Bonaventure

The numbered footnotes below correspond to markers in both the Latin body above and the English translation. Quaracchi restarts footnote numbering on each printed page; here p.659's four notae ad librum Sententiarum and p.660's four are renumbered continuously 1–8.

DISTINCTIO XXVI.

Cap. I. De Sacramento coniugii.

«Cum alia Sacramenta post peccatum et propter peccatum exordium sumserint, matrimonii Sacramentum etiam ante peccatum legitur institutum a Domino, non tamen ad remedium, sed ad officium¹». Refert enim Scriptura Genesis, in Adam misso sopore, atque una de costis eius sumta, et exinde muliere formata, virum in spiritu intelligentem, ad quem usum mulier facta esset, post ecstasim prophetice dixisse: Hoc nunc os ex ossibus meis et caro de carne mea; propter hoc relinquet homo patrem et matrem et adhaerebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carne una.

Cap. II. De institutione eius et causa.

Coniugii autem institutio duplex est: una ante peccatum ad officium facta est in paradiso, ubi esset torus immaculatus et nuptiae honorabiles²; ex quibus sine ardore conciperent, sine dolore parerent; altera post peccatum ad remedium facta extra paradisum, propter illicitum motum devitandum; prima, ut natura multiplicaretur; secunda, ut natura exciperetur, et vitium cohiberetur. Nam et ante peccatum dixit Deus: Crescite et multiplicamini; et post peccatum, omnibus pene hominibus per diluvium consumtis. Quod vero ante peccatum institutum fuerit coniugium ad officium, post peccatum vero ad remedium concessum, Augustinus³ testatur dicens: «Quod sanis esset ad officium aegrotis est ad remedium». Infirmitas enim incontinentiae, quae est in carne per peccatum mortua, ne cadat in ruinam flagitiorum, excipitur honestate nuptiarum. Si non peccassent primi homines, sine carnis incentivo ac fervore libidinis ipsi ac successores eorum convenirent; et sicut remunerabile est aliquod bonum opus, sic coitus eorum bonus esset et remunerabilis. Quia vero propter peccatum letalis concupiscentiae lex membris nostris inhaesit, sine qua carnalis non fit commixtio, reprehensibilis est et malus coitus, nisi excusetur per bona coniugii.

Cap. III. Unde secundum praeceptum et secundum indulgentiam contractum sit coniugium.

Prima institutio habuit praeceptum, secunda indulgentiam. Didicimus enim ab Apostolo⁴, humano generi propter vitandam fornicationem indultum esse coniugium. Indulgentia vero, quia meliora non eligit, remedium habet, non praemium; a qua si quis declinaverit, meretur exitiale iudicium.

Quod secundum indulgentiam conceditur voluntarium est, non necessarium; alioquin transgressor esset qui illud non faceret. Et potest sane intelligi, illud sub praecepto dictum hominibus primis ante peccatum Crescite et multiplicamini; quo etiam post peccatum tenebantur, usquequo est facta multiplicatio, postquam secundum indulgentiam matrimonii contractus fuit. Ita etiam post diluvium, quo universum pene humanum genus deletum est, secundum praeceptum dictum est filiis Noe: Crescite et multiplicamini; multiplicato vero homine secundum indulgentiam contractum est, non secundum imperium.

Cap. IV. Quibus modis accipitur indulgentia.

Indulgentia autem diversis modis accipitur, scilicet pro concessione, pro remissione, pro permissione. Et est permissio in novo testamento de minoribus bonis et de minoribus malis; de minoribus bonis est coniugium, quod non meretur palmam, sed est in remedium; de minoribus malis, id est de venialibus, est coitus, qui fit causa incontinentiae. Illud, id est coniugium, indulgetur, id est conceditur; illud vero, id est coitus talis, permittitur, id est toleratur, ita quod non prohibetur.

Cap. V. Quod nuptiae bonae sint.

Fuerunt autem nonnulli haeretici nuptias detestantes, qui Tatiani⁵ appellati sunt. «Hi nuptias omnino damnant ac pares fornicationibus aliisque corruptionibus faciunt, nec recipiunt in suorum numero coniugio utentem marem vel feminam». «Quod autem res bona sit coniugium, non modo ex eo probatur, quod Dominus legitur coniugium instituisse inter primos parentes, sed etiam quod in Cana Galilaeae nuptiis interfuit Christus easque miraculo commendavit, aqua in vinum conversa; qui etiam postea virum uxorem dimittere prohibuit nisi causa fornicationis. Apostolus etiam ait: Virgo non peccat, si nubat. Constat igitur, rem bonam esse matrimonium»; alioquin non esset Sacramentum; Sacramentum enim sacrum signum est.

Cap. VI. Cuius rei Sacramentum sit coniugium.

Cum igitur coniugium Sacramentum sit, et sacrum signum est et sacrae rei, scilicet coniunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae, sicut ait Apostolus⁶: Scriptum est, inquit: Relinquet homo patrem et matrem et adhaerebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carne una. Sacramentum hoc magnum est; ego autem dico in Christo et in Ecclesia. Ut enim inter coniuges coniunctio est secundum consensum animorum et secundum permixtionem corporum, sic Ecclesia Christo copulatur voluntate et natura, quia idem vult cum eo, et ipse formam assumsit de natura hominis. Copulata est igitur sponsa sponso spiritualiter et corporaliter, id est caritate ac naturae conformitate. Huius utriusque copulae figura est in coniugio; consensus enim coniugum copulam spiritualem Christi et Ecclesiae, quae fit per caritatem, significat; commixtio vero sexuum illam significat, quae fit per naturae conformitatem.

Inde est quod quidam doctorum dixerunt, illam mulierem non pertinere ad matrimonium, quae non experitur carnalem copulam. Ait enim Augustinus⁷: «Non dubium est, illam mulierem non pertinere ad matrimonium, cum qua docetur non fuisse commixtio sexus». Item Leo Papa: «Cum societas nuptiarum ita a principio sit instituta, ut praeter commixtionem sexuum non habeat in se Christi et Ecclesiae Sacramentum; non dubium est, illam mulierem non pertinere ad matrimonium, in qua docetur non fuisse nuptiale mysterium». Item Augustinus: «Non est perfectum coniugium sine commixtione sexuum». — Hoc si secundum superficiem verborum quis acceperit, inducitur in errorem tantum, ut dicat, sine carnali copula non posse contrahi matrimonium, et inter Mariam et Ioseph non fuisse coniugium, vel non fuisse perfectum; quod nefas est sentire. Tanto enim sanctius fuit atque perfectius, quanto a carnali opere immunius. Sed superius posita ea ratione dicta intelligendum est, non quin pertineat mulier illa ad matrimonium, cum qua non est permixtio sexuum; sed non pertinet ad matrimonium, quod expressam et plenam teneat figuram coniunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae. Figurat enim illam unionem Christi et Ecclesiae, quae est in caritate, sed non illam, quae est in naturae conformitate. Est ergo et in illo matrimonio typus coniunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae, sed illius tantum, qua Ecclesia Christo caritate unitur, non illius, qua per susceptionem carnis capiti membra uniuntur; nec ideo tamen minus sanctum est coniugium, quia, ut ait Augustinus⁸, «in nuptiis plus valet sanctitas Sacramenti quam fecunditas ventris». Est etiam coniugium signum spiritualis coniunctionis et dilectionis animorum, qua inter se coniuges uniri debent. Unde Apostolus ait: Viri, diligite uxores vestras, ut corpora vestra.

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Cap. I. On the Sacrament of marriage.

«Although the other Sacraments took their beginning after sin and on account of sin, the Sacrament of matrimony is read to have been instituted by the Lord even before sin, yet not for a remedy, but for a duty¹.» For Scripture relates in Genesis that, when a sleep had been sent upon Adam and one of his ribs had been taken, and thereupon a woman had been formed, the man—understanding in spirit, for which use the woman had been made—after his ecstasy said prophetically: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; on account of this a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.

Cap. II. On its institution and cause.

Now the institution of marriage is twofold: one, before sin, was made for a duty in paradise, where there was to be an undefiled bed and honorable nuptials²; by which they would conceive without ardor and bear without pain; the other, after sin, was made for a remedy outside paradise, for the avoiding of illicit movement; the first, that nature might be multiplied; the second, that nature might be sustained and vice restrained. For even before sin God said: Increase and multiply; and after sin, when almost all men had been consumed by the flood. But that before sin marriage was instituted for a duty, and after sin granted for a remedy, Augustine³ testifies, saying: «What to the healthy would be for a duty is to the sick for a remedy.» For the infirmity of incontinence, which is in the flesh dead through sin, lest it fall into the ruin of disgraceful deeds, is taken up under the honorableness of nuptials. If the first human beings had not sinned, without the incitement of the flesh and the fervor of lust they and their successors would come together; and just as some good work is meritorious, so their intercourse would be good and meritorious. But because on account of sin the law of deadly concupiscence has clung to our members—without which carnal union does not take place—intercourse is reprehensible and evil, unless it be excused through the goods of marriage.

Cap. III. Whence marriage is contracted according to precept and according to indulgence.

The first institution had a precept, the second an indulgence. For we have learned from the Apostle⁴ that marriage was granted to the human race for the avoiding of fornication. But indulgence, because it does not choose the better things, has a remedy, not a reward; and if anyone turns away from it, he merits deadly judgment.

What is granted according to indulgence is voluntary, not necessary; otherwise he who did not do it would be a transgressor. And it can indeed be understood that that word was said under a precept to the first human beings before sin: Increase and multiply; by which also after sin they were bound, until multiplication was accomplished, after which marriage was contracted according to indulgence. So too after the flood, by which almost the whole human race was destroyed, it was said according to precept to the sons of Noah: Increase and multiply; but once mankind had been multiplied it was contracted according to indulgence, not according to command.

Cap. IV. In what ways indulgence is understood.

Now indulgence is understood in various ways, namely for concession, for remission, for permission. And there is permission in the New Testament concerning lesser goods and lesser evils; concerning lesser goods there is marriage, which does not merit the palm, but is for a remedy; concerning lesser evils, that is venial ones, there is intercourse, which takes place by reason of incontinence. The former, that is marriage, is indulged, that is conceded; but the latter, that is such intercourse, is permitted, that is tolerated, in such a way that it is not prohibited.

Cap. V. That nuptials are good.

Now there were certain heretics who detested nuptials, who were called Tatians⁵. «These utterly condemn nuptials and make them equal to fornications and other corruptions, and do not receive into the number of their own a man or woman who uses marriage.» «But that marriage is a good thing is proved not only from the fact that the Lord is read to have instituted marriage among the first parents, but also because Christ was present at the nuptials in Cana of Galilee and commended them by a miracle, when water was turned into wine; who also afterward forbade a man to dismiss his wife except by reason of fornication. The Apostle too says: A virgin does not sin, if she marries. It is established, therefore, that matrimony is a good thing»; otherwise it would not be a Sacrament; for a Sacrament is a sacred sign.

Cap. VI. Of what thing marriage is the Sacrament.

Since, therefore, marriage is a Sacrament, it is also a sacred sign of a sacred thing, namely of the conjunction of Christ and the Church, as the Apostle⁶ says: It is written, he says: A man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great Sacrament; but I say, in Christ and in the Church. For as between spouses there is a conjunction according to the consent of minds and according to the mingling of bodies, so the Church is joined to Christ by will and by nature, because she wills the same as he, and he himself assumed a form from the nature of man. The bride, therefore, has been joined to the bridegroom spiritually and corporeally, that is, by charity and by conformity of nature. Of each of these joinings there is a figure in marriage; for the consent of spouses signifies the spiritual joining of Christ and the Church, which comes about through charity; but the mingling of the sexes signifies that which comes about through conformity of nature.

Hence it is that certain of the doctors have said that that woman does not pertain to matrimony who does not experience carnal union. For Augustine⁷ says: «There is no doubt that that woman does not pertain to matrimony with whom it is shown that there was no mingling of sex.» Likewise Pope Leo: «Since the fellowship of nuptials was so instituted from the beginning that, apart from the mingling of the sexes, it does not have in itself the Sacrament of Christ and the Church; there is no doubt that that woman does not pertain to matrimony in whom it is shown that there was no nuptial mystery.» Likewise Augustine: «Marriage is not perfect without the mingling of the sexes.» — If one takes this according to the surface of the words, he is led into so great an error as to say that without carnal union matrimony cannot be contracted, and that between Mary and Joseph there was no marriage, or that it was not perfect; which it is impious to think. For it was so much the holier and more perfect, the more free it was from carnal work. But it must be understood, from the reasoning set down above, not that that woman does not pertain to matrimony with whom there is no mingling of the sexes; but rather that she does not pertain to matrimony which would hold the express and full figure of the conjunction of Christ and the Church. For it figures that union of Christ and the Church which is in charity, but not that which is in conformity of nature. There is therefore in that marriage also a type of the conjunction of Christ and the Church, but only of that by which the Church is united to Christ by charity, not of that by which through the assumption of flesh the members are united to the head; nor for that reason, however, is that marriage less holy, because, as Augustine⁸ says, «in nuptials the holiness of the Sacrament avails more than the fecundity of the womb.» Marriage is also a sign of the spiritual conjunction and love of minds, by which spouses ought to be united to one another. Whence the Apostle says: Husbands, love your wives, as your own bodies.

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