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 IV. On the Things to Be Observed After the Celebration of Marriage, or on the Registration of a Celebrated Marriage

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Scholion. On Marriage of Conscience

752.

Canons 1104-1107 pertain here, which present the law constituted in the Constitution of Benedict XIV Satis vobis,1 and therefore are to be interpreted according to the norm of this Constitution. But since the matter concerns liceity, the conditions reported in the said Constitution are left rather as directive norms for the prudence of Ordinaries.

I. Notion. A marriage of conscience is one which is contracted with the announcements omitted and secretly (canon 1104). But it is contracted according to the ordinary or extraordinary juridic form, as the circumstances bear.

II. Liceity. A marriage of conscience cannot be permitted except by license of the local Ordinary and only from a most grave and most urgent cause. The Vicar General cannot give this license unless he has a special mandate (canon 1104). The reason is that from nuptials of this kind very grave inconveniences can follow, such as danger of polygamy or adultery, danger of scandal from public cohabitation, danger that the offspring may be held and treated as illegitimate.

A most grave and most urgent cause will be present if a man and woman living in concubinage are reputed true spouses; if a nobleman wishes to contract with a woman of non-noble condition, and from a known marriage very grave inconveniences are imminent; if a man and woman cannot contract civilly and, if marriage is passed over, they are in grave danger of salvation, etc. If there is danger in delay, for instance if the case concerns a hidden concubinary who is dying, one can proceed without the license of the Ordinary.

III. Things to be observed. 1. The pastor of either contracting party ought to assist at the marriage; or, if for a grave cause another priest is to be deputed in his place, let one be chosen by the Bishop who is commended by probity, doctrine, and skill in fulfilling the office. Besides this, two or three faithful witnesses are to be chosen, lest any knowledge or rumor of the celebration arise.

  1. The pastor or deputed priest, before he takes part in the marriage, is bound to admonish those about to marry concerning their obligations toward the offspring to be begotten, both as regards Baptism and the reporting of it, and as regards religious education and the enjoyment of temporal goods.

  2. Once the marriage has been celebrated, he must without delay exhibit to the Bishop a written document of the marriage celebrated before himself, with the names of the contracting parties, the witnesses, the place, and the time.2

  3. Permission for the celebration of a marriage of conscience carries with it the promise and grave obligation of keeping secrecy on the part of the assisting priest, the witnesses, the Ordinary and his successors, and also of one spouse if the other does not consent to disclosure (canon 1105). The obligation of this promise on the part of the Ordinary does not extend to the case in which either some scandal or grave injury against the sanctity of marriage is imminent from the observance of secrecy, or the parents do not take care that the children received from such a marriage be baptized, or take care that they be baptized with false names expressed, while meanwhile they do not furnish the Ordinary within thirty days with notice of the offspring received and baptized, with a sincere indication of the parents, or neglect the Christian education of the children (canon 1106).

  4. The spouses are bound within thirty days from the birth, either personally or through another, for example through the pastor, to make the Ordinary certain concerning the offspring born and baptized. But the Ordinary must take care that in a secret book, distinct from the book of marriages, it be noted that such offspring, baptized on such a day and in such a place, is legitimate (Benedict XIV, Satis vobis; cited canon).

IV. Registration. A marriage of conscience is not to be noted in the customary book of marriages and of the baptized, but in a special book to be kept in the secret archive of the Curia (canon 1107).

1 November 17, 1741.

2 Constitution of Benedict XIV Satis vobis, November 17, 1741.

Registration of Marriage; Marriage of Conscience