RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1343
year: 1193
initiator: Pope Celestine III
recipient: Bishop of Acre
text: Jan. 21 - Mar. 12. [244] In the letter Laudabilem Pope Celestine III answers questions posed by the bishop of Acre [Acon.ep.] [245] in relation to marriage, stressing throughout the need for proper procedures on testimony and proof. He discusses: (1) the legitimacy of a marriage to the daughter of a godfather; (2) couples who separate and the need for judgement in such a case by the church authorities; (3) the legitimacy of the marriage of a girl betrothed before the age of puberty and the importance of consent to consummation at the age of 12; (4) the conflict between a vow of chastity and a later vow of marriage; (5) the prohibition of the marriage of Sarraceni, converted to Christianity, to the women whose husbands they have killed while imprisoned by the Christains; (6) women who seek divorce when they discover that their second husbands, either Sarraceni who have converted to Christianity or Christians, have killed their first husbands in battle; (7) the indissolubility of the first marriage of a Christian who temporarily denies Christ and copulates with a pagan and has children, while the Christian wife left behind has a second marriage, with the consent of the archdeacon [of Acre], and has children; and the legitimacy of the children of both second marriages, one of which had been permitted by the archdeacon, provided the man’s first wife has died: (8) the period of time without consummation [3 years] that would dissolve a marriage; (9) a woman given under age to a nunnery by her parents, who receives the habit, leaves, has sexual relations with a knight and becomes pregnant, and is then forced to return to the religious community. The pope rules that a woman who has a child is not compelled to obey her parents.
Jan. 21 - Mar. 12. [244] In the letter Laudabilem Pope Celestine III answers questions posed by the bishop of Acre [Acon.ep.] [245] in relation to marriage, stressing throughout the need for proper procedures on testimony and proof. He discusses: (1) the legitimacy of a marriage to the daughter of... more
sources: Mansi, Sacr. Concil. 22:638-41