Polygamy Dispensation after the Paraguayan War

[Illmatic15]

Polygamy is obviously forbidden by the Church since that it doesn’t meet the secondary end of marriage, that is, the unity of the spouses. However, I have heard that St. Thomas Aquinas had taught how polygamy can be permitted by the Church in extraordinary circumstances to meet the primary end of marriage, that is, the reproduction and raising of children, and I have heard from various sources that the Church gave a dispensation to the men of Paraguay to marry more than one wife after the deadly Paraguayan War (aka the War of the Triple Alliance) where I think 60-90% of the country’s male population had died. Can someone please possibly find me some more information on this? Does the Church really have the power to give dispensation for polygamy in these kind of circumstances? If so, was this papal dispensation or a dispensation by the Paraguyan bishops? And I can only imagine Rome knew about this because they have had such a strong presence in Paraguay. Thanks in advance

BQ: I also heard that polygamy was temporarily permitted in Germany after the destruction of the 30 Years War, where people were allowed to marry up to ten wives. Did the Church give a dispensation for this or was this only a political matter?

Pax Christi

 

[Illmatic15]

Forgot to mention, I also heard that the marriages were sacramental. Does this mean that these people were married to multiple partners for the rest of their lives, or were they later allowed to divorce the others to live monogamously?

 

[1ke]

You “heard” a bunch of completely made up nonsense.

 

[Johann_du_Toit]

The Church does not even give dispensations for polygamous marriages here in Africa, where polygamy is the norm in many African tribes. I seriously doubt they would do it in a country like Paraguay, which was/is squarely in the Western cultural/ Catholic religious fold in terms of marriage.

 

[Johann_du_Toit]

The problem of having a lack of males in a particular country, as Paraguay once did, can be resolved by having large families and many children. Not sure if that is practical, but it’s at least reconcilable with Church teaching.

 

[Usige]

I have seen this claim of official dispensation in Paraguay come up from time to time. The quote often points back to some scholar that gives mention to it, but as far as I can tell none of the scholars have ever shown where the supposed dispensation came from, nor do they provide reference to any Church document. The only “evidence” I have ever seen is the suggestion that Paraguay only recognized sacramental marriages at the time so any polygamous marriages after the war must have been approved by the Church. So in essence the claim is that there must have been dispensation to allow the Church to approve the marriages. I have never been able to find anything that says this is actually the case.

To allow a dispensation would mean that a single spouse is Church discipline, rather than rooted in divine law. The council of Trent made Church teaching on polygamy very clear when it declared "f anyone says that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time and that this is not forbidden by any divine law, let him be anathema" (session 24 - cannon 2 on marriage). From that it is obvious that the Church teaches that polygamy is forbiden by divine law. As such I can see no way in which the Church would have been able to officially dispense to allow polygamy.

 

[Illmatic15]

Sorry it took so long to get back to all of you!

The problem of having a lack of males in a particular country, as Paraguay once did, can be resolved by having large families and many children. Not sure if that is practical, but it’s at least reconcilable with Church teaching.

Perhaps, but it seems the reason that this had to extend into polygamy is because the population loss was just THAT bad (around 90% at most). I don’t know for sure but that’s a suggestion. After all, I often here population of the earth cited as one of the reasons that polygamy was allowed in Old Testament times. Afterall, was Jacob violating any divine law when he married Leah and Rachel?
Also, you mentioned how polygamy isn’t even allowed in Africa. All because something is the norm doesn’t give it triumph over divine law, I’m speaking about the possible exemption given by procreative reasons.

 

[Illmatic15]

I have seen this claim of official dispensation in Paraguay come up from time to time. The quote often points back to some scholar that gives mention to it, but as far as I can tell none of the scholars have ever shown where the supposed dispensation came from, nor do they provide reference to any Church document. The only “evidence” I have ever seen is the suggestion that Paraguay only recognized sacramental marriages at the time so any polygamous marriages after the war must have been approved by the Church. So in essence the claim is that there must have been dispensation to allow the Church to approve the marriages. I have never been able to find anything that says this is actually the case.

To allow a dispensation would mean that a single spouse is Church discipline, rather than rooted in divine law. The council of Trent made Church teaching on polygamy very clear when it declared "f anyone says that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time and that this is not forbidden by any divine law, let him be anathema" (session 24 - cannon 2 on marriage). From that it is obvious that the Church teaches that polygamy is forbiden by divine law. As such I can see no way in which the Church would have been able to officially dispense to allow polygamy.

I have seen it in various sources and was also mentioned in a thread on this site, where one member gave some pretty good reasoning in favor of its existence:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=339504
EnchantedEve;5223521:

Actually, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II has already made clear the Church has not the power, even in theory, to ordain women as priests. This is not even a matter of Tradition, but of total lack of power of the sacrament to be conferred on women.

With regard to the Pope, I am pretty confident he would have known. It was no secret and since Pope Leo XIII was able to find out within weeks that Peru had passed civil marriage and licensture laws, which he swiftly condemned, I would be suprised if he had refrained from condemnation in this case, if he felt it was merited. The Paraguay constitution at the time only recognized sacramental marriages and any violation of this would have been duly noted by Rome. Today, the Paraguay constitution has since been amended to ban polygamy.

Again, as St. Thomas noted, the validity of the sacrament is not affected by having more than one spouse, since there is no impediment to the primary end of marriage, the rearing of children. However, the Church has generally opposed polygamy on the grounds that the tertiary end of marriage, the good of the spouses, is difficult if not impossible to establish with multiple wives and therefore an impediment to the good of the interior life of the spouses. Now, the primary purpose of the sacraments is the edification of souls through grace. The primary end of marriage (that which affects its validity) is not violated by polygamy. However, the tertiary end, which relates to the primary purpose of the interior life, would be threatened. This is much like an occasion of sin. It is not sin, but one should still strenously avoid it, that one not fall into sin.

Same applies here. The union of one man and one woman is the form most suited for the edification and growth of souls in marriage. Polygamy, while not invalid, does not assure this and therefore is not permitted. Just as a married man can be validly ordained a priest, the Tradition of the Church strongly indicates in the West, that, given the teachings of Christ and St. Paul on celibacy, the better vehical for the glorification and sanctification of souls is celibacy. This is true despit the fact that marriage is a good and not evil, it simply does not serve the primary ends of the priesthood as well as celibacy, and is therefore not permitted.

Hope this makes sense! And, you are correct, the Easterns do not permit the practice either, for the same reasons as the West.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I think that this worth reading for this thread.
And while it is against divine law to have more than one spouse, I think that an exemption can be made in certain circumstances, just like how the Patriarchs and Israelites were allowed to practice polygamy. After all, Exodus 21:10 makes it clear that polygyny was once allowed under the Law (If he takes another wife, he shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.) Same with divorce: It is against divine law, but natural marriages can still be dissolved for the baptized partner to marry in favor of the faith.

Also, any word on the Thirty Years War question?

 

[Nelka]

What if a man has two wives and then all three want to become Catholic, does he keep both or just the first one he married? What if he married them at the same ceremony, would he have to choose?

 

[1ke]

What if a man has two wives and then all three want to become Catholic, does he keep both or just the first one he married? What if he married them at the same ceremony, would he have to choose?

Can. 1148 §1. When he receives baptism in the Catholic Church, a non-baptized man who has several non-baptized wives at the same time can retain one of them after the others have been dismissed, if it is hard for him to remain with the first one. The same is valid for a non-baptized woman who has several non-baptized husbands at the same time.

§2. In the cases mentioned in §1, marriage must be contracted in legitimate form after baptism has been received, and the prescripts about mixed marriages, if necessary, and other matters required by the law are to be observed.

§3. Keeping in mind the moral, social, and economic conditions of places and of persons, the local ordinary is to take care that the needs of the first wife and the others dismissed are sufficiently provided for according to the norms of justice, Christian charity, and natural equity.

 

[1ke]

And while it is against divine law to have more than one spouse, I think that an exemption can be made in certain circumstances,

This is not correct. There was NO such dispensation give in Paraguay or anywhere else.

Also, any word on the Thirty Years War question?

There is no such thing as a dispensation for polygamy.

 

[Reepicheep]

Polygamy is obviously forbidden by the Church since that it doesn’t meet the secondary end of marriage, that is, the unity of the spouses. However, I have heard that St. Thomas Aquinas had taught how polygamy can be permitted by the Church in extraordinary circumstances to meet the primary end of marriage, that is, the reproduction and raising of children, and I have heard from various sources that the Church gave a dispensation to the men of Paraguay to marry more than one wife after the deadly Paraguayan War (aka the War of the Triple Alliance) where I think 60-90% of the country’s male population had died. Can someone please possibly find me some more information on this? Does the Church really have the power to give dispensation for polygamy in these kind of circumstances? If so, was this papal dispensation or a dispensation by the Paraguyan bishops? And I can only imagine Rome knew about this because they have had such a strong presence in Paraguay. Thanks in advance

BQ: I also heard that polygamy was temporarily permitted in Germany after the destruction of the 30 Years War, where people were allowed to marry up to ten wives. Did the Church give a dispensation for this or was this only a political matter?

Pax Christi

…And the Church condones child molestation by priests, and we worship Mary as a goddess, and we allow husbands to beat their wives, and every parish contains a registry of local Protestants so that we will know who to murder come the revolution, and the statues in church buildings are all idols, and we get drunk on all the wine we drink at Communion, and priests use what they learn in Confession to blackmail the faithful, and the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon because priestly vestments are sometimes red and purple and gold, and there was once a woman Pope named Joan, and, and, and….

Endless are the lies told against Holy Church. This is merely one such lie.

 

[Illmatic15]

This is not correct. There was NO such dispensation give in Paraguay or anywhere else.

There is no such thing as a dispensation for polygamy.

Would you mind showing evidence that there wasn’t such a dispensation? It is obviously against canon law, but so are cousin marriages. Despite that, dispensations for cousin marriages seem pretty easy to get. I will admit that, unlike polygamy, cousin marriages are not against divine law though.

Also, I have read of a case where Pope Julius III granted Sayri Túpac, an Incan ruler, a special dispensation to marry his sister. Is this actually true? And don’t immediately dismiss it because it is against divine law, because ive seen this come up in many places. You should be able to get a number of sources through a google search on the topic

Peace

 

[Illmatic15]

…And the Church condones child molestation by priests, and we worship Mary as a goddess, and we allow husbands to beat their wives, and every parish contains a registry of local Protestants so that we will know who to murder come the revolution, and the statues in church buildings are all idols, and we get drunk on all the wine we drink at Communion, and priests use what they learn in Confession to blackmail the faithful, and the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon because priestly vestments are sometimes red and purple and gold, and there was once a woman Pope named Joan, and, and, and….

Endless are the lies told against Holy Church. This is merely one such lie.

I realize it is possible that the polygamy dispensation is a lie, but can we at least take a look at it before putting it down?

 

[1ke]

Would you mind showing evidence that there wasn’t such a dispensation?

It’s up to YOU to prove the existence of such dispensations, not up to me to prove their non-existence.

It is obviously against canon law, but so are cousin marriages. Despite that, dispensations for cousin marriages seem pretty easy to get. I will admit that, unlike polygamy, cousin marriages are not against divine law though.

Correct, not against divine law. And, dispensation for consanguinity is IN the law. So these are not comparable. The law says consanguinity to X degree is prohibited UNLESS you have a dispensation… Not so for polygamy. The dispensation for consanguinity is within the law, not outside the law.

Also, I have read of a case where Pope Julius III granted Sayri Túpac, an Incan ruler, a special dispensation to marry his sister. Is this actually true?

I think the burden is on you to prove it is. You are the one digging up alleged polygamous and sibling marriages that were “supposedly” granted by various popes for which absolutely NO evidence exists.

You can write to the Vatican and ask them. The congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments or the Rota should be able to tell you.

And don’t immediately dismiss it because it is against divine law, because ive seen this come up in many places.

Sibling marriage isn’t against divine law. It’s in the collateral line. Marriage against the divine law is in the direct line.

You should be able to get a number of sources through a google search on the topic

I don’t believe it’s up to me to do your work for you.

You asserted this nonsense, prove it is true or disavow it.

 

[1ke]

You should be able to get a number of sources through a google search on the topic

I’m not understanding why you didn’t at least attempt to do some research on your own.

A simple Google search reveals this Inca ruler received baptism in 1559, four years after Pope Julius III died. So, no, he did not receive a dispensation to marry his sister from Pope Julius III.

 

[Michael_Francis]

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