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The Fecundity of the Sacrament of Marriage for the Church. The paper proposes an overview of the biblical basis of the family and its offspring while constantly making reference to verses dealing with fertility and/or bareness. The idea of fertility in the Bible has its origin in the divine word addressed to the first family: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…” (Gn 1,28). While fertility is seen as a sign of divine blessing, bareness is usually understood as a consequence of an unrighteousness life. However, there are quite a few biblical episodes demonstrating that bareness might be a preamble of a special birth, of a person chosen by God to fulfill a special mission, like in the case of Isaac or Samuel, to name just two of them. On a theological level, fertility is determined by the fulfillment of the Law, to which God responds by keeping the covenant promise (Gn 17,2). Parenthood is both bodily and spiritual, the latter being preeminent in the Bible, as well as in contemporary Christian life. Guided by the teachings of the Church, the family is a source of life and the first environment of spiritual education.

Keywords: anthropogenesis, family, marriage, fertility, birth, education, spiritual paternity, ecclesia minima