Article One. On the Competent Parish Priest.

643. By the Name Parish Priest is judged:

1. The parish priest, who is commonly so called, to whom a parish with care of souls has been conferred in title.

2. The quasi-parish priest, who rules a quasi-parish, that is, a determinate territory in mission places.

3. The parochial vicar, who, furnished with full power, presides over an incorporated or vacant parish, or supplies for a parish priest licitly absent or permanently incapable.

4. Personal parish priests, among whom are reckoned:

a. simultaneous parish priests, who together with another parish priest exercise care of souls in the same place;

b. military parish priests;

c. chaplains or rectors of pious places with full parochial power.

644. Who Ought to Assist. 1. The parish priest of the place ought to assist at matrimony. He indeed validly assists at the matrimony both of subjects and also of non-subjects, but licitly a. at the matrimony of his own subjects absolutely, without further license; b. of non-subjects with the license of the proper parish priest of the spouses.¹ Therefore now competent to assist validly is any parish priest in his own territory by force of parochial office, so that he always assists validly, whether the spouses are from his parish or from another parish.

a. What is said concerning the parish priest of the place in relation to the parish has force also concerning the ordinary of the place (and vicar general) in relation to the diocese.

The parish priest who has territory cumulatively with another parish priest assists validly and licitly at marriages of his subjects, but validly yet illicitly at marriages of others.²

b. Around military parish priests the new Code has changed nothing.³ Therefore military parish priests with proper care of souls (as formerly in Austria and in Prussia) validly and licitly assist everywhere at marriages of their military subjects and can delegate another priest to assist where they are staying; but they cannot assist at marriages of other faithful.

The power of military parish priests does not seem to be exclusive, so that also the parish priest of both or of either of the contracting parties can validly and licitly assist at their matrimony.

c. Chaplains or rectors of pious places exempt from parochial jurisdiction validly and licitly assist, without delegation of the parish priest of the place where the pious place is situated, at marriages of their own, but not likewise of others.

2. A putative parish priest also assists validly, who is not a parish priest but by common error is thought to be such, even if he does not have a colored title;⁴ but an intruded parish priest does not assist validly, because he is neither a parish priest nor named parish priest by legitimate authority (although invalidly).

An intruded parish priest is said to be one who, without the consent of the legitimate superior, has been named and instituted by an illegitimate authority, e.g., civil authority.

¹ Cn. 1095, 1, 2.

² S. C. C., February 1, 1908, n. 8.

³ Cn. 451, 3.

⁴ Cf. Cn. 209.

645. Conditions for Valid Assistance.¹ The parish priest validly assists only:

1. From the day of having obtained possession of the benefice or begun the office, unless by sentence he has been excommunicated, or interdicted, or suspended from office, or declared such.

a. Therefore if before solemn institution (installation) the parish priest administers the parish, he cannot validly assist at marriages unless he has expressly obtained from the ordinary the faculty of assisting. The parish priest is said to obtain possession through that act (whether it is called investiture, institution, or enthronization, installation) by which there is conferred on him the free exercise of the power annexed to his office. Those who preside over a parish as parochial vicars (Pfarrverweser) assist validly at marriages from the day of the legitimately begun office.

b. Formerly a parish priest could validly assist at marriages even if excommunicated or suspended by name; now the power of assisting is removed from a parish priest who by sentence has been excommunicated, or interdicted, or suspended from office (where it concerns a censure ferendae sententiae), or declared such by sentence (where it concerns a censure latae sententiae). Therefore a parish priest suspended from order, from benefice, or from jurisdiction can assist validly.

2. If, constrained by neither force nor grave fear, he asks and receives the consent of the contracting parties.

From the old law matrimony was valid even if the parish priest had stood by when compelled and constrained by grave fear. That which the decree Ne temere requires, that the parish priest assist after being antecedently invited and asked by the contracting parties, is not required, since the Code omits this condition. Therefore it suffices that the contracting parties present themselves before him and that he, compelled by no force, freely asks and receives consent from them.

3. Within the limits of his territory.

Therefore outside his parish (his diocese, with regard to the ordinary), he does not validly assist even at the matrimony of his own subjects, unless he has been delegated for this. But within his own parish he assists validly at marriages both of subjects and of non-subjects. Therefore if the parish priest desires to join the spouses of his parish elsewhere, he must be delegated by the parish priest of the place in which the matrimony is made, so that the matrimony may be valid.

¹ Cn. 1095, 1, 2, 3.

646. Conditions for Licit Assistance.¹

1. That he has procured for himself certain knowledge concerning the free state of the spouses and concerning the absence of any impediment.

a. It is preferable that one parish priest, and indeed the parish priest of the bride, as far as can be done, procure all things which must be premised to matrimony (examination of the betrothed, necessary documents, petition of dispensations, warning about proclamations to be made elsewhere), because he is competent for assistance in the first place.

b. In order that the assisting priest can procure for himself certain knowledge of the free state of those about to marry, it is preferable that the license of assisting be granted by the parish priest of the bride, who had the examination of the betrothed, and that he at the same time report that the promulgations have been duly made, that no impediment stands in the way (or that dispensation has been given), and that the spouses were born on such a day, month, year, and place.

2. That either contracting party has a domicile or quasi-domicile or has stayed for a month in the place of the matrimony, and, if the matter concerns wanderers, that either contracting party is actually staying in the place of the matrimony.²

a. A month is understood as a space of 30 days. Within it, the absence of one or another day from the place of habitation does not impede the monthly habitation required by law, even if the person left the place of habitation with the intention of not returning any more, provided in reality he or she returned again after a few days. Therefore if someone has brought himself or herself to some place for the sake of business, but from the quality of the business is called away for one or another day each week, when a month has passed the parish priest of the place can assist at that person's matrimony.

3. If the spouses are not subjects (having elsewhere a place of domicile or quasi-domicile or monthly stay), that the parish priest of either spouse has given the license of assisting, unless grave necessity excuses from it or the matter concerns wanderers actually traveling, who nowhere have a seat of stay.

Grave necessity would be present if the celebration could not be deferred (e.g., because of an urgent necessity of departing, because of imminent danger of grave harm), nor was there time for seeking license. Prudence demands that the assisting parish priest procure for himself proof of this necessity, if perhaps it is required, whether through witnesses or through writing.

Note. The new Code says: Let the rule be that matrimony be celebrated before the parish priest of the bride, unless a just cause excuses. But marriages of Catholics of mixed rite are to be celebrated in the rite of the man and before his parish priest, unless something else has been provided by particular law.³

From these words indeed the right of assisting at the matrimony belongs in the first place to the parish priest of the bride; yet practically in this matter a difference between the parish priest of the groom and the parish priest of the bride will not have to be urged. For since only a just cause is required so that the parish priest of the groom may licitly assist, and since any reasonable cause of utility or convenience or custom is judged just, a just cause will scarcely ever be lacking where those about to marry ask that they be able to contract before the parish priest of the groom.

¹ Cn. 1097, 1, 2.

² Cn. 1097, 1.

³ Cn. 1097, 2.

647. On the Sanction of the Law.

One who has stood by at matrimony without the license of the proper parish priest or ordinary where such license is required does not make the stole fees his own and must remit them to the proper parish priest of the contracting parties.¹

a. The proper or competent parish priest of the contracting parties does not have the right to the stole fees, but the one who licitly assists at the matrimony does. To the proper parish priest of the contracting parties: if they have several proper parish priests, it is not established to whom they are to be remitted, perhaps to the parish priest of the bride.

b. Therefore one who assists at the matrimony of travelers without the license of the proper parish priest of the spouses loses the right to the stole fees, which must be remitted to the parish priest of the spouses. He is held to this remission by justice, because the law prevents him from making the stole fees his own, that is, from acquiring ownership in them.

¹ Cn. 1097, 3.

648. On the Marriages of Wanderers. 1. Wanderers are said to be those who nowhere have either domicile or quasi-domicile.¹

After the decree Ne temere some thought that in the matrimonial matter that person was not to be numbered among wanderers who had stayed somewhere for a month; nevertheless, from the new Code (Cn. 91), monthly stay does not suffice for one to cease being a wanderer.

2. With regard to wanderers the parish priest of the place must first institute a diligent inquiry concerning the free state and concerning the absence of any impediment and (outside a case of necessity), the matter having been brought to the ordinary or to the priest delegated by him, must obtain the license of assisting.²

a. By recent decree there is granted to ordinaries the faculty of delegating in the diocese a priest (priests) who, after examining the acts of parish priests concerning marriages of wanderers, can grant the license of assisting at their marriages.

b. The parish priest can assist at marriages of wanderers: if a case of necessity is present, without license; otherwise, if he has obtained license from the ordinary or from a priest delegated by the ordinary.

c. If only one of those about to marry is a wanderer, the license of the ordinary or of the priest delegated by him to grant this license is likewise required.

d. In a case of necessity, namely where there is not time for recourse, the whole matter is committed to the parish priest, who must institute an accurate investigation, and if he has acquired moral certainty concerning the absence of any impediment, can assist at the matrimony without license.

3. Those actually wandering are not comprehended under this law; therefore the parish priest of the place where they wish to contract can assist at their matrimony without the license of the ordinary.

Those are said to be actually wandering who a short time before had domicile and shortly afterward are going to have one again, as when spouses leave their domicile a few days before the celebration of matrimony and shortly after the celebration acquire a new one. But if they underwent the examination of the betrothed before the parish priest of the prior domicile, showed the necessary documents to him, and satisfied the law of proclamations, any parish priest can licitly assist at their matrimony. Indeed this exception is also extended by some to those actually wandering persons who did not make the examination of the betrothed before the parish priest of the prior domicile. Thus, if the spouses, having left their domicile, wait somewhere for an opportunity of sailing to America, where they intend to fix a new domicile, any parish priest, with the license of no one required (neither of another parish priest nor of the ordinary or priest delegated for wanderers), can validly and licitly assist at their matrimony.

¹ Cn. 91.

² Cn. 1032.