On Marriage: Preliminary Notes

The sacrament of Matrimony, like the sacrament of Order, contributes greatly to the good not only of the individual but also of society. For as by Order the ministers of God are propagated, who rule spiritual society, so by Matrimony the union of man and woman is sanctified, from which are begotten citizens who form each society, civil and ecclesiastical. How important it is to discuss this sacrament all those know who are persuaded that the happiness and prosperity not only of individuals, but also of families and societies, depends altogether on the procreation and good education of children.

667. 1° The various names of marriage. Matrimony (matris munium) is so called because the mother regularly expends greater labor than the father in receiving and educating offspring, since the infant is known to have been for the mother "burdensome before birth, painful in birth, laborious after birth."¹ It is also called conjugium (cum, jungere), because it is, as it were, a common yoke, to which those who contract marriage spontaneously submit themselves; connubium, or nuptiae (from nubendo, that is, veiling), because in antiquity brides, when they were handed over to men, covered the head with a veil for the sake of modesty;² consortium (cum, sors), by which is signified the very close society of bodies and souls by which man and woman are joined together.

¹ Gregory IX, Decretal., l. III, tit. 33, c. 2.

² Gen., XXIV, 65.

668. 2° Marriage as contract and sacrament. Matrimony can be considered as a natural contract and as a sacrament.

Matrimony as contract can be defined: a legitimate agreement between a man and a woman, conferring upon them a mutual, exclusive, and perpetual right both to acts of themselves apt for the generation of offspring, and to the fellowship of common life.

It is said: (a) a legitimate agreement... that is, entered into according to the laws, whether natural or positive, by which marriage is governed; and this is entered into between a man and a woman, who otherwise are by law capable of a contract of this kind.

(b) A mutual and perpetual right to acts... By these words the primary end of marriage is declared, namely the procreation of offspring and consequently education. But for the essence of marriage it is not required that children actually be begotten, since sterile persons lawfully marry; nor even the use of marriage, since the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph were joined in lawful marriage, although they never used matrimonial rights; but a right suffices to those acts which of themselves are apt for the generation of offspring, although by accident generation sometimes does not follow, or the spouses do not use their right. Moreover that right is mutual, as is clear, and perpetual, so that thus vague and fornicatory mingling of the sexes is excluded.

(c) To the fellowship of common life: here is signified the secondary end of marriage, mutual help which arises from the love and society of each, according to that word of Scripture:¹ "It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a helper like himself." - Wherefore spouses ought to be not only one flesh, so that they may generate offspring, but also one heart and one soul, so that they may bring help and solace to each other.

¹ Gen., II, 18.

Matrimony as sacrament is nothing other than the contract itself raised to the dignity of a sacrament, and is customarily defined: a sacrament of the New Law, by which, through the consent of the contracting parties legitimately furnished, grace is conferred upon spouses for rightly fulfilling the duties of marriage. The definition will be clearer from the things to be said below.

669. 3° On other divisions of marriage. Matrimony can be considered under a multiple respect:

1° By reason of validity, it is distinguished into valid and invalid: (a) the former, which is also called true, is that which in reality has been contracted, without any diriment impediment; (b) the latter, which is also called null, is that which, on account of some defect or impediment, was not truly contracted; it is called attempted, insofar as one or the other party with knowledge of the impediment has dared to enter it; putative, when by the spouses themselves, or at least by one or the other, it is considered valid, although on account of a hidden impediment it is invalid.

2° By reason of dignity, it is legitimate or ratified: (a) legitimate, when it has been entered into according to the laws of natural and positive law, so that it is valid as a contract, although it does not attain to the dignity of a sacrament;¹ such is marriage lawfully contracted between infidels or the non-baptized; (b) ratified, that is received, when it is validly entered into between the faithful, so that it has the nature of a sacrament.²

¹ Formerly even the marriages of the faithful were called legitimate, when all the solemnities of law had been observed; but today the sense set forth above has prevailed. Cf. Benedict XIV, De Synodo, lib. VIII, c. 12, n. 5.

² Sometimes, however, but in an improper sense, even clandestine and consequently invalid marriages of the faithful are called ratified. Cf. Gasparri, n. 235.

3° By reason of effect, it is called ratified or consummated: ratified, when it has been celebrated, but not yet completed by carnal copula; consummated, when it has been completed by carnal copula of itself apt for generation, whether conception really follows, or not.

4° By reason of duration, marriage is an act or a state: the former is the passing agreement itself by which a right over bodies is mutually handed over in order to generation (matrimonium in fieri); the latter is the permanent state resulting from this passing act (matrimonium in facto esse).

670. 4° Division. There will be four chapters: in the first, we shall treat of the contract itself of marriage; in the second, of the sacrament; in the third, of the impediments which sometimes stand in the way of the celebration of each; in the fourth, of dispensations which are customarily granted from these impediments. The two former chapters will be especially dogmatic, and in them we shall chiefly set forth natural and divine law concerning marriage. In the two others, we shall explain practical questions, namely moral and canonical ones, chiefly pertaining to positive law. Yet even in the former part, when occasion is given, we shall examine certain practical conclusions, lest we be compelled to treat twice of the same matter.

This division will be better understood from the following schema.

On marriage as contract

Its nature:

• It consists in a stable contract.
• The essence of the contract consists in consent.

Its properties:

• unity.
• indissolubility.

On marriage as sacrament

On the sacrament itself:

• Existence.
• Nature.
• Effects.
• The power of making laws concerning marriage.

On the celebration of marriage:

• On the preliminaries to the celebration.
• On the rite of celebration.

On the impediments of marriage

• Prohibiting.
• Diriment.

On dispensations

• On dispensations themselves.
• On the revalidation of marriage.

Appendix: On civil law with respect to marriage.