The Delegation of Another Priest to Assist at Marriage

649. Conditions Required for Delegation.¹

If the competent parish priest does not assist at the matrimony, he can delegate another priest who may assist at the matrimony in his place.² The conditions must be set forth which are required either for delegation or for the license of assisting.

I. On delegation for assisting validly.

1. Delegation must be given expressly, whether in writing or by words or by nods. Therefore tacit, presumed, interpretative delegation has no force. Delegation extorted by grave fear is not invalid: for free assistance is indeed required, but not free delegation.

It is expedient that delegation be granted by writing; nevertheless in a case of necessity it can also be sought and given by telegraph. But if by particular statutes delegation in telegraphic form is prohibited, this does not render telegraphic delegation invalid.

2. It must be given to a determinate priest who is not excommunicated, or interdicted, or suspended from office by sentence, nor declared such.

a. He is determinate if the person and status are indicated: N. N., assistant priest in N.; if the person alone is indicated (N. N.), provided the person is so designated that he cannot be confused with another; if the status alone is indicated (assistant priest in N., first assistant priest in N.).

b. Nothing prevents several determinate priests from being delegated, whether they are named individually or all collectively: N. N. the parish priest and N. the assistant priest; all the assistant priests at St. James in Innsbruck; all the Servite Fathers in Weissenstein; the parochial clergy of parish N. But this delegation no longer has force: any priest whom the spouses choose can assist at the matrimony of those about to marry; or: the faculty of assisting is granted to the parish office (dem Pfarramt).

c. To the delegated priest there can be granted the faculty, either special or general, of subdelegating: for delegation of this sort is not judged indeterminate, provided the delegate substitutes for himself (does not subdelegate) except a determinate person.

3. It must be given for a determinate matrimony, or for determinate persons. General delegation, e.g., for all marriages which are celebrated in the parish, is invalid.

A general delegation is held by the priest who for a longer time acts for an absent parish priest or bears the care of a vacant parish, and assistant priests, chaplains, or vicars of parish priests can receive it, but besides these no one else.

4. It cannot be given except for the territory of the one delegating.

A parish priest can delegate another priest only so that he may assist at matrimony within the limits of his parish; an ordinary, so that he may assist within the limits of his diocese.

5. It must be known to the delegate: for delegation which is unknown by the delegate profits nothing.

6. In order that the delegate assist validly and licitly, he must observe the limits of the mandate and the rules established for the parish priest (ordinary).

For observing these rules it is required first that he assist freely, without coercion and not constrained by grave fear, and then that he ask and receive the consent of the contracting parties.

7. Delegation ceases by revocation made by the delegating person and directly intimated to the delegate, and in other cases listed in law;³ but it does not cease by the death of the delegating person or by the resolution of his right.

II. Concerning license for assisting licitly.

1. License is not to be granted unless the parish priest (ordinary) has already completed all things which the law requires for proving freedom of state (proclamations, examination of the betrothed).

2. If the contracting parties have neither domicile nor quasi-domicile, nor have they stayed for a month in the place of the parish priest (ordinary) who assists at the matrimony, this one, in order to act licitly, needs the license of the parish priest (ordinary) of the domicile, or quasi-domicile, or monthly stay of either contracting party, in the first place of the parish priest (ordinary) of the bride, unless the matter concerns a wanderer. From seeking this license the Code excepts only the case of grave necessity (Cn. 1097, 3), e.g., danger of civil matrimony, departure not to be deferred, etc.

Note. 1. With regard to delegation neither the decree Ne temere nor the new Code changed anything, except that it must be made to a determinate priest and particularly, with the exception of assistant priests, and has no force except within the territory of the one delegating. Therefore the parish priest can delegate priests assigned to the care of souls in the parish itself even generally, but priests not assigned to the care of souls in the parish only particularly for individual cases.

2. Since the recent decree establishes nothing concerning subdelegation, the rules of law previously established concerning this matter are to be observed. Therefore:

a. A simple chaplain (assistant priest, vicar, coadjutor) of himself or by force of his office cannot validly assist at marriages unless he has received delegated power from the parish priest or from the ordinary. Although he is sent by the bishop not only to administer the sacraments but to exercise the whole care, nevertheless in this mission there is not contained the power of validly assisting at marriages, unless he has been delegated for this by the parish priest or bishop.

b. Now it can happen that the parish priest grants this power only for individual times for a particular case, and then he cannot subdelegate unless he has also received this faculty. It can happen that the parish priest grants to him universal delegation for all marriages to be contracted in the parish, and then per se he can also subdelegate, since he has been delegated to a universality of causes in this genus of marriages. In practice, however, attention must be paid to the custom of places and also to diocesan statutes.

Examples in which by the name delegation is signified the faculty of assisting validly, and by the name license, the faculty of assisting licitly.

1. If the spouses from A contract in B with the parish priest of B assisting, no delegation is needed, but only the license of assisting granted by the parish priest in A.

2. If the spouses from A contract in B with the parish priest from C assisting, the parish priest in A cannot grant valid delegation, but the parish priest in B can and must grant it; the parish priest in A must give the license of assisting.

3. If the groom is from A (whether by reason of domicile, quasi-domicile, or monthly habitation) and the bride from B, and they contract in C with the parish priest in C assisting, this one does not need delegation, but only the license of assisting either from the parish priest in A or from the parish priest in B (strictly, from the parish priest in B, as the parish priest of the bride).

4. If the groom from A and the bride from B contract in a sanctuary situated in parish D, with Marcus, the blood relative of the bride, assisting, the parish priest in D must give delegation, but the license of assisting must be given either by the parish priest in A or by the parish priest in B (theoretically by the parish priest in B).

5. If the spouses, having domicile in A and quasi-domicile in B, contract in B, with Peter, the blood relative of the groom, assisting, the parish priest in B must give delegation, and he does not need license.

Since the Austrian Code, sec. 75, has: "Die Erklarung der Einwilligung mussen vor dem ordentlichen Seelsorger oder dessen Stellvertreter geschehen," it can happen that a matrimony is civilly invalid which in the face of the Church is valid, namely where it is contracted before a parish priest who is not the proper parish priest of the contracting parties, with only the license of the proper parish priest; or where, in a case of necessity, it is contracted without the license of the proper parish priest. Nevertheless the danger of discord between the ecclesiastical and civil forum in this matter is not serious. For either it can happen that the license of the proper parish priest (although strictly it is not delegation) is said to suffice according to the mind of the civil law for the value of the matrimony in the civil forum; or it must be enjoined that matrimony never be contracted without the license of the proper parish priest, and moreover that the proper parish priest add also delegation for the civil forum to the license of assisting required by the Church. Thus it happens that matrimony is civilly valid.

¹ Cn. 1095-1098.

² Council of Trent, c. Tametsi, sess. 24, De reform. matr. Cn. 1095, 2.

³ Cn. 207.

I. Notion of delegation. Delegation, or the granting of permission validly to assist at marriage, is the act by which an authorizable witness of marriage, that is, a witness who can furnish legal authority to the act at which he is present, substitutes another for himself. But just as assistance furnished by the substituting person himself is not truly an act of jurisdiction, so also the granting of permission to assist does not involve the communication or delegation of true jurisdiction. Yet it is commonly called delegation, because it is done according to the norm of delegation, and almost the same principles as those of true delegation are applied to it.

II. Who can delegate? The pastor and the local Ordinary who can themselves validly assist at marriage are able to delegate (canon 1095, § 2). It is said:

1. The pastor and the local Ordinary; who come under the name of pastor and local Ordinary, see n. 734. All those assigned there can delegate another.¹

2. Who can themselves validly assist at marriage. Hence they cannot delegate another before they have obtained canonical possession of the benefice or have entered the office; nor can they do this if by sentence they have been excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office, or declared such. Besides, the pastor and local Ordinary are able only to grant to another the faculty to assist within the boundaries of their territory, since outside the aforesaid boundaries they themselves do not validly assist.

III. To what extent can a delegate subdelegate? It is doubtful whether the rules of delegation assigned in canon 199 can be applied here, because the cited canon treats of delegation of jurisdiction properly so called, whereas here the discussion is about a bare ministry. But these things are certain:

1. A vicar cooperator who has been delegated generally by the pastor or local Ordinary to assist at marriages can subdelegate another determined priest to assist at a determined marriage.²

2. A priest delegated to assist at a determined marriage can receive from the pastor or local Ordinary delegating him permission to subdelegate another determined priest to assist at the same marriage.³

IV. The person to be delegated or subdelegated. Delegation or subdelegation must be made to a determined priest for a determined marriage. A vicar cooperator, however, can be delegated generally for the parish to which he is attached (canon 1096, § 1). It is said:

1. To a priest, whether he is approved or is not approved for the care of souls, for preaching, or for hearing confessions.

2. Determined. Hence permission granted to an entirely indeterminate priest would be invalid, for example if the pastor were to establish: "I make the faculty of assisting at marriage to one of my vicars," with no vicar determined individually. Nor would permission given to the spouses of choosing whichever priest they prefer be valid. Likewise a pastor would act invalidly who delegated, for example, one of the members of a community to be designated by the Superior,⁴ or made the faculty for the spouses to contract before Peter and Paul, according as they would choose one or the other. Designation can be made either by designation of office, for example: "I make the faculty of assisting at this or that marriage to the Rector of the succursal church in N."; or by designation of name. Moreover:

a) It is not required that the one to be delegated be known to the delegating person, provided he is determined in himself.

b) Nothing prevents several priests from being designated; the legislator only intends to exclude delegation of an indeterminate person. Thus a pastor can delegate, for example, all his vicars or even all priests now having care in the deanery. Yet it is difficult to determine how far these can be extended; therefore one must beware lest the marriage be exposed to danger of nullity.

3. For a determined marriage. Hence permission given, for example, to assist at all marriages or at a certain category of marriages, or at those which perhaps will be contracted in this or that month, would be invalid. But delegation made for several determined marriages would be valid.

4. A vicar cooperator, however, can be delegated generally for the parish to which he is attached, for example to assist at all marriages or at a certain category of marriages. Note, however, that he is not delegated by common law itself.⁵

V. Things to be observed in delegation or subdelegation. 1. In order that delegation or subdelegation be valid, there is required an act truly placed, free, expressed, and known and accepted by the one to be delegated or subdelegated, as we shall explain. It is said:

a) Truly placed. Therefore a presumed or interpretative granting does not suffice, nor mere tolerance, since tolerance as such does not involve an act of granting.

b) Free, that is, deliberately placed. Note, however, that fear does not stand in the way of freedom, nor under the new law is delegation extorted by grave fear invalid. It is indeed true that assistance furnished by a pastor or delegate from grave fear is deprived of value; but from that it does not follow that delegation made from grave fear is invalid. Error then only impairs the value of delegation when it is substantial, that is, when it concerns the person to be delegated or the persons about to marry; and even then it does not impede validity if the delegating person has the will of granting the permission in some way. Moreover, error is not substantial if it regards only the name and not the person himself. Besides, it is commonly noted that error concerning the quality of the person to be delegated or of one about to marry, likewise concerning the cause of the granting, stands in the way of validity in the case in which the quality or cause was intended as a condition without which there would be no delegation; but in that hypothesis it is rather the defect of the condition than error which impairs validity.

c) Expressed (canon 1096, § 1), whether orally or in writing or by other equivalent positive signs. Therefore tacitly given permission no longer suffices.

d) Known and accepted by the one to be delegated, as follows: knowledge and acceptance are not required if delegation or subdelegation is granted by statute or law; nor, more probably, if the delegate or subdelegate is subject to the delegating or subdelegating person. Otherwise the matter is more doubtful. Some deny that knowledge and acceptance are required, because, with canon 37 considered, a rescript is valid before its acceptance, unless something else is established; but a grant made by one who is not the Ordinary is not a rescript. Others affirm it, because delegation is like a donation, which must be accepted.

2. In order that delegation or subdelegation be licit, the pastor or local Ordinary should not grant permission unless all things which the law establishes for proving freedom of status have been fulfilled (canon 1096, § 2). Yet do not apply this to the general delegation which is made to a vicar cooperator.⁶

VI. Things to be observed by the delegate and subdelegate. 1. In order that the delegate or subdelegate validly take part in the nuptials, he should proceed in the same manner as the pastor. Therefore he must not be excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office by sentence, or declared such; he must assist at the marriage within the boundaries of the territory of the delegating person; and constrained neither by force nor by grave fear he must request and receive the consent of the contracting parties. It is sufficiently clear that these things must be observed, although the law does not expressly apply them to the delegate.

2. In order that he assist licitly, let him observe the things which the pastor or local Ordinary is bound to observe, insofar as they are committed to him.

Corollary. Although the faculty of assisting is not jurisdiction properly so called, nevertheless it is so akin to it that it is admitted in law that the things which have been said about supplied jurisdiction (vol. I, n. 103) are also to be applied to the aforesaid faculty.

¹ Pontifical Commission, May 20, 1923, ad V (A.A.S. 1924, p. 114).

² Pontifical Commission, December 28, 1927, ad IV (A.A.S. 1928, p. 61).

³ Pontifical Commission, December 28, 1927, ad IV (A.A.S. 1928, p. 61).

⁴ Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, March 12, 1910, ad VI, b.

⁵ Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, March 12, 1910, ad VI, b and c.

⁶ Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, March 12, 1910, ad VI, c.

3. In a certain diocese the practice flourishes that often spouses pass from one parish into another parish of the same city, and contract marriage before a parish priest who is not proper, namely of the new parish in which they place their domicile. To avoid grave damages which can arise from this, parish priests mutually, yet without any writing, delegated to themselves the faculty of assisting at the marriages of new parishioners, and they did this with the Ordinary of the place approving.

It is asked: Are the marriages in the case valid?

R. Affirmatively. For from the Council of Trent, sess. 24, c. 1, de R. M., for a marriage to be validly contracted before a parish priest who is not proper, the permission of the proper parish priest or of the Ordinary is required. But in the case permission of this sort is had; since a general permission is a true permission, nor does the Tridentine decree require a particular permission. Likewise habitual permission is a true permission, nor does the Tridentine decree require an actual permission. Besides, permission given only by living voice is a true permission; nor likewise does the Tridentine decree demand permission consigned in writing. This is confirmed from the Resolution of the S. C. C., March 18, 1893. Cf. Reiffenst., l. 4, tit. 3, de Clandest. despons., § II, n. 18. Hence even permission given in writing by the parish priest suffices for contracting marriage before a priest to be chosen at the discretion of the contracting parties. S. C. C., June 15, 1586. But although marriages of this sort are valid, nevertheless a permission given generally is illicit and to be disapproved; rather a special and express permission is to be given in occurring cases, unless a grave reason for acting otherwise in some particular place is excluded, in the judgment of the Ordinary. The reason is that otherwise the aim of the Decree of the Council of Trent is frustrated in great part; and it is confirmed by the Response of the S. C. C., Dec. 22, 1891.

850. • QUESTION 6. Can a Vicar validly assist at matrimony apart from the delegation of the Pastor?

Reply 1. Yes, if the Vicar supplies the place of a deceased or absent Pastor; for then he is certainly delegated for the universality of causes. Indeed, then he can also subdelegate another, for by law one delegated for the universality of causes can subdelegate another for a particular case. - Recall what was said in the Treatise On Laws, no. 116, and On Penance, no. 545.

Reply 2. But if the Vicar is the cooperator of a present Pastor, there is greater difficulty, nor can the matter be defined by a general and absolute rule. Therefore attend to the statutes or custom of the dioceses. For a Bishop constituting Vicars as assistants of the Pastor can either confer upon them immediately the right of assisting at marriages or leave that right to be committed to them by delegation of the Pastor. But according to the custom more commonly received in France and in other places, it appears that the following can be established:

1. The Vicar can assist at the matrimony of parishioners celebrated in the parish itself, because he exercises the office of the Pastor himself.

2. The Vicar can also appoint another Priest to assist at matrimony in a particular case. The reason is that, while the aforesaid custom is in force, he is delegated for the universality of causes and consequently can subdelegate another. - Bouvier, chapter 7, article 6. - Carriere, no. 1344.

760. c) A legitimately delegated priest is one who has delegation from the parish priest or local Ordinary, or from those who are equivalent to a parish priest, concerning whom above, n. 757.

Delegation is fittingly distinguished from permission to assist, although this distinction is not expressly contained in the law itself. For delegation is a faculty granted to another priest by a parish priest (territorial or personal) to assist validly at some matrimony; but permission is a faculty granted to someone to assist licitly, who even without such permission would assist validly. From these things it follows that a personal parish priest never needs delegation to assist at the marriages of his subjects; but a territorial parish priest almost never needs delegation to assist at marriages celebrated in his territory. Certain marriages in the East Indies and perhaps the marriages of soldiers, concerning which above, are excepted. A territorial parish priest, however, needs the permission of another parish priest if he wishes to assist at the matrimony of persons about to marry who have not yet lived for a month in his parish, as will be said below. A parish priest and Ordinary within their own territory can delegate any priest (not publicly excommunicated or suspended) to assist at matrimony. But a parish priest and Ordinary who have only personal jurisdiction can delegate another priest in any place whatsoever to assist at the marriages of their subjects.

Concerning this delegation, the following things must be noted:

761. 1. In no way can it be extended beyond the territory of the delegating person, because the delegating person himself does not validly assist at matrimony outside his own territory.

2. Under pain of nullity it is required that this delegation be special, that is, made to a determinate priest for a determinate matrimony or even for several marriages, provided that they are determinate. Therefore all general delegations are excluded, such as were not rarely in use formerly, for example, that matrimony could be celebrated before one of the priests living in some celebrated place of pilgrimage,³⁰ or before the priest who would be deputed by the religious superior to say Mass in the church.³¹ Cooperator vicars alone can be habitually and generally delegated by the bishop or by the parish priest of the territory to assist at matrimony in the parish to which they are attached.³²

3. The delegation must be express or at least quasi-express, which is manifestly gathered from conclusive acts.

The whole doctrine concerning express, tacit, and presumed delegation is thus briefly expressed in the cause Balzan Adami:³³ "In order that another priest besides the proper parish priest of either contracting party be constituted the qualified witness of the matrimony, there must precede a positive act of the will, externally expressed, of the proper parish priest or the proper Ordinary, by which permission to assist, concerning which the Decree speaks, is conceded to him. Therefore presumed or interpretative permission, which does not really exist but would exist only upon some given hypothesis, does not suffice to constitute an authorized witness of matrimony.... But by tacit permission, insofar as it is distinguished from presumed or interpretative permission, the positive will of the proper parish priest or Ordinary to delegate another priest to fulfill the office of authorized witness can be sufficiently expressed. Since, moreover, this general faculty of delegating is nowhere in law restricted to express delegation alone, it must be said that delegation is present where facts preceding the matrimony and truly conclusive show that this was the mind of the one to whom it belongs by law to delegate." - Hence, for example, a cooperator vicar who is sent into some parish to assist the parish priest in all things can validly assist at marriages, even if he does not have the express delegation of the parish priest who is silent and does not contradict. On the contrary, when the parish priest is absent, another priest cannot presume delegation. The matter of delegation in assisting at marriages is often determined by the particular statutes of dioceses. - Of itself, indeed, nothing prevents delegation from being given by telegraph or telephone; but, except in a case of urgent necessity, a transmission of this kind is not expedient, because doubts and ambiguities not rarely arise from it.

4. One delegated for the universality of causes can subdelegate this delegation; on the contrary, one delegated for a particular case does not have this faculty of subdelegation unless it was expressly conceded to him.³⁴

Hence, for example, a cooperator vicar of a parish priest who has obtained general delegation to assist at all marriages to be celebrated in the parish can subdelegate another priest for a particular case; but the latter, subdelegated for this case, cannot again subdelegate another. Likewise, a parish priest or local Ordinary who delegated a determinate priest to assist at a determinate matrimony can also give him permission to subdelegate another determinate priest to assist at the same matrimony.

5. Delegation ceases a) by revocation, b) when the time prefixed has elapsed.

Delegation does not cease by the death of the delegating person or by the right of the delegating person being otherwise terminated,³⁵ although some have opined the contrary. If a parish priest suddenly dies, his cooperator vicar or even the nearest parish priest validly and licitly assists at the matrimony, as is customarily determined by particular statutes.³⁶

³⁰ Noldin-Schmitt, De sacr.¹⁸, n. 642, asserts: "Nothing prevents several determinate priests from being delegated, whether they are named singly or all collectively: all the Servite Fathers in Weissenstein; the parochial clergy of church N." Since here there is question of the validity of the assistance and therefore of the matrimony itself, I think collective delegations of this kind are not sufficiently safe.

³¹ Pontifical Commission, May 20, 1923 (Acta Ap. Sed. XVI, 115).

³² Code of Canon Law, can. 1096, § 1.

³³ Acta Ap. Sed. II, 208; cf. also Acta Ap. Sed. XI, 154 ff., where it is judiciously observed that for greater security express delegation is to be sought in practice before the celebration of the matrimony, but tacit delegation suffices for the validity of the matrimony.

³⁴ Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 199, § 5, and Pontifical Commission, December 28, 1927 (Acta Ap. Sed. XX, 62).

³⁵ Code of Canon Law, can. 207.

³⁶ Ibid., can. 472. Thus, for example, the following is contained in the Pastoral Instruction of Eichstätt, n. 488: "If it happens that, when all things have been prepared for the nuptials, the parish priest suddenly departs this life, for this unforeseen case we delegate, from ordinary power and solely for this occasion, any diocesan and approved priest perhaps staying in the place or to be summoned from the vicinity, so that the nuptials can validly be contracted before him if they cannot be further deferred without inconvenience."

848. Principle II. The competent pastor or local Ordinary can delegate another priest, who can validly assist at matrimony in his place. - Thus can. 1095, § 2: "The pastor and local Ordinary who can validly assist at matrimony can also give license to another priest to assist validly at matrimony within the boundaries of their territory."

The license given for validly assisting at matrimony is also called delegation in law (can. 1094, 1096, and 1098), because, although it is not a true transmission of jurisdiction, it is nevertheless a communication of the faculty of positing a qualified act.

The local Ordinary and the pastor can delegate; under the name of pastor come all those indicated above (n. 845), who therefore all have the power of delegating (com. int., May 20, 1923); - but not cooperator vicars unless they have been generally delegated for assisting at marriages (ibid.).

Nevertheless: 1) The Ordinary and the pastor cannot delegate unless they themselves can validly assist; hence

a) delegation outside the boundaries of their territory is not valid;

b) nor is it valid if they are excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office and sentence has intervened;

c) those personal pastors who are bound to no territory, just as they can assist at marriages, so also they have the power to delegate everywhere on earth.

2. The delegate cannot subdelegate, unless the delegator has expressly conceded this faculty to him, or unless the delegate has been generally delegated for assisting at marriages (com. int., Dec. 28, 1927).

A. The conditions for the validity of delegation are enumerated in can. 1096, § 1: "The license of assisting at matrimony... must be given expressly to a determinate priest for a determinate marriage, with any general delegations excluded, unless there is question of cooperator vicars for the parish to which they are attached; otherwise it is invalid."

Therefore it is necessary: 1° That the delegate be any priest whatsoever, even if he is not furnished with special qualities, for example, is not approved for the care of souls.

2° That he be a determinate priest, although not known to the delegator; hence a license given to the spouses of choosing the priest whom they should prefer would be invalid, or to any religious to be designated by the superior (S. C. Sacr., March 12, 1910), or of subdelegating someone indeterminate; nevertheless delegation of several is valid, for example, of all staying in the parish. It matters little how the determination is made: by name, title, or office of the contracting parties, by the hour or place of celebration, immediately or through another, for example, the groom, who notifies the delegation.

3° That he be determined to a determinate marriage, or several determinate marriages; but not for assisting at all marriages or at a certain category of marriages or at those which are to be contracted this month, unless there is question of cooperator vicars. For these, but only for the parish which they serve, can be generally delegated to all or to a certain category of marriages; although by common law, by the very fact that they are constituted cooperators, they are not generally delegated.

4° The delegation must be given expressly, whether in writing, or by words, or by nods or another explicit or implicit sign, or even by the work of telegraph or telephone; tacit, presumed, interpretative delegation is not valid, a fortiori not mere toleration or ratihabition after the assistance. Hence substantial error impedes delegation, namely, error concerning the very person of the one to be delegated or of the future spouses.

5° The delegation must be known to the delegate and accepted by him at least implicitly; unless, however, the delegation is conceded by law or by statute.

Let it be noted: a) That the delegate may validly assist at matrimony, he must conduct himself in the same way as the delegator must proceed, and within the boundaries of the territory of the delegator he must inquire after and receive consent.

b) Canonists dispute whether a delegated priest, after excommunication, interdict, or suspension from office, with sentence, validly assists. Many affirm, because a formal text excluding validity is lacking; others deny, because they say that this follows from the whole context of can. 1094-1096.

c) Delegation ceases when the mandate has been completed; when the time has elapsed or the number of cases for which it had been conceded has been exhausted; when the final cause of the delegation ceases; by revocation made by the delegator and directly intimated to the delegate; but not by the death or resolved death of the delegator, unless this had been expressly established (cf. can. 207).

d) In common error the Church supplies, if someone is commonly thought to have the faculty of assisting.

B. The conditions for licitly delegating are indicated by can. 1096, § 2: "Let the pastor or local Ordinary not concede license, unless all things have been completed which the law establishes for proving liberty of state."

Therefore not unless the examination of the spouses, investigations, and denunciations have been carried out. Moreover, that the delegated priest may assist licitly, he must observe all things which are to be observed by the pastor, as was said in n. 847.

Question 8. What if one of the spouses is a wanderer?

Resp. The disposition of this canon, which renews the Tridentine decree, must be observed. Therefore the pastor must bring the matter to the Ordinary or delegate, and, after permission has been received, he can licitly assist at the marriage without license of the pastor of the other spouse being sought; for he himself is then the proper pastor at least as regards the effect of this canon. - Cf. Vermeersch, l. c., n. 63. - Besson, l. c., p. 90, 1° (d). - Gennari, Il Monitore Ecclesias., Sec. Ser., v. 10, p. 90.

§ 1. License of assisting at marriage, conceded according to the norm of can. 1095, § 2, must be given expressly to a determinate priest for a determinate marriage, with any general delegations excluded, unless it is a question of cooperating vicars for the parish to which they are attached; otherwise it is invalid.¹

§ 2. The pastor or local Ordinary is not to concede license unless all things which the law constitutes for proving the liberty of state have been fulfilled (Can. 1096).

Therefore a priest who is not pastor or Ordinary needs license from either one so that he may validly and licitly assist. This license is not delegation properly so called, and therefore perhaps in the article that word is employed, not this one. Concerning it, what Wernz already skillfully observed in his excellent work, v. 4, n. 180, 1, must be noted: "The concession of license to assist is not an act of jurisdiction by which ecclesiastical jurisdiction is truly delegated to another, but by better right is called the substitution of another authorized witness, by force of the faculty received from the Council of Trent, which has great likeness with delegation."

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1109, n. 52; p. 1150, n. 125.

Question 2. To whom can this license or delegation be conceded?

Resp. This license or delegation can be conceded only to a priest, and to one certain and determinate, but not to a deacon, nor to an indeterminate priest. Delegation is validly made by naming the priest personally, or by designating his office, for example, Father N.; the pastor of St. Patrick; the first assistant of the church of St. Anne; the chaplain of St. Mary's orphanage; for in all these cases the priest is truly determinate and certain. But delegation by which the choice of any priest at pleasure is left to the spouses is null; for it is made to an indeterminate person.

Question 4. Can a pastor generally delegate certain persons for his own territory?

Resp. Negatively: § 1. License must be given expressly to a determinate priest for a determinate marriage, with any general delegations excluded, unless it is a question of cooperating vicars for the parish to which they are attached; otherwise it is invalid (Can. 1096).

Question 7. What must be said if a pastor, constrained by grave fear, delegates a priest, and this priest, invited and asked, assists and asks for and receives consent?

Resp. It is disputed. The first opinion denies that the delegation is valid. For no one can transfer to another more right than is known to belong to himself. - Cf. Gennari, l. c., p. 56. - Pezzani, l. c., n. 119. But the other opinion affirms that the delegation is valid. For although the pastor himself cannot validly assist, nevertheless it has not been provided in law concerning the invalidation of the concession of license to assist, which indeed is not an act of jurisdiction, but by better right is called the substitution of another authorized witness. Cf. Ojetti, l. c., n. 103. - Ferreres, l. c., n. 309 and following. Vermeersch, l. c., n. 50.

Question 9. When does delegation cease?

Resp. Delegation ceases by revocation made by the delegating person and intimated to the delegate before the celebration of marriage; but if the priest assisted before the revocation was intimated to him, the delegation had not yet been efficaciously removed, and the marriage would be valid. - Cf. Ojetti, l. c., n. 34.

But if the delegating person dies or is deprived of office before the marriage, the delegate assists validly.

License given for a time or under condition also ceases when the time has elapsed or the condition has not been fulfilled.

Question 15. Are assistant priests among us to be held as delegates to the whole class of causes?

Resp. Negatively, but in each diocese it must be inspected whether faculties of assisting at all marriages in the parish are conceded to them.

Question 6. Does the impossibility concerning which in the canon exist when the spouses cannot have their own pastor or his delegate, yet can easily approach another pastor in the nearest parish and contract before him?

Resp. Negatively, for then a pastor can be had who may assist at Marriage according to the norm of Canons 1095, 1096.

X. QUESTION IV. Who besides the parish priest, or a priest designated by him, can assist at matrimony? ANSWER. There can assist: bishops in their own dioceses; archbishops in the dioceses of suffragans when they are actually visiting; Cardinals in the Church of their own title; papal Legates in the province of their legation; the Chapter, the See being vacant, or its Vicar; Abbots of a Church subject to no bishop; the Vicar general of a bishop.