Transcript

The Catholic Church teaches that our Lord, Jesus Christ, elevated matrimony to the dignity of a sacrament in the new law.

Although Saint Jerome's Vulgate renders Ephesians 5:32 to, quote, Sacramentum hoc magnum est, end quote, or this is a great sacrament, the original Greek says, This is a great mystery, and not sacrament.

Was the medieval church misled by this translation into adopting matrimony as one of its sacraments?

This was actually an accusation of some Protestants like John Calvin and Martin Chemnitz.

John Calvin writes, quote, The thing which misled them was the term sacrament, but was it right that the whole church should be punished for the ignorance of these men?

Paul called it a mystery.

When the Latin interpreter might have abandoned this mode of expression as uncommon to Latin ears, or converted it into secret, he preferred calling it Sacramentum, but in no other sense than the Greek term Mysterion was used by Paul.

End quote.

Martin Chemnitz also uses this argument in his examination of the Council of Trent.

Easy to see that this claim, this critique of the Catholic Church by the Protestants, doesn't hold up to scrutiny, because the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches also consider matrimony as one of their seven mysteries or seven sacraments, even though they do not use the Latin Vulgate, which says Sacramentum in Ephesians 5:32.

So this is a, a red herring, it's a silly argument by the Protestants.

Instead, I wanna look at scripture, I wanna look at the church fathers, and the tradition of the church and the liturgy and answer the question, is matrimony one of the seven sacraments of the new law?

I have released a much shorter video going into the Biblical argument for why matrimony is a sacrament.

This video will first briefly cover matrimony in general, and a common Protestant error regarding natural marriage.

Then I will go over the Biblical argument, the Patristics, the Scholastics, and several objections.

Throughout the history of Christianity, many groups have erred on marriage, and the Catholic Church has taken up the duty to defend it.

Extremely early on in Christianity, the Gnostics rejected the goodness of the material world and thus rejected marriage, teaching it was evil.

Shortly after, the Montanists, not rejecting marriage itself, recommended not to marry and for people to dissolve their marriages since they expected the second coming to be soon.

The Priscillianists, similar to the Gnostics, thought that salvation was in the liberation from matter, and thus rejected marriage.

Many more followed, and in the 1500s, the Protestants not only denied that marriage was a sacrament of the new law, but further erred in believing that it is altogether a civil affair.

Luther, for example, wrote, quote, No one indeed can deny that marriage is an external, worldly thing, like clothes and food, house and home, subject to worldly authority, as shown by so many imperial laws governing it.

Unquote.

Calvin compared matrimony to shoemaking and haircutting, saying, quote, God's ordinance is good and holy, so also are agriculture, architecture, shoemaking, haircutting, legitimate ordinances of God, but they are not sacraments.

Unquote.

Chemnitz in an examination of Trent admitted that some cases regarding matrimony between two Christians were to fall under the church, but only insofar as marriages includes matters of faith.

But he also concluded that marriage is a secular thing.

Against this view, the Council of Trent issued Canon XII at its 24th session, saying, quote, If anyone says that matrimonial causes do not belong to the ecclesiastical judges, let him be anathema.

Unquote.

This is because matrimony is not a secular institution, it's a religious one, even natural marriages.

Protestants were virtually unanimous that matrimony is not a sacrament of the new law.

However, they concede that marriage was divinely instituted in the natural law, even in the state of innocence, and later was commended and restored by Christ.

They also acknowledged that it bears a certain relationship or conformity to the union of Christ with the church and is a state of life in Christian society that provides an opportunity and obligation for Christians to sanctify themselves.

Many Protestants like Calvin and Chemnitz also accused the church of wanting to reserve the legislation of the marital contract for itself.

According to them, this was the reason that the church made marriage a sacrament, in order to be able to control it.

But actually, and this is another point where the Protestants erred, even if Christ had only restored marriage to as it was in the beginning by abolishing divorce and had not elevated it to one of the seven sacraments, marriage contract should still fall under ecclesial legislation.

It's not altogether a secular thing.

So before addressing the sacramentality of marriage, it would be helpful to first begin by understanding the essence of a marriage as it exists in nature among non-Christians.

We call this a natural marriage.

From the essence of what a natural marriage is, it follows that marriage is not merely secular as the Protestants contend, but that the authority concerned with it is per se religious.

Matrimony is a true contract.

Two people consent to the same thing which produces an obligation.

That is, from this marital contract, just as from every contract, obligations and rights are the result, which bind together those making the contract, and therefore there is a certain bond between them that unites them.

Now, it's clear from scripture that God instituted this contract among humans and gave humanity the precept to be fruitful and multiply.

That procreation is the primary end of marriage is clear from scripture.

For example, in Genesis 1:27-28, Male and female, he created them, and God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.' And he repeats this blessing for Noah upon leaving the ark.

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,' Genesis 9:1, and because of this, he ordered that the animals two and two, male and female should enter into the ark in Genesis 8:9, and Noah should enter with his wife and his sons together with their wives.

Next, in Genesis 2:18-24, where scripture describes the formation of Eve from Adam's rib, God created woman as a helper for man, saying, It is not good that man should be alone.

I will make him a helper fit for him.

As Saint Augustine points out in his work On The Literal Sense Of Genesis, Another man would have been a better help for Adam if the help he required was working the land.

If what Adam required was someone to keep him company, a man would have also been better.

Only for procreation and the upbringing of children was a woman a more fitting companion for Adam.From the primary end of marriage, which is generation, it follows that the primary object of the marriage contract is the right to the body of the other.

This is why St. Paul writes in First Corinthians 7-4, quote, The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does.

Likewise, the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does.

End quote.

But because each person is totally subject to the dominion of God, it would be illicit to transfer over one's own body to the power of another, without the consent of God.

It would be like if a son who always borrows his father's car sells the car to his friend without first consulting his father for permission.

So there's no such thing as a secular marriage, even among non-Christians.

This is why our Lord says in Matthew 19:6, quote, What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.

End quote.

And the fathers, the theologians, acknowledges, for example, Saint Bonaventure writes, quote, The consent of both persons is the proximate cause of matrimony, but together with a divine institution.

End quote.

St. Thomas writes, quote, The conjoining or relation itself, which is matrimony, is always from God.

End quote.

So Calvin and Luther's comparison of marriage to other things, like shoemaking and farming, is silly.

It's comparing apples and elephants.

Second, it's not only in the nature of marriage, but also in its immediate institution by God.

For God created Eve and brought her to Adam for him to marry in Genesis 2:22.

Unlike farming and other natural activities, God reserved to himself the rites of matrimony.

So there's no reason for Protestants to be comparing marriage to farming or agriculture, or as Vermigli says, shaking dust off your feet.

So because of the religious nature of even natural marriages, the church automatically has supervision over the marital contract.

And this is seen continuously throughout even the early church.

As early as Saint Ignatius, who forbids Christians to marry without permission from the bishop.

Tertullian in the third century records that Christian who marry secretly, who make, quote, Connections that is not first professed in the presence of the church, run the risk of being judged akin to adultery and fornication.

End quote.

Not that natural marriages among non-Christians are invalid, they are valid, but that because even natural marriage is immediately from God, unlike shoe making and farming, as Luther and Calvin contend, then the religious authority ought to oversee it.

We now come to marriage as a sacrament of the new law.

Before we get into it, a very common objection that Protestants bring forward is that early fathers attributed the name sacrament to many things, not just to matrimony, but also to foot washing, the sign of the cross, et cetera.

That's because a sacrament, broadly speaking, is simply a sign of a sacred thing.

So clearly, we can see how many things are called sacraments with this definition.

The body is a sign of the invisible soul.

Christ is a sign of the invisible God.

The sign of the cross is a sign of our Christian faith.

Vatican II in Lumen Gentium calls the church a sacrament because it's a visible sign of the invisible Christ.

So Protestants, what they're going to do during and after the Reformation in their polemics against us, is use this definition and say that if marriage is a sacrament because it's a sign of a holy thing, then there aren't just seven sacraments, but millions.

And this is true actually.

If we were to deduce the sacramentality properly speaking of marriage, because it is simply and merely a visible sign of a sacred thing, then we wouldn't have seven sacraments, but millions.

But the definition to use for something to qualify as a sacrament properly speaking, is that it must be, one, instituted by Christ to signify this, and two, a visible sign of invisible sanctifying grace.

This distinction is not just made by the medieval theologians, doctors and scholastics, but even made by Saint Augustine.

This is actually what I think is the most consistent definition of a sacrament in the strict sense, and automatically gets you to the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church.

For example, baptism is a visible washing sign of the invisible washing of the soul, which occurs through sanctifying grace.

In the Eucharist, one visibly eats on the body of Christ, which signifies the invisible spiritual feasting on the body of Christ, which occurs through sanctifying grace.

In penance, the visible confession and absolution signifies the invisible absolution of sins, which occurs through sanctifying grace.

This definition excludes the millions of other things that are merely signs of sacred things.

For the body is not joined to the soul by sanctifying grace.

The sign of the cross was not instituted by Christ, and neither does it signify sanctifying grace per se.

Foot washing, as Christ does in John 13, does not signify sanctifying grace per se, et cetera.

So with this definition, we can proceed to marriage in the New Testament.

Although not demonstrative, Reverend Duranzo offers this as an introductory argument on the fittingness of matrimony as a sacrament.

Quote, Above all, the entire scripture from Genesis to Revelation explicitly and insistently presents under the symbol of marriage, the relationship between God and humanity, between the Lord and Israel, between Christ and the Church, the very marriage between Adam and Eve, or the distinction and union of the sexes, and consequentially all marriage from the beginning, according to at least the interpretation of a Catholic tradition and the ecclesiastical magisterium, is presented by St. Paul in Ephesians 5:32, as a prophetic symbol of the union between Christ and the Church.

Now, this divine preferential love for the institution of marriage and its original symbolic sanctification calls for and suggests that Christ in the New Testament wished to elevate this holy institution to a higher dignity in harmony with the perfection of the New Testament, in which the rites and symbols instituted by God no longer merely bear the sign of a thing, but also serve as the vehicle and cause of the sanctity they signify.

In this, the very rationale of its properly called sacramentality is found.

End quote.

Our first proof is from scripture, so let me give you a syllogism for the argument from scripture.

Scripture teaches that matrimony among Christians is a rite that signifies sanctifying grace.

In the new law, rites that signify sanctifying grace are efficacious in causing such a grace.

This is instrumental causality and not principle.

Therefore, matrimony is a sacrament of the new law properly speaking.

St. Thomas wrote this in his Summa Contra Gentiles, quote, And just as in the other sacraments, something spiritual is symbolized by external actions, so in this sacrament, the union of husband and wife signifies the union of Christ with the church, according to the saying of the apostle.

This is a great mystery, or this is a great sacrament, and I mean in reference to Christ and the church.

End quote.

Let's examine the major premise.

Before getting to Ephesians 5, where St. Paul says matrimony is a great mystery, it's important to first understand the context of the letter to the Ephesians.

St. Paul uses the word mystery in the epistle six times, chapter one, verse nine, chapter three, verse three, four, and nine .

chapter five, verse 32 and chapter six, verse 19.

For example, in the first chapter, he writes, quote, Wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself.

In chapter three, he writes, quote, How that by revelation, he made known unto me the mystery, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

From his own usage, we see that for Saint Paul, a mystery is something that was once hidden and only known to God, but is now revealed to the church in the coming of the Gospel.

Since the mystery is now revealed, Saint Paul calls Christians to a new way of life.

This includes avoiding sins, as is seen in chapter four, verse 25, through chapter five, verse 21, and how Christian relationships ought to be.

Saint Paul describes the relationships between friends, parents and their children, and slaves and their owners.

But Saint Paul only attributes the title of A Great Mystery in the context of matrimony between two Christians.

Although all relationships ought to be reconsidered in the light of the Gospel, Saint Paul goes into greater detail regarding matrimony, using special language.

This is seen in Ephesians 5, verses 22 through 33.

I will quote some of the verses, but not all.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water and the word of life.

So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.

He that loves his wife, loves himself, because we are members of his body, of his flesh, and his bones.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.

This is a great mystery, or sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church.

Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular love his wife as himself, and let the wife fear her husband.

End quote.

From this text, marriage is a great mystery, and its meaning is revealed in the union between Christ and the Church.

The culmination of this is in verse 32, when he says, This is a great mystery.

But the sacramental character of it is in the preceding verses, as Saint Paul says, Cardinal marriage of Christians ought to mirror the spiritual marriage.

Peter Lombard explains it thus, quote, And so, since marriage is a sacrament, it is both a sacred sign, and the sign of a sacred thing.

Namely, of the joining of Christ and the Church.

As the apostle says, 'For it is written, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.' And this is a great sacrament.

But I say in Christ and in the Church, for just as there is between partners to a marriage, a joining according to the consent of souls and the intermingling of bodies, so the Church joins herself to Christ by will and nature, because she wills the same as he does, and he took a form from human nature.

And so the bride is joined to the bridegroom, spiritually and corporally.

That is, by charity and the conformity of nature.

End quote.

One objection might be that the Apostle Paul is only providing an example or an analogy that's fitting of what marriage ought to be like.

He is only using the example of Christ and the Church for his current purpose.

This would disqualify marriage from being a sacrament because it was not instituted by Christ to signify his union with the Church.

Response: But this objection does not hold once one considers the way that Saint Paul uses the word mystery throughout Ephesians.

As we have shown, these mysteries are made so by God in his providential plan.

So Saint Paul is not merely creating a fitting analogy for his purpose.

He is instead teaching that God himself imparted this significance and this meaning into marriage.

Saint Augustine, for this reason, in his literal commentary on Genesis, writes, quote, Finally, when Adam awoke, full of prophecy, and saw his rib, now turned into a woman, brought to him, he immediately exclaimed, which the apostle commends as a great mystery, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.' End quote.

Pope Leo I wrote an Epistle 167, that since the beginning, matrimony contained not only the union of the sexes, but also the sacrament of Christ and the Church.

End quote.

This now brings us to the common Protestant reading of Ephesians 5:32.

Although not unanimously, the majority of early Protestants denied that the great mystery of Ephesians 5:32 is matrimony.

Instead, they said that the great mystery was the union of Christ and the Church.

Calvin writes, quote, At length, he breaks out into the exclamation, 'This is a great mystery,' and lest anyone should be misled by the ambiguity, he says that he is not speaking of the connection between husband and wife, but of the spiritual marriage of Christ and the Church.

End quote.

Francis Turretin gives the same objection in his Institutes.

Saint Robert Bellarmine, however, rightly explains why the great mystery of Ephesians 5:32 is matrimony.

He writes, quote, For when the apostle says, 'This is a great sacrament,' the pronoun 'this' must necessarily refer to what immediately precedes, for it is demonstrative of the matter at hand.

But what immediately precedes is, quote, 'A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' End quote.

Therefore, Paul's meeting must be this.

This sacrament, namely that a man leaves his father and a mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh, is great because it represents the union of Christ and the Church.

End quote.

Father Domenico Palmieri was a Jesuit priest.

He was a 19th century Italian scholastic theologian, and probably wrote the best tractate on the sacrament of matrimony.

He explains Adam's words like this, quote, Therefore, the words of Adam, which literally signify the marital union of a man and a woman, mystically through Paul, signify the union of Christ and the Church.

Marriage then is a sign of this reality.

End quote.

Interestingly enough, the 17th century Presbyterian commentator Matthew Henry actually interprets the pronoun this correctly, unlike many of the early Protestants.

Saint Bruno of Cologne, founder of the Carthusians in the 11th century, comments thus on Ephesians 5:32.

Quote, Accordingly, this, that a man shall leave his father, is a great sacrament, a sacrament of a great reality.

For the statement 'a man shall leave his father' signifies that the son of God left the father when he who was invisible in his divine nature, like the father, presented himself as visible under the appearance of a slave.

He also left the mother who had nurtured him, the synagogue, and cleaved unto his wife, the Church, whom he betrothed to himself with the ring of faith.

Now this, I am saying, is a sacrament, but I am saying that the reality of the sacrament exists in Christ and in the Church.

As has been said, even if there were nothing else to recommend it.

So according to Bruno, and this is the medieval position after him, marriage is worthy of reverence because it signifies Christ and the Church, despite not being proportional to this union.

Therefore, we can conclude that God instituted matrimony to be a sign of sanctifying grace.For the union of Christ with the church occurs through sanctifying grace.

As the apostle explains in the same place, quote, 'Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of water with the word, that she might be holy and without blemish.' Unquote.

Therefore, if marital union signifies the union by which Christ is joined to the church, it necessarily also signifies sanctifying grace, which is the bond that unites.

This is what Christian Pesch writes in his Prelectiones Dogmaticae.

One may further object that Saint Paul teaches all matrimonies are equally a sign of Christ in the church.

The response is, first, the fathers of medieval scholastics frequently admit natural marriage is a sacrament of nature, although it does not confer grace.

Further, we know that in this text of Ephesians 5, Saint Paul has specifically Christian marriage in mind.

First, we know this from the entire context of this section of the Epistle to the Ephesians, for as I already stated, the larger context of chapters four through six is the new life in Christ.

So he's not speaking about secular or pagan marriages absolutely.

Particularly from Ephesians 5:21 to the beginning of chapter six, Saint Paul instructs on how relationships ought to be between Christians.

Second, we know this because in verses 22 through 30, Saint Paul demonstrates a certain proportion between husband and wife and Christ and the church.

Third, the word mystery is consistently used throughout Ephesians to refer to a hidden thing which God imparted meaning onto, but is now only revealed in Christ.

Third, the word mystery, as has been shown, is consistently used throughout Ephesians to refer to a hidden thing which God imparted meaning onto, but is only now revealed in Christ.

So if he was talking about pagan and natural marriages absolutely, then this would not be a mystery that is now revealed.

Finally, the fathers certainly interpret the great mystery in Ephesians 5:32 as referring to matrimony.

You can read this, for instance, in Clement of Alexandria, who wrote in the second century, quote, 'Therefore, this mystery leads to Christ and the church.

Just as that which is generated from flesh is flesh, so that which is from spirit is spirit, not only in bearing children, but also in speaking.' End quote.

This interpretation is found in many places throughout the fathers, but here are just a few if you'd like to read more.

Now the minor premise of this argument was that the signs of sanctifying grace caused the grace that they signify in the new law.

While this gets into the topic of the difference between the old and new covenants, it suffices to point to Galatians 4:9, in which Saint Paul calls the rites of the old law weak and needy.

However, this is a topic I plan to address in a future video.

For now, it's sufficient to invoke the authority of Saint Augustine, who says that in the sacraments, properly speaking, it is through, quote, 'the visible form of the sacrament,' end quote, that God, quote, 'grants the invisible grace,' end quote, and holds that the new law sacraments are superior to the ones of the old law in efficacy.

He writes, quote, 'The sacraments of the New Testament give salvation.' The sacraments of the Old Testament promised a savior, unquote.

Further, the duties inferred, loving and submission, by Saint Paul are supernatural because they signify something supernatural, namely the love between Christ and his church, which is through sanctifying grace.

However, for Saint Paul, however, for Saint Paul, these duties of husband and wife, specifically Christian husband and wife, are to be found in the essence of the sacrament of matrimony itself.

This is why he says, 'Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, therefore, as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be subject to their husband in all things.' Therefore, matrimony is a sacrament of the new law, since we have shown that one, the union of the spouses signifies the union of Christ and the church.

Two, this signification was assigned to it by God.

Three, Saint Paul speaks particularly about Christians.

And four, signs in the new law cause what they signify.

We now get to the argument from tradition.

Father Duranzo summarizes the argument thus.

According to many fathers, you can see the list of fathers on the screen, but basically the fathers say that Christ's presence at the wedding at Cana was not mere approval of marriage, but also sanctification of it.

There is some strengthening or reinforcement of marital chastity in it.

Some fathers say that in marriage there is a grace imparted that remedies defects and provides consolation.

By reason of this grace, marriage can be compared to baptism, according to some fathers, and marriage is assimilated to the mystical union of Christ and the church as its figure.

Frequently in marriage liturgies, the miracle at the wedding of Cana is compared to Christ's baptism in the Jordan River, in the sense that just as Christ sanctified the waters, so also did he sanctify marriage.

For example, in the Gothic missal, it says, quote, 'Let us implore dearly beloved brothers the God who sanctified the streams of the Jordan and blessed the unions of marriage, so that by his grace alone we may merit the forgiveness of sins whose, whose miracles we commemorate yearly.' End quote.

In the Gregorian Hadrian Sacramentary from the eighth century, it says, quote, 'May the spirit of sanctity descend, O Lord, from your throne upon the heads of your servants, that spirit who added Jordan when John baptized the Lord was visibly seen descending as a dove.

Amen.

Fill their souls with the wine of righteousness.

You who today by your word transform the taste of water into wine.

Amen.' End quote.

And in the Mosorabic Sacramentary of the ninth century, it says, quote, 'Christ entered the waters of the Jordan to sanctify them by his baptism for the cleansing of all nations.' He performed his first sign at Cana of Galilee where at a wedding feast, he transformed the water into wine, teaching through this profound and marvelous mystery that he had come to unite to himself as bride the church, whose faith in the truth would be changed into the wine of spiritual wisdom.

End quote.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria says, quote, 'When a wedding was celebrated, of course, chastely and honestly, the mother of the Savior was present, but he himself also came with his disciples, not so much to feast as to perform a miracle, and thus sanctify the very beginning of the birth of man.

I mean so far as pertains to the flesh, for it was fitting that he who was renewing the very nature of man and refashioning it all for the better should not only impart his blessings to those already called into being, but also prepare before grace those soon to be born and make holy their entrance into being.

For he, the delight and joy of all, honored marriage with his presence, that he might expel the old shame of childbearing.

For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation and all things have passed away.' End quote.

Saint Maximus of Torin's writes, quote, 'So the Son of God goes to the wedding to sanctify with his blessing of presence those whom he had long ago established by his power.' End quote.

Saint Epiphanius writes, quote, 'In Cana of Galilee, there were celebrated weddings and the water was truly turned into wine for two reasons.

First, to restrain the disordered lust of men and the world through the chastity and honor of marriage, and secondly, to remedy what was lacking and to comfort them with the sweetness of the most delightful wine and through grace.' Unquote.Saint Augustine writes, quote, The Lord was invited to the wedding to strengthen conjugal chastity, and to show the sacrament of marriage, because the bridegroom of those weddings symbolize the person of the Lord, to whom it was said, 'You have kept the good wine until now,' for the good wine, namely the Gospel, Christ has kept until now.

Saint John of Damascus writes, quote, This we say without speaking ill of marriage, God forbid, for we know that the Lord blessed marriage by his presence.

End quote.

Secondly, the Fathers either explicitly or implicitly teach that matrimony among Christians confers grace.

Some of these have already been quoted above, like Saint Augustine and Saint Epiphanius, when they say that Christ strengthened conjugal chastity.

Saint Ambrose writes, quote, We recognize God as the protector and guardian of marriage, who does not permit the marriage bed to be defiled.

And if someone does so, he sins against God, whose law he violates, and whose grace he annuls.

And because he sins against God, he loses participation in the heavenly sacrament.

End quote.

Saint Pope Innocent I, in Epistle 36, provided instructions on what should happen if a man's wife is captured by barbarians and he marries another.

He gives an example of this situation with a certain Fortunian, who married another woman when his wife Ursa was taken, and then declares that it is the first marriage, quote, founded on divine grace, end quote, which is the legitimate one.

Now, although I would love to go in-depth on the doctrine of Saint Augustine on matrimony, I've already made a video on that you can go watch on my channel.

It's a good video that summarizes his doctrine on the marital contract and implicitly teaching that grace is conferred.

Now, following the thought of Saint Augustine and the earlier Fathers, many medieval theologians referred to matrimony as a sacrament.

Obviously, this in and of itself does not prove that they held matrimony to be a sacrament in the strict sense.

Each quote must be looked at in context to determine such a thing.

For the sake of time, here are just some clear examples that teach that there is grace in the sacrament of matrimony.

The Statutes of Cynatius, Bishop of Reims, whose authenticity and antiquity are seriously questioned, and which, at least in their present form, should likely be dated to a much later period, suggest the sacramentality of marriage, saying, quote, In marriage, the image of the sacred union between Christ and the Church is manifest, and therefore, the bond is divinely strengthened, which greatly contributes to the happiness of the family, to peace between parties, and to the reception of children.

End quote.

Saint Peter Damian in the 11th century compares matrimony to Baptism, Confirmation, and Ordination, and distinguishes Christian marriage from pre-Christian marriage as, quote, a higher mystery.

End quote.

He ends with, quote, And these were, in ancient times, as we said, aimed at propagating offspring, but now, as the world is growing old and the doctrine of Him, who is the Virgin-born, shines forth, marriage undoubtedly aims to avoid fornication, for then, keeping the higher mystery, it was said, 'Cursed is the man who does not have seed in Israel,' but now it is said, 'Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.' End quote.

Pope Lucius III of the Council of Verona in 1184 issued a decretal which says, quote, All who regarding the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, or regarding baptism, or the confession of sins, matrimony, or the other ecclesiastical sacraments, do not fear to think or to teach otherwise than the most Holy Roman Church teaches and observes, we bind with a like bond of perpetual anathema.

End quote.

And some of Loon wrote, quote, Since all sacraments began after sin and because of sin, only the sacrament of matrimony is also believed to have been instituted before sin, not for a remedy, as the others before an office.

End quote.

And all throughout this time period, matrimony is consistently presented in the list of sacraments, along with Baptism, the Eucharist, Confirmation, et cetera.

We now move to the third proof, which is from the consensus of the theologians.

Since the 12th century, theologians have unanimously taught that matrimony is one of the seven sacraments of the Church, and they present this not as a new idea, but as something always handed down by the Church.

However, there were three classes of opinions on this question.

First, some denied that grace was in the sacrament, like Peter Lombard and Petrus Cantor.

Some admitted grace broadly and in some sense, like Saint Bonaventure and Alexander of Hales.

And third, some admitted that grace was conferred, strictly speaking, like Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Albert the Great, and other theologians.

All three views existed concurrently, there's not one view that's older than the other, but they dominated in prevalence in that order.

In other words, the view that grace was not conferred was first prevalent, then the view that grace was admitted in some sense, and finally the view that grace was admitted strictly speaking.

Peter Lombard, the master of The Sentences, while affirming that the sacraments of the New Law confer grace, and that matrimony is a sacrament of the New Law, teaches that matrimony does not confer grace in the same way that the Eucharist and Holy Orders do.

He says that some sacraments, quote, offer a remedy against sin and confer helping grace, like Baptism.

Others are only a remedy, like marriage.

Others fortify us with grace and virtue like the Eucharist and Orders.

End quote.

He is not alone in this denial of grace.

For example, the anonymous author of Isagoge and Theologiam says, quote, This sacrament pertains more to indulgence and remedy for evil than to any other gift.

End quote.

The Epitome Theologiae Christianae, written in around the year 1139, writes, quote, It does not pertain to salvation.

Now, concerning marriage, it is indeed a sacrament, but it does not confer a gift like the others.

It is a remedy for evil, given to restrain incontinence.

This sacrament is, as we said, a remedy for evil, even though it does not confer a gift.

End quote.

Petrus Cantor from the 12th century writes, quote, Marriage was instituted for remedy, not for increase.

End quote.

He also writes, quote, The grace of the Holy Spirit is conferred or increased by ecclesiastical sacraments except matrimony.

End quote.

Similar denials can be found in Huguccio, Guido of Orcelis, Rolandus Cromwellensis, and please forgive my pronunciation, Guericas de Sancto Quintino.

Another opinion is that matrimony does not increase sanctifying grace like the other sacraments, but serves as a remedy against sin.

And further, Alexander of Hales, for example, seems to deny ex opere operato power in matrimony, but instead taught an increase in grace ex opere operantis.

More on this can be found in his Gloss on the Sentences, book four, distinction 26.

Another significant figure is Durandus.

By the time of Durandus in the early 1300s, the majority opinion is that grace is conferred in matrimony.

Durandus is an outlier, though he admits the majority view is that grace is conferred.

Even contrary to many of the Protestants who deny that Ephesians 5:32 refers to matrimony as a great mystery, Durandus says, quote, Second, matrimony is a sacrament in the sense that it is a sign of a sacred reality.

To say otherwise is likewise heretical, since it contradicts the words of the apostles just cited.

End quote.

He further writes, quote, However, modern theologians almost universally hold that grace is conferred through the sacrament of matrimony, unless the contracting parties place an obstacle .

as is the case with other sacraments.

Matrimony is therefore equated with the other sacraments in this regard, because otherwise, it would seem they could not maintain that marriage is a sacrament of new law.

End quote.

But for these theologians who are denying that grace is conferred in matrimony, I think Father Emmanuel Duranzo points out a very obvious contradiction.

He writes, quote, Nevertheless, these doctors face a double and thorny difficulty that seems to reveal the internal fragility and invincible contradiction of their entire system.

The first is the inclusion of matrimony among the other sacraments of the new law, or among the means of sanctification, which the solemn ecclesiastical magisterium consecrated early on.

The second difficulty is the inclusion of marriage in the septenary catalog of the properly called sacraments, which based on the laboriously acquired and universally accepted definition, imply both the signification and causality of grace.

End quote.

After listing several theologians, Father Duranzo concludes, quote, Thus, they are forced to revert to the glaring anomaly of some rite or sacrament of the old law, which persists in the new economy.

End quote.

In other words, what he is saying, and this is what St. Thomas Aquinas also concludes, is that these theologians who are accepting matrimony as a sacrament of the new law, strictly speaking, are in a weird anomaly, where there is a rite of the Old Testament, of the old law, that did not confer grace, it was merely a sign of grace, but is now a remnant here in the new law, and it's not conferring grace.

It should also be noted that this was not the universal view, as Durandus notes.

Even in the 12th century, shortly after Lombard's Sentences, Peter of Poitiers did not distinguish matrimony from the other sacraments, like other theologians do, but held to it as being another one of the seven sacraments.

Hugues of St. Victor writes about the sacrament of marriage being like the others, that it is sustained by, quote, Spiritual grace, end quote, and allows for the participation in it.

Matrimony also contains, quote, Spiritual virtue and effect, end quote.

St. Albert the Great, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas and commonly known as Albertus Magnus, comments on the fourth book of the Sentences that there are three views.

The first is that marriage does not confer any grace.

The second is that marriage confers grace, that is, to withdraw from sin, but not in order to do good.

And the third is that marriage confers grace in order to do good, not just any good, but this good which the spouse must do, and this is that he faithfully assists his spouse.

St. Albert the Great concludes that this third view is also very probable.

However, in another work of St. Albert, which was only recently found, called the Sacramentes, written before this commentary on the Sentences, he more clearly attributes grace to matrimony.

In Tractate One, on the sacraments in general, he writes, quote, And this grace is given in the sacraments.

Therefore, just as there were seven in the Redeemer, in which he worked our salvation, so there is a sevenfold sacramental grace.

Baptismal grace configures us to Christ dying.

Marriage configures us in the same way, as he is the bridegroom of the Church.

End quote.

In Tractate Nine on matrimony, he writes, quote, Marriage is a sacrament of the new law where it signifies and causes interior grace, for from the actual union of natures in Christ, grace is caused in the sacrament of marriage, promoting the goods of marriage and the mitigation of concupiscence.

End quote.

We now come to St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor.

In the Summa contra gentiles he writes, quote, And because the sacraments cause what they symbolize, it must be believed that those who marry through this sacrament are conferred grace, by which they pertain to the union of Christ and the Church.

And this is especially necessary for them, that they may tend to the carnal and earthly without being separated from Christ and the Church.

End quote.

In his commentary on the Sentences, he writes, quote, For certain people said that marriage is in no way a cause of grace, but it is only a sign.

But this cannot stand, for according to this, it would not differ at all from the sacraments of the old law, and so there would be no reason why it should be enumerated among the sacraments of the new law.

For the remedy that it offers by satisfying concupiscence, it possessed also in the old law by the very nature of the act.

End quote.

So what he's saying here is that those, like Peter Lombard, who say that matrimony only serves as a remedy, they would be saying that matrimony does nothing new in the new law than it did in the old law.

But this would not be in keeping with the nature of the new law.

St. Thomas continues, quote, And thus others have said that grace is conferred here in order to withdraw one from evil, for the act which would have been a sin without marriage is excused from sin.

But this would be scarcely anything, for this was also the case in the old law.

Further on, he writes, quote, For it is the same grace which impedes sin and which inclines to good, just as the same heat which removes cold also warms.

This is why others say that marriage, inasmuch as it is contracted in faith in Christ, is able to confer grace that helps in doing the things which are required for marriage, and this is more probable, for wherever a certain faculty is divinely given, help is also given by which man can fittingly make use of that faculty.

End quote.

Now, much more can be said regarding the theologians after St. Thomas leading up to the Reformation, but this will suffice.

We now move on to objections.

Objection one.

The sacraments must be of ordinary and perpetual use in the New Testament Church alone, but matrimony exists among gentiles by nature.

This objection is brought up by Francis Turretin.

Therefore, it is not a sacrament.

Response: This definition is arbitrary, but baptism was practiced in the Old Testament Church in temple washings and in John the Baptist's baptisms.

Therefore, it would not be a new law sacrament by Francis Turretin's objection, and circumcision was practiced among pagans.

Therefore, it would not be an old law sacrament.

So this Francis Turretin objection is just not good.

Objection two.

The sacraments confer what they signify, but matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church, which it does not confer.

Therefore, matrimony is not a sacrament.

Response: St. Thomas actually anticipates in response to this very objection in the supplement question 42, article one, response to objection four and five.

We must distinguish, the sacraments do not need to cause the exact effect in an immediate and perfect way.

No one, whether Protestants or Catholics, actually holds to this definition, and here's why.

Just as the consecration of bread and wine do not cause Christ to have a body, but they affect the conversion of the elements.

Further, the actual reception of the body and blood of Christ, which is when the reality of the sacrament is affected, also do not cause Christ to have a body.

Fruitful reception of the Eucharist affects an increase in charity, which strengthens the union between the Christian soul and Christ in the mystical body, his church.

Similarly, contracting marriage does not cause Christ to be united to the Church, but causes the spouse to be conformed to the image of Christ and the Church.

The STS says, quote, But matrimony signifies the union of Christ with the Church and confers the grace whereby the spouses can always remain united so that they really are a reflection of that supernatural union of Christ with the Church.

End quote.Objection three and objection four are kind of similar.

They go like this: The sacraments were instituted by Christ, but matrimony was not instituted by Christ or matrimony already existed as a natural contract.

Therefore, matrimony is not a sacrament.

Response: It was actually Antonin Bruss of Mohunais, the Bishop of Prague, who at the Council of Trent suggested that the first canon of the 24th session read that matrimony was instituted by Christ and not simply by God.

Now, the major premise is admitted, but the minor must be distinguished.

As a natural contract, matrimony was instituted in the beginning of the human race before the incarnation, but as a sacrament, it was instituted by Christ.

But just because the Bible does not record this institution does not mean it did not happen.

Multiple fathers point to the wedding at Cana for Christ's sanctification of the marital contract, as had been cited above already.

Objection five: The apostle also states that other mutual relationships, like that of fathers and children and slaves and masters should contain love and submission.

But these relationships are not sacraments.

Therefore, matrimony is not a sacrament.

Response: Saint Paul, quote, Presupposes that the union of spouses is taken by God as a sacrament or a sign of union of Christ and the Church, and from this he infers their duties.

This cannot be said about others, end quote.

In other words, Father Palmieri is saying that Saint Paul explicitly tells us that God imparted the meaning of Christ and the Church into matrimony, but he does not say this about other relationships.

Objection six, and this is from Peter Martin Vermigli.

He says, If we accept matrimony as a sacrament because it is a sign of a holy thing, we must accept, quote, 'An infinite number of sacraments, such as are the washing of feet, the shaking of dust from the feet, the embracing of young children in arms, and in a matter, all the actions of Christ,' end quote.

But these are not sacraments.

Therefore, matrimony is not a sacrament.

Response: God imparted the significance of Christ's union with the Church unto marriage, according to Saint Paul.

The same cannot be said about washing of feet, shaking dust from feet, et cetera.

A final objection is that one might say that the grace in matrimony is external and found in the order of providence, that matrimony provides the occasions for sanctification, just like the religious life or parenting.

But those so-called graces are not intrinsic to marriage, but a result of the situations that marriage puts one in.

This is the kind of grace that Martin Chemnitz seemed to admit to marriage.

Response: The grace in matrimony is intrinsic because of the teaching of the apostle, wherein he says that Christ nourishes and cherishes the Church, which is done through sanctifying grace.

He says, quote, Because we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, end quote.

Thus, two Christians who get married signify the grace whereby they are sanctified with Christ.

To conclude, we have discussed the following.

First, the common, though not universal, Protestant reading of Ephesians 5 is inconsistent with the text and the reading of the Fathers.

Two, not only is Christian matrimony not secular, but also non-Christian marriage is not altogether secular due to the primary object of marriage.

Three, scripture speaks of matrimony among Christians as a sign that points to the union of Christ and the Church, and this significance was imparted by God.

Four, Christ's presence at the wedding at Cana mystically represents the good wine of marriage in the New Testament.

Five, the Fathers of the Church, using St. Paul's teaching in Ephesians 5 and the wedding at Cana, saw matrimony in the new law as strengthened and sanctified.

Six, some Fathers even consider it to be founded on grace and a participation in grace.

And seven, the Scholastics were virtually unanimous that matrimony is a sacrament of the new law, although they differed in how matrimony served as an aid, merely as a remedy, by actual graces only, by sanctifying grace, et cetera.

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