MABRIAQB 709 MABaiAOE
- 'De nuptiis et concumsoentia". In the former work fore should it not turn out happilv, so that it will not
(chap, xxiv in P. L., aL, 394), he says, '** Among all be troubled by afflictions and needs and obstacles and Pjeople and all men the good that is secured by mar- contaminations, since it ei^oys the protection of the riage consists in the offspring and in the chastity of Divine grace?" But if Divine grace and its protection married fidelity; but, in the case of God's people [the are, as Tertullian asserts, given with marriage, we Christians], it consists moreover in the holiness of the have therein the distinctive moment which constitutes sacrament, by reason of which it is forbidden, even a religious action (already known for other reasons as after a separation has taken place, to marry another a sign of Divine grace) an efficacious sign of grace, that as long as the first partner lives . . . just as priests is, a true Sacrament of the New Dispensation. It is are ordained to draw together a Christian community, only on this hypothesis that we can rightlv understand and even thoiigh no such communitv be formed, the another passage from the same work of Tertullian (II, Sacrament of Orders still abides in those ordained, or ix, in P. L., 1, 13Q2) : " How can we describe the hap- just as the Sacrament of the Lord, once it is conferred, piness of those marriages which the Church ratifies, abides even in one who is dismissed from his office on the sacrifice strengthens, the blessing seals, the angels account of guilt, although in such a one it abides imto publish, the Heavenlv Father propitiously beholds ? judgment. In the other work (I, x, in P. L., XLIV, Weightier, if anything, than the testimony of the 420), the holy Doctor says: Undoubtedly it belongs Fathers as to the sacramental character of Christian to the essence of this sacrament that, when man and marriage is that of the liturgical books and sacramen- wife are once united by marriage, this bond remains taries of the different Churches, Eastern and Western, indissoluble throughout their lives. As long as both recording the liturgical prayers and rites handed down live, there remains a something attached to the mar- from the very earliest times. These, it is true, differ in riaee, which neither mutual separation nor union with many unimportant details, but their essential features a third can remove; in such cases, indeed, it remains must be traced back to Apostolic ordinances. In all for the aggravation of the guilt of their crime, not for these rituals and litur^cal collections, marriage, con- the strengthening of the union. Just as the soul of an tracted before the priest during the celebration of apostate, which was once similarly wedded unto Christ Mass, is accompanied by ceremonies and prayers sim- and now separates itself from Him, does not, in spite ilar to those used in connexion with the other sacra* of its loss of faith, lose the Sacrament of Faith, which ments; in fact several of these rituals expressly call it has received in ihe waters of regeneration. In marriage a sacrament, and, because it is a sacrament these words, St. Augustine places marriage, which he of the hving ", require contrition for sin and the recep- names a sacrament, on the same level with Baptism tion of the Sacrament of Penance before marriage is and Holy Orders. Thus, as Baptism and Holy Orders contracted (cf . Mart^ne, *' De antiquis ecclesise riti- are sacraments in the strict sense and are recognized bus", I, ix). But the venerable age, in fact the apos- as such by the Holy Doctor, he also considers the mar- tohcity, of the ecclesiastical tradition concerning riage of Christians a sacrament in the full and strict marriage is still more clearly revealed by the circum-^ sense of the word. stance that the rituals or liturgical books of the Orien- Scarcely less clear is the testimony of St. Ambrose, tal Churches and sects, even of those that separated In his letter to Siricius (Ep. xlii, 3, in P. L., XVI, from the Catholic Church in the first centuries, treat 1124), he states: ** We also do not deny that marriage the contracting of marriage as a sacrament, and sur- was sanctified by Christ"; and to Vigilius he writes round it with significant and impressive ceremonies (Ep. xix, 7, in P. L., XVI, 984): "Since the contract- and prayers. The Nestorians, Monophysites, Copts,
Of what kind this sanctification is, the saint tells us Denzinger, Ritus orientalium", I, 150 sqq.; II, 364
clearly in his work "De Abraham" (I, vii, in P. L., sqq.). The numerous prayers which are used
XIV, 443): " We know that God is the Head and Pro- throughout the ceremony refer to a si)ecial grace
tector, who does not permit that another's marriage- which is to be granted to the newly-married persons,
bed be defiled; and further. that one guilty of such a and occasional conunentaries show that this ^ce was
crime sins against God, whose command he contra- regarded as sacramental. Thus, the Nestonan patri-
venes and whose bond of grace he loosens. Therefore, arch, Timotheus II, in his work "De septem causis
since he has sinned against God, he now loses his par- sacramentorum" mentioned in Assemani (III, i, 579).
ticipation in the heavenly sacrament." According to deals with marriage among the other sacraments, ana
Amorose, therefore, Christian marriage is a heavenly enumerates several religious ceremonies without which
sacrament, which binds one with God oy the bonds of marriage is invalid. Evidently, therefore, he includes
grace until these bonds are sundered by subsequent marriage amone the sacraments, and considers tllB
sin — that is, it is a sacrament in the strict and com- grace resulting from it a sacramental grace,
plete sense of the word. The value of this testimony The doctrine that marriage is a sacrament of the
might be weakened only by supposing that Ambrose, Ne^ Law has never been a matter of dispute between
in referring to the " participation in the heavenly sac- the Roman Catholic and any of the Oriental Churches
rament" which he declares forfeited by adulterers, separated from it — a convincing proof that this doc-
was really thinking of Holy Communion. But of the tnne has always been part of ecclesiastical tradition
latter there is in the present instance not the sli^test and is derived from the Apostles. The correspondence
question; consequently, he must here mean the loss (1576-81) between the TObingen professors, defenders
of all share in the grace of the Sacrament of Marriage, of Protestantism, and the Greek patriarch, Jeremias,
Hiis production of grace through marriage, and there- is well known. It terminated in the latter's indig-
fore its character as a perfect sacrament, was empha- nantly scouting the suggestion that he could be won
sized also ^ Innocent I in his letter to IVobus (Ep. ix, over to the doctrine of onlv two sacraments, and in his
in P. L., aX, 602). He declares a second marriage solemn recognition of the doctrine of seven sacraments,
during the lifetime of the first partner invalid, and including marriage, as the constant teaching of the
adds: "Supported by the Catholic Faith, we declare Oriental diuroh. More than half a century later the
that the true marriage is that which is originally Patriarch Cyril Lucar, who had adopted the Calvin-
founded on Divine grace." istic doctrine of only two sacraments, was for that
As early as the second century we have the valuable reason publicly declared a heretic bv the Synods of
testimony of Tertullian. While still a Catholic, he Constantinople in 1638 and 1642 and that of Jerusa-
writes (" Ad Uxorem"^ II, vii, in P. L., 1, 1299) : " If lem in 1672 — eo firmly has the doctrine of seven sacra«
therefore such a mamage is pleasing to God, where* mente and of marriage as a sacrament been mala-
