CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Relationship (original) (raw)

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

(CARNAL AND SPIRITUAL)

The theologians understand by relationship in general a certain connexion of persons established either by nature or by the civil or canon law. Hence they distinguish three kinds, natural, legal and spiritual.

With legal relationship we are not here concerned.

Natural or carnal relationship originates in carnal intercourse of man and woman, whether marital or not. It is twofold: consanguinity and affinity.

Spiritual relationship has been introduced by ecclesiastical law. It is associated with the administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. It runs in each case between the minister and the recipient of the sacrament and also between the sponsors on the one hand and the recipient and his parents on the other. According to the existing discipline it operates as a diriment impediment of marriage between the persons named. (See AFFINITY; CONSANGUINITY; MARRIAGE.)

Sources

SLATER, Manual of Moral Theology (New York, 1908); D'ANNIBALE, Summula Theologiæ Moralis (Rome, 1908); BALLERINI, Opus Theologicum Morale (Prato, 1900).

About this page

APA citation. (1911). Relationship. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12731b.htm

MLA citation. Delany, Joseph. "Relationship." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12731b.htm.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.