"The seventh sacrament is matrimony, which is a figure of the union of Christ, and the Church” (Council of Flor

1. "The seventh sacrament is matrimony, which is a figure of the union of Christ, and the Church” (Council of Florence, in the Decree for the Armenians)

2. What makes marriage a Sacrament? • it must be a sacred religious rite instituted by Christ; • this rite must be a sign of interior sanctification; • it must confer this interior sanctification or Divine grace; • this effect of Divine grace must be produced, not only in conjunction with the respective religious act, but through it. Whoever attributes these elements to Christian marriage declares it a true sacrament in the strict sense of the word.

3. The Church has in fact always taught concerning marriage what belongs to the essence of a sacrament.

4. Leo XIII in his Encyclical "Arcanum" (10 February, 1880): "To the teaching of the Apostles, indeed, are to be referred the doctrines which our holy fathers, the councils, and the tradition of the Universal Church have always taught, namely that Christ our Lord raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament." Pope Leo rightly emphasizes the importance of the tradition of the Universal Church.

5. "Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord: because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church. He is the savior of his body. Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. 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 in the word of life; that He might present it to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife, loves himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes it and cherishes it, as also Christ doth the Church: because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.“ (Eph. 5:22)

6. Paul then alludes to the Divine institution of marriage in the prophetical words proclaimed by God through Adam: "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." He then concludes with the significant words in which he characterizes Christian marriage: "This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church."

7. The love of Christian spouses for each other should be modeled on the love between Christ and the Church

8. Christian marriage, as a copy and token of the union of Christ with the Church, is a great mystery or sacrament. • It solemnly and efficaciously represents the union of Christ with the Church • It takes concrete form in the individual members of the Church, • not merely by signifying the supernatural life-union of Christ with the Church, • but also by causing that union to be realized in the individual members; • It confers the supernatural life of grace.

9. "From a valid marriage arises a bond between the spouses which by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive; furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened And consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament.“ (ccc 1638)

10. The first marriage between Adam and Eve in Paradise was a symbol of this union; Individual Christian marriages are subsequent representations of the first marriage. There would be no reason that Paul should refer with such emphasis to Christian marriage as so great a sacrament, if the greatness of Christian marriage did not lie in the fact, that it is not a mere sign, but an efficacious sign of the life of grace.

11. "Among all people and all men the good that is secured by marriage consists in the offspring and in the chastity of married fidelity; but, in the case of God’s people, it consists moreover in the holiness of the sacrament, by reason of which it is forbidden, even after a separation has taken place, to marry another as long as the first partner lives . . . just as priests are ordained to draw together a Christian community, and even though no such community be formed, the Sacrament of Orders still abides in those ordained, or just as the Sacrament of the Lord, once it is conferred, abides even in one who is dismissed from his office on account of guilt, although in such a one it abides unto judgment.“ (St. Augustine,"De bono conjugii“)

12. "Undoubtedly it belongs to the essence of this sacrament that, when man and wife are once united by marriage, this bond remains indissoluble throughout their lives. As long as both live, there remains a something attached to the marriage, which neither mutual separation nor union with a third can remove; in such cases, indeed, it remains for the aggravation of the guilt of their crime, not for the strengthening of the union. Just as the soul of an apostate, which was once similarly wedded unto Christ and now separates itself from Him, does not, in spite of its loss of faith, lose the Sacrament of Faith, which it has received in the waters of regeneration." ("De Nuptiis et Concupiscentia“) In these words, St. Augustine places marriage, which he names a sacrament, on the same level with Baptism and Holy Orders.

13. Scarcely less clear is the testimony of St. Ambrose. "We also do not deny that marriage was sanctified by Christ"; (letter to Siricius) "We know that God is the Head and Protector, who does not permit that another's marriage-bed be defiled; and further that one guilty of such a crime sins against God, whose command he contravenes and whose bond of grace he loosens. Therefore, since he has sinned against God, he now loses his participation in the heavenly sacrament.“ ("De Abraham“) According to Ambrose Christian marriage is a heavenly sacrament, which binds one with God by the bonds of grace until these bonds are sundered by subsequent sin.

14. "Marriage has God for its Author, and was from the very beginning a kind of foreshadowing of the Incarnation of the Divine Word; consequently, there abides in it a something holy and religious; not extraneous but innate; not derived from man, but implanted by nature… We call to witness the monuments of antiquity, as also the manners and customs of those peoples who, being the most civilized, had a finer sense of equity and right. In the minds of all of them it was a deeply rooted conviction that marriage was to be regarded as something sacred. Hence, among these, marriages were commonly celebrated with religious ceremonies, under the authority of pontiffs, and with the ministry of priests -so great, even in the souls ignorant of heavenly doctrine, was the impression produced by the nature of marriage, by reflection on the history of mankind, and by the consciousness of the human race." (Pope Leo XII)

15. The term "sacrament", applied by the pope to all marriage, even those of infidels, is to be taken in its widest sense, and signifies nothing but a certain holiness inherent in marriage.

16. The original marriage, and consequently marriage as it was conceived in the original plan of God before sin was to be the means not merely of the natural propagation of the human race (procreative), but also the means by which personal supernatural sanctity should be transmitted to the individual descendents of our first parents (unitive).

17. It was, therefore, a great mystery, intended not for the personal sanctification of those united by the marriage tie, but for the sanctification of others, i.e. of their offspring.

18. But this Divinely ordered sanctity of marriage was destroyed by original sin. The effectual sanctification of the human race, or rather of individual men, had now to be accomplished in the way of redemption through the Promised Redeemer, the Son of God made Man.

19. It was reserved for Christian marriage to symbolize this higher supernatural union with mankind, It foreshadowed the Incarnation of the Son of God, and the close union which God was thereby to form with the human race that is, with those who unite themselves to Christ in faith and love, and to be an efficacious sign of this union.

20. What in the marriage contract is the real essence of the sacrament; as to its matter and form, and its minister? From the earliest times this fundamental proposition has been upheld: Marriage is contracted through the mutual, expressed consent. Therein is contained implicitly the doctrine that the persons contracting marriage are themselves the agents or ministers of the sacrament.

21. The Catechism of the Catholic Faith states (1639) The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself. From their covenant arises "an institution, confirmed by the divine law, . . . even in the eyes of society.“ The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with man: "Authentic married love is caught up into divine love."

22. Marriage is unique and very different from the other sacraments Marriage, inasmuch as it is an outward sign of grace and also produces interior grace, has the nature common to all the sacraments. Viewed as an external sign, however, Marriage is a contract and even as an effective sign or sacrament, has precisely the nature and quality of a contract, its validity depending on the rules for the validity of contracts.

23. It is a matter of secondary consideration, how and in what sense the matter and form of this sacrament are to be taken. In every contract two elements are to be distinguished, • the foundation or the offering of a right • and the juridical completion or acceptance of it The same holds true of the sacramental contract of marriage; • an offering of the marriage right (the matter) is contained in the mutual declaration of consent • and a mutual acceptance (the form) is contained within the declaration.

24. We can distinguish between a contract in its origin and a contract in its continuance just so we can distinguish in the sacrament of marriage its origin and continuance:. • The sacrament origin is the mutual declaration of consent; • The sacrament in continuance is the Divine bond which unites the married persons for life. In most of the other sacraments also there is this distinction but the continuance of the other sacraments is based mostly on the inadmissible character which they impress upon the soul of the recipient. Not so with marriage

25. In the soul of the recipient there is a question of no new physical being or mode of being But of a legal relationship which can as a rule be broken only by death, although in individual cases it may otherwise be rendered void, provided the marriage has not been consummated.

26. In this respect, therefore, marriage, especially as a sacrament, differs from other contracts, since it is not subject to the free will of the individuals. Of course, the choice of a partner and especially the contracting or non-contracting of marriage are subject to the free will of the individuals; but any revocation or essential altering of the terms is beyond the power of the contracting parties; the essence of the contractual sacrament is Divinely regulated.

27. Not every marriage is a true sacrament, but only marriages between Christians. One becomes and remains a Christian through valid baptism. Only one who has been validly baptized can contract a marriage which is a sacrament; but every one can contract it who has been validly baptized, whether they have remained true to the Christian faith, or become a heretic, or even an infidel. Such has always been the teaching and practice of the Church.

28. Hence not only marriage between Catholics, but also that contracted by members of the different sects which have retained baptism and validly baptize, is undoubtedly a sacrament. It matters not whether the non-Catholic considers marriage a sacrament or not, or whether he intends to effect a sacrament or not. Provided only he intends to contract a true marriage, and expresses the requisite consent, this intention and this expression are sufficient to constitute a sacrament.

29. Since marriage establishes the couple in a public state of life in the Church, it is fitting that • its celebration be public, • in the framework of a liturgical celebration, • before the priest (or a witness authorized by the Church), • the witnesses, • and the assembly of the faithful.

30. Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. • Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; • divorce separates what God has joined together; • the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its "supreme gift," the child (GS 50 § 1).

31. The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. • They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. • They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith.

32. The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," • a community of grace and prayer, • a school of human virtues • and of Christian charity.