Well, in St. Augustine’s On the Good of Marriage (an ironically named document if ever there was one!) he says it would be better if no one married because the world would end sooner, and that there are fewer people who are living chaste lives as married couples than as singles. He also said that the desire for children is a sign of spiritual immaturity.
I don’t have time now to find the exact quotes, but I can if you insist.
No, okay, that is good enough for me. I get the gist.
Let’s actually look at it in a scriptural context, okay?
Our Lord himself weighs in on marriage in Matthew 19.
3] And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”
4] He answered, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
5] and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6] So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
7] They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8] He said to them, “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9] And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.”
10] The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”
11] But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.
12] For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”
Now, look at what the disciples pick up on in verse 10 “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” and then note that Our Lord straight up affirms that, but points out that not everyone can hack it. So…in reality, Our Lord tells us that a celibate life for the sake of the Kingdom of God is a good thing.
However, notice what He does not say. He does not tell us that marriage is evil or sinful.
Now, consider what Augustine means and the fact of his own messed up non marital relationship and all the complicated grief that caused his girlfriend and son.
Certainly, according to both Our Lord and St. Paul it would be best not to marry. St. Paul covers this extensively in
1st Corinthians 7.
I would especially point out the following passage.
32] I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
33] but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife,
34] and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband.
35] I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
And I think this is what both Augustine and Jerome are reiterating in their own ways.
St. Jerome also wrote that St. Paul allowed marriage among Christians as a concession; permitting a lesser evil (marriage) in order to prevent a larger evil (fornication.)
And you can see that in the above cited chapter of 1st Corinthians.
Obviously, all of these ideas are repugnant to the Reformers and to many modern day Catholics. The modern day Catholics who hold that marriage is a positive good (and not a necessary evil) have the Reformers to thank for that.
I think you give the reformers et al too much credit and too little to Augustine and Jerome and the Catholic Church because if you take all this in the context it is offered, both in scripture and in the writings of these 2 doctors of the Church, you find that the Catholic Church actually teaches the scriptural position. That it is not a sin to marry, but that celibacy for the Kingdom of God is the ideal. But both vocations are the best good for those who are called to them. No matter what we are doing…we are all called to chastity and obedience as we discern the will of God. The reformers and their modern step children tend to try to make out as if that passage in Matthew 19 doesn’t exist, hence, their general lack of celibate clergy. The honest believer doesn’t read around passages that make statements like this one does. (Another one that gets done like this is John 20:21-23 about confessing sins)
