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Several attacks have been raised recently against early marriage
in Islam, which clearly result from ignoring facts about
pre-modern society and Islam, or intentionally concealing them.
1)
Age of Consent in History
One such claim is that “Islam’s age of consent was relatively
low in history”.
·
First of all, early procreation was a necessity for human
survival. Lifespan ranged from 20 to 30 years,[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7] [8]
[9] due to high death rates.[10]
[11]
[12] Even until the 18th century, 8
children were still needed by each fertile wife just to maintain
the population.[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20] Also, sexual attraction accompanies
puberty,[21]
[22]
which genetically ranges from ages 7 to 13 in women.[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
So, whether one believes this instinct resulted from evolution,
or part of God’s plan, procreation after puberty in history is
natural and acceptable.
·
According to the
Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, the “age of consent
throughout history…usually coincided with the age of puberty”
with “the absolute minimum at seven”.[31]
Both that Journal and Encyclopedia Britannica state that age of
consent laws were passed from Roman law to the Church to English
Common Law,[32]
[33] which states: “between 7 years and
puberty there could be consent but not consummation” until
puberty, with no parental consent required from the age of 12.[34]
This was confirmed in 1877 by the US Supreme Court.[35]
[36]
Even today, 6 states and the District of Columbia allow this
Common Law marriage,
[37]
[38]
[39]
[40]
[41]
[42]
and such marriages are then constitutionally recognized in all
50 states.[43]
·
Marriage as early as age 7, which was considered the “age of
reason”,[44]
[45] or directly after puberty was the norm
for the vast majority of all human society even until the 19th
century.[46]
[47]
[48]
[49]
[50]
·
1300 years earlier, Islam’s minimum of 9 was 2 years higher, and
also added the protection of requiring parental consent even
after age 12.[51]
·
The delay of puberty in industrialized cities between 1700 and
1850 does not disprove the norm of early marriage in history,
because that was an abnormal result of poor sanitation,
[52]
[53]
[54] lack of exercise, and the vast
introduction of cheap, un-nutritious cereal diets.[55]
[56]
[57]
As a result, not only was Islam’s age of consent higher than all
pre-modern law, it also added the protection of requiring
parental consent after age 12.
2)
Psychological Maturity in History
The second claim is that “Islam allowed marriage at puberty
in pre-modern times, which caused psychological harm because
puberty was too young to give informed consent”.
·
The fact is that even until the 18th century,
reaching puberty meant becoming an “adult”, in terms of
maturity, behavior and responsibility, as stated in the Journal
of Social History, Online Etymology Dictionary, Journal of
Marriage and the Family, and numerous academic references.[58]
[59]
[60]
[61]
[62]
[63]
·
Children faced the daily struggle for physical and economic
survival,[64]
[65]
[66]
[67]
[68] and while this type of “environmental
stress” actually causes puberty at a younger age,[69]
[70]
[71] it is proven to have also speeded
psychological maturity.[72]
[73]
[74]
[75]
[76] This maturity helped in coping with the
responsibilities of early marriage and childbearing.
·
These responsibilities were indeed valued by society, including
the most important founding father of the United States,[77]
Benjamin Franklin.[78]
·
It was only in the industrial mid-18th century that
psychological maturity started to delay,[79]
due to side effects that are proven to delay maturity such as:
increasing comforts of life, diminished parental guidance,[80]
[81]
[82] and that “children remained children
longer to complete their education”.[83]
[84]
[85]
[86]
·
It is therefore ridiculous to “demand late marriage in
pre-modern society on the pretense of psychological harm” as
it would have wiped out the human race for reasons that only
arise for immature adolescents today.
·
Since
psychological maturity and adulthood
were reached at
puberty
in pre-modern times,
it is also naive to slander early marriage in history as:
1)
Child sexual abuse: "the engagement of a child in sexual
activities for which the child is developmentally unprepared and
cannot give informed consent”.[87]
2)
Pedophilia: the sexual attraction towards pre-pubescent
children.[88]
[89]
[90]
As a result, early procreation was psychologically appropriate
and even a valued benefit to society.
3)
Risks of Early Procreation in History
The third claim is that “Islam allowed procreation at puberty
in pre-modern times, which was more dangerous to the younger
mothers”.
·
This attack cites a UNFPA study, but conceals that the study was
for 2 contemporary impoverished nations, and that “almost all of
these deaths are preventable” simply by providing access and
transportation to hospitals.[91]
The International Journal of Epidemiology states “studies
implicate poverty, not maternal age, as the real threat to
maternal and infant welfare”.[92]
In pre-modern times, the high risk of childbirth, due to lack of
medical knowledge and hygiene, affected all women regardless of
age.[93]
·
In fact, early procreation was a genetically superior trait for
population growth in pre-modern times for 2 reasons:
1)
Women who have puberty earlier have children who grow up
faster and weigh more.[94]
2)
“Life history theory” states that in a less stable
environment, “natural selection will favor individuals that
reproduce earlier...within a population”.[95]
[96]
As a result, early procreation was not harmful, but beneficial
to newborns and genetics.
4)
Early Marriage in Modern Times
The fourth claim is that “Islam allows marriage at puberty in
modern times, which causes sexual and psychological harm”.
·
First of all, it is untrue that Islamic age of consent is lower
in modern times compared to other laws. For example, the US and
other countries currently allow marriage well under the age of
16 with pregnancy, or parental or court approval.[97]
In contrast, 17 Islamic countries have age of consent ranging
from 15 to 18 years with parental consent,[98]
[99]
[100]
[101]
[102]
[103]
[104]
[105]
[106]
[107]
[108]
[109]
[110]
[111]
[112]
[113]
[114]
which was raised specifically as an implementation of Islamic
Law.[115]
[116]
In fact, because of the contemporary delay in maturity, marriage
at puberty today would violate 6 basic Islamic rules:
1)
“Rushd”, psychological maturity, or “prudent judgement”
is required before marriage.[117]
[118]
2)
No one should harm anyone else.
[119]
[120]
[121]
[122]
3)
People’s best interests must be observed.[123]
4)
No one should bear any burden beyond their capacity.
[124]
[125]
[126]
[127]
[128]
5)
Governments and guardians are entrusted to act correctly.[129]
[130]
[131]
6)
Compliance to “urf”, new social norms that are considered
good.[132]
[133]
[134]
·
Secondly, it is untrue that Islamic marital law results in more
harm in modern times compared to other laws. In fact, the
Islamic requirement of marriage provides to every sexual
relationship and its potential offspring the benefits of
faithfulness, emotional support, mutual trust, commitment,[135]
parental guidance and wide social support.[136]
In addition, with a slightly lower average age of marriage,
Islamic countries benefit from the early marriage mentality,
which is proven to result in psychological maturity at a
relatively younger age.[137]
On the other hand, non-Islamic societies permit and condone
sexual activities years before psychological maturity and the
legal age of marriage,[138]
which causes devastating sexual harm to adolescents, such
as the following current US statistics:
o
50% of child sexual abuse offenders are adolescents themselves,[139]
committing sexual abuse, child pornography, child prostitution
and incest,[140]
using deception, force or coercion.[141]
o
35% of all 17 year olds have been sexually abused.[142]
[143]
o
12% of all 14 year olds have had sex “involuntarily”.[144]
o
“Half of all new HIV infections occur among adolescents”.[145]
[146]
o
70% of 13 year olds who had sex said it was “against their
will”.[147]
o
7% of 12 year olds have had sex.[148]
[149]
o
90% of prostitutes were victims of child sexual abuse.[150]
[151]
[152]
o
“The average age at which girls first become victims of
prostitution is 12-14”.[153]
o
Sexually active teenagers are 3 to 8 times as likely to attempt
suicide.[154]
[155]
o
76% of unplanned teen mothers end up on welfare[156]
o
Every year in the world’s richest
countries, there are 1.25
million teen pregnancies and 500,000 teen abortions.[157]
o
Countries that choose legalized prostitution as their solution,
like Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, end up with
increased rates of child prostitution and sex trafficking,[158]
[159]
[160] [161]
child pornography,[162]
[163] incest,[164]
[165] and even legal “beastiality”, sex with
animals.[166]
[167]
[168]
[169]
·
In modern times, the age of puberty has fallen
[170]
[171] below the age of psychological maturity,[172]
[173]
[174] sexual values have greatly degraded,[175]
and the late marriage mentality is delaying psychological
maturity even further.[176]
These 3 trends will continue to increase the above devastating
sexual harm to adolescents in non-Islamic countries.
·
While extremely rare cases of marriage at puberty in
Afghanistan’s countryside are exploited to attack all Muslims,
it must be noted that even in Islamic countries that have not
yet officially raised the minimum age of consent, they have done
so in practice. Otherwise Islam’s critics would have publicized
more than just a few cases from some isolated tent villages.
More importantly, even such Islamic
countries do not have any of the sexual atrocities that are
documented at alarmingly high ratios in the same countries
attacking Islam.
As a result, Islam’s flexible marital law provides far better
protection than contemporary laws by prohibiting sexual
activities prior to psychological maturity and then marriage.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Islam responsibly channels sexual instincts
through marriage, with the prior condition of psychological
maturity. And contrary to claims of improved morality,
non-Islamic laws have alarmingly driven child sexual abuse and
psychological harm to epidemic proportions.
Therefore, when such attacks against Islam are analyzed
impartially, they reveal the perfect applicability of Islam’s
solution from the 7th century until today, and the
utter failure of any other system to provide any protection
whatsoever to society’s youth. At best, these attacks are also
found to be irresponsibly superficial due to the seriousness of
this issue.
[9]
It's Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of
the Last 100 Years By Stephen Moore, Julian Lincoln
Simon
“Throughout most of human history, death came at an
early age--25 to 30 years was a typical lifespan. The
essential element of the human condition was a
day-to-say struggle to fend off death...Increasing life
expectancy at birth from the lower 20s to the high 20s
around 1750 took thousands of years. Over the next two
centuries, life expectancy in the richest countries
suddenly accelerated and tripled. From the mid-18th
century to today, life spans in the advanced countries
jumped from less than 30 years to about 75 years.”
[13]
"Saga Background: Women", Theban Tribunal Sourcebook
“...Early marriage and procreation of children was
the norm in Byzantium...One reason for the promotion of
teenage marriage was the emphasis on the virginity of
the bride. Another, unstated reason may have been the
desire to make the most of the childbearing years;
because of the high rate of infant mortality, a woman
had to bear many children to insure the survival of a
few. Furthermore, since many women died young (if they
survived infancy, they had an average life expectancy of
about thirty-five years), it behooved them to marry and
begin producing children as soon as physically
possible.”
[14]
THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION, Keith Montgomery, Department
of Geography and Geology, University of Wisconsin
Marathon County
"STAGE ONE is associated with pre Modern times, and
is characterized by a balance between birth rates and
death rates...The high rate of birth (even higher if one
were to adjust it for women of childbearing age) could
be due any or all of the factors that are associated
with high fertility even today in many less developed
countries. With a high death rate among children, there
would be little incentive in rural societies to control
fertility except in the most unbearable of
circumstances...STAGE TWO sees a rise in population
caused by a decline in the death rate while the birth
rate remains high, or perhaps even rises slightly. The
decline in the death rate in Europe began in the late
18th.C. in northwestern Europe and spread over the next
100 years to the south end east."
[16]
Crisis In The Family: Connecticut And The Nation, Lou
Ratté, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
“In concrete terms, historians observe, the American
woman of 1800 bore, on the average, seven or eight
children; the American woman of 1900 bore three or
four...You can start with an initial population of 100.
Half of them are women. Those fifty women have to
produce 200 children in twenty years. If all the women
produced an equal number of children, and all the
children lived, the number of children necessary would
be four. However, ten percent of the women don’t marry.
Eliminate five women. Ten percent of the women who do
marry prove to be infertile. Eliminate another five
women. Finally, ten percent of the women lose their
husbands before they can produce children. Eliminate
another ten percent. You are left with thirty-five
women. These women could produce 200 children if each
bore 5.7, or between five and six children each.
However, ten percent of the children, or twenty, die as
infants, and another ten percent do not live into
adulthood to produce children of their own. Add another
twenty. You now have 240 births necessary. Remember,
though, that of the 200 children, half of which will be
female, that you want, thirty percent will not be able
to do their share of reproducing. You need an additional
sixty children to ensure that the population can
continue to double. So, you need 300 children. Divide
that number by the available thirty-five women. Each
woman must bear between eight and nine
children...Between seven and eight is the figure that
demographic historians estimate was the average for
number of children in the American family in 1800”
[22]
Puberty May Start at 6 As Hormones Surge, By HARA
ESTROFF MARANO, July 1, 1997
“...the adrenal sex steroids do what sex hormones
typically do, influence behavior as well as the
body...Using data from three separate studies, they said
that sexual attraction first manifested itself in the
fourth grade, from the ages of 9 to 10...In Dr. Herdt's
study, the mean age of first-recalled sexual attraction
was 9.6 for men, 10.1 for women. In the cancer
institute's studies, the mean age of first sexual
attraction was 10 to 10.5...Dr. Herdt recalled 'being
struck by the significant number of teens in our study
who made remarks about attractions' occurring at 9 or
10. 'I thought that was strange, certainly inconsistent
with the literature,' Dr. Herdt said. 'But many of the
teens specifically placed their experiences in the
fourth grade'.”
[23]
”New research shows how evolution explains age of
puberty”, From the University of Southampton
“They found that Paleolithic girls arrived at
menarche - the first occurrence of menstruation -
between seven and 13 years. This is a similar age to
modern girls, which suggests that this is the
evolutionarily determined age of puberty in
girls...Disease and poor nutrition became more common as
humans settled, causing puberty to be delayed. Modern
hygiene, nutrition and medicine have allowed the age of
menarche to fall to its original range.“
[24]
When Little Girls Become Women: Early Onset of Puberty
in Girls
“There are new guidelines for pediatricians that are
guaranteed to shock: girls who start to develop breasts
and pubic hair at age six or seven are not necessarily
"abnormal" (Kaplowitz, et al., 1999). In fact, by their
ninth birthday, 48% of African American girls and 15% of
white girls are showing clear signs of puberty.”
[25]
"reproductive system disease." Encyclopedia Britannica.
2008
“ ’Abnormally early’ has traditionally been defined
as younger than 9 years in boys and younger than 8 years
in girls, though studies undertaken since the 1990s
indicate that the normal onset of puberty may be
occurring at a younger age in girls in developed
countries and that therefore the age of precocious
puberty for girls may actually be as low as 6 or 7.”
[26]
Early Puberty: What Is Normal and When Is Treatment
Indicated?
“Girls and boys who enter puberty before 8 and 9
years of age, respectively (corresponding to about -3
SDS), are arbitrarily considered to need referral for
endocrine investigation. A recent report from the Lawson
Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society suggested that the
limit for investigation of girls and boys should be
lowered to 7 and 8 years, respectively. For
African-American girls, 6 years is the suggested age.”
[27]
Nutritional Information, Precocious puberty
“Precocious puberty, or early sexual development, is
happening everywhere. It’s estimated that one out of six
girls aged eight may be entering puberty. The age at
which puberty begins has been steadily declining. Today,
the average age of first menstruation is under 12 years.
Reports of early puberty have come from many countries
including Canada, the US, Australia, Britain, the
European Union, Asia, and the Caribbean. A
groundbreaking US study on 17,000 girls found that 27
percent of African-American and almost seven percent of
Caucasian girls had the onset of secondary sexual
characteristics, i.e., either breast development or
pubic hair development, by the age of seven. By the time
the girls turned eight-years-old, 15 percent of
Caucasian girls and 50 percent of Afro-American girls
were starting puberty. Even more startling was the
finding that one percent of Caucasian and three percent
of African-American girls showed these characteristics
by the age of three.”
[29]
Puberty, Encyclopedia of Psychology
Although most children begin puberty between the
ages of 10 and 12, it can start at any age from 8 to 16.
The most obvious determining factor is gender; on
average, puberty arrives earlier for girls than boys.
[31]
“Age of Consent A Historical Overview” Journal of
Psychology & Human Sexuality, Volume: 16 Issue: 2/3,
5/3/2005
“Age of Consent throughout history has usually
coincided with the age of puberty although at sometimes
it has been as early as seven. Early on age of consent
was a familial or tribal matter and only became a legal
one in the Greco-Roman period. The Roman tradition
served as the base for Christian Europe as well as the
Christian Church itself which generally, essentially
based upon biological development, set it at 12 or 14
but continued to set the absolute minimum at seven. In
the past century there has been a tendency to raise the
age of consent but the reasons for the change have not
always been clear and the issue has been further
complicated by the reluctance of many contemporary
historians to recognize what the actual age of consent
in the past has been. This failure has distorted the
importance of biology on age of consent in the past.”
[33]
“sexual behaviour, human” Encyclopedia Britannica 2008
“when secular law replaced religious law, there was
rather little change in content...in England and the
United States there was no such rift with the past. In
the latter country, as each new state joined the union,
its sex laws simply duplicated, to a great extent, those
of pre-existing states;”
[34] “family
law” Encyclopedia Britannica 2008
“Historically, the attitude of the English common
law was that a person under seven years of age lacked
the mental ability to consent to marriage, and that
between seven years and puberty there could be consent
but not consummation. At common law, therefore, the
marriage of a person between the ages of seven and 12 or
14 was “inchoate” and would become “choate” on reaching
puberty, if no objection was raised.”
[35]
MEISTER V. MOORE, 96 U. S. 76 (1877)
“The defense was:...That that evidence utterly
failed to establish a valid marriage at common law. The
Revised Statutes of Michigan upon the subject of the
solemnization of marriages, adopted in the year 1838 and
in force at the time of the alleged marriage, enact as
follows:...
'SEC. 6. Marriages may be solemnized by any justice of
the peace in the county in which he is chosen, and they
may be solemnized throughout the state by any minister
of the gospel who has been ordained according to the
usages of his denomination and who resides within this
state and continues to preach the gospel.'
'SEC. 8. In the solemnization of marriage, no particular
form shall be required except that the parties shall
solemnly declare, in the presence of the magistrate or
minister and the attending witnesses, that they take
each other as husband and wife. In every case there
shall be at least two witnesses, besides the minister or
magistrate, present at the ceremony.' "
[36]
MARRIAGE OF MINORS.; THE NEW LAW FIXING THE AGE OF
CONSENT--CRIMINAL LIABILITY OF CLERGYMEN AND
MAGISTRATES, New York Times, July 14, 1887
“At common law, a marriage contracted under the age
of consent was not regarded as void, but only as an
imperfect marriage, valid until voided by the parties
after their arrival at the age of consent...The common
law rule of 14 in males and 12 in females was derived
from the civil law, also substantially from the
canon...In the revision of the statutes, the age of
consent was fixed at 17 for males and 14 for females,
but so deep rooted had the common law become that the
section was repealed by chapter 320 of the laws of 1830,
the Legislature of that year having arrived at the
conclusion that owing to the delicate nature of the
marital relation and the complications growing out of
it, the common law rule had better be allowed to stand.”
[37]
"Common Law Marriages", New York Divorce and Family Law
“Infancy was also an impediment to marriage.
Children below the age of seven were incapable of
marrying. After the age of seven they might marry, but
the marriage was voidable until they were able to
consummate the marriage, which the law presumed to be at
age fourteen for boys and twelve for girls. Beyond those
ages the marriages were valid, even though the parties
were under the age of twenty-one and did not have their
parents' consent. Later statutes imposed the requirement
of parents' consent.”
[38]
DC Almanac, Marriage
"MICHAEL WASSERMAN, DC HISTORY NET - Based on my
review of the statute applicable between 1901 and
1925...Sections 1283 and 1284 specify which marriages
are absolutely void or merely voidable after judicial
decree....The fourth paragraph of section 1284 (added in
1902) specifically declares the age of consent to
marriage to be 16 for males and 14 for females, and
makes marriages in which one party is under age voidable
at the suit of the party."
[39]
"Issuance of marriage license to persons under 18",
Joslyn Wilson, Assistant Attorney General
“At common law, a male was deemed competent to
contract a valid marriage at 14 years of age; for
females the age of consent was 12 years. Green v. Green,
supra; 55 C.J.S. Marriage s. 11. Any marriage, however,
occurring between the age of 7 years and the age of
consent was merely voidable, but a marriage where one or
both of the parties were under the age of 7 years was
void and without legal significance. 55 C.J.S. Marriage
s. 11. A marriage by one above the age of consent but
below the age of contract generally is fully valid. 55
C.J.S. Marriage s. 11 at p. 823; also see Hunt v. Hunt,
161 So. 119, 122 (Miss. 1935). Although not required at
common law, the state may require the consent of the
parents or guardian as a preliminary to the marriage of
minors. 55 C.J.S. Marriage s. 23.”
[40]
"Silent Partners", Legal Assistance for Military
Personnel
“Voidable marriages are those where insufficient
age, fraud, duress, sham ceremony, physical disability
(disease or incurable impotence), or mental disability
taint what appears to be an otherwise valid marriage. If
a marriage is voidable, then it must be "avoided" (or
challenged in court) by the one whose disability causes
the problem at some point in time before the listing of
the disability. Otherwise, avoidable marriage may "cure"
into a valid marriage...A different kind of common law
marriage is represented by the situation where a valid
marriage is formed from an invalid marriage after the
impediment is lifted. For example, a party might be
underage at the time of the marriage. Continued
cohabitation as husband and wife after the underage
party attains majority, however, results in the marriage
ripening into validity where this form of common law
marriage is recognized.”
[41]
“re In The Marriage of J.M.H. and Rouse”, COLORADO COURT
OF APPEALS, Judge James Hartmann, June 15, 2006
AND/OR
Colorado Court of Appeals -- June 15, 2006
AND/OR
“re In The Marriage of J.M.H. and Rouse”, COLORADO COURT
OF APPEALS, Judge James Hartmann, June 15, 2006
"...The Uniform Marriage Act (UMA)...provides that
“[n]othing in this section shall be deemed to repeal or
render invalid any otherwise valid common law marriage
between one man and one woman." Section 142104(3),C.R.S.
2005...The jurisdictions that recognized common law
marriage are Alabama, Colorado, District of Columbia,
Idaho*, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Texas**, and Utah...Similarly, the United
States Supreme Court has held that common law marriages
are valid, notwithstanding statutes that require
ceremonial marriages to be solemnized by a minister or a
magistrate, if no specific provision to the contrary
exists... Common law, not the UMA, governs the existence
of a common law marriage...Regarding the age of consent
for common law marriage specifically, courts in other
jurisdictions have uniformly declared that the common
law age of consent applies to common law marriages, even
when statutes otherwise require parental or judicial
approval for persons under a specified age, unless those
statutes expressly modify or abrogate the common
law...The common law marriage of a person is valid,
regardless of whether the person has reached the age of
competency as established by statute, if the person is
competent under the common law...Under English common
law, children below the age of seven were incapable of
marrying. After that age they could marry, but the
marriage was voidable until they became able to
consummate it... which the law presumed to be at age
fourteen for males and twelve for females...Accordingly,
several jurisdictions have adopted those ages as the
common law ages of consent for marriage "
[*] only before 1997
[**] minimum 13
[43]
"Common Law Marriage", National Conference of State
Legislatures
"The United States Constitution requires every state
to accord ‘Full Faith and Credit’ to the laws of its
sister states. Thus, a common-law marriage that is
validly contracted in a state where such marriages are
legal will be valid even in states where such marriages
cannot be contracted and may be contrary to public
policy."
[44]
”Age of reason (canon law)”, Amazines
The age of reason, also called the age of
discretion, is the age at which children become capable
of moral responsibility. On completion of the seventh
year a minor is presumed to have the use of reason
(canon 97 §2 of the Code of Canon Law), but mental
retardation or insanity could prevent some individuals
from ever reaching it. Children under the age of reason
and the mentally handicapped are sometimes called
"innocents" because of their inability to commit sins
even if their actions are objectively sinful, they lack
capacity for subjective guilt.
While in the Eastern Churches Confirmation (also known
as Chrismation) and Eucharist are bestowed on the infant
who has just been baptized, in Latin Rite Catholicism,
Confirmation (except in danger of death) may be lawfully
conferred only on a person who has the use of reason
(canon 889 §2), and Holy Communion may be administered
to children only if "they have sufficient knowledge and
(are) accurately prepared, so that according to their
capacity they understand what the mystery of Christ
means, and are able to receive the Body of the Lord with
faith and devotion.”
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