Article — Gury-Ballerini, Compendium of Moral Theology (8th ed., 1884)
Article I. On the Minister
- I. It is certain that for the validity of matrimony the presence of the Pastor or his delegate is required wherever the Decree of the Council of Trent concerning clandestine marriages has been promulgated. - See what is to be said concerning the impediment of clandestinity, no. 836.
II. Even if this Tridentine Decree was not promulgated somewhere, nevertheless it is certain: first, that the Church always wished a Priest deputed for this to assist at the marriages of the faithful; second, that the Pastor cannot omit his assistance at the nuptials of the faithful and is bound to impart the blessing according to the rite received in the proper place; third, that the faithful who enter matrimony clandestinely sin gravely. This is proved from the Council of Trent, session 24, On the Reformation of Matrimony, chapter 1, etc.
- III. Today, whatever some previously said according to an obsolete opinion, it is also certain that the ministers of matrimony are the contracting parties themselves. The reasons upon which this doctrine rests are: first, because Eugene IV, wishing to hand down sound doctrine concerning the Sacraments in the Decree to the Armenians, established thus: The efficient cause of matrimony regularly is mutual consent expressed by words concerning the present. Nor must it be doubted that those words, the efficient cause of matrimony, regard Matrimony as a Sacrament, since the seven Sacraments are explained expressly in that Decree. Second, because the Council of Trent, session 24, On Reformation, chapter 1, declares that clandestine marriages were true and ratified, by which words Theologians and Canonists then expressed Sacraments in the strict sense. Third, because from the recent Declaration of Pius IX, to be reported at nos. 792 and 793, it is established that matrimony can never exist among the faithful without the Sacrament. Hence thus: clandestine marriages, according to the Council of Trent, are valid in places where the Decree by which they are invalidated was not promulgated; but otherwise they cannot be valid without the Sacrament; therefore the Sacrament of Matrimony is given even if it is not conferred by a Priest; therefore the Priest is not the minister of the Sacrament. - See St. Ligorius, no. 897.
- Questions. - QUESTION 1. Can the Pastor assist at the matrimony of those who are public sinners?
Reply 1. St. Ligorius, book 6, no. 54, with others, denies it. The reason is: first, because by natural law no one without a grave and proportionate cause can cooperate in the sin of another, even materially, although the other has already consummated the sin internally; second, because the publicly unworthy are not to be admitted to the Sacraments.
Others, however, affirm more correctly, although the Pastor ought to endeavor that they contract worthily. The reason is that the Pastor is not the minister of the Sacrament, nor does he confer it, but only assists as a witness or public notary, whose office is not to examine the merits of the contracting parties, but to make faith and testify to the things which he sees. - Lugo, On the Sacraments, disputation 8, no. 216 and following. - Thus commonly, as St. Ligorius himself acknowledges, no. 54.
Reply 2. Even according to the first opinion, he can sometimes assist at such a matrimony, namely, where a very grave reason urges which is in some way proportionate to the evil permitted in the profanation of the Sacrament, etc.; for example, if the Pastor were compelled by fear of death or of an almost equal evil 1, or if grave evils threatened the community, or if the spouses were already united civilly, as commonly happens in France, when civil matrimony must precede ecclesiastical matrimony. For a greater evil and greater scandal would follow from fornicatory cohabitation. - St. Ligorius, Bouvier, etc. - The difficulty would be less if one of the spouses were innocent or changed to a better life, because the Pastor could then assist at the matrimony in favor of the innocent party. Indeed, no difficulty would remain if the spouses were living in concubinage, for then both the scandal and the occasion of sin would be removed through the matrimony.
1 The Authors of this opinion appear to require too much. For the obligation which could be conceived of preventing the sin of the contracting parties, since it is an obligation of charity, does not require so grave an inconvenience for someone to be excused from it. Lugo well observes (On the Sacraments, disputation 8, no. 219) that the cooperation is very material and inculpable for a Pastor who cannot deny his assistance, which he owes as a public minister; just as neither a public notary nor a judge can deny the authority of his office to any legitimate contract, although the contracting parties sin in the contract itself from a depraved intention; and just as a wife does not sin by rendering the conjugal debt to a husband seeking it contrary to the vow of chastity which he has, so neither does the Pastor sin by assisting, because he renders that which he owes from his office and which he cannot deny without grave inconvenience.
And these things are most validly confirmed from what the Doctors hand down where they ask: whether the spouse himself, insofar as minister of the Sacrament, sins mortally by contracting matrimony with a sinner. For, as the same Lugo says (ibid., no. 226): No one has yet cast such a scruple upon Catholic persons, that they cannot freely contract matrimony with sinners, nor does any Theologian oblige a woman to repel a suitor and deny matrimonial consent so long as he is in the state of sin; but each is bound to place himself in grace and leaves the other party to that party's own conscience, as is evident from the use of all the faithful. See other proofs in the same de Lugo (ibid., nos. 227-229), who nevertheless observes (ibid., no. 219) that if the Pastor could easily admonish the petitioner and remove him from that unworthy reception of the Sacrament, he ought indeed to do so by the law of charity; but he cannot withdraw the assistance owed from one who persists and wishes to contract matrimony.
The VV. observe (page 947 in the Notes) that St. Alphonsus does not acknowledge the affirmative opinion to be common, as is attributed to him in the text of Gury. For the Holy Doctor said this of those who were unworthy by reason of an occult sin or censure. Reply. This is true; nevertheless, it will not prevent that opinion from being called more common with Croix (book 6, part 1, no. 147), and from being admitted in practice not only because of the authority of the Doctors but also because the reasons brought forward in St. Alphonsus against it plainly do not establish the matter.
- QUESTION 2. Can the nuptial blessing be separated from the celebration of Mass?
Reply. It must be denied. For the Sacred Congregation of Rites was asked: Whether it is licit to retain the custom prevailing in several places of celebrating matrimony in the afternoon and at the same time thus giving the nuptial blessing outside Mass, even in a prohibited time with permission of the Ordinary, since there is scarcely any hope of compelling the faithful either to change the time of the celebration of matrimony or to supply the blessing? The reply was: Let the Roman Ritual be observed (September 7, 1850, in Rupellen., reply 6). Moreover, according to the Roman Ritual, the conjugal blessing cannot take place except during the celebration of Mass. This is confirmed by another Decision of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on June 23, 1853, in Limburg. Nevertheless, the Priest is not bound to apply the Mass for the spouses unless he receives an alms from them. Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition, September 1, 1841. But the Mass assigned for nuptials is to be said even if it is not applied for the spouses.
Moreover, the nuptial Mass is to be said on all days except Sundays, feasts of precept, Doubles of the first or second class, and the Vigil of Pentecost, but without the Gloria and Credo. On the days, however, on which the Mass For the Bridegroom and Bride cannot be said, a Commemoration from that Mass is to be added. - Sacred Congregation of Rites, March 3, 1818, and April 20, 1822.
But when nuptials are celebrated in the season of Advent or Lent, no commemoration for the spouses is to be made in the Mass through the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion; nor is it licit to recite the Prayers placed in the Missal after the Lord's Prayer and Ite, Missa est; nor are the same Prayers to be recited outside Mass after the prohibited time has elapsed. - Sacred Congregation of Rites, August 31, 1839.
Furthermore, if the woman is a widow, not only must the nuptial blessing be omitted but also the proper Mass for the bridegroom and bride. - Sacred Congregation of Rites, March 3, 1761.
Finally, the custom of extending a white veil over the spouses is prohibited and reproved. - Sacred Congregation of Rites, September 7, 1850, in Rupellen.
- QUESTION 3. What must the Pastor do if the spouses are already in the Church to contract matrimony and he discovers from their confession that an impediment is present?
Reply 1. If the nuptials cannot be deferred without danger of infamy or other most grave inconveniences, and the penitent is in invincible ignorance of the impediment, the admonition must be omitted and the celebration of the matrimony permitted until a dispensation is obtained. - St. Ligorius, no. 613. Reply 2. If the penitent is in vincible ignorance, or if he openly knows the impediment, and the matrimony cannot be deferred without infamy or scandal, not even for obtaining a dispensation from the Bishop, then the difficulty is very great. According to St. Ligorius, ibid., and others, the Confessor or Pastor could declare that the law of the Church concerning impediments does not bind in such great straits and proceed to the celebration of the matrimony. Nevertheless, as soon as possible, at least as a precaution, he ought to seek a dispensation. According to others, a simulation of the matrimonial contract could be permitted, with the purpose of seeking a dispensation from the impediment as soon as possible. But the impediment cannot, they say, cease naturally; for an invalidating law never ceases because of a particular inconvenience, whatever it may be. Whenever the Bishop can be approached, however, he must be approached, because according to the common opinion he can dispense from ecclesiastical impediments in that case. - St. Ligorius, no. 613.
Every difficulty would cease in practice if the Bishop obtained from the Holy See the faculty of delegating Priests laboring in the care of souls, so that they might be able to dispense in extraordinary and urgent cases of this kind.