Section — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Section 3. On the Power of the Parish Priest and Confessor.
610. 1. In urgent danger of death, the parish priest, the priest assisting at the matrimony, and also the confessor, who ordinarily will be the assisting priest, have the same faculty of dispensing and under the same conditions as the ordinary himself.1
a. In this case, if there is time for recourse to the ordinary, recourse is necessary.
b. The confessor possesses the same faculties for the internal forum, but only in sacramental confession. Nevertheless, if he is at the same time the assisting priest, he possesses the faculty also for the external forum.
c. The parish priest and assisting priest must inform the ordinary of the place concerning the dispensation granted for the external forum and take care that the same be inscribed in the marriage book.2
- In urgent necessity, namely, where all things have already been prepared for the nuptials and the matrimony, or (if the matter concerns a contracted matrimony) the convalidation, cannot be deferred without probable danger of grave evil until dispensation is obtained from the Holy See, the parish priest, the assisting priest, or the confessor possess the same faculty.3
Since this case formerly was not without difficulties and was solved in diverse ways by authors, it was circulated under the name of the perplexed case. But now, after the very ample faculty of dispensing has been granted, every difficulty vanishes and the case ceases to be perplexed. I shall set forth distinctly what the parish priest, etc., must do in this case.
1 Cn. 1044.
2 Cn. 1046.
3 Cn. 1045.
611. 1. If he discovers a public impediment, e.g., of consanguinity, the impediment must be revealed and the matrimony deferred until dispensation has been obtained; for this can be done without scandal and infamy of the betrothed.
If the impediment is occult and indispensable (e.g., of bond), the matrimony must be omitted, whatever inconvenience may follow from the omission, unless the circumstances are of such a kind that the impediment cannot be revealed to those about to marry without most grave inconvenience to a third party.
If the impediment is dispensable, this faculty of dispensing is now granted:1
a. Dispensation can be granted in all impediments of ecclesiastical law, whether public or occult, even multiple, with only those arising from the order of priesthood and from affinity in the direct line (when the matrimony has been consummated) excepted; yet scandal being removed and cautions furnished, if dispensation is given in disparity of cult or in mixed religion.
b. He can dispense:
The ordinary of the place, his subjects wherever they are staying and all actually dwelling in his own territory;
The parish priest and the priest who assists at the matrimony, but only in occult cases and if the ordinary cannot be approached either at all or only with danger of violating secrecy.
The confessor, but only for the internal forum and in the act of sacramental confession.
c. The same faculty has force also for the convalidation of a matrimony already contracted, if the same danger exists in delay and there is no time for recourse to the Holy See.
d. The parish priest and priest should immediately make the ordinary of the place certain concerning the dispensation granted; this is not required from the confessor, who has dispensed only for the internal forum.
If the impediment in which the parish priest or assisting priest has dispensed afterward becomes public, nothing further is required, because the dispensation was granted also for the external forum; but if the impediment in which the confessor dispensed afterward becomes public, dispensation for the external forum must be sought, since it was given only for the internal forum.
1 Cn. 1045.