From its beginning the church had noticed the importance of a marriage between a baptized man and a baptized woman. The rejection of divorce contrasted sharply to the practice of non-Christian Romans, who took marriage and its undertaking very lightly. In its earliest times the church took no special role in the wedding ceremony. So Christians married just as any other person in another religion. Then the Church became more involved since the Christian couples, after the mass, would go to the bishop for his blessing. Even though the church had no guideline for this (Stoutzenberger 278) .
Not until the time of the seventh to eleventh century did the catholic church become active and involved in the marriage rights. In Europe in the 8th century there was no rule that could protect people marriage and law rights so the church started working to fix that back then.
Then in the twelfth century the normal marriage was took in front of a church building before mass. It is usually resided by a bishop or priest, and was then followed by everybody going into the church for mass. Gradually the marriage ceremony started taking place inside a church and then, later, during Mass (Stoutzenberger 278).
In its earlier times the church declared, and maintained, that a valid marriage cannot be dissolved under any circumstances. A belief from Jesus’ teachingsin the Gospel of Mark (10:8-9). In some cases a man was allowed to divorce and remarry if his wife had been unfaithful to him. But sadly the reverse is not true. So a man may be adulterous but his wife was obligated to stay with him and was not allowed to divorce from him unless she became adulterous and the husband divorced and she would become single and would not be allowed to remarry. Which I believe isn't fair for the woman in this case.
Saint Ambrose, a fourth century bishop was the one who reiterated Jesus’ teachings and said that no man and no wife would be able to divorce and remarry for the both of them. This message has been morphed and passed down centuries and centuries. Saint Augustine also taught the same (Stoutzenberger 279).
The history of matrimony is featured of many topics, divorce, the church making itself the clear leader of the sacrament, Annulment, all those things. They are showing what happened to this sacrament years ago and how it changed from then to now. It also shows the determination of the catholic Church on what it did to make it a sacrament. I am also glad that the Church did it to, since what they did was an amazing thing. The sacrament of matrimony helps us complete our lives and I am happy that the Church recognized that for the future.