Life, 1906-04-12 · page 1 of 24
Life — April 12, 1906 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes a dispute between the American Princess (representing the U.S.) and the Catholic Church over papal authority in marriage matters. The American Princess seeks a divorce, but the Church (represented by a Cardinal) refuses to annul her marriage to her "faithless husband." The satire's point: the Cardinal proposes an alternative—annulling the great-grandmother's marriage instead, which would retroactively make the current princess illegitimate and thus free her from her own marriage without the Church granting a direct divorce. This reflects early-20th-century tensions between American civil law (permitting divorce) and Catholic doctrine (forbidding it), satirizing the Church's rigid legalism as absurdly circular reasoning to avoid directly endorsing divorce while still achieving the same outcome.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XLVII. NEW YORK, APRIL 12, 1906. Pescnted eimadeanavaniy to C. 8, Great Rrieain, Entered the New York Port O@-s0 a4 Secwad Cane Mall Master Copyright, 198, ty Lene Pesasenios NOT TO BE MUTILATED, OR_TAKEN FROM THE BUILDIN Ote Codey — THE OTHER WAY ROUND The American Princess UR EMINENCE, THE CHURCH REFUSES ME ANY RELEASE PROM MY vat HUSBAND. I'M APRAID 1 SIIALL BE DRIVEN BACK TO ONE OF OUR AMERICAN DIVORCE courts The Cardinal: Not SO VAST, YOUR IGHNESS. THE CHURCH, INDEED, TORBIDS YoU A DIVORCE, DUT WE CAN PRORABLY TIND A WAY TO ANNUL THE MARRL YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER; THAT WILL ANNCL YOUR MARRIAGE ALSO, YOU WILL BE FREE, YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER WON'T MIND, AND WE SHALL AVOID THE SCANDAL AND HERESY OF A DIVORCE. comicbooks.com