Case 34. Which Bishop Has Jurisdiction?

Titius, a Catholic who lived in a certain village of Diocese A, entered betrothal with Bertha, the non-Catholic daughter of his cousin, who lived in a small village of Diocese B. In order that he might more easily visit his betrothed and be nearer the place where he worked, Titius rented a house for three months in Bertha’s village. When they had committed fornication and marriage had to be hastened because of the expected child, Titius approached Julius, the local missionary, and asked him to obtain the necessary dispensations, since a dispensation for entering a mixed marriage had been sought in vain in his own diocese. Julius found that Bertha was twenty-six years of age and very well disposed to embrace the faith, but was unwilling to embrace it before marriage because of the opposition of her parents. Hence it is asked:

1. In general, what must be expressed in a petition when a matrimonial dispensation is sought?

2. What impediments exist, and what causes for granting a dispensation can be alleged in the case?

3. What is to be said of the case?

1. What in general must be inserted in the petition for a dispensation?

The name and surname of the petitioners, the diocese of birth or domicile, the species and number of impediments, the degree of consanguinity, affinity, etc., and various circumstances.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. ii, 346.

2. What impediments are there in the case, and what causes may be alleged for the dispensation?

The parties are related in the third degree of consanguinity mixed with the second in the collateral line, and they are of different religions, so there are two impediments, consanguinity and mixed religion. As Bertha is not a Catholic, no account can be taken of her when asking for a dispensation. Previous connection, pregnancy, and legitimization of offspring, danger of a civil or non-Catholic marriage, may be alleged as causes for the dispensation.

3. The case. If Titius has not yet lived in the diocese B for a month, the bishop of that diocese has no jurisdiction with regard to his marriage or granting the dispensation. If he has lived there for a full month he can be married there according to the decree Ne temere. Most probably the same bishop also obtains jurisdiction over Titius by his month’s stay in the diocese so that he can grant dispensations for impediments which hinder his marriage. Otherwise the bishop of diocese A will alone be competent to grant the requisite dispensations, unless Titius is prepared to go direct to the Holy See.²

2 Vermeersch, Ne temere, n. 98 bis.