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Sanatio in Radice

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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(Latin: a healing at the root)

A secret validation of an invalid marriage without securing a renewal of consent. This sanatio can be granted only by the Holy See; and there is no validation of this kind for a marriage which has an impediment of the natural or Divine law, but only for a marriage which was null because of some ccciesiastical obstacle. In other words, the Church can undo what it has done; and this action may retroact, so that, by a sort of legal fiction, the marriage will then be considered to have been legal from the beginning; it is especially useful in the legitimation of children already born of such a union.