CATHOLIC MARRIAGES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 42, 17 October 1907, Page 11

CATHOLIC MARRIAGES

TRANSLATION OF IMPORTANT NEW DECREE

The following is a translation, by ' Rome,' of the important decree of the Congregation of, the Council summarised in -our last issue, which regards sponsalia (betrothals) and -the .valid and licit celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony. This decree applies to" the' whole Church, and comes into force' after next -Easter': — • ' . ' DECREE CONCERNING SPONSALIA AND MATRIMONY. ISSUEDJBY THE SACRED CONGREGATION OP THE COUNCIL BY THE ORDER AND WITH THE AUTHORITY OF OUB HOLY FATHER y Pope PIUS X. The Council of Trent, cap. /., Sess. XXIV., dt reform, matrim., made prudent provision against the rash celebration of clandestine marriages, which the Church of God for most just reasons has always detested and forbidden, by decreeing : 1 Those who otherwise than in the presence of the "parish-priest himself or of _ another priest ' acting with the license of ■ the parish-priest or of- the Ordinary, and in the presence" of two or three witnesses, shall attempt to contract matrimony, "the Holy Synod renders v them altogether incapable of contracting marriage thus, and decrees that contracts' of this kind are null and void.' But as' the, same Sacred Council prescribed that said Decree should be published in all the parishes and was not to have force* except in those places in which it had been promulgated, it has happened that many places in which the publication has not been made" have" been deprived of _the benefit of the Tridentine law, and , are still without it, and continue to be subject to the doubts and inconveniences of the old discipline. . . Nor has all difficulty been removed in those piaces where the new law has been in force. For j>ften there has-been

grave doufet in deciding a£ to the: person of the .parish-priest, before whom a marriage is io be celebrated. The canonical discipline did .indeed decide that he is to be regarded as the-parish-priest in whose parish one or other of the contracting parties has his or her' domicile or -quasi-domicile. But as it is sometimes difficult to judge whether' a" quasi-domicile really exists in a specified case, not a few marriages were exposed to the danger "of nullity ; many, too, either owing to ignorance or fraud; have been found to be quite illegitimate and void. These deplorable" results -have been • seen to' happen more • frequently "in our own- time on account of the' increased facility and celerity ~of intercommunication between.- the different countries, even those" most widely separated.. ;It has therefore" seemed expedient, to wise and- learned men . to . introduce some change into the law regulating, the- form of- the celebration of- - marriage, 'and a great, many bishops in all -parts of the world, but especially in the.- more populous states 'where the necessity. . appears more - urgent; petitioned the Holy See, to this end. ' t - '~'lt ( has been"; aske J d>also' s by -very -many bishops in Europe,- as' I well as •by others "in' various that provision should "be I made to prevent the inconveniences arising from sponsalia — that is, mutual promises of marriage,-, privately: entered upon. "For experience has sufficiently shown the. many dangers of such- " sponsaHa, first as being an incitement to sin and 'causing' the • deception of. inexperienced '^jirls, and afterwards giving" rise to; ''. inextricable" ""dissensions arid disputes. " - - ' ■ ' ' Influenced • by, these circumstances pur Holy Father ?ope- ' Pius X./ desiring, in the solicitude he bears , for. all the .churches, ' to introduce some modifications with the ' object of removing I these- drawback's ' and dangers, committed "to the 'S,'''Congggei gation of the; Council _the"task 'of examining into"" the matter i and of proposing to himself ' the "measures it should dejyjn.' ; i opportune:- ' ■ - - " j ' -» , He yras pleased also to have the opinion. of the commission' 1 appointed for the codification of Canon Law, as well as of , the Eminent Cardinals chosen on this special commission for the? preparation of the hew code, by whom,- as, 'well' as by_.thal • S. Congregation of the Council,' ' frequent meetings ' have been held for 'this purpose. The opinions of all having been" taken, His Holiness ordered" the Sacred Congregation of the Coffaeil ' to issue .a Decree containing the laws, approved by himself^oj* sure knowledge and- after mature deliberation, by which^ tfre discipline regarding 'sponsalia and marriage, is to be regnlatfed . for the future, and the celebration of them- carried out in a • sure and orderly manner. In execution, therefore, of the Apostolic mandate, the S. *" "Congregation of the "Council by these .letters lays down arid decrees what follows : , , / Concerning Sponsalia. i- - ■ "~ • . I. Only those' are considered valid- and produce canonical "i effects -which have been contracted in writing signed by both - the parties and by either -the parish-priest or the" Ordinary of \ the- .place,- or at least by , two witnesses.- -■■ •••-„ • 'In case one or ' both the parties be unable to write, this fact •is tou be in the document, and • another witness is to bemadded who will sign the writing as- above, with the parishpriest or the Ordinary of. the place or the -two witnesses-. • - 11. Here and in the following articles, by parish-priest is to be understood not only a priest legitimately presiding over a parish canonically erected,- but in regions where parishes are not canonically erected the priest to whom the care of souls . has. been legitimately entrusted in any specified district, and who is equivalent to a parish-priest ; and in -missions where the • territory has not yet been perfectly divided, .every priest ' generally, deputed by the superior of the mission for the care ' of souls in any station. , v. • Concerning Marriage. 111. Only those marriages are valid- which are contracted . before the- parish-priest of the Ordinary of the place or 'a priest delegated by either of these, and at least two witnesses; according to the rules laid down in the following articles, and saving the exceptions mentioned under VII. and VIII. IV. The parish-priest and the Ordinary of the place validly assist' at a marriage : ■ i) only from the day they have taken possession bf^'the benefice or entered upon* their office, unless, they Have" been "by a public decree excommunicated by name "or suspended . from tlie office; ' ' ' ■ '

ii) only within the limits of their territory, within which they assist validly at marriages not only of their own subjects, but also of those not subject to them; iii) provided when invited and asked, and not compelled by violence or by grave fear, they demand and receive the consent of the contracting parties. V. They assist licitly : .' , i.) when they have legitimately ascertained the free state of the contracting parties," having duly complied with, the conditions laid down by the law; ii)«when they have ascertained that one of the contracting parties has a domicile or at least has lived for a month in the place where the marriage takes place ; iii) if tflis condition be lacking, the parish-priest . and the" Ordinary of the place, to assist licitly at a marriage, requirethe permission of the parish-priest or the Ordinary of one of the contracting parties, unless it be a case of grave necessity, which excuses from this permission ; iv) concerning persons without fixed abode (vagos), except' in case of necessity it is not lawful for a parishtpriest to assist at their marriage until they report the matter to the Ordinary or to a priest delegated by him and obtain permission to assist ; v) in every case let it be held as the rule that the marriage is to be celebrated before the parishtpriest of the bride, unless some just cause excuses from this. VI. The parish-priest and the Ordinary of the place may grant permission to another priest, specified and certain, to assist at marriages within the limits of their district. - flßjL'he delegated priest, in order to assist validly and licitly, is bound to observe the limits ■of his mandate and the rules *laid down above, in IV. and V., for the parish-priest and the Ordinary of the place. VII. When danger of death is imminent, and where the parish-priest or the Ordinary of the place or a priest delegated by either of these cannot be had, in order to provide for the relief of conscience and (should the case require it) for the legitimation of offspring, marriage may be contracted validly and licitly before any priest and two witnesses. VIII. Should it happen that in any district the parish-priest or the Ordinary of the place or a priest delegated by either of them, before whom marriage can be celebrated, is not to be had, and that this condition of things has lasted for a month, marriage may be validly and licitly entered upon by the formal declaration of consent made by the spouses in the presence of two witnesses. IX. i) After the celebration of a marriage the parish-priest or he who takes his place is to write at once in the book of marriages the names of the couple and of the witnesses, the place and day of c the celebration of the marriage, and the other details, according to the method- prescribed in the ritual books or by the Ordinary ; and this even when another priest delegated either by the parish-priest himself or by the Ordinary has assisted at the marriage. ii) Moreover, the parish-priest is to note also in the book of baptisms that the married person contracted- marriage on such a day in his parish. If the married person has been baptised elsewhere, the parish-priest who has assisted at the marriage is to transmit, either directly or through the episcopal curia, the announcement of the marriage that has taken place to the parish-priest of the place where the person was- baptised,., in order that the marriage may be inscribed in the book of baptisms. iii) Whenever a marriage is contracted in the manner described in VII. and VIII., the priest in the former case, the witnesses in the latter, are bound conjointly with the contracting parties to provide that the marriage be inscribed as soon as possible in the prescribed books. X. Parish-priests who violate the rules thus far laid down are to be punished by their Ordinaries according to the nature and gravity of their transgression. Moreover, if they assist at the marriage of anybody in violation of the rules laid down in ii) and iii) of No. V., they are not to appropriate the stolefees, but must remit them to the parish-priest of the contracting parties. „ XI. i) The above laws ase binding upon all persons baptised in the Catholic Church and on those who have been converted to if from heresy or schism (even when either the latter or the

former have fallen away afterwards fromjihe Church) whenever they contract sponsalia or marriage with one another. ii) The same, laws are binding also on the same Catholics as above, if they contract sponsalia or marriage with nonCatholics, baptised or unbaptised, even after a dispensation has been obtained from the impediment mixta rgligionis or disparitatis cultus; unless the Holy See decree otherwise for some particular place or region. iii) Non-Catholics, whether baptised or unbaptised, who contract among themselves, are nowhere bound to observe the Catholic form of sponsalia or marriage. The present decree is to be held as legitimately published and promulgated by its transmission to the Ordinaries, and its provisions begin to have the f orce. of law from the solemn feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, next year, 1908. Meanwhile let all the Ordinaries of 'places see that this decree be made public as soon as possible, and explained in the different parochial churches of their dioceses in order that it may be known by all. These presents are to have force by the special order of our Most Holy Father Pope JPius X., all things to" the contrary, even those worthy of special mention to the contrary notwithstanding. Given at Rome on the- 2nd day of August in the year 1907. t Vincent Card. Bishp. of Palestrina, Prefect. C. Dk Lai, Secretary.