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Father,

I have just read on a blog that the German theologian Hünermann, almost the same age as the Pope Emeritus, in a study submitted for examination by the reigning Pope, three years ago argued that in Catholic theology prior to the Tridentine, especially in Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, the sacramentality of marriage was not an absolute. How are things really? Can the opinion of the theologian Hünermann be considered historically founded or not?

Warm regards.

Alessandro


Dear Alessandro,

1. It should be remembered as a general premise that the term sacrament – which means sacred sign – has an analogical meaning. This is equivalent to saying that it is applied to many realities, but not in the same way or in the same intensity. So this word is applied to Christ, who is defined as the sacrament of man’s encounter with God. Or it generally indicated something sacred, such as creation. In this sense, St. Thomas says that: “visible creatures mean something sacred, that is, divine wisdom and goodness as sacred in themselves, not in as much as they sanctify us” (Summary of Theology, III, 62, 2 ad 1). Or they can designate the seven sacraments, intended as effective signs of grace.

2. Well, in the first Christian millennium, marriage has always been considered a good, indeed sacred, reality. The Holy Fathers defended its divine and natural institution, referring to Christ’s declaration: man must not separate what God has joined. St. Augustine exalts its three goods: those linked to offspring, fidelity and indissolubility. In this respect, some said that marriage made by Christians as well as that stipulated by non-Christians is a sacrament – a sacred sign. This is the reason why Innocent III e Honorius III, popes of the thirteenth century, affirmed that ‘the sacrament of marriage exists among the faithful and infidels’”. These Popes referred to what Peter Lombard had said: “While the other sacraments originated after sin and for sin, the sacrament of marriage was instituted by the Lord before sin” (Sentences, IV, distin. 26).

3. The Holy Fathers (first millennium) considered marriage as a good reality, a sacred sign, on which the blessing of God is spread. When they speak of it as a Sacrament, however, they give it more the value of the sacramental than that of the Sacrament. The sacramentals are those realities that are blessed, such as water, to keep the devil away and enjoy a blessing or divine favour. The sacraments, on the other hand, are realities that not only mean something sacred, but also they cause it and communicate it.

4. St. Albert the Great in the thirteenth century refers to the various theses that circulated in this regard at his time. Some said that marriage did not confer any grace, but was a sign of a saving reality, that is, of Christ’s love for the Church. Others admitted a certain gift of grace in that it gives a mitigation of concupiscence in favour of the three goods of marriage. Finally, others affirmed that a grace in a positive sense was also given. Saint Bonaventure and Alexander of Hales considered this third opinion as very probable (“multus probabilis”). Even St. Albert sustained this third position.

5. Instead, St. Thomas decisively considers marriage as a true and effective sacrament. In question 65, 1 from the third part of the Summary of Theology, it asks whether the sacraments must be seven. And he answers that yes, they are seven including marriage. Coming to our topic, he writes: “With respect to the community, man improves himself in two ways. First, by attaining the power to govern others and to perform public acts. And in the life of the spirit the sacrament of order corresponds to this; because, as St. Paul says, “priests offer sacrifices not only for themselves, but also for the people”. Second, with the propagation of the species. And this happens through marriage, both for corporal and spiritual life; because it is not only a sacrament, but also an office of nature. From this the number of sacraments is justified, even under the aspect of remedies against the miseries of sin. Baptism in fact is against the absence of the spiritual life; confirmation against the spiritual weakness found in neophytes; the Eucharist against the weakness of the soul with respect to sin; penance against actual sin committed after baptism; extreme unction against the dross of sins not completely removed by penance, or through neglect, or ignorance; the order against the dissolution of the community; marriage against personal concupiscence and against the gaps that death opens up in society” (Summary of Theology, III, 65, 1).

6. Shortly before, he had explicitly said: “The sacraments of the new law cause grace: they are in fact used by divine disposition to produce grace. Hence the words of St. Augustine: “All these things”, that is the sacramental rites, “are done and passed away, but the virtue” of God “who works in them remains forever”” (Summary of Theology, III, 62,1).

7. The doctrine of St. Thomas will still encounter some resistance. But in fact it will soon become common domain, so much so that the Council of Trent will have no difficulty in consecrating this truth with a dogmatic definition. Therefore Hünermann was precise about this.

I remind you to the Lord and I bless you.

Father Angelo


Translated by Rossella Silvestri