Affinity marriage

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Adeline

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According to Catholic law, can I marry my sister-in-law’s cousin? I want to marry my brother’s wife’s cousin. I believe this is not considered incest in the secular understanding, but what about the Catholic understanding of marriage? Please help.
 
No, not yet. I have a meeting set up to discuss marriage. I never thought it would be a problem until I read in the catechism “incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws…”
 
I suggest you wait for his answer then. Strangers on the internet are probably not qualified to say whether it does or not.
 
Ok. Sorry to press. I’m just really upset by the possibility my fiance and I may not be able to get married!!!
 
we could get married outside the church. But that doesn’t seem like a real option for me.
 
Consanguinity is going to be relationship by blood. Affinity is relationship by marriage, as you pointed out.

A lot will depend on your country’s local laws. In Ireland, for example, a quick search shows that–
You may not marry your:
  • Grandfather’s or grandmother’s spouse (step-grandmother or step-grandfather)
  • Father’s or mother’s spouse (stepmother or stepfather)
  • Father’s brother’s or sister’s spouse
  • Mother’s brother’s or sister’s spouse
  • Son’s or daughter’s spouse
  • Son’s son’s or daughter’s spouse
  • Daughter’s son’s or daughter’s spouse
  • Brother’s son’s or daughter’s spouse
  • Sister’s son’s or daughter’s spouse
  • Spouse’s grandmother (grandmother-in-law) or grandfather (grandfather-in-law)
  • Spouse’s mother (mother-in-law) or father (father-in-law)
  • Spouse’s father’s sister or brother
  • Spouse’s mother’s sister or brother
  • Spouse’s daughter (stepdaughter) or son (stepson)
  • Spouse’s son’s son or daughter
  • Spouse’s daughter’s son or daughter
  • Spouse’s brother’s son or daughter
  • Spouse’s sister’s son or daughter
Click to expand...
I would expect Ireland to be roughly aligned with any Catholic restrictions on affinity… but I’d check with an attorney and a priest to be sure.
 
It doesn’t sound to me like this is a relative or an in law to you.
However, ask your priest.
 
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Laws on affinity seem to apply to a widow or widower remarrying someone related to to their deceased spouse.
 
For the most part, I agree.

Looking around a little more, I’m seeing–
The Council of Trent (1545-1563) limited the impediment to marriage on account of affinity in cases when the affinity is created out of marriage (e.g., by force or extra-matrimonial intercourse) to the second degree of affinity.
Click to expand...
So, looking up what the second degree of affinity is–
Two people are related by affinity if they are married to each other, or if one person is related by consanguinity to the other person’s spouse. Example: Person A is related within the second degree of affinity to the brother of person A’s spouse because the brother and the spouse are related by consanguinity.
Click to expand...
So it looks like you couldn’t marry your sister-in-law’s sibling, but your sister-in-law’s cousin is… third degree of affinity?

Here’s a handy-dandy chart from Nevada that spells out consanguinity and affinity relationships.

So they’re saying that your sister-in-law’s first cousin is a fourth degree of affinity… third would have been uncles/aunts/nephews/nieces.
 
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That Council of Trent stuff was probably changed by the more recent canon law change. See link I posted above.

The person just needs to ask her priest and be done with it.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Based on this, it sounds like you’re probably fine, but please speak to your priest to make absolutely sure.

http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2013/12/05/can-in-laws-marry-in-the-church/
Click to expand...
Fascinating stuff. I had no idea that affinity was even a consideration in marriage eligibility.

My mom’s brother married my dad’s sister a few years before my parents got married. I think my aunt and uncle’s marriage is actually how my parents met. Those five cousins (their children) have the same grandparents as my brother and I. So this whole “affinity” thing just seems completely odd to me.

The OP definitely needs to speak with a priest about this.
 
In pre-modern times, a lot of people in small villages were related several different ways, so there was more concern about affinity.

Similarly, the relationship of godparents and godchildren, or of wetnurse and milk-child, used to be very close and involved. So you didn’t marry your godfather or his kids, because they were like your actual father and siblings (“godsibs”) to you. Your wetnurse’s other kids were your milkbrothers and milksisters.

But when society changed and the gene pool got bigger, these relationships stopped being so close.
 
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