Good of the Spouses

William E. May. Long ago St. Augustine distinguished three cardinal goods of marriage: the good of offspring (bonum prolis) who are to be begotten lovingly, nurtured humanely, and educated religiously; the good of steadfast fidelity (bonum fidei) between husband and wife; and the good of the sacrament (bonum sacramenti), which entails both the holy bond of indissoluble unity (sacrum vinculum) and sacramental sign (sacramentum signum), the good of the sacrament in the strict sense as the good pointing to and inwardly participating in Christ’s bridal union with his spouse, the Church (St. Augustine developed his teaching on the threefold good of marriage principally in On the Good of Marriage (De bono coniugali),On Marriage and Concupiscence ( De nuptiis et concupiscentia),and The Literal Meaning of Genesis ( De genesi ad litteram). Subsequent Catholic tradition made these goods its own, constantly affirming them; in fact, Pope Pius XI structured his 1930 encyclical On Chaste Marriage (Casti connubii) around these three Augustinian goods..
-Read More