Bigamy as Cause of Irregularlity

An irregularity, in the technical sense in which weuse the term here, is any physical or moral defect which, by decreeof the Church, prevents a man from receiving the sacrament of holyorders. Now, bigamy (that is, a plurality of wives, a plurality ofmarriages) makes a man irregular. For he who is to administer thesacraments, must not himself be deficient with reference to thesacrament of matrimony. For marriage as a sacramentsignifies the union of Christ with the Church, and this is a unionof One with one.

A man who has one wife in law, and anotherin fact, is a bigamist, and incurs the irregularitymentioned above.

One who marries a non-virgin is adjudged irregular.

Baptism does not remove the fact of bigamy, nor theirregularity consequent upon bigamy.

In certain cases, it is possible for a bigamist to bedispensed from irregularity. {-Most of thisdiscussion of irregularity from a cause of bigamy is whollyirrelevant or meaningless today.-}