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Morning Pater, why won't the church marry anybody for the 4th time apparently the church will only marry someone 3 times
Answer to Question 319
According to the canons of the church even a second marriage is considered sinful and the wedding service for couples marrying a second time has a penitential character. For third marriages the fathers who wrote the canons considered it unnatural for humans and compared it to natural for beasts. For them it was considered a worst sin than fornication and anyone marrying a third time had to spend three years on his knees praying for forgiveness and only after this was he allowed to have Holy Communion. Certainly today we consider these punishments as harsh, but in previous centuries the church was a major influence in people's lives and it was a great embarrassment to be denied Holy Communion. The canons don't mention fourth marriages as third marriages was considered so sinful that it was inconceivable to think beyond third marriages.
Just to clear up something I said on second marriages, the second marriage service which has a penitential character is only performed if both the man and woman are getting married a second or third time. If one of the two is getting married for the first time then the usual marriage service is performed even if the other partner is in his third marriage
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