Minimum age required for valid marriage

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TheLittleLady said:
The extend childhood we know is not the norm across the world and across time.
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Very true. I’ve known 14 year olds that grew up working their grandparents ranch that were more mature than many people I’ve meet in their early 20s.

Translate that back a couple hundred years into a primarily agrarian society and I suspect many “kids” in their midteens back then were as ready, if not more, than many “adults” today who are left in an extended childhood. Too many link age to maturity as if a date on a calendar imparts (or precludes) an individual’s ability to make informed decisions.
 
Biologically speaking, though. Brains are still developing and hence we usually argue that’s why they can’t consent to sex.

Now that we know what we know, I can’t wrap my head around arranging your 10 year old’s marriage.
 
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Not everyone is of the opinion that romance is the foundation of marriage, marriage at times has been more significant as a political or as a financial protection.

You have a son, I have a daughter. We have common goals and ideals, we decide that our children will marry when they are of age. These children do not grow up thinking “I will find my soul mate and get married”, for them, they grow up knowing they will marry the person selected for them.

 
I know that romance isn’t a factor in those marriages, but I can’t help but feel like it has to be somewhat necessary given the Catholic vows.

To be honest, I would not say that a child can have an informed opinion if they were raised up being told they were going to marry that guy over there. Throw in the sex they’re expected to have…I’m really blessed to be living where I am.

Arranged marriages do happen here in some Muslim and Hindu families. Although it seems a lot more humane. Adults ask their parents to matchmake them. If they like what they see, they arrange for a controlled date/meeting. If they continue to enjoy the company of the other person, an engagement is made and they can start dating. I notice this is similar in the link you sent. As for how child marriages/arrangements were made, I think it’s different.

Usually the cultures that marry their children off at a young age (usually young girls to men) tend to have other problems that make this arrangement terrible. Misogyny/violence for instance.
Hence the concept of child marriage is seen as something to be stopped. Which I do agree with, tbh. At least in our countries.
 
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Lea101 said:
Usually the cultures that marry their children off at a young age (usually young girls to men) tend to have other problems that make this arrangement terrible.
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Is it better in the USA where the civil divorce rate and the Roman Catholic marriage annulment rates are quite high?
 
In medieval times, it was much more common to share marriage as an alliance between families or businesses than just an alliance of two people. Arranging a marriage was like applying to get a kid into a.good school. Dowry or brideprice payments were much the same as buying your kid an apprenticeship. You were setting your kid, boy or girl, up in the world, making him or her secure in job and family, with a good chance to have kids before he or she died. Love marriages were seen as a bit weird, although nice if they also worked out. But the time to fall in love with your spouse was after your marriage.
 
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AlNg said:
However, I noticed that in 1493, the Pope had his daughter marry at age thirteen. Why was the daughter of the Pope allowed to marry at such a young age?
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Sorry but even though I studied history in college, I’m still stuck on the fact that we are discussing the Pope’s daughter…
 
Chamberlain’s “The Bad Popes” is a must read.
 
It’s amusing that the Pope we’re discussing in this thread, Alexander VI (a Borgia), who admitted fathering several children by mistresses, was described by two of his successors (Sixtus V and Urban VIII) as one of the most outstanding Popes since St. Peter.

Also that he made a lot of moral reforms of the bishopric and clergy while he was serving as Pope.
 
That book, with these accounts, is what gives me great hope that God can even use a sinner like me!!
 
AlNg said:
Is it OK today for Catholic parents to set up matrimonial arrangements for their 10 year old daughters?
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No, because current Canon Law says a wife must have completed 14 yrs. Today, parents could choose to allow their daughters to marry at age 15.
 
Dear friends in Christ:

Before the advent of modern medicine, the human lifespan was much shorter. Imagine the 14th century, when Black Death killed between 30 percent to 50 percent of Europe’s population. If young people didn’t marry earlier and have lots of children, Europe would have lost marry more people.

God bless you all.
 
JanetF said:
Sorry but even though I studied history in college, I’m still stuck on the fact that we are discussing the Pope’s daughter…
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What books did you read for your history course? Was it a general course or did you study the history of the church? Did you spend much time on the factors leading up to the Protestant Reformation?
For a general historical overview, you might like the ten volume Story of Civilization by Amy and Will Durant. If you are focusing on church history, A history of Christianity by Kenneth Scott Latourette has been given excellent ratings and reviews by Amazon readers.
 
I majored in History in college, graduated in '92, attended a Jesuit university to there was heavy emphasis on the Church’s role in Western Civ. I only mentioned that, because even though I’m well versed in the history of the church, the fact that the first post mentioned the pope’s daughter caused a double take.

Thanks for the reading suggestions, I’m always looking for good history books to add to my collection.
 
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