Affinity marriage

  • Thread starter Thread starter Adeline
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Of course it is fine - the cousin is not related to you in any way at all. I actually married a first cousin of my own in a Catholic ceremony, never mind the random relative of an unrelated in law. It would be nonsense to suggest you could have married this man if you had happened to meet him before your brother married, but that he somehow became off limits because your brother beat you to the altar.
 
Last edited:
I’ve seen two bothers marry two sisters in my time so I don’t see why you couldn’t marry your sister-in-law’s cousin.

Even first cousins by blood can marry with a dispensation for consanguinity. I’m the result of such a dispensation. 😀
 
I just asked my priest. He isn’t sure if the marriage can take place or not! He has to check and get back to me!!!
 
It’s better that he errs on the side of caution and finds out first rather than assuming it is and then you find out 20 years later it isn’t.
 
My grandfather married his brother’s wife’s sister. Two brothers married two sisters. It was a non-issue.
 
According to Catholic law, can I marry my sister-in-law’s cousin?
Yes, you can. Affinity does not beget affinity. This means you are not related to your sister-in-law’s family and vice versa.

The current code of canon law prohibits marriage into one’s in-law’s family only in the direct line. There is no impediment in the collateral line. This applies only to the man/woman who marry each other and those that become their in-laws. So a widower or widow could not marry a mother/father-in-law, without dispensation.

Can. 109 §1. Affinity arises from a valid marriage, even if not consummated, and exists between a man and the blood relatives of the woman and between the woman and the blood relatives of the man.

§2. It is so computed that those who are blood relatives of the man are related in the same line and degree by affinity to the woman, and vice versa.

Can. 1092 Affinity in the direct line in any degree invalidates a marriage.
 
This doesn’t look like there would be a problem, however if there might be it doesn’t appear that it is anything that could not be resolved with a dispensation. You really need to talk to your priest.
 
If you need someone to quality check the bartender, I can probably find some volunteers. 🤓
 
i don’t know, but dispensations for affinity were very very common through Catholic history! i found a lot of ask for dispensations in XIXth century archives.

note/ my greats grands parents were first cousins! ang had a Church marriage in 1920!
 
Last edited:
i don’t know, but dispensations for affinity were very very common through Catholic history! i found a lot of ask for dispensations in XIXth century archives.

note/ my greats grands parents were first cousins! ang had a Church marriage in 1920!
My parents were first cousins (her mom and his dad were half siblings) who obtained a dispensation and married in 1952. Dad told me that the Bishop initially denied the request, he didn’t know why, but that their Pastor went to bat for them and eventually the Bishop changed his mind.

Mom was born with bilateral dislocated hip, something that was never corrected. I’ve always thought that that was the reason for the first refusal. None of us has any congenital problems.
 
Last edited:
For the sake of other readers, I’ll point out that one must have a dispensation from the bishop to marry one’s first cousin.
 
My father’s brother married my mother’s sister, the celebrant being a Bishop.
We call our resultant cousins “double cousins”.
Among my numerous nephews and nieces, one set married in the Church.
The harder thing was to become accustomed to the idea of one of my brothers’ sons marrying one of my sisters’ daughters, although we knew for certain that each married an amazing person, and the marriage is one of the happiest.
 
Well, my brother married his brother’s wife’s sister in the Church. And I know of three or 4 other siblings who married siblings. So I assume marrying your brother’s wife’s cousin is certainly ok.

Talk to a priest, but I am almost positive it’s ok.
 
You are not related, so it´s not incest?
However, I´m not aware of what the Catechism states.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top