Case XXVI: Delegation in Assisting at Betrothals

Can the parish priest ^* or the bishop delegate another priest (his curate for instance) to assist at a betrothal, or can they have themselves delegated in another parish by the parish priest there? KNECHT and HEINER affirm this with considerable certainty, and KNECHT applies to this the rule: Plus semper in se continet quod est minus, and, Cui licet quod est plus, licet utique quod est minus. The law, however, speaks of delegation only in cases of marriage, not of betrothal, and there explicitly circumscribes this faculty, therefore all other commentators declare against delegation at betrothals, and so has the S. C. C. decided, March 28, 1908. Pro praxi no special difficulty is thereby offered. If he is not parish priest of the place where the betrothal is made the priest requested to assist may simply secure another witness to the act; then the betrothal at all events is valid ceteris paribus.

^* According to decisions of the S. C. C, the term parish priest, in the sense of the decree Ne temere, does not only refer to pastors in canonically erected parishes, but it means, where parishes have not been canonically erected, all priests lawfully appointed to exercise the pastorate for fixed districts; the term includes, furthermore, chaplains in Army and Navy, within the boundaries of their lawful appointment; furthermore, administrators and coadjutors who, for incapacitated pastors, take full charge of parishes; of spiritual directors of hospitals and other institutions, only those who are not subject to a parish priest; and, in missionary territories, every priest entrusted by his lawful superior with the charge of a station or district,

Is there a law or precept that betrothal must precede the marriage? To this question we must evidently say no. But if two persons wish to become betrothed, they must observe the prescribed form. Otherwise a betrothal does not take place, and he who knowingly and by omission of the prescribed form merely pretends to become betrothed, commits a deception toward the other party and is answerable in foro externo and interno for the consequences of the deception.