Catholic marriage
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In the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, marriage, also called matrimony, is an inseparable bond between a man and a woman, created by human contract and ratified by divine grace. It is one of the seven sacraments. It is ordinarily administered in a Nuptial Mass.
The nature of the covenant requires that the two participants be one man and one woman, that they be free to marry, that they willingly and knowingly enter into a valid marriage contract, and that they validly execute the performance of the contract.
On the exact definition of each of these steps hinge all the arguments and technical points involved in annulments, and annulment disputes (eg, the most famous, that of Henry VIII). Catholic Canon law covers this subject in detail.
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[edit] Freedom to marry
The participants in a marriage contract must be free to marry, and to marry each other. That is, they must be an unmarried man and woman, with no impediments as set out by Canon law.
[edit] Free Intent to marry
In the Catholic Church, it is consent that creates marriage. Consent consists in a human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other. Consent must be a free act of the will of the consenting parties, free of coercion or grave external error. If freedom is lacking, the consent is invalid.
[edit] Conditions for a Sacramental Marriage
Marriage must occur within a liturgical act
Ceremony must have witnesses present, and be in the presence of the Church's minister
Specific words of consent must be pronounced to the hearing of everyone
[edit] The Ministers of Matrimony
The husband and wife must validly execute the marriage contract. In the Catholic tradition, it is the spouses who are understood to confer marriage on each other. The spouses, as ministers of grace, naturally confer upon each other the sacrament of matrimony, expressing their consent before the church.
This is somewhat different for the Eastern Catholic Churches, which follow the Eastern Orthodox beliefs regarding marriage. Therefore, the priest (never a deacon) is the minister of the sacrament (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1623, 1992 edition, [1]) through the act of "crowning" the couple with a pair of crowns while proclaiming them received into the Kingdom of Heaven. The vows are exchanged well beforehand in the Byzantine ritual and are not binding. They are a remnant of the Liturgy of Betrothal which had used to be done in a separate Liturgy. Many Western Catholics are surprised when clicking on their cameras after hearing the exchange of vows to be told by the priest that they are still not married, having not yet been crowned. Thus it is known in the East as the Mystery (read: Sacrament) of Crowning as often as it is called matrimony.
[edit] Impediments to Catholic Marriage
Impotence
Sanguinity/affinity
Previous Marriage
Holy Orders
Perpetual Vows of Religion
Disparity of Cult
[edit] Validity
A marriage may be somewhat defective and yet still be valid; such a marriage is illicit. A marriage which was sufficiently defective as to not meet the required criteria is invalid, and the participants are considered to not have actually married (the children are in all cases considered legitimate, as there is no concept of "illegitimacy" in Catholic theology of Canon Law.).
[edit] Nullity
Catholic theology teaches that a validly contracted marriage is accompanied by divine ratification, creating a virtually indissoluble union until consummation, after which the marriage is completely indissoluble; therefore, the term "divorce" has no meaning and does not exist.
An annulment is a declaration that the marriage is deemed to have been invalid. Therefore, an annulment is granted with some finding of lack of validity in the marriage itself, at the time of the marital contract; in theory, behavior subsequent to the contract should not be directly relevant, except as post facto evidence of the validity or invalidity of the contract. That is, behavior subsequent to the contract cannot actually change the validity of the contract.
Annulment and divorce, therefore, differ in both in rationale and effect; an annulment is a finding that the original marriage was invalid (denying that the marriage ever truly existed), whereas a divorce is a dissolution of an existing marriage, but without undoing its historical existence.
[edit] Glossary
- Affinity - Relationship by marriage (eg, brother-in-law)
- Consanguinity - Relationship of blood
- Crimen - An impediment to marriage caused by one party previously conspiring to marry (upon condition of death of spouse) while still married
- Diriment impediment - A hindrance to marriage which renders the marriage invalid, the only kind recognized under the 1983 Code of Canon Law
- Disparity of cult - Marriage between a Catholic and a non baptized person
- Dispensation - Removal of an impediment by a formal action of a Church official
- Illicit - A marriage which was not celebrated according to the norm of law, yet remains a marriage
- Impediment - A hindrance to marriage
- Invalid - A marriage is not valid, and so is not a Sacramental marriage
- Invalid as to form - a marriage which invalid due to defect canonical form of the celebration of the marriage
