General Introduction

Moved to compassion by the errors that are current in a society become partly pagan, by the ignorance to which many of the Faithful are becoming more and more the victims so far as to lose sight of the sanctity of their state of life, and by the growing corruption of morals against which nature protests, the Supreme Pastor declares that he yielded to an imperious necessity in publishing an encyclical which is doctrinal and which at the same time highly champions the cause of Christian marriage.

The Sovereign Pontiff wished to remind every one of what is now too commonly ignored, the sanctity of marriage, especially of Christian marriage; to stigmatize the false principles and practical abuses relating to it, and to win the Faithful away from them; and to point out the way of escape from the deplorable state of affairs, and give hope of a restoration beautiful in itself and salutary to society. To this end, the Vicar of Jesus Christ wishes through the voice of the Bishops to instruct the entire Church, and even the whole human race¹. On the nature and dignity of marriage, especially Christian marriage; 2. On the blessings and benefits which flow from it for the family and for society ; 3. On the prevailing errors on the subject of marriage; 4. On the abuses that are commonly practised against the conjugal state 5. On the principal remedies to do away with the abuses and to restore Christian marriage to its true place.

¹ P. 22 of the edition published by the America Press, February, 1931. (It is to this edition that all page references will be made.) All quotations in italics are from the Encyclical.

The encyclical falls naturally into three principal divisions : The fundamental principles, and the three great benefits and blessings of marriage: children, conjugal fidelity, and sacramental elevation;

Erroneous theories and the vices contrary to these three great blessings, together with their sad consequences; The principal remedies to avoid the abyss into which the abuses against marriage are drawing society, and to make way for the restoration of marriage to its true dignity.

By no means. Fifty years before, on February 10, 1880, Leo XIII published a doctrinal Encyclical beginning with the word “Arcanum.” Its chief purpose was to set forth the sacred character of every conjugal union, and to condemn purely civil marriages and divorce.

On the contrary the Pope expressly desires to give it new force, and he makes all its teachings his own. More than once he appeals to it as an authority.

The new one has a more practical purpose. Whereas the Encyclical “Arcanum” concerned itself chiefly with theory and refuted the errors embodied in civil legislation, the Encyclical “Casti Connubii,” while not departing from theoretical principles, pays special attention to erroneous teachings which have more recently gained currency, and condemns the vices which are now perverting marriage. It is particularly designed to meet the needs of the present time.