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Title: |
Casti Connubii
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Descr.: |
On Christian Marriage
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Pope: |
Pope Pius XI
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Date: |
December 31, 1930
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To
the Venerable Brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
Bishops, and Other Local Ordinaries Enjoying Peace and Communion
with the Apostolic See.
Venerable
Brethren and Beloved Children, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
1.
How great is the dignity of chaste wedlock, Venerable Brethren,
may be judged best from this that Christ Our Lord, Son of the
Eternal Father, having assumed the nature of fallen man, not only,
with His loving desire of compassing the redemption of our race,
ordained it in an especial manner as the principle and foundation
of domestic society and therefore of all human intercourse, but
also raised it to the rank of a truly and great sacrament of the
New Law, restored it to the original purity of its divine
institution, and accordingly entrusted all its discipline and care
to His spouse the Church.
2.
In order, however, that amongst men of every nation and every age
the desired fruits may be obtained from this renewal of matrimony,
it is necessary, first of all, that men's minds be illuminated
with the true doctrine of Christ regarding it; and secondly, that
Christian spouses, the weakness of their wills strengthened by the
internal grace of God, shape all their ways of thinking and of
acting in conformity with that pure law of Christ so as to obtain
true peace and happiness for themselves and for their families.
3.
Yet not only do We, looking with paternal eye on the universal
world from this Apostolic See as from a watch-tower, but you,
also, Venerable Brethren, see, and seeing deeply grieve with Us
that a great number of men, forgetful of that divine work of
redemption, either entirely ignore or shamelessly deny the great
sanctity of Christian wedlock, or relying on the false principles
of a new and utterly perverse morality, too often trample it under
foot. And since these most pernicious errors and depraved morals
have begun to spread even amongst the faithful and are gradually
gaining ground, in Our office as Christ's Vicar upon earth and
Supreme Shepherd and Teacher We consider it Our duty to raise Our
voice to keep the flock committed to Our care from poisoned
pastures and, as far as in Us lies, to preserve it from harm.
4.
We have decided therefore to speak to you, Venerable Brethren, and
through you to the whole Church of Christ and indeed to the whole
human race, on the nature and dignity of Christian marriage, on
the advantages and benefits which accrue from it to the family and
to human society itself, on the errors contrary to this most
important point of the Gospel teaching, on the vices opposed to
conjugal union, and lastly on the principal remedies to be
applied. In so doing We follow the footsteps of Our predecessor,
Leo XIII, of happy memory, whose Encyclical Arcanum,(1) published
fifty years ago, We hereby confirm and make Our own, and while We
wish to expound more fully certain points called for by the
circumstances of our times, nevertheless We declare that, far from
being obsolete, it retains its full force at the present day.
5.
And to begin with that same Encyclical, which is wholly concerned
in vindicating the divine institution of matrimony, its
sacramental dignity, and its perpetual stability, let it be
repeated as an immutable and inviolable fundamental doctrine that
matrimony was not instituted or restored by man but by God; not by
man were the laws made to strengthen and confirm and elevate it
but by God, the Author of nature, and by Christ Our Lord by Whom
nature was redeemed, and hence these laws cannot be subject to any
human decrees or to any contrary pact even of the spouses
themselves. This is the doctrine of Holy Scripture;(2) this is the
constant tradition of the Universal Church; this the solemn
definition of the sacred Council of Trent, which declares and
establishes from the words of Holy Writ itself that God is the
Author of the perpetual stability of the marriage bond, its unity
and its firmness.(3)
6.
Yet although matrimony is of its very nature of divine
institution, the human will, too, enters into it and performs a
most noble part. For each individual marriage, inasmuch as it is a
conjugal union of a particular man and woman, arises only from the
free consent of each of the spouses; and this free act of the
will, by which each party hands over and accepts those rights
proper to the state of marriage,(4) is so necessary to constitute
true marriage that it cannot be supplied by any human power.(5)
This freedom, however, regards only the question whether the
contracting parties really wish to enter upon matrimony or to
marry this particular person; but the nature of matrimony is
entirely independent of the free will of man, so that if one has
once contracted matrimony he is thereby subject to its divinely
made laws and its essential properties. For the Angelic Doctor,
writing on conjugal honor and on the offspring which is the fruit
of marriage, says: "These things are so contained in
matrimony by the marriage pact itself that, if anything to the
contrary were expressed in the consent which makes the marriage,
it would not be a true marriage."(6)
7.
By matrimony, therefore, the souls of the contracting parties are
joined and knit together more directly and more intimately than
are their bodies, and that not by any passing affection of sense
of spirit, but by a deliberate and firm act of the will; and from
this union of souls by God's decree, a sacred and inviolable bond
arises. Hence the nature of this contract, which is proper and
peculiar to it alone, makes it entirely different both from the
union of animals entered into by the blind instinct of nature
alone in which neither reason nor free will plays a part, and also
from the haphazard unions of men, which are far removed from all
true and honorable unions of will and enjoy none of the rights of
family life.
8.
From this it is clear that legitimately constituted authority has
the right and therefore the duty to restrict, to prevent, and to
punish those base unions which are opposed to reason and to
nature; but since it is a matter which flows from human nature
itself, no less certain is the teaching of Our predecessor, Leo
XIII of happy memory:(7) "In choosing a state of life there
is no doubt but that it is in the power and discretion of each one
to prefer one or the other: either to embrace the counsel of
virginity given by Jesus Christ, or to bind himself in the bonds
of matrimony. To take away from man the natural and primeval right
of marriage, to circumscribe in any way the principal ends of
marriage laid down in the beginning by God Himself in the words
'Increase and multiply,'(8) is beyond the power of any human
law."
9.
Therefore the sacred partnership of true marriage is constituted
both by the will of God and the will of man. From God comes the
very institution of marriage, the ends for which it was
instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that flow from
it; while man, through generous surrender of his own person made
to another for the whole span of life, becomes, with the help and
cooperation of God, the author of each particular marriage, with
the duties and blessings annexed thereto from divine institution.
10.
Now when We come to explain, Venerable Brethren, what are the
blessings that God has attached to true matrimony, and how great
they are, there occur to Us the words of that illustrious Doctor
of the Church whom We commemorated recently in Our Encyclical Ad
salutem on the occasion of the fifteenth centenary of his
death:(9) "These," says St. Augustine, "are all the
blessings of matrimony on account of which matrimony itself is a
blessing; offspring, conjugal faith and the sacrament."(10)
And how under these three heads is contained a splendid summary of
the whole doctrine of Christian marriage, the holy Doctor himself
expressly declares when he said: "By conjugal faith it is
provided that there should be no carnal intercourse outside the
marriage bond with another man or woman; with regard to offspring,
that children should be begotten of love, tenderly cared for and
educated in a religious atmosphere; finally, in its sacramental
aspect that the marriage bond should not be broken and that a
husband or wife, if separated, should not be joined to another
even for the sake of offspring. This we regard as the law of
marriage by which the fruitfulness of nature is adorned and the
evil of incontinence is restrained."(11)
11.
Thus amongst the blessings of marriage, the child holds the first
place. And indeed the Creator of the human race Himself, Who in
His goodness wishes to use men as His helpers in the propagation
of life, taught this when, instituting marriage in Paradise, He
said to our first parents, and through them to all future spouses:
"Increase and multiply, and fill the earth."(12) As St.
Augustine admirably deduces from the words of the holy Apostle
Saint Paul to Timothy(13) when he says: "The Apostle himself
is therefore a witness that marriage is for the sake of
generation: 'I wish,' he says, 'young girls to marry.' And, as if
someone said to him, 'Why?,' he immediately adds: 'To bear
children, to be mothers of families'."(14)
12.
How great a boon of God this is, and how great a blessing of
matrimony is clear from a consideration of man's dignity and of
his sublime end. For man surpasses all other visible creatures by
the superiority of his rational nature alone. Besides, God wishes
men to be born not only that they should live and fill the earth,
but much more that they may be worshippers of God, that they may
know Him and love Him and finally enjoy Him forever in heaven;
and this end, since man is raised by God in a marvelous way to the
supernatural order, surpasses all that eye hath seen, and ear
heard, and all that hath entered into the heart of man.(15) From
which it is easily seen how great a gift of divine goodness and
how remarkable a fruit of marriage are children born by the
omnipotent power of God through the cooperation of those bound in
wedlock.
13.
But Christian parents must also understand that they are destined
not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed
not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but
children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to
raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God's
household,(16) that the worshippers of God and Our Savior may
daily increase.
14.
For although Christian spouses even if sanctified themselves
cannot transmit sanctification to their progeny, nay, although the
very natural process of generating life has become the way of
death by which original sin is passed on to posterity,
nevertheless, they share to some extent in the blessings of that
primeval marriage of Paradise, since it is theirs to offer their
offspring to the Church in order that by this most fruitful Mother
of the children of God they may be regenerated through the laver
of Baptism unto supernatural justice and finally be made living
members of Christ, partakers of immortal life, and heirs of that
eternal glory to which we all aspire from our inmost heart.
15.
If a true Christian mother weigh well these things, she will
indeed understand with a sense of deep consolation that of her the
words of Our Savior were spoken: "A woman...when she hath
brought forth the child remembereth no more the anguish, for joy
that a man is born into the world";(17) and proving herself
superior to all the pains and cares and solicitudes of her
maternal office with a more just and holy joy than that of the
Roman matron, the mother of the Gracchi, she will rejoice in the
Lord crowned as it were with the glory of her offspring. Both
husband and wife, however, receiving these children with joy and
gratitude from the hand of God, will regard them as a talent
committed to their charge by God, not only to be employed for
their own advantage or for that of an earthly commonwealth, but to
be restored to God with interest on the day of reckoning.
16.
The blessing of offspring, however, is not completed by the mere
begetting of them, but something else must be added, namely the
proper education of the offspring. For the most wise God would
have failed to make sufficient provision for children that had
been born, and so for the whole human race, if He had not given to
those to whom He had entrusted the power and right to beget them,
the power also and the right to educate them. For no one can fail
to see that children are incapable of providing wholly for
themselves, even in matters pertaining to their natural life, and
much less in those pertaining to the supernatural, but require for
many years to be helped, instructed, and educated by others. Now
it is certain that both by the law of nature and of God this right
and duty of educating their offspring belongs in the first place
to those who began the work of nature by giving them birth, and
they are indeed forbidden to leave unfinished this work and so
expose it to certain ruin. But in matrimony provision has been
made in the best possible way for this education of children that
is so necessary, for, since the parents are bound together by an
indissoluble bond, the care and mutual help of each is always at
hand.
17.
Since, however, We have spoken fully elsewhere on the Christian
education of youth,(18) let Us sum it all up by quoting once more
the words of St. Augustine: "As regards the offspring it is
provided that they should be begotten lovingly and educated
religiously,"(19) - and this is also expressed succinctly in
the Code of Canon Law - "The primary end of marriage is the
procreation and the education of children."(20)
18.
Nor must We omit to remark, in fine, that since the duty entrusted
to parents for the good of their children is of such high dignity
and of such great importance, every use of the faculty given by
God for the procreation of new life is the right and the privilege
of the married state alone, by the law of God and of nature, and
must be confined absolutely within the sacred limits of that
state.
19.
The second blessing of matrimony which We said was mentioned by
St. Augustine, is the blessing of conjugal honor which consists in
the mutual fidelity of the spouses in fulfilling the marriage
contract, so that what belongs to one of the parties by reason of
this contract sanctioned by divine law, may not be denied to him
or permitted to any third person; nor may there be conceded to one
of the parties anything which, being contrary to the rights and
laws of God and entirely opposed to matrimonial faith, can never
be conceded.
20.
Wherefore, conjugal faith, or honor, demands in the first place
the complete unity of matrimony which the Creator Himself laid
down in the beginning when He wished it to be not otherwise than
between one man and one woman. And although afterwards this
primeval law was relaxed to some extent by God, the Supreme
Legislator, there is no doubt that the law of the Gospel fully
restored that original and perfect unity, and abrogated all
dispensations as the words of Christ and the constant teaching and
action of the Church show plainly. With reason, therefore, does
the Sacred Council of Trent solemnly declare: "Christ Our
Lord very clearly taught that in this bond two persons only are to
be united and joined together when He said: 'Therefore they are no
longer two, but one flesh'."(21)
21.
Nor did Christ Our Lord wish only to condemn any form of polygamy
or polyandry, as they are called, whether successive or
simultaneous, and every other external dishonorable act, but, in
order that the sacred bonds of marriage may be guarded absolutely
inviolate, He forbade also even willful thoughts and desires of
such like things: "But I say to you, that whosoever shall
look on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery
with her in his heart."(22) Which words of Christ Our Lord
cannot be annulled even by the consent of one of the partners of
marriage for they express a law of God and of nature which no will
of man can break or bend.(23)
22.
Nay, that mutual familiar intercourse between the spouses
themselves, if the blessing of conjugal faith is to shine with
becoming splendor, must be distinguished by chastity so that
husband and wife bear themselves in all things with the law of God
and of nature, and endeavor always to follow the will of their
most wise and holy Creator with the greatest reverence toward the
work of God.
23.
This conjugal faith, however, which is most aptly called by St.
Augustine the "faith of chastity" blooms more freely,
more beautifully and more nobly, when it is rooted in that more
excellent soil, the love of husband and wife which pervades all
the duties of married life and holds pride of place in Christian
marriage. For matrimonial faith demands that husband and wife be
joined in an especially holy and pure love, not as adulterers love
each other, but as Christ loved the Church. This precept the
Apostle laid down when he said: "Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the Church,"(24) that Church which of a
truth He embraced with a boundless love not for the sake of His
own advantage, but seeking only the good of His Spouse.(25) The
love, then, of which We are speaking is not that based on the
passing lust of the moment nor does it consist in pleasing words
only, but in the deep attachment of the heart which is expressed
in action, since love is proved by deeds.(26) This outward
expression of love in the home demands not only mutual help but
must go further; must have as its primary purpose that man and
wife help each other day by day in forming and perfecting
themselves in the interior life, so that through their partnership
in life they may advance ever more and more in virtue, and above
all that they may grow in true love toward God and their neighbor,
on which indeed "dependeth the whole Law and the
Prophets."(27) For all men of every condition, in whatever
honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought to imitate that
most perfect example of holiness placed before man by God, namely
Christ Our Lord, and by God's grace to arrive at the summit of
perfection, as is proved by the example set us of many saints.
24.
This mutual molding of husband and wife, this determined effort to
perfect each other, can in a very real sense, as the Roman
Catechism teaches, be said to be the chief reason and purpose of
matrimony, provided matrimony be looked at not in the restricted
sense as instituted for the proper conception and education of the
child, but more widely as the blending of life as a whole and the
mutual interchange and sharing thereof.
25.
By this same love it is necessary that all the other rights and
duties of the marriage state be regulated as the words of the
Apostle: "Let the husband render the debt to the wife, and
the wife also in like manner to the husband,"(28) express not
only a law of justice but of charity.
26.
Domestic society being confirmed, therefore, by this bond of love,
there should flourish in it that "order of love," as St.
Augustine calls it. This order includes both the primacy of the
husband with regard to the wife and children, the ready subjection
of the wife and her willing obedience, which the Apostle commends
in these words: "Let women be subject to their husbands as to
the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ
is the head of the Church."(29)
27.
This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty
which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a
human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and
mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband's every
request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity
due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be
put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors, to
whom it is customary not to allow free exercise of their rights on
account of their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of
human affairs. But it forbids that exaggerated liberty which cares
not for the good of the family; it forbids that in this body which
is the family, the heart be separated from the head to the great
detriment of the whole body and the proximate danger of ruin. For
if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies
the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for
herself the chief place in love.
28.
Again, this subjection of wife to husband in its degree and manner
may vary according to the different conditions of persons, place
and time. In fact, if the husband neglect his duty, it falls to
the wife to take his place in directing the family. But the
structure of the family and its fundamental law, established and
confirmed by God, must always and everywhere be maintained intact.
29.
With great wisdom Our predecessor Leo XIII, of happy memory, in
the Encyclical on Christian marriage which We have already
mentioned, speaking of this order to be maintained between man and
wife, teaches: "The man is the ruler of the family, and the
head of the woman; but because she is flesh of his flesh and bone
of his bone, let her be subject and obedient to the man, not as a
servant but as a companion, so that nothing be lacking of honor or
of dignity in the obedience which she pays. Let divine charity be
the constant guide of their mutual relations, both in him who
rules and in her who obeys, since each bears the image, the one of
Christ, the other of the Church."(30)
30.
These, then, are the elements which compose the blessing of
conjugal faith: unity, chastity, charity, honorable noble
obedience, which are at the same time an enumeration of the
benefits which are bestowed on husband and wife in their married
state, benefits by which the peace, the dignity and the happiness
of matrimony are securely preserved and fostered. Wherefore it is
not surprising that this conjugal faith has always been counted
amongst the most priceless and special blessings of matrimony.
31.
But this accumulation of benefits is completed and, as it were,
crowned by that blessing of Christian marriage which in the words
of St. Augustine we have called the sacrament, by which is denoted
both the indissolubility of the bond and the raising and hallowing
of the contract by Christ Himself, whereby He made it an
efficacious sign of grace.
32.
In the first place Christ Himself lays stress on the
indissolubility and firmness of the marriage bond when He says:
"What God hath joined together let no man put
asunder,"(31) and: "Everyone that putteth away his wife
and marrieth another committeth adultery, and he that marrieth her
that is put away from her husband committeth adultery."(32)
33.
And St. Augustine clearly places what he calls the blessing of
matrimony in this indissolubility when he says: "In the
sacrament it is provided that the marriage bond should not be
broken, and that a husband or wife, if separated, should not be
joined to another even for the sake of offspring."(33)
34.
And this inviolable stability, although not in the same perfect
measure in every case, belongs to every true marriage, for the
word of the Lord: "What God hath joined together let no man
put asunder," must of necessity include all true marriages
without exception, since it was spoken of the marriage of our
first parents, the prototype of every future marriage. Therefore
although before Christ the sublimeness and the severity of the
primeval law was so tempered that Moses permitted to the chosen
people of God on account of the hardness of their hearts that a
bill of divorce might be given in certain circumstances,
nevertheless, Christ, by virtue of His supreme legislative power,
recalled this concession of greater liberty and restored the
primeval law in its integrity by those words which must never be
forgotten, "What God hath joined together let no man put
asunder." Wherefore, Our predecessor Pius VI of happy memory,
writing to the Bishop of Agria, most wisely said: "Hence it
is clear that marriage even in the state of nature, and certainly
long before it was raised to the dignity of a sacrament, was
divinely instituted in such a way that it should carry with it a
perpetual and indissoluble bond which cannot therefore be
dissolved by any civil law. Therefore although the sacramental
element may be absent from a marriage as is the case among
unbelievers, still in such a marriage, inasmuch as it is a true
marriage there must remain and indeed there does remain that
perpetual bond which by divine right is so bound up with matrimony
from its first institution that it is not subject to any civil
power. And so, whatever marriage is said to be contracted, either
it is so contracted that it is really a true marriage, in which
case it carries with it that enduring bond which by divine right
is inherent in every true marriage; or it is thought to be
contracted without that perpetual bond, and in that case there is
no marriage, but an illicit union opposed of its very nature to
the divine law, which therefore cannot be entered into or
maintained."(34)
35.
And if this stability seems to be open to exception, however rare
the exception may be, as in the case of certain natural marriages
between unbelievers, or amongst Christians in the case of those
marriages which though valid have not been consummated, that
exception does not depend on the will of men nor on that of any
merely human power, but on divine law, of which the only guardian
and interpreter is the Church of Christ. However, not even this
power can ever affect for any cause whatsoever a Christian
marriage which is valid and has been consummated, for as it is
plain that here the marriage contract has its full completion, so,
by the will of God, there is also the greatest firmness and
indissolubility which may not be destroyed by any human authority.
36.
If we wish with all reverence to inquire into the intimate reason
of this divine decree, Venerable Brethren, we shall easily see it
in the mystical signification of Christian marriage which is fully
and perfectly verified in consummated marriage between Christians.
For, as the Apostle says in his Epistle to the Ephesians,(35) the
marriage of Christians recalls that most perfect union which
exists between Christ and the Church: "Sacramentum hoc magnum
est, ego autem dico, in Christo et in ecclesia;" which union,
as long as Christ shall live and the Church through Him, can never
be dissolved by any separation. And this St. Augustine clearly
declares in these words: "This is safeguarded in Christ and
the Church, which, living with Christ who lives forever may never
be divorced from Him. The observance of this sacrament is such in
the City of God...that is, in the Church of Christ, that when for
the sake of begetting children, women marry or are taken to wife,
it is wrong to leave a wife that is sterile in order to take
another by whom children may be hand. Anyone doing this is guilty
of adultery, just as if he married another, guilty not by the law
of the day, according to which when one's partner is put away
another may be taken, which the Lord allowed in the law of Moses
because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel; but
by the law of the Gospel."(36)
37.
Indeed, how many and how important are the benefits which flow
from the indissolubility of matrimony cannot escape anyone who
gives even a brief consideration either to the good of the married
parties and the offspring or to the welfare of human society.
First of all, both husband and wife possess a positive guarantee
of the endurance of this stability which that generous yielding of
their persons and the intimate fellowship of their hearts by their
nature strongly require, since true love never falls away.(37)
Besides, a strong bulwark is set up in defense of a loyal chastity
against incitements to infidelity, should any be encountered
either from within or from without; any anxious fear lest in
adversity or old age the other spouse would prove unfaithful is
precluded and in its place there reigns a calm sense of security.
Moreover, the dignity of both man and wife is maintained and
mutual aid is most satisfactorily assured, while through the
indissoluble bond, always enduring, the spouses are warned
continuously that not for the sake of perishable things nor that
they may serve their passions, but that they may procure one for
the other high and lasting good have they entered into the nuptial
partnership, to be dissolved only by death. In the training and
education of children, which must extend over a period of many
years, it plays a great part, since the grave and long enduring
burdens of this office are best borne by the united efforts of the
parents. Nor do lesser benefits accrue to human society as a
whole. For experience has taught that unassailable stability in
matrimony is a fruitful source of virtuous life and of habits of
integrity. Where this order of things obtains, the happiness and
well being of the nation is safely guarded; what the families and
individuals are, so also is the State, for a body is determined by
its parts. Wherefore, both for the private good of husband, wife
and children, as likewise for the public good of human society,
they indeed deserve well who strenuously defend the inviolable
stability of matrimony.
38.
But considering the benefits of the Sacrament, besides the
firmness and indissolubility, there are also much higher
emoluments as the word "sacrament" itself very aptly
indicates; for to Christians this is not a meaningless and empty
name. Christ the Lord, the Institutor and "Perfecter" of
the holy sacraments,(38) by raising the matrimony of His faithful
to the dignity of a true sacrament of the New Law, made it a sign
and source of that peculiar internal grace by which "it
perfects natural love, it confirms an indissoluble union, and
sanctifies both man and wife."(39)
39.
And since the valid matrimonial consent among the faithful was
constituted by Christ as a sign of grace, the sacramental nature
is so intimately bound up with Christian wedlock that there can be
no true marriage between baptized persons "without it being
by that very fact a sacrament."(40)
40.
By the very fact, therefore, that the faithful with sincere mind
give such consent, they open up for themselves a treasure of
sacramental grace from which they draw supernatural power for the
fulfilling of their rights and duties faithfully, holily,
perseveringly even unto death. Hence this sacrament not only
increases sanctifying grace, the permanent principle of the
supernatural life, in those who, as the expression is, place no
obstacle in its way, but also adds particular gifts,
dispositions, seeds of grace, by elevating and perfecting the
natural powers. By these gifts the parties are assisted not only
in understanding, but in knowing intimately, in adhering to
firmly, in willing effectively, and in successfully putting into
practice, those things which pertain to the marriage state, its
aims and duties, giving them in fine right to the actual
assistance of grace, whensoever they need it for fulfilling the
duties of their state.
41.
Nevertheless, since it is a law of divine Providence in the
supernatural order that men do not reap the full fruit of the
Sacraments which they receive after acquiring the use of reason
unless they cooperate with grace, the grace of matrimony will
remain for the most part an unused talent hidden in the field
unless the parties exercise these supernatural powers and
cultivate and develop the seeds of grace they have received. If,
however, doing all that lies with their power, they cooperate
diligently, they will be able with ease to bear the burdens of
their state and to fulfill their duties. By such a sacrament they
will be strengthened, sanctified and in a manner consecrated. For,
as St. Augustine teaches, just as by Baptism and Holy Orders a man
is set aside and assisted either for the duties of Christian life
or for the priestly office and is never deprived of their
sacramental aid, almost in the same way (although not by a
sacramental character), the faithful once joined by marriage ties
can never be deprived of the help and the binding force of the
sacrament. Indeed, as the Holy Doctor adds, even those who commit
adultery carry with them that sacred yoke, although in this case
not as a title to the glory of grace but for the ignominy of their
guilty action, "as the soul by apostasy, withdrawing as it
were from marriage with Christ, even though it may have lost its
faith, does not lose the sacrament of Faith which it received at
the laver of regeneration."(41)
42.
These parties, let it be noted, not fettered but adorned by the
golden bond of the sacrament, not hampered but assisted, should
strive with all their might to the end that their wedlock, not
only through the power and symbolism of the sacrament, but also
through their spirit and manner of life, may be and remain always
the living image of that most fruitful union of Christ with the
Church, which is to be venerated as the sacred token of most perfect
love.
43.
All of these things, Venerable Brethren, you must consider
carefully and ponder over with a lively faith if you would see in
their true light the extraordinary benefits on matrimony -
offspring, conjugal faith, and the sacrament. No one can fail to
admire the divine Wisdom, Holiness and Goodness which, while
respecting the dignity and happiness of husband and wife, has
provided so bountifully for the conservation and propagation of
the human race by a single chaste and sacred fellowship of nuptial
union.
44.
When we consider the great excellence of chaste wedlock, Venerable
Brethren, it appears all the more regrettable that particularly in
our day we should witness this divine institution often scorned
and on every side degraded.
45.
For now, alas, not secretly nor under cover, but openly, with all
sense of shame put aside, now by word again by writings, by
theatrical productions of every kind, by romantic fiction, by
amorous and frivolous novels, by cinematographs portraying in
vivid scene, in addresses broadcast by radio telephony, in short
by all the inventions of modern science, the sanctity of marriage
is trampled upon and derided; divorce, adultery, all the basest
vices either are extolled or at least are depicted in such colors
as to appear to be free of all reproach and infamy. Books are not
lacking which dare to pronounce themselves as scientific but which
in truth are merely coated with a veneer of science in order that
they may the more easily insinuate their ideas. The doctrines
defended in these are offered for sale as the productions of
modern genius, of that genius namely, which, anxious only for
truth, is considered to have emancipated itself from all those
old-fashioned and immature opinions of the ancients; and to the
number of these antiquated opinions they relegate the traditional
doctrine of Christian marriage.
46.
These thoughts are instilled into men of every class, rich and
poor, masters and workers, lettered and unlettered, married and
single, the godly and godless, old and young, but for these last,
as easiest [targets], the worst snares are laid.
47.
Not all the sponsors of these new doctrines are carried to the
extremes of unbridled lust; there are those who, striving as it
were to ride a middle course, believe nevertheless that something
should be conceded in our times as regards certain precepts of the
divine and natural law. But these likewise, more or less
wittingly, are emissaries of the great enemy who is ever seeking
to sow cockle among the wheat.(42) We, therefore, whom the Father
has appointed over His field, We who are bound by Our most holy
office to take care lest the good seed be choked by the weeds,
believe it fitting to apply to Ourselves the most grave words of
the Holy Ghost with which the Apostle Paul exhorted his beloved
Timothy: "Be thou vigilant...Fulfill thy ministry...Preach
the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, entreat,
rebuke in all patience and doctrine."(43)
48.
And since, in order that the deceits of the enemy may be avoided,
it is necessary first of all that they be laid bare; since much is
to be gained by denouncing these fallacies for the sake of the
unwary, even though We prefer not to name these iniquities
"as becometh saints,"(44) yet for the welfare of souls
We cannot remain altogether silent.
49.
To begin at the very source of these evils, their basic principle
lies in this, that matrimony is repeatedly declared to be not
instituted by the Author of nature nor raised by Christ the Lord
to the dignity of a true sacrament, but invented by man. Some
confidently assert that they have found no evidence of the
existence of matrimony in nature or in her laws, but regard it
merely as the means of producing life and of gratifying in one way
or another a vehement impulse; on the other hand, others recognize
that certain beginnings or, as it were, seeds of true wedlock are
found in the nature of man since, unless men were bound together
by some form of permanent tie, the dignity of husband and wife or
the natural end of propagating and rearing the offspring would not
receive satisfactory provision. At the same time they maintain
that in all beyond this germinal idea matrimony, through various
concurrent causes, is invented solely by the mind of man,
established solely by his will.
50.
How grievously all these err and how shamelessly they leave the
ways of honesty is already evident from what we have set forth
here regarding the origin and nature of wedlock, its purposes and
the good inherent in it. The evil of this teaching is plainly seen
from the consequences which its advocates deduce from it, namely,
that the laws, institutions and customs by which wedlock is
governed, since they take their origin solely from the will of
man, are subject entirely to him, hence can and must be founded,
changed and abrogated according to human caprice and the shifting
circumstances of human affairs; that the generative power which is
grounded in nature itself is more sacred and has wider range than
matrimony - hence it may be exercised both outside as well as
within the confines of wedlock, and though the purpose of
matrimony be set aside, as though to suggest that the license of a
base fornicating woman should enjoy the same rights as the chaste
motherhood of a lawfully wedded wife.
51.
Armed with these principles, some men go so far as to concoct new
species of unions, suited, as they say, to the present temper of
men and the times, which various new forms of matrimony they
presume to label "temporary," "experimental,"
and "companionate." These offer all the indulgence of
matrimony and its rights without, however, the indissoluble bond,
and without offspring, unless later the parties alter their
cohabitation into a matrimony in the full sense of the law.
52.
Indeed there are some who desire and insist that these practices
be legitimatized by the law or, at least, excused by their general
acceptance among the people. They do not seem even to suspect that
these proposals partake of nothing of the modern
"culture" in which they glory so much, but are simply
hateful abominations which beyond all question reduce our truly
cultured nations to the barbarous standards of savage peoples.
53.
And now, Venerable Brethren, we shall explain in detail the evils
opposed to each of the benefits of matrimony. First consideration
is due to the offspring, which many have the boldness to call the
disagreeable burden of matrimony and which they say is to be
carefully avoided by married people not through virtuous
continence (which Christian law permits in matrimony when both
parties consent) but by frustrating the marriage act. Some justify
this criminal abuse on the ground that they are weary of children
and wish to gratify their desires without their consequent burden.
Others say that they cannot on the one hand remain continent nor
on the other can they have children because of the difficulties
whether on the part of the mother or on the part of family
circumstances.
54.
But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything
intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and
morally good. Since, therefore, the conjugal act is destined
primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in
exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural power and purpose
sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and
intrinsically vicious.
55.
Small wonder, therefore, if Holy Writ bears witness that the
Divine Majesty regards with greatest detestation this horrible
crime and at times has punished it with death. As St. Augustine
notes, "Intercourse even with one's legitimate wife is
unlawful and wicked where the conception of the offspring is
prevented. Onan, the son of Juda, did this and the Lord killed him
for it."(45)
56.
Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted
Christian tradition some recently have judged it possible solemnly
to declare another doctrine regarding this question, the Catholic
Church, to whom God has entrusted the defense of the integrity and
purity of morals, standing erect in the midst of the moral ruin
which surrounds her, in order that she may preserve the chastity
of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, raises
her voice in token of her divine ambassadorship and through Our
mouth proclaims anew: any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in
such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural
power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of
nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt
of a grave sin.
57.
We admonish, therefore, priests who hear confessions and others
who have the care of souls, in virtue of Our supreme authority and
in Our solicitude for the salvation of souls, not to allow the
faithful entrusted to them to err regarding this most grave law of
God; much more, that they keep themselves immune from such false
opinions, in no way conniving in them. If any confessor or pastor
of souls, which may God forbid, lead the faithful entrusted to him
into these errors or should at least confirm them by approval or
by guilty silence, let him be mindful of the fact that he must
render a strict account to God, the Supreme Judge, for the
betrayal of his sacred trust, and let him take to himself the
words of Christ: "They are blind and leaders of the blind:
and if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit."(46)
58.
As regards the evil use of matrimony, to pass over the arguments
which are shameful, not infrequently others that are false and
exaggerated are put forward. Holy Mother Church very well
understands and clearly appreciates all that is said regarding the
health of the mother and the danger to her life. And who would not
grieve to think of these things? Who is not filled with the
greatest admiration when he sees a mother risking her life with
heroic fortitude, that she may preserve the life of the offspring
which she has conceived? God alone, all bountiful and all merciful
as He is, can reward her for the fulfillment of the office
allotted to her by nature, and will assuredly repay her in a
measure full to overflowing.(47)
59.
Holy Church knows well that not infrequently one of the parties is
sinned against rather than sinning, when for a grave cause he or
she reluctantly allows the perversion of the right order. In such
a case, there is no sin, provided that, mindful of the law of
charity, he or she does not neglect to seek to dissuade and to
deter the partner from sin. Nor are those considered as acting
against nature who in the married state use their right in the
proper manner although on account of natural reasons either of
time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth. For
in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial rights there
are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of
mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and
wife are not forbidden to consider so long as they are
subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic
nature of the act is preserved.
60.
We are deeply touched by the sufferings of those parents who, in
extreme want, experience great difficulty in rearing their
children.
61.
However, they should take care lest the calamitous state of their
external affairs should be the occasion for a much more calamitous
error. No difficulty can arise that justifies the putting aside of
the law of God which forbids all acts intrinsically evil. There is
no possible circumstance in which husband and wife cannot,
strengthened by the grace of God, fulfill faithfully their duties
and preserve in wedlock their chastity unspotted. This truth of
Christian Faith is expressed by the teaching of the Council of
Trent. "Let no one be so rash as to assert that which the
Fathers of the Council have placed under anathema, namely, that
there are precepts of God impossible for the just to observe. God
does not ask the impossible, but by His commands, instructs you to
do what you are able, to pray for what you are not able that He
may help you."(48)
62.
This same doctrine was again solemnly repeated and confirmed by
the Church in the condemnation of the Jansenist heresy which dared
to utter this blasphemy against the goodness of God: "Some
precepts of God are, when one considers the powers which man
possesses, impossible of fulfillment even to the just who wish to
keep the law and strive to do so; grace is lacking whereby these
laws could be fulfilled."(49)
63.
But another very grave crime is to be noted, Venerable Brethren,
which regards the taking of the life of the offspring hidden in
the mother's womb. Some wish it to be allowed and left to the will
of the father or the mother; others say it is unlawful unless
there are weighty reasons which they call by the name of medical,
social, or eugenic "indication." Because this matter
falls under the penal laws of the state by which the destruction
of the offspring begotten but unborn is forbidden, these people
demand that the "indication," which in one form or
another they defend, be recognized as such by the public law and
in no way penalized. There are those, moreover, who ask that the
public authorities provide aid for these death-dealing operations,
a thing, which, sad to say, everyone knows is of very frequent
occurrence in some places.
64.
As to the "medical and therapeutic indication" to which,
using their own words, we have made reference, Venerable Brethren,
however much we may pity the mother whose health and even life is
gravely imperiled in the performance of the duty allotted to her
by nature, nevertheless what could ever be a sufficient reason for
excusing in any way the direct murder of the innocent? This is
precisely what we are dealing with here. Whether inflicted upon
the mother or upon the child, it is against the precept of God and
the law of nature: "Thou shalt not kill:"(50) The life
of each is equally sacred, and no one has the power, not even the
public authority, to destroy it. It is of no use to appeal to the
right of taking away life for here it is a question of the
innocent, whereas that right has regard only to the guilty; nor is
there here question of defense by bloodshed against an unjust
aggressor (for who would call an innocent child an unjust
aggressor?); again there is not question here of what is called
the "law of extreme necessity" which could even extend
to the direct killing of the innocent. Upright and skillful
doctors strive most praiseworthily to guard and preserve the lives
of both mother and child; on the contrary, those show themselves
most unworthy of the noble medical profession who encompass the
death of one or the other, through a pretense at practicing
medicine or through motives of misguided pity.
65.
All of which agrees with the stern words of the Bishop of Hippo in
denouncing those wicked parents who seek to remain childless, and
failing in this, are not ashamed to put their offspring to death:
"Sometimes this lustful cruelty or cruel lust goes so far as
to seek to procure a baneful sterility, and if this fails the
fetus conceived in the womb is in one way or another smothered or
evacuated, in the desire to destroy the offspring before it has
life, or if it already lives in the womb, to kill it before it is
born. If both man and woman are party to such practices they are
not spouses at all; and if from the first they have carried on
thus they have come together not for honest wedlock, but for
impure gratification; if both are not party to these deeds, I make
bold to say that either the one makes herself a mistress of the
husband, or the other simply the paramour of his wife."(51)
66.
What is asserted in favor of the social and eugenic
"indication" may and must be accepted, provided lawful
and upright methods are employed within the proper limits; but to
wish to put forward reasons based upon them for the killing of the
innocent is unthinkable and contrary to the divine precept
promulgated in the words of the Apostle: Evil is not to be done
that good may come of it.(52)
67.
Those who hold the reins of government should not forget that it
is the duty of public authority by appropriate laws and sanctions
to defend the lives of the innocent, and this all the more so
since those whose lives are endangered and assailed cannot defend
themselves. Among whom we must mention in the first place infants
hidden in the mother's womb. And if the public magistrates not
only do not defend them, but by their laws and ordinances betray
them to death at the hands of doctors or of others, let them
remember that God is the Judge and Avenger of innocent blood which
cried from earth to Heaven.(53)
68.
Finally, that pernicious practice must be condemned which closely
touches upon the natural right of man to enter matrimony but
affects also in a real way the welfare of the offspring. For there
are some who over solicitous for the cause of eugenics, not only
give salutary counsel for more certainly procuring the strength
and health of the future child - which, indeed, is not contrary to
right reason - but put eugenics before aims of a higher order, and
by public authority wish to prevent from marrying all those whom,
even though naturally fit for marriage, they consider, according
to the norms and conjectures of their investigations, would,
through hereditary transmission, bring forth defective offspring.
And more, they wish to legislate to deprive these of that natural
faculty by medical action despite their unwillingness; and this
they do not propose as an infliction of grave punishment under the
authority of the state for a crime committed, not to prevent
future crimes by guilty persons, but against every right and good
they wish the civil authority to arrogate to itself a power over a
faculty which it never had and can never legitimately possess.
69.
Those who act in this way are at fault in losing sight of the fact
that the family is more sacred than the State and that men are
begotten not for the earth and for time, but for Heaven and
eternity. Although often these individuals are to be dissuaded
from entering into matrimony, certainly it is wrong to brand men
with the stigma of crime because they contract marriage, on the
ground that, despite the fact that they are in every respect
capable of matrimony, they will give birth only to defective
children, even though they use all care and diligence.
70.
Public magistrates have no direct power over the bodies of their
subjects; therefore, where no crime has taken place and there is
no cause present for grave punishment, they can never directly
harm, or tamper with the integrity of the body, either for the
reasons of eugenics or for any other reason. St. Thomas teaches
this when inquiring whether human judges for the sake of
preventing future evils can inflict punishment, he admits that the
power indeed exists as regards certain other forms of evil, but
justly and properly denies it as regards the maiming of the body.
"No one who is guiltless may be punished by a human tribunal
either by flogging to death, or mutilation, or by
beating."(54)
71.
Furthermore, Christian doctrine establishes, and the light of
human reason makes it most clear, that private individuals have no
other power over the members of their bodies than that which
pertains to their natural ends; and they are not free to destroy
or mutilate their members, or in any other way render themselves
unfit for their natural functions, except when no other provision
can be made for the good of the whole body.
72.
We may now consider another class of errors concerning conjugal
faith. Every sin committed as regards the offspring becomes in
some way a sin against conjugal faith, since both these blessings
are essentially connected. However, we must mention briefly the
sources of error and vice corresponding to those virtues which are
demanded by conjugal faith, namely the chaste honor existing
between man and wife, the due subjection of wife to husband, and
the true love which binds both parties together.
73.
It follows therefore that they are destroying mutual fidelity, who
think that the ideas and morality of our present time concerning a
certain harmful and false friendship with a third party can be
countenanced, and who teach that a greater freedom of feeling and
action in such external relations should be allowed to man and
wife, particularly as many (so they consider) are possessed of an
inborn...tendency which cannot be satisfied within the narrow
limits of monogamous marriage. That rigid attitude which condemns
all sensual affections and actions with a third party they imagine
to be a narrowing of mind and heart, something obsolete, or an
abject form of jealousy, and as a result they look upon whatever
penal laws are passed by the State for the preserving of conjugal
faith as void or to be abolished. Such unworthy and idle opinions
are condemned by that noble instinct which is found in every
chaste husband and wife, and even by the light of the testimony of
nature alone, - a testimony that is sanctioned and confirmed by
the command of God:"Thou shalt not commit adultry,"(55)
and the words of Christ: "Whosoever shall look on a woman to
lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his
heart."(56) The force of this divine precept can never be
weakened by any merely human custom, bad example or pretext of
human progress, for just as it is the one and the same "Jesus
Christ, yesterday and today and the same for ever,"(57) so it
is the one and the same doctrine of Christ that abides and of
which no one jot or tittle shall pass away till all is
fulfilled.(58)
74.
The same false teachers who try to dim the luster of conjugal
faith and purity do not scruple to do away with the honorable and
trusting obedience which the woman owes to the man. Many of them
even go further and assert that such a subjection of one party to
the other is unworthy of human dignity, that the rights of husband
and wife are equal; wherefore, they boldly proclaim the
emancipation of women has been or ought to be effected. This
emancipation in their ideas must be threefold, in the ruling of
the domestic society, in the administration of family affairs and
in the rearing of the children. It must be social, economic,
physiological: - physiological, that is to say, the woman is to be
freed at her own good pleasure from the burdensome duties properly
belonging to a wife as companion and mother (We have already said
that this is not an emancipation but a crime); social, inasmuch as
the wife being freed from the cares of children and family,
should, to the neglect of these, be able to follow her own bent
and devote herself to business and even public affairs; finally
economic, whereby the woman even without the knowledge and against
the wish of her husband may be at liberty to conduct and
administer her own affairs, giving her attention chiefly to these
rather than to children, husband and family.
75.
This, however, is not the true emancipation of woman, nor that
rational and exalted liberty which belongs to the noble office of
a Christian woman and wife; it is rather the debasing of the
womanly character and the dignity of motherhood, and indeed of the
whole family, as a result of which the husband suffers the loss of
his wife, the children of their mother, and the home and the whole
family of an ever watchful guardian. More than this, this false
liberty and unnatural equality with the husband is to the
detriment of the woman herself, for if the woman descends from her
truly regal throne to which she has been raised within the walls
of the home by means of the Gospel, she will soon be reduced to
the old state of slavery (if not in appearance, certainly in
reality) and become as amongst the pagans the mere instrument of
man.
76.
This equality of rights which is so much exaggerated and
distorted, must indeed be recognized in those rights which belong
to the dignity of the human soul and which are proper to the
marriage contract and inseparably bound up with wedlock. In such
things undoubtedly both parties enjoy the same rights and are
bound by the same obligations; in other things there must be a
certain inequality and due accommodation, which is demanded by the
good of the family and the right ordering and unity and stability
of home life.
77.
As, however, the social and economic conditions of the married
woman must in some way be altered on account of the changes in
social intercourse, it is part of the office of the public
authority to adapt the civil rights of the wife to modern needs
and requirements, keeping in view what the natural disposition and
temperament of the female sex, good morality, and the welfare of
the family demands, and provided always that the essential order
of the domestic society remain intact, founded as it is on
something higher than human authority and wisdom, namely on the
authority and wisdom of God, and so not changeable by public laws
or at the pleasure of private individuals.
78.
These enemies of marriage go further, however, when they
substitute for that true and solid love, which is the basis of
conjugal happiness, a certain vague compatibility of temperament.
This they call sympathy and assert that, since it is the only bond
by which husband and wife are linked together, when it ceases the
marriage is completely dissolved. What else is this than to build
a house upon sand? - a house that in the words of Christ would
forthwith be shaken and collapse, as soon as it was exposed to the
waves of adversity "and the winds blew and they beat upon
that house. And it fell: and great was the fall thereof."(59)
On the other hand, the house built upon a rock, that is to say on
mutual conjugal chastity and strengthened by a deliberate and
constant union of spirit, will not only never fall away but will
never be shaken by adversity.
79.
We have so far, Venerable Brethren, shown the excellency of the
first two blessings of Christian wedlock which the modern
subverters of society are attacking. And now considering that the
third blessing, which is that of the sacrament, far surpasses the
other two, we should not be surprised to find that this, because
of its outstanding excellence, is much more sharply attacked by
the same people. They put forward in the first place that
matrimony belongs entirely to the profane and purely civil sphere,
that it is not to be committed to the religious society, the
Church of Christ, but to civil society alone. They then add that
the marriage contract is to be freed from any indissoluble bond,
and that separation and divorce are not only to be tolerated but
sanctioned by the law; from which it follows finally that, robbed
of all its holiness, matrimony should be enumerated amongst the
secular and civil institutions. The first point is contained in
their contention that the civil act itself should stand for the
marriage contract (civil matrimony, as it is called), while the
religious act is to be considered a mere addition, or at most a
concession to a too superstitious people. Moreover they want it to
be no cause for reproach that marriages be contracted by Catholics
with non-Catholics without any reference to religion or recourse
to the ecclesiastical authorities. The second point which is but a
consequence of the first is to be found in their excuse for
complete divorce and in their praise and encouragement of those
civil laws which favor the loosening of the bond itself. As the
salient features of the religious character of all marriage and
particularly of the sacramental marriage of Christians have been
treated at length and supported by weighty arguments in the
encyclical letters of Leo XIII, letters which We have frequently
recalled to mind and expressly made our own, We refer you to them,
repeating here only a few points.
80.
Even by the light of reason alone and particularly if the ancient
records of history are investigated, if the unwavering popular
conscience is interrogated and the manners and institutions of all
races examined, it is sufficiently obvious that there is a certain
sacredness and religious character attaching even to the purely
natural union of man and woman, "not something added by
chance but innate, not imposed by men but involved in the nature
of things," since it has "God for its author and has
been even from the beginning a foreshadowing of the Incarnation of
the Word of God."(60) This sacredness of marriage which is
intimately connected with religion and all that is holy, arises
from the divine origin we have just mentioned, from its purpose
which is the begetting and education of children for God, and the
binding of man and wife to God through Christian love and mutual
support; and finally it arises from the very nature of wedlock,
whose institution is to be sought for in the farseeing Providence
of God, whereby it is the means of transmitting life, thus making
the parents the ministers, as it were, of the Divine Omnipotence.
To this must be added that new element of dignity which comes from
the sacrament, by which the Christian marriage is so ennobled and
raised to such a level, that it appeared to the Apostle as a great
sacrament, honorable in every way.(61)
81.
This religious character of marriage, its sublime signification of
grace and the union between Christ and the Church, evidently
requires that those about to marry should show a holy reverence
towards it, and zealously endeavor to make their marriage approach
as nearly as possible to the archetype of Christ and the Church.
82.
They, therefore, who rashly and heedlessly contract mixed
marriages, from which the maternal love and providence of the
Church dissuades her children for very sound reasons, fail
conspicuously in this respect, sometimes with danger to their
eternal salvation. This attitude of the Church to mixed marriages
appears in many of her documents, all of which are summed up in
the Code of Canon Law: "Everywhere and with the greatest
strictness the Church forbids marriages between baptized persons,
one of whom is a Catholic and the other a member of a schismatical
or heretical sect; and if there is, add to this, the danger of the
falling away of the Catholic party and the perversion of the
children, such a marriage is forbidden also by the divine
law."(62) If the Church occasionally on account of
circumstances does not refuse to grant a dispensation from these
strict laws (provided that the divine law remains intact and the
dangers above mentioned are provided against by suitable
safeguards), it is unlikely that the Catholic party will not
suffer some detriment from such a marriage.
83.
Whence it comes about not unfrequently, as experience shows, that
deplorable defections from religion occur among the offspring, or
at least a headlong descent into that religious indifference which
is closely allied to impiety. There is this also to be considered
that in these mixed marriages it becomes much more difficult to
imitate by a lively conformity of spirit the mystery of which We
have spoken, namely that close union between Christ and His
Church.
84.
Assuredly, also, will there be wanting that close union of spirit
which as it is the sign and mark of the Church of Christ, so also
should be the sign of Christian wedlock, its glory and adornment.
For, where there exists diversity of mind, truth and feeling, the
bond of union of mind and heart is wont to be broken, or at least
weakened. From this comes the danger lest the love of man and wife
grow cold and the peace and happiness of family life, resting as
it does on the union of hearts, be destroyed. Many centuries ago
indeed, the old Roman law had proclaimed: "Marriages are the
union of male and female, a sharing of life and the communication
of divine and human rights."(63) But especially, as We have
pointed out, Venerable Brethren, the daily increasing facility of
divorce is an obstacle to the restoration of marriage to that
state of perfection which the divine Redeemer willed it should
possess.
85.
The advocates of the neo-paganism of today have learned nothing
from the sad state of affairs, but instead, day by day, more and
more vehemently, they continue by legislation to attack the
indissolubility of the marriage bond, proclaiming that the
lawfulness of divorce must be recognized, and that the antiquated
laws should give place to a new and more humane legislation. Many
and varied are the grounds put forward for divorce, some arising
from the wickedness and the guilt of the persons concerned, others
arising from the circumstances of the case; the former they
describe as subjective, the latter as objective; in a word,
whatever might make married life hard or unpleasant. They strive
to prove their contentions regarding these grounds for the divorce
legislation they would bring about, by various arguments. Thus, in
the first place, they maintain that it is for the good of either
party that the one who is innocent should have the right to
separate from the guilty, or that the guilty should be withdrawn
from a union which is unpleasing to him and against his will. In
the second place, they argue, the good of the child demands this,
for either it will be deprived of a proper education or the
natural fruits of it, and will too easily be affected by the
discords and shortcomings of the parents, and drawn from the path
of virtue. And thirdly the common good of society requires that
these marriages should be completely dissolved, which are now
incapable of producing their natural results, and that legal
reparations should be allowed when crimes are to be feared as the
result of the common habitation and intercourse of the parties.
This last, they say must be admitted to avoid the crimes being
committed purposely with a view to obtaining the desired sentence
of divorce for which the judge can legally loose the marriage
bond, as also to prevent people from coming before the courts when
it is obvious from the state of the case that they are lying and
perjuring themselves, - all of which brings the court and the
lawful authority into contempt. Hence the civil laws, in their
opinion, have to be reformed to meet these new requirements, to
suit the changes of the times and the changes in men's opinions,
civil institutions and customs. Each of these reasons is
considered by them as conclusive, so that all taken together offer
a clear proof of the necessity of granting divorce in certain
cases.
86.
Others, taking a step further, simply state that marriage, being a
private contract, is, like other private contracts, to be left to
the consent and good pleasure of both parties, and so can be
dissolved for any reason whatsoever.
87.
Opposed to all these reckless opinions, Venerable Brethren, stands
the unalterable law of God, fully confirmed by Christ, a law that
can never be deprived of its force by the decrees of men, the
ideas of a people or the will of any legislator: "What God
hath joined together, let no man put asunder."(64) And if any
man, acting contrary to this law, shall have put asunder, his
action is null and void, and the consequence remains, as Christ
Himself has explicitly confirmed: "Everyone that putteth away
his wife and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that
marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth
adultery."(65) Moreover, these words refer to every kind of
marriage, even that which is natural and legitimate only; for, as
has already been observed, that indissolubility by which the
loosening of the bond is once and for all removed from the whim of
the parties and from every secular power, is a property of every
true marriage.
88.
Let that solemn pronouncement of the Council of Trent be recalled
to mind in which, under the stigma of anathema, it condemned these
errors: "If anyone should say that on account of heresy or
the hardships of cohabitation or a deliberate abuse of one party
by the other the marriage tie may be loosened, let him be
anathema;"(66) and again: "If anyone should say that the
Church errs in having taught or in teaching that, according to the
teaching of the Gospel and the Apostles, the bond of marriage
cannot be loosed because of the sin of adultery of either party;
or that neither party, even though he be innocent, having given no
cause for the sin of adultery, can contract another marriage
during the lifetime of the other; and that he commits adultery who
marries another after putting away his adulterous wife, and
likewise that she commits adultery who puts away her husband and
marries another: let him be anathema."(67)
89.
If therefore the Church has not erred and does not err in teaching
this, and consequently it is certain that the bond of marriage
cannot be loosed even on account of the sin of adultery, it is
evident that all the other weaker excuses that can be, and are
usually brought forward, are of no value whatsoever. And the
objections brought against the firmness of the marriage bond are
easily answered. For, in certain circumstances, imperfect
separation of the parties is allowed, the bond not being severed.
This separation, which the Church herself permits, and expressly
mentions in her Canon Law in those canons which deal with the
separation of the parties as to marital relationship and
co-habitation, removes all the alleged inconveniences and
dangers.(68) It will be for the sacred law and, to some extent,
also the civil law, in so far as civil matters are affected, to
lay down the grounds, the conditions, the method and precautions
to be taken in a case of this kind in order to safeguard the
education of the children and the well-being of the family, and to
remove all those evils which threaten the married persons, the
children and the State. Now all those arguments that are brought
forward to prove the indissolubility of the marriage tie,
arguments which have already been touched upon, can equally be
applied to excluding not only the necessity of divorce, but even
the power to grant it; while for all the advantages that can be
put forward for the former, there can be adduced as many
disadvantages and evils which are a formidable menace to the whole
of human society.
90.
To revert again to the expression of Our predecessor, it is hardly
necessary to point out what an amount of good is involved in the
absolute indissolubility of wedlock and what a train of evils
follows upon divorce. Whenever the marriage bond remains intact,
then we find marriages contracted with a sense of safety and
security, while, when separations are considered and the dangers
of divorce are present, the marriage contract itself becomes
insecure, or at least gives ground for anxiety and surprises. On
the one hand we see a wonderful strengthening of goodwill and
cooperation in the daily life of husband and wife, while, on the
other, both of these are miserably weakened by the presence of a
facility for divorce. Here we have at a very opportune moment a
source of help by which both parties are enabled to preserve their
purity and loyalty; there we find harmful inducements to
unfaithfulness. On this side we find the birth of children and
their tuition and upbringing effectively promoted, many avenues of
discord closed amongst families and relations, and the beginnings
of rivalry and jealousy easily suppressed; on that, very great
obstacles to the birth and rearing of children and their
education, and many occasions of quarrels, and seeds of jealousy
sown everywhere. Finally, but especially, the dignity and position
of women in civil and domestic society is reinstated by the
former; while by the latter it is shamefully lowered and the
danger is incurred "of their being considered outcasts,
slaves of the lust of men."(69)
91.
To conclude with the important words of Leo XIII, since the
destruction of family life "and the loss of national wealth
is brought about more by the corruption of morals than by anything
else, it is easily seen that divorce, which is born of the
perverted morals of a people, and leads, as experiment shows, to
vicious habits in public and private life, is particularly opposed
to the well-being of the family and of the State. The serious
nature of these evils will be the more clearly recognized, when we
remember that, once divorce has been allowed, there will be no
sufficient means of keeping it in check within any definite
bounds. Great is the force of example, greater still that of lust;
and with such incitements it cannot but happen that divorce and
its consequent setting loose of the passions should spread daily
and attack the souls of many like a contagious disease or a river
bursting its banks and flooding the land."(70)
92.
Thus, as we read in the same letter, "unless things change,
the human family and State have every reason to fear lest they
should suffer absolute ruin."(71) All this was written fifty
years ago, yet it is confirmed by the daily increasing corruption
of morals and the unheard of degradation of the family in those
lands where Communism reigns unchecked.
93.
Thus far, Venerable Brethren, We have admired with due reverence
what the all wise Creator and Redeemer of the human race has
ordained with regard to human marriage; at the same time we have
expressed Our grief that such a pious ordinance of the divine
Goodness should today, and on every side, be frustrated and
trampled upon by the passions, errors and vices of men.
94.
It is then fitting that, with all fatherly solicitude, We should
turn Our mind to seek out suitable remedies whereby those most
detestable abuses which We have mentioned, may be removed, and
everywhere marriage may again be revered. To this end, it
behooves Us, above all else, to call to mind that firmly
established principle, esteemed alike in sound philosophy and
sacred theology: namely, that whatever things have deviated from
their right order, cannot be brought back to that original state
which is in harmony with their nature except by a return to the
divine plan which, as the Angelic Doctor teaches,(72) is the
exemplar of all right order.
95.
Wherefore, Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, attacked the
doctrine of the naturalists in these words: "It is a divinely
appointed law that whatsoever things are constituted by God, the
Author of nature, these we find the more useful and salutary, the
more they remain in their natural state, unimpaired and unchanged;
inasmuch as God, the Creator of all things, intimately knows what
is suited to the constitution and the preservation of each, and by
his will and mind has so ordained all this that each may duly
achieve its purpose. But if the boldness and wickedness of men
change and disturb this order of things, so providentially
disposed, then, indeed, things so wonderfully ordained, will begin
to be injurious, or will cease to be beneficial, either because,
in the change, they have lost their power to benefit, or because
God Himself is thus pleased to draw down chastisement on the pride
and presumption of men."(73)
96.
In order, therefore, to restore due order in this matter of
marriage, it is necessary that all should bear in mind what is the
divine plan and strive to conform to it.
97.
Wherefore, since the chief obstacle to this study is the power of
unbridled lust, which indeed is the most potent cause of sinning
against the sacred laws of matrimony, and since man cannot hold in
check his passions, unless he first subject himself to God, this
must be his primary endeavor, in accordance with the plan divinely
ordained. For it is a sacred ordinance that whoever shall have
first subjected himself to God will, by the aid of divine grace,
be glad to subject to himself his own passions and concupiscence;
while he who is a rebel against God will, to his sorrow,
experience within himself the violent rebellion of his worst
passions.
98.
And how wisely this has been decreed St. Augustine thus shows:
"This indeed is fitting, that the lower be subject to the
higher, so that he who would have subject to himself whatever is
below him, should himself submit to whatever is above him.
Acknowledge order, seek peace. Be thou subject to God, and thy
flesh subject to thee. What more fitting! What more fair! Thou art
subject to the higher and the lower is subject to thee. Do thou
serve Him who made thee, so that that which was made for thee may
serve thee. For we do not commend this order, namely, 'The flesh
to thee and thou to God,' but 'Thou to God, and the flesh to
thee.' If, however, thou despisest the subjection of thyself to
God, thou shalt never bring about the subjection of the flesh to
thyself. If thou dost not obey the Lord, thou shalt be tormented
by thy servant."(74) This right ordering on the part of God's
wisdom is mentioned by the holy Doctor of the Gentiles, inspired
by the Holy Ghost, for in speaking of those ancient philosophers
who refused to adore and reverence Him whom they knew to be the
Creator of the universe, he says: "Wherefore God gave them up
to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their
own bodies among themselves;" and again: "For this same
God delivered them up to shameful affections."(75) And St.
James says: "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the
humble,"(76) without which grace, as the same Doctor of the
Gentiles reminds us, man cannot subdue the rebellion of his
flesh.(77)
99.
Consequently, as the onslaughts of these uncontrolled passions
cannot in any way be lessened, unless the spirit first shows a
humble compliance of duty and reverence towards its Maker, it is
above all and before all needful that those who are joined in the
bond of sacred wedlock should be wholly imbued with a profound and
genuine sense of duty towards God, which will shape their whole
lives, and fill their minds and wills with a very deep reverence
for the majesty of God.
100.
Quite fittingly, therefore, and quite in accordance with the
defined norm of Christian sentiment, do those pastors of souls act
who, to prevent married people from failing in the observance of
God's law, urge them to perform their duty and exercise their
religion so that they should give themselves to God, continually
ask for His divine assistance, frequent the sacraments, and always
nourish and preserve a loyal and thoroughly sincere devotion to
God.
101.
They are greatly deceived who having underestimated or neglected
these means which rise above nature, think that they can induce
men by the use and discovery of the natural sciences, such as
those of biology, the science of heredity, and the like, to curb
their carnal desires. We do not say this in order to belittle
those natural means which are not dishonest; for God is the Author
of nature as well as of grace, and He has disposed the good things
of both orders for the beneficial use of men. The faithful,
therefore, can and ought to be assisted also by natural means. But
they are mistaken who think that these means are able to establish
chastity in the nuptial union, or that they are more effective
than supernatural grace.
102.
This conformity of wedlock and moral conduct with the divine laws
respective of marriage, without which its effective restoration
cannot be brought about, supposes, however, that all can discern
readily, with real certainty, and without any accompanying error,
what those laws are. But everyone can see to how many fallacies an
avenue would be opened up and how many errors would become mixed
with the truth, if it were left solely to the light of reason of
each to find it out, or if it were to be discovered by the private
interpretation of the truth which is revealed. And if this is
applicable to many other truths of the moral order, we must all
the more pay attention to those things, which appertain to
marriage where the inordinate desire for pleasure can attack frail
human nature and easily deceive it and lead it astray; this is all
the more true of the observance of the divine law, which demands
sometimes hard and repeated sacrifices, for which, as experience
points out, a weak man can find so many excuses for avoiding the
fulfillment of the divine law.
103.
On this account, in order that no falsification or corruption of
the divine law but a true genuine knowledge of it may enlighten
the minds of men and guide their conduct, it is necessary that a
filial and humble obedience towards the Church should be combined
with devotedness to God and the desire of submitting to Him. For
Christ Himself made the Church the teacher of truth in those
things also which concern the right regulation of moral conduct,
even though some knowledge of the same is not beyond human reason.
For just as God, in the case of the natural truths of religion and
morals, added revelation to the light of reason so that what is
right and true, "in the present state also of the human race
may be known readily with real certainty without any admixture of
error,"(78) so for the same purpose he has constituted the
Church the guardian and the teacher of the whole of the truth
concerning religion and moral conduct; to her therefore should the
faithful show obedience and subject their minds and hearts so as
to be kept unharmed and free from error and moral corruption, and
so that they shall not deprive themselves of that assistance given
by God with such liberal bounty, they ought to show this due
obedience not only when the Church defines something with solemn
judgment, but also, in proper proportion, when by the
constitutions and decrees of the Holy See, opinions are prescribed
and condemned as dangerous or distorted.(79)
104.
Wherefore, let the faithful also be on their guard against the
overrated independence of private judgment and that false autonomy
of human reason. For it is quite foreign to everyone bearing the
name of a Christian to trust his own mental powers with such pride
as to agree only with those things which he can examine from their
inner nature, and to imagine that the Church, sent by God to teach
and guide all nations, is not conversant with present affairs and
circumstances; or even that they must obey only in those matters
which she has decreed by solemn definition as though her other
decisions might be presumed to be false or putting forward
insufficient motive for truth and honesty. Quite to the contrary,
a characteristic of all true followers of Christ, lettered or
unlettered, is to suffer themselves to be guided and led in all
things that touch upon faith or morals by the Holy Church of God
through its Supreme Pastor the Roman Pontiff, who is himself
guided by Jesus Christ Our Lord.
105.
Consequently, since everything must be referred to the law and
mind of God, in order to bring about the universal and permanent
restoration of marriage, it is indeed of the utmost importance
that the faithful should be well instructed concerning matrimony;
both by word of mouth and by the written word, not cursorily but
often and fully, by means of plain and weighty arguments, so that
these truths will strike the intellect and will be deeply engraved
on their hearts. Let them realize and diligently reflect upon the
great wisdom, kindness and bounty God has shown towards the human
race, not only by the institution of marriage, but also, and quite
as much, by upholding it with sacred laws; still more, in
wonderfully raising it to the dignity of a Sacrament by which such
an abundant fountain of graces has been opened to those joined in
Christian wedlock, that these may be able to serve the noble
purposes of wedlock for their own welfare and for that of their
children, of the community and also for that of human
relationship.
106.
Certainly, if the latter day subverters of marriage are entirely
devoted to misleading the minds of men and corrupting their
hearts, to making a mockery of matrimonial purity and extolling
the filthiest of vices by means of books and pamphlets and other
innumerable methods, much more ought you, Venerable Brethren, whom
"the Holy Ghost has placed as bishops, to rule the Church of
God, which He hath purchased with His own blood,"(80) to give
yourselves wholly to this, that through yourselves and through the
priests subject to you, and, moreover, through the laity welded
together by Catholic Action, so much desired and recommended by
Us, into a power of hierarchical apostolate, you may, by every
fitting means, oppose error by truth, vice by the excellent
dignity of chastity, the slavery of covetousness by the liberty of
the sons of God,(81) that disastrous ease in obtaining divorce by
an enduring love in the bond of marriage and by the inviolate
pledge of fidelity given even to death.
107.
Thus will it come to pass that the faithful will wholeheartedly
thank God that they are bound together by His command and led by
gentle compulsion to fly as far as possible from every kind of
idolatry of the flesh and from the base slavery of the passions.
They will, in a great measure, turn and be turned away from these
abominable opinions which to the dishonor of man's dignity are now
spread about in speech and in writing and collected under the
title of "perfect marriage" and which indeed would make
that perfect marriage nothing better than "depraved
marriage," as it has been rightly and truly called.
108.
Such wholesome instruction and religious training in regard to
Christian marriage will be quite different from that exaggerated
physiological education by means of which, in these times of ours,
some reformers of married life make pretense of helping those
joined in wedlock, laying much stress on these physiological
matters, in which is learned rather the art of sinning in a subtle
way than the virtue of living chastely.
109.
So, Venerable Brethren, we make entirely Our own the words which
Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his encyclical
letter on Christian marriage addressed to the bishops of the whole
world: "Take care not to spare your efforts and authority in
bringing about that among the people committed to your guidance
that doctrine may be preserved whole and unadulterated which
Christ the Lord and the apostles, the interpreters of the divine
will, have handed down, and which the Catholic Church herself has
religiously preserved, and commanded to be observed by the
faithful of every age."(82)
110.
Even the very best instruction given by the Church, however, will
not alone suffice to bring about once more conformity of marriage
to the law of God; something more is needed in addition to the
education of the mind, namely a steadfast determination of the
will, on the part of husband and wife, to observe the sacred laws
of God and of nature in regard to marriage. In fine, in spite of
what others may wish to assert and spread abroad by word of mouth
or in writing, let husband and wife resolve: to stand fast to the
commandments of God in all things that matrimony demands; always
to render to each other the assistance of mutual love; to preserve
the honor of chastity; not to lay profane hands on the stable
nature of the bond; to use the rights given them by marriage in a
way that will be always Christian and sacred, more especially in
the first years of wedlock, so that should there be need of
continency afterwards, custom will have made it easier for each to
preserve it. In order that they may make this firm resolution,
keep it and put it into practice, an oft-repeated consideration of
their state of life, and a diligent reflection on the sacrament
they have received, will be of great assistance to them. Let them
constantly keep in mind, that they have been sanctified and
strengthened for the duties and for the dignity of their state by
a special sacrament, the efficacious power of which, although it
does not impress a character, is undying. To this purpose we may
ponder over the words full of real comfort of holy Cardinal Robert
Bellarmine, who with other well-known theologians with devout
conviction thus expresses himself: "The sacrament of
matrimony can be regarded in two ways: first, in the making, and
then in its permanent state. For it is a sacrament like to that of
the Eucharist, which not only when it is being conferred, but also
whilst it remains, is a sacrament; for as long as the married
parties are alive, so long is their union a sacrament of Christ
and the Church."(83)
111.
Yet in order that the grace of this sacrament may produce its full
fruit, there is need, as we have already pointed out, of the
cooperation of the married parties; which consists in their
striving to fulfill their duties to the best of their ability and
with unwearied effort. For just as in the natural order men must
apply the powers given them by God with their own toil and
diligence that these may exercise their full vigor, failing which,
no profit is gained, so also men must diligently and unceasingly
use the powers given them by the grace which is laid up in the
soul by this sacrament. Let not, then, those who are joined in
matrimony neglect the grace of the sacrament which is in them;(84)
for, in applying themselves to the careful observance, however
laborious, of their duties they will find the power of that grace
becoming more effectual as time goes on. And if ever they should
feel themselves to be overburdened by the hardships of their
condition of life, let them not lose courage, but rather let them
regard in some measure as addressed to them that which St. Paul
the Apostle wrote to his beloved disciple Timothy regarding the
sacrament of holy Orders when the disciple was dejected through
hardship and insults: "I admonish thee that thou stir up the
grace which is in thee by the imposition of my hands. For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of
sobriety."(85)
112.
All these things, however, Venerable Brethren, depend in large
measure on the due preparation remote and proximate, of the
parties for marriage. For it cannot be denied that the basis of a
happy wedlock, and the ruin of an unhappy one, is prepared and set
in the souls of boys and girls during the period of childhood and
adolescence. There is danger that those who before marriage sought
in all things what is theirs, who indulged even their impure
desires, will be in the married state what they were before, that
they will reap that which they have sown;(86) indeed, within the
home there will be sadness, lamentation, mutual contempt, strifes,
estrangements, weariness of common life, and, worst of all, such
parties will find themselves left alone with their own unconquered
passions.
113.
Let then, those who are about to enter on married life, approach
that state well disposed and well prepared, so that they will be
able, as far as they can, to help each other in sustaining the
vicissitudes of life, and yet more in attending to their eternal
salvation and in forming the inner man unto the fullness of the
age of Christ.(87) It will also help them, if they behave towards
their cherished offspring as God wills: that is, that the father
be truly a father, and the mother truly a mother; through their
devout love and unwearying care, the home, though it suffer the
want and hardship of this valley of tears, may become for the
children in its own way a foretaste of that paradise of delight in
which the Creator placed the first men of the human race. Thus
will they be able to bring up their children as perfect men and
perfect Christians; they will instill into them a sound
understanding of the Catholic Church, and will give them such a
disposition and love for their fatherland as duty and gratitude
demand.
114.
Consequently, both those who are now thinking of entering upon
this sacred married state, as well as those who have the charge of
educating Christian youth, should, with due regard to the future,
prepare that which is good, obviate that which is bad, and recall
those points about which We have already spoken in Our encyclical
letter concerning education: "The inclinations of the will,
if they are bad, must be repressed from childhood, but such as are
good must be fostered, and the mind, particularly of children,
should be imbued with doctrines which begin with God, while the
heart should be strengthened with the aids of divine grace, in the
absence of which, no one can curb evil desires, nor can his
discipline and formation be brought to complete perfection by the
Church. For Christ has provided her with heavenly doctrines and
divine sacraments, that He might make her an effectual teacher of
men."(88)
115.
To the proximate preparation of a good married life belongs very
specially the care in choosing a partner; on that depends a great
deal whether the forthcoming marriage will be happy or not, since
one may be to the other either a great help in leading a Christian
life, or, a great danger and hindrance. And so that they may not
deplore for the rest of their lives the sorrows arising from an
indiscreet marriage, those about to enter into wedlock should
carefully deliberate in choosing the person with whom henceforward
they must live continually: they should, in so deliberating, keep
before their minds the thought first of God and of the true
religion of Christ, then of themselves, of their partner, of the
children to come, as also of human and civil society, for which
wedlock is a fountainhead. Let them diligently pray for divine
help, so that they make their choice in accordance with Christian
prudence, not indeed led by the blind and unrestrained impulse of
lust, nor by any desire of riches or other base influence, but by
a true and noble love and by a sincere affection for the future
partner; and then let them strive in their married life for those
ends for which the State was constituted by God. Lastly, let them
not omit to ask the prudent advice of their parents with regard to
the partner, and let them regard this advice in no light manner,
in order that by their mature knowledge and experience of human
affairs, they may guard against a disastrous choice, and, on the
threshold of matrimony, may receive more abundantly the divine
blessing of the fourth commandment: "Honor thy father and thy
mother (which is the first commandment with a promise) that it may
be well with thee and thou mayest be long-lived upon the
earth."(89)
116.
Now since it is no rare thing to find that the perfect observance
of God's commands and conjugal integrity encounter difficulties by
reason of the fact that the man and wife are in straitened
circumstances, their necessities must be relieved as far as
possible.
117.
And so, in the first place, every effort must be made to bring
about that which Our predecessor Leo XIII, of happy memory, has
already insisted upon,(90) namely, that in the State such economic
and social methods should be adopted as will enable every head of
a family to earn as much as, according to his station in life, is
necessary for himself, his wife, and for the rearing of his
children, for "the laborer is worthy of his hire."(91)
To deny this, or to make light of what is equitable, is a grave
injustice and is placed among the greatest sins by Holy Writ;(92)
nor is it lawful to fix such a scanty wage as will be insufficient
for the upkeep of the family in the circumstances in which it is
placed.
118.
Care, however, must be taken that the parties themselves, for a
considerable time before entering upon married life, should strive
to dispose of, or at least to diminish, the material obstacles in
their way. The manner in which this may be done effectively and
honestly must be pointed out by those who are experienced.
Provision must be made also, in the case of those who are not
self-supporting, for joint aid by private or public guilds.(93)
119.
When these means which We have pointed out do not fulfill the
needs, particularly of a larger or poorer family, Christian
charity towards our neighbor absolutely demands that those things
which are lacking to the needy should be provided; hence it is
incumbent on the rich to help the poor, so that, having an
abundance of this world's goods, they may not expend them
fruitlessly or completely squander them, but employ them for the
support and well-being of those who lack the necessities of life.
They who give of their substance to Christ in the person of His
poor will receive from the Lord a most bountiful reward when He
shall come to judge the world; they who act to the contrary will
pay the penalty.(94) Not in vain does the Apostle warn us:
"He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his
brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth
the charity of God abide in him?"(95)
120.
If, however, for this purpose, private resources do not suffice,
it is the duty of the public authority to supply for the
insufficient forces of individual effort, particularly in a matter
which is of such importance to the common weal, touching as it
does the maintenance of the family and married people. If
families, particularly those in which there are many children,
have not suitable dwellings; if the husband cannot find employment
and means of livelihood; if the necessities of life cannot be
purchased except at exorbitant prices; if even the mother of the
family to the great harm of the home, is compelled to go forth and
seek a living by her own labor; if she, too, in the ordinary or
even extraordinary labors of childbirth, is deprived of proper
food, medicine, and the assistance of a skilled physician, it is
patent to all to what an extent married people may lose heart, and
how home life and the observance of God's commands are rendered
difficult for them; indeed it is obvious how great a peril can
arise to the public security and to the welfare and very life of
civil society itself when such men are reduced to that condition
of desperation that, having nothing which they fear to lose, they
are emboldened to hope for chance advantage from the upheaval of
the state and of established order.
121.
Wherefore, those who have the care of the State and of the public
good cannot neglect the needs of married people and their
families, without bringing great harm upon the State and on the
common welfare. Hence, in making the laws and in disposing of
public funds they must do their utmost to relieve the needs of the
poor, considering such a task as one of the most important of
their administrative duties.
122.
We are sorry to note that not infrequently nowadays it happens
that through a certain inversion of the true order of things,
ready and bountiful assistance is provided for the unmarried
mother and her illegitimate offspring (who, of course must be
helped in order to avoid a greater evil) which is denied to
legitimate mothers or given sparingly or almost grudgingly.
123.
But not only in regard to temporal goods, Venerable Brethren, is
it the concern of the public authority to make proper provision
for matrimony and the family, but also in other things which
concern the good of souls. Just laws must be made for the
protection of chastity, for reciprocal conjugal aid, and for
similar purposes, and these must be faithfully enforced, because,
as history testifies, the prosperity of the State and the temporal
happiness of its citizens cannot remain safe and sound where the
foundation on which they are established, which is the moral
order, is weakened and where the very fountainhead from which the
State draws its life, namely, wedlock and the family, is
obstructed by the vices of its citizens.
124.
For the preservation of the moral order neither the laws and
sanctions of the temporal power are sufficient, nor is the beauty
of virtue and the expounding of its necessity. Religious authority
must enter in to enlighten the mind, to direct the will, and to
strengthen human frailty by the assistance of divine grace. Such
an authority is found nowhere save in the Church instituted by
Christ the Lord. Hence We earnestly exhort in the Lord all those
who hold the reins of power that they establish and maintain
firmly harmony and friendship with this Church of Christ so that
through the united activity and energy of both powers the
tremendous evils, fruits of those wanton liberties which assail
both marriage and the family and are a menace to both Church and
State, may be effectively frustrated.
125.
Governments can assist the Church greatly in the execution of its
important office, if, in laying down their ordinances, they take
account of what is prescribed by divine and ecclesiastical law,
and if penalties are fixed for offenders. For as it is, there are
those who think that whatever is permitted by the laws of the
State, or at least is not punished by them, is allowed also in the
moral order, and, because they neither fear God nor see any reason
to fear the laws of man, they act even against their conscience,
thus often bringing ruin upon themselves and upon many others.
There will be no peril to or lessening of the rights and integrity
of the State from its association with the Church. Such suspicion
and fear is empty and groundless, as Leo XIII has already so
clearly set forth: "It is generally agreed," he says,
"that the Founder of the Church, Jesus Christ, wished the
spiritual power to be distinct from the civil, and each to be free
and unhampered in doing its own work, not forgetting, however,
that it is expedient to both, and in the interest of everybody,
that there be a harmonious relationship...If the civil power
combines in a friendly manner with the spiritual power of the
Church, it necessarily follows that both parties will greatly
benefit. The dignity of the State will be enhanced, and with
religion as its guide, there will never be a rule that is not
just; while for the Church there will be at hand a safeguard and
defense which will operate to the public good of the
faithful."(96)
126.
To bring forward a recent and clear example of what is meant, it
has happened quite in consonance with right order and entirely
according to the law of Christ, that in the solemn Convention
happily entered into between the Holy See and the Kingdom of
Italy, also in matrimonial affairs a peaceful settlement and
friendly cooperation has been obtained, such as befitted the
glorious history of the Italian people and its ancient and sacred
traditions. These decrees, are to be found in the Lateran Pact:
"The Italian State, desirous of restoring to the institution
of matrimony, which is the basis of the family, that dignity
conformable to the traditions of its people, assigns as civil
effects of the sacrament of matrimony all that is attributed to it
in Canon Law."(97) To this fundamental norm are added further
clauses in the common pact.
127.
This might well be a striking example to all of how, even in this
our own day (in which, sad to say, the absolute separation of the
civil power from the Church, and indeed from every religion, is so
often taught), the one supreme authority can be united and
associated with the other without detriment to the rights and
supreme power of either thus protecting Christian parents from
pernicious evils and menacing ruin.
128.
All these things which, Venerable Brethren, prompted by Our past
solicitude We put before you, We wish according to the norm of
Christian prudence to be promulgated widely among all Our beloved
children committed to your care as members of the great family of
Christ, that all may be thoroughly acquainted with sound teaching
concerning marriage, so that they may be ever on their guard
against the dangers advocated by the teachers of error, and most
of all, that "denying ungodliness and worldly desires, they
may live soberly and justly, and godly in this world, looking for
the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and Our
Savior Jesus Christ."(98)
129.
May the Father, "of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is
named,"(99) Who strengthens the weak and gives courage to the
pusillanimous and fainthearted; and Christ Our Lord and Redeemer,
"the Institutor and Perfecter of the holy
sacraments,"(100) Who desired marriage to be and made it the
mystical image of His own ineffable union with the Church; and the
Holy Ghost, Love of God, the Light of hearts and the Strength of
the mind, grant that all will perceive, will admit with a ready
will, and by the grace of God will put into practice, what We by
this letter have expounded concerning the holy Sacrament of
Matrimony, the wonderful law and will of God respecting it, the
errors and impending dangers, and the remedies with which they can
be counteracted, so that that fruitfulness dedicated to God will
flourish again vigorously in Christian wedlock.
130.
We most humbly pour forth Our earnest prayer at the Throne of His
Grace, that God, the Author of all graces, the inspirer of all
good desires and deeds,(101) may bring this about, and deign to
give it bountifully according to the greatness of His liberality
and omnipotence, and as a token of the abundant blessing of the
same Omnipotent God, We most lovingly grant to you, Venerable
Brethren, and to the clergy and people committed to your watchful
care, the Apostolic Benediction.
Given
at Rome, in Saint Peter's, this 31st day of December, of the year
1930, the ninth of Our Pontificate.
Endnotes:
1.
Encycl. Arcanum divinae sapientiae, 10 Febr. 1880. | 2. Gen., I,
27-28; II, 22-23; Matth., XIX, 3 sqq.; Eph., V, 23 sqq . | 3.
Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV. | 4. Cod. iur. can., c. 1081 & 2. |
5. Cod. iur. can., c. 1081 & 1. | 6. S. Thom Aquin., Summa
theol., p. III Supplem 9, XLIX, art.3. | 7. Encycl. Rerum novarum,
15 May 1891. | 8. Gen., I, 28. | 9. Encycl. Ad salutem, 20 April
1930 | 10. St. August., De bono coniug., cap. 24, n. 32. | 11. St.
August., De Gen. ad litt., lib. IX, cap. 7, n. 12. | 12. Gen., I,
28. | 13. I Tim., V, 14. | 14. St. August., De bono coniug., cap.
24 n. 32. | 15. I Cor., II, 9 | 16. Eph., II, 19. | 17. John, XVI,
21. | 18. Encycl. Divini illius Magistri, 31 Dec. 1929. | 19. St.
August., De Gen. ad litt., lib. IX, cap. 7, n. 12. | 20. Cod. iur.
can., c. 1013 & 7. | 21. Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV. | 22. Matth.,
V, 28. | 23. Decr. S. Officii, 2 March 1679, propos. 50. | 24.
Eph., V, 25; Col., III, 19. | 25. Catech. Rom., II, cap. VIII q.
24. | 26. St. Gregory the Great, Homii. XXX in Evang (John XIV,
23-31),
n.1. | 27. Matth., XXII, 40. | 28. I Cor., VII, 3. | 29. Eph., V,
22-23. | 30. Encycl. Arcanum divinae sapientiae, 10 Febr. 1880. |
31. Matth., XIX, 6. | 32. Luke, XVI, 18. | 33. St. August., De
Gen. ad litt. Iib. IX, cap. 7, n. 12. | 34. Pius VI, Rescript. ad
Episc. Agriens., 11 July 1789. | 35. Eph., V, 32. | 36. St.
August., De nupt. et concup., lib. I, cap. 10. | 37. I Cor., XIII,
8. | 38. Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV. | 39. Conc. Trid. Sess., XXIV. |
40. Cod. iur. can., c. 1012. | 41. St. August., De nupt. et concup.,
lib. I, cap. 10. | 42. Matth., XIII, 25. | 43. II Tim., IV, 2-5. |
44. Eph., V, 3. | 45. St. August., De coniug. adult., lib. II, n.
12, Gen, XXXVIII, 8-10. | 46. Matth., XV, 14. | 47. Luke, VI, 38.
| 48. Conc. Trid., Sess. VI, cap. 11. | 49. Const. Apost. Cum
occasione, 31 May 1653, prop. 1. | 50. Exod., XX, 13; cfr. Decr.
S. Offic. 4 May 1897, 24 July 1895; 31 May 1884. | 51. St.
August., De nupt. et concupisc., cap. XV. | 52. Rom., III, 8. |
53. Gen., IV, 10. | 54. Summ. theol., 2a 2ae, q. 108 a 4 ad 2um. |
55. Exod., XX, 14. | 56. Matth., V, 28. | 57. Hebr., XIII, 8. |
58. Matth., V, 18. | 59. Matth., VII, 27. | 60. Leo XIII, Encycl.
Arcanum, 10 Febr. 1880. | 61. Eph., V, 32: Hebr. XIII, 4. | 62.
Cod. iur. can., c. 1060. | 63. Modestinus, in Dig. (Lib. XXIII,
II: De ritu nuptiarum), lib. I, Regularum. | 64. Matth., XIX, 6. |
65. Luke, XVI, 18. | 66. Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV, cap. 5 | 67.
Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV, cap. 7 | 68. Cod. iur. can., c. 1128 sqq.
| 69. Leo XIII, Encycl. Arcanum divinae sapientiae 10 Febr. 1880.
| 70. Encycl. Arcanum, 10 Febr. 1880. | 71. Encycl. Arcanum, 10
Febr. 1880. | 72. St. Thom. of Aquin, Summ theolog., la 2ae, q.
91, a. I-2 . | 73. Encycl. Arcanum divinae sapientiae, 10 Febr.
1880. | 74. St. August., Enarrat. in Ps. 143. | 75. Rom. I, 24,
26. | 76. James IV, 6. | 77. Rom., VII, VIII. | 78. Conc. Vat.,
Sess. III, cap. 2. | 79. Conc. Vat., Sess. III, cap. 4; Cod. iur.
can., c. 1324. | 80. Acta, XX, 28. | 81. John, VIII, 32 sqq.;
Gal., V, 13. | 82. Encycl. Arcanum. 10 Febr. 1880. | 83. St. Rob.
Bellarmin., De controversiis, tom. III, De Matr., controvers. II,
cap. 6. | 84. I Tim., IV,14. | 85. II Tim., 1, 6-7. | 86. Gal., Vl.
9. | 87. Eph., IV, 13. | 88. Encycl. Divini illius Magistri, 31
Dec. 1929. | 89. Eph., VI, 2-3; Exod., XX, 12. | 90. Encycl. Rerum
novarum, 15 May 1891. | 91. Luke, X, 7. | 92. Deut. XXIV, 14, 15.
| 93. Leo XIII, Encycl. Rerum novarum, 15 May 1891. | 94. Matth.,
XXV, 34 sqq. | 95. I John, III, 17. | 96. Encycl. Arcanum divinae
sapientiae, 10 Febr. 1880. | 97. Concord., art. 34; Act. Apost.
Sed., XXI (1929), pag. 290. | 98. Tit., II, 12-13. | 99. Eph., III, 15. | 100. Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV. | 101. Phil., II, 13.
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