Concubinage
CONCUBINAGE
The act of living with a woman to whom the man is not legally married. It is also used for a marriage with a woman of inferior condition (performed with less solemnity than the formal marriage, ) and to whom the husband does not convey his rank. As polygamy was sometimes practised by the patriarchs, it was a common thing to see one, two, or many wives in a family, and besides these several concubines, 2Sa 3:3, &c. 1Ki 11:3. 2Ch 11:21; but ever since the abrogation of polygamy by Jesus Christ, and the reduction of marriage to its primitive institution, concubinage has been forbidden and condemned among Christians.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
concubinage
The more or less permanent state of a man and a woman living together in unlawful intercourse. In its strict sense the term is applied to those unions only in which the man and woman are free from an obligation arising from a vow, marriage, Holy Orders, or relationship by blood or marriage; it makes no difference whether or not the parties live in the same house, the maintenance of illicit relations being the essential element. The ecclesiastical punishments that may be inflicted on those who live in concubinage are set forth in canon 2357, 2, 2358, and 2359, 1 of the Code of Canon Law.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Concubinage
At the present day, the state — more or less permanent — of a man and woman living together in illicit intercourse. In its strict sense it is used of those unions only in which the man and the woman are free from any obligation arising from a vow, the state of matrimony or Holy Orders, or the fact of relationship or affinity; it is immaterial whether the parties dwell together or not, the repetition or continuance of illicit relations between the same persons being the essential element.
However, the meaning conveyed by the term has not always been the same; in the Old Testament, for instance, a legitimate spouse, if of an inferior social grade, or a bondwoman, is often given the appellation of concubine, not to call in question the validity of her marriage, but to indicate that she did not share in her husband’s rank or property nor in the administration of the household to the same extent as the principal wife. From Genesis 21:9-14, we see that her dismissal and that of her children was permissible. But in those Scriptural times, when polygamy was permitted or at least tolerated, such a concubine was not the only marriage partner. Thus Lia and Rachel, the first two spouses of Jacob, had the full social standing of wives, while Bala and Zelpha, both bondwomen, were his concubines, married for the purpose of bearing children for Rachel and Lia (Genesis 30:3, 9, 13). Here, therefore, the main difference between the state of legitimate marriage properly so called and that of legitimate concubinage is to be found in the disparity of rank which characterized the latter.
The meaning of the term in Roman law, and consequently in early ecclesiastical records and writings, was much the same; a concubine was a quasi-wife, recognized by law if there was no legal wife. She was usually of a lower social grade than her husband, and her children, though not considered the equals of those of the legal wife (uxor) were nevertheless termed natural (naturales) to distinguish them from spurious offsprings (spurii). For this legitimate concubinage the Roman law did not require the intention of the two parties to remain together until death as man and wife; the Lex Julia and the Papia Poppæa allowing both temporary and permanent concubinage. The former was always condemned as immoral by the Church, who excluded from the ranks of her catechumens all who adopted this mode of living, unless they abandoned their illicit temporal, or converted it into lawful permanent, wedlock. Permanent concubinage, though it lacked the ordinary legal forms and was not recognized by the civil law as a legal marriage, had in it no element of immorality. It was a real marriage, including the intention and consent of both parties to form a lifelong union. This the Church allowed from the beginning, while Pope Callistus I broke through the barrier of state law, and raised to the dignity of Christian marriage permanent unions between slave and free, and even those between slave and slave (contubernium).
The Council of Toledo, held in 400, in its seventeenth canon legislates as follows for laymen (for ecclesiastical regulations on this head with regard to clerics see CELIBACY): after pronouncing sentence of excommunication against any who in addition to a wife keep a concubine, it says: “But if a man has no wife, but a concubine instead of a wife, let him not be refused communion; only let him be content to be united with one woman, whether wife or concubine” (Can. “Is qui”, dist. xxxiv; Mansi, III, col. 1001). The refractory are to be excommunicated until such time as they shall obey and do penance.
With the destruction of the Roman Empire and the consequent decline of knowledge of the Roman law, its institution of legitimate concubinage fell into disuse, and concubinage came more and more to have only the modern significance, that of a permanent illicit union, and as such was variously proceeded against by the Church. The clandestine marriages which gradually came to be tolerated in the Middle Ages, as they lacked the formality of a public sanction by the Church, can be considered as a species of legitimate concubinage. The Council of Trent (1545-1563), Sess. XXIV, chap. i, not only renewed the old ecclesiastical penalties against concubinage, but added fresh ones, also forbade and rendered null and void all clandestine unions, thus forever doing away with even the appearance of legitimate concubinage. From that time the modern invidious idea of the term alone obtains. The decrees of Trent, however, were in force only in countries strictly Catholic; the new marriage law (Ne temere) of Pius X (1908) extends the prohibition against clandestine marriages to Catholics the world over.
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NOLDIN, Summa theologi moralis: de sexto (6th ed., Innsbruck, 1906); Dict. de droit canonique, s. v. Concubinage (Paris, 1901); Canones et Decreta Concilii Tridentini, ed. RICHTER (Leipzig, 1853); WANDINGER in Kirchenlex (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1891); DOLHAGARAY in Dict. de théol cath. (Paris, 1906).
H.A. GAYNOR Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Concubinage
the sexual connection of two persons of different sexes who are not united by the bond of matrimony. Externally, marriage and concubinage were equal according to Roman law, as even for marriage nothing was required but the agreement of the contracting parties. But they were different with regard to the legal effect of the union. In a regular marriage the wife obtained the rank of the husband (dignitas mariti), and her children were legitimate and in the power of the father. None of these results took place in case of concubinage. The Church distinguished between temporary and life-long concubinage. The former was always forbidden; the latter, though not approved, was long tolerated. The Council of Toledo (A.D. 400), by its Canon 17, excommunicates a married man keeping a concubine, but permits unmarried men to do so; and allows either a wife or a concubine. In the Latin Church, it was not until the Council of Trent, which made the validity of a marriage dependent upon a declaration of consent before the parish priest and two witnesses, that life-long concubinage was declared to be criminal, and subjected to punishment. The punishment for ministerial concubinarii was withholding of income, suspension, imprisonment, and, ultimately, excommunication. The evangelical churches have never recognised concubinage. Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 3, 105; Lea, Sacerdotal Celibacy, chap. 12 SEE CONCUBINE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Concubinage
kon-kubi-naj. See FAMILY.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Concubinage
Concubinage, in a Scriptural sense, means the state of cohabiting lawfully with a wife of second rank, who enjoyed no other conjugal right but that of cohabitation, and whom the husband could repudiate, and send away with a small present (Gen 21:14). In like manner, he could, by means of presents, exclude his children by her from the heritage (Gen 25:6). Such concubines had Nahor (Gen 22:24), Abraham (Gen 25:6), Jacob (Gen 35:22), Eliphas (Gen 36:12), Gideon (Jdg 8:31), Saul (2Sa 3:7), David (2Sa 5:13; 2Sa 15:16; 2Sa 16:21), Solomon (1Ki 11:3), Caleb (1Ch 2:46), Manasseh (1Ch 7:14), Rehoboam (2Ch 11:21), Abiah (2Ch 13:21), and Belshazzar (Dan 5:2). To judge from the conjugal histories of Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 16, 30), the immediate cause of concubinage was the barrenness of the lawful wife, who in that case introduced her maid-servant, of her own accord, to her husband, for the sake of having children. Accordingly we do not read that Isaac, son of Abraham, had any concubine, Rebekah, his wife, not being barren. In process of time, however, concubinage appears to have degenerated into a regular custom among the Jews, and the institutions of Moses were directed to prevent excess and abuse in that respect, by wholesome laws and regulations (Exo 21:7-9; Deu 21:10-14). It would seem that the unfaithfulness of a concubine was not regarded as an act of real adultery (Lev 19:20). When a son had intercourse with the concubine of his father, a sort of family punishment, we are informed, was inflicted on him (Gen 35:22; 1Ch 5:1).
In the Talmud, the Rabbins differ as to what constitutes concubinage; some regarding as its distinguishing feature the absence of the betrothing ceremonies, and of the portion of property allotted to a woman by special engagement, and to which she was entitled on the marriage day, after the decease of the husband, or in case of repudiation; others, again, the absence of the latter alone.
The Roman law calls concubinage an allowed custom. When this expression occurs in the constitutions of the Christian emperors, it signifies what we now sometimes call a marriage of conscience. The concubinage tolerated among the Romans, in the time of the Republic and of the heathen emperors, was that between persons not capable of contracting legal marriage. Inheritances might descend to children that sprung from such a tolerated cohabitance. Concubinage between such persons they looked on as a kind of marriage, and even allowed it several privileges; but then it was confined to a single person, and was of perpetual obligation, as much as marriage itself. Concubinage is also used to signify a marriage with a woman of inferior condition, to whom the husband does not convey his rank. Dajos (Paratilla) observes, that the ancient laws allowed a man to espouse, under the title of concubine, certain persons who were esteemed unequal to him, on account of the want of some qualities requisite to sustain the full honor of marriage; and he adds, that though such concubinage was beneath marriage both as to dignity and civil rights, yet was concubine a reputable title, and very different from that of ‘mistress’ among us. The connection was considered so lawful that the concubine might be accused of adultery in the same manner as a wife.
This kind of concubinage is still in use in some countries, particularly in Germany, under the title of halb-ehe (half-marriage), or left-hand marriage, in allusion to the manner of its being contracted, namely, by the man giving the woman his left hand instead of the right. This is a real marriage, though without the usual solemnity, and the parties are both bound to each other forever, though the female cannot bear the husband’s name and title.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Concubinage
Laws concerning:
– General references
Exo 21:7-11; Lev 19:20-22; Deu 21:10-14
– Concubines might be dismissed
Gen 21:9-14
– Called Wives
Gen 37:2; Jdg 19:3-5
– Children of, not heirs
Gen 15:4; Gen 21:10
Practiced by:
– Abraham
Gen 16:3; Gen 25:6; 1Ch 1:32
– Nahor
Gen 22:23-24
– Jacob
Gen 30:4
– Eliphaz
Gen 36:12
– Gideon
Jdg 8:31
– A Levite
Jdg 19:1
– Caleb
1Ch 2:46-48
– Manasseh
1Ch 7:14
– Saul
2Sa 3:7
– David
2Sa 5:13; 2Sa 15:16
– Solomon
1Ki 11:3
– Rehoboam
2Ch 11:21
– Abijah
2Ch 13:21
– Belshazzar
Dan 5:2 Marriage; Polygamy