Chapter VI. Minister, Matter, and Form of Matrimony

We have seen that according to the teaching of the Church the contract of marriage was raised by our Lord to the dignity of a sacrament, so that the marriage contract constitutes the sacrament, and as such confers grace on baptized and worthy recipients to enable them to perform the duties of their state of life like true Christians. The efficient cause of the contract is the mutual consent of the parties, who thereby confect the sacrament, and who are, therefore, its ministers to each other. The remote matter would seem to be the marital rights which are the matter of the contract; the proximate matter is the mutual offer, and the form the mutual acceptance of those rights. It is uncertain whether a Christian who by dispensation marries a non-baptized person receives the sacrament or not, as the other party is certainly incapable of receiving a sacrament. It is also disputed whether the marriage of unbaptized persons who are converted to the Faith becomes a sacrament on the reception of Baptism.

The civil authority probably has power over the marriages of non-baptized subjects, so that it can make diriment and prohibitory impediments to such marriages for the common good, Christian marriage is a sacrament, and the administration of the sacraments belongs exclusively to the Church, so that the State has no power to make diriment or prohibitory impediments for Christian marriage. The regulations which the civil authority makes concerning marriages of soldiers and others should, of course, be observed if they are reasonable and just, but they are not impediments in the strict sense. There is nothing to prevent the State from making laws concerning the civil effects of marriage, such as the property rights of married people, rights of inheritance and succession, titles of nobility, and similar matters; these things are within the competence of the State. But questions which affect the bond of marriage and the capacity of parties to contract marriage belong exclusively to the Church, and so laws of divorce made by the civil authority are of no validity in the forum of conscience, except in so far as they sanction and apply the laws of the Church (Can. 1016).

Marriage is a sacrament of the living, and should be received in the state of grace. The priest should endeavour - to get the parties to go to confession and Communion when they are married, so that they may enter on their new state of life with the blessing of God. The rite in Catholic marriages should be performed in the Church, and if the wife has not received the nuptial blessing before, it is the wish of the Church that, whenever the rubrics permit, the Mass Pro Sponso et Sponsa should be said, and the nuptial blessing given as therein laid down. This Mass may be said on all days outside close time except on feasts of the first and second class, and on days of obligation. On these days, however, a commemoration may be made of the Mass Pro Sponso et Sponsa and the prayers after the Pater and Communion may be added.

The common law of the Church prescribes that the nuptial blessing shall not be given out of Mass, and in England, by a special indult of the Holy See, when the nuptial Mass is not said, a special blessing is given by the priest according to the Ritual.

In England the State does not acknowledge Catholic marriages unless they are celebrated in presence of a registrar and in a building registered for marriages. A priest who solemnized marriage otherwise would be liable to severe punishment as a felon. Due notice of a marriage must also be given to the superintendent registrar of the district or districts in which the parties reside. The marriage cannot take place without the registrar’s certificate, which cannot be granted before the expiration of twenty-one days after the notice has been entered if the marriage is to be without licence, or of one day if it is to be with licence. These and other laws which the civil authority has imposed on Catholic marriages should be observed in order that the marriages of Catholics may be recognized by the law of the land, and to avoid greater evil. The Nonconformist Marriage Act of 1899 enabled Nonconformists to dispense with the presence of the registrar, but its onerous conditions prevented the Catholic Bishops from accepting it except in some parishes,