Bibliotheca Catholicaa library of libraries
Support
Summa Theologiae · Suppl., q. 64, a. 5

Whether husband and wife are equal in the marriage act?

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Supplement, question 64, Of the Things Annexed to Marriage, and First of the Payment of the Marriage Debt, article 5. About 3 min.

Read in the reading room → This article at New Advent

From the Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his Commentary on the Sentences and transcribed here from the 1917 to 1922 printings. About the Supplement.

Text: Summa Theologiae, Supplement to the Third Part (Supplementum Tertiae Partis), transcribed from Internet Archive scans, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his earlier Commentary on the Sentences, in the same English Dominican translation as the Gutenberg Parts. Transcribed by Bibliotheca Catholica from the OCR of four Internet Archive scans of the pre-1931 printings (Questions 1 to 33 from the 1917 Washbourne and Benziger volume, 34 to 68 from the 1922 volume, 69 to 86 from the 1921 volume, and 87 to 99 from the 1922 Benziger volume), with OCR errors corrected and doubtful passages marked, not rewritten. 99 questions and 446 articles. The two appendices printed after Question 99 are not included. Sources, SHA-256 of each OCR file, and the method are in the source record. Rights: Public domain (US)

The Supplement is not a Project Gutenberg text. It is Bibliotheca Catholica’s transcription of public-domain scans at the Internet Archive; obvious OCR errors were corrected, and passages marked “OCR uncertain” could not be confidently corrected, so check them against the linked scan page.

3 passages on this page are marked “OCR uncertain”; check them against the scan.

Objection 1: It would seem that husband and wife are not equal in the marriage act. For according to Augustine [Gen. ad lit. xii.) the agent is more noble than the patient. But in the marriage act the husband is as agent and the wife as patient. Therefore they are not equal in that act.

Obj. 2: Further, The wife is not bound to pay her husband the debt without being asked; whereas he is so bound, as stated above (AA. 1, 2). Therefore they are not equal in the marriage act.

[*Indicare, as in the commentary on the Sentences. The Leonine edition reads judicare.] [OCR uncertain: judicare. Check the scan, image 329, 330.]

Obj. 3: Further, The woman was made on the man's account in reference to marriage, according to Gen. li. 18, Let us make him a help like unto himself. But that on account of which another thing is, is always the principal. Therefore, etc.

Obj. 4: Further, Marriage is chiefly directed to the marriage act. But in marriage the husband is the head of the wife (Eph. V. 23). Therefore they are not equal in the aforesaid act.

On the contrary, It is written (i Cor. vii. 4): The hushayid... hath not power of his own body, and the same is said of the wife. Therefore they are equal in the marriage act. [OCR uncertain: hushayid. Check the scan, image 330.]

Further, Marriage is a relation of equiparence, since it is a kind of union, as stated above (Q. XLIV., AA. i, 3). Therefore husband and wife are equal in the marriage act.

I answer that, Equality is twofold, of quantity and of proportion. Equality of quantity is that which is observed between two quantities of the same measure, for instance a thing two cubits long and another two cubits in length. But equality of proportion is that which is observed between two proportions of the same kind as double to double. Accordingly, speaking of the first equality, husband and wife are not equal in marriage; neither as regards the marriage act, wherein the more noble part is due to the husband, nor as regards the household management, wherein the wife is ruled and the husband rules. But with reference to the second kind of equality, they are equal in both matters, because just as in both the marriage act and in the management of the household the husband is bound to the wife in all things pertaining to the husband, so is the wife bound to the husband in all things pertaining to the wife. It is in this sense that it is stated in the text (iv. Sent. D. 32) that they are equal in paying and demanding the debt.

Reply Obj. 1: Although it is more noblejto be active than passive, there is the same proportion between patient and passivity as between agent and activity; and accordingly there is equality of proportion between them. [OCR uncertain: noblejto. Check the scan, image 330.]

Reply Obj. 2: This is accidental. For the husband having the more noble part in the marriage act, it is natural that he should be less ashamed than the wife to ask for the debt. Hence it is that the wife is not bound to pay the debt to her husband without being asked, whereas the husband is bound to pay it to the wife.

Reply Obj. 3: This proves that they are not equal absolutely, but not that they are not equal in proportion.

Reply Obj. 4: Although the head is the principal member, yet just as the members are bound to the head in their own respective capacities, so is the head in its own capacity bound to the members: and thus there is equality of proportion between them.

_______________________

Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Supplement to the Third Part. Internet Archive scans: Third Part, Fourth Number (QQ. LXXXIV to Suppl. XXXIII), 1917, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. XXXIV to LXVIII, 1922, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXIX to LXXXVI, 1921, and Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXXXVII to XCIX and Appendices, 1922; two curled pages of the 1921 volume are read from another scan of the same printing. Public domain in the USA. Printed in 1917, 1921, and 1922, before 1931. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Transcription, OCR file checksums, and method: source record.