ Sess. 24, c. 5, De reform. matrim.

²⁶⁰ Code of Canon Law, can. 84, § 2.

862. The following sixteen canonical causes for dispensing are enumerated in the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith of May 9, 1877:

1. "Narrowness of place, whether absolute or relative (by reason only of the female petitioner), namely, when in the place of origin or even of domicile the woman's kindred is so widely spread that she cannot find another man of equal condition whom she may marry unless he is a blood relative or relative by affinity, while it would be hard for her to leave her native country."

Narrowness of place is judged absolute if there are not more than 300 households or 1,500 inhabitants there, though not merely in the parish,²⁶¹ and the distance from the nearest place is more than a mile, that is, 1,500 meters.²⁶² If the place of the bridegroom is the same as, or equally narrow as, the place of the bride, this can then usefully be stated in the petition in this manner: "the narrowness of the place in which the petitioners were born," or "have their domicile"; or: "the narrowness of the places where the petitioners...." Narrowness of place is relative if there are indeed more than 1,500 Catholic inhabitants in the place of domicile, but the woman's kindred is so widely spread that she cannot find another husband of equal condition. It must be noted that heretics perhaps staying in a place are not counted in the computation of its inhabitants; impious and unbelieving Catholics, however, must be counted.

2. "The advanced age of the woman, namely, if, having already passed the twenty-fourth year of age, she has thus far not found a man of equal condition whom she can marry. This cause, however, does not favor a widow who desires to pass to other nuptials."

It is no longer required that an investigation be made as to whether the woman has thus far been unable to find a man of equal condition, but the age of twenty-four completed years by itself alone suffices. For to the question, "Whether in the verification of the cause, namely, the advanced age of the female petitioner, it is also necessary to inquire into and prove that up to that age the older woman had not found a man of equal condition whom she could marry, and this for the validity of the dispensation?" the Sacred Penitentiary responded on April 5, 1902: "It is enough that the advanced age be certainly established."²⁶³

3. "Deficiency or inadequacy of dowry, namely, if the woman does not actually have so great a dowry that she can marry an unrelated man of equal condition, who is neither a blood relative nor a relative by affinity, in the place in which she is staying. This cause is more urgent if the woman is entirely without a dowry and a blood relative or relative by affinity is prepared to take her as wife, or even suitably to provide her with a complete dowry."

The name of dowry is not to be understood in the strict juridical sense, but as that fortune which is actually brought by the wife into the matrimony to sustain its burdens. Consequently, a woman who after the death of her parents will have a sufficient fortune, but who at present, upon contracting matrimony, receives either nothing or little from her parents, is without a dowry, or at least her dowry is inadequate. This cause for dispensation can often occur in the case of a bride whose parents indeed have high rank but a moderate fortune.

4. "Lawsuits concerning succession to goods which have already arisen, or grave or imminent danger of them. If the woman is sustaining a grave lawsuit over succession to goods of great importance, and there is no one other than the man who wishes to take her as wife who will undertake such a lawsuit and prosecute it at his own expense, a dispensation is wont to be granted; for it is in the interest of the commonwealth that lawsuits be extinguished. Another cause closely approaches this one, namely, a dowry involved in lawsuits, when the woman is deprived of another man by whose aid she can recover her goods. Such a cause, however, suffices only for the more remote degrees."

²⁶¹ Pius IX, August 30, 1847.

²⁶² Sacred Congregation of the Council, December 16, 1876, and March 8, 1884; cf. Sacred Congregation of the Council, August 24, 1907.

²⁶³ Collectan. de Prop. Fide, n. 2134.

863. 5. "The poverty of a widow who is burdened with numerous offspring and whom a man promises to support. But sometimes by the remedy of a dispensation a widow is assisted for the sole reason that she is younger and is in danger of incontinence."

In this canonical cause two motives are included: a) the burden incumbent upon the widow from her offspring, and b) youth and the danger of incontinence. Both motives are most readily present if a younger widow has children not yet grown, at least three or four; for not only bodily nourishment is necessary for the offspring, but also, and indeed principally, spiritual education, which is most difficult if the mother is deprived of the efficacious aid of a husband.

6. "The good of peace, under which name come not only treaties between kingdoms and princes, but also the extinguishing of grave enmities, quarrels, and civil hatreds. This cause is adduced either for extinguishing grave enmities which have arisen among the blood relatives or relatives by affinity of the contracting parties and which would be wholly settled by the celebration of the matrimony; or when grave enmities have prevailed among the blood relatives and relatives by affinity of the contracting parties and, although peace has already been made among them, the celebration of the matrimony would nevertheless conduce to the strengthening of that peace."

7. "Excessive, suspicious, or dangerous familiarity, and also cohabitation under the same roof, which cannot easily be prevented."

This cause could occur if, for example, a maid lives with a man alone and sinister rumors about their life are spread. Below, under nn. 14 and 15, similar and still graver causes are adduced.

8. "Intercourse previously had with a blood relative, relative by affinity, or another person laboring under an impediment, and pregnancy and therefore the legitimation of offspring, so that provision may be made for the good of the offspring itself and for the honor of the woman, who otherwise would remain unmarried. This certainly is one of the more urgent causes for which a dispensation is wont to be given even to common persons."

In the Instruction the words are added: "provided that the intercourse was not committed in the hope of obtaining a dispensation more easily; which circumstance would have to be expressed in the supplication."²⁶⁴ But these words were abolished by the Decree of the Holy Office of June 25, 1885, which established that "matrimonial dispensations granted thereafter would be valid even if incestuous intercourse, or the design and intention of obtaining a dispensation more easily by means of it, had been withheld." This canonical cause of intercourse is among the defaming causes, and accordingly it is often acknowledged only in the internal forum and therefore pertains to the Tribunal of the Sacred Penitentiary. If the intercourse was publicly known, recourse must be made not to the Sacred Penitentiary but to the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments.

9. "The infamy of the woman arising from the suspicion that, being excessively familiar with her blood relative or relative by affinity, she has been carnally known by him, even if the suspicion is false, when, unless the matrimony is contracted, the woman would remain gravely defamed or unmarried, would have to marry a man of unequal condition, or grave harms would arise."

10. "The revalidation of a matrimony which was contracted in good faith and publicly... because its dissolution can scarcely be made without public scandal and grave harm, especially to the woman. But if the spouses entered the nuptials in bad faith, they least of all merit the favor of a dispensation, as the Council of Trent provides, sess. 24, c. 5, De reform. matrim."

Although the spouses do not merit a dispensation from the impediment if they contracted an invalid matrimony in bad faith, nevertheless the present discipline is milder. For a dispensation is granted not only if one party alone contracted in bad faith, but even if both contracting parties were indeed in bad faith but now promise a serious and trustworthy amendment. The reason is that so many harms are wont to arise from the separation of the spouses that it is preferable to grant the dispensation. In seeking a dispensation for convalidating an invalid matrimony, however, mention must always be made of whether the spouses contracted the matrimony in good or bad faith.

²⁶⁴ Whether by the Holy Office decree of March 18, 1891 (Collectan. de Prop. Fide, n. 1749), all marriages contracted with this intercourse withheld were convalidated is not certainly established.

864. 11. "Danger of celebrating a mixed matrimony or of celebrating before a non-Catholic minister. When there is danger that those who wish to contract matrimony in some degree, even one of the greater degrees, may, because of the denial of a dispensation, approach a non-Catholic minister for the celebration of the nuptials, in contempt of the authority of the Church, a just cause for dispensing is found; for there is present not only a most grave scandal of the faithful, but also the fear of the perversion and defection from the faith of those acting in this way and despising the impediments of matrimony, especially in regions where heresies spread with impunity.... The same must be said concerning the danger that the Catholic party may dare to celebrate matrimony with a non-Catholic."

12. "Danger of incestuous concubinage...."

13. "Danger of civil matrimony. From what has been said it follows that the probable danger that those who seek a dispensation, if they do not obtain it, will celebrate only a civil matrimony, as they say, is a legitimate cause for dispensing."

14. "The removal of grave scandals."

15. "The cessation of public concubinage."

16. "Excellence of merits, when someone has deserved exceedingly well of religion, whether by combat against the enemies of the Catholic faith, by liberality toward the Church, by learning, by virtue, or in another manner."

These merits need not be those of the contracting parties themselves, but can also be those of their parents or ancestors.

"These are the more common and more important causes which are wont to be adduced for obtaining matrimonial dispensations." Thus the cited Instruction. Therefore, other causes which can move the legislator to grant the dispensation sought are not excluded.

865. Non-canonical or impulsive causes, which are wont to suffice for obtaining a dispensation at least of the lesser degree,²⁶⁵ can be enumerated as follows:

1. On the part of the female petitioner: a) difficulty in finding a man equally commendable in character, faith, and morals; b) infirmity and other defects, for example, illegitimacy of birth, the loss of virginity already suffered, etc.; c) orphanhood, that is, if the female petitioner is bereaved of both parents; d) assistance to be furnished to her parents, especially if they are poor.

2. On the part of the male petitioner: a) infirmity, so that he needs the care and consolation of a good wife; b) the care of offspring received from a preceding matrimony; c) the help of a wife for managing the household.

3. On the part of both: a) the intention of matrimony already made known, so that it cannot be abandoned without infamy; b) the virtues and good morals of each; c) the good of the parents.

²⁶⁵ Cf. above, n. 778 (e).