Bigamy as Cause of Irregularlity

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

A man who has one wife in law, and another in 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 their regularity consequent upon bigamy.

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