To the person who gave me (Frances) a thumbs down?
Why ? I had a very specific situation in mind--that of my Grandma, (RIP). She converted to the Catholic Faith in from Lutheranism. She married a Catholic man, my grandfather, at age 17. They had three children, the youngest, age two, when he deserted the family . After the war, he turned up "married" to another woman. Grandma accepted a civil divorce and raised the children on her own in an era before welfare, head start, food stamps, etc. The eldest two children survived to adulthood, (youngest sucuмbed to diptheria) . Grandma remained Catholic, as did the two children. Grandma died in 2001, a Catholic, my uncle, the middle child, in 2009, a Catholic. The oldest child is alive in her late 90s, also Catholic.
Grandma had any number of opportunities to "remarry.". She remained faithful to Our Lôrd. I find no fault with Grandma. She was not a feminist, only a woman who made the best of a very difficult life, and God blessed her for her sacrifices.