QUAS VESTRO (On Mixed Marriages)
Pope
Gregory XVI
Encyclical of
Pope Gregory XVI on Mixed Marriages 30 April 1841
To the Prelates of
Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic
Blessing.
The letter from you and the bishops of your
country which Joseph, the bishop of Csamad delivered
has caused Us both sorrow and joy. Since We must diligently safeguard the
integrity of sound doctrine and practice, We cannot help but be displeased with
whatever might imperil them. And yet what the church has always thought about
marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics is more than abundantly clear.
Indeed she has always considered such marriages to be illicit and destructive
both because of the disgraceful sharing in sacramental matters involved and
because of the ever present danger of the Catholic spouse and improper
upbringing of offspring. And this is the tenor of most ancient canons severely
prohibiting such marriages and more recent sanctions of supreme pontiffs. What
Benedict XIV says about such marriages in his encyclical to the bishops of
2. Thus, from your letter We
learn that in your dioceses an abuse has become common: namely, that marriages
between Catholics and non-Catholics, without any previous dispensation from the
Church and without necessary precautions, are dignified with priestly blessing
and sacramental rites. It must be clear to you how deeply We are affected by
this, especially since We perceive that once this license with regard to mixed
marriages was introduced, it became widely disseminated. This in turn resulted
in a rapidly spreading deadly indifference toward religion in your great
kingdom, once so preeminent in the glory of the Catholic faith. Let us not be
mistaken: We would scarcely have overlooked this practice if it had been known
to Us earlier. This was the reason for Our silence. In the past the Apostolic
See granted no dispensation whatsoever for entering such mixed marriages
without the necessary preliminary conditions and without the customary
regulations.
3. Nevertheless, it is no small consolation
that at the same time as We were informed of this growing evil, We have
likewise learned of your efforts and those of your colleagues to remedy it
opportunely. We are joyful to learn with what zeal you are jointly inflamed to
preserve intact the purity of the Catholic faith and with what reverence and
devotion you support the Apostolic See, the leader and teacher of truth, which
entrusted the exercise of the pastoral office to you. For when you realized
that this practice, which had grown strong, was totally adverse to the laws and
principles of the Church and therefore could no longer be tolerated without
grave danger, you did not hesitate to insist on its removal and were fully
prepared, if necessary, to endure danger for the sake of your eternal salvation
and that of your flock. And completing Our joy are the abundant fruits which
have emanated from your concern. Nor are we ignorant of how your pastors and
other clergy have faithfully complied with your orders so that this
illegitimate custom has been suppressed in many places out of regard for the
ancient discipline of the sacred canons. And so we congratulate you all the
more, venerable brothers, and render thanks to God who has endowed you with
courage for the protection of the faith and its sacred teaching. We do not
desist from exhorting you to continue to espouse the cause of the Church lest
this evil usage ever revive, and that if any traces of it remain, it be totally
eradicated.
4. Meanwhile We have not failed to pay careful
attention to your letter in which you point out that sometimes a Catholic,
despite his pastor's persuasion and exhortation to the contrary, persists in
the intention of undertaking such a mixed marriage without the necessary
precautions. You suggest that if the matter cannot be prevented without greater
danger to the Catholic religion, the pastor be present at the marriage in a
passive fashion only, abstaining completely from all religious rites and any
other sign of approval. By way of precaution, you decided that such a serious
matter should be brought to Our attention at once, in order to secure Our
assent. And, indeed, We, who otherwise are intent on properly preserving intact
the most holy doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church, will aid you in
view of the calamitous circumstances of your region and the difficulties for
you arising from them, by approving of the arrangement undertaken by your
counsel and by agreeing that your petition should be conceded.
5. We do this in keeping with what We permitted
some time ago, following the example of Our predecessors, with regard to
regions of other countries and with regard to what Pius VI declared on several
occasions for one of the dioceses of
6. Sometimes because of conditions of time,
person, or place, the marriage of a non-Catholic to a Catholic without the
precautions prescribed by the Church cannot be prevented without danger of
greater evil or scandal to the detriment of religion. Pius VII in the
above-mentioned letter to the archbishop of Mainz judged that it can tend to
the benefit of the Church and the common good if marriages of this nature,
although forbidden and illicit, be celebrated before a Catholic pastor rather
than before a heretical minister to whom the parties could easily have
recourse. On such occasions the Catholic pastor, or any other priest with his
delegation, can be present at these marriages in a merely physical manner,
without benefit of any sort of ecclesiastical rite. He could act merely as a
qualified, as they say, or authorizing, witness; having heard the consent of
both spouses, he may afterwards in accord with his office enter the act as
valid in the matrimonial records.
7. Nevertheless, in these circumstances, as Our
same predecessor aptly commends, bishops and pastors must zealously take
precautions that the danger of perversion on the part of the Catholic party, as
far as possible, be removed; that care be taken for the education of offspring
of both sexes in the Catholic religion; and that the Catholic spouse be
seriously admonished of the obligation by which he is bound to procure, as best
as he can, the conversion of the non-Catholic spouse, which will be the best
means for more easily obtaining pardon from God for the sins he has committed.
8. We grieve that this type of toleration is
necessary in a kingdom so outstanding in the profession of the Catholic faith.
We are compelled to this expedient to prevent more serious damage to the
Catholic Church. Therefore, We beseech you and all your colleagues that in such
a serious matter, having first implored that inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
you strive to carry out what you truly judge to correspond to this end. Also
see that such toleration towards mixed marriages does not extinguish the memory
of the canons execrating such marriages as well as of the constant care of the
Church to prevent her children from entering into such marriages to the loss of
their souls. It will be your task and that of your fellow bishops and pastors
in educating these faithful either privately or publicly to zealously recount
the teaching and laws pertaining to such marriages and to enjoin their strict
observance. In the assurance that you will carry out all these instructions
because of your proven observation, faith, and reverence for this chair of
blessed Peter, We lovingly impart as a guarantee of heavenly aid and witness of
Our paternal affection the apostolic blessing to you and all your colleagues to
be communicated to the proper flocks of each.
Given in