Article III. On Dispensation from the Banns

I say. For a just cause one can be dispensed from the law of banns. - It is established from the Council of Trent, sess. 24, cap. 1, de Reform. Matrim. But dispensation is more easily given from one or another proclamation than from all; for in order that dispensation be given from all, Benedict XIV requires a cause urgent, legitimate, most grave, and ineluctable.

§ 1. The proper Ordinary of the place, according to his prudent judgment, can dispense for a legitimate cause from publications, even those to be made in another diocese (Can. 1028).

The legitimate causes of dispensation are, according to theologians: 1°. lest the Marriage be maliciously impeded; 2°. grave damage, infamy, or scandal imminent from the delay of Marriage; 3°. fear lest the man abandon a defiled girl; 4°. if, Marriage already having been civilly contracted where the law of clandestinity is in force, the betrothed man is unwilling to consent to three proclamations. In these and similar cases, since it is a question of avoiding grave damage or of procuring a notable good, not only can the Bishop dispense, but he also ought to do so; but he can, although he ought not, whenever he judges this to be opportune, provided it is morally certain that no impediment is present. - Cf. S. Alphonsus, nn. 1005 and 1006; Baller. note (c), p. 712; Benedict XIV, Const. Nimiam licentiam, 18 May 1743.

Question 1. When the betrothed are from different dioceses, must dispensation be obtained from each Bishop?

Resp. § 2. If there are several proper Ordinaries, he has the right of dispensing in whose diocese the marriage is celebrated; but if the marriage is entered outside their proper dioceses, any proper Ordinary can dispense (Can. 1028).

Question 2. Can the Vicar General dispense from the proclamations of banns?

Resp. Affirmatively, provided the Bishop has not reserved this to himself or does not contradict it. The reason is that the New Code grants this faculty to the Ordinary; but under the name of Ordinary, if the matter belongs to his office and he is not expressly excluded, there also comes the Vicar General, since he constitutes one tribunal with the Bishop. Therefore he will be able both to exercise this power and to subdelegate it to others. - Cf. S. Alphonsus, n. 1007, and de Privilegiis, n. 58; Baller. note (a), p. 713.