§ 1. On Fornication

I. Notion. Fornication is intercourse of an unmarried man with an unmarried woman by mutual consent.

It is called of an unmarried man with an unmarried woman. Moreover, persons are here called unmarried who are bound by no special bond of marriage, vow of chastity, consanguinity, or affinity; in a word, by no bond from which, to the malice of lust, another malice would be added (St. Alphonsus III, 432).

It is called by mutual consent; by this is signified the distinction between fornication and seduction (n. 43) and rape (n. 45).

II. Morality. First note proposition 48 condemned by Innocent XI: It seems so clear that fornication in itself involves no malice and is evil only because it has been forbidden, that the contrary seems wholly discordant with reason.

1. Fornication is intrinsically and gravely evil. This is clear first from the texts of Sacred Scripture cited above (n. 27). Next, the act of generating must be done in such a way that provision is made for the education of the human being to be procreated, and indeed, since nature abhors the defective, that provision is made perfectly. But provision would not be made perfectly for education if the act of generating were permitted to those who were not joined by an indissoluble bond, that is, marriage; in other words, if fornication were lawful. Therefore fornication is unlawful, and that under grave sin, because the defect of ordering to education of which we have spoken is grave.

The minor is proved. Since education requires the cohabitation and cooperation of father and mother, and that a lasting one, only then is provision perfectly made for education when provision is perfectly made for lasting cohabitation and cooperation. But only an indissoluble bond, that is, marriage, of itself perfectly provides for the lasting or even perpetual cohabitation and cooperation of father and mother; not, however, a purpose, which can be laid aside; nor a common mutual contract, which can be dissolved by the consent of both; nor a vow, which at least can be removed by dispensation.

Concerning the lasting cohabitation required, St. Thomas notes: "It is manifest... that for the education of a human being there is required not only the care of the mother, by whom he is nourished, but much more the care of the father, by whom he is to be instructed, and defended, and promoted in goods both interior and exterior; and therefore it is contrary to the nature of man that he should use wandering intercourse, but it is necessary that he be of one male to a determinate female, with whom he remains not for a short time, but for a long time or even for the whole of life" (II-II, q. 154, a. 2).

The same argument can also be proposed in this way: The use of venereal things must be ordered, and indeed, since nature abhors the defective, must be perfectly ordered, to the perfection of the human being procreated; likewise, since the human being procreated is perfected through education, to education; likewise, since education requires the lasting cohabitation of the parents, to lasting cohabitation. But only intercourse between persons bound by an indissoluble bond, that is, marriage, is perfectly ordered to lasting cohabitation, as is clear from what has been said above. Therefore only intercourse performed by married persons is lawful, but not intercourse performed by unmarried persons, that is, fornication.

Objection 1. It can sometimes happen that fornicators, that is, those not bound by marriage, will make good provision for the education of the offspring to be procreated.

Response. Let it pass; but nature, or the Author of nature, must be judged on His part to have provided perfectly for the education of offspring. But this requires that generation be permitted only to those who are joined by an indissoluble bond (p. 26).

Objection 2. Fornication at least seems lawful if now offspring certainly cannot be generated, for example if those having intercourse are certainly sterile, or the woman has been deprived of her ovaries.

Response. Moral precepts attend to that which is according to nature, and not to that which is found accidentally in this or that constitution or age; but of itself semen is ordered by nature to the generation and perfection of offspring. And therefore concerning any emission of semen the common precepts, which are taken chiefly from the end - which is generation and the perfection of the one generated - must be observed, however much by accident generation cannot then follow (n. 27).

2. The fornication of a Christian is graver than fornication committed by another; the Apostle alleges the reasons for this assertion in these words: "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Taking therefore the members of Christ, shall I make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. Or do you not know that he who adheres to a harlot becomes one body? For they shall be, he says, two in one flesh."¹ - "Flee fornication. Every sin whatsoever that a man commits is outside the body; but he who fornicates sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"²

3. Concerning the gravity of the sin of fornication relative to other sins, take these words of St. Thomas: "Fornication... is against the good of the human being to be born; and therefore according to its species it is a graver sin than sins which are against exterior goods, such as theft and other things of this sort; but it is less than sins which are directly against God and than a sin which is against the life of a human being already born, such as homicide" (II-II, q. 154, a. 3).

¹ 1 Cor. 6:15-16.

² 1 Cor. 6:18-19.

III. To fornication are referred concubinage and prostitution; likewise, in a certain way, the intercourse of a castrated man and of one who has undergone vasectomy, and onanistic intercourse.

1. Concubinage is carnal and habitual commerce between the same persons, whether they live in the same house or in different houses. The circumstance of concubinage does not change the species of the sin, so that of itself it need not be opened in confession; nevertheless, it must be manifested to the confessor if he asks.

Concerning penalties, they establish:

Canon 2357, § 2: Those who... publicly live in concubinage... are to be excluded from legitimate ecclesiastical acts until they have given signs of true repentance.

Canon 2359, § 1: Clerics in sacred orders, whether secular or religious, who are concubinarians, after a warning has been uselessly given, are to be compelled to withdraw from illicit cohabitation and to repair scandal by suspension from divine offices, deprivation of the fruits of office, benefice, and dignity.

Question: whether the public power can tolerate concubinage prevailing in colonies, in which, namely, officials both civil and military take an indigenous woman as a concubine, whom, when they return to their homeland, they abandon.

Response. In view both of the very great difficulty of removing that nefarious custom and of those things which will soon be alleged by some in favor of tolerating prostitutes, and which seem to have greater force for colonies than for other regions, the said concubinage can quite probably be tolerated.

Nevertheless Vermeersch rightly writes: "These things... the public power or magistracy ought carefully to guard:

a) That no legitimate wife, nor also any woman converted to the faith, be permitted to be admitted as a concubine, so that in this way due honor may be preserved both for marriage and for religion;

b) That every concubinage of a woman who has not fully matured, and every abduction and artful seduction of any woman whatsoever, be severely repressed.

c) That exterior decency be provided for. It cannot be permitted that these concubines as such be brought forward openly, and be led about as if legitimate wives and be treated with favors. On the contrary, it is necessary that the need of in some way veiling or concealing that shameful commerce contain a tacit reproof of the thing.

d) That those who preserve chaste morals be preferred, as being of themselves better for fulfilling offices, at least other things being equal.

Finally, it is to be wished that in Europe we prepare better cultivators of those regions; and that, by entering into a compact, those who there remain good may be better protected from human respect and from the contagion of vices."¹

2. Prostitution consists in this, that a woman is prepared to grant the use of her body to anyone. A woman given over to prostitution is called a prostitute; the house where - commonly with others - she dwells is called a brothel. Concerning the circumstance of prostitution, what has just been said about concubinage holds.

Prostitution is distinguished: 1. into public and clandestine, according as it is admitted by the public power, or is not admitted and is practiced clandestinely; 2. into brothel prostitution and free prostitution, the latter of which is practiced in streets and frequented places.

The public power cannot tolerate free prostitution, since it offers an occasion of sinning to those not seeking one. Nor can it tolerate brothel prostitution in smaller places. Whether it can do so, with the necessary conditions observed,² in great cities is disputed. Some affirm this, namely so that greater evils may be forestalled, such as pollution, sodomy, bestiality, the seduction of honorable girls, and venereal diseases.³ Others deny it, and judge that, on the one hand, greater evils are not notably diminished by tolerated brothels, while on the other hand sins are notably multiplied thereby. "Through prostitutes," says St. Alphonsus, "... greater evils are not avoided; because in lustful men, from easy and frequent intercourse with prostitutes, libido fixes deeper roots. And therefore, since this vice is increased more by frequency, they do not cease to commit pollutions and abominable sins, at least with the prostitutes themselves; nor for that reason do they abstain from soliciting honorable women. - Conversely, by the permission of prostitutes, innumerable other evils are added besides: namely more girls are prostituted, young men despise their parents, dissipate their goods, neglect scientific studies, stir up quarrels, and reject honorable marriages" (III, 434).

St. Augustine,⁴ whose words St. Thomas adduces (II-II, q. 10, a. 11), is commonly said to favor the milder opinion, to which also the author of the little work On the Governance of Princes⁵ adheres. St. Alphonsus, as is clear from the words cited above, already inclined to the more severe opinion, which today, because circumstances have changed, seems wholly to be followed. For - apart from the fact that brothels, as we have noted, always seem to have multiplied sins rather than diminished them - first, the crimes of which the adversaries speak are, because of the stricter public discipline, more forestalled. Next, brothels can now scarcely be relegated to the "meaner and remote" places of great cities. Moreover, in view of the greater ease of travel and the increased commerce with great cities, houses of prostitutes can easily be, and are, approached from everywhere, even from villages. Finally, the permission of brothels favors that detestable traffic in women and girls which internationally provides brothels of great cities continually with new victims of lust, not rarely unwilling or deceived; this reason alone has already impelled several nations, and even the League of Nations, both to oppose the system, hitherto quite commonly prevailing, of permitting brothels, and to promote "abolitionism," which reproves every connivance in this matter on the part of civil authority.⁶

3. The intercourse of a castrated man and of one who has undergone vasectomy⁷ (an unmarried man with an unmarried woman) is to be reduced to fornication. Onanistic intercourse of an unmarried man with an unmarried woman is pollution in effect, with an affection toward fornication added (n. 51).

¹ De castitate et de vitiis contrariis, n. 213.

² Namely, brothels must be relegated to the meaner and remote regions of the city.

³ Even prostitutes to whom a certificate of health has been granted infect very many with venereal disease.

⁴ "Remove prostitutes from human affairs: you will disturb all things with lusts" (De Ordine, l. 2, c. 4, n. 12; in Migne, Patrologia Latina, t. 32, col. 1000). It should be noted, however, that the aforesaid words do not so clearly express the opinion of St. Augustine. If we consider what the holy Doctor teaches in his Retractations and in his exposition against Faustus, he seems to adhere to the more severe opinion (Marc-Gestermann, Institutiones morales Alphonsianae I, n. 775, note).

⁵ L. 4, c. 14, after the middle.

⁶ Dutch law establishes penalties: 1. against pimps, that is, those who preside over a brothel (Penal Code, art. 250bis); 2. against those who take profit from a woman's lust, or souteneurs, as they are called (Penal Code, art. 452); 3. against those who for pay hand women over to prostitution (vrouwenhandelaars; Penal Code, art. 250ter).

⁷ Those castrated after puberty and those who have undergone vasectomy are capable of seminal emission in the first or second intercourse, namely until the epididymis has been emptied; after that emptying they can indeed preserve erectility and penetrate the vagina, and even ejaculate some liquid, but that liquid is not true semen.