Holy family
25 Sir: Ferdinand Mount retails (B°°"bc February) the odd idea of Georges v`itie that the Catholic Church invented sacrament of matrimony in the 12th eell0 to get its hands on the lands of Fre.11 i5 nobles. Really, Duby's whole hypothestsof so inconsonant with the known histolo Christian belief that it might be w°ies considering a couple of early testirnoll
that give a different impression. first"
St Ignatius of Antioch, who hear-rh Christ hand accounts of the teachings of c",. rilov and died in 107 AD, wrote: `Chang se brothers in the name of Jesus Christ to it- their wives as the Lord loves the Churcdha'ys somebody is capable of passing all his days in chastity, in honour of the Lord' When let him do so without boasting • • • ,.e to men and women marry, it is ciesirTi so have the bishop's consent to their uni°9'ilie that the wedding may be a tribute to Lord.' And Tertullian in his De Pudicitia says that Coniunctiones must be considered fornication if they have not been previously Professed before the Church. MThe absurd catalogue rehearsed by Mr ount of the Church refusing to have any Interest in marriage, let alone bless it, and then suddenly establishing it as a sacrament by c'a heroic feat of invention' in order to onsolidate its huge land bank' is a storical perspective worthy of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail or Maria Monk. Christopher Howse Catholic Herald, Bunhill Row, EC;
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