The concept of Bonum Coniugum and canonical marriage

Abstract

This thesis is meant to provide an insight on the least known of the ends of marriage, namely "the good of the spouses" or bonum coniugum. This end of marriage has been given the importance it deserves only very recently, especially when one takes into consideration the centuries wherein it was thought that only procreation was considered to be the final end of marriage. Both the Second Vatican Council (through its personalist approach) and the 1983 Code of Canon Law, have stressed the significance of the permanent union of conjugal life which is intended to enrich the parties and grant them happiness and contentment. However, this happiness and contentment can only be achieved by actuating the bonum coniugum thereby striving towards the fulfilment of various aspects of marriage that are of a physical, spiritual, moral and psychological nature. The Introduction to this thesis gives an overview of how marriage as an institution developed throughout the ages and how the idea of "the good of the spouses" has progressed.