Dispensatio Consanguinitatis


In this post I was going to write about the life of Francois (Frank) Parent (Perault) but in the course of my research I found something unusual and interesting. I will get to the life story of Francois Parent, probably in the next post. In this post I will focus on the marriage of Francois Parent (1842 - 1922) and Martine St. Amand (1846 - 1934). Both Pierre Parent (the brother of Francois) and Francois were married in 1868. Pierre was married in January and Francois was married on February fifteenth. Pierre's marriage did not seem to have anything unusual about it but in in the marriage record for Francois andMartine there was a notation, 'dispensatio consanguinitatis'. I recognized the two words as being in Latin and that they had something to do with dispensing consanguinity. This was a puzzle and a mystery that I had to look into. 

The first place to look was the Catholic Church canon law. The canon law of the Catholic Church was based on Roman civil law. Under Roman civil law, a couple who were within four degrees of consanguinity were forbidden to marry. After the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Church started to grant dispensations for consanguinity because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find spouses who were outside of the four degrees of consanguinity.

Now, this leads us back to Francois and Martine. I had wondered at the fact that Francois' mother's surname was St. Amand as well. I had wondered if they were related but I always thought it was something I would get to eventually. After finding the notation in the marriage record it became an imperative to find out.

I figured that the issue had to be between Josette St. Amand (Simon's wife) and Martine St. Amand (Francois' wife). I had to find out how Josette and Martine were related. 

It took a bit of detective work but I think I have the dispensatio consanguinitatis figured out and at the same time i researched the Andre St. Amand line all the way back to France which is kind of nice. I always like to trace ancestors back to France if I can. 

Now, Louis Andre dit St. Amand (1695 - 1775) was a soldier who emigrated from France to Nouvelle France. I will come back to him in a later post, there is much to say about Louis Andre dit St. Amand. One of Louis' sons was Joseph Andre dit St. Amand (1735 - 1774 or 1735 - 1811 depending on which source you accept). One of Joseph's sons was also name Joseph Andre dit St. Amand (1748 - 1849). This Joseph had a daughter named Josephte (Josette) Andre St. Amand. Josette married Simon Parent, the father of Francois Parent.

Joseph Andre dit St. Amand (1735 - 1774 or 1735 - 1811) had another son named Joseph (1765 - 1844) who had a son named Jean - Baptiste St. Amand (1803 - 1885). These ancestors certainly had long lives. One of Jean Baptiste's children, a daughter, Martine (Martha) St. Amand married Francois Parent, my great grandfather. That would make Martine my great grandmother and Josette my great, great grandmother.

Now, to try and get some clarity to these couple of tangled branches of the Parent family tree. What is Martine's relationship to Josette. The two Joseph's (1765 - 1844) and (1778 - 1849) were brothers. Josette was the daughter of Joseph (1778 - 1849) and the cousin of Jean Baptiste St. Amand (1803 - 1885). Joseph Parent (1765 - 1844) would have been her uncle. So, what does that make Martine in relation to Josette? Looking at the chart below which comes from Family Tree Magazine.com, Martine would have been the first cousin once removed to Josette. At the same time Martine was Josette's daughter - in - law.

 Most importantly what is the relationship between Francois Parent and Martine St. Amand? We have to determine the relationship between Francois and Martine to see how many degrees of separation there were between them. Francois was Josette's son so this would make Martine his second cousin once removed because Martine's father, Jean-Baptiste St. Amand was Josette's cousin. 

 Now, it is understood why Francois Parent and Martine St. Amand needed special dispensation in order to be married in the Church. The Church required that a husband and wife have four degrees of separation while Francois and Martine only had two degrees of separation.



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