The Conception of the Aims of Marriage Discussed During Vatican Council II

Abstract

The Council dealt with various conceptions of fines matrimonii. Some texts discuss this matter and some draw the right sense of expressions from descriptive formulations. The over-all vision of the ends of marriage was presented and considered within the frameworks of the Theological Commission, the Commission for the matters of Sacraments, and particularly within frameworks of the Mixed Commission along with its various subcommission.

Initially the problems of marriage were dealt with in a perfunctory manner by preparatory commission. A special issue dovoted to the ends of marriage appeared as late as in the scheme prepared by the Theological Commission entitled „De castitate, virginitate, matrimonio, familia” (February1962). They were depicted there in accordance with the earlier teaching of the Church. It is in this scheme „The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church” that the personalistic end marriage was added. The aim being the sanctification of the spouses.

The majority of discussions concerning fines matrimonii were carried out within the frameworks of the Mixed Commission and at the general assemblies during the third and fourth session of the Council. The matter under discussion was then the schemes of „The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Contemporary World”. The Council did not change but supplemented the hitherto Church's teaching on the ends of marriage. It was expressed in a different, more personalistic language. The Council avoided as much as possible the technical terms, yet it included some new unchanging contents in new formulations. They are understandable for the average reader, and specialists who seek an answer to their precise and detailed questions must elicit appropriate contents from the descriptive formulations. The ends of marriage results from its nature, hence they cannot change all the time. The Church better and better recognizes these ends and defines them.