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 II. On the Liturgical Form › Article II. On the Rite of Blessing, or on the Solemn Blessing of Nuptials

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Scholion. On the Form to Be Observed in Marriage Between a Catholic Party and a Non-Catholic Party

745.

I. Juridic form. Marriages between a Catholic party and a non-Catholic party are subject to the same juridic form as marriages between Catholics, not excluding the interrogation concerning consent (n. 735).

The disposition introduced by the Decree issued by the Holy Office on January 21, 1912, approved by Pius X on June 23, 1912, and promulgated in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis on July 1 of the same year - that disposition, I say, by force of which the request and reception of consent could sometimes be omitted by the assisting minister in some places - has been removed; and indeed by canon 1102 compared with canon 1095, § 1. So also a private response of the Holy Office1 and the Pontifical Commission.2

1 November 26, 1919 (in Linzer Quartalschrift, p. 249).

2 March 10, 1928 (A.A.S. 1928, p. 120).

The Form to Be Observed in Marriage Between a Catholic Party and a Non-Catholic Party

746.

II. Liturgical form, or sacred rites, must be entirely omitted. Yet the Ordinary can, for forestalling graver evils, permit some one of the customary ecclesiastical ceremonies, always excluding the celebration of Mass (canon 1102, § 2). Therefore:

  1. Among other things there are prohibited: 1° the use of sacred vesture, for example, surplice and stole, but not the cassock, silk cincture, and vestments customary for prelates; 2° a sermon, but not certain hortatory words in the manner of a mere address; 3° the blessing of the ring; 4° the blessing of the nuptials.

  2. The Ordinary can permit some ceremony for avoiding graver evils, for example if otherwise it were to be feared that the spouses would go to a heretical minister, neglect the cautions, or that the Catholic party would pass over to a heretical sect.1 But the celebration of Mass must always be excluded. Under the name of celebration of Mass comes not only the Mass "for Bridegroom and Bride" with its prayers and blessings, but also a private Mass which, after the marriage, is so celebrated before the spouses and their companions, even if no distinct seat is given to the spouses, that it must be held as a complement of the marriage ceremony.2

1 Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, December 4, 1862.

2 Holy Office, January 17, 1872 (Collectanea, n. 1379); Pontifical Commission, November 10, 1925, ad VIII (A.A.S. 1925, p. 583).

The Form to Be Observed in Marriage Between a Catholic Party and a Non-Catholic Party