Marriage in the Philippines After the Council of Trent (Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries)

Abstract

The evangelisation of the Philippines took place after the Council of Trent; hence, from the beginning matrimony was governed by its canons and decrees. Until the provincial councils held in the 1770s, the Philippine Church followed the directives of the Third Mexican Provincial Council. Manuals for the administration of sacraments and for parish priests by authors based in the Philippines and published were primary references for the canonical form of marriage. Serving as a window into how Church authorities dealt with local situations and customs towards enforcement of Tridentine doctrine and law are the edicts, pastoral letters, and on occasion of diocesan visits, ordinances issued by bishops. On the micro-level, the dispensations granted for a variety of impediments and the matrimonial cases processed in the ecclesiastical court of Manila show the nuances of law and justice, taking into account pastoral considerations, personal circumstances, and local customs. They also demonstrate the understanding of litigants of the attributes of canonical marriage as well as the level of assimilation of the same.
Missionary literature from the first century of evangelisation mentions common difficulties encountered in introducing Christian marriage vis-à-vis indigenous institution: the doctrine of the unity and indissolubility of marriage, the primordial requirement of consent, and the matter of impediments. The cases discussed by moral theologians indicate the prevalence of those issues well into the eighteenth century, especially in missionary districts and rural areas.