|
Objection 1: It would seem that spiritual relationship is not an
impediment to marriage. For nothing is an impediment to marriage save
what is contrary to a marriage good. Now spiritual relationship is not
contrary to a marriage good. Therefore it is not an impediment to
marriage.
Objection 2: Further, a perpetual impediment to marriage cannot
stand together with marriage. But spiritual relationship sometimes
stands together with marriage, as stated in the text (Sent. iv,
D, 42), as when a man in a case of necessity baptizes his own
child, for then he contracts a spiritual relationship with his wife,
and yet the marriage is not dissolved. Therefore spiritual
relationship is not an impediment to marriage.
Objection 3: Further, union of the spirit does not pass to the
flesh. But marriage is a union of the flesh. Therefore since
spiritual relationship is a union of the spirit, it cannot become an
impediment to marriage.
Objection 4: Further, contraries have not the same effects. Now
spiritual relationship is apparently contrary to disparity of worship,
since spiritual relationship is a kinship resulting from the giving of a
sacrament or the intention of so doing: whereas disparity of worship
consists in the lack of a sacrament, as stated above (Question 50,
Article 1). Since then disparity of worship is an impediment to
matrimony, it would seem that spiritual relationship has not this
effect.
On the contrary, The holier the bond, the more is it to be
safeguarded. Now a spiritual bond is holier than a bodily tie: and
since the tie of bodily kinship is an impediment to marriage, it
follows that spiritual relationship should also be an impediment.
Further, in marriage the union of souls ranks higher than union of
bodies, for it precedes it. Therefore with much more reason can a
spiritual relationship hinder marriage than bodily relationship does.
I answer that, Just as by carnal procreation man receives natural
being, so by the sacraments he receives the spiritual being of grace.
Wherefore just as the tie that is contracted by carnal procreation is
natural to man, inasmuch as he is a natural being, so the tie that is
contracted from the reception of the sacraments is after a fashion
natural to man, inasmuch as he is a member of the Church. Therefore
as carnal relationship hinders marriage, even so does spiritual
relationship by command of the Church. We must however draw a
distinction in reference to spiritual relationship, since either it
precedes or follows marriage. If it precedes, it hinders the
contracting of marriage and voids the contract. If it follows, it
does not dissolve the marriage bond: but we must draw a further
distinction in reference to the marriage act. For either the spiritual
relationship is contracted in a case of necessity, as when a father
baptizes his child who is at the point of death---and then it is not
an obstacle to the marriage act on either side---or it is contracted
without any necessity and through ignorance, in which case if the
person whose action has occasioned the relationship acted with due
caution, it is the same with him as in the former case---or it is
contracted purposely and without any necessity, and then the person
whose action has occasioned the relationship, loses the right to ask
for the debt; but is bound to pay if asked, because the fault of the
one party should not be prejudicial to the other.
Reply to Objection 1: Although spiritual relationship does not
hinder any of the chief marriage goods, it hinders one of the secondary
goods, namely the extension of friendship, because spiritual
relationship is by itself a sufficient reason for friendship: wherefore
intimacy and friendship with other persons need to be sought by means of
marriage.
Reply to Objection 2: Marriage is a lasting bond, wherefore no
supervening impediment can sever it. Hence it happens sometimes that
marriage and an impediment to marriage stand together, but not if the
impediment precedes.
Reply to Objection 3: In marriage there is not only a bodily but
also a spiritual union: and consequently kinship of spirit proves an
impediment thereto, without spiritual kinship having to pass into a
bodily relationship.
Reply to Objection 4: There is nothing unreasonable in two things
that are contrary to one another being contrary to the same thing, as
great and small are contrary to equal. Thus disparity of worship and
spiritual relationship are opposed to marriage, because in one the
distance is greater, and in the other less, than required by
marriage. Hence there is an impediment to marriage in either case.
|
|