Article I. On the Necessity of Banns

734. Principles. - I. From the precept of the Church there is a grave obligation of proclaiming the banns. The existence of the precept is established: first, from the Fourth Lateran Council, and from the Council of Trent, session 24, chapter 1. The existence of a grave obligation is established, secondly, because a general discipline prescribed by two General Councils and resting upon grave motives produces a grave obligation ¹.

¹ The gravity of the precept is also argued from the gravity of the penalties. For the Tridentine Synod (session 24, chapter 5, On the Reformation of Matrimony) decrees that, if an impediment is afterward discovered, the spouses are to be separated with every hope of obtaining a dispensation removed; whence you conclude that those who by privilege can grant dispensations, for example, by a rescript of the Sacred Penitentiary, cannot dispense with these persons. Furthermore (chapter Cum inhibitio 3, section 1, On Clandestine Betrothals), if any offspring has been conceived, it is held illegitimate, even if the spouses were so ignorant of the impediment that they could be considered in good faith. See Schmalzgrueber (book 4, title 3, nos. 73-74).

II. The proclamation of the banns is not required by necessity of the Sacrament. The reason is that neither the Council of Trent nor the Lateran Council, which had previously prescribed the same thing, adds any invalidating clause. Nor can any other law be cited from which it is established that the proclamation is required for the validity of matrimony.

735. Questions. - QUESTION 1. Are all who are to contract subject to the law of proclamation?

Reply. Yes, because the law is altogether general. Nevertheless, Princes are excepted by usage because their family is sufficiently known and their marriages are ordinarily sufficiently public. Except also a case of necessity; for example, if one near death wished to marry his concubine in order to legitimate offspring and there were danger in delay. - See Ferraris, Library, under the entry Denunciations of Matrimony.

QUESTION 2. Does a Pastor sin gravely by omitting the denunciation if he knows that no impediment is present?

Reply. Yes. The reason is: first, because the Pastor can with difficulty be altogether certain that no impediment to matrimony is present; second, because even if no impediment appears before the proclamation of the banns, it can happen that some impediment supervenes after they have been proclaimed. - St. Ligorius, no. 990 ².

² Apply the principle that a law obliges even if its reason ceases in a particular case, especially since a most grave danger would be imminent if this matter were left to the judgment of Pastors, as is evident from the things said in the preceding note. Therefore, when the matter is urgent and, after diligent inquiry, it is established that no impediment is present, a dispensation must be sought; the denunciation must not be omitted at the discretion of the Pastor.

QUESTION 3. Does a Pastor sin gravely if, without a dispensation, he omits only one proclamation?

Reply. It is disputed. Some affirm it because one proclamation out of three must be regarded as a grave part of the whole precept. Others, however, deny it; St. Ligorius, no. 991, calls their opinion probable. It is more probable, however, that the omission of two denunciations is a mortal sin. - St. Ligorius, ibid. - See Cases, no. 873.