I believe you will find he was seeking annulment, a devise used by thousands of Roman Catholics then and now.
"devise"?? Do you mean "device"??
An annulment takes place when one of the parties NEVER intended to "love, honor" etc.
1. Case #1
I knew a fellow high school student who got an annulment. I HAPPENED to be at a church function ... and introduced myself to an older woman next to me.
She gave me her name and I answered: "Oh I went to high school with a girl of the same name."
She answered: "That is my daughter."
I asked: "Well, how the heck is "Susie"?
She answered: "She's fine...now."
I looked at her with a question and left it hanging.
Her story: "Susie's" husband BEAT THE HOLY PIE OUTTA HER from day one of their marriage. They had five children throughout the marriage.
Her parents used to tell her: "GO TO THE PRIEST!" The husband assumed that since Susie was Catholic she was STUCK.
Susie FINALLY went to a priest and told her story.
Long story short: Susie got an annulment BECAUSE the husband never intended on "loving and cherishing" Susie. He had always planned on beating her because that was his way.
So...her mother said that NOW Susie is married to a WONderful guy and she is SO happy.
Not often I get to hear about a happy ending.
SO that was a case for an annulment. It was not a "device" on Susie's part but a chance for a new and better life.
Another scenario.
Case #2: My weight watcher's leader is divorced. She married an older guy and they had two sons. Even before the time the boys were teenagers, her husband started to cheat on her...WITH OTHER MEN. She didn't have a clue as to what "gay" was and HE KNEW that she was abysmally naive. That was the MAJOR reason he married her, to have the "veneer" of being straight.
Her SONS knew that "dad was gay" w-a-y before she knew. She DIDN'T get an annulment but she COULD have. It simply didn't matter to her anymore.
There ARE, of course, people who abuse that avenue of action, but annulments are NOT granted willy-nilly. Our lovely media loathe the Catholic Church, with those unbelievably high standards of morality always in front of us, and WILL take any/all opportunities to make the 2000-year-old Catholic Church look bad.
And, of course, there are always Catholic-haters who never miss the opportunity to take a jab to the first Christian Church. NOT YOU, mind you, but others.
Shrinks say that wife beaters USUALLY grew up seeing that in their own childhood. The same with pedophiles.
Freegards, "the father."