The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-01-14

that the marriage had never been con-
summated.' Those who are best ac-
quaintcd with the ordinary procedure of
such cases know we'll the scrupulous
care, the searching inquiry and the
elaborate provisions which. according to
the constitutions OF Benedict XIV, the
Holy See brings to their investigation
and solution. Finally, on the strength
of the proofs that the marriage remained
unconsummated, the Pope, on the advice
of the congregation, granted the usual
dispCnsation dissolving the marriage as
ratum sen non consummatum. AS tho
authority of the church herself had thus
set the lady free from the marriage cere-
monially contracted, it only remained for
her to legalizc the effect of this decision
so far as the civil law is concerned, and
this was done by taking proceedings in
the ordinary divorce court. Such re-
course for mere legaization of decis-
ion already pronounced by the highest
church authority does not, OF course,
mean any recognition of the secular di-
vorce court or of the principle of di-
rorce. Ii is nothing more than a con-
vcnient method Of removing the obsta-
cles which the civil law might place in
the way of giving full effect TO the Papal
decision.
THE CASE OF HENRY VIII.
"A writer in the Daily Chronicle, in
commenting on the case, permits him
self ancnt the pope's dispensation the
marvellous observation that Henry VIII.
would have given half a kingdom for
that That is a fair illustration of what
we have described as the lack in certain
quarters of knowledge OF the ordinary
Catholic teaching, and what is cxcusa-
blc,a readiness to draw conclusions quite
rs light -heartedly as If that knowledge
was not wanting. Every canonist and
theoloeian knows that had Henry VIII.
been able to prove that his marriage
with Catherine of Arragon had never
been consummated Che had lived with
her 20 years and had several children)
there would really have been no diff
Guilty whatever in granting the petition
prcsuming, OF course, that he had just
and sufficient reasons to support ii, and
there would have been no need to give
either a half or any portion Of his king
dom for the purpose. Had the writer In
the Daily Chronicle studied even CURSOR
lily the divorce documents and the argyll
mcnts at the time, he would not have
failed to find for himself the utter ir-
relevancy of his comparison. On the
other hand, a glance at the records Of
the Roman chancery would have shown
him that the dissolution of marriage rat
flied, but not consummated- matrimonial
rata scd non consunlmata-w were an or
tlinary item of procedure of the Roman
court more than century before Henry
WILL, and dating as far back as the
days of Martin V. or earlier pontiffs. 1t
Is needless to shy that such wise md
provident dspensations of the Vicar OF
Christ can never by their nature and
import impair for II moment the sacred
character Of marriage which the church
and the Holy See has so deeply at heart
to defend and maintain, and that they
serve, if anything, to set in clearer re-
lief the sacred seal of irrcvOcable in
dissolubiity founded on divine and i'm
mutablc law which the church declares
and defines to attach to the bond of
ratified and consummated matrimony"