Goods And Marriage

Copulatio itaque maris et feminae generandi causa bonum est naturale nuptiarum. Sed isto bono male utitur, qui bestialiter utitur, ut sit eius intentio in voluptate libidinis, non in voluntate propaginis. Quamquam in nonnullis animalibus rationis expertibus, sicut in plerisque alitibus, et coniugiorum quaedam quasi confoederatio custoditur et socialis nidificandi sollertia vicissimque ovorum dispertita tempora fovendorum et nutriendorum opera alterna pullorum magis eas videri faciunt agere, cum coeunt, negotium substituendi generis quam explendae libidinis. Quorum duorum illud est in pecore simile homnis, hoc in homine simile pecoris. Verum quod dixi ad naturam pertinere nuptiarum, ut mas et femina generandi societate iungantur et ita invicem non fraudent, sicut omnis societas fraudulentum socium naturaliter non vult, hoc tamen evidens bonum cum infideles habent, quia infideliter utuntur, in malum peccatumque convertunt. Eo modo ergo et illam concupiscentiam carnis, qua caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, in usum iustitiae convertunt fidelium nuptiae. Habent quippe intentionem generandi regenerandos, ut qui ex eis saeculi filii nascuntur in Dei filios renascantur. Quapropter qui non hac intentione, hac voluntate, hoc fine generant filios, ut eos ex membris hominis primi in membra transferant Christi, sed infideles parentes de infideli prole gloriantur; etiamsi tanta sint observantia, ut secundum matrimoniales tabulas nonnisi liberorum procreandorum causa concumbant, non est in eis vera pudicitia coniugalis. Cum enim virtus sit pudicitia, cui vitium contrarium est impudicitia, omnesque virtutes etiam quae per corpus operantur in animo habitent, quomodo vera ratione pudicum corpus adseritur, quando a vero Deo ipse animus fornicatur? Quam fornicationem sanctus ille Psalmus accusat, ubi dicit: Ecce enim qui longe se faciunt a te peribunt; perdidisti omnem qui fornicatur abs te, vera igitur pudicitia, sive coniugalis sive vidualis sive virginalis, dicenda non est, nisi quae verae fidei mancipatur. Cum enim recto iudicio praeferatur nuptiis sacrata virginitas, quis non sobria mente christianus etiam non univiras christianas catholicas nuptas, non solum vestalibus, sed etiam haereticis virginibus anteponat? Tantum valet fides, de qua dicit Apostolus: Omne quod non est ex fide peccatum est; et de qua item scriptum est ad Hebraeos: Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo. Sanctus Augustinus Hippoensis, De Nuptiis et Concupisentia, Liber I Source: Migne PL 44.415-416

Thus the union of male and female for the purpose of procreation is the natural good of marriage. But he uses this good badly who uses it bestially, so that his intention is in the pleasure of lust, not in the wish for offspring. Nevertheless in not a few animals without reason, as in most birds, there is both maintained a certain confederation of pairs and a social combination of skill in nest building, and their sharing between one another of the time for cherishing their eggs and in the work of feeding their young give them the appearance of acting, when they come together, for the purpose of the continuance of their kind rather than satisfying lust. Of these two, the one is the likeness of man in a beast, the other the likeness of the beast in man. The truth which I ascribed to the nature of marriage, that the male and the female are bound together as associates for procreation, and thus do not deceive other, as all society has a natural dislike of a deceitful associate, although even faithless men possess this evident good of nature, yet, since they use it without faith, they only turn it to evil and sin. In like manner, therefore, that carnal concupiscence by which 'the flesh lusts against the Spirit.' 1 is converted to the use of righteousness by the marriages of the faithful. For they hold to the intention of generating to be regenerated, that those who are born of them as children of the world may be reborn as sons of God. Whence those who do not beget children with this intention, this will, this end, that they be transferred from being members of the first man into members of Christ, but glory as unbelieving parents over unbelieving children, even if they observe such things as the matrimonial tablets set forth, not laying together but the purpose of the procreation of children, there is no true conjugal chastity in them. For as much as chastity is a virtue, whose opposing vice is unchastity, and as all the virtues, even those which operate through the body, have their place in the soul, how can the body be in any true sense be claimed to be chaste, when the soul itself fornicates apart from the true God? Which fornication the holy Psalmist denounces when he says: 'Behold, they who place themselves far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all who fornicate apart from you.' 2 Therefore it must not be said that there is no true chastity, whether conjugal, or of a widow, or of a virgin, unless it is given to the true faith. For though consecrated virginity is rightly preferred to marriage, yet what Christian in his sober mind would not prefer catholic Christian women who have been even more than once married, to not only vestals, but also to heretical virgins? So great is the benefit of faith, concerning which the Apostle says, 'Whatever is not of faith is sin;' 3 and concerning which it is written to the Hebrews, 'Without faith it is impossible to please God.' 4 Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book 1 1 Galat 5.17 2 Ps 72.27 3 Rom 14.23 4 Heb 11.6