Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-30
BISHOP READS
PAPAL DECREE
RT. REV. THOMAS J. coNATY
breaches ON MARRIAGE
DISCUSSES RITES IN EARLIER
TIMES
Explains That the Church Has Main
talned Legislative and Judicial
Power Over the Cere-
mony

terday morning at the Cathedral of st.
Vibiana in a series of Lenten sermons.
1he recent papal decree on marriage
was read.
Bishop Conaty said in part:
In all the problems which society
has presented to it for it's considera
ton, one of the most vital is that of
marriage. 1t is the life spring of So
ciety. Whatever of corruption enters
irto or touches it has its far-reaching
effects in society. Marriage makes the
home, it protects, safeguards and en-
mobiles the home and makes possible the
| blessings that come to mankind in re-
| ligion and civilization. Whatever in
terferes with home life is an injury tu
society. Marriage is the bulwark OF
! the home. AS it is protected in the
purposes for which God established 1t
so is society blessed. Some people in
weigh against marriage and would re-
| duce it to the most commonplace OF
civil contracts to be set aside at will
or flagrantly disregarded. Others treat
| it as a joke or a source of sensual
pleasure. Nevertheless, it seems hard
to understand how any one can read
the story of mankind without recogniz-
ing the solemnity of the marriage con-
tract as fundamental to morality and
social life. Religion shows the han
of God writing upon the lives of men
the blessing of the divine Creator VIII }
in marriage gave woman to man as
his companion, and not his toy nor his
slave, and blessed the union, sealing it
with unity and perpetuity.
Customs Among Jews
1--WE know how marriage became
corrupted among the heather and that
oy1or tho TaWc ctranpo customs
were introduced which resulted in a
Mosaic permission which opened the
way to divorce. Christ came to bring
rnen back to the commandments, to
heal the wounds of sin and to lead men
to the light of the children Of God. One
of his first efforts was directed toward
marriage that the true nature and
origin of marriage might be recalled 10
men, that honor might come to woman,
as wife, and that beyond the power or
the state there was the divine author
ity which alone could by its law ard
grace prevent man from running
headlong into sensuality and hceh-
tiouSneSs.
"Christ came to perfect the old law,
to ennoble our human nature and to re-
establish the true lines of home and So
ciety by recalling man to a sense or the
honor and dignity of marriage. His
presence at the marriage feast in Cana
of Galilee. where his first miracle was
wrought. his condemnation of the GUS
toms of the Jews in the plurality of
wives and the power of divorce, and
finally his strict commandment that no
man should rend asunder that which
God had bound together in the sacred-
ness of marriage-all show us the de-
sire of Christ to apply remedy to the
evils of society and to heal the great
wound which had been inflicted upon
the home.
Raised It to Dignity
Christ took the national marriage
contract and raised it to the dignity
of a sacrament SO that to the Christian
the marriage contract is the sacrament.
He established it as sacrament that
the power of Gods grace might enable
the married couple to reach to holi-
ness: he dignified marriage by holding
it as an example of the mystical union
between himself and the church, and
he bound the natural union of men
and women in marriage with the bond
of heavenly love in the grace of the
sacrament.
Marriage is a pure and simple con-
tract. but 1t is the most extraordinary
of contracts, for by 1t men and women
give themselves to each other, uniting
mind and heart and becoming, accord
ing to the words of God, Two in olfe.
The essential part of marriage is not In
the contract, but 1t is rather in the
union, the bond which results from the
perfect mutual consent, binding them
together in one common life. Leo XIII
says: Marriage is holy in it's first insti-
tuition; it is so by it's own strength and
nature and of itself Nature made
marriage a holy thing; Christ made it
a sacrament.
"Civilized nations have always been
impressed with the sanctity of the mar
riage tie and great religious ceremony
has surrounded it, and the authority of
religion has sanctioned 1t. Marriage
had for it's aim and purpose the propa-
cation of the human race; it has had
added to this the bringing forth of
children for the church, as ST. Paul
says, Fellow citizens, with the saints
and ministers of God. From the apos-
ties we learn the character of Christian
marriage as taught by them with the
authority of Christ. We see the unity
and indiSsolubility as essential condi-
tions. and we are told that for these
reasons marriage is a great sacrament
and is reverenced as a symbol of the
highest mysteries.
Entrusted to Church
Christ, in committing to his church
the salvation of mankind, placed in her
keeping the sacraments which he had
established; he entrusted to his church
the discipline necessary to safeguard
the interests of his people, and decreed
such discipline as would be necessary
in order that his work might be sue
cessfully accomplished. Prominent in
that discipline is the law regarding
marriage. The council of Jerusalem
placed it's condemnation upon licen-
tiousness and free love, and st. Paul
cast out the incestuous Corinthian. The
history of the early Christian church is
full of illustrations OF the defense made
by the church against the various sects
whose doctrines were antagonistic to
the ideas of Christian marriage. How
faithfully she has defended the mar
riage tie the history of the Christian
world bears testimony,
Authority over Marriage
"From the very beginning and dur
ing all the days of Christianity the
church has maintained the legislative
and judicial authority over the mar
riage tie and has resisted with all her
power the usurpation of any right over
the marriage bond by any civil power
because she has regarded marriage as
a sacrament and to her has been con-
fided the sacred deposit of truth in
doctrine and of the sacraments in
grace. She has left to the civil power
marriage state and to enact laws for
its protection, but at least as far as
her children are concerned she has
x,o.,o,. .r;o11od 20 tho state tI,a a,kbor-