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THE CATHOLIC MIND
VOL. XXIX, No. 2, January 22, 1931

On Christian Marriage
Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Pius XI

(By Special Cable to N. C. W. C. News Service)

To Our Venerable Brethren: Patriarchs, Primates,

Archbishops, Bishops and other Local Ordinaries

Enjoying Peace and Communion with the Apos-

tolic See

On Christian Marriage in View of the Present Con-
ditions, Needs, Errors and Vices That Affect the

Family and Society

POPE PIUS XI

Venerable Brethren and Beloved Children:

Health and Apostolic Benediction:

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, with His loving desire of compassing the re-

demption of our race, not only 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 “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.

In order, however, that amongst men of every nation and

every age the desired fruits may be obtained from this re-

newal of matrimony, it is necessary first of all that men’s

minds be illuminated with the true doctrine of Christ re-

garding it; and secondly, that Christian spouses, the weak-

ness 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.

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

21



22 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

deeply grieve with Us that a great number of men, forgetful

of that Divine work of redemption, either entirely ignore or

Purpose of
shamelessly deny the great sanctity of

Encyclical
Christian wedlock or even, 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 be-

gun 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 pre-

serve it from harm.

We have decided, therefore, to speak to you. Venerable
Brethren, and through you to the whole Church of Christ

and indeed the whole human race, on the nature and dignity

rp . of Christian marriage, on the advantages

Treated
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,” pub-

lished 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, never-

theless We declare that, far from being obsolete, it retains
its full force at the present day.

I. Nature and Dignity of Christian Marriage

And to begin with that very Encyclical, which is wholly

concerned in vindicating the Divine institution of matri-

mony, its sacramental dignity, and its perpetual stability,

Divine
repeated as an immutable and

Institution
inviolable fundamental doctrine that matri-

mony 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,

this is the constant tradition of the Universal Church, this



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 23

is 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.

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
Enters In

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, is

so necessary to constitute true marriage that it cannot be

supplied by any human power.

This freedom, however, regards only the point whether

the contracting parties really wish to enter upon matrimony

or to marry this particular person; but the nature of matri-

mony 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 very marriage pact

that if anything to the contrary were expressed in the con-

sent which makes the marriage, it would not be a true

marriage.”

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 pas-

sing affection of sense or spirit, but by c • •+ i
a deliberate and firm act of the will; and

uSoiT
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 conjunctions of wills and enjoy none of

the rights of family life.

From this it is clear that legitimately constituted au-

thority 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



24 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

from human nature itself, no less certain is the teaching of

Our predecessor, Leo XIII, of happy memory:

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,” is beyond the power

of any human law.

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

P .. for which it was instituted, the laws that

wUh GoT govern it, the blessings that flow from it,
while man, through generous surrender of

his own person one 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.

II. Blessings and Benefits of Matrimony

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. “These,” says St. Au-

gustine, “are all the blessings of matrimony on account of

which matrimony itself is a blessing, offspring, conjugal faith

and the Sacrament.” And how under these three heads is

contained a splendid summary of the whole doctrine of

Christian marriage, the holy Doctor himself expressly de-

clares, when he says:

By mutual loyalty 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.

Thus amongst the blessings of marriage, the child holds

the first place, and indeed the Creator of the human race



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 25

Children

First Fruit

Their

Destiny

Himself, who in His goodness wished to use men as His

helpers in the propagation of life, taught this when, insti-

tuting marriage in Paradise, He said to our first parents,

and through them to all future spouses,

“Increase and multiply, and fill the

earth,” as St. Augustine admirably deduces

from the words of the holy Apostle St. Paul to Timothy

when he says, “The Apostle himself is therefore a witness

that marriage is for the sake of generation; T wish,’ he
says, ‘young girls to marry.’ And, as if someone said to

him, ‘Why?’ he immediately adds: ‘to beget children, to be

mothers of families.’
”

How great a boon of God this is, and what 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 ra-

tional 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 worshipers of God, that they may know Him and love

Him and finally enjoy Him forever in Heaven; and this end,

by reason of man being 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; from which it is easily seen how great a gift of Divine

goodness and how remarkable a fruit of marriage are chil-

dren born by the omnipotent power of God through the co-

operation of those bound in wedlock.

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 wor-

shipers 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, that the

worshipers of God and Our Saviour may daily increase.

For although Christian spouses, even if sanctified them-

selves, cannot transmit sanctification to their progeny, nay,

although the very natural process of generating life has be-

come 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 super-



26 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

natural 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.

If a true Christian mother weighs well these things, she

will indeed understand with a sense of deep consolation that

of her the words of Our Saviour were spoken: “A woman . . .

. „ . when she hath brought forth the child

Charge
remembereth no more the anguish, for

joy that a man is born into the world”:

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 com-

mitted to their charge by God, not only to be employed

for their own advantage or for that of an earthly common-

wealth, but to be restored to God with interest on the day

of reckoning.

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

Education
would have failed to

Parent^ Duty
sufficient provision for children that

had been born, and so for the whole hu-

man 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 them-

selves, even in matters pertaining to their natural life, and

much less in those pertaining to the supernatural, but re-

quire 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 neces-

sary, for, since the parents are bound together by an in-

dissoluble bond, the care and mutual help of each is always

at hand.



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 27

Since, however, We have spoken fully elsewhere on the
Christian education of youth, let us sum it all up by quot-

ing once more the words of St. Augustine: “In the offspring

it is provided that they should be begotten lovingly and

educated religiously,” and this is also expressed succinctly

in the Code of Canon Law: “The primary end of marriage

is the procreating and the education of children.” Nor

must We omit to remark, in fine, that since the duty en-
trusted 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 marriage state alone, by the

law of God and of nature, and must be confined absolutely

within the sacred limits of that state.

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
Fidelity

reason of this contract sanctioned by Di-

vine law, may not be denied to him or permitted to any

third person, nor may there be conceded to one of the

parties that which, being contrary to the rights and laws

of God and entirely opposed to matrimonial faith, can

never be conceded.”

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
Perfect

and one woman. And although after-
Unity

wards 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.’ ” 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



28 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

bonds of marriage may be guarded absolutely inviolate,

He forbade also even wilful 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;” 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.

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

Marital
chastity in such wise that husband and

Chastity
must 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 towards the

work of God.

This conjugal faith, however, which is most aptly called

by St. Augustine the “faith of chastity” blooms more freely,

the 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,” which of a truth He embraced with a bound-

less love, not for the sake of His own advantage, but seeking

only the good of his spouse.

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. This outward expression of love in the home de-

mands not only mutual help but must go further, indeed

must have 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 towards God and their

neighbor, on which indeed “dependeth the whole law and

the prophets.” For all men, of every condition and in what-

ever honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 29

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 of many saints.

By this same love it is necessary that all the other

rights and duties of the marriage state be regulated so that

the words of the Apostle, “Let the husband render the debt

to the wife, and the wife also in like manner to the husband,”

express not only a law of justice but a norm of charity.

Domestic society being confirmed therefore by this bond

of love, it is necessary that there should flourish in it “order

of love,” as St. Augustine calls it. This order includes both

primacy of the husband with regard to „ ,

,

the wife and children, and the ready sub-
ob^tence

jection of the wife and her willing obedi-

ence 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, as Christ is the head of

the Church.”

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 even if not in har-

mony 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 not customary 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 exag-

gerated license 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.

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 funda-

mental law established and confirmed by God, must always

and everywhere be maintained intact.



30 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

With great wisdom Our predecessor Leo XIII, of happy

memory, in the Encyclical which we have already mentioned

on Christian marriage, teaches with regard to this order to

be maintained between man and wife:

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. Both in him who rules and in her who obeys, since

each bears the image, the one of Christ, the other of the Church, let

Divine charity be the constant guide of their mutual relations.

These, then, are the elements which compose the blessing

of conjugal faith: unity, chastity, honorable, noble obedi-

ence, 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 fos-

tered. Wherefore it is not surprising that this conjugal

faith has always been counted amongst the most priceless

and special blessings of matrimony.

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

MevTtion
indissolubility of the bond and the

raising and hallowing of the contract by

Christ Himself whereby He made it an efficacious sign of

grace.

In the first place, Christ Himself lays stress on the in-

dissolubility and firmness of the marriage bond when He

says: “What God hath joined together let no man put

asunder,” and “Everyone that putteth

Indissolubility away his wife and marrieth another

committeth adultery, and he that marrieth

her that is put away from her husband committeth adul-

tery.” 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 sepa-

rated, should not be joined to another even for the sake of

offspring.” 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,” since it was spoken



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 31

of the marriage of our first parents, the protot)Ape of every

future marriage, must of necessity include all true marriages

without exception.

Therefore, although before Christ the sublimeness and

the severity of the primeval law was so tempered that Moses

permitted it 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, most wisely

said, writing to the Bishop of Agria:

Hence it clearly appears 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 con-

tracted 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.

And if this stability seems to be open to exception, how-

ever rare the exception may be, as in the case of certain

natural marriages between unbelievers, or if amongst Chris-

tians in the case of those marriages which

though valid had not been consummated,
Excentions

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 inter-

preter is the Church of Christ; however, not even this power

can ever affect for any cause whatsoever a Christian mar-

riage 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.



32 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

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 mar-

riage which is fully and perfectly verified in consummated

marriage between Christians, for as the Apostle says in his

Epistle to the Ephesians, as We indicated above, the mar-
riage 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, that dwelling with

living spouse he shall never be separated by divorce. The observance

of this Sacrament in such in the City of God, that is, in the Church

of Christ, that when for the sake of begetting children, either women
marry or are taken to wife, it is wrong to leave a spouse that is

sterile in order to take another by whom children may be had.
Anyone doing this is guilty of adultery, just the same as if marrying

another, not by the law of the day according to which, when one’s

partner is put away another is allowed to be taken, which the Lord

let Moses permit also because of the hardness of hearts of the people

of Israel, but by the law of the Gospel {De Nupt. et Concup. L. I,

c. 9).

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

Benefits of
spouses and the off-

Indissolubility ‘'’f
"'^Ifare of human society.

First of all, the spouses possess a posi-

tive guarantee of the enduringness 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 (I Cor. xiii, 8). 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 unfaith-

ful is precluded and in its place there reigns a calm sense of

security.

Moreover, the dignity of both man and wife is main-

tained and the 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 might serve their passions,



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 33

but that they might procure one for the other high and

lasting good have they entered into the nuptial partnership,

to be dissolved only by death. For the training and educa-

tion of children, which must extend over a period of many

years, it is splendidly adapted, since the grace 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. As the families and individuals are, so

also is the State; for a body is determined by its parts.

Wherefore, for the private good of husband, wife and chil-

dren, they indeed deserve well who generously defend the

inviolable stability of matrimony.

But considering the benefits of the Sacrament, besides

the firmness and indissolubility, there are also much higher

benefits as the word Sacrament itself very aptly indicates;

for to Christians this is not a meaning-
c? * i

less and empty name. Christ the Lord,
Graces

the Institutor and “Perfector” of the holy

Sacraments, 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” (Trid. Concil., sess.

xxiv). 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 be-

tween baptized persons “without it being by that very fact

a Sacrament” (Cod. lur. Can. 1012).

By the very fact, therefore, that the Faithful with sin-

cere mind give such consent, they open up for themselves

a treasure of sacramental grace from which they draw super-

natural power for the fulfilling of their rights and duties

faithfully, holily, perseveringly even unto death. Hence this

Sacrament not only increases sanctifying grace, the perma-

nent principle of the supernatural life in those who, as the

expression is, place no obstacle {obex) in its way, but also

adds particular gifts, dispositions, seeds of grace, by elevat-

ing and perfecting the natural powers in such a way that

the parties are assisted not only in understanding but in



34 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

knowing intimately, in adhering to firmly, in willing effec-

tively, 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.

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

Retired
grace, the grace of matrimony will re-

main for the most part an unused talent

hidden in the field unless the spouses exercise these super-

natural powers and cultivate and develop the seeds of grace

they have received. If, however, doing all that lies within

their power, they cooperate diligently, they will be able

with ease to bear the burdens of their state and to fulfil

their duties; by such a Sacrament they will be strengthened,

sanctified and in a manner consecrated. For, as St. Augus-

tine teaches, just as by Baptism and Holy Orders a man is

set aside and assisted either for the duties of the 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 mar-

riage 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 the 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 with the laver of regeneration” (St. Aug.,

De Nupt. et Concup. L. I, c. 10).

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

SummLized
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 may 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.

All of these things. Venerable Brethren, you must consider



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 35

carefully and ponder over with a lively faith if you would

see in their true light the extraordinary benefits of matri-

mony—offspring, conjugal faith, and the Sacrament. No
one can fail to admire the Divine wisdom, holiness and good-

ness which, while respecting the dignity and happiness of

husband and wife, has provided so bountifully for the con-

servation and propagation of the human race by a single

chaste and sacred fellowship of nuptial union.

III. Erroneous Theories

When we consider the great excellence of chaste wed-

lock, 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. For now, alas, not se-
PropaganL

cretly 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 por-

traying in vivid scene, 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 pro-

ductions of modern genius, of that modern genius, of that

genius namely, which 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.

These thoughts are instilled into men of every class,

rich and poor, workers and masters, lettered and unlettered,

married and single, the godly and the godless, old and young,

but for these last, as easier prey, the worst snares are laid.

Not all the sponsors of these new doctrines are carried to

the extremes of unbridled lust. There are those who, striv-

ing, as it were, to ride a middle course, believe nevertheless

that something should be conceded in our time as regards

certain precepts of the Divine and natural law. But these



36 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

likewise, more or less wittingly, are emissaries of the great

enemy who is ever seeking to sow cockle among the wheat.

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 be-

loved Timothy: “Be thou vigilant. Fulfil thy ministry.

Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove,

entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine” (II Tim. iv,

2 -5 ).

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,” yet for the welfare of

souls We cannot remain altogether silent.
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

^Institutio™^
Sacrament, but invented by man. Some

confidently assert that they have found

no evidence for the existence of matrimony in nature

or in her laws, but regard it merely as the means of pro-

ducing life and of gratifying in one way or another a vehe-

ment 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 hus-

band 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 in-

vented solely by the mind of man, established solely by his

will.

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 wed-

lock, 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, institution

and customs by which wedlock is governed, since they take

their origin solely from the will of man, are subject entirely



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 37

to him, hence can and must be founded, changed and abro-

gated according to human caprice and the shifting cir-

cumstances of human affairs; that the
False

generative power which is grounded in na-
Naturalism

ture itself is more sacred and has wider

range than matrimony; hence it may be exercised both out-

side as well as within the confines of wedlock, even 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.

Armed with these principles, some men go so far as to

concot 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 combination into a matrimony in the

full sense of the law.

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 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 re-

duce our truly cultured nations to the barbarous standards

of savage peoples.

IV. Vices Opposed to Christian Marriage

And now. Venerable Brethren, We shall explain in
detail the evils opposed to each of the benefits of matri-

mony.

First consideration is due to the offspring, which many

have the boldness to call the disagreeable burden of matri-

mony and which, they say, is to be carefully avoided by

married people not through virtuous con-

tinence (which Christian law permits in Contraception

matrimony when both parties consent)

but by frustrating the marriage act. Some justify this

criminal abuse on the ground that they are weary of chil-

dren and wish to gratify their desires without their con-

sequent burden. Others say that they cannot on the one

hand remain continent nor, on the other, can they have



38 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

children because of the difficulties, whether on the part of

the mother or on the part of family circumstances.

But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by

which anything intrinsically against nature may become con-

formable to nature and morally good. Since, therefore, the

conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the beget-

ting of children, those who in exercising it deliberately frus-

trate its natural power and purpose sin against nature and

commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vi-

cious.

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 off-

spring is prevented. Onan, the son of Juda, did this and

the Lord killed him for it.

Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted

Christian tradition, some recently have judged it possible

solemnly to declare another doctrine regarding this ques-

The Church’s
Catholic Church, to whom God

Teaching
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 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. 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 Faith-

ful 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:



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 39

“They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead

the blind, both fall into the pit” (Matt, xv, 14).

As regards the evil use of matrimony,—to pass over the
arguments which are shameful ones,—not infrequently,

—

others that are false and exaggerated are put forward.

Holy Mother Church very well under- , .

stands and clearly appreciates all that is UndT^^n^ng
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 admira-

tion 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 fulfilment of the

office allotted to her by nature, and will assuredly repay her

in a measure full to overflowing (Luke, vi, 38).

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 matri-

mony 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.

We are deeply touched by the sufferings of those parents
who, in extreme want, experience great difficulty in rearing

their children. However, they should take care lest the

calamitous state of their external affairs
p j, p

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 cir-

cumstance in which husband and wife cannot, strengthened

by the grace of God, fulfil faithfully their duties and pre-

serve in wedlock their chastity unspotted.

This truth of Christian faith is expressed by the teach-



40 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

ing of the Council of Trent (Trid. Cone., sess. vi, chap. 11).

Let none 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, in-

structs you to do what you are able, to pray for what you

are not able, that He may help you.

This same doctrine was again solemnly repeated and con-

firmed by the Church in the condemnation of the Jansenist

heresy which dared to utter this blasphemy against the good-

ness of God: “Some precepts of God are, when one considers

the powers which man possesses, impossible of fulfilment

even to the just who wish to keep the law and strive to do

so: grace is lacking whereby these laws could be fulfilled.”

But another very grave crime is to be noted. Venerable

Brethren, which regards the taking of the life of the off-

spring hidden in the mother’s womb. Some wish it to be

allowed and left to the will of the fa-

Abortion ther or the mother; others say it is un-

lawful 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 be-

gotten 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 opera-

tions; a thing, which, sad to say, everyone knows is of very

frequent occurrence in some places.

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

Murder of
health and even life is gravely imperiled

Innocent
performance of the duty allotted

to her by nature, nevertheless what could

ever be a sufficient reason for excusing in any way the di-

rect 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.” The life of each is equally

sacred, and no one has the power, not even the public au-

thority, to destroy it.

It is of no use to appeal to the right of taking away life.



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 41

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 no question here of what is called the

“law of extreme necessity” which could ever extend to the

direct killing of the innocent. Upright and skilful doctors

strive most praiseworthily to guard and preserve the lives

of both mother and child
;
on the contrary, those show them-

selves most unworthy of the noble medical profession who

encompass the death of one or the other, through a pretense

of practising medicine or through motives of misguided pity.

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 foetus 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 (St. Aug., De Nupt. et Concup., C. xv).

What is asserted in favor of the social and eugenic “in-

dication” may and must be accepted, provided lawful and

upright methods are employed within the proper limits; but

to wish to put forward reasons based at pi

upon them for the killing of the innocent
justly It^”

is unthinkable and contrary to the Di-

vine precept promulgated in the words of the Apostle:

“Evil is not to be done that good may come of it” (Rom.
iii, 8).

Those who hold the reins of government should not for-

get 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 moth-

er’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 re-



42 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

member that God is the judge and avenger of innocent blood

which cries from earth to Heaven (Gen. iv., 16).

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,

Sterilization over-solicitious 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 who, even

though naturally fit for marriage, they consider, according

to the norms and conjectures of their investigations, would,

through hereditary transmission, bring forth defective off-

spring; and more, they wish to legislate to deprive these of

that natural faculty by medical action despite their unwill-

ingness, and this they do not propose as an infliction of

grave punishment under the authority of the State for a

crime committed, nor to prevent future crimes by guilty per-

sons, but against every right and good they wish the civil au-

thority to arrogate to itself a power over a faculty which

they never had and can never legitimately possess.

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.

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 rea-

son. St. Thomas teaches this when, inquiring whether hu-

man judges for the sake of preventing future evils can in-

flict punishment, he admits that the power indeed exists as

regards certain other forms of punishment, 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



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 43

either by flogging to death, or mutilation, or by beating.”

Furthermore, Christian doctrine establishes, and the light

of human reason makes it most clear, that private indi-

viduals 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.

We may now consider another class of errors concerning
conjugal faith. For every sin committed as regards the off-

spring becomes in some way a sin against conjugal faith,

since both these benefits are essentially connected. More-

over, we must mention in detail all the sources of error and

vice, which correspond 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.

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 friend-

ship with a third party can be counte- . , ,,

nanced, and who teach that greater freedom W^ng
of feeling and action in such external re-

lations should be allowed to man and wife, particularly as

many (so they consider) are possessed of an inborn sexual

tendency, which cannot be satisfied within the narrow limits

of monogamous marriage. That rigid attitude which con-

demns all sensual affections and actions with a third party

they imagine to be a narrowing of mind and heart, some-

thing obsolete, or an abject form of jealousy, and as a re-

sult 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 hus-

band and wife, and that even by the light of the testimony

of nature alone, a testimony that is sanctioned and con-

firmed by the command of God, “Thou shalt not commit

adultery,” and the words of Christ, “Whosoever shall look

on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adul-

tery with her in his heart.” The force of this Divine pre-

cept can never be weakened by a 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



44 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

and the same for ever,” so it is the one and the same doc-

trine of Christ that abides and of which not one jot or tittle

shall pass away till all are fulfilled. The same false teachers

who try to dim the luster of conjugal faith and purity do

False Ideas
scruple to do away with the honor-

of Liberty
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 ad-

ministration of family affairs and in the rearing of the chil-

dren. It must be social, economic, 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 com-

panion 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 de-

vote 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.

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.

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 and which are proper



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 45

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 cer-
^

tain inequality and due accommodation,
Equahty

which is demanded by the good of the

family and the right ordering and unity and stability of

home life. As, however, the social and economic conditions

of the married woman must in some way be altered on ac-

count 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 demand,

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. These enemies

of marriage go further, however, when they substitute for

that true and solid love, which is Jthe basis of conjugal hap-

piness, 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.” 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.

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, heart, 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



46 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

the union of male and female, a sharing of life and the

communication of divine and human rights” but especially

as we have pointed out, Venerable Brethren, the daily in-

creasing facility of divorce is an obstacle to the restoration

of marriage to that state of perfection which the Divine Re-

deemer willed it should possess.

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

Divorce
marriage bond, proclaiming that

the lawfulness of divorce must be recog-

nized, and that the antiquated laws should give place to a

new and more human 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 vari-

ous arguments. Thus, in the first place, they maintain that

it is for the good of either party that the one who is inno-

cent should have the right to separate from the guilty, or

that the guilty should be withdrawn from a union which is

displeasing 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 will too easily be

affected by the discords and shortcomings of the parents,

and drawn from the path of virtue. And thirdly, the com-

mon good of society requires that these marriages should

be completely dissolved, which are now incapable of pro-

ducing their natural results, and that legal separation 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 con-

tempt. Hence the civil laws, in their opinion, have to be

reformed to meet these new requirements, to suit the



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 47

changes of the times and the changes in men’s opinions,

civil institutions and customs. Each of these reasons is con-

sidered by them as conclusive, so that all taken together

offer a clear proof of the necessity of granting divorce in

certain cases.

We have so far. Venerable Brethren, shown the excel-
lency of the first two blessings of Christian wedlock which

the modern disturbers of society are attacking. And now

considering that the third blessing, which
i

• j

IS that of the Sacrament, far surpasses
Marriage

the other two, we should not be sur-

prised to find that this, because of its outstanding excel-

lence, 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 enu-

merated 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 matri-

mony). Moreover, they want it to be no cause for reproach

that marriages be contracted by Catholics with non-Cath-

olics 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 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 argu-

ments 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.

Even by the light of reason alone and particularly if the

ancient records of history are investigated, if the unwavering

popular conscience as interrogated and the manners and in-

stitutions of all races examined, it is sufficiently obvious that

there is a certain sacredness and religious character attach-

ing even to the purely natural union of man and woman.



48 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

“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 fore-

shadowing of the Incarnation of the Word of God.” “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 be-

getting and educating 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 wed-

lock,” “whose institution is to be sought for in the far-seeing

Providence of God,” whereby it is the means “of trans-

mitting 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 Sacra-

ment “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. 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 to-

wards it, and zealously endeavor to make their marriage ap-

proach as nearly as possible to the archetype of Christ and

the Church.

They, therefore, who rashly and heedlessly contract

mixed marriages, from which the maternal love and provi-

dence of the Church dissuades her children for very sound

Mixed
reasons, fail conspicuously in this respect.

Marriages
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

in the canon, “Everywhere and with the greatest strict-

ness 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 added 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.” If the Church occasionally on ac-

count of circumstances does not refuse to grant a dispensa-

tion from these strict laws provided that the Divine law re-

mains 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.



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 49

Whence it comes about not unfrequently, as experience

shows, that deplorable defections from religion occur among

the ofepring, or at least a headlong descent into that re-

ligious indifference which is closely allied to impurity. Then

is this also to be considered, that in these mixed marriages

it becomes much more difficult to imitate by a lively con-

formity of spirit the mystery of which we have spoken,

namely, that close union between Christ and His Church.

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 what-
Divorce

soever. Opposed to all these reckless
Forbidden

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.”

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: “Every-

one that putteth away his wife and marrieth another, com-

mitteth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away

from her husband committeth adultery.” Moreover these

words refer to every kind of marriage, even that which is

natural and legitimate only. For, as has already been ob-

served, that indissolubility by which the loosening of the

bond is once and for all removed from the whim of the par-

ties and from every secular power, is a property of every

true marriage.

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.

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 one be

innocent, having given no cause for the sin of adultery, can contract

another marriage during the lifetime of the other and that he com-
mits adultery who marries another after putting away his adulterous



50 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

wife, and likewise that she commits adultery who puts away her

husband and marries another: let him be anathema.

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 rela-

c tionship and cohabitation, removes all the

for Reason
alleged inconveniences and dangers. It

will be for the sacred law and to some

extent also the civil law, insofar as civil matters are af-

fected, 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 in-

dissolubility of the marriage tie, arguments which have al-

ready been touched upon, can equally be applied to exclud-

ing not only the necessity of divorce, but even the power to

grant it; while for all the advantages that can be put for-

ward for the former, there can be adduced as many dis-

advantages and evils which are a formidable menace to the

whole of human society.

To revert again to the expressions 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 di-

Divor^r^ils
Whenever the marriage bond re-

mains intact, then we find marriages con-

tracted 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 good will and co-

operation in the daily life of husband and wife, while on the

other both of these are miserably weakened by the presence



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 51

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

inducement to unfaithfulness. On this side we find the birth

of children and their tuition and upbringing effectively pro-

moted, 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, 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.

To conclude with the important words of Leo XIII, since

the destruction of family life

and the loss of national wealth and resources, 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 incitement 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 burst-

ing its banks and flooding the land.

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.” All this was

written fifty years ago, yet it is confirmed by the daily in-

creasing corruption of morals and the unheard of degradation

of the family in those lands where communism reigns un-

checked.

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 mar-

riage, 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.



52 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

V. Remedies to Be Applied

It is, then, fitting that with all paternal 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 mar-

Divine Plan
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 what-

ever 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 returning to the Divine plan which,

as the Angelic Doctor teaches, is the exemplar of all right

order.

Wherefore Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII,

in these words urged against the naturalists:

It is a Divinely appointed law that whatsoever things are con-

stituted 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 things that each

may duly achieve its purpose. But if the audacity and impiety of

men would 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.

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.

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

£3 ,
. . , since man cannot hold in check his pas-

Divine Will
sions, 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 subj'ected him-

self to God will, by the aid of Divine grace, rejoice to sub-

ject to himself his own passions and concupiscence, while he

who is a rebel against God will, to his sorrow, experi-

ence within himself the violent rebellion of his worst pas-

sions.



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE S3

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 thy flesh to thee.” If,

however, thou despiseth 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.

This right ordering on the part of God’s wisdom is men-

tioned 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 unclean-

ness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves.”

And again: “For this cause God delivered them up to

shameful affections.”

And St. James says: “God resisteth the proud and giv-

eth grace to the humble,” without which grace, as the same

Doctor of the Gentiles reminds us, man cannot subdue the

rebellion of his flesh.

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 to-

wards 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.

Quite fittingly, therefore, and quite in accordance with

the defined form 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 each 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.



54 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

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 nat-

ural sciences (such as those of biology, the science of hered-

ity, 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 them. 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 estab-

lish chastity in the nuptial union, or that they are more ef-

fective than supernatural grace.

This conformity of wedlock and moral conduct with the

Divine laws respective of marriage, without which its effec-

tive restoration cannot be brought about, supposes, how-

Teacher
discern readily, with

Needed
certainty, and without any accom-

panying 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 at-

tack 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 fulfilment of the

Divine law.

On this account, in order that no falsification or corrup-

tion 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
Church Is

That Teacher
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 ruling and regulation of moral conduct,

even though some things are not of themselves impervious

to human reason. For just as God in the case of the nat-



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 55

ural truths of religion and morals added Revelation to the

light of reason so that these things which are right and true,

“in the present state also of the human race may be known

readily with real certainty without any admixture of error,”

so for the same purpose he has constituted the Church the

guardian and the teacher of the whole of the truth concern-

ing 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 them-

selves 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 proscribed and

condemned as dangerous or distorted.

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 for-

eign to
‘

everyone bearing the name of

Christian to trust his own mental powers ^ Church
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 means of solemn defini-

tion as though her other decisions might be presumed to be

false or to put forward insufficient motive for truth and

honesty.

Quite to the contrary, a characteristic of all true fol-

lowers of Christ, lettered or unlettered, is to suffer them-

selves to be guided and led in all things that touch upon

faith or morals by the Holy Church of God, through its Su-

preme Pastor, the Roman Pontiff, who is himself guided by

Jesus Christ Our Lord.

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
Thorouffh

should be well instructed concerning
instruction

matrimony; and that 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



56 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

these truths will strike the intellect and will be deeply en-

graved 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 Sac-

rament, 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 commu-

nity and also for that of human relationship.

Certainly, if the latter-day subverters of marriage are

entirely devoted to misleading the minds of men and cor-

rupting 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,” to give yourselves wholly

to this, that, through yourselves and through the priests sub-

ject to you, and, moreover, through the laity united by

Catholic Action, so much desired and recommended by Us,

into a power of the hierarchical apostolate, you’ may by

every fitting means oppose error by truth, vice by the ex-

cellent dignity of chastity, the slavery of covetousness by

the liberty of the sons of God, that disastrous ease in ob-

taining divorce by an enduring love in the bond of marriage

and by the inviolate pledge of fidelity given even to death.

Thus will it come to pass that the Faithful will whole-

heartedly thank God that they are bound together by His

command and led by gentle compulsion to fly as far as pos-

sible 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 per-

fect marriage nothing better than “depraved marriage,”

as it has also been called with good reason.

Such wholesome instruction and religious training in re-

gard 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 pre-



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 57

tence of helping those joined in wedlock, making much of

these physiological matters, by which is learned the art of

sinning in a subtle way rather than the virtue of living

chastely.

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 obtaining

that among the people committed to your guidance that doctrine will

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.

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 edu-

cation of the mind; namely, a steadfast ^ Obey
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 matri-

mony demands; always to render to each the assistance of

mutual love; to preserve the honor of chastity, nor 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 after-

wards 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 Sacra-

ment they have received will be of great « a x-
assistance to them. Let them constantly

Q^c^o'^State
keep in mind that they have been sanc-

tified 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 the words of St. Robert Bellarmine, Cardi-

nal, may be pondered over, words full of real comfort, who,



58 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

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. Because 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 Sacra-

ment of Christ and the Church.

Yet in order that the grace of this Sacrament may pro-

duce its full fruit, there is need, as We have already pointed
out, of the cooperation of the married parties; this in their

striving to fulfil 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 in order that these may exercise their full

vigor, failing which no profit is gained, so also men must use

the powers given them by grace which is laid up in the soul

by the Sacrament they have received with their own unceas-

ing efforts. Let not, then, those who are joined in matri-

mony neglect the grace of the Sacrament which is in them,

but applying themselves to the careful observance, how-

ever 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 ad-

dressed to them that which St. Paul the Apostle wrote to his

beloved disciple Timothy regarding the Sacrament of Holy

Orders when the latter 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.”

All these things, however. Venerable Brethren, depend

in large measure on the due preparation, remote and proxi-

mate, of the parties for marriage. For it cannot be denied

Preparation
^ happy wedlock and

Needed
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; indeed within the home



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 59

there will be sins, 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.

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 fulness of the image of Christ. 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 un-

wearying care, the home, though it be in want and in the

midst of this valley of tears, may become for the* children

a reproduction in a way 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 instil into them a sound

understanding of the Catholic Church, and will give them

such a disposition and love towards their fatherland as duty

and gratitude demand. Consequently, let both those who

are now thinking of some time entering upon this sacred

married state, as well as those who have the charge of chil-

dren, 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 be-

gin with God, while the heart should be strengthened with the aids

of Divine grace, in the absence of which none can curb their evil

desires, nor can their discipline and formation be brought to com-

plete perfection by the Church, which Christ has so provided with

heavenly doctrines and Divine Sacraments, as to make her an effectual

teacher of men.

To the proximate preparation of a good married life be-

longs 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 on the other hand,

a great danger and hindrance. And, so that they will not

deplore for the rest of their lives the sorrows arising from



60 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

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 them-

selves, of their partner, of the children who come, as also of

home and civil society, for which wedlock is as a fountain

head. Let them diligently pray for Divine help, so that

they will make their choice in accordance with Christian

prudence, not indeed led by the blind and unstrained im-

pulse of lust, nor by any desire of riches or other base influ-

ence, but by a true and noble love and by a sincere affection

towards the future partner; and then let them strive in

their married life toward 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 baneful mistake, and on

the threshold of matrimony may receive more abundantly

the Divine blessing, the 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.”

Since it is no rare thing to find that the perfect observ-

ance of God’s commands and conjugal integrity encounter

difficulties because the married parties are oppressed by

straitened circumstances their necessities must be relieved

as far as possible.

So in the first place an effort must be made to obtain

that which Our predecessor Leo XIII, of happy memory,

has already required, namely, that in the State such eco-

nomic and social methods should be set

up 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.” 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; nor is it lawful to fix such a scanty wage as will

be insufficient for the upkeep of the family in the circum-

stances in which it is placed. 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

Economic

Security



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 61

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 of experience. Provision must

be made also in the case of those who are not self-support-

ing, for joint aid by private or public guilds. When these

means which We have pointed out be not fulfilled, the needs
particularly of a larger or poorer family, Christian charity

toward 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, that having an

abundance of this world’s goods they do not expend them

fruitlessly or completely squander them, but employ them

for the support and well-being of those who lack the neces-

sities 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. 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?”

If, however, for this private resources do not suffice, it

is the duty of the public authority to supply for the in-

sufficient forces of individual effort; particularly in a matter

which is of such importance to the com-
pyi,iic Aid

mon weal, touching as it does the mainte-
Needed

nance 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; 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 diffi-

cult for them; indeed, how great a peril can arise to public

security and to the welfare and very life of civil society it-

self when such men are reduced to that condition of despera-

tion that, having nothing which they fear to lose, they are

emboldened to hope for chance advantage from the up-

heaval of the State and of established order.



62 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

Wherefore, those who have the care of the State and of

the common 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 penury of the needy, considering such

as one of the most important of their administrative duties.

We are sorry to note that not unfrequently nowadays it hap-
pens that through a certain inversion of the true order of

things, ready and bountiful assistance is provided for the

unmarried mother and illegitimate offspring (who, indeed,

must be helped that a greater evil may be avoided) which is

denied to legitimate mothers or given sparingly or almost

grudgingly.

But not only in those things which regard temporal

goods. Venerable Brethren, is it the concern of the public

authority that proper provision be made for matrimony and

the family, but also in other things

which are for the good of souls, namely,

just laws must be made for the protection

of chastity, for reciprocal conjugal aid, and for similar pur-

poses, and they must be faithfully enforced, because, as his-

tory 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 fountain-head

from which the State draws its life, namely, wedlock and the

family, is obstructed by the vices of its citizens. For the

preservation of the moral order neither the laws and sanc-

tions of the temporal power are sufficient, nor the beauty of

virtue and the exposition of its necessity; a religious au-

thority must enter in to illumine with truth, to direct the

will, and to strengthen human frailty by the assistance of

Divine grace, and such an authority is alone the Church in-

stituted by Christ the Lord. Hence We earnestly exhort in
the Lord all those who hold the reins of power that they es-

tablish and maintain firmly harmony and friendship with

this Church of Christ in order that through the united ac-

tivity and energy of both powers, the tremendous evils may

be checked which menace civil society as well as the Church,

fruits of those wanton liberties which assail both marriage

and the family.

The civil law can assist the Church much in the execu-

tion of its important office if, in laying down their ordi-



ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 63

nances, 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 whatever is permitted

by the laws of the State, or at lept is ^an Work
not punished by them, is allowed also m chm-ch
the moral order, and, indeed, because they

neither fear God nor see any reason to fear the laws of man,

act even against their conscience; hence often they bring

ruin upon themselves and upon many others. There will be

no peril to or diminution 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 already has

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 in-

terest 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 one will be enhanced, and with religion

as its guide, there will never be a rule that is not just; for the other

there will be at hand a safeguard and defense which will operate to

the public good of the Faithful.

So, 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, even in matrimonial affairs

a peaceful settlement and friendly cooperation has been ob-

tained, such as befitted the glorious history of the Italian

people and its ancient and sacred traditions. These de-

crees, indeed, are to be found in the Lateran pact: “The

Italian State, desirous of restoring to the institution of matri-

mony, which is the basis of the family, that dignity conform-

able to the traditions of its people, assigns as civil effects

of the Sacrament of Matrimony all that is attributed to it in

canon law.”

To this fundamental norm are added further clauses

in the common pact. This matter might well be an example

and a demonstration to all, that 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) one supreme authority can be united and associated

with the other without detriment to the rights and supreme



64 ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

power of the other, thus protecting Christian parents from

pernicious evils and menacing ruin. All these things which,

Venerable Brethren, prompted by Our past solicitude We
discuss with you. We wish according to the norm of Chris-

Diffusion of
prudence to be promulgated widely

Sound^Teaching
among all Our beloved children com-

mitted to your care as members of the

great family of Christ, that all may be thoroughly ac-
quainted with the sound teaching concerning marriage, so

that they may be ever on their guard against the dangers

advocated by the proponents 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 anch coming of the glory of the great God and

Our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit. ii, 12-13).

May the Father, “of whom all Paternity in heaven and
earth is named,” who strengthens the weak and gives cour-

age to the pusillanimous and faint-hearted, and Christ Our

Lord and Redeemer, “the Institutor and Perfecter of the

holy Sacraments,” who desired marriage to be and made it

the mystical image of His own ineffable union with the

Church, and the Holy Ghost, charity, the light of hearts

and the strength of the mind, grant that 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, all will perceive, will ad-

mit with a ready will, and by the grace of God will put into

practice, so that that fruitfulness dedicated to God will

flourish again vigorously in Christian wedlock. That God,

the Author of all graces, from whom comes every willing

and accomplishing, may bring this about, and deign to give

it bountifully according to the greatness of His liberality

and omnipotence. We most humbly pour forth Our earnest
prayer at the throne of His grace; 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 zealous vigilance, the Apos-

tolic Benediction.

Given at Rome, in Saint Peter’s, this thirty-first day of

December, of the year 1930, the ninth of Our Pontificate.

PIUS PP. XI.



ROMA DIXIT

An editorial reprinted from the New York Times, January 10, 1931

J
USTIFICATION for the great amount of space given by

American newspapers to publication of the entire text

of the Encyclical of Pius XI is to be found in the exalted

position of the Pope. He is the head of the Catholic Church,

whom it regards as the infallible teacher in matters of faith

and morals. He speaks to millions of Catholics in all parts

of the world. What he has to say about the historic doctrine

of his Church on the subject of marriage, with special refer-

ence to proposed modifications of it under modern condi-

tions, will be read with the keenest interest by the clergy of

other churches, and must be considered of great importance

even by those who do not belong to his faith and order, who

are whole-heartedly devoted to the betterment of family life

and especially to surrounding well-born children with the

best aids possible, but who will be eager to know the judg-

ment of His Holiness.

They will find that, as was to be expected, he states and

reaffirms the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament of marriage.

A good part of the Encyclical is taken up with citation of
authorities, going to show that the decisions now announced

by the Pope conform to the test of things believed, semper,

ubique et ab omnibus. It was not possible, however, for the

Encyclical to fail to take notice of certain deviations in these

later years, even on the part of “the faithful.” Upon these

the Pope pronounces judgment, one after the other, with

marked severity of condemnation. The plea for fewer and

better children, made in the name of modern eugenics, he

dismisses. Stress is laid upon the duty of meeting the needs

of overburdened mothers through neighborly kindness, pub-

lic assistance and Christian charity. To some social re-

formers the Encyclical may seem depressing in its denial that

their efforts are rightly directed. But the Catholic Church

does not address itself to one age or one century. It en-

deavors to look at the world and the unfolding of civiliza-

tion sub specie aeternitatis. And even enthusiastic eugenists

must admit the possibility that in a hundred years or more

their theories will have been proved inadequate, so that then

more plausibility and force may be seen in the views ex-

pressed today by the Holy See of Rome.

iii



(yn <ijM^arriage
Birth Control is Wrong!—I. W. Cox, SJ.—5c.
The Shackles of Wedlock—W. I. Lonergan,
SJ.—5c.

Eugenics: Problems of Sex—W. I. Lonergan,
SJ.—10c.

The Church and the Sex Problem—R. H. Tier-
ney, S.J., and M. J. Riordan—10c.

The Catholic Doctrine of Matrimony—F. J. Con-
nell, C.SS.R., S.T.D.—10c.

The New Morality and the National Life—J. I.
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“The Heart of a Holy Woman”—T. Brosna-
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Courtship and Marriage—^25c.
Modern Morality-Wreckers—5c.
The Tangle of Marriage—^A. Power, S.J.—5c.
The Wedding Ring—^J. Husslein, S.J.—5c.
Broken Homes—F. P. LeBuffe, S.J.—5c*-
Race-Suicide and Birth-Control—Revs. Dowling,

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