Article. 1 - Whether irregularity attaches to bigamy?

Objection 1: It would seem that irregularity is not attached to the bigamy that consists in having two wives successively. For multitude and unity are consequent upon being. Since then non-being does not cause plurality, a man who has two wives successively, the one in being, the other in non-being, does not thereby become the husband of more than one wife, so as to be debarred, according to the Apostle (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6), from the episcopate.

Objection 2: Further, a man who commits fornication with several women gives more evidence of incontinence than one who has several wives successively. Yet in the first case a man does not become irregular. Therefore neither in the second should he become irregular.

Objection 3: Further, if bigamy causes irregularity, this is either because of the , or because of the intercourse. Now it is not on account of the former, for if a man had contracted marriage by words of the present and, his wife dying before the consummation of the marriage, he were to marry another, he would become irregular, which is against the decree of Innocent III (cap. Dubium, De bigamia). Nor again is it on account of the second, for then a man who had committed fornication with several women would become irregular: which is false. Therefore bigamy nowise causes irregularity.

I answer that, By the of order a man is appointed to the ministry of the ; and he who has to administer the to others must suffer from no defect in the . Now there is a defect in a when the entire signification of the is not found therein. And the of marriage signifies the union of Christ with the Church, which is the union of one with one. Therefore the perfect signification of the requires the husband to have only one wife, and the wife to have but one husband; and consequently bigamy, which does away with this, causes irregularity. And there are four kinds of bigamy: the first is when a man has several lawful wives successively; the second is when a man has several wives at once, one in law, the other in fact; the third, when he has several successively, one in law, the other in fact; the fourth, when a man marries a widow. Accordingly irregularity attaches to all of these.

There is another consequent reason assigned, since those who receive the of order should be signalized by the greatest spirituality, both because they administer spiritual things, namely the , and because they teach spiritual things, and should be occupied in spiritual matters. since is most incompatible with spirituality, inasmuch as it makes a man to be wholly , they should give no sign of persistent , which does indeed show itself in bigamous persons, seeing that they were unwilling to be content with one wife. The first reason however is the better.

Reply to Objection 1: The multitude of several wives at the same time is a multitude simply, a multitude of this kind is wholly inconsistent with the signification of the , so that the is voided on that account. But the multitude of several successive wives is a multitude relatively, it does not entirely destroy the signification of the , nor does it void the in its essence but in its perfection, which is required of those who are the dispensers of .

Reply to Objection 2: Although those who are guilty of fornication give proof of greater , theirs is not a so persistent , since by fornication one party is not bound to the other for ever; and consequently no defect attaches to the .

Reply to Objection 3: As stated above, bigamy causes irregularity, because it destroys the perfect signification of the : which signification is seated both in the union of minds, as expressed by the consent, and in the union of bodies. bigamy must affect both of these at the same time in order to cause irregularity. Hence the decree of Innocent III disposes of the statement of the Master (Sent. iv, D, 27), namely that consent alone by words of the present is sufficient to cause irregularity.