Chapter IV. On the Matter and Form of Marriage

Concerning the matter and form of Marriage, these things are to be held:

I. The remote matter of the sacrament of Marriage is the bodies of the betrothed, to be handed over to each other in the contract of Marriage.

II. The proximate matter is the handing over itself of the bodies, which is perfected through words or signs expressing consent.

III. The form consists in the mutual acceptance of the contracting parties, expressed by words or signs.

Concerning all these things it is established both from the common doctrine of theologians and because today it ought to be beyond controversy that the sacrament of Marriage is nothing other than the matrimonial contract itself. Cf. de Augustinis, Thes. 4, p. 222, and especially the Apostolic Letter of Leo XIII, Arcanum, 10 Feb. 1880.