Just What Is Matrimony?
Wood, L. J. S.
JUST WHAT IS MATRIMONY ? By L. J. S. WOOD 150 NOT long ago, an excellent Catholic asked a highly placed personage in Rome for advice concerning the possibility of the "annulment" of the...
...It is said that a marriage case in Rome is never finished...
...So it is that the Catholic Church makes strict inquiries as to the status of persons asking admission to the fold...
...In other words, the means of actuation of this sacrament on earth, this union of two individuals, is the consent of the two parties to the contract...
...And competent authority, which is the Court of the Roman Rota, will consider first, all the facts of the case...
...In five instances, the case for nullity was found to be proven...
...There was misunderstanding about Pius X's marriage legislation eighteen years ago...
...and, of course, it does not touch the civil status of the children in the least...
...there is no such thing as divorce...
...A further appeal was made to the Pope who ordered a reconsideration by a special cardinalitial commission...
...in four, the marriage was found to be a good and true marriage...
...The Castellane-Gould record shows how patient are Popes and courts...
...Always available and very much alive here also are the learning and keen intelligence of the Defensor Vinculi who can be fully trusted, if only for his own reputation, to miss nothing telling in favor of the defense and upholding of the marriage bond...
...Therefore there is no contract, there is no sacrament, there is no marriage...
...it has been sent on to Rome, where it has come in the ordinary course before the Court of the Roman Rota, and it has been found that one of the persons contracting was not free...
...So it is that if anyone, the Duke of Marlborough or anyone else, makes such request, the Catholic Church will have to tell him what its laws are, including, if occasion arises, its laws about marriage: that if you are married you are married and divorce does not exist...
...In the second of the cases referred to, Boni de Castellane-Gould, there were three hearings before three different turni of the Rota and the decision was given by the two concurrent judgments that "the nullity of the marriage was not proven...
...it failed...
...These are judgments—the Ne Temere was legislation simple...
...That is why the highly placed personage mentioned reprimanded the honest but inaccurate Catholic inquirer, "annulment" being an impossible expression...
...An appeal was put in, and granted for hearing, on a point of law...
...Another consideration by another commission reconfirmed that judgment which, be it noted, was in favor of the non-Catholic...
...It has been found that there was not free consent...
...Everyone knows that there are certain things necessary for a contract to be valid...
...And it is a fact that Rome will never refuse to consider an appeal on a given judgment either on a point of law or if new evidence is shown to be available...
...If, on the other hand, the marriage ceremony through which he went did not constitute a marriage according to the law of the Church, then on that point there is no obstacle...
...JUST WHAT IS MATRIMONY ? By L. J. S. WOOD 150 NOT long ago, an excellent Catholic asked a highly placed personage in Rome for advice concerning the possibility of the "annulment" of the marriage of a friend who was in doubt and troubled on the matter...
...on the surface the Ne Temere might seem hard...
...In the list of Rota cases definitely concluded last year, nine depended solely on the question of consent...
...If a piece of land is being sold the land itself must be free to be bought and sold, the buyer and the seller must be free...
...This divine sacrament has to be actuated—the incompetent phraseology may be excused—by human beings...
...It is, in simple fact, a contract, raised by Our Lord, in the case of baptized Christians, to the dignity of a sacrament...
...then the Church is bound to put in action the authoritative means at its disposal to answer...
...If he says: "I went through a ceremony of marriage...
...indirectly or in conjunction, it entered into a great number of others...
...In this marriage contract, raised for Catholics to the dignity of a sacrament, the persons must be free...
...If such person asks, in a special case which affects him, for an interpretation of a law, the Church has the authority and the duty to give it...
...but a moment's thoughtful consideration of what Catholic matrimony is and means would make both clear to any ordinary intelligence...
...and second, the law of the case—that is, the application of the law of the Church to the facts of the case—and will deliver judgment...
...A good deal was written some years ago under the heading, "Boni de Castellane-Gould...
...The case which is being spoken of now has been considered by a competent diocesan court...
...There was a marriage...
...151...
...Both the persons and the matter must be competent...
...Rome, in fact—to quote a learned writer—"is loath to decree a marriage null and set the parties free, but will require the whole case to be tried over again by a fresh court, and it is only when a second verdict corroborates the first that it will confirm and act upon it...
...On the other hand, a Catholic can always ask .Holy Church whether he is married or not...
...Nor, obviously, can a marriage be annulled if it has never existed...
...It has well-defined laws and it insists that they be obeyed...
...Two seconds' thought showed him his mistake...
...What has happened is that Rome has examined his credentials and has found them on that point satisfactory...
...If, as is reported, the Duke of Marlborough desires to be a Catholic, the Church must satisfy itself as to his status...
...And to tell him what, if necessary, he must do on that point, to qualify himself to be a member of the fold...
...To begin with, the contract must be free...
...A good deal is being written now, I understand, about Catholic marriages under the heading, "Marlborough...
...It will also entertain appeals either on the law of the case or on any fresh facts ascertainable...
...What was not excusable was the refusal of most writers, claiming to be competent, to take any trouble really to understand what the legislation said and meant, to understand, to begin with, what matrimony is and means in the Catholic Church...
...To his surprise, he was severely reprimanded...
...Every institution that respects itself is so, has a right to be so...
...In the present case nothing prevents a further hearing...
...But consent must be free...
...No one will dispute her right and her duty to make such examination...
...It is obvious that this sacrament of matrimony either is or is not...
...Incidentally, the judgment makes it possible for the first wife now to contract a marriage valid in the eyes of the Church...
...For, if he was married, was divorced, was remarried, then his status is not such as to admit him to the fold and the Church is bound to tell him what he must do to qualify...
...was that marriage according to the law of the Church...
...One of those laws is that marriage is marriage...
...And it is an interesting fact, in view of allegations sometimes made, that in the majority of cases brought before the Rota the suit is made in forma pauperis, Rome, that is, and its trained expert advocates do not get paid for their services...
...And it is very particular about the credentials of its citizens...
...The United States has been seen to be very particular, and quite rightly, as to the character of the persons whom it admits, even temporarily, within its borders...
...But if a good Catholic can slip into an inaccuracy, a capital inaccuracy, like that, some misunderstanding about Catholic matrimony on the part of non-Catholics is excusable...
...Otherwise there is no valid contract...
...It will be seen that Rome does not refuse consideration, and reconsideration, when cause is shown...
...For the persons in question, either they are married or they are not married...
...But it is fair...
...If you are married you are married and that marriage cannot be annulled...
...it confirmed the judgment...
...Nor, be it said as simple fact, if anyone did protest, would the Church cease to hold and to say that certain qualifications are necessary for its citizenship...
...it cannot be "annulled...
...On the part of the ordinary non-Catholic public it was excusable...
...few, I think, will dispute her competence to judge...
...that it has certain laws which can be interpreted if necessary, but in any case must be obeyed...
...The Catholic Church has seven sacraments and holy matrimony is one of them...
...The Catholic Church is a rather jealous institution...
Vol. 5 • December 1926 • No. 6
