Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise VIII. On Matrimony › Dissertation II. On Matrimony Itself › Part II. On Matrimony, Insofar as It Is a Sacrament, Particularly › Section II. On the Ministration of the Sacrament of Matrimony and the Form of its Celebration › Chapter I. On the Juridic Form › Article I. On the Ordinary Juridic Form › § II. Fuller Exposition

point — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Point I. On the Requisites for a Pastor or Local Ordinary to Assist Validly at Marriage

735.

In order that a pastor or local Ordinary assist validly at marriage, it is required: 1° that they have obtained canonical possession of the benefice or have entered the office; 2° that they not be excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office by sentence, or declared such; 3° that they assist within the boundaries of their territory, in which nevertheless they validly take part in the marriages both of subjects and of non-subjects; 4° that, constrained neither by force nor by grave fear, they request and receive the consent of the contracting parties (canon 1095, § 1). It is said:

I. That they have obtained canonical possession of the benefice or have entered the office. Now:

  1. Residential Bishops take canonical possession of the diocese as soon as, in the diocese itself, either personally or through a procurator, they have shown the apostolic letters to the Chapter of the cathedral church, in the presence of the secretary of the Chapter or the Chancellor of the Curia, who will record the matter in the acts (canon 334, § 3).

  2. With regard to pastors, canon 1444, § 1 is to be attended to: "Induction into possession of a benefice is to be made according to the manner prescribed by particular law, or received by legitimate custom, unless for a just cause the Ordinary has expressly dispensed in writing from that manner or rite; in which case this dispensation takes the place of possession taken."

Note. Possession of a benefice can also be taken through a procurator having a special mandate (canon 1445).

  1. One who does not have a benefice but only an office, as a Vicar General, enters his office by the very fact that he begins to exercise it.

II. That they not be excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office by sentence, or declared such. Therefore it does not suffice that someone has incurred one of the enumerated penalties, but it is required that either he has been condemned to it by a judge, or that he has been declared to have incurred it. With regard to suspension, note that the faculty is removed only by suspension from office, not by another suspension. Yet a suspension laid down generally also includes suspension from office, unless something else is established (canon 2278, § 2).

III. That they assist within the boundaries of their territory, in which nevertheless they validly take part in the marriages both of subjects and of non-subjects. Therefore the competence of the pastor and Ordinary, as regards valid assistance, is so annexed to territory that within the boundaries of their territory they validly take part in the marriage of all, even of non-subjects; outside those boundaries, in the marriage of no one, not even of subjects. Besides, observe:

  1. The local Ordinary and pastor validly assist in houses and churches, even exempt ones, of religious which are situated in their territory, because the aforesaid houses and churches are exempt only by reason of persons.1 For licit assistance the permission of the regular Prelate is required.

  2. Pastors who have territory common with another pastor or with other pastors validly assist at the marriage of all within the territory which is common to them with others.2

  3. Those who, in territory assigned to other pastors, have some persons or families, or persons of a determined rite, or a group of persons, for example soldiers, subject to themselves, can take part in the marriages of subjects throughout the whole alien territory, but not in the marriages of others;3 indeed they seem able to assist everywhere at the marriage of subjects. Whether other pastors also can do this within their territory is to be gathered from the statutes of the Holy See.

  4. Chaplains or rectors of pious places of any kind exempt from parochial care, provided that full parochial power has been committed to them, are counted as pastors, but only for the persons entrusted to them and in the place over which they preside.4 Whether the said faculty belongs to the rector exclusively or cumulatively with the pastor is to be deduced from the prescription of authority (cf. canon 464, § 2).

IV. That, constrained neither by force nor by grave fear, they request and receive the consent of the contracting parties; concerning which note:

  1. Grave fear is understood as fear of grave harm, and one inflicted from without, that is, by a free cause. It does not matter whether it is inflicted by the parties themselves or by another. But there seems to be required fear inflicted for extorting assistance; yet it does not seem to matter whether it is inflicted justly or unjustly, because the law does not distinguish between just and unjust fear. Except, however, fear justly inflicted which is within the sphere or line of the law itself, and which is ordered to protecting the law itself. Hence assistance given is valid, whether because the Bishop compels an unwilling pastor by penalties to due assistance, or because those about to marry threaten that they will denounce to the Ordinary a pastor who unjustly denies assistance. For it cannot be admitted that fear of this kind is comprehended by the law according to the mind of the legislator.

  2. That they request the consent of the contracting parties. Therefore it does not suffice that those about to marry emit matrimonial consent before the minister, but it is required that he previously and formally have requested the consent. Yet for validity it does not matter whether he does this personally or through an interpreter, by words or by writing, by nod or by another sign. Moreover, with regard to marriages here and now illicit, observe that the request for consent of itself does not involve an invitation to enter marriage, but a mere investigation whether those about to marry wish to contract marriage, so that only material cooperation is furnished.

  3. And receive the consent of the contracting parties. This happens by the very fact that those about to marry, after the request has been made, emit consent, with the minister knowing that it is being emitted.

If marriage is celebrated by proxy, the pastor should request and receive consent from the proxy.

POINT II.

1 Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, March 12, 1910, ad VIII.

2 Sacred Congregation of the Council, February 1, 1908, ad VIII.

3 Sacred Congregation of the Council, February 1, 1908, ad IX.

4 Sacred Congregation of the Council, February 1, 1908, ad X.

The Requisites for a Pastor or Local Ordinary to Assist Validly at Marriage