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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Widow</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15617c.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Canonical prescriptions concerning widows in the Old Testament refer mainly to the question of remarriage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="15617c.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/w.htm">W</a> > Widow</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Widow</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>I. Canonical prescriptions concerning widows in the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> refer mainly to the question of remarriage. If a man died without children, his widow was <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to marry her deceased husband's brother, and if the latter refused to take her to wife he was put to shame before the people (<a href="../bible/deu025.htm#vrs5">Deuteronomy 25:5-10</a>). The high- <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> was forbidden to marry a widow (<a href="../bible/lev021.htm#vrs14">Leviticus 21:14</a>), but other members of the <a href="../cathen/12409a.htm">priesthood</a> were at liberty to take to wife the widow of another <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a>, but not the widow of a <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">layman</a> (<a href="../bible/eze044.htm#vrs22">Ezekiel 44:22</a>). Outside of these prescriptions, there is no law in the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> restricting a widow's remarriage. The support of widows was commended to the charity of the <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israelites</a>, and they were to have the gleanings of the cornfields, olive trees, and vineyards (<a href="../bible/deu024.htm#vrs19">Deuteronomy 24:19-22</a>). In the third year of <a href="../cathen/14741b.htm">tithes</a> (or the great <a href="../cathen/14741b.htm">tithe</a>) widows were to have their share of the offering (<a href="../bible/deu026.htm#vrs12">Deuteronomy 26:12</a>), and at the three principal solemnities of the year they were to be invited to feast with the nearest house-holder (<a href="../bible/deu016.htm#vrs11">Deuteronomy 16:11</a>). In the times of the Machabees money was deposited and provisions were kept in the Temple at <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> for the subsistence of widows (<a href="../bible/2ma003.htm#vrs10">2 Maccabees 3:10</a>), and the spoils of battle were also shared with them (<a href="../bible/2ma008.htm#vrs28">2 Maccabees 8:28</a>). For their protection, there was a prohibition against taking their garments in pawn (<a href="../bible/deu024.htm#vrs17">Deuteronomy 24:17</a>). In the Book of Job the taking away of a widow's ox for a pledge is considered a wicked action (xxiv,3), from which commentators generally gather that the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of Deuteronomy was later extended to all a widow's possessions. Besides legal prescriptions for the protection of widows, the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> contains many general <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> commending them to the reverence and benevolence of the chosen people and bitter denunciations of their oppressors and defrauders. The lot of the widow in <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> times was generally a hard one, and Christ refers to the widow's mite as an offering from the poorest of the poor (<a href="../bible/mar012.htm#vrs44">Mark 12:44</a>). He also strongly denounces the <a href="../cathen/11789b.htm">Pharisees</a>: "because you devour the houses of widows" (<a href="../bible/mat023.htm#vrs14">Matthew 23:14</a>). Under the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Dispensation</a> some widows devoted themselves to a life of special religious observance, as is recorded of Anna the Prophetess, "who departed not from the temple by fastings and <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> serving night and day" (Luke ii, 37).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>II. In primitive <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> times the support of widows was made a special <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>, who collected <a href="../cathen/01328f.htm">alms</a> for them and gave care of them to the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a> (<a href="../bible/act006.htm#vrs1">Acts 6:1</a>). This support of needy widows has always been considered a particular charge of the <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Christian Church</a> and many <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decrees</a> of <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a> and councils make mention of it as specially incumbent on <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parish</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, and holders of <a href="../cathen/02473c.htm">benefices</a>. In <a href="../cathen/01648b.htm">Apostolic</a> times widows were employed in certain capacities in the <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministry</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, directing that one to be chosen must be "of no less than threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband. Having testimony for her good <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">works</a>", and some see in this reference to the order of <a href="../cathen/04651a.htm">deaconess</a>, while others do not. Shortly after, however, the office of <a href="../cathen/04651a.htm">deaconess</a> was referred to as "widowhood" (St. Ignatius, <a href="../fathers/0109.htm"><em>Smyrnæans</em> 8.1</a>). As to the remarriage of widows in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Christian Church</a>, though <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> declares that widowhood is preferable to the married state (<a href="../bible/1co007.htm#vrs8">1 Corinthians 7:8</a>), yet he does not forbid remarriage (<a href="../bible/1co007.htm#vrs39">1 Corinthians 7:39</a>). Second nuptials are valid by ecclesiastical law if the first marriage bond has been really dissolved and if there is no <a href="../cathen/07695a.htm">canonical impediment</a>, as is the case for <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerics</a> in major orders in the Oriental rites. In the mind of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, however, second nuptials are less honourable than a first marriage (<a href="../fathers/3802.htm">Council of Ancyra, canon 19</a>; <a href="../fathers/3806.htm">Council of Laodicea, canon 1</a>), and the state of widowhood is more commendable (Conc. Trid., sess. xxiv, de matr., can. 10) as a more perfect good. (See <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">WOMAN</a>.)</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">THOMASSIN, Vet. et noval disciplina (Paris, 1688); WERNZ, Jus decret., IV (Rome, 1904).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Fanning, W.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Widow.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15617c.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Fanning, William.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Widow."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 15.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15617c.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Lives of Widows.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to Maxine M. Strouts.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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