probably her only source of information about carnal desires. Her mother had died when she was just nine, and her sisters were younger than she. Joanna was convinced that there was not a father ever born willing to discuss lust with his daughter, and she doubted that Berengaria’s brother would have been willing, either. She doubted, too, that Berengaria, reserved and proud, would have turned for advice to her attendants, for they were all flighty young girls, and if one was not a virgin, she’d never have admitted it.
Joanna felt a surge of sympathy for her brother’s young bride, thinking how lucky she herself had been. Her mother had always been candid and comfortable about sexual matters, and Joanna had concluded at an early age that the marriage bed must be a place of great pleasure since her parents spent so much time in theirs. Wed at eleven, she’d had years to get to know her husband before she was old enough to consummate their marriage, and she’d had trusted female confidantes in Beatrix, Mariam, and Constance. Poor Berengaria, with only Padre Domingo to show her the way, the blind leading the blind! Well, it was not too late, thankfully.
“When Padre Domingo was warning you of the dangers of lust, did he happen to mention that marital sex is not a sin?”
“Yes . . . but only if it is done for procreation.”
“Not so,” Joanna said triumphantly. “The Church teaches that there are four reasons for a husband to have carnal knowledge of his wife, and only one is a sin. As you said, it is never sinful when it is done in hopes of having a child. But it is not sinful either if it is to pay the marital debt.”
Berengaria looked puzzled, but interested. “What is the marital debt?”
“Padre Domingo forgot to tell you about that, did he? According to St Paul’s teaching, the husband must render the conjugal debt to the wife and the wife to the husband, for he has power over her body and she over his. The Church position on this is so uncompromising that even if a husband or wife contracts leprosy, the partner still owes the marital debt.”
Berengaria’s eyes were wide with amazement. “You mean that I could demand this ‘debt’ from Richard and he’d have to oblige me?” And when Joanna confirmed that he would, that idea was so improbable to Berengaria that she began to giggle. Joanna joined in her merriment, and their shared laughter did much to diffuse any awkwardness between them.
“The third permissible reason for having marital sex,” Joanna resumed, “is one of the reasons for getting married, to avoid the sin of fornication.” She almost added that most people parted company with the Church on that, agreeing with Richard that fornication was harmless as long as the participants weren’t married or had not taken holy vows, but she thought better of it. “The only time that a married couple sin is if they are so driven by lust that satisfying their carnal needs is all that matters to them.”
“Oh. . . .” Berengaria was quiet for a moment, considering what she’d just been told, and then she smiled. “Joanna, thank you! You see . . . I told Richard that we could not lie together until we were properly wed. Yet I did not dare remind him that even married couples are supposed to abstain during Lent. After he left, I realized that this would pose a problem in our marriage, for there are so many days when the Church prohibits carnal union—Sundays and Wednesdays and Fridays and during Pentecost and Advent or when the wife is with child.... Somehow I could not envision Richard taking all these restrictions in good grace. And as his wife, I could not refuse him, which would mean that I’d be sharing his sin. But now I see that I would not be sinning, that I’d merely be satisfying the marital debt!”
She laughed, almost giddy with relief. But then her face shadowed again. “You said it was still a sin to be ‘driven by lust.’ I feel reasonably sure that I feel lust when Richard kisses me, Joanna, or touches me . . .” She was blushing hotly now, and Joanna felt a protective urge that was almost maternal.
“You feel desire,” she corrected, “the natural desire that a woman is supposed to feel for her husband. And that is not a sin. It is part of the Almighty’s Plan, for many