Sect. 276Christian Marriage a True SacramentChristian Marriage a True Sacrament
The Council of Trent condemns those who hold that “Matrimony is not truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the law of the Gospel, instituted by Christ our Lord; but has been invented by men in the Church, and does not confer grace” (sess. xxiv. can. 1).
I. The chief text of Scripture in support of this doctrine is that already quoted from the Epistle to the Ephesians: “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. He is the saviour of his body. Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the Church: because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament (μυστήριον, Vulg., sacramentum): but I speak in Christ and in the Church (εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν)” (Eph. 5:22–32). The last words of this passage, as rendered in our version, would seem to decide the question. But reference to the original text, and to the use of the word sacramentum in the Vulgate itself, shows that this word alone cannot be relied on as an argument (see supra, p. 359). The proof, such as it is, is taken rather from the passage as a whole. The Apostle, speaking of Christian marriage, declares it to be a great sign of something sacred, viz. the union of Christ with His Church. Now, it is by sanctifying grace and by a continual influx of graces that this union takes place. A perfect representation of this union should therefore contain something corresponding with the graces bestowed by Christ upon His Spouse—should likewise confer upon the parties grace connected with their state. Besides, the due fulfilment of the obligations imposed upon Christian spouses requires supernatural aid.
Another passage of Scripture which may be quoted is St. John 2, where our Lord’s presence and conduct at the marriage feast are narrated. St. Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on this passage, says, “It was befitting that He Who was to renew the very nature of man, and to restore all nature to a better state, should bestow a blessing not only on those who had been already called into life, but should also prepare beforehand that grace for those not yet born, and make their entrance into existence holy.… He, the delight and joy of all men, gave a dignity to marriage by His presence, that He might do away with the former shame and grief attached to child-birth” (Lib. ii., in Joann.). And St. Augustine: “The Lord came to the nuptials that conjugal chastity might be strengthened, and that the sacrament of marriage (sacramentum nuptiarum) might be manifested” (Tract. 9, in Joann., n. 2). St. John Damascene, St. Epiphanius, and others interpret the passage in the same sense.
II. The Council of Trent, however, only says that St. Paul “alludes to,” or “hints at (innuit)” the Catholic doctrine of marriage. The strongest proof is drawn from tradition.
1. The value of testimonies found in ancient rituals and books of administration of sacraments cannot be denied. Those used by the Greek Church, the Churches of the Copts, the Jacobites, and the Nestorians, not to speak of the ancient Latin rituals, all contain ceremonies and prayers implying the belief that matrimony is an efficacious sign of grace (see Perpétuité de la Foi, t. v. 1. 6).
2. The following passages will serve as specimens of the doctrine of the Fathers: “This excellence (of matrimony) is threefold: faithfulness, offspring, the sacrament. In faithfulness it is required that neither should act in violation of the marriage tie; in the offspring, that it be received in love, fed with kindness, educated religiously; and in the sacrament, that the wedlock be not dissolved, and that neither, if divorced, be united to another, not even for the sake of offspring” (St. August., De Genesi ad Lit., ix. c. vii. n. 12). “Throughout all nations and men, the excellence of wedlock is in the procreation of children, and in the faithfulness of chastity; but as regards the people of God, it is also in the holiness of the sacrament, through which holiness it is a crime, even for the party that is divorced, to marry another whilst the husband lives” (St. August., De Bono Cojuugali, n. 32, al. 24). “There are in this matter two modes of life: one inferior and common—I mean matrimony; and the other angelic, and which cannot be surpassed—I mean virginity. He that chooses the worldly, matrimony, that is, is not to blame; but he receives not so great gifts; for some he will receive since he bears fruit thirty-fold. But whoso embraces a chaste state, and one that is above the world, although the road is, compared with the other, more rugged and difficult, yet has he more wonderful gifts, for he has produced a perfect fruit even an hundred-fold” (St. Athanasius, Ep. ad Amunem). “We know that God is the Lord and the guardian of marriage, Who suffers not another’s bed to be defiled; and he that commits this crime sins against God, Whose law he violates, Whose grace he dissolves. And therefore, and for the very reason that he sins against God, he loses the fellowship of the heavenly sacrament (sacramenti cælestis amittit consortium)” (St. Ambrose, De Abraham, c. 7).
To these various testimonies must be added all those which assert the sevenfold number of the sacraments, among which matrimony is included (see above, p. 373).
The doctrine concerning matrimony is a striking instance of development (§ 35). Even so late as the middle of the thirteenth century, St. Thomas contents himself with saying that it was “more probable” that matrimony conferred grace. But the Second Council of Lyons, held in 1274, decided that matrimony was a sacrament (Denzinger, Enchirid., lix.).
The Council of Trent condemns those who hold that “Matrimony is not truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the law of the Gospel, instituted by Christ our Lord; but has been invented by men in the Church, and does not confer grace” (sess. xxiv. can. 1).
I. The chief text of Scripture in support of this doctrine is that already quoted from the Epistle to the Ephesians: “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. He is the saviour of his body. Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the Church: because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament (μυστήριον, Vulg., sacramentum): but I speak in Christ and in the Church (εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν)” (Eph. 5:22–32). The last words of this passage, as rendered in our version, would seem to decide the question. But reference to the original text, and to the use of the word sacramentum in the Vulgate itself, shows that this word alone cannot be relied on as an argument (see supra, p. 359). The proof, such as it is, is taken rather from the passage as a whole. The Apostle, speaking of Christian marriage, declares it to be a great sign of something sacred, viz. the union of Christ with His Church. Now, it is by sanctifying grace and by a continual influx of graces that this union takes place. A perfect representation of this union should therefore contain something corresponding with the graces bestowed by Christ upon His Spouse—should likewise confer upon the parties grace connected with their state. Besides, the due fulfilment of the obligations imposed upon Christian spouses requires supernatural aid.
Another passage of Scripture which may be quoted is St. John 2, where our Lord’s presence and conduct at the marriage feast are narrated. St. Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on this passage, says, “It was befitting that He Who was to renew the very nature of man, and to restore all nature to a better state, should bestow a blessing not only on those who had been already called into life, but should also prepare beforehand that grace for those not yet born, and make their entrance into existence holy.… He, the delight and joy of all men, gave a dignity to marriage by His presence, that He might do away with the former shame and grief attached to child-birth” (Lib. ii., in Joann.). And St. Augustine: “The Lord came to the nuptials that conjugal chastity might be strengthened, and that the sacrament of marriage (sacramentum nuptiarum) might be manifested” (Tract. 9, in Joann., n. 2). St. John Damascene, St. Epiphanius, and others interpret the passage in the same sense.
II. The Council of Trent, however, only says that St. Paul “alludes to,” or “hints at (innuit)” the Catholic doctrine of marriage. The strongest proof is drawn from tradition.
1. The value of testimonies found in ancient rituals and books of administration of sacraments cannot be denied. Those used by the Greek Church, the Churches of the Copts, the Jacobites, and the Nestorians, not to speak of the ancient Latin rituals, all contain ceremonies and prayers implying the belief that matrimony is an efficacious sign of grace (see Perpétuité de la Foi, t. v. 1. 6).
2. The following passages will serve as specimens of the doctrine of the Fathers: “This excellence (of matrimony) is threefold: faithfulness, offspring, the sacrament. In faithfulness it is required that neither should act in violation of the marriage tie; in the offspring, that it be received in love, fed with kindness, educated religiously; and in the sacrament, that the wedlock be not dissolved, and that neither, if divorced, be united to another, not even for the sake of offspring” (St. August., De Genesi ad Lit., ix. c. vii. n. 12). “Throughout all nations and men, the excellence of wedlock is in the procreation of children, and in the faithfulness of chastity; but as regards the people of God, it is also in the holiness of the sacrament, through which holiness it is a crime, even for the party that is divorced, to marry another whilst the husband lives” (St. August., De Bono Cojuugali, n. 32, al. 24). “There are in this matter two modes of life: one inferior and common—I mean matrimony; and the other angelic, and which cannot be surpassed—I mean virginity. He that chooses the worldly, matrimony, that is, is not to blame; but he receives not so great gifts; for some he will receive since he bears fruit thirty-fold. But whoso embraces a chaste state, and one that is above the world, although the road is, compared with the other, more rugged and difficult, yet has he more wonderful gifts, for he has produced a perfect fruit even an hundred-fold” (St. Athanasius, Ep. ad Amunem). “We know that God is the Lord and the guardian of marriage, Who suffers not another’s bed to be defiled; and he that commits this crime sins against God, Whose law he violates, Whose grace he dissolves. And therefore, and for the very reason that he sins against God, he loses the fellowship of the heavenly sacrament (sacramenti cælestis amittit consortium)” (St. Ambrose, De Abraham, c. 7).
To these various testimonies must be added all those which assert the sevenfold number of the sacraments, among which matrimony is included (see above, p. 373).
The doctrine concerning matrimony is a striking instance of development (§ 35). Even so late as the middle of the thirteenth century, St. Thomas contents himself with saying that it was “more probable” that matrimony conferred grace. But the Second Council of Lyons, held in 1274, decided that matrimony was a sacrament (Denzinger, Enchirid., lix.).
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