Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of Matrimony
Chapter 18: On the Impediments of Matrimony in General
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. III, De Sacramento Matrimonii, the fifth general controversy on the sacraments. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The Fifth Controversy: On the Impediments of Matrimony
We have discoursed on the firmness of Matrimony once contracted; now we must discourse on the impediments to contracting it. And there are two kinds of impediments. For some hinder the contracting but do not break the contract; others both hinder the contracting and break the contract.
Those are said to hinder and not to break which are not opposed to the essence of Matrimony, but to its solemnity or to some accidental ornament; and therefore, if Matrimony is contracted with such an impediment, those who so contract sin, but the Matrimony is firm and valid.
But those are said to hinder and to break which are contrary to the very essence of Matrimony, so that something essential is necessarily lacking to the Matrimony, and so it is not a true Matrimony if it has been celebrated with that impediment. Wherefore these impediments are not said to break a contracted Matrimony as if they broke a true Matrimony, but because they make void a Matrimony contracted in fact, not in law. The impediments of this kind are numbered twelve in all, which are contained in these little verses:
Error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimen, / Cultus disparitas, vis, ordo, ligamen, honestas, / Si sis affinis, si forte coire nequibis, / Haec socianda vetant connubia, facta retractant. That is: error, condition, vow, kinship, crime, difference of worship, force, Order, an existing bond, public honesty, if you are related by affinity, if perhaps you cannot come together: these forbid marriages to be joined, and undo them when made.
But that the reason of this number may be understood, it must be known that all the impediments are to be brought back either to the consent of the spouses or to the persons contracting. For since three things are necessary for all the sacraments, matter, form and the intention of the minister, in this sacrament the matter is lawful persons, as we said above; and on consent depend the form and the intention. For consent is the efficient cause of Matrimony, and the signs expressing consent the form; whence, if consent is present, the signs too will be true; if consent is not present, the signs will be false; and likewise if consent is present, intention will be present; if consent is absent, intention will be absent. And so for the sacrament of Matrimony nothing else is essentially required but consent expressed by a sign between lawful persons.
Now on the part of consent two general impediments are taken, ignorance and compulsion; for these two make an act involuntary. To ignorance belongs error of the person, which is the first impediment; for he is not judged to consent to Matrimony who is joined to one person thinking her to be another. Likewise the condition of the person, which is the second impediment: as when someone takes a slave whom he believed to be free.
Here belongs also the lack of the use of free will; for children, madmen and those out of their minds cannot contract, since they cannot have a deliberate consent; and this impediment is not numbered among those twelve, but is brought back to error. To compulsion belongs force, or fear, which is the seventh impediment.
On the part of the persons contracting all the rest are taken; of which some make the person incapable absolutely, and so in respect of any Matrimony whatever; others make him incapable only in respect of some Matrimony with a certain person contracting, but not absolutely.
Of those which make the person incapable absolutely, some are natural, some voluntary. The natural impediment is frigidity, and any perpetual impotence of coming together, whether inborn or procured by sorcery; and this is the twelfth impediment. The voluntary impediments are the solemn vow of continence, sacred Order, and the bond with another spouse; which are the third, eighth and ninth impediments: for those who are bound to God by monastic vows, or by sacred Orders, or to a spouse by Matrimony, cannot receive a new bond of marriage.
But those which make a person incapable in respect of a certain Matrimony, and not absolutely, are three: crime, too great a joining, and too great a separation. Crime is the fifth impediment; and by crime is understood adultery mixed with homicide, with a view to a future marriage. For he who has committed adultery with a woman and has plotted death against her husband can never take her as wife, as will be explained below; wherefore this impediment breaks a certain Matrimony, but not every one absolutely.
Too great a separation is called difference of worship, and is the sixth impediment; for a believer cannot contract Matrimony with an unbeliever. Too great a joining is kinship, to which three impediments are brought back: namely natural kinship, which is properly called consanguinity, and is the fourth impediment; and to it are brought back spiritual kinship, such as is between him who baptizes or confirms and him who is baptized or confirmed, and legal kinship, which is made through adoption. Here belongs also affinity, which is acquired through carnal union, which is the eleventh impediment; and lastly public honesty, which is affinity arising from espousals, and is the tenth impediment.
And the impediments which hinder the contracting but do not break the contract are usually numbered two; whence the little verses arise:
Ecclesiae vetitum, nec non tempus feriatum / Impediunt fieri, permittunt facta teneri. That is: the prohibition of the Church, and also a holy season, hinder a marriage from being made, but allow it, when made, to hold.
By the prohibition of the Church they understand the prohibition against marriages being made secretly, since they ought to be celebrated in the face of the Church and before witnesses. By the holy season they understand certain sacred times, such as Advent and Lent, in which the Church has forbidden marriages to be celebrated. But the first of these impediments, now after the Council of Trent, is no longer only hindering the contracting of marriage but also breaking the contract; wherefore either this impediment is to be brought back to crime, which was one of the breaking impediments, or certainly it will be the thirteenth impediment.
There are besides certain other impediments which do not break, such as the simple vow of continence, espousals, the instruction of a catechumen by the handing over of the catechism, and six crimes: incest, the rape of another's betrothed, sacrilegious marriage with a nun, the killing of a wife, the murder of a priest, and the baptism of one's own child.
But these are not set in the number separately with those first two, because those two are impediments altogether distinct from the breaking ones, whereas these nine are brought back to the breaking ones and are usually explained with them. For the six crimes are brought back to crime, the catechism to spiritual kinship, the simple vow to the solemn vow, and espousals to the existing bond.
Further, the adversaries admit the three impediments which are taken on the part of consent, namely error, condition and force, or compulsion, as is plain both from others and from Philip in the Commonplaces, under the title on marriage. But they themselves add one impediment, namely the lack of the parents' consent; and therefore the first question will be whether for the Matrimony of children under their parents' power the consent of the parents is so necessarily required that without it the marriage is void.
And of the impediments which are taken on the part of the person, they admit two simply, namely the impotence of rendering the conjugal debt, and the existing bond. Two others they admit in part, not simply, such as consanguinity and affinity; for these they admit as to the degrees which are forbidden in Leviticus; as to the others they reject them.
All the rest they condemn simply; whence that saying of Luther in the sermon on Matrimony: “Eighteen causes the pope reckoned in his law, by which Matrimony is either dissolved or hindered; yet almost all of them I reject and condemn.” So he. Concerning these impediments, then, there are only seven questions with the heretics of this time.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CONTROVERSIA V. De iinpedimentis Matrimonii. CAI>UT XVI II. De imi)edimenlis Matrimonii ingcnerc Disseruimus dc Malrimonii conlracli firmitatc nunc dc impcdimcnlis conlrahcndis disscrenduii esl. Sunl autem duo gcnera impedimcnlorum Ouacdam enim iinpcdiunl conlralicndum. scd noi dirimunl conlractuin. (Juacdam ct im[)C(liunl con Irahcndiim, ctdirimunl contracluin. Dicuntur impcdirc.rl non (lirimcre ea,qune nni adversanliir csscnliae ;\latririionii, scd solcmnilali aut ornarncnlo aliciii accidenlario: ct idco si cuii co impcdimcnlo I\Ialriinoniuin conlraliatur , pec canl, (|ui ita contrahunt, scd Matrimonium csl fir inum el raluin. Ea vcro dicunlur impedirc ct dirimcre, quac ip si essenliae Matrimonii contraria sunt, adeo.ut nc ccssario aliquid csscntialc .Matrimonio dcsil, pro indc nec sit vcriim Matrimonium, si cuin co iinpc dimcnlo fucrit cclcbratiim. Quarc non dicuntur i sta impcdimenla dirimcrc conlnctum Matrimoninm quasi Matrimonium vcruiu dirimaiit, sed f-iuia Ma Iriinonium dc facto , non dc jurc conlractum irrilurn reddunt. Impedimcnla luijus gcncris nu merenlur omnino duodecim, quae his versiculis continentur: Error, condilio, volum, cofinalio, criinen, Cnllus dispanlas, vis, onlo, li(]amcn,]ioncslas, Si sis afliais, siforle coirc nequihis, Ilaec socianda velanl connnbia, facla relraclant. Scd ut hujns numeri ralio intelligatur,sciendum csl, omnia impedimcnta revocanda cssc ad conscii- sum conjugium,vel ad personas contrahentes.iXam cum tria sinl necessaria ad omnia sacrnmcnta,ma- teria,l'orma et intenlio minislri; in hoc sacramenlo materia sunl personae legilimac, ut supra dixi- mus:exconsensu autem pendent forma et intenlio. Est enim consensus caussa eilicicns Malrimonii, signa vero cxprimcntia consensum, forma: unde si consensus adsit, etiam signa crunl vera; si con- sensus non adsil, signa erunt falsa; et similiter si consensus adsit inlentio aderil; si consensus absif, intentio aberit. Ilaque ad Matrimonii sacramcnlum nihil aliud requirilur cssenlialiter, nisi consensus signo expressus inter legitimas personas. Jam igitur ex parle conscnsus sumuntur duo ge- neralia impedimenla, ignoranlia et coactio: haec enim duo faciunt involuntarium. Ad ignorantiam pertineterror personae, quod est priinum impedi- mentum: neque enim consentire censetar in Ma- triraonium, qui uni personae jungitur, existimans esse aliam. Item conditio personac, quod cst se- cundum impedimenlum, ut, cum quis servam ac- cipit, quam liberam csse credebal. IIuc etiam pertinet, carcntia usus libera arbilrii; ncque enim pucri,furiosi,amcnies contrahcrc pos- sunt,cum dclibcratum consensum habcrc neque- ant: et hoc impedimenlum non cst inler illa duo- decim numeratum, scd reducitur ad eirorem. Ad coaciioncm pcilinel vis,scu mctus,quod est impe- dimcnlum septimum. Ex partc personarum contrahcntium sumunlur caetera omnia , quorum alia rcddunl personam in- habilcm absolulc,et proinde rcspcctu cujuscumquc Matrimonii: Alia reddniil inhabilcm solum respcctu alimjjiis Midrimonii cum ccrta pcrsona contrahcnti non aulem absoluie. Ex his, quac reddunl personam inhabilcm abso- iutc, alia sunt naluralia, alia volunlaria. Naturalc impcdimenlum est, frigidilas et impolcnlia quac- vis cocundi pcrpctua, sive innala, sivc malcficio procurata:ct hoc est impcdimcnlum duodccimum. Vulunlaria iinpcdimenla siint,volum solemne con- lincntiae, Ordo sacer ct ligamen cum alio con- jugc: quae sunt impedimenta in. Vlll. ct IX. qui cnim aliigaii sunt Dco per vola monastica, aul per sacros Oidines, vcl conjugi per Malrimonium.non possunt novum conjugii vinculum accipcro. Ea vcro, quae inhabilem facinnl respectu ccrli Matrimonii, non aulein absolute, tria sunl, crimen, nimia conjunclio, el nimia disjunctio. Crimen csl impcdimcntum quinlnm, ct pcr crimcn inlclligilur adulterium mixtuiii hoiiiicidio, cum ordine ad fulu- riim conjugium. INon cnim potcsl, qui cum aliqua adullcrium commissil, cl cius viro ncccm molitus esl, illam iinqunm ducere in iixorcm, ul infra cx- 824 DK SACUAMEMO MA I i;l.\!(tMI plicabilur : qiiociiiM luic im|u!(limo!itmii diiimil ccrliiiii :;!ii]iu)d Miiliiinoiiitiin, iion iuilcm omiio ill»<i)llltC. »>imia (iisjiiiiclio vocalur culUi.s disparilas, o,l csl iin|)Ctlimcntuin scxlnm.non cniin puicsl lidclis cmn iniiilcli contralHM-fi Malriiiioiiimn. .\iiiiia conjiinclio osl cotjnalio, ad quain Iria iuipcdiiiKMita rcvocan- tur. nimirum ctiKnalio iKilnralis. (]uao dicilur jiro- prie coiisaiiguinitas,et csl iinpedimcnlum (]uarlu;n, cl ad illud roducuntur coi^natio s|)irilualis. (jualis osl inlcr bai^lizanlem sou conlirmanlom. el bapli- zalum sou conlirmatum; cl coi^uatio lc<,'alis. (juac lil por adoplioiiom. Iliic otiam poiiinct aniiiilas, t]uac per carnalcm copulam ac(]uirihir.(iuac csl im- |)cdiniciiluin und(U'imum.r]l (loiii(|ue imblica lione- slas, (]uae osl allinilas orta c.\ sponsalibus; el esl impodimcnlum decinium. Iinpodimonla aulom (luae conlraliondum impc- diuiil, sod 11(111 dirimunl conlracliim, duo nume- rari sofenl: unde cxislunl vcrsiculi: J^cclfsiao. velihnn, nec non tcmpus ferialum JiiipcUnml lieri, iienniUunt facta tcneri. Pcr Ecclosiac volilum,inlcllii;unl proliibilionom, ne Malrimonia clam lianl, cum dcbcanl iii facie Kcdosiae, ol ooriim lcstibns cclebrari. Por lcmpus ierialum, inlollii-nnt certa lempora sacra, iil advon- lus el quadraj^csimae . quilus Kcclosia luiplias cclcbrari proliibuil. Scd prinium liorum impcdi- incntorum jain posl concilium Iridcnlinum non csl ami)lius lanluni impodicns conjugiuin conlralicn- dum, sed etiain dirimons conlraclum; quare vel rcducondum csl Iioc impedimcnlum ad crimcn, quod cral unum o.\ impodimenlis dirimcnlibus,vel ccrle crit impodimenUim XIIT. _ Sunl praclorea quacdam alia impedimcnla non dirimentia,ut volum conlinentiac simplex, sponsa- lia, inslructio calecbumcni per Iraditioncm cate- chismi, el scx crimina; inccslus, raplus alicnac sponsac.conjuijium sacrilcgum cum sanclimoniali, cacdcs uxoris,lioniicidium presbyleri, cl Baplismus proprii filii. .^cd liaec non iionunlur in niimoro seorsim cum illisduobus priinis, quia duo illa suiil impedimen- 1a distincla omniiio a dirimonlibus: baec auleni novcm rodocuntur ad dirimcnlia, el cum illis cx- plicari stdonl. !\am sex crimina reducunlur ad cri- mcii,calccliismus ad eognalionem spirilualem, vo- Uim simplox ad votura solemne, el sponsalia ad ligaincii. 1'orro adversarii impcdimonla Iria, qune sumun- lur cx parle consonsr.s admiiUint, nimirum erro- rcm, condilioncm ol viin. scu coaolionem: ul patel cuin ex aliis. lum ex Plidi])po iii locis. lili de con- jugio.Sod unum ipsi addunl impcdimenlum, nimi- ruin delocUim coii.^ensns jialorni; ol ideo prima quaoslio eril ulrom ad Malrimonium liliornmfami- lias, ila neces.sario rcquiralur parentum conscnsus, ul sine eo irritum sil conjugium. Ex impedimenlis aulem, quae sumunlur ex parlc pcrsonae, diio admiltunt simplicitcr, nimirum im- polenliam reddcndi dcbiUiniconjimale:cl b>amen. Duo alia admiltuiil ox parle , non" simplicilcr, ul coiisangninilalcm cl alliiiilalom; liaoc oiiim adinit- Uinl. (pioad gradiis, qui iiroliibenlnr in Kt^vilico ; (juoad alios rcjiciunl. Holiqiia omnia simplicitor damnanUiindc osi illa vnx Liilliori iii scrm. de iMalriiiionio: lUiodcvitfni- li C(/)As.sf/.s /// suo jarc. t'ljin.vil p(iit<i,.<iuil)Hs (nnni- htis Mdlrimoniuni vcl (lissijxH.vel iinpcdidt.^iitas Idincn fcrc. onivcs . r.t rcjirio cl condcmno. Ilaoo ille. l)e liis igilur impcdimonlis . so])lom laiiUim sunl cum baerclicis luijus lemporis (|iiacslioncs.