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| Excursus on Second Marriages, Called Digamy.
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Excursus on Second Marriages, Called Digamy.
To distinguish contemporaneous from successive bigamy I
shall use throughout this volume the word “digamy” to
denote the latter, and shall thus avoid much confusion which otherwise
is unavoidable.
The whole subject of second, and even of third and
fourth marriages has a great interest for the student of early
ecclesiastical legislation, and I shall therefore treat the matter here
(as I shall hope) sufficiently and refer the reader for its fuller
treatment to books more especially upon the subject.
The general position of the Church seems to have been to
discourage all second marriages, and to point to a single matrimonial
connexion as the more excellent way. But at the same time the
principle that the marriage obligation is severed by death was
universally recognised, and however much such fresh marriages may have
been disapproved of, such disapproval did not rest upon any supposed
adulterous character in the new connexion. I cite a portion of an
admirable article upon the subject by an English barrister of
Lincoln’s Inn.
(J. M. Ludlow, in Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of
Christian Antiquities, sub voce Digamy.)
Although among the earlier Romans120
| 120 The reader may recall
the words of Dido: Ille meos, primusqui me sibi junxit,
amores
Abstulit; ille habeat secum servetque
sepulcro |
there was one form of marriage which was indissoluble, viz., that by
confarreatio, still generally a second marriage either after
death or divorce was by no means viewed with disfavour.…Meanwhile
an intensifying spirit of asceticism was leading many in the Church to
a condemnation of second marriage in all cases. Minucius Felix
(Octavius, c. 31, § 5) only professes on behalf of the
Christians a preference for monogamy. Clement of Alexandria
(a.d. 150–220) seems to confine the term
marriage to the first lawful union (Stromata, Bk. ii.).…It
would seem, however, that when these views were carried to the extent
of absolute prohibition of second marriages generally by several
heretical sects, the Montanists (see Augustine, De
Hæresibus, c. xxvi.), the Cathari (ib., c. xxxviii.),
and a portion at least of the Novatianists (see Cotel., Patr.
Apol., vol. i., p. 91, n. 16) the Church saw the necessity of not
fixing such a yoke on the necks of the laity. The forbiddance of
second marriage, or its assimilation to fornication, was treated as one
of the marks of heresy (Augustin. u. s.; and see also his De
Bono Vid., c. vi.). The sentiment of Augustine (in the last
referred to passage) may be taken to express the Church’s
judgment at the close of the fourth century: “Second
marriages are not to be condemned, but had in less honour,” and
see also Epiphanius, in his Exposition of the Catholic
Faith.
To these remarks of Mr. Ludlow’s, I may add that
St. Ambrose had written (De Viduis, c. xi.), “We do not
prohibit second marriages, but we do not approve marriages frequently
reiterated.” St. Jerome had spoken still more strongly (Ep.
lxvii., Apol. pro libris adv. Jovin.), “I do not condemn
digamists, or even trigamists or, if such a thing can be said,
octagamists.” It does not seem that the penance which was
imposed in the East upon those entering into second nuptials was
imposed in the West. The Corpus Juris Canonici contains
two decretals, one of Alexander III. and another of Urban III.,
forbidding priests to give the nuptial benediction in cases of
reiterated marriage. In the East at second marriages the
benediction of the crown is omitted
and “propitiatory prayers” are to be said. Mr. Ludlow
points out that in the “Sanctions and Decrees,” falsely
attributed to the Council of Nice and found in Mansi (vol. ii., col.
1029) it is expressly stated that widowers and widows may marry, but
that “the blessing of the crowns is not to be imparted to them,
for this is only once given, at first marriages, and is not to be
repeated.…But if one of them be not a widower or widow, let such
one alone receive the benediction with the paranymphs, those whom he
will.” E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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