CATHOLIC MARRIAGES

New Zealand Tablet, 9 February 1911, Page 245

CATHOLIC MARRIAGES

in view of recent happenings in Belfast and of comments thereon made in some of the papers in the Dominion, we give the following brief explanation of the legislation introduced by Pope Pius X in the matter of ‘ Catholic Marriages ’:

The decree dates from August 2, 1907, but came into force only at Easter time, 1908. The chief point so far as the present matter is concerned, is to be found in the following words of paragraph III: —'Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the parish priest or 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." The subject may be considered under three heads: 1. What is the nature of the change introduced by this legislation? 2. Has the Church power to make such legislation ? 3. Why has Pope Pius X introduced this legislation ? 1. Up to Easter time of 1908 a marriage between two Catholics or between a Catholic and a Protestant in these countries was considered by the Church to be a valid and a true marriage, even though it had been celebrated in the presence of the registrar or of a Protestant minister. The Church, of course, did not in any way approve of such marriages, and regarded them as sinful because the. law of the Church had been violated and the sacrament profaned, but at the same time she held that the marriages were real, and that the parties thus joined were man and wife. Now, here is the change. After Easter; 1908, the law of the Catholic Church stands thus: If a Catholic wishes to be married validly, either 'to a fellow-Catholic or to a non-Catholic, he or she must be married in presence of the priest of the place, or the Bishop of the diocese, or some priest delegated by either and two witnesses. (A special exception is made for those eases where a Catholic priest cannot be obtained.) If, therefore, a Catholic so far forgets himself as to go to a Protestant church or the registry office for the purpose of being married either to a fellow Catholic or a non-Catholic, the marriage thus contracted will, in the eyes of the Church, be no real marriage at all, and the persons who have gone through that ceremony ' will be no more man and wife after it than they were before.' This legislation, then, is very plain, and a simple reading of the decree makes it clear that the law (a) binds all Catholics, (b) that it has nothing whatsoever to do with non-Catholics, whether baptised or unbaptised, and that the marriages of such among themselves are regarded by the Catholic Church as truly valid marriages provided the contracting parties are otherwise free to marry; (c) that Catholics may still get married to nonCatholics after a dispensation has been obtained and certain other conditions have been complied with, and be validly and lawfully married in the presence of the priest and two witnesses.

2. Has the Church power to make such legislation? Outsiders generally recognise that the Catholic Church has through her long history, taken up a very decided attitude in regard to Christian marriage, and many thoughtful men in modern times have come also to see that the Church’s attitude has brought untold blessings to the Christian family. While philosophers and rulers have often tried to make Christian marriage a merely natural or civil contract, the work of man, the Church has always looked upon it as peculiarly sacred, the work of God. ‘Christian marriage in the eyes of the Catholic Church is not merely a covenant of two between a man and a. avoir an who take «ach other, but a covenant of threethe man and the woman and .God, who joins both, and accepts into His own immutable hand tho consent of both and seals it by an infusion of the Holy Spirit into their souls. Christ has thus exalted the contract of Matrimony into a sacrament Christian Act, one in which He Himself is the uniter, binding together two _ souls in a bond whmh is a type of the union between Himself and His Church. Hence the amty and indissolubility and sanctity of Christian marriage in which God Himself joins together what man may never dare to put asunder.’ (Loudon Tablet). And if Christian marriage is thus God’s work and Christ’s sacrament, on w hom will devolve the duty of safe-guarding its dignity and the right of fixing the conditions according to which it .shall be celebrated? On tbo State? But whore is the evidence to show that our Lord ever committed one jot 5J of His law or Hjs sacred institutions to its custody? He did indeed say something about ‘ rendering to Ctesar the things that are Caesar’s.’ but He added that" the things of God must be rendered to God, and if marriage, especially Christian marriage, is not a thing of God’s, what is? Marriage is a sacred thing, and therefore does not fall under the jurisdiction of the State which deals with things temporal. ‘ The State may, indeed, by its legislation, declare what are the conditions under which it will accord to marriage civil recognition and civil effects as to civil status and inheritance, and other temporal consequences. But over the making or unmaking of the marriage bond itself

it has no control. It cannot make two persons man and wife before God neither can it unmake them.’ Marriage, then, being a sacrament of Christ, was naturally handed over by Him, along with the other sacraments, to the care of His Church, and she, therefore, alone has the power of fixing the conditions governing its valid reception. 3. Why has Pope X introduced this legislation affecting the celebration of Catholic marriage ? This question may be answered in one word. The Catholic Church, looking upon Catholic marriage as a most sacred and blessed institution, naturally wishes that it should be entered into in the holiest and most becoming way possible, and in these days of open disregard of religion, she wishes to mark her sense of the fitness of things by insisting that it shall be celebrated before her accredited ministers.