Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/751

 MABBUOI 698 BSABSIMX

kind.namely.oneofthe seven Bacnunenta. Although eacred name of Chiist. By degrees, however, Uie ob- Lutkra dectared that marriage wu not a sacrament jection to a marriage between a Catholic and an infidd but "a worldly thioK". aU the I^teetant aecte have grew stronger as the necessity for such imiona de- continued to n^utl it aa religious io the sense that it creased, and so in the course of time, more by custom ought nonnaUy to be contracted in the presence of a than by positive enactment, the impediment ditpari- cleigyman. Owing to the influence of the Lutheran 1cm ctilhia makine such marriages null and void began viewandof the French Revolution, civil marria^ has to have force. When the Decrelum of Gratian wai been instituted In almost all the countries of Europe published in the twelfth century, this impediment was and North America, as well as in some of the states of recogniied as a diriment one and it became part <il the South America. In some countries it b essential to canon law of the Church. (Deoretum Gist., o. !K, q. the validity of the imion before the civil law, while In 1.) From that time forward, allmsrriaKea contract^ others, e. g., in the United States, it is merely one of between Catholics and infidels were held to be inralid the ways m which marriage may be contracted. Civil unless a dispensation for such union had been ob- mairiage is not, however, a post-Reformation institu- tained from the ecclesiastical authority. Marriages^ tion, for it e^sted among the ancient Peruvians, and however, between Catholics and heretics were not sub- aroong the Aborigines of North America. ject to the same impediment. They were held as Whether as a state or as a contract, whether from vahd, though illicit if a dispensation mixUe rdiqi- the viewpoint of religion and morals or from that of onia had not been obtained. The opposition of the social welfare, marriage appears in its highest form in Church to such unions is, however, very ancient, and the teaching and practice ot the Catholic Church. The early councils Instated against marriages of this chai^ fact that the contract is a sacrament impresses the acter. Such enactments are found in the fourth cen- popular mind with the irnportance and sacredness of tury Councils of Elvira (can. 16) and of Laodicea (can. Ihe relation thus begun. The fact that the union is in- 10, 31 ,). The General Council of Chalcedon (can. 14) dissoluble and monogamous promotes in the highest prohibits such unions especially between members (rf degree the welfare of parents and children, and stimu- the lower ecclesiastical grades and heretical women, lat^s in the whole community the practice of those While the Western Church forbade these mairiagies, it qualities of self-restraint and altruism which are cssen- did not declare them invalid. In the Eastern Cburcb, 4.._i 4.. „ — :.i W..11 i^i-™ nV...o:~.i .nantni _•..( ...ri_i however, the seventh century Council in Trullo, d«- clared marriages between Catholics and heretics null and void (can. 72), and this discipline has since be«i r ,"uJ!.'''":^MfJ'F'^^iiuf\l]^ maintained in the Greek Schismatical Church. The York. 18B1); Mohoan, AncimI SadHa (London, 1817): Mc- latter has also shown Itself opposed to marna^ be- Lehnah, Siuditi in Ancient HittBry (LondoQ, 188e|; t^niW twcen members of the Orthodox Church and Catho- Slntta Cennu, Marriage oiul Divorct (WnihinKloQ. IBOB); ■: j - p,,g,:„ voTHnnii lavra isBrB ruumut nrrlDnna Howard. Hijtory of Mairimanial InttitutioTu {CScam, 19041^ i,™:* J ""^'" Various laws were paMBO Otaerutg

luEH iiuid Dthrra) In Ameriean Journal of Soaolivy^oX. XIV; that such niamages be not permitted unless the chil-

'Biira.fleaBneucioptdiaofiliKiatRr^rn.i.'i.MarruiBi.FtHnihi; dren of the union are to DC brought up as sctuB-

BjtraiarEH. Dm KMtrraM (StuttgMt, 1861); 0iH4cn-TitD- _„*;„„

uw. La oriqina d; Veciulot, u The advent of Protestantism in the sixteenth cen-

Droif rfu S<:ianeur dv Moi/r" Agt (Puna, 18S4; 3rd ed., 18781 : Jury renewed the problem of mixed marriages in S

ISi^ ^i.^^SrSirt.^*'(1880) " heightened degree. The danger of pervereion for the

^^ " ■ John A. Rtan. Catholic party or for the children, and the almost cer-

tain unhappiness awaiting the members of such unions

MuiUgn, HiXBD (Lat. Matrimonia mixta), tech- caused more stringent legislation on the part of the

nically marriages between Catholics and non-Catho- Church, This was emphasised by the impediment of

lies, when iJie Utter have been baptized in some Chris- clandestinity enacted by the Council of Trent. We

tian sect. The term is also frerjuently employed to say enacted by the Council of Trent, because from the

designate unions between Catholics and infidels. Prom twelfth century the validity of clandestine marriages

the very beginninzoFitaexistencetheChurch of Christ had been recognieed by the Church. This was not,

has been opposed to such unions. As Christ raised however, the original discipline, for it had anciently

wedlock to the dignity of a Sacrament, a marriage be- been looked on as proper for Christians to contract

tween a Catholic and a non-Catho!ic was rightly marriages only in /ari6£'cde«t<E{Tertullian, Do Pudic.

looked upon as degrading the holy character of matri- c. 4). Marriages contrucl«d otherwise were held as

mony, involving as it did a communion in sacred things null and void by various decrees of the Roman Em-

with those outside lie fold. The Apostie St. Paul in- perora of the East and capitularitaof French Kinzs,

sists strongly on Christian marriage being a symbol of and the same is evident from the Fab« Decretals. The

the union Detween Christ and His Church, and hence Council of Trent therefore in declaring %11 matrimonial

sacred. The very intimacy of the union necessarily unions between Catholics and non-CatfioUcs null and

established between those joined in wedlock reijuites a void, unless entered into before the ecclfldastical au-

eoncordance above all in their religious sentiments, thority, was rather inaugurating a return to the old

Holding this doctrine, it was but natural and logical discipline existent before the twelfth ceufVy than

for the Church to do all in her power to hinder her chiU making an entirely new law. By its decree tHS Coun-

dren from contracting marriage with those outside her cil requires the contract to be ent«rcd into befSfe the

pale, who did not recogniie the sacramental (jharacter parish priest or some other priest delected by him,

of the union on which they were entering (see Mar- and in the presence of two or three witnesses iflder

EIaob). Hence arose the impediments toa marriap penalty of invalidity. Marriages otherwise contra'*ted

with a heretic (mixta religio) and with an infidel (_dig- are called clandestine marriages. The Church diti not

pariUu cuUta). As regards marriage with an infidel, find it possible, however, to insist on the rigour uf this

the early Church did not consider such unions invalid, legislation in all countries owing to strong Pro tealant

especially when a person had been converted to the opposition. Indeed, in many countries, it was ^ot

faith after such marriage. It was hoped tMt the con- found advisable to promul^te the decrees of tlie

verted wife or husband would be the means of brine- Council of Trent at all, and in such countries the im.-

fng the other party to the knowledge of the true faith, pediment of clandestinity did not obtain. Even ill -

or at least of safeguarding the Catnolic upbringing of countries where the Tametei (q. v.) decree had beeit

the children of the union. This held even for Jews, published, seriousdifficultiesaroee. As a consequence

Uiough the Church was naturaJIj" more opposed to Pope Benedict XtV, choosing the lea-scr of two evils,

wedlocklx'tween them and Christians, even tnan with issued a declaration concerning marriages in HoJlnno

pagans, owing to the intense Jewish hatred for the and Belgium (Nov. 4, 1741), in which be declared