The Indissolubility of Marriage at the Council of Trent by E. Christian Brugger (review)

This book, written by a moral theologian, is based on excellent historical research. As the title itself states, the essay examines the issue of the indissolubility of marriage in Christian doctrine and tradition, starting with a thorough analysis of the Tridentine debate on the subject. The problem that is the author's point of departure, as he makes clear in his introduction (p. 6), is the recent theological debate on the possible relaxation by the Catholic Church of its strict teaching on the absolute indissolubility of ratified and consummated marriage, to conform with the "tolerant tradition" of the Orthodox churches. Since there is disagreement among theologians on the solution to apply to this problem, there is a need to examine the state of the doctrine in Catholic teachings, specifically to discern whether indissolubility constitutes an irreformable dogma of faith.

To answer this question we must start from the controversial interpretation of canon 7 of the Tridentine decree on marriage, which condemns those who reject Church teachings on the indissolubility of marriage and the prohibition of a second marriage on the grounds of adultery. Since the formulation of this canon has given rise to various interpretations, from the seventeenth century until today, dividing theologians between the "tolerant" interpretation of those who maintain that the canon does not intend to define indissolubility as a dogma of faith, and the interpretation of those who support the thesis of the absolute indissolubility of marriage, the author focuses on the Tridentine debate. Only by making a careful analysis of how the discussion between theologians and the Council fathers actually developed and examining the addresses and problems that led to the formulation of this canon, is it possible to understand the context in which the decree came about and the intentions that inspired it.

The primary purpose of canon 7 on the indissolubility of marriage was to condemn the Reformation doctrines that denied the sacramental character of the conjugal bond by reducing it to a contract, and consequently denying the jurisdictional power of the church in matrimonial lawsuits. The canon also condemned the practice of divorce on the grounds of adultery. Only when the discussions had begun did the council assembly confront the problem of the ancient custom of the Greek Church, which allowed second marriage in the case of adultery. Since in the territories subject to the Republic of Venice the Orthodox rite had always been practiced free of opposition by the Roman authorities, the formulation of canon 7 had to strike exclusively at the reformers from across the Alps without directly condemning with anathema the Orthodox, who had never opposed the doctrine of the Roman Church.

With methodological rigor, the author questions the knowledge that the council fathers could have had of the beliefs of Protestants and Greeks on marriage, and therefore he prefaces his analysis of the Tridentine debate with two chapters devoted respectively to the "errors" of the reformers and to the "rite" of the Greeks. There follow two chapters on the different phases of the Council's discussion, which took place partly in Bologna (1547) and to a greater extent in Trent (1563). The analysis concludes with a chapter on the teachings of Trent concerning indissolubility, devoted to examining both the doctrinal introduction to the decree and the meaning of canons 7 and 5, as emerges from his investigation of the debates. The author concludes that the Tridentine decree reaffirmed the indissolubility of marriage as a doctrine, not as a discipline subject to changes by the Church, and condemned those who allowed divorce for reasons of adultery. The indirect formulation of canon 7, which excluded the Greeks from anathema, did not mean that the Council accepted in its teaching the practice of second marriage for reasons of adultery. The council assembly intended to reaffirm the continuity of its teaching on this subject and consequently condemned those who declare...