Monday, May 24, 2004
Papal Wisdom CASTI CONNUBII by Pius XI (On Christian Marriage)
Part I, Focus of Encyclical Outlined, Some General Considerations
"2. In order, however, that amongst men of every nation and every age the desired fruits may be obtained from this renewal of matrimony, it is necessary, first of all, that men's minds be illuminated with the true doctrine of Christ regarding it; and secondly, that Christian spouses, the weakness of their wills strengthened by the internal grace of God, shape all their ways of thinking and of acting in conformity with that pure law of Christ so as to obtain true peace and happiness for themselves and for their families. "
Pius XI starts out his treatment on marriage in the same tone as that of his predecessor of happy memory Leo XIII, by outlining the true doctrine regarding Christian Marriage, and then an exhortation to Christian spouses. Let us very briefly consider the latter.
As was stated in my previous commentary on Leo XIII's Arcanum, many wrongly get the idea(even those Catholics) that marriage is mainly a natural institution, that is, of this world. Yet marriage is of the divine sphere of things. Before the creation of the State, God had instituted marriage. If it predates the creation of the State, then the State has little power over it. This was best exemplified by Leo XIII's teaching in Rerum Novarum about man's right to private property.
Second, marriage is a sacrament. It is a means of grace to those who wed. It helps make them holy, since they are serving each other, and the way of servitude is one of the greatest ways to achieve holiness. In that servitude, one receives the grace of God, and one's actions, thoughts, and very life is dedicated to making their spouse a better person in the faith, an acceptable parent to their children, and ultimately a saint in heaven.
"3. Yet not only do We, looking with paternal eye on the universal world from this Apostolic See as from a watch-tower, but you, also, Venerable Brethren, see, and seeing deeply grieve with Us that a great number of men, forgetful of that divine work of redemption, either entirely ignore or shamelessly deny the great sanctity of Christian wedlock, or relying on the false principles of a new and utterly perverse morality, too often trample it under foot. And since these most pernicious errors and depraved morals have begun to spread even amongst the faithful and are gradually gaining ground, in Our office as Christ's Vicar upon earth and Supreme Shepherd and Teacher We consider it Our duty to raise Our voice to keep the flock committed to Our care from poisoned pastures and, as far as in Us lies, to preserve it from harm. "
There are many Catholics who state that "Political leaders in America need not take orders from Rome" attempting to create a division between their faith in the Church, and their faith in Action. The Holy See in this encyclical dismisses such thought, as it is clear that the Pope's sacred duty as Vicar of Christ is not just securing the eternal well being of his flock (Though this is most important), yet also that of securing their temporal well being, and since a healthy institution of marriage is necessary to a healthy society, The Pope is bound to defend it when it comes under attack.
"4. We have decided therefore to speak to you, Venerable Brethren, and through you to the whole Church of Christ and indeed to the whole human race, on the nature and dignity of Christian marriage, on the advantages and benefits which accrue from it to the family and to human society itself, on the errors contrary to this most important point of the Gospel teaching, on the vices opposed to conjugal union, and lastly on the principal remedies to be applied. In so doing We follow the footsteps of Our predecessor, Leo XIII, of happy memory, whose Encyclical Arcanum, published fifty years ago, We hereby confirm and make Our own, and while We wish to expound more fully certain points called for by the circumstances of our times, nevertheless We declare that, far from being obsolete, it retains its full force at the present day. "
Many people constantly decry history. Not even 50 years after the writing of the monumental work on Marriage, people were calling Leo XIII's teaching outdated an obsolete, and needed "updating." For the Culture of Death and those who enable her, there can be no absolutes, everything must be up for change, and rather frequent change at that, since nothing can stand in the revolution's way. Pius XI states that far from being obsolete, it is in force, and I am going to take it even further than my predecessor did, by expounding even more on the great mystery of man and woman becoming one.
"6. Yet although matrimony is of its very nature of divine institution, the human will, too, enters into it and performs a most noble part. For each individual marriage, inasmuch as it is a conjugal union of a particular man and woman, arises only from the free consent of each of the spouses; and this free act of the will, by which each party hands over and accepts those rights proper to the state of marriage, is so necessary to constitute true marriage that it cannot be supplied by any human power. This freedom, however, regards only the question whether the contracting parties really wish to enter upon matrimony or to marry this particular person; but the nature of matrimony is entirely independent of the free will of man, so that if one has once contracted matrimony he is thereby subject to its divinely made laws and its essential properties. For the Angelic Doctor, writing on conjugal honor and on the offspring which is the fruit of marriage, says: "These things are so contained in matrimony by the marriage pact itself that, if anything to the contrary were expressed in the consent which makes the marriage, it would not be a true marriage."
Let us first point out the definition of marriage. If we're going to be successful in talking about and defending marriage, we must first define it. Pius XI defines it as a conjugal union of a particular man and woman when they freely consent to each other. There are those who proclaim, for instance, with homosexual marriage, that we are denying them the right to marry. It must be pointed out nowhere are we stating that homosexuals are forbidden from marrying. Perhaps an analogy is in order.
I grew up playing hockey. In the Midwest, we are the hockey center of America. As captain, it was my final call on who could, and could not come along to the team. I had one requirement, they had to know how to play hockey. People would always laugh when I said that, because it sounded like such a stupid requirement, so obvious that it didn't need to be pointed out. Yet the team was an institution, so therefore in order to be a part of that organization, you had to meet certain requirements.
Likewise, for marriage, marriage is an institution, with it's requirements and responsibilities. The most important requirement is it must include a man and a woman, both freely consenting to each other. The homosexual is more than free to find one of the opposite sex to enter into the institution with. A team which plays basketball can not rightly be called a hockey team, likewise a union of two men or two women cannot rightly be called a marriage, for it lacks certain requirements.
Another point we must stress is that after that requirement has been met, it is not up to the liberty of man to change the requirements based on his free will. It is serving an institution when man and woman enter into marriage. That institution is overseen by God. Therefore, since man is a part of it, and he chooses to enter into it, he cannot change the institution once he is not happy with it.
"8. From this it is clear that legitimately constituted authority has the right and therefore the duty to restrict, to prevent, and to punish those base unions which are opposed to reason and to nature; but since it is a matter which flows from human nature itself, no less certain is the teaching of Our predecessor, Leo XIII of happy memory: "In choosing a state of life there is no doubt but that it is in the power and discretion of each one to prefer one or the other: either to embrace the counsel of virginity given by Jesus Christ, or to bind himself in the bonds of matrimony. To take away from man the natural and primeval right of marriage, to circumscribe in any way the principal ends of marriage laid down in the beginning by God Himself in the words 'Increase and multiply,' is beyond the power of any human law."
We must realize that all law is only effective and right when it conforms to the divine law. Hence, the State, for numerous advantageous reasons we shall outline in this commentary, must conform to the divine law in it's definition of marriage. Yet the State not only passes those laws, but also makes sure they are enforced. Hence, it is the right, and duty of the State to ensure the law regarding marriage is enforced. If marriage is the union of a man and a woman freely consenting, then it follows that if other institutions try to claim themselves as that of marriage, it is the obligation of the State to oppose such movements, as it shows not only a lack of respect for the divine law, but the authority which the State has itself. This is all the State can do in regards to marriage. Since marriage predates the State, it is powerless to change it's definition, and still retain the essence of marriage.
"9. Therefore the sacred partnership of true marriage is constituted both by the will of God and the will of man. From God comes the very institution of marriage, the ends for which it was instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that flow from it; while man, through generous surrender of his own person made to another for the whole span of life, becomes, with the help and cooperation of God, the author of each particular marriage, with the duties and blessings annexed thereto from divine institution. "
hearkening back to my hockey team analogy, there is the institution of a hockey team, and then the individual team in and of itself. I was the author of the Wolfpack, though hockey teams certainly were around before the Wolfpack's formation. Likewise, God is the ultimate author of the institution of marriage, while in a sense husband and wife are also authors of their individual marriage. From these principles flow forth all the principles of marriage, which we shall examine more in-depth.
Part I, Focus of Encyclical Outlined, Some General Considerations
"2. In order, however, that amongst men of every nation and every age the desired fruits may be obtained from this renewal of matrimony, it is necessary, first of all, that men's minds be illuminated with the true doctrine of Christ regarding it; and secondly, that Christian spouses, the weakness of their wills strengthened by the internal grace of God, shape all their ways of thinking and of acting in conformity with that pure law of Christ so as to obtain true peace and happiness for themselves and for their families. "
Pius XI starts out his treatment on marriage in the same tone as that of his predecessor of happy memory Leo XIII, by outlining the true doctrine regarding Christian Marriage, and then an exhortation to Christian spouses. Let us very briefly consider the latter.
As was stated in my previous commentary on Leo XIII's Arcanum, many wrongly get the idea(even those Catholics) that marriage is mainly a natural institution, that is, of this world. Yet marriage is of the divine sphere of things. Before the creation of the State, God had instituted marriage. If it predates the creation of the State, then the State has little power over it. This was best exemplified by Leo XIII's teaching in Rerum Novarum about man's right to private property.
Second, marriage is a sacrament. It is a means of grace to those who wed. It helps make them holy, since they are serving each other, and the way of servitude is one of the greatest ways to achieve holiness. In that servitude, one receives the grace of God, and one's actions, thoughts, and very life is dedicated to making their spouse a better person in the faith, an acceptable parent to their children, and ultimately a saint in heaven.
"3. Yet not only do We, looking with paternal eye on the universal world from this Apostolic See as from a watch-tower, but you, also, Venerable Brethren, see, and seeing deeply grieve with Us that a great number of men, forgetful of that divine work of redemption, either entirely ignore or shamelessly deny the great sanctity of Christian wedlock, or relying on the false principles of a new and utterly perverse morality, too often trample it under foot. And since these most pernicious errors and depraved morals have begun to spread even amongst the faithful and are gradually gaining ground, in Our office as Christ's Vicar upon earth and Supreme Shepherd and Teacher We consider it Our duty to raise Our voice to keep the flock committed to Our care from poisoned pastures and, as far as in Us lies, to preserve it from harm. "
There are many Catholics who state that "Political leaders in America need not take orders from Rome" attempting to create a division between their faith in the Church, and their faith in Action. The Holy See in this encyclical dismisses such thought, as it is clear that the Pope's sacred duty as Vicar of Christ is not just securing the eternal well being of his flock (Though this is most important), yet also that of securing their temporal well being, and since a healthy institution of marriage is necessary to a healthy society, The Pope is bound to defend it when it comes under attack.
"4. We have decided therefore to speak to you, Venerable Brethren, and through you to the whole Church of Christ and indeed to the whole human race, on the nature and dignity of Christian marriage, on the advantages and benefits which accrue from it to the family and to human society itself, on the errors contrary to this most important point of the Gospel teaching, on the vices opposed to conjugal union, and lastly on the principal remedies to be applied. In so doing We follow the footsteps of Our predecessor, Leo XIII, of happy memory, whose Encyclical Arcanum, published fifty years ago, We hereby confirm and make Our own, and while We wish to expound more fully certain points called for by the circumstances of our times, nevertheless We declare that, far from being obsolete, it retains its full force at the present day. "
Many people constantly decry history. Not even 50 years after the writing of the monumental work on Marriage, people were calling Leo XIII's teaching outdated an obsolete, and needed "updating." For the Culture of Death and those who enable her, there can be no absolutes, everything must be up for change, and rather frequent change at that, since nothing can stand in the revolution's way. Pius XI states that far from being obsolete, it is in force, and I am going to take it even further than my predecessor did, by expounding even more on the great mystery of man and woman becoming one.
"6. Yet although matrimony is of its very nature of divine institution, the human will, too, enters into it and performs a most noble part. For each individual marriage, inasmuch as it is a conjugal union of a particular man and woman, arises only from the free consent of each of the spouses; and this free act of the will, by which each party hands over and accepts those rights proper to the state of marriage, is so necessary to constitute true marriage that it cannot be supplied by any human power. This freedom, however, regards only the question whether the contracting parties really wish to enter upon matrimony or to marry this particular person; but the nature of matrimony is entirely independent of the free will of man, so that if one has once contracted matrimony he is thereby subject to its divinely made laws and its essential properties. For the Angelic Doctor, writing on conjugal honor and on the offspring which is the fruit of marriage, says: "These things are so contained in matrimony by the marriage pact itself that, if anything to the contrary were expressed in the consent which makes the marriage, it would not be a true marriage."
Let us first point out the definition of marriage. If we're going to be successful in talking about and defending marriage, we must first define it. Pius XI defines it as a conjugal union of a particular man and woman when they freely consent to each other. There are those who proclaim, for instance, with homosexual marriage, that we are denying them the right to marry. It must be pointed out nowhere are we stating that homosexuals are forbidden from marrying. Perhaps an analogy is in order.
I grew up playing hockey. In the Midwest, we are the hockey center of America. As captain, it was my final call on who could, and could not come along to the team. I had one requirement, they had to know how to play hockey. People would always laugh when I said that, because it sounded like such a stupid requirement, so obvious that it didn't need to be pointed out. Yet the team was an institution, so therefore in order to be a part of that organization, you had to meet certain requirements.
Likewise, for marriage, marriage is an institution, with it's requirements and responsibilities. The most important requirement is it must include a man and a woman, both freely consenting to each other. The homosexual is more than free to find one of the opposite sex to enter into the institution with. A team which plays basketball can not rightly be called a hockey team, likewise a union of two men or two women cannot rightly be called a marriage, for it lacks certain requirements.
Another point we must stress is that after that requirement has been met, it is not up to the liberty of man to change the requirements based on his free will. It is serving an institution when man and woman enter into marriage. That institution is overseen by God. Therefore, since man is a part of it, and he chooses to enter into it, he cannot change the institution once he is not happy with it.
"8. From this it is clear that legitimately constituted authority has the right and therefore the duty to restrict, to prevent, and to punish those base unions which are opposed to reason and to nature; but since it is a matter which flows from human nature itself, no less certain is the teaching of Our predecessor, Leo XIII of happy memory: "In choosing a state of life there is no doubt but that it is in the power and discretion of each one to prefer one or the other: either to embrace the counsel of virginity given by Jesus Christ, or to bind himself in the bonds of matrimony. To take away from man the natural and primeval right of marriage, to circumscribe in any way the principal ends of marriage laid down in the beginning by God Himself in the words 'Increase and multiply,' is beyond the power of any human law."
We must realize that all law is only effective and right when it conforms to the divine law. Hence, the State, for numerous advantageous reasons we shall outline in this commentary, must conform to the divine law in it's definition of marriage. Yet the State not only passes those laws, but also makes sure they are enforced. Hence, it is the right, and duty of the State to ensure the law regarding marriage is enforced. If marriage is the union of a man and a woman freely consenting, then it follows that if other institutions try to claim themselves as that of marriage, it is the obligation of the State to oppose such movements, as it shows not only a lack of respect for the divine law, but the authority which the State has itself. This is all the State can do in regards to marriage. Since marriage predates the State, it is powerless to change it's definition, and still retain the essence of marriage.
"9. Therefore the sacred partnership of true marriage is constituted both by the will of God and the will of man. From God comes the very institution of marriage, the ends for which it was instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that flow from it; while man, through generous surrender of his own person made to another for the whole span of life, becomes, with the help and cooperation of God, the author of each particular marriage, with the duties and blessings annexed thereto from divine institution. "
hearkening back to my hockey team analogy, there is the institution of a hockey team, and then the individual team in and of itself. I was the author of the Wolfpack, though hockey teams certainly were around before the Wolfpack's formation. Likewise, God is the ultimate author of the institution of marriage, while in a sense husband and wife are also authors of their individual marriage. From these principles flow forth all the principles of marriage, which we shall examine more in-depth.
Updates
I am going to begin my analysis of Pius XI's teaching on Christian Marriage, as I prepare an exploration into the Social Thought of Pius XI, the next relevant Pope on the Social Questions of Church teaching. I will follow the outline I followed during my analysis of Rerum Novarum, breaking it apart into certain sections.
I am going to begin my analysis of Pius XI's teaching on Christian Marriage, as I prepare an exploration into the Social Thought of Pius XI, the next relevant Pope on the Social Questions of Church teaching. I will follow the outline I followed during my analysis of Rerum Novarum, breaking it apart into certain sections.
