Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise VIII. On Matrimony › Dissertation II. On Matrimony Itself › Part I. On Matrimony in General › Section IV. On the Properties of Matrimony

Chapter — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Chapter I. On the Unity of Matrimony

719.

The unity of matrimony consists in the conjunction of only one man with only one woman, that is, monogamy. Opposed to unity are simultaneous polyandry, which is the simultaneous conjunction of one woman with several men, and simultaneous polygamy, which is the simultaneous conjunction of one man with several women. Now:

I. Simultaneous polyandry is prohibited by natural law; both because natural law is opposed to several heads in the same society, and because the education of offspring, which belongs to the primary ends of matrimony, is ruined. For the care both of father and of mother is required for the education of offspring. But from the fact that several men use the same wife, uncertainty arises as to who is the father of the offspring to be born; and this uncertainty will bring it about that no one has care of the offspring (St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 65, a. 1, ad 8).

II. Polygamy is prohibited by natural law. That it is prohibited to Christians is of faith from the Council of Trent;1 that it is prohibited to all is clear from Sacred Scripture.2 But that it is prohibited to all by natural law is gathered from the fact that it is opposed to the secondary ends of matrimony; namely, to mutual help, which will suffer detriment from the lack of peaceful cohabitation; and to the quieting of concupiscence on the part of the wives, to each of whom the debt will not be rendered sufficiently. There are added the Instruction of the Holy Office,3 and canon 1013, § 2, which counts unity among the essential properties of matrimony.

In the Old Law polygamy, besides for the reason alleged by Christ, that is, because of hardness of heart, was also conceded by God, so that the human race, and especially the Jewish race, might be multiplied more quickly (cf. St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 65, a. 2). The said concession also seems to have been extended to the nations. But Christ the Lord removed the aforesaid concession,4 so that in the evangelical law simultaneous polygamy is wholly and everywhere prohibited.

1 Session 24, canon 2.

2 Matthew 19:4 sq.

3 June 20, 1866 (Collectanea, 1354).

4 Matthew 19:4 sq.

Unity and indissolubility of marriagePolygamy and Polyandry