Wednesday Liturgy: Follow-up: "I Now Declare You Man and Wife"

ROME, FEB. 1, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

After our musings on the rite of marriage (see Jan. 18), an Illinois reader commented: "What are the origins of the practice of the father giving away the bride? Is it another practice that crept in from the Protestants? Like the unity candle and other novelties that crept in? It seems reminiscent of when women were seen as chattel under English and American common law. It seems very odd that so many women, who want to be equal in so many ways, have the idea of a fairy-tale wedding where she is treated as an old piece of furniture. It is a little concerning, because such a demonstration of a strong sense of possession almost could be considered as grounds for invalidating consent. Is she truly doing this of her own free will? I seem to remember a professor saying that the proper form of a Catholic wedding procession is for the bride and groom to process in together, and the reality is that it is not going to happen that way. Then he briefed us on how it usually happens."

Marriage is first and foremost a natural institution elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament. Because it is a natural institution, marriage is far more deeply entwined with the mores of each society and historical epoch than the other sacraments.

This reality is one of the principal reasons why the early Church did not immediately develop its own rite of matrimony but generally deferred to local custom, except in those aspects that were incompatible with the Christian faith. Even the first hints of a specifically Christian rite, given by Tertullian around the year 200, with more detailed description in the fourth and fifth centuries, show a ceremony incorporating Roman civil customs. The specifically Christian elements consisted in the wedding being celebrated either before the church doors or inside the building, the formula of consent invoking Christ or the Trinity and the celebrant's blessing.

This combination of civil and religious elements is the reason why the Church still allows, and even recommends, that each bishops' conference develop its own rite in accordance with legitimate local customs, while always assuring the essential element of mutual consent. It also goes some way in explaining why some marriage customs, traditions and superstitions prove very resistant to theological considerations.

The principal indispensable conditions for a valid Catholic wedding are accepting that it is an exclusive indissoluble bond that is open to having and raising children as well as for mutual assistance of the spouses. The couple must also be free to marry each other.

As well as the necessary freedom to wed, free consent is also required. In the Catholic Church, it is consent that makes a marriage, and this must be of necessity a free act of the will. If there is any coercion or grave external error regarding the future spouse, then the marriage would be invalid.

However, themes such as freedom from coercion must be taken within the social context of each epoch and society. For centuries, and in some countries even today, marriages were arranged by parents on behalf of their children. It is also a fact that in many cases, and not just among the wealthy, marriage was also a business transaction between families in which such things as conserving and accumulating property, overcoming disputes and forging pacts were also taken into account. Women were at a disadvantage in these exchanges since, according to common law, all their property rights went to their husband and yet, even he was subject to the choice of his parents.

In the wedding rite of a 10th-century Romano-German Pontifical, for example, the couple and their relatives present themselves to the priest. He first interrogates them regarding the existence of possible impediments. Having received a negative reply, the priest then asks the father of the bride, or her legal guardian, if he is willing to cede his patriarchal authority to the spouse. After an affirmative response, the priest then interrogates first the groom and then the bride to see whether they freely accept each other as husband and wife. The legal requirement of transmitting patriarchal authority to the groom lost ground and disappeared from the rite from the 12th century onward.

In all probability, however, such customs are the remote origin of the father leading the spouse down the aisle even though, strictly speaking, this procession is outside of the liturgical rite. (The rite only began when both spouses reached the altar.) Nor was the procession universal; in some Baltic countries parents did not attend the wedding itself but waited at home for the couple to return from the church.

The idea that the couple had to first fall in love and choose one another was uncommon. On occasion the couple met each other for the first time at the wedding. Although either man or woman could always refuse a specific proposal of marriage, the accepted belief was that parents knew best and that the natural affection between the sexes would develop over time. Since this mentality formed part of the ethos of the time, it did not restrict the necessary freedom to constitute a valid marriage.

Times and notions have changed and, at least in Western society, the choice of marriage falls upon the couple. This is one reason why, for the first time, the rite foresees the option of either an entrance procession or the celebrant greeting the couple at the altar. If there is a procession, then "The ministers go first, followed by the priest, and then the bride and the bridegroom. According to local custom they may be escorted by at least their parents and two witnesses."

This procession rite admirably expresses the theological reality that the couple are the ministers of the sacrament and also underlines its ecclesial context of their being members of the Church. Yet it is still a relative novelty, and I don't think we can expect it can quickly substitute the millennial practice of the father giving away the bride. Nor will it easily chase away the superstitions that it is an ill omen for the groom to see the bride in her gown before the ceremony begins. If the bride is walked down the aisle by her father, then once more this is outside the liturgy. For the liturgy officially begins when the couple are greeted by the priest at the altar and not when the bride enters the church.

As we saw with the case of the rite of transmitting patriarchal authority, customs do eventually change and in this case are already changing. For example, I observed such a wedding procession in Latvia about 15 years ago, and it would appear that it was already fairly established. Factors such as the increased independence and mobility of young people, as well as better formation in the theological understanding of marriage, will in time make the option of the procession increasingly common and eventually standard.