ON
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE
Encyclical
of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on February
10, 1880.
1. To the Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of
the Catholic World in Grace and Communion
with the Apostolic See.
The hidden design of the divine wisdom,
which Jesus Christ the Savior of men
came to carry out on earth, had this
end in view, that, by Himself and in
Himself, He should divinely renew the
world, which was sinking, as it were,
with length of years into decline. The
Apostle Paul summed this up in words
of dignity and majesty when he wrote
to the Ephesians, thus: "That He
might make known unto us the mystery
of His will . . . to re-establish all
things in Christ that are in heaven
and on earth."[1]
2. In truth, Christ
our Lord, setting Himself to fulfill
the commandment which His Father had
given Him, straightway imparted a new
form and fresh beauty to all things,
taking away the effects of their time-worn
age. For He healed the wounds which
the sin of our first father had inflicted
on the human race; He brought all men,
by nature children of wrath, into favor
with God; He led to the light of truth
men wearied out by longstanding errors;
He renewed to every virtue those who
were weakened by lawlessness of every
kind; and, giving them again an inheritance
of never-ending bliss, He added a sure
hope that their mortal and perishable
bodies should one day be partakers of
immortality and of the glory of heaven.
In order that these unparalleled benefits
might last as long as men should be
found on earth, He entrusted to His
Church the continuance of His work;
and, looking to future times, He commanded
her to set in order whatever might have
become deranged in human society, and
to restore whatever might have fallen
into ruin.
3. Although the divine
renewal we have spoken of chiefly and
directly affected men as constituted
in the supernatural order of grace,
nevertheless some of its precious and
salutary fruits were also bestowed abundantly
in the order of nature. Hence, not only
individual men, but also the whole mass
of the human race, have in every respect
received no small degree of worthiness.
For, so soon as Christian order was
once established in the world, it became
possible for all men, one by one, to
learn what God's fatherly providence
is, and to dwell in it habitually, thereby
fostering that hope of heavenly help
which never confoundeth. From all this
outflowed fortitude, self-control, constancy,
and the evenness of a peaceful mind,
together with many high virtues and
noble deeds.
4. Wondrous, indeed,
was the extent of dignity, steadfastness,
and goodness which thus accrued to the
State as well as to the family. The
authority of rulers became more just
and revered; the obedience of the people
more ready and unforced; the union of
citizens closer; the rights of dominion
more secure. In very truth, the Christian
religion thought of and provided for
all things which are held to be advantageous
in a State; so much so, indeed, that,
according to St. Augustine, one cannot
see how it could have offered greater
help in the matter of living well and
happily, had it been instituted for
the single object of procuring or increasing
those things which contributed to the
conveniences or advantages of this mortal
life.
5. Still, the purpose
We have set before Us is not to recount,
in detail, benefits of this kind; Our
wish is rather to speak about that family
union of which marriage is the beginning
and the foundation. The true origin
of marriage, venerable brothers, is
well known to all. Though revilers of
the Christian faith refuse to acknowledge
the never-interrupted doctrine of the
Church on this subject, and have long
striven to destroy the testimony of
all nations and of all times, they have
nevertheless failed not only to quench
the powerful light of truth, but even
to lessen it. We record what is to all
known, and cannot be doubted by any,
that God, on the sixth day of creation,
having made man from the slime of the
earth, and having breathed into his
face the breath of life, gave him a
companion, whom He miraculously took
from the side of Adam when he was locked
in sleep. God thus, in His most far-reaching
foresight, decreed that this husband
and wife should be the natural beginning
of the human race, from whom it might
be propagated and preserved by an unfailing
fruitfulness throughout all futurity
of time. And this union of man and woman,
that it might answer more fittingly
to the infinite wise counsels of God,
even from the beginning manifested chiefly
two most excellent properties--deeply
sealed, as it were, and signed upon
it--namely, unity and perpetuity. From
the Gospel we see clearly that this
doctrine was declared and openly confirmed
by the divine authority of Jesus Christ.
He bore witness to the Jews and to His
Apostles that marriage, from its institution,
should exist between two only, that
is, between one man and one woman; that
of two they are made, so to say, one
flesh; and that the marriage bond is
by the will of God so closely and strongly
made fast that no man may dissolve it
or render it asunder. "For this
cause shall a man leave father and mother,
and shall cleave to his wife, and they
two shall be in one flesh. Therefore
now they are not two, but one flesh.
What, therefore, God hath joined together,
let no man put asunder."[2]
6. This form of marriage,
however, so excellent and so pre-eminent,
began to be corrupted by degrees, and
to disappear among the heathen; and
became even among the Jewish race clouded
in a measure and obscured. For in their
midst a common custom was gradually
introduced, by which it was accounted
as lawful for a man to have more than
one wife; and eventually when "by
reason of the hardness of their heart,"[3]
Moses indulgently permitted them to
put away their wives, the way was open
to divorce.
7. But the corruption
and change which fell on marriage among
the Gentiles seem almost incredible,
inasmuch as it was exposed in every
land to floods of error and of the most
shameful lusts. All nations seem, more
or less, to have forgotten the true
notion and origin of marriage; and thus
everywhere laws were enacted with reference
to marriage, prompted to all appearance
by State reasons, but not such as nature
required. Solemn rites, invented at
will of the law-givers, brought about
that women should, as might be, bear
either the honorable name of wife or
the disgraceful name of concubine; and
things came to such a pitch that permission
to marry, or the refusal of the permission,
depended on the will of the heads of
the State, whose laws were greatly against
equity or even to the highest degree
unjust. Moreover, plurality of wives
and husbands, as well as divorce, caused
the nuptial bond to be relaxed exceedingly.
Hence, too, sprang up the greatest confusion
as to the mutual rights and duties of
husbands and wives, inasmuch as a man
assumed right of dominion over his wife,
ordering her to go about her business,
often without any just cause; while
he was himself at liberty "to run
headlong with impunity into lust, unbridled
and unrestrained, in houses of ill-fame
and amongst his female slaves, as if
the dignity of the persons sinned with,
and not the will of the sinner, made
the guilt."[4] When the licentiousness
of a husband thus showed itself, nothing
could be more piteous than the wife,
sunk so low as to be all but reckoned
as a means for the gratification of
passion, or for the production of offspring.
Without any feeling of shame, marriageable
girls were bought and sold, like so
much merchandise,[5] and power was sometimes
given to the father and to the husband
to inflict capital punishment on the
wife. Of necessity, the offspring of
such marriages as these were either
reckoned among the stock in trade of
the common-wealth or held to be the
property of the father of the family;[6]
and the law permitted him to make and
unmake the marriages of his children
at his mere will, and even to exercise
against them the monstrous power of
life and death.
8. So manifold being
the vices and so great the ignominies
with which marriage was defiled, an
alleviation and a remedy were at length
bestowed from on high. Jesus Christ,
who restored our human dignity and who
perfected the Mosaic law, applied early
in His ministry no little solicitude
to the question of marriage. He ennobled
the marriage in Cana of Galilee by His
presence, and made it memorable by the
first of the miracles which he wrought;[7]
and for this reason, even from that
day forth, it seemed as if the beginning
of new holiness had been conferred on
human marriages. Later on He brought
back matrimony to the nobility of its
primeval origin by condemning the customs
of the Jews in their abuse of the plurality
of wives and of the power of giving
bills of divorce; and still more by
commanding most strictly that no one
should dare to dissolve that union which
God Himself had sanctioned by a bond
perpetual. Hence, having set aside the
difficulties which were adduced from
the law of Moses, He, in character of
supreme Lawgiver, decreed as follows
concerning husbands and wives, "I
say to you, that whosoever shall put
away his wife, except it be for fornication,
and shall marry another, committeth
adultery; and he that shall marry her
that is put away committeth adultery."[8]
9. But what was decreed
and constituted in respect to marriage
by the authority of God has been more
fully and more clearly handed down to
us, by tradition and the written Word,
through the Apostles, those heralds
of the laws of God. To the Apostles,
indeed, as our masters, are to be referred
the doctrines which "our holy Fathers,
the Councils, and the Tradition of the
Universal Church have always taught,"[9]
namely, that Christ our Lord raised
marriage to the dignity of a sacrament;
that to husband and wife, guarded and
strengthened by the heavenly grace which
His merits Rained for them, He gave
power to attain holiness in the married
state; and that, in a wondrous way,
making marriage an example of the mystical
union between Himself and His Church,
He not only perfected that love which
is according to nature,[10] but also
made the naturally indivisible union
of one man with one woman far more perfect
through the bond of heavenly love. Paul
says to the Ephesians: "Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ also loved
the Church, and delivered Himself up
for it, that He might sanctify it. .
. So also ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. . . For no man
ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth
and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth
the Church; because we are members of
His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his
father and mother, and shall cleave
to his wife, and they shall be two in
one flesh. This is a great sacrament;
but I speak in Christ and in the Church."[11]
In like manner from the teaching of
the Apostles we learn that the unity
of marriage and its perpetual indissolubility,
the indispensable conditions of its
very origin, must, according to the
command of Christ, be holy and inviolable
without exception. Paul says again:
"To them that are married, not
I, but the Lord commandeth that the
wife depart not from her husband; and
if she depart, that she remain unmarried
or be reconciled to her husband."[12]
And again: "A woman is bound by
the law as long as her husband liveth;
but if her husband die, she is at liberty."[13]
It is for these reasons that marriage
is "a great sacrament";[14]
"honorable in all,"[15] holy,
pure, and to be reverenced as a type
and symbol of most high mysteries.
10. Furthermore, the
Christian perfection and completeness
of marriage are not comprised in those
points only which have been mentioned.
For, first, there has been vouchsafed
to the marriage union a higher and nobler
purpose than was ever previously given
to it. By the command of Christ, it
not only looks to the propagation of
the human race, but to the bringing
forth of children for the Church, "fellow
citizens with the saints, and the domestics
of God";[16] so that "a people
might be born and brought up for the
worship and religion of the true God
and our Savior Jesus Christ."[17]
11. Secondly, the
mutual duties of husband and wife have
been defined, and their several rights
accurately established. They are bound,
namely, to have such feelings for one
another as to cherish always very great
mutual love, to be ever faithful to
their marriage vow, and to give one
another an unfailing and unselfish help.
The husband is the chief of the family
and the head of the wife. The woman,
because she is flesh of his flesh, and
bone of his bone, must be subject to
her husband and obey him; not, indeed,
as a servant, but as a companion, so
that her obedience shall be wanting
in neither honor nor dignity. Since
the husband represents Christ, and since
the wife represents the Church, let
there always be, both in him who commands
and in her who obeys, a heaven-born
love guiding both in their respective
duties. For "the husband is the
head of the wife; as Christ is the head
of the Church. . . Therefore, as the
Church is subject to Christ, so also
let wives be to their husbands in all
things."[18]
12. As regards children,
they ought to submit to the parents
and obey them, and give them honor for
conscience' sake; while, on the other
hand, parents are bound to give all
care and watchful thought to the education
of their offspring and their virtuous
bringing up: "Fathers, . . . bring
them up" (that is, your children)
"in the discipline and correction
of the Lord."[19] From this we
see clearly that the duties of husbands
and wives are neither few nor light;
although to married people who are good
these burdens become not only bearable
but agreeable, owing to the strength
which they gain through the sacrament.
13. Christ, therefore,
having renewed marriage to such and
so great excellence, commended and entrusted
all the discipline bearing upon these
matters to His Church. The Church, always
and everywhere, has so used her power
with reference to the marriages of Christians
that men have seen clearly how it belongs
to her as of native right; not being
made hers by any human grant, but given
divinely to her by the will of her Founder.
Her constant and watchful care in guarding
marriage, by the preservation of its
sanctity, is so well understood as to
not need proof. That the judgment of
the Council of Jerusalem reprobated
licentious and free love,[20] we all
know; as also that the incestuous Corinthian
was condemned by the authority of blessed
Paul.[21] Again, in the very beginning
of the Christian Church were repulsed
and defeated, with the like unremitting
determination, the efforts of many who
aimed at the destruction of Christian
marriage, such as the Gnostics, Manicheans,
and Montanists; and in our own time
Mormons, St. Simonians, phalansterians,
and communists.[22]
14. In like manner,
moreover, a law of marriage just to
all, and the same for all, was enacted
by the abolition of the old distinction
between slaves and free-born men and
women;[23] and thus the rights of husbands
and wives were made equal: for, as St.
Jerome says, "with us that which
is unlawful for women is unlawful for
men also, and the same restraint is
imposed on equal conditions."[24]
The self-same rights also were firmly
established for reciprocal affection
and for the interchange of duties; the
dignity of the woman was asserted and
assured; and it was forbidden to the
man to inflict capital punishment for
adultery,[25] or lustfully and shamelessly
to violate his plighted faith.
15. It is also a great
blessing that the Church has limited,
so far as is needful, the power of fathers
of families, so that sons and daughters,
wishing to marry, are not in any way
deprived of their rightful freedom;[26]
that, for the purpose of spreading more
widely the supernatural love of husbands
and wives, she has decreed marriages
within certain degrees of consanguinity
or affinity to be null and void;[27]
that she has taken the greatest pains
to safeguard marriage, as much as is
possible, from error and violence and
deceit;[28] that she has always wished
to preserve the holy chasteness of the
marriage bed, the security of persons,[29]
the honor of husband and wife,[30] and
the sanctity of religion.[31] Lastly,
with such foresight of legislation has
the Church guarded its divine institution
that no one who thinks rightfully of
these matters can fail to see how, with
regard to marriage, she is the best
guardian and defender of the human race;
and how, withal, her wisdom has come
forth victorious from the lapse of years,
from the assaults of men, and from the
countless changes of public events.
16. Yet, owing to
the efforts of the archenemy of mankind,
there are persons who, thanklessly casting
away so many other blessings of redemption,
despise also or utterly ignore the restoration
of marriage to its original perfection.
It is a reproach to some of the ancients
that they showed themselves the enemies
of marriage in many ways; but in our
own age, much more pernicious is the
sin of those who would fain pervert
utterly the nature of marriage, perfect
though it is, and complete in all its
details and parts. The chief reason
why they act in this way is because
very many, imbued with the maxims of
a false philosophy and corrupted in
morals, judge nothing so unbearable
as submission and obedience; and strive
with all their might to bring about
that not only individual men, but families,
also--indeed, human society itself--may
in haughty pride despise the sovereignty
of God.
17. Now, since the
family and human society at large spring
from marriage, these men will on no
account allow matrimony to be the subject
of the jurisdiction of the Church. Nay,
they endeavor to deprive it of all holiness,
and so bring it within the contracted
sphere of those rights which, having
been instituted by man, are ruled and
administered by the civil jurisprudence
of the community. Wherefore it necessarily
follows that they attribute all power
over marriage to civil rulers, and allow
none whatever to the Church; and, when
the Church exercises any such power,
they think that she acts either by favor
of the civil authority or to its injury.
Now is the time, they say, for the heads
of the State to vindicate their rights
unflinchingly, and to do their best
to settle all that relates to marriage
according as to them seems good.
18. Hence are owing
civil marriages, commonly so called;
hence laws are framed which impose impediments
to marriage; hence arise judicial sentences
affecting the marriage contract, as
to whether or not it have been rightly
made. Lastly, all power of prescribing
and passing judgment in this class of
cases is, as we see, of set purpose
denied to the Catholic Church, so that
no regard is paid either to her divine
power or to her prudent laws. Yet, under
these, for so many centuries, have the
nations lived on whom the light of civilization
shone bright with the wisdom of Christ
Jesus.
19. Nevertheless,
the naturalists,[32] as well as all
who profess that they worship above
all things the divinity of the State,
and strive to disturb whole communities
with such wicked doctrines, cannot escape
the charge of delusion. Marriage has
God for its Author, and was from the
very beginning a kind of foreshadowing
of the Incarnation of His Son; and therefore
there abides in it a something holy
and religious; not extraneous, but innate;
not derived from men, but implanted
by nature. Innocent III. therefore.
and Honorius III, our predecessors,
affirmed not falsely nor rashly that
a sacrament of marriage existed ever
amongst the faithful and unbelievers.[33]
We call to witness the monuments of
antiquity, as also the manners and customs
of those people who, being the most
civilized, had the greatest knowledge
of law and equity. In the minds of all
of them it was a fixed and foregone
conclusion that, when marriage was thought
of, it was thought of as conjoined with
religion and holiness. Hence, among
those, marriages were commonly celebrated
with religious ceremonies, under the
authority of pontiffs, and with the
ministry of priests. So mighty, even
in the souls ignorant of heavenly doctrine,
was the force of nature, of the remembrance
of their origin, and of the conscience
of the human race. As, then, marriage
is holy by its own power, in its own
nature, and of itself, it ought not
to be regulated and administered by
the will of civil rulers, but by the
divine authority of the Church, which
alone in sacred matters professes the
office of teaching.
20. Next, the dignity
of the sacrament must be considered,
for through addition of the sacrament
the marriages of Christians have become
far the noblest of all matrimonial unions.
But to decree and ordain concerning
the sacrament is, by the will of Christ
Himself, so much a part of the power
and duty of the Church that it is plainly
absurd to maintain that even the very
smallest fraction of such power has
been transferred to the civil ruler.
21. Lastly should
be borne in mind the great weight and
crucial test of history, by which it
is plainly proved that the legislative
and judicial authority of which We are
speaking has been freely and constantly
used by the Church, even in times when
some foolishly suppose the head of the
State either to have consented to it
or connived at it. It would, for instance,
be incredible and altogether absurd
to assume that Christ our Lord condemned
the long-standing practice of polygamy
and divorce by authority delegated to
Him by the procurator of the province,
or the principal ruler of the Jews.
And it would be equally extravagant
to think that, when the Apostle Paul
taught that divorces and incestuous
marriages were not lawful, it was because
Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero agreed
with him or secretly commanded him so
to teach. No man in his senses could
ever be persuaded that the Church made
so many laws about the holiness and
indissolubility of marriage,[34] and
the marriages of slaves with the free-born,[35]
by power received from Roman emperors,
most hostile to the Christian name,
whose strongest desire was to destroy
by violence and murder the rising Church
of Christ. Still less could anyone believe
this to be the case, when the law of
the Church was sometimes so divergent
from the civil law that Ignatius the
Martyr,[36] Justin,[37] Athenagoras,[38]
and Tertullian[39] publicly denounced
as unjust and adulterous certain marriages
which had been sanctioned by imperial
law.
22. Furthermore, after
all power had devolved upon the Christian
emperors, the supreme pontiffs and bishops
assembled in council persisted with
the same independence and consciousness
of their right in commanding or forbidding
in regard to marriage whatever they
judged to be profitable or expedient
for the time being, however much it
might seem to be at variance with the
laws of the State. It is well known
that, with respect to the impediments
arising from the marriage bond, through
vow, disparity of worship, blood relationship,
certain forms of crime, and from previously
plighted troth, many decrees were issued
by the rulers of the Church at the Councils
of Granada,[40] Arles,[41] Chalcedon,[42]
the second of Milevum,[43] and others,
which were often widely different from
the decrees sanctioned by the laws of
the empire. Furthermore, so far were
Christian princes from arrogating any
power in the matter of Christian marriage
that they on the contrary acknowledged
and declared that it belonged exclusively
in all its fullness to the Church. In
fact, Honorius, the younger Theodosius,
and Justinian,[44] also, hesitated not
to confess that the only power belonging
to them in relation to marriage was
that of acting as guardians and defenders
of the holy canons. If at any time they
enacted anything by their edicts concerning
impediments of marriage, they voluntarily
explained the reason, affirming that
they took it upon themselves so to act,
by leave and authority of the Church,[45]
whose judgment they were wont to appeal
to and reverently to accept in all questions
that concerned legitimacy[46] and divorce;[47]
as also in all those points which in
any way have a necessary connection
with the marriage bond.[48] The Council
of Trent, therefore, had the clearest
right to define that it is in the Church's
power "to establish diriment impediments
of matrimony,"[49] and that "matrimonial
causes pertain to ecclesiastical judges."[50]
23. Let no one, then,
be deceived by the distinction which
some civil jurists have so strongly
insisted upon--the distinction, namely,
by virtue of which they sever the matrimonial
contract from the sacrament, with intent
to hand over the contract to the power
and will of the rulers of the State,
while reserving questions concerning
the sacrament of the Church. A distinction,
or rather severance, of this kind cannot
be approved; for certain it is that
in Christian marriage the contract is
inseparable from the sacrament, and
that, for this reason, the contract
cannot be true and legitimate without
being a sacrament as well. For Christ
our Lord added to marriage the dignity
of a sacrament; but marriage is the
contract itself, whenever that contract
is lawfully concluded.
24. Marriage, moreover,
is a sacrament, because it is a holy
sign which gives grace, showing forth
an image of the mystical nuptials of
Christ with the Church. But the form
and image of these nuptials is shown
precisely by the very bond of that most
close union in which man and woman are
bound together in one; which bond is
nothing else but the marriage itself.
Hence it is clear that among Christians
every true marriage is, in itself and
by itself, a sacrament; and that nothing
can be further from the truth than to
say that the sacrament is a certain
added ornament, or outward endowment,
which can be separated and torn away
from the contract at the caprice of
man. Neither, therefore, by reasoning
can it be shown, nor by any testimony
of history be proved, that power over
the marriages of Christians has ever
lawfully been handed over to the rulers
of the State. If, in this matter, the
right of anyone else has ever been violated,
no one can truly say that it has been
violated by the Church. Would that the
teaching of the naturalists, besides
being full of falsehood and injustice,
were not also the fertile source of
much detriment and calamity! But it
is easy to see at a glance the greatness
of the evil which unhallowed marriages
have brought, and ever will bring, on
the whole of human society.
25. From the beginning
of the world, indeed, it was divinely
ordained that things instituted by God
and by nature should be proved by us
to be the more profitable and salutary
the more they remain unchanged in their
full integrity. For God, the Maker of
all things, well knowing what was good
for the institution and preservation
of each of His creatures, so ordered
them by His will and mind that each
might adequately attain the end for
which it was made. If the rashness or
the wickedness of human agency venture
to change or disturb that order of things
which has been constituted with fullest
foresight, then the designs of infinite
wisdom and usefulness begin either to
be hurtful or cease to be profitable,
partly because through the change undergone
they have lost their power of benefiting,
and partly because God chooses to inflict
punishment on the pride and audacity
of man. Now, those who deny that marriage
is holy, and who relegate it, stripped
of all holiness, among the class of
common secular things, uproot thereby
the foundations of nature, not only
resisting the designs of Providence,
but, so far as they can, destroying
the order that God has ordained. No
one, therefore, should wonder if from
such insane and impious attempts there
spring up a crop of evils pernicious
in the highest degree both to the salvation
of souls and to the safety of the commonwealth.
26. If, then, we consider
the end of the divine institution of
marriage, we shall see very clearly
that God intended it to be a most fruitful
source of individual benefit and of
public welfare. Not only, in strict
truth, was marriage instituted for the
propagation of the human race, but also
that the lives of husbands and wives
might be made better and happier. This
comes about in many ways: by their lightening
each other's burdens through mutual
help; by constant and faithful love;
by having all their possessions in common;
and by the heavenly grace which flows
from the sacrament. Marriage also can
do much for the good of families, for,
so long as it is conformable to nature
and in accordance with the counsels
of God, it has power to strengthen union
of heart in the parents; to secure the
holy education of children; to temper
the authority of the father by the example
of the divine authority; to render children
obedient to their parents and servants
obedient to their masters. From such
marriages as these the State may rightly
expect a race of citizens animated by
a good spirit and filled with reverence
and love for God, recognizing it their
duty to obey those who rule justly and
lawfully, to love all, and to injure
no one.
27. These many and
glorious fruits were ever the product
of marriage, so long as it retained
those gifts of holiness, unity, and
indissolubility from which proceeded
all its fertile and saving power; nor
can anyone doubt but that it would always
have brought forth such fruits, at all
times and in all places, had it been
under the power and guardianship of
the Church, the trustworthy preserver
and protector of these gifts. But, now,
there is a spreading wish to supplant
natural and divine law by human law;
and hence has begun a gradual extinction
of that most excellent ideal of marriage
which nature herself had impressed on
the soul of man, and sealed, as it were,
with her own seal; nay, more, even in
Christian marriages this power, productive
of so great good, has been weakened
by the sinfulness of man. Of what advantage
is it if a state can institute nuptials
estranged from the Christian religion,
which is the mother of all good, cherishing
all sublime virtues, quickening and
urging us to everything that is the
glory of a lofty and generous soul?
When the Christian religion is rejected
and repudiated, marriage sinks of necessity
into the slavery of man's vicious nature
and vile passions, and finds but little
protection in the help of natural goodness.
A very torrent of evil has flowed from
this source, not only into private families,
but also into States. For, the salutary
fear of God being removed, and there
being no longer that refreshment in
toil which is nowhere more abounding
than in the Christian religion, it very
often happens, as indeed is natural,
that the mutual services and duties
of marriage seem almost unbearable;
and thus very many yearn for the loosening
of the tie which they believe to be
woven by human law and of their own
will, whenever incompatibility of temper,
or quarrels, or the violation of the
marriage vow, or mutual consent, or
other reasons induce them to think that
it would be well to be set free. Then,
if they are hindered by law from carrying
out this shameless desire, they contend
that the laws are iniquitous, inhuman,
and at variance with the rights of free
citizens; adding that every effort should
be made to repeal such enactments, and
to introduce a more humane code sanctioning
divorce.
28. Now, however much
the legislators of these our days may
wish to guard themselves against the
impiety of men such as we have been
speaking of, they are unable to do so,
seeing that they profess to hold and
defend the very same principles of jurisprudence;
and hence they have to go with times,
and render divorce easily obtainable.
History itself shows this; for, to pass
over other instances, we find that,
at the close of the last century, divorces
were sanctioned by law in that upheaval
or, rather, as it might be called, conflagration
in France, when society was wholly degraded
by the abandoning of God. Many at the
present time would fain have those laws
reenacted, because they wish God and
His Church to be altogether exiled and
excluded from the midst of human society,
madly thinking that in such laws a final
remedy must be sought for that moral
corruption which is advancing with rapid
strides.
29. Truly, it is hardly
possible to describe how great are the
evils that flow from divorce. Matrimonial
contracts are by it made variable; mutual
kindness is weakened; deplorable inducements
to unfaithfulness are supplied; harm
is done to the education and training
of children; occasion is afforded for
the breaking up of homes; the seeds
of dissension are sown among families;
the dignity of womanhood is lessened
and brought low, and women run the risk
of being deserted after having ministered
to the pleasures of men. Since, then,
nothing has such power to lay waste
families and destroy the mainstay of
kingdoms as the corruption of morals,
it is easily seen that divorces are
in the highest degree hostile to the
prosperity of families and States, springing
as they do from the depraved morals
of the people, and, as experience shows
us, opening out a way to every kind
of evil-doing in public and in private
life.
30. Further still,
if the matter be duly pondered, we shall
clearly see these evils to be the more
especially dangerous, because, divorce
once being tolerated, there will be
no restraint powerful enough to keep
it within the bounds marked out or presurmised.
Great indeed is the force of example,
and even greater still the might of
passion. With such incitements it must
needs follow that the eagerness for
divorce, daily spreading by devious
ways, will seize upon the minds of many
like a virulent contagious disease,
or like a flood of water bursting through
every barrier. These are truths that
doubtlessly are all clear in themselves,
but they will become clearer yet if
we call to mind the teachings of experience.
So soon as the road to divorce began
to be made smooth by law, at once quarrels,
jealousies, and judicial separations
largely increased: and such shamelessness
of life followed that men who had been
in favor of these divorces repented
of what they had done, and feared that,
if they did not carefully seek a remedy
by repealing the law, the State itself
might come to ruin. The Romans of old
are said to have shrunk with horror
from the first example of divorce, but
ere long all sense of decency was blunted
in their soul; the meager restraint
of passion died out, and the marriage
vow was so often broken that what some
writers have affirmed would seem to
be true--namely, women used to reckon
years not by the change of consuls,
but of their husbands. In like manner,
at the beginning, Protestants allowed
legalized divorces in certain although
but few cases, and yet from the affinity
of circumstances of like kind, the number
of divorces increased to such extent
in Germany, America, and elsewhere that
all wise thinkers deplored the boundless
corruption of morals, and judged the
recklessness of the laws to be simply
intolerable.
31. Even in Catholic
States the evil existed. For whenever
at any time divorce was introduced,
the abundance of misery that followed
far exceeded all that the framers of
the law could have foreseen. In fact,
many lent their minds to contrive all
kinds of fraud and device, and by accusations
of cruelty, violence, and adultery to
feign grounds for the dissolution of
the matrimonial bond of which they had
grown weary; and all this with so great
havoc to morals that an amendment of
the laws was deemed to be urgently needed.
32. Can anyone, therefore,
doubt that laws in favor of divorce
would have a result equally baneful
and calamitous were they to be passed
in these our days? There exists not,
indeed, in the projects and enactments
of men any power to change the character
and tendency with things have received
from nature. Those men, therefore, show
but little wisdom in the idea they have
formed of the well-being of the commonwealth
who think that the inherent character
of marriage can be perverted with impunity;
and who, disregarding the sanctity of
religion and of the sacrament, seem
to wish to degrade and dishonor marriage
more basely than was done even by heathen
laws. Indeed, if they do not change
their views, not only private families,
but all public society, will have unceasing
cause to fear lest they should be miserably
driven into that general confusion and
overthrow of order which is even now
the wicked aim of socialists and communists.
Thus we see most clearly how foolish
and senseless it is to expect any public
good from divorce, when, on the contrary,
it tends to the certain destruction
of society.
33. It must consequently
be acknowledged that the Church has
deserved exceedingly well of all nations
by her ever watchful care in guarding
the sanctity and the indissolubility
of marriage. Again, no small amount
of gratitude is owing to her for having,
during the last hundred years, openly
denounced the wicked laws which have
grievously offended on this particular
subject;[51] as well as for her having
branded with anathema the baneful heresy
obtaining among Protestants touching
divorce and separation;[52] also, for
having in many ways condemned the habitual
dissolution of marriage among the Greeks;[53]
for having declared invalid all marriages
contracted upon the understanding that
they may be at some future time dissolved;[54]
and, lastly, for having, from the earliest
times, repudiated the imperial laws
which disastrously favored divorce.[55]
34. As often, indeed,
as the supreme pontiffs have resisted
the most powerful among rulers, in their
threatening demands that divorces carried
out by them should be confirmed by the
Church, so often must we account them
to have been contending for the safety,
not only of religion, but also of the
human race. For this reason all generations
of men will admire the proofs of unbending
courage which are to be found in the
decrees of Nicholas I against Lothair;
of Urban II and Paschal II against Philip
I of France; of Celestine III and Innocent
III against Alphonsus of Leon and Philip
II of France; of Clement VII and Paul
III against Henry VIII; and, lastly,
of Pius VII, that holy and courageous
pontiff, against Napoleon I, when at
the height of his prosperity and in
the fullness of his power. This being
so, all rulers and administrators of
the State who are desirous of following
the dictates of reason and wisdom, and
anxious for the good of their people,
ought to make up their minds to keep
the holy laws of marriage intact, and
to make use of the proffered aid of
the Church for securing the safety of
morals and the happiness of families,
rather than suspect her of hostile intention
and falsely and wickedly accuse her
of violating the civil law.
35. They should do
this the more readily because the Catholic
Church, though powerless in any way
to abandon the duties of her office
or the defense of her authority, still
very greatly inclines to kindness and
indulgence whenever they are consistent
with the safety of her rights and the
sanctity of her duties. Wherefore she
makes no decrees in relation to marriage
without having regard to the state of
the body politic and the condition of
the general public; and has besides
more than once mitigated, as far as
possible, the enactments of her own
laws when there were just and weighty
reasons. Moreover, she is not unaware,
and never calls in doubt, that the sacrament
of marriage, being instituted for the
preservation and increase of the human
race, has a necessary relation to circumstances
of life which, though connected with
marriage, belong to the civil order,
and about which the State rightly makes
strict inquiry and justly promulgates
decrees.
36. Yet, no one doubts
that Jesus Christ, the Founder of the
Church, willed her sacred power to be
distinct from the civil power, and each
power to be free and unshackled in its
own sphere: with this condition, however--a
condition good for both, and of advantage
to all men--that union and concord should
be maintained between them; and that
on those questions which are, though
in different ways, of common right and
authority, the power to which secular
matters have been entrusted should happily
and becomingly depend on the other power
which has in its charge the interests
of heaven. In such arrangement and harmony
is found not only the best line of action
for each power, but also the most opportune
and efficacious method of helping men
in all that pertains to their life here,
and to their hope of salvation hereafter.
For, as We have shown in former encyclical
letters,[56] the intellect of man is
greatly ennobled by the Christian faith,
and made better able to shun and banish
all error, while faith borrows in turn
no little help from the intellect; and
in like manner, when the civil power
is on friendly terms with the sacred
authority of the Church, there accrues
to both a great increase of usefulness.
The dignity of the one is exalted, and
so long as religion is its guide it
will never rule unjustly; while the
other receives help of protection and
defense for the public good of the faithful.
37. Being moved, therefore,
by these considerations, as We have
exhorted rulers at other times, so still
more earnestly We exhort them now, to
concord and friendly feeling; and we
are the first to stretch out Our hand
to them with fatherly benevolence, and
to offer to them the help of Our supreme
authority, a help which is the more
necessary at this time when, in public
opinion, the authority of rulers is
wounded and enfeebled. Now that the
minds of so many are inflamed with a
reckless spirit of liberty, and men
are wickedly endeavoring to get rid
of every restraint of authority, however
legitimate it may be, the public safety
demands that both powers should unite
their strength to avert the evils which
are hanging, not only over the Church,
but also over civil society.
38. But, while earnestly
exhorting all to a friendly union of
will, and beseeching God, the Prince
of peace, to infuse a love of concord
into all hearts, We cannot, venerable
brothers, refrain from urging you more
and more to fresh earnestness, and zeal,
and watchfulness, though we know that
these are already very great. With every
effort and with all authority, strive,
as much as you are able, to preserve
whole and undefiled among the people
committed to your charge the doctrine
which Christ our Lord taught us; which
the Apostles, the interpreters of the
will of God, have handed down; and which
the Catholic Church has herself scrupulously
guarded, and commanded to be believed
in all ages by the faithful of Christ.
39. Let special care
be taken that the people be well instructed
in the precepts of Christian wisdom,
so that they may always remember that
marriage was not instituted by the will
of man, but, from the very beginning,
by the authority and command of God;
that it does not admit of plurality
of wives or husbands; that Christ, the
Author of the New Covenant, raised it
from a rite of nature to be a sacrament,
and gave to His Church legislative and
judicial power with regard to the bond
of union. On this point the very greatest
care must be taken to instruct them,
lest their minds should be led into
error by the unsound conclusions of
adversaries who desire that the Church
should be deprived of that power.
40. In like manner,
all ought to understand clearly that,
if there be any union of a man and a
woman among the faithful of Christ which
is not a sacrament, such union has not
the force and nature of a proper marriage;
that, although contracted in accordance
with the laws of the State, it cannot
be more than a rite or custom introduced
by the civil law. Further, the civil
law can deal with and decide those matters
alone which in the civil order spring
from marriage, and which cannot possibly
exist, as is evident, unless there be
a true and lawful cause of them, that
is to say, the nuptial bond. It is of
the greatest consequence to husband
and wife that all these things should
be known and well understood by them,
in order that they may conform to the
laws of the State, if there be no objection
on the part of the Church; for the Church
wishes the effects of marriage to be
guarded in all possible ways, and that
no harm may come to the children.
41. In the great confusion
of opinions, however, which day by day
is spreading more and more widely, it
should further be known that no power
can dissolve the bond of Christian marriage
whenever this has been ratified and
consummated; and that, of a consequence,
those husbands and wives are guilty
of a manifest crime who plan, for whatever
reason, to be united in a second marriage
before the first one has been ended
by death. When, indeed, matters have
come to such a pitch that it seems impossible
for them to live together any longer,
then the Church allows them to live
apart, and strives at the same time
to soften the evils of this separation
by such remedies and helps as are suited
to their condition; yet she never ceases
to endeavor to bring about a reconciliation,
and never despairs of doing so. But
these are extreme cases; and they would
seldom exist if men and women entered
into the married state with proper dispositions,
not influenced by passion, but entertaining
right ideas of the duties of marriage
and of its noble purpose; neither would
they anticipate their marriage by a
series of sins drawing down upon them
the wrath of God.
42. To sum up all
in a few words, there would be a calm
and quiet constancy in marriage if married
people would gather strength and life
from the virtue of religion alone, which
imparts to us resolution and fortitude;
for religion would enable them to bear
tranquilly and even gladly the trials
of their state, such as, for instance,
the faults that they discover in one
another, the difference of temper and
character, the weight of a mother's
cares, the wearing anxiety about the
education of children, reverses of fortune,
and the sorrows of life.
43. Care also must
be taken that they do not easily enter
into marriage with those who are not
Catholics; for, when minds do not agree
as to the observances of religion, it
is scarcely possible to hope for agreement
in other things. Other reasons also
proving that persons should turn with
dread from such marriages are chiefly
these: that they give occasion to forbidden
association and communion in religious
matters; endanger the faith of the Catholic
partner; are a hindrance to the proper
education of the children; and often
lead to a mixing up of truth and falsehood,
and to the belief that all religions
are equally good.
44. Lastly, since
We well know that none should be excluded
from Our charity, We commend, venerable
brothers, to your fidelity and piety
those unhappy persons who, carried away
by the heat of passion, and being utterly
indifferent to their salvation, live
wickedly together without the bond of
lawful marriage. Let your utmost care
be exercised in bringing such persons
back to their duty; and, both by your
own efforts and by those of good men
who will consent to help you, strive
by every means that they may see how
wrongly they have acted; that they may
do penance; and that they may be induced
to enter into a lawful marriage according
to the Catholic rite.
45. You will at once
see, venerable brothers, that the doctrine
and precepts in relation to Christian
marriage, which We have thought good
to communicate to you in this letter,
tend no less to the preservation of
civil society than to the everlasting
salvation of souls. May God grant that,
by reason of their gravity and importance,
minds may everywhere be found docile
and ready to obey them! For this end
let us all suppliantly, with humble
prayer, implore the help of the Blessed
and Immaculate Virgin Mary, that, our
hearts being quickened to the obedience
of faith, she may show herself our mother
and our helper. With equal earnestness
let us ask the princes of the Apostles,
Peter and Paul, the destroyers of heresies,
the sowers of the seed of truth, to
save the human race by their powerful
patronage from the deluge of errors
that is surging afresh. In the meantime,
as an earnest of heavenly gifts, and
a testimony of Our special benevolence,
We grant to you all, venerable brothers,
and to the people confided to your charge,
from the depths of Our heart, the apostolic
benediction.
Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the tenth
day of February, 1880, the third year
of Our pontificate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENDNOTES
1. Eph. 1:9-10.
2. Matt. 19:5-6.
3. Matt. 19:8.
4. Jerome "Epist."
77, 3 (PL 22, 691).
5. Arnobius, "Adversus
Gentes," 4 (sic, perhaps 1, 64).
