30. For What Benefits Was Marriage Instituted?
All the blessings of the institution of marriage are included in these three, which are at the same time sources of obligations: children, conjugal fidelity, sacramental character.
This doctrine of Saint Augustine has been adopted by the Church. He says:
The blessing of conjugal fidelity regards the obligation on the part of the husband and wife to abstain from all sexual relations outside of wedlock; the blessing of children regards the duty on the part of the married couple to receive them with love, to look after their temporal wants with solicitude, and to educate them with religious care; the blessing of the sacrament regards the duty of the parties to live together and forbids the one who departs from the common life, whether it be he or she, from forming a new union, even for the sake of children.
31. Why Do You Call These Blessings, Since They Are Obligations, and on the Whole Rigorous Ones?
Because every duty which is imposed on us, since it is ordained by God who created us for happiness, has the aspect of a blessing to be enjoyed, and leads to happiness.
32. What Is the First Blessing for Which Marriage Was Instituted?
Marriage was instituted first of all for the due propagation of the human race.
33. Why Do You Say "the Due Propagation"?
Because propagation of any sort would satisfy neither the dignity of the parents, nor the education of the children, nor the interests of society.
34. Why Would Not Any Sort of Propagation Satisfy the Dignity of the Parents?
Because it might be the work solely of animal passion, whereas man's dignity requires in all his free actions intervention and even control by his superior or spiritual part.
35. Why Would it Not Satisfy the Education of the Children?
Because it might leave paternity uncertain, it might be the fruit of transient unions, and it would then afford for the education of the children neither the security nor the continuity nor the unity which are needed.
36. Why Would Not Any Sort of Propagation Satisfy the Interests of Society?
Because the citizen is no better than the man of whom he is made; and a promiscuous propagation of mankind, by compromising the right formation of men, would expose society to the risk of being in want of that which it needs most, virtuous citizens who are devoted to their country.
37. How Does True Marriage Provide for the Proper Multiplication of Human Kind?
First, by requiring in advance of the corporal union a sincere affection uniting the souls; secondly, by providing for education by means of the stability of the union; finally, by creating through the fusion of two persons a common principle of vigilance, tenderness and care, by which the children benefit from the qualities of both sexes harmoniously combined. "Man and woman together constitute the principle which is destined to transmit and develop human life."
38. Does Not the Premature Death of One of the Parties Compromise This Result?
Such a death is an accidental misfortune. Sad though it be, it does not entirely destroy the unity in duality which was realized in the marriage. The surviving spouse is guided in his life and in his task of education by the remembrance of the lessons and counsels of the departed one, and by all that the deceased has left him. He knows the counsels and wishes of the deceased partner, and tries to conform to them; and thus the education of a legitimate child is never the work of one parent alone.
39. Prove That the Proper Propagation of Mankind Is the First End of Marriage.
The Creator of the human race Himself [says the Encyclical] who in His goodness wished to use men as His helpers in the propagation of life, taught this when, instituting marriage in Paradise, Be said to our first parents, and through them to all future spouses, "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth," as Saint Augustine 18 admirably deduces from the words of the holy Apostle Saint Paul to Timothy when he says, "The Apostle himself is therefore a witness that marriage is for the sake of generation: 7 wish,' he says, 'young girls to marry.' And, as if some one said to him, ‘Why?' he immediately adds, 'to beget children, to be mothers of families.'"
We prove it from the fact that the faculty of reproduction brings together intimately persons of different sexes; also because apart from this power of reproduction the institution of marriage would be inconceivable; because the right use of that power is a safeguard of the other blessings of marriage; and because the right propagation of mankind closely concerns the good of society as a whole.
40. Are Children a Blessing for the Parents?
Yes, a great blessing. In the first place, what an honor it is for man to be associated with the creative work of God, to bring forth a king of visible creation, to prepare one of the elect for Heaven, to furnish to the Church a son, in whom, once he will have been regenerated by baptism, Jesus Christ will dwell! What happiness to survive, as it were, one's Self in the persons of dear ones who love you, and thus obtain even on earth a kind of perpetual memory! Be¬ sides, the child cements the union of the parents; in the little quarrels which are almost inevitable he is the conciliating element; because he requires good example he is an educative factor, and makes the work of mutual upbuilding easier for the parents.
The sacrifices he demands are compensated for by satisfactions of a higher order; the cares he requires make him the more beloved.
The human mind is unable to imagine or to taste this dignity, or to appreciate that feeling of pride m being the father or the mother of a child of men and a child of God. Even then they will not appreciate it when they see the look in the eyes of their child in whom shines the immortal soul; or when afterward they reflect that that soul is the breath of God, that the Son of God died for that child, that enriched as he is with the gift of sanctifying grace, he is more like a God than a man, that he is destined to live forever; and when, thereupon, they exclaim: "This is my child! He owes his existence to me! Without me he would not be there, and would never come to be!"
If a true Christian mother weighs well these things, she will indeed understand with a sense of deep consolation that of her the words of Our Savior were spoken: "A woman ... when she hath brought forth the child remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world": and proving herself superior to all the pains and cares and solicitudes of her maternal office with a more just and holy joy than that of the Roman matron, the mother of the Gracchi, she will rejoice in the Lord, crowned as it were with the glory of her offspring. Both husband and wife, however, receiving these children with joy and gratitude from the hand of God, will regard them as a talent committed to their charge by God, not only to be employed for their own advantage or for that of an earthly commonwealth, but to be restored to God with interest on the day of reckoning.
"Such," says Saint Augustine whom the Encyclical cites, "is the law of marriage, which sets off the glory of fecundity while it puts a brake to the shameful disorder of incontinence."
41. Is the Work of the Parents Finished at the Birth of the Child?
Not at all; it's completed only by the right education of the child. In giving them this little being who is entirely incapable of providing for himself, nature, in a general way, designates the parents as those who must provide for him: physically, by the mother's milk and the means of subsistence; morally, by the education of the mind and heart which begins immediately and lasts continuously, thanks to the constant influence which the common life exerts on those who share it. The parents have an inviolable right to fulfill this mission of education with which nature has entrusted them, and in view of which they have been instilled with a love which nothing can replace.
42. What Corollary Follows from the Function of Generation and Education Which Belongs to the Parents?
Since this two-fold duty entrusted to the parents for the good of their children is of such high dignity and of such great importance, every use of the faculty given by God for the procreation of new life is the right and the privilege of the marriage state alone, by the law of God and of nature, and must be confined absolutely within the sacred limits of that state.
Certainly, outside of marriage, education is deprived of the double guaranty which a lawful union provides: the guaranty of its duration by the perpetual bond which attaches the parents to each other; the guaranty of prudence by the intimacy which gives to education the resource of a common principle rich with the complementary qualities of both sexes.
43. What Does Conjugal Faith or Fidelity Imply?
Conjugal fidelity includes the loyal fulfillment of all the obligations involved in the matrimonial contract: the principal obligations imposed by the Divine natural law, as well as secondary stipulations freely agreed upon by the parties.
44. What Obligations Are Imposed by the Divine Natural Law?
The Divine natural law imposes both negative and positive duties.
45. What Are the Negative Duties?
The negative duties oblige one to refuse to any person but the lawful partner the intercourse which is permitted in wedlock,«and consequently to exclude voluntary thoughts and desires for other persons; also to refuse even,to the lawful partner whatever is forbidden in wedlock itself.
46. What Is Meant by This Last Prohibition?
It is to be understood in the sense in which approved authorities explain it in treatises of moral theology. Even Saint Augustine distinguished between such a use of marriage as a high spiritual point of view rendered altogether virtuous; a use which is less to be commended, considering its motive, but permissible especially to the party who condescends to the weakness of the other; and finally such a use as is gravely sinful, or in the very manner of its exercise strictly abusive, which admits of no formal cooperation, although material cooperation may in certain cases be allowed.
47. Does the Text of the Encyclical Modify the Answers Formerly Approved in the Catholic Church?
Not in the least. It is simply a question of understanding them rightly and applying them prudently.
48. When the Two Parties Agree How Can the Abuses of Marriage be Contrary to Conjugal Fidelity?
Because the marriage contract is not of a purely private nature; it has from God its laws which are unchangeable by the parties to the marriage. Thus the Holy See condemned the assertion that the consent of the other party could reduce the guilt of adultery to that of simple fornication.
Moreover, these laws of God sanction an order of mutual relations which is for the good of the parties. The partner who violates that order does an injury to the other party, which is manifestly contrary to conjugal fidelity, since that demands mutual helpfulness.
49. If Carnal Relations With Other Persons Are Forbidden, Then All Polygamy or Polyandry Is Unlawful Even for Unbaptized Persons?
Exactly so. As was said above, Catholic tradition so interprets the words which Our Lord quotes with confirming approval from Adam: "They shall be two [not more than two] in one flesh."
50. Does Not This Severity Secure to Marriage a Peculiar Beauty?
Yes; thanks to this severity the relations between husband and wife bear the fresh and delicious imprint of chastity.
That mutual familiar intercourse between the spouses themselves, if the blessing of conjugal faith is to shine with becoming splendor, must be distinguished by chastity in such wise that husband and wife must bear themselves in all things in conformity with the law of God and of nature, and endeavor always to follow the will of their most wise and holy Creator with the greatest reverence towards the work of God.
51. What Are the Positive Duties of Conjugal Fidelity?
The great positive duty is that of mutual love inspired by charity. The marriage bond sets up between the spouses an intimacy which no other surpasses or even equals; the marriage would never have been entered upon without the mutual affection which was necessary for the parties to give themselves to each other.
Conjugal love has in Christian marriage a sort of noble primacy. For matrimonial faith demands that husband and wife be joined in an especially holy and pure love, not as adulterers love each other, but as Christ loved the Church. This precept the Apostle laid down when he said: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church," which of a truth He embraced with a boundless love, not for the sake of His own advantage, but seeking only the good of His spouse.
52. What Should be the Marks of This Charity?
Charity is a love which is forgetful of self: "Charity seeketh not her own." (I Corinthians 13:5) It is a love which is not content with words: "Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth." (I John 3:18) It is a love which has its source in God, ends in Him, and tends to lead to Him those that He loves.
Charity should, therefore, manifest itself by mutual benevolence, readiness to help in every necessity or difficulty; also by activity of mutual upbuilding, and reciprocal influence for good according to the qualities allotted to each party, an office which is called in Christian tradition the work of edification according to the Gospel.
53. Does Not This Charity Exclude Inequality of Rank Among the Two Partners?
It excludes any abasement of one of the spouses, any degrading subjection or servitude; but, far from excluding all subordination, it rather requires it for the sake of order and harmony; only it must see to it that this subordination is suave and gentle.
54. How Do You Prove That it Is the Husband, and Not Necessarily the More Capable of the Two, Who Should Be Supreme?
Because if nature had not established a hierarchical order domestic society would begin with anarchy, and authority which did not rest on a natural title would make submission more painful and less welcome. Nature herself designates the husband a3 the superior by giving him strength of body and a fatherhood which does not interfere with his duties in the maintenance and government of the family. Besides having a natural ability which is usually greater, the man has by nature a taste for government and leadership; whereas the woman, physically less robust, naturally leans upon him, and is besides normally impeded by the inconvenient consequences of motherhood. By supernatural revelation, the Apostle derives this hierarchy from the mysterious origin of woman: "For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man." (I Corinthians 11:8)
55. Is This Subordination Absolute?
Not at all. It is limited to the exterior acts of family life which may be reasonably demanded. The wife keeps the independence of a human person; she remains free in her personal conduct, in her practices of piety, in her goings and comings, with due consideration for the conjugal pact and the order of the house and family; she preserves the right to demand of the husband whatever her quality as wife and mother entitles her to, for she, too, has charge of the education of the children. Finally, as the husband and wife were equal in giving themselves each to the other, so they remain equal in regard to the right which flows from this mutual self-surrender. Besides, the subordination of the wife admits of a certain variation according to circumstances of time, place, and persons. Incapacity on the part of the husband confers upon the wife by a natural devolution the right to replace him in the government of the house. State laws, and the ante-nuptial agreement, if any, may modify the property rights of the wife. There will, therefore, be, even as a regular thing, cases of independence and cases of equality; besides there are exceptional cases.
56. Will This Regime of Inequality Last Forever?
It may be somewhat diminished or intensified; but, since it is founded in the natural order it can never be entirely abolished nor go beyond certain limits. It is intended to last as long as the family itself.
57. Does All the Primacy in This Regime Belong to the Man?
The Encyclical reminds us that if the husband is the head of the family, the wife is the heart. As the former has the primacy of government, the latter may and should claim for herself the primacy of love. As Leo XIII observes in the Encyclical "Arcanum": "Divine charity should never cease to be the norm of their respective rights."
58. What Other Definition of Marriage Results from the Fact of This Common Life Whose Intimacy and Whose Duties We Have Explained?
Marriage may also be defined as a "total community of life."
59. Is This Community of Life Something Over and Above the Mutual Gift of Themselves Which the Spouses Have Made to Each Other With a View to the Procreation and Education of Children?
Certainly not, since it began and sprang from that mutual giving of self, and at the same time is its crown and glory.
60. Why Does the Encyclical Designate the Mutual Formation of the Spouses, Their Efforts to Perfect Each Other, as One of the Primary Causes and Reasons for Marriage?
First, because the spouses can in their union make this their chief purpose.
Secondly, because the community of life between the spouses-our second definition of marriage - is providentially directed by God to this last end, which, being the supreme end of man, occupies the first place in the Divine Will.
61. Can This Supreme End Ever Justify Relations Between the Spouses Which Are Artificially Prevented from Resulting in Children, for Example Where Motherhood Would be Fatal to the Woman, or Would Supply None but Blighted Members to Society?
Absolutely not, because such relations are intrinsically vicious, wrong, and the circumstances mentioned, being merely accidental and extrinsic, cannot alter this. Besides, such a moral disorder could never conduce to perfection nor even serve the purposes of true love, for true love is partly founded on mutual resp^t, which moral disorder must necessarily weaken. This truth is confirmed by the experience of anthropologists and public officials. Improper relations break up homes.
62. What Does the Word "Sacrament" Mean, as Designating the Third Blessing of Marriage?
It means two things: indissolubility of the conjugal bond and the elevation of marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament of the New Law.
63. How Can This Word Mean Indissolubility?
Because in classical Latin usage, sacramentum is used to designate an obligatory bond, a consecration, a binding promise.
64. Is Every Marriage Indissoluble?
Yes, every validly contracted marriage is indissoluble, as far as the parties are concerned, and even as far as any human power is concerned.
That is the teaching of the Church, based on these words of Our Lord: "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." (Matthew 19:6)
65. Why Do You Say "As Far As Any Human Power Is Concerned"?
Because God, the Author of order and of the law, can in His wisdom, for the sake of a higher good, make exceptions.
66. What Exceptions Has He Made?
He has made none for marriage contracted between two Christians or baptized persons, which was afterward consummated by the use of the rights of wedlock. But He has given to the Sovereign Pontiff the power to dissolve, for grave reasons, marriage which has not been consummated. The tradition and practice of the Church make this power certain.
Moreover, we know through Saint Paul that a marriage which has been contracted between two unbaptized persons, may, after the baptism of one of them, be dissolved in favor of the Faith. If the spouse who has not been baptized refuses to cohabit with the party who has been converted to Christianity, under conditions which are acceptable to the latter, the Christian party can marry a Catholic, and from the time of this new marriage the former marriage is dissolved, and the unbaptized party is also free from the bond.
Lastly, according to an opinion which is enjoying more and more credit, a marriage which has been consummated while it was not a Sacrament, can, like a Christian marriage which has never been consummated, be dissolved by the Sovereign Pontiff for grave reasons.
67. Did Not Moses Authorize the Putting Away of the Wife?
Yes, but as we saw in number 15, Christ revoked this indulgence, which, as He said, had been accorded to the Jewish people because of the hardness of their heart.
68. How Do You Explain the Absolute Indissolubility of Christian Marriage Which Has Been Consummated? In Other Words, How Does Even Such a Marriace Come to be Beyond the Power of the Sovereign Pontiff?
The ultimate reason for this inflexibility may be found in the mystical signification of Christian marriage. According to Saint Paul (Ephesians 5:32), marriage between Christians reproduces the perfect union which exists forever between Christ and His Church. Now this reproduction is achieved in its perfection in marriage between baptized persons, which has been consummated. Common sense teaches us that by the use of the conjugal right marriage receives a sort of completion; something irreparable has taken place; the affective and verbal self-surrender has been supplemented by an actual physical one which justifies the expression, very significant in itself, of "consummated marriage." It is consummated, we may say, in the physical order, and it is also consummated in the symbolical and mystical order, in which it represents the indefectible union between Christ and His Church. In a perfect representation of this union, the indefectibility of the union must have its own symbol; and it has it in the absolutely indissoluble marriage.
Such is the reasonable explanation which we offer, as the Sovereign Pontiff says, with respect, as a help to grasp the meaning of that indissolubility which we know with certainty from the teaching of the Church.
69. Does Not Such an Indissolubility Bind the Parties by Too Heavy a Chain?
On the contrary this indissolubility is a great blessing for the institution of marriage. By removing the fear of a breach, it makes way for that full intimacy which is the joy of the home; it secures to each of the partners the peaceful possession of the other through good times and bad times; it prevents disagreements from growing into bitterness; it is a bulwark against temptations by making dreams of criminal indulgence impossible of realization; it is an assurance to the spouses that through charms that pass away and temporal goods that disappoint the heart, their union is designed to lead them to that higher end which is attained only in the next life.
To the children, this indissolubility is a pledge of care and right education. It is often hard enough for children who have lost father or mother, to see a person who has been an utter stranger to them lawfully take the place of the parent whose loss they feel.
Moral rectitude in the family, of which indissolubility is one of the safeguards, is as beneficial to society as it is to the individuals who practice it. No doubt some marriages are unhappy, often through the fault or imprudence of those who suffer from them. But is that a reason for disturbing the right order of all marriages, for compromising and lessening the happiness of every conjugal union, and so multiplying those very misfortunes which it is thought to remedy?
70. Is it Quite Certain That Marriage Is Also a True Sacrament of the New Law, Just as Much as Confirmation, Extreme Unction, and Orders?
Yes, this was defined by the Council of Trent in the XXIV Session in which the Council laid down the doctrine of marriage. In canon 1, the Council pronounced an anathema against any one who should say that matrimony is not truly and properly one of the seven Sacrament of the New Law instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
71. Is Every Marriage a Sacrament?
No, only the marriage of Christians, that is of persons who are validly baptized, is a Sacrament.
72. When You Say "the Marriage of Christians," Do You Mean a Marriage Between Two Baptized Persons, or Do You Also Include a Marriage Between One Person Who Is Baptized and Another Who Is Not Baptized?
We mean a marriage contracted between two persons who are baptized. According to an opinion which has become morally certain, the marriage of a baptized person with an unbaptized person, even with the dispensation of the Church, is not a Sacrament. The reason is that in such a case the Sacrament, existing in only one of the parties, would be, as it were, lame; and because to represent the union between Christ and the Church, the matrimonial union itself must be representative, which it cannot be if it exists in only one of the parties.
73. Would, Then, a Marriage Contracted Between Two Protestants or Two Schismatics, be Also a Sacrament?
It would, provided both were validly baptized.
74. What Exactly Do You Mean By a Sacrament of the New Law?
It is a sensible sign, instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, to produce the grace which it signifies. Essentially therefore, there are in every Sacrament an exterior sensible sign, and a grace signified, which is also produced by the application of the sign.
75. What Is the Sensible Sign in Matrimony?
Our Lord established as the sensible sign the exchange of consent by which the spouses give themselves to each other for the conjugal life.
76. What Is the Grace Which Is Signified?
It is the grace which is needed for a union worthy of Christians; hence one that is sufficient for the exercise of all the rights, for the accomplishment of all the duties, for the shouldering of all the burdens, for the innocent enjoyment of all the benefits which such a union implies.
This grace, called sacramental grace, includes first sanctifying grace, or rather, since matrimony is a Sacrament of the living, normally an increase of sanctifying grace; and also all the actual helps which are absolutely needed or useful in conjugal life; in a word, all the graces which are proper to that state of life.
This Sacrament not only increases sanctifying grace, the permanent principle of the supernatural life, in those who, as the expression is, place no obstacle (obex) in its way, but also adds particular gifts, dispositions, seeds of grace, by elevating and perfecting the natural powers in such a way that the parties are assisted not only in understanding but in knowing intimately, in adhering to firmly, in willing effectively, and in successfully putting into practice those things which pertain to the marriage state, its aims and duties. In fine, it gives them the right to the actual assistance of grace, whensoever they need it for fulfilling the duties of their state.
The Encyclical, therefore, distinguishes between a group of actual helps, which it calls particular gifts, good inclinations, seeds of grace (sanctifying grace is meant) - synonymous expressions, all these-whose immediate purpose is to reinforce supernaturally, that is to elevate, the natural powers; and a group of aids which are to go into operation only at the prayer of the parties to the marriage. The Encyclical thus attributes a peculiar efficacy to the prayer of the parties to obtain what is necessary or useful to them in every situation in which they may find themselves. In fact, according to the teaching of Saint Augustine, God does give certain graces directly, whereas for other graces He waits for our cooperation with the grace of prayer which He always gives.
77. How Does the Consent of the Parties Signify the Sacramental Grace of Matrimony?
An opinion which has some authority, but which is not obligatory extends to all the Sacraments what we must hold as certain in the case of the three Sacraments that imprint a character on the soul: Baptism, Confirmation, and Orders.
This character is a real supernatural quality which is immediately signified by the exterior sign, and which itself in turn immediately signifies the sacramental grace to which it confers a title. Thus through Baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity man receives the character of a Christian; by Confirmation he receives the mark of a soldier of Christ; by Orders, that of a. minister of sacred offices. The Christian needs the sacramental grace of a Christian life; the soldier needs the grace of supernatural weapons required or useful in battles; the sacred minister needs the gifts which are necessary for the fulfillment of his sacred mission. Now whereas it is only in these three Sacraments that we have to acknowledge the physical reality of a character, yet the analogy of the Sacraments and the natural proximate meaning of the exterior sign lead us to recognize the immediate title or sign for receiving grace as inhering in a reality of the moral order, which is directly or immediately signified by the exterior sign.
Let us apply this to marriage. What does the consent of the parties signify? What does it immediately produce? A permanent bond. But this permanent bond involves the conjugal life, with all its rights and duties, its fecundity, its vicissitudes; it, moreover, requires the graces of that state of life. Consequently the meaning of the grace of matrimony clearly appears in this bond, which is thus found to be signified by the consent, and at the same time significative of the sacramental grace.
The need of this supernatural grace, and the right to it, appear still more evident when we learn from the Apostle that Christians must represent or symbolize the union of Christ and His Church.
78. What Follows From the Fact That Mutual Consent Is the Exterior Sacramental Sign in Marriage?
First, it follows that the spouses themselves are the ministers of the Sacrament. In the beautiful language of the Encyclical "they open up for themselves a treasure of sacramental graces." The priest is there as a qualified witness, like a notary whose presence is required for certain contracts although he himself is not a party to them. The blessing of the priest is an accidental complementary rite. It calls down blessings on a marriage which is already contracted, on a Sacrament which is already received.
Secondly, it follows that two baptized persons cannot contract a valid marriage without that marriage being a Sacrament. They may be ignorant of the doctrine of the Church regarding marriage; they may not even know that they are baptized: they will, nevertheless, confer upon themselves and receive the Sacrament, even though they do not know it. Alas, if they have become irreligious it may be that they do not want the Sacrament; it may be that they reject this -honor and grace. If their refusal is absolute, if it is not virtually retracted by the preponderant intention of being united in marriage, then their consent will be inoperative; they will be husband and wife only in appearance, whereas in reality they will be companions in concubinage.
79. What Consoling but Crave Consequence Results From This Truth, That Grace Flows From the Conjugal Bond as From its Immediate Source?
This consequence, that the partners, even though their dispositions were at first bad, can, if their hearts are changed by true conversion, count on the sacramental graces of matrimony. On the other hand, if they go on to the end in their evil way, this bond which was intended to make them holy, will, like every grace which is guiltily rejected, aggravate their guilt and condemnation.
Let us hear on this point the consoling but admonitory teaching of the Encyclical:
The Faithful, once joined by marriage ties, can never be deprived of the help and the binding force of the Sacrament. Indeed, as the holy doctot [Saint Augustine] adds, even those who commit adultery carry with them the sacred yoke, although in this case not as a title to the glory of grace but for the ignominy of their guilty action, "as the soul by apostasy, withdrawing as it were from marriage with Christ, even though it may have lost its faith, does not lose the Sacrament of Faith which it received with the laver of regeneration."
- text taken from What Is Marriage? - A Catechism Arranged According to the Encyclical "Casti Connubii" of Pope Pius XI, by A. Vermeersch, S.J.; it has the Imprimatur of Cardinal Patrick Hayes, Archbishop of New York, 10 December 1931; for all the sections of this catechism, see the table of contents; the book and the encyclical are available for download in a free ebook