Category: Marriage
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Saint Thomas Aquinas mulls over Marriage
About the Author Author: Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 – 1274), a.k.a. The Angelic Doctor, is perhaps the greatest theological mind in the history of the Church. We can get an inkling of his mind from a chance comment he made: in all his reading, Aquinas had never experienced what it was like not to…
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G. K. Chesterton on the Heroism of Vows
About the Author The journalist and novelist Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) was one of England’s best known and most well-spoken Catholics in his time. Catholics and many others find much of value in his book Orthodoxy, but Chesterton also had a vast output of articles and essays in which he discusses topics important and…
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The Cross of Marriage: The Centrality of the Cross in Paul’s Household Code
About the Author Aaron P. Debusschere is the husband of one and father of three. He holds degrees in philosophy, theology, and education, and is currently completing a dissertation on the Augustinian roots of Vatican II’s ecclesiology. He blogs with his wife at The Romantic Catholic. The Cross of Marriage: The Centrality of the Cross in…
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Saint John Chrysostom on a Happy Marriage
About the Author Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 407) grew up in Roman Antioch. He trained to be a lawyer, training with a great pagan rhetorician, but as he grew John became drawn to God. He became a hermit, committing the entire Bible to memory. When he left the wilderness he ascended the ranks…
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Saint Paul on Christ, the Church, and Marriage
About the Author In the Epistle to the Ephesians, we find Saint Paul the Apostle (c. 5 – 64/5 AD) writing to a church which was – unlike many of his other correspondent churches – not in some problematic or chaotic state. Here we find Saint Paul not trying to put out fires and thus taking…
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Pope Pius XI on the role of the will in entering into marriage
About the Author Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, later Pope Pius XI (1857 – 1939) became pope in 1922. This meant Pius XI would oversee the response to the outbreak of the persecution of Catholics in the new Soviet Union, then in Mexico in the outbreak of the Cristero War, and finally in Spain in the…
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A Marriage Ceremony from the Sarum Missal
About the Author Throughout the Middle Ages, many English Churches used the Sarum Rite, which although largely similar to the Roman Rite had some differences. The following are excerpts from a Sarum Rite marriage ceremony. The vows bring us back to an older form of the English language spoken by ordinary people. Of special note…
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A Prayer for Married People
About the Author: Gregory’s Prayerbook is a prayerbook produced for Catholics in the Ordinariates established by Pope Benedict XVI. The book draws on the prayers of the English speaking people and the Anglican tradition, including the old Anglican Book of Common Prayer. This prayer may be said for married people. A Prayer for Married…
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A Brief History of Marriage from Pope Leo XIII
About the Author Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci, Pope Leo XIII (1810 – 1903) was born to a family in the minor nobility. When a university questioned their noble status, young Gioacchino responded by writing a history book proving their point. He would bring his same energy to his various positions in the Church. For…
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Jesus Attends a Wedding
About the Work In the Gospel of John, 2:12, Jesus’ first miracle occurs at a wedding in Cana. The site of Cana is disputed today, but John’s account is rich with detail. It is revealing that Jesus acts miraculously at a wedding. It is important that he does so at Mary’s urging. And as the…