Don’t Misrepresent Augustine’s 3 Goods of Marriage

by Bai Macfarlane

I’ve recently seen educators mischaracterize the three Augustinian goods of marriage: prolis, fidei, sacramenti. Those who are upholding the validity of their marriage in diocesan tribunals need the faithful to have clear teaching about these aspects of marriage.

When aspects of a successful, fulfilling marriage are confused with the characteristics of marriage to which one must consent, anyone who is not satisfied with his marriage can suspect it is invalid. A disillusioned spouse is tempted to quit, instead of remaining committed to the marriage, accepting that all marriages have good times and bad. 

Three out of the last four Popes have warned annulment tribunals. 

Saint Pope John Paul II  

“A valid marriage, even one marked by serious difficulties, could not be considered invalid without doing violence to the truth and undermining thereby the only solid foundation which can support personal, marital, and social life. A judge, therefore, must always be on guard against the risk of false compassion that would degenerate into sentimentality, and would be pastoral appearance alone” (Jan. 18, 1990) 

 Pope Benedict XVI

“there is a grave risk of losing any objective reference point for pronouncements on nullity, by transforming every conjugal difficulty into a symptom of failure to establish a union whose essential nucleus of justice the indissoluble bond is effectively denied” (Jan. 29, 2010 Address to the Roman Rota). 

 Pope Leo XIV  

“Sometimes there is a risk that excessive identification with the oft troubled vicissitudes of the faithful may lead to a dangerous relativization of truth. In fact, misunderstood compassion, even if apparently motivated by pastoral zeal, risks obscuring the necessary dimension of ascertaining the truth proper to the judicial office” (Jan. 26, 2026). 

According to the latest publicly available data, 30% of the reporting U.S. tribunals accepted 100% of the petitions for annulment, and those tribunals decide the marriage is invalid over 99% of the time (2016 data). In some dioceses, the ratio of weddings to annulments was three to one. For example, in the Diocese of Harrisburg, there were 613 weddings and 175 annulments. In Richmond there were 561 weddings and 144 annulments (2015 data). 

When discussing marriage, we hear about the three goods of marriage promulgated by St. Augustine: prolis, fidei, sacramenti. Bonum prolis is the primary end (i.e., purpose) of marriage, which is the procreation and upbringing of children. Here are some descriptions published by educators for the other two goods: bonum fidei and bonum sacramenti: 

fidei   

• St. Augustine (354-430) laid the foundations for the Latin Catholic Church’s theology of marriage” […] “He also stressed the private goods of marriage for the family and the church” […] “fides, the fidelity and friendship of spouses, which is the deepest bond between human beings (Dr. John Witte, Jr., Faculty Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. Bibliography below) 

sacramenti   

• sacramentum, the earthly expression of the mysterious sacrificial love of Christ and the church, which provides stability and inspiration for the couple, their children, and the church community (Witte) 

• Sacrament: The third good of marriage is what marriage signifies, namely the love of Christ for the Church; natural family planning is compatible with marriage as a sign of Christ’s love for the Church, especially in its sacrificial dimension” […] “and this spirit of sacrifice elevates sexual union to a human level, making it something that we freely choose and allowing us to will the good for the other (Dr. Jane Sloan Peters, University of Mount Saint Vincent)  

• The Catholic Church has long summarized the reasons for getting married by talking about the “three goods of marriage;” after all, we do things because they are good, because we identify in them goods worth pursuing. These three goods are: children, fidelity, and the sacramental bond.” […] “[T]he sacramental bond. What does that mean?” […] “When a couple is married in the Church, they receive graces from God to be an image of Christ’s love in the world and carry out their mission as husband and wife.” […] “the sacramental bond — the invisible, spiritual connection gained by a man and woman married in the Church — transfigures married life into a new reality.” […] “By being married in the Church, your marriage is empowered by the Holy Spirit.” (Dr. Elizabeth Klein, Associate Professor at the Augustine Institute) 

These authors don’t claim to be writing about grounds for annulment, but Augustine’s three goods of marriage are regularly discussed in context of marriage nullity, so I am interested in the precision of terms. If one must consent to bonum fidei to validly marry and fidei means ‘friendship,’ then a marriage can be judged as invalid because the parties did not have a high enough level of friendship. No engaged couple can know if they are validly entering marriage, because they may not pass the so-called “friendship” test.  If one must consent to bonum sacramenti to validly marry and it means expressing sacrificial love, then it is a moving target. Furthermore, diocesan personnel are required to investigate whether the parties are validly marrying, prior to scheduling a Church wedding. However, it is impossible for an investigating priest to determine whether the bride and groom are going to practice sacrificial love to some knowable standard that qualifies them to enter marriage validly.  

Authoritative Sources

Consider the explanation of bonum fidei and sacramenti taught by Cardinal Edward Egan, when he was a professor of Canon Law and a judge and teacher at the international appellate Tribunal of the Roman Rota. Prolis refers simply to offspring; fidei refers simply to exclusivity: 

 The bona matrimonii are in the usual language of Canon Law three components of the object of the right which Titius and Titia give to and receive from each other when consenting to marriage; or more accurately: the object of the right (the marriage act whose natural outcome is offspring, the bonum  prolis) plus two necessary qualities (properties) of that right (permanence, the bonum  sacramenti, and exclusivity, the bonum  fidei). They came to be called the «bona» («goods») of marriage because during the first flourishing of Manicheanism, certain Catholic theologians felt constrained to justify the carnal aspects of marriage in the eyes of some of the brethren by appealing to three — what shall we say?—«more spiritual» benefits of marriage, to wit : children, «sacramenta » permanence, and faithfulness. 

 Consider the words of St. Augustine who explains simply that sacramentumis the characteristic whereby a spouse is bound to the other, until the other dies.  

Summary: The Three Goods of Marriage. 24.32. The value of marriage, therefore, for all races and all people, lies in the objective of  procreation and the faithful observance of chastity. For the people of God, however, it lies also in the sanctity of the sacrament, and this has the consequence that it is forbidden for a woman to marry anyone else while her husband is still living, even if she has been divorced by him, and even if it is only for the purpose of having children. Although this is the only purpose there can be for a marriage, the bond of matrimony is not broken when its purpose is not achieved, but only by the death of husband or wife. It is like ordination to the priesthood, which takes place for the purpose of forming a community of the faithful, but even if the community of faithful does not eventuate, the sacrament of ordination remains in those who were ordained. If anyone is dismissed from office for some wrongdoing, he will not be deprived of the Lord’s sacrament once it has been received, although it will remain as something he must answer for at the judgment (pg. 56-57. VII, 38). 

See the teaching of Peter Lombard, the twelfth-century theologian who wrote the theology textbook Sententiarum libri quatuor. Fidelity is the characteristic whereby a spouse cannot ‘join’ with another. Sacramentum refers to the bond lasting until one spouse dies. 

“In fidelity it is considered that, after the marital bond, one not join with another man or woman (Lib. IV. dist. 30., 408. no. 4.).   

The sacrament so inseparably adheres to marriage that without it marriage does not seem to exist, because the marital bond always remains between the living (Lib. IV. dist. 30., 410, no.3) 

Consider the meaning of fides and sacramentum explained by Fr. John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., the Augustinian Friar who was the founding director of the Augustinian Heritage Institute, which holds the copyrights to the English translation of “De bono coniugali.” Fr. Rotelle wrote the introductions to the English translations of Augustine’s “The Excellence of Marriage.” Fidei relates to sexual intercourse, not friendship. 

The second good of marriage that Augustine discusses is the mutual fidelity of spouses. In “The Excellence of Marriage” fidelity has several dimensions. It includes, of course, the basic duty of each spouse to abstain from adultery. But fidelity also involves the married person’s responsibility to have sex with his or her partner in order to help the other to refrain from adultery; this, Augustine argues, is the fidelity commanded by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:4. Augustine describes fidelity as “a mutual service to relieve each other’s weakness, and thereby avoid illicit unions.” Augustine argues that it is no sin to have sex with one’s partner for this reason, even apart from the intention to procreate. The married person who seeks sexual relations out of excessive desire (“the concupiscence of the flesh”) commits a sin that is forgivable; but fidelity itself, like procreation, is one of the goods of marriage.

pg. 31. The third good of marriage that Augustine discusses is what he calls its sacramentum, that is, its significance as a sacred sign or symbol. Augustine is among the very first to articulate the notion of the sacramentality of Christian marriage, which to him means its character as a union that is both monogamous and  indissoluble until the death of one of the spouses (page 30-31, The Excellence of Marriage, New City Press] 

 When fidei is taught as the promise not to have sexual intercourse with anyone else, there is a clear criterion for a man and woman to meet, not a subjective moving target. An engaged person either intends to have sex with one’s future spouse and nobody else, or the person does not have that intention. When sacramenti is taught to simply mean marriage lasts until either party dies, that is a black and white issue. Do the bride and groom choose marriage till death, or not? 

SOURCES 

Augustine, Saint. “The Excellence of Marriage.” In Marriage and Virginity, translated by Ray Kearney, 29–61. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999. VII, 38. ©1999 Augustinian Heritage Institute (available as Ebook). Original Latin, Augustinus, Aurelius. “De bono coniugali.” In Sancti Aurelii Augustini Opera, vol. 41, edited by J.-P. Migne, 373–396. Patrologia Latina. Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1845. Augustine wrote this around 400 A.D. 

Egan, Edward M.. “The Nullity of Marriage for Reason of Incapacity to Fulfill the Essential Obligations of Marriage.” Ephemerides Iuris Canonici. Vol. 40. No. 1-4 (1984): p 9-34. Page 32. 

Klein, Elizabeth. “The Three Goods of Marriage: Rediscover the Meaning.” Denver Catholic. Archdiocese of Denver. February 13, 2024. https://www.denvercatholic.org/the-three-goods-of-marriage-rediscover-the-meaning. 

Lombard, Peter. Petri Lombardi Sententiarum libri quatuor, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris: Migne, 1841), bk. 4, dist. 30 & 31, https://archive.org/details/petrilombardisen01pete/page/n211/mode/2up. (Lib. IV. dist. 30., 408, no. 4.) Est igitur finalis causa matrimonii contrahendi principalis procreatio prolis, [the principal final cause of contracting marriage is the procreation of offspring]; (Lib. VI. disc. 31., 408, no. 1) De Tribus Bonis Conjigii, 1. In prole, ut amanter suscipiatur, religiose educetur [In offspring, that it be lovingly received and religiously educated]; (Lib. IV. dist. 30., 408. no. 4.) Secunda est, post peccatum Adae, vitatio fornicationis [The second, after the sin of Adam, is the avoidance of fornication]; In fide attenditur, ne post vinculum conjugale cum alio vel alia coeatur [In fidelity it is considered that, after the marital bond, one not join with another man or woman]; (Lib. IV. dist. 30., 410, no. 3.) Sacramentum vero ita inseparabiliter conjugio haeret ut sine illo conjugium non esse videatur, quia semper manet inter viventes vinculum conjugale;[The sacrament so inseparably adheres to marriage that without it marriage does not seem to exist, because the marital bond always remains between the living.] 

Sloan Peters, Jane. “Natural Family Planning (Aquinas 101).” YouTube video. Posted by The Thomistic Institute. https://YouTube/s3Pfj39ebvE. 

Witte, John. “The Christian Origins of the Law of Marriage and Divorce in the Western Legal Tradition.” In Research Handbook on Family Law and Religion, edited by Joel A. Nichols and Karin Carmit Yefet. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026, ___