Marriage

As we begin, I'd like to make clear this is not the place to deal with questions that couples may have regarding the validity of their marriage as a Sacrament.  If a couple does not meet the necessary conditions to enter into the Sacrament of Marriage, at some later date the Church may declare that a Sacramental Marriage never took place.  Such matters are handled by the Marriage Tribunals in the Church.

Our purpose here is to lay out some fundamentals regarding Marriage as a Sacrament, as well as some explanations as to the nature of this Sacrament.  Afterwards, we will look at what the Early Church Fathers tell us about this great, and august Sacrament.

God created Marriage for one man and one woman, male and female He created them, and with Marriage comes responsibility and commitment.

When Adam was created he was not able to reflect the Holy Trinity by himself.  In the creation of Eve, who proceeds from Adam, we see a procession of another person from the substance of "One.'  This reflects the procession of the Son from the Father, and from the two proceeds another person.  In the Most Holy Trinity proceeds the Holy Spirit, in mankind, the child.

As we know, the sin of Adam entered the world through our first parents.  As a result, all the struggles related to Marriage came from the original rebellion against God.  It is impossible that rebellion against God would not spill over into a rebellion and struggle between husband and wife.

As a result of sin, the difference that originally complimented man and woman turned into a source of tension, particularly in the desires of the flesh which tends to objectify one's spouse due to selfish gratification.  So, it is important to understand why the struggle manifests itself, particularly in matters of sexuality in the present cultural climate.  Now more than ever it is important for us to understand and appreciate the nature of this great Sacrament of Marriage.

Sin, and a depreciation of Marriage as a Sacrament, is the source of division, sorrow, and emotional and physical pain in family life.  So, we can see why Christ had to straighten out our understanding about Marriage as far back as Moses.  Even Moses caved in on a proper understanding of Marriage.

In Matthew 19:8 we read:

8: "He said to them: Because Moses by reason of the hardness of your heart permitted you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so."

Christ had to restore their understanding to the original plan of God so He could provide man the graces necessary to properly, and happily, live married life after it had been so deeply wounded.  He drove home this point at the Wedding Feast of Cana.  When He performed His first public miracle at Cana He showed us that the Sacrament of Marriage is intimately united to the Sacrament of the Eucharist from which husband and wife would derive graces to live their Sacramental union to become saints.

Marriage is to be a union of love between husband and wife where the sacrifices they make for their love, and children, become the basis of co-redemption for themselves and their family.

It would be useful at this time to look at the word "Sacrament."  It simply means "Mystery."  As a sacrament it is a sign of a husband and wife's union, and their spousal love for one another which is a "sign" of Christ's love for His Church.

We see this in Ephesians 5:31-32 which reads:

31: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."

32: "This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and his Church."

The mutual consent of entrance into this union is consummated by sexual union which seals the Marriage bond.  And since God is the one who designed this union, it is true to say that when men and women go against His designs they go against their wedding vows, and the Sacrament of Marriage itself.

When sexuality deviates from God's plan it no longer symbolizes the Sacramental union between husband and wife.  This is why fornication, adultery, homosexuality, masturbation, vasectomies, tubes being tied, and all manner of things which go against the conjugal act, and therefore, life.  They are a blight of society and an attack on the understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage itself.

Protestants have corrupted the understanding of Sacramental Marriage.  Apply Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) to Marriage and there is no unity on sexual matters.  They can find a "version of Christianity" that allows them to scratch any itch they have.  But its not just Protestants who have corrupted Marriage. Catholics in name only have joined in the "experiment."

The divorce rate has skyrocketed in recent years.  What does Jesus have to say about Marriage and Divorce.

In Luke 16:18 we read:

18: "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

And in Mark 10: 11-12 we read:

11: "And he said to them: Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, commits adultery against her."

12: "And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she commits adultery."

Did St. Paul have anything to say about Marriage?  Yes, he did.

In Romans 7: 2-3 we read:

2: " For the woman that has a husband, while her husband lives is bound to the law.  But if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband."

3: "Therefore, whilst her husband lives, she shall be called an adulteress, if she be with another man: but if her husband be dead, she is delivered from the law of her husband, so that she is not an adulteress, if she be with another man."

And in 1st Corinthians 7: 10-11 we read:

10: "But to them that are married, not I, but the Lord commands, that the wife depart not from her husband."

11: "And if she departs, that she remains unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband.  And let not the husband put away his wife."

Does this apply to a Marriage where one of the persons is not Baptized?

The same does not apply in such a case.

In 1st Corinthians 7: 12-15 we read:

12: "For to the rest I speak, not the Lord.  If any brother has a wife that does not believe, and she consent to dwell with him, let him not put her away."

13: "And if any woman has a husband that does not believe, and he consent to dwell with her, let her not put away her husband."

14: "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife; and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband: otherwise your children should be unclean; but now they are holy."

15: "But if the unbeliever depart, let him depart.  For a brother or sister is not under servitude in such cases.  But God has called us in peace."

And what about a couple who are validly Married but there is a problem such as abuse? What are the obligations to the Sacrament in such a case?

There may be legitimate reasons for them to live apart, and even to obtain a legal separation in civil law.  But, in the eyes of God they are not free to remarry.

From the Catechism we read:

"If, however, the parties are genuinely and Sacramentally married, then, while in some cases there may be good reason for them to live apart and even to obtain a legal separation, in God's eyes they are not free to remarry." (1649)

And on December 7, 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated "Gaudium Et Spes," the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World."

In this document there is a section entitled:

"FOSTERING THE NOBILITY OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY"

This will provide insight into the Church's understanding of Marriage as a Sacrament and the reasons why the Church must protect this Sacrament from corruption.

It reads:

47. ... Yet the excellence of this institution is not everywhere reflected with equal brilliance, since polygamy, the plague of divorce, so-called free love and other disfigurements have an obscuring effect. In addition, married love is too often profaned by excessive self-love, the worship of pleasure and illicit practices against human generation. Moreover, serious disturbances are caused in families by modern economic conditions, by influences at once social and psychological, and by the demands of civil society. Finally, in certain parts of the world problems resulting from population growth are generating concern.

All these situations have produced anxiety of consciences. Yet, the power and strength of the institution of Marriage and family can also be seen in the fact that time and again, despite the difficulties produced, the profound changes in modern society reveal the true character of this institution in one way or another.

Therefore, by presenting certain key points of Church doctrine in a clearer light, this sacred synod wishes to offer guidance and support to those Christians and other men who are trying to preserve the holiness and to foster the natural dignity of the married state and its superlative value.

48. The intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. Hence by that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too is a lasting one. For the good of the spouses and their off-springs as well as of society, the existence of the sacred bond no longer depends on human decisions alone. For, God Himself is the author of matrimony, endowed as it is with various benefits and purposes.(1) All of these have a very decisive bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the personal development and eternal destiny of the individual members of a family, and on the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family itself and of human society as a whole. By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown. Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:ff), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions. Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them.(2)

Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of His union with His Church. For as God of old made Himself present(3) to His people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the Spouse(4) of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the Sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf,(6) the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal.

Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church, so that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and may aid and strengthen them in sublime office of being a father or a mother.(6) For this reason Christian spouses have a special Sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state.(7) By virtue of this Sacrament, as spouses fulfill their conjugal and family obligation, they are penetrated with the spirit of Christ, which suffuses their whole lives with faith, hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance the perfection of their own personalities, as well as their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God.

As a result, with their parents leading the way by example and family Prayer, children and indeed everyone gathered around the family hearth will find a readier path to human maturity, salvation and holiness. Graced with the dignity and office of fatherhood and motherhood, parents will energetically acquit themselves of a duty which devolves primarily on them, namely education and especially religious education.

As living members of the family, children contribute in their own way to making their parents holy. For they will respond to the kindness of their parents with sentiments of gratitude, with love and trust. They will stand by them as children should when hardships overtake their parents and old age brings its loneliness. Widowhood, accepted bravely as a continuation of the Marriage vocation, should be esteemed by all.(8) Families too will share their spiritual riches generously with other families. Thus the Christian family, which springs from Marriage as a reflection of the loving covenant uniting Christ with the Church,(9) and as a participation in that covenant, will manifest to all men Christ's living presence in the world, and the genuine nature of the Church. This the family will do by the mutual love of the spouses, by their generous fruitfulness, their solidarity and faithfulness, and by the loving way in which all members of the family assist one another.

49. The biblical Word of God several times urges the betrothed and the married to nourish and develop their wedlock by pure conjugal love and undivided affection.(10) Many men of our own age also highly regard true love between husband and wife as it manifests itself in a variety of ways depending on the worthy customs of various peoples and times.

This love is an eminently human one since it is directed from one person to another through an affection of the will; it involves the good of the whole person, and therefore can enrich the expressions of body and mind with a unique dignity, ennobling these expressions as special ingredients and signs of the friendship distinctive of Marriage. This love God has judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting and exalting gifts of grace and of charity. Such love, merging the human with the divine, leads the spouses to a free and mutual gift of themselves, a gift providing itself by gentle affection and by deed, such love pervades the whole of their lives:(11) indeed by its busy generosity it grows better and grows greater. Therefore it far excels mere erotic inclination, which, selfishly pursued, soon enough fades wretchedly away.

This love is uniquely expressed and perfected through the appropriate enterprise of matrimony. The actions within Marriage by which the couple are united intimately and chastely are noble and worthy ones. Expressed in a manner which is truly human, these actions promote that mutual self-giving by which spouses enrich each other with a joyful and a ready will. Sealed by mutual faithfulness and be allowed above all by Christ’s Sacrament, this love remains steadfastly true in body and in mind, in bright days or dark. It will never be profaned by adultery or divorce. Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of Marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of wife and husband, a dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love. The constant fulfillment of the duties of this Christian vocation demands notable virtue. For this reason, strengthened by grace for holiness of life, the couple will painstakingly cultivate and pray for steadiness of love, large heartedness and the spirit of sacrifice.

Authentic conjugal love will be more highly prized, and wholesome public opinion created about it if Christian couples give outstanding witness to faithfulness and harmony in their love, and to their concern for educating their children also, if they do their part in bringing about the needed cultural, psychological and social renewal on behalf of Marriage and the family. Especially in the heart of their own families, young people should be aptly and seasonably instructed in the dignity, duty and work of married love. Trained thus in the cultivation of chastity, they will be able at a suitable age to enter a Marriage of their own after an honorable courtship.

50. Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of Marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents. The God Himself Who said, "it is not good for man to be alone" (Gen. 2:18) and "Who made man from the beginning male and female" (Matt. 19:4), wishing to share with man a certain special participation in His own creative work, blessed male and female, saying: "Increase and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). Hence, while not making the other purposes of matrimony of less account, the true practice of conjugal love, and the whole meaning of the family life which results from it, have this aim: that the couple be ready with stout hearts to cooperate with the love of the Creator and the Savior. Who through them will enlarge and enrich His own family day by day.

Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love. Thus they will fulfill their task with human and Christian responsibility, and, with docile reverence toward God, will make decisions by common counsel and effort. Let them thoughtfully take into account both their own welfare and that of their children, those already born and those which the future may bring. For this accounting they need to reckon with both the material and the spiritual conditions of the times as well as of their state in life. Finally, they should consult the interests of the family group, of temporal society, and of the Church herself. The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God. But in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel. That divine law reveals and protects the integral meaning of conjugal love, and impels it toward a truly human fulfillment. Thus, trusting in divine Providence and refining the spirit of sacrifice,(12) married Christians glorify the Creator and strive toward fulfillment in Christ when with a generous human and Christian sense of responsibility they acquit themselves of the duty to procreate. Among the couples who fulfill their God-given task in this way, those merit special mention who with a gallant heart and with wise and common deliberation, undertake to bring up suitably even a relatively large family.(13)

Marriage to be sure is not instituted solely for procreation; rather, its very nature as an unbreakable compact between persons, and the welfare of the children, both demand that the mutual love of the spouses be embodied in a rightly ordered manner that it grow and ripen. Therefore, Marriage persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the couple, offspring are lacking.

51. This council realizes that certain modern conditions often keep couples from arranging their married lives harmoniously, and that they find themselves in circumstances where at least temporarily the size of their families should not be increased. As a result, the faithful exercise of love and the full intimacy of their lives is hard to maintain. But where the intimacy of married life is broken off, its faithfulness can sometimes be imperiled and its quality of fruitfulness ruined, for then the upbringing of the children and the courage to accept new ones are both endangered.

To these problems there are those who presume to offer dishonorable solutions indeed; they do not recoil even from the taking of life. But the Church issues the reminder that a true contradiction cannot exist between the divine laws pertaining to the transmission of life and those pertaining to authentic conjugal love.

For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man. Therefore from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes. The sexual characteristics of man and the human faculty of reproduction wonderfully exceed the dispositions of lower forms of life. Hence the acts themselves which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with genuine human dignity must be honored with great reverence. Hence when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love. Such a goal cannot be achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced. Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law.(14)

All should be persuaded that human life and the task of transmitting it are not realities bound up with this world alone. Hence they cannot be measured or perceived only in terms of it, but always have a bearing on the eternal destiny of men.

52. The family is a kind of school of deeper humanity. But if it is to achieve the full flowering of its life and mission, it needs the kindly communion of minds and the joint deliberation of spouses, as well as the painstaking cooperation of parents in the education of their children. The active presence of the father is highly beneficial to their formation. The children, especially the younger among them, need the care of their mother at home. This domestic role of hers must be safely preserved, though the legitimate social progress of women should not be underrated on that account.

Children should be so educated that as adults they can follow their vocation, including a religious one, with a mature sense of responsibility and can choose their state of life; if they marry, they can thereby establish their family in favorable moral, social and economic conditions. Parents or guardians should by prudent advice provide guidance to their young with respect to founding a family, and the young ought to listen gladly. At the same time no pressure, direct or indirect, should be put on the young to make them enter Marriage or choose a specific partner.

Thus the family, in which the various generations come together and help one another grow wiser and harmonize personal rights with the other requirements of social life, is the foundation of society. All those, therefore, who exercise influence over communities and social groups should work efficiently for the welfare of Marriage and the family. Public authority should regard it as a sacred duty to recognize, protect and promote their authentic nature, to shield public morality and to favor the prosperity of home life. The right of parents to beget and educate their children in the bosom of the family must be safeguarded. Children too who unhappily lack the blessing of a family should be protected by prudent legislation and various undertakings and assisted by the help they need.

Christians, redeeming the present time(13) and distinguishing eternal realities from their changing expressions, should actively promote the values of Marriage and the family, both by the examples of their own lives and by cooperation with other men of good will. Thus when difficulties arise, Christians will provide, on behalf of family life, those necessities and helps which are suitably modern. To this end, the Christian instincts of the faithful, the upright moral consciences of men, and the wisdom and experience of persons versed in the sacred sciences will have much to contribute.

Those too who are skilled in other sciences, notably the medical, biological, social and psychological, can considerably advance the welfare of Marriage and the family along with peace of conscience if by pooling their efforts they labor to explain more thoroughly the various conditions favoring a proper regulation of births.

It devolves on priests duly trained about family matters to nurture the vocation of spouses by a variety of pastoral means, by preaching God's word, by liturgical worship, and by other spiritual aids to conjugal and family life; to sustain them sympathetically and patiently in difficulties, and to make them courageous through love, so that families which are truly illustrious can be formed.

Various organizations, especially family associations, should try by their programs of instruction and action to strengthen young people and spouses themselves, particularly those recently wed, and to train them for family, social and apostolic life.

Finally, let the spouses themselves, made to the image of the living God and enjoying the authentic dignity of persons, be joined to one another(16) in equal affection, harmony of mind and the work of mutual sanctification. Thus, following Christ who is the principle of life,(17) by the sacrifices and joys of their vocation and through their faithful love, married people can become witnesses of the mystery of love which the Lord revealed to the world by His dying and His rising up to life again.(18)

Okay, I'd like to look now at what some of the Early Church Fathers had to say about the Sacrament of Marriage.

From Hermas we read:

“What then shall the husband do, if the wife continue in this disposition [adultery]? Let him divorce her, and let the husband remain single. But if he divorce his wife and marry another, he too commits adultery.” (The Shepherd 4:1:6, A.D. 80)

From Justin Martyr we read:

“In regard to chastity, Jesus has this to say: ‘If anyone look with lust at a woman, he has already before God committed adultery in his heart.’ And, ‘Whoever marries a woman who has been divorced from another husband, commits adultery.’ According to our Teacher, just as they are sinners who contract a second Marriage, even though it be in accord with human law, so also are they sinners who look with lustful desire at a woman. He repudiates not only one who actually commits adultery, but even one who wishes to do so; for not only our actions are manifest to God, but even our thoughts.” (First Apology 15, A.D. 151)

From Clement of Alexandria we read:

“That Scripture counsels Marriage, however, and never allows any release from the union, is expressly contained in the law: ‘You shall not divorce a wife, except for reason of immorality.’ And it regards as adultery the Marriage of a spouse, while the one from whom a separation was made is still alive. ‘Whoever takes a divorced woman as wife commits adultery,’ it says; for ‘if anyone divorce his wife, he debauches her’; that is, he compels her to commit adultery. And not only does he that divorces her become the cause of this, but also he that takes the woman and gives her the opportunity of sinning; for if he did not take her, she would return to her husband.” (Miscellanies 2:23:145:3, A.D. 208)

From Origen we read:

“Just as a woman is an adulteress, even though she seem to be married to a man, while a former husband yet lives, so also the man who seems to marry her who has been divorced does not marry her, but, according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with her.” (Commentaries on Matthew 14:24, A.D. 248)

From the Council of Elvira we read:

“Likewise, women who have left their husbands for no prior cause and have joined themselves with others may not even at death receive Communion.” (Canon 8, A.D. 300)

“Likewise, a woman of the faith [i.e., a baptized person] who has left an adulterous husband of the faith and marries another, her marrying in this manner is prohibited. If she has so married, she may not receive Communion, unless he that she has left has since departed from this world.” (Canon 9)

“If she whom a catechumen (an unbaptized person studying the faith) has left shall have married a husband, she is able to be admitted to the fountain of Baptism. This shall also be observed in the instance where it is the woman who is the catechumen. But if a woman of the faithful is taken in Marriage by a man who left an innocent wife, and if she knew that he had a wife whom he had left without cause, it is determined that Communion is not to be given to her even at death.” (Canon 10)

From Basil the Great we read:

“A man who marries after another man’s wife has been taken away from him will be charged with adultery in the case of the first woman; but in the case of the second he will be guiltless.” (Second Canonical Letter to Amphilochius 199:37, A.D. 375)

From Ambrose of Milan we read:

“No one is permitted to know a woman other than his wife. The marital right is given you for this reason: lest you fall into the snare and sin with a strange woman. ‘If you are bound to a wife do not seek a divorce’; for you are not permitted, while your wife lives, to marry another.” (Abraham 1:7:59, A.D. 387)

“You dismiss your wife, therefore, as if by right and without being charged with wrongdoing; and you suppose it is proper for you to do so because no human law forbids it; but divine law forbids it. Anyone who obeys men ought to stand in awe of God. Hear the law of the Lord, which even they who propose our laws must obey: ‘What God has joined together let no man put asunder.’” (Commentary on Luke 8:5, A.D. 389)

From Jerome we read:

“Do not tell me about the violence of the ravisher, about the persuasiveness of a mother, about the authority of a father, about the influence of relatives, about the intrigues and insolence of servants, or about household [financial] losses. So long as a husband lives, be he adulterer, be he sodomite, be he addicted to every kind of vice, if she left him on account of his crimes, he is her husband still and she may not take another.” (Letters 55:3, A.D. 396)

“Wherever there is fornication and a suspicion of fornication, a wife is freely dismissed. Because it is always possible that someone may calumniate the innocent and, for the sake of a second joining in Marriage, act in criminal fashion against the first, it is commanded that when the first wife is dismissed, a second may not be taken while the first lives.” (Commentaries on Matthew 3:19:9, A.D. 398)

From Pope Innocent I we read:

“The practice is observed by all of regarding as an adulteress a woman who marries a second time while her husband yet lives, and permission to do Penance is not granted her until one of them is dead.” (Letters 2:13:15, A.D. 408)

From Augustine we read:

“Neither can it rightly be held that a husband who dismisses his wife because of fornication and marries another does not commit adultery. For there is also adultery on the part of those who, after the repudiation of their former wives because of fornication, marry others. This adultery, nevertheless, is certainly less serious than that of men who dismiss their wives for reasons other than fornication and take other wives. Therefore, when we say: ‘Whoever marries a woman dismissed by her husband for reason other than fornication commits adultery,’ undoubtedly we speak the truth. But we do not thereby acquit of this crime the man who marries a woman who was dismissed because of fornication. We do not doubt in the least that both are adulterers. We do indeed pronounce him an adulterer who dismissed his wife for cause other than fornication and marries another, nor do we thereby defend from the taint of this sin the man who dismissed his wife because of fornication and marries another. We recognize that both are adulterers, though the sin of one is more grave than that of the other. No one is so unreasonable to say that a man who marries a woman whose husband has dismissed her because of fornication is not an adulterer, while maintaining that a man who marries a woman dismissed without the ground of fornication is an adulterer. Both of these men are guilty of adultery.” (Adulterous Marriages 1:9:9, A.D. 419)

“A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit fornication. A spouse, therefore, is lawfully dismissed for cause of fornication; but the bond of chastity remains. That is why a man is guilty of adultery if he marries a woman who has been dismissed even for this very reason of fornication.” (Adulterous Marriages, 2:4:4)

“Undoubtedly the substance of the Sacrament is of this bond, so that when man and woman have been joined in Marriage they must continue inseparably as long as they live, nor is it allowed for one spouse to be separated from the other except for cause of fornication. For this is preserved in the case of Christ and the Church, so that, as a living one with a living one, there is no divorce, no separation forever.’” (Marriage and Concupiscence 1:10:11, A.D. 419)

“In Marriage, however, let the blessings of Marriage be loved: offspring, fidelity, and the Sacramental bond. Offspring, not so much because it may be born, but because it can be reborn; for it is born to punishment unless it be reborn to life. Fidelity, but not such as even the unbelievers have among themselves, ardent as they are for the flesh. The Sacramental bond, which they lose neither through separation nor through adultery, this the spouses should guard chastely and harmoniously" (Marriage and Concupiscence, 1:17:19)

Roger L.