Dist. 39, Art. 2, Q. 3
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/39/q/bon-sent-IV-d39-a2-q3
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### Question III. *Whether the marriage is dissolved if one of the spouses becomes an infidel, specifically with respect to the believer.*

Thirdly it is asked whether the marriage is dissolved if one of the spouses becomes an infidel, specifically with respect to the believer. And that it is not dissolved seems [to be the case]:

1. Because through bodily fornication no dissolution occurs, especially with respect to the substance of the marriage, as was seen above; and yet that [bodily fornication] runs more counter to the good of marriage: therefore neither [is it dissolved] through spiritual fornication.

2. Likewise, marriage is an indissoluble bond; but it is contingent that someone should lapse into infidelity; but the indissoluble is not dissolved by any accidental circumstance: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, if it were dissolved through a lapse into heresy, then anyone wishing to dismiss his wife could feign heresy, and thus the marriage would always be prejudiced.

**On the contrary:**
1. Ambrose says, and it is contained in the Gloss on the seventh [chapter] to the Corinthians: «The insult to the Creator dissolves the right of marriage in the one who is abandoned, so that he may not be accused as joined to another»: therefore if one who has lapsed into heresy is unwilling to cohabit without insult to the Creator, it is permitted [to the other] to be joined to another.

2. Likewise, faith is the foundation of the whole spiritual edifice; but when the foundation is removed, whatever  has been built upon it is destroyed: therefore, faith being removed, all the Sacraments perish, and therefore marriage also.

3. Likewise, if one [spouse] comes to the faith, the marriage is dissolved, if the other remains in infidelity; but the condition of the one lapsing is worse than that of the one remaining, and he is more distanced from the faith: therefore all the more strongly is the marriage dissolved.

### Conclusion

> The marriage is not dissolved when one of the spouses lapses into infidelity.

**I respond:** It must be said that, when one of the spouses lapses into infidelity, the Sacrament of marriage is not dissolved. — And the reason for this is twofold: one, that the way of simulation and deception may be foreclosed to evil persons; the other is according to truth, because the Sacrament of marriage among the faithful, on account of the fact that it has a perfect signification and signifies an indissoluble union, is itself indissoluble. *Again*, because it is founded upon the Sacrament of baptism, which imprints an indelible character, it is itself indissoluble. Hence Innocent says in the decretal *Quanto te novimus* that «the Sacrament of faith, which has once been admitted, renders the Sacrament of marriage ratified», as was said before.

**To the arguments:**
*To 1.* To that, then, which is objected to the contrary, that the insult to the Creator dissolves [it]; it must be said that the authority of Ambrose is understood of a marriage contracted in infidelity, which is not *ratified*, because it is not founded upon the Sacrament of faith; and therefore the case is not similar concerning conversion and lapse.

*To 2.* To that which is objected concerning the foundation, it must be said that *faith* is the foundation of the virtues, not of the Sacraments; but the *Sacrament of faith* is the foundation of the Sacraments, and this is the stable Sacrament, which remains always.

*To 3.* To that which is objected, that the condition of the one lapsing is worse; it must be said that the dissolution of marriage is brought about not so much by the insult to the Creator and the disparity of worship, as it is also brought about by the weakness of the marriage itself contracted in infidelity and by the disparity of worship not only with respect to *faith*, but also with respect to the *Sacrament of faith*, in which worship, with respect to the Sacrament, those who are baptized cannot be unequal.

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