The Passage from Vice to Virtue: Durandus on the Wedding at Cana

Since marriage and the use thereof are discussed so much in the Church these days, and the passage from vice to virtue so little, it might be profitable to read these excerpts from William Durandus’ commentary on today’s Mass (Rat. Div. Off. 6, 19, 5-8) , in which he explains the authentic mystical symbolism of the Gospel, John 2, 1-11, the miracle of the wine at the wedding in Cana, and of marriage in general. Qui legit, intelligat.

Cana” means “zeal”, and “Galilee” means “transmigration.” Therefore, the fact that a marriage took place in Cana of Galilee signifies that, in the heart of one who has zeal, that is to say, an ardent desire to pass over from the vices to the virtues, from the world to the Father, from earth to heaven, a marriage takes place, and Christ the Lord is there with His Mother. For this is the among the first reasons to rejoice in this heart, where the marriage takes place, that Christ was born from the Virgin. There is water turned into wine, that is, the dullness of works is turned into spiritual rejoicing.

The Marriage at Cana, 1308-11, by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319), part of the great altarpiece of the cathedral of Siena known as the Maestà. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

For in that place are set forth six jars, that it, there are established and perfectly practiced the six works of mercy, which are to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to receive the stranger, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to go to the imprisoned, and to bury the dead.

In the Communio “The Lord said (‘Fill the jars with water…’)”, it is mystically shown that the Lord changes the water into wine for us, meaning that the water of fear is turned into the wine of divine love, the water of the letter is turned into the wine of spiritual understanding, and the water of mortality into the wine of immortality.

Communio Jo. 2 Dicit Dóminus: Implete hydrias aqua et ferte architriclíno. Cum gustasset architriclínus aquam vinum factam, dicit sponso: Servasti bonum vinum usque adhuc. Hoc signum fecit Jesus primum coram discípulis suis. (The Lord said, ‘Fill the jars with water and take them to the chief steward.’ When the chief steward had tasted the water that had become wine, he said to the bridegroom, ‘You have kept the good wine until now.’ This was the first miracle that Jesus worked in the presence of His disciples.)

(Like most medieval authors, Durandus is an inveterate digresser; in the original text, the following sections are mixed in with the parts given above, so I have here re-ordered them. The hospice to which he refers was established in the late 720s for pilgrims coming to Rome from England, and its church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its presence gave the region around it the name “Saxia - place of the Saxons” (“Sassia” in Italian), while the old English word “burg - neighborhood” became the Italian name of the whole region, “Borgo”. In the reign of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), the hospice was turned into a hospital in the modern sense, a place to care for the sick, and dedicated to the Holy Spirit; a nearby modern hospital is still called the Hospital of the Holy Spirit.) 

… to celebrate this wedding, Pope Innocent III established that on this day a station should be kept at the venerable hospice of the Holy Spirit, where, as it were, in Cana of Galilee, there is zeal to pass over from the vices to the virtues. And the mother of Jesus is there, since the church of that place is dedicated unto the honor of the most blessed Virgin Mary.

“Her son Jesus is invited with His disciples to this wedding”, since the image of Jesus Christ, which is called the facecloth, or “the Veronica” in the vernacular, is shown on this day to the faithful who come together there to celebrate this marriage of holiness and mercy, by the command of the same lord pope Innocent and the cardinals.

The main building of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, which was rebuilt by a Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) to prepare Rome for the Jubilee of 1475, after the prior structure was badly damaged by a fire. This engraving was made ca. 1690. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

The Fivefold Nuptial Blessing: A Millennium-Long Mystery Solved by Sharon Kabel

The indefatigable Sharon Kabel, whose superb research work we have shared several times, has taken a lot of interest in wedding rituals. She has very kindly shared with us the results of her investigation of a nuptial blessing which appears in the 1954 American Collectio Rituum. The Latin translation below is by Isaac Smith Schendel, the German translation is edited by William Kabel and Isaac Smith Schendel.

In my ongoing quest for minutiae about Catholic nuptial texts, I have written elsewhere about an oddly worded blessing in the Roman Catholic Rite of Marriage. The blessing’s themes are fivefold: love, children, friends, work, eternal life. They appeared in the 1954 American Collectio Rituum [1] and 1964 Roman Ritual. [2] At the time, I attributed the blessing to Reverend Philip T. Weller because of his translation of the Rituale Romanum. He was also the likely author (or at least codifier) of our current Rite of Betrothal.

Even in a nuptial setting, I found the blessing overly sentimental, and was glad to see that they disappeared from the Rite of Marriage after 1964.

Imagine my excitement when I discovered a 1950 German Collectio Rituum with that same blessing (obviously in German)! [3] It seemed unlikely that Fr. Weller composed them - so who did? To my great surprise, I found an essay from an author of the 1950 German Collectio, claiming that this nuptial blessing was actually a restoration of an old text:

From my own diocese of Trier, the oldest in Germany, was taken the fivefold blessing which the priest pronounces, extending his hands over the newly-married couple at the end of the wedding ceremony. You are perhaps familiar with this much and rightly admired blessing (which originated in the West Gothic Liturgy of Spain) from the American Ritual, which took it over. [emphasis added] [4]

So, this fivefold nuptial blessing was not written by the Americans in the 1960’s, nor by the Germans in the 1950’s, but… by the Spanish in the 600’s?

The history of any nuptial text or tradition is murky and complex. It is possible that a blessing did indeed make its way from 7th century Spain to twentieth century Germany and America. But… one wonders. The twentieth century liturgical reformers had a bad habit of justifying their reforms with spurious antiquarianism.

The burning question is: what does this 7th century Mozarabic ritual say? Does this nuptial blessing really have a 1300-year old pedigree? The Mozarabic ritual is scanned online, but it’s a reprint of the original manuscript. I hoped to find the most original text possible. I owe the success of my quest to Christina Linklater, at the Isham Memorial Library and Houghton Music Cataloger at Harvard Library. Out of hundreds of oddly-assembled pages in several languages, she found not only the wedding ceremonies, but the fivefold blessing itself.

I’ve created a comparison chart of the blessings as they appear in the Mozarabic Liber Ordinum (Latin and translated), the German Collectio (German and translated), and the American Collectio.

While the broad themes of love, children, and friends are present in all versions, it’s clear that the twentieth century blessings embellished on those themes. For example, the Mozarabic Liber’s blessing “gaudeatis perenniter cum amicis” has become “May the peace of Christ dwell always in your hearts and in your home; may you have true friends to stand by you, both in joy and in sorrow. May you be ready with help and consolation for all those who come to you in need; and may the blessings promised to the compassionate descend in abundance on your home” in the 1954 American Collectio.

There have been numerous changes in liturgical and sacramental texts in the twentieth century. The current iteration of this blessing is more a question of taste, rather than nefarious doctrinal changes. So why waste ink on something so small?

This fivefold blessing is one small piece in a cascade of changes to the marriage rituals. The 1970 Rite of Marriage is almost completely changed from the 1962 Rite of Marriage (which is identical to the 1615 Tridentine Rituale). The ancient and majestic Nuptial Blessing, with its own rubrics and graces, has been revised dramatically, with many particular blessings removed. Marriage itself has suffered on a catechetical level, with, for example, a decrease in emphasis on the dangers of mixed marriages. It is worthwhile, therefore, to take note even of small reforms in our holy sacraments, because they can lead to bigger changes.

More importantly, the justification for reforms is critical. Weddings in particular have been (and will continue to be) variable. The modern reformers could have picked any number of nuptial blessings from the hundreds of extant, geographically proximate, early to late medieval liturgical manuscripts. They could have justified the fivefold blessing by saying that they took an old blessing, and adapted it for the unique needs of modern man. They did not do either of these things.

The editor of the German Collectio claimed that the blessing “originated in the West Gothic Liturgy of Spain.” This is a tricky statement. The word “originated” provides just enough plausible deniability: it’s stronger than “inspired by”, but much weaker than “is identical to”. It is true, in a way, that the blessing originated in Spain, but the twentieth century version of the blessing has clearly taken on a life of its own. We have seen this archaeologism before with more important issues, such as “the early Church received on the hand, and stood rather than kneeling, and so should we.” Why a text is changed is arguably just as important to us as what was changed, and if the reasoning for the change is weak, it should give us pause.

For as much as the modern reformers embellished the fivefold blessing - the latest iteration is nearly five times as long as the Mozarabic original - it is worth considering what themes were not mentioned. Catholic wedding blessings over the centuries have asked God for the blessings of children, of health, and of long life. However, it was not uncommon for nuptial blessings to ask for angelic protection against demons, simultaneously a sobering and comforting thought. By way of a closing thought, here are a few examples of medieval nuptial blessings [5]:

• Bobbio Missal (8th cent.): Pour out your blessing through Raphael, your angel of peace, that health and honor might be theirs.
• Benedictional of Robert of Jumièges (early 11th cent.): May he who sent the archangel Raphael to prepare the marriage of Tobias and Sarah send his holy angel from his heavenly throne to comfort you in his holy service, show you the path of righteousness and protect you forever from all evil.
• Canterbury Benedictional (1025-50): May the angel of God be with them as an unfailing guard; may the power of the devil be utterly expelled from them; may their days be multiplied in peace and enriched with children…
• Sacramentary of Vich (1038): Grant them, Lord, to be of one mind in the fear of your Name and to show their love in the goodness of their mutual behavior… May they render to one another the debt of marriage in such a way as to never cause offense to you… Let them so negotiate all temporal business that they will continue faithfully to long for eternal things.
• Missal of Bury St. Edmunds (12th cent.): Look down, O Lord, from your holy heaven upon this marriage and send Raphael, your angel of peace, that they might be healthy and worthy and peaceable, and pour out your blessing upon them.
• Sarum Manual, blessing of the marriage bed (16th cent.): O God, who neither sleep nor slumber, bless this bedchamber, you who watch over Israel, watch over your servants as they sleep in this bed, protecting them from all demonic dreams…
• Ritual of Coutances, blessing of the bedchamber (18th cent.): Visit, we beseech you, O Lord, this dwelling and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy. Let your holy angels dwell herein who may keep these newlyweds in peace…

Click to enlarge

Notes:

[1] Collectio Rituum Ad Instar Appendicis Ritualis Romani Pro Diœcesibus Statuum Fœderatorum Americæ Septentrionalis. Cum Licentia Sacrae Congregationis Rituum. Milwauchiæ: Ex typographia Bruce, 1954

https://archive.org/details/collectio-rituum-1954/Collectio%20Rituum%20%281954%29/

[2] The Roman Ritual Complete ed. Milwaukee: Bruce Pub. 1964

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/roman-ritual-part-i-11882

[3] Collectio Rituum Ad Instar Appendicis Ritualis Romani Pro Omnibus Germaniae Diocesibus. (1950).

[4] Fischer, Balthazar, “Impressions of the German Ritual” The Furrow 8, no. 10 (1957): 659-74. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27657252

[5] All translations from: Searle, Mark and Kenneth W Stevenson, 1992. Documents of the Marriage Liturgy. Collegeville: Liturgical Press: A Pueblo Book. Searle & Stevenson have a chapter on the Mozarabic Liber, along with their own translation of the fivefold blessings: “May the Lord bless you by the word of our mouth, and may he join your hearts in the everlasting bond of sincere love. May you flourish with an abundance of this world’s goods; May you be fittingly blessed with your children; May you always rejoice in your friends. May the Lord grant you the goods that last, to your parents a happy old age, and to all everlasting happiness.”

Photos from a Recent Traditional Betrothal Ceremony

At a time when good news is more welcome than ever, I was overjoyed to see the following photographs and descriptions of a recent traditional betrothal ceremony shared in a Facebook group, and wished to spread the joy. The betrothal ceremony is the way in which Catholic couples enter formally into their engagement, making a solemn promise to marry and asking the Church’s blessing on their time of preparation and on their eventual marriage. As the photos and texts reveal, it is a rich ceremony that deserves to be rediscovered and practiced on a wide scale.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I first encountered this ceremony at Thomas Aquinas College (1990-1994), where it was actually rather popular, although I had never heard of it before. I subsequently learned that this custom is found in many of the “Newman Guide” colleges, e.g., Christendom College; and it was brought to Wyoming Catholic College as well. The rite varies in certain small details from place to place or book to book, but the basic outline is always the same. Those who wish to read more about it should check out Sharon Kabel’s absolutely amazing Latin Mass Wedding website. 

One could say many things about the fittingness of solemnizing an engagement in this centuries-old way, but perhaps the most obvious benefits are that it elevates the mutual promise from a merely human act to an act blessed by Christ and the Church, sanctifies and purifies the intentions of the couple, and asks God’s graces for a peaceful and chaste engagement. It also serves, for any others who happen to attend, as a testimony to the Catholic faith the couple share and to their earnest desire to enter into the honorable state of Christian wedlock, so much under fire today. In that way it is both countercultural and evangelistic.

And lastly, because lots of people are jittery these days, it deserves to be emphasized that no permission is needed (or ever could be needed) for a priest to perform this formal engagement and blessing. 

(1) When a Christian man and woman intend to pledge themselves to marriage, it is praiseworthy and in accord with ancient ecclesiastical custom to have the engagement solemnized and blessed by the Church.

(2) Man: In the name of our Lord, I promise that I will one day take thee as my wife, according to the ordinances of God and holy Church. I will love thee even as myself. I will keep faith and loyalty to thee, and so in thy necessities aid and comfort thee; which things and all that a man ought to do unto his espoused I promise to do unto thee and to keep by the faith that is in me.

Woman: In the name of our Lord, I in the form and manner wherein thou hast promised thyself unto me, do declare and affirm that I will one day bind and oblige myself unto thee, and will take thee as my husband. And all that thou hast pledged unto me I promise to do and keep unto thee, by the faith that is in me.

(3) Priest: I bear witness of your solemn proposal and I declare you betrothed. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

(4) The engagement ring is blessed according to the ritual of the Church.

(5) The man takes the ring and places it first on the index finger of the left hand of the woman, saying, “In the name of the Father,” then on the middle finger, adding, “and of the Son,” finally placing and leaving it on the ring finger, he concludes, “and of the Holy Ghost.”

(6) The priest opens the missal at the beginning of the Canon, and present the page imprinted with the crucifixion to be kissed first by the man and then by the woman.

(7) “May God bless your bodies and your souls. May He shed His blessing upon you as He blessed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. May the hand of the Lord be upon you, may He send His holy Angel to guard you all the days of your life. Amen. Go in peace!”

Congratulations, Vincent and Julie Ann!

Married Couples Recorded in the Roman Martyrology, with a Litany for Private Use

Saints Aquila and Priscilla

As I was reviewing page proofs for the book Are Canonizations Infallible? Revisiting a Disputed Question, I was struck once again by the account that was given during John Paul II’s pontificate of why so very many people “had” to be beatified and canonized starting in 1983. The rationale was this: the Church taught at Vatican II that holiness is everyone’s calling. And since the Church always remains faithful to Christ, there must therefore be a whole lot of saints in every category, especially from recent times, that need to be accelerated through the process in order to provide lots of examples and encouragement.

Now, this is a curious mixture of truths and falsehoods. It is of course true that the Church will always produce sanctity; no age is without saints. But it is not true that we can, as it were, crank up the factory and simply make more saints while maintaining the most rigorous standards of what constitutes publicly venerable holiness, or Christian perfection in charity. Nor is it by any means guaranteed that any particular age will be more fruitful than, or even equally fruitful as, any other age in verifiable saints. It could well be that modernity erects more barriers to the achievement of beatifiable and canonizable holiness. Indeed, this seems to be implied in Leo XIII’s letter Testem Benevolentiae.

One claim I have frequently seen in the literature surrounding John Paul II’s pontificate is that he wanted to present lots of examples of married sanctity to the laity. In and of itself, and taking into account the caveats of the preceding paragraph, we can say this is a laudable intention. For instance, we can rejoice in Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who, living relatively near to us in history, make spousal and parental holiness more vivid to our eyes. One also occasionally meets with cynical interpretations of hagiography that accuse the Church of denigrating marriage and promoting only a celibate model of sanctity. While some writers over the centuries doubtless had an axe to grind with marriage, this is by no means an operative assumption, nor is the dogmatic teaching that virginity consecrated to Christ is a more perfect state of life incompatible with a generous estimation of the good of sacramental marriage.

A way to see that the Church has not, in fact, been slow to recognize the sanctity of married couples and parents is to become more familiar with the traditional Roman Martyrology, which, as I have grown familiar with it over the years, has placed before me daily after Prime a remarkable procession of spouses, parents, and widows who have been part of our collective memory and liturgical worship for untold centuries. I continue to believe that it is highly valuable to read the Martyrology daily, for it furnishes a fuller picture of the models of sanctity venerated by the Catholic Church than the vastly smaller number of saints who are venerated in the Mass itself can give us by itself.

When we look more closely, we find in fact quite a good number of married saintly couples listed in the traditional Martyrology. By this, I mean something very specific: an entry that lists both the husband and the wife as saints. There are, as one would imagine, many more that list a saintly man or woman, husband or wife, without making mention of the other spouse or parent; and there are times when the whole family is martyred but only the husband is named. These have also been listed, because they too bear witness to the sanctity achievable in the married state and in the responsibilities of parenthood. (I have also included a few entries that speak of continent marriages, but these are few in number compared to the other categories.) It should also go without saying that plenty of other saints in the Martyrology would, in fact, have been married and/or parents, but here I am listing only those where the text itself includes such a description.

This article concludes with a litany in the usual style, for devotional use.

Saints Daria and Chrysanthus 

1. Saints who were married to each other

At Rome, blessed Dafrosa, wife of St. Flavian, Martyr, and mother of SS. Bibiana and Demetria, Virgin-Martyrs, who after the slaying of her husband was first sent into exile, and afterwards beheaded under the same prince. (Jan. 4)

At Sebaste, in Armenia, St Peter, Bishop, the son of SS. Basil and Emmelia, and brother also of SS. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Bishops, and of Macrina, Virgin. (Jan. 9; cf. Mar. 9 and Jul. 19)

At Rome, on the Via Cornelia, the holy martyrs Marius and Martha his wife, and their sons Audifax and Abachum, Persians of noble birth, who came to Rome to pray in the time of the Emperor Claudius. After they had borne scourging, the rack, fire, iron hooks and the amputation of their hands, Martha was slain in the Nympha, and the others beheaded, and their bodies burnt. (Jan. 19)

At Caesarea in Mauritania, the holy martyrs Severian and Aquila his wife, who were burnt to death. (Jan. 23)

At Ostia, the holy martyrs Maximus and Claudius, brothers, and Praepedigna, the wife of Claudius, with their two sons, Alexander and Cutias; who, though they were of very noble birth, were at Diocletian's command all put to the test, and sent into exile. Later they were burned to death, offering themselves to God as a sweet sacrifice of martyrdom. Their relics were cast into the river, but discovered by the Christians, and buried near the same city. (Feb. 18)

At Nicomedia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Victor and Victorinus, who for three years were tormented by many tortures, together with Claudian and his wife Bassa; and, being cast into prison, they fulfilled there their life's course. (Mar. 6)

At Nicomedia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Macedonius, Patricia his wife, and his daughter, Modesta. (Mar. 13)

In Illyria, SS. Philetus, a senator, Lydia his wife, and his sons Macedo and Theoprepes; and also Amphilochius, a captain, and Chronides, a notary, who endured many torments for their confession of Christ and obtained the crown of glory. (Mar. 27)

At Milan, St Valeria, Martyr, wife of St Vitalis, and mother of SS. Gervase and Protase. (Apr. 28)

At Attalia in Pamphylia, the holy martyrs Exuperius, his wife Zoe, and Cyriac and Theodulus their sons; they were the slaves of a certain Paganus, and in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, by order of their master, on account of their outspoken profession of the Christian faith, were scourged and severely tortured. Finally they were cast into an oven and so gave up their souls to God. (May 2)

In the Thebaid, the holy martyrs Timothy and Maura, his wife, whom, after many torments, the prefect Arian ordered to be fixed to a cross, whereon they hung alive for nine days, confirming each other in the faith, and achieved their martyrdom. (May 3)

At Rome, blessed Calepodius, Priest and Martyr, whom the Emperor Alexander had slain with the sword, and his body dragged through the city and cast into the Tiber. Pope Callistus buried it after it had been recovered. Palmatius the consul was also beheaded, with his wife and children, and forty-two others of his household, of both sexes; likewise Simplicius the Senator with his wife and sixty-eight of his household; and also Felix with Blanda his wife, whose heads were suspended at different gates of the City as a warning to the Christians. (May 10)

At Rome, St. Artemius, with his wife Candida, and his daughter Paulina. Artemius, at the preaching and miracles of St. Peter the Exorcist, believed in Christ, and was baptized with all his household by St. Marcellinus, Priest. He was scourged and slain with the sword by command of the judge Serenus: while his wife and daughter were driven into a crypt and buried beneath stones and debris. (Jun. 6)

At Rome, on the Via Salaria, the passion of blessed Getulius, a most famous and learned man (the father of the seven holy brethren, whom his wife Symphorosa bore him), and his companions Cerealis, Amancius and Primitivus. At the command of the Emperor Hadrian they were arrested by the governor Licinius and first of all scourged, then cast into prison, and lastly delivered to the flames: but since they were in no wise hurt thereby, they fulfilled their martyrdom by their heads being broken sticks. Symphorosa, the wife of blessed Getulius, gathered up their bodies and buried them with honour in a sand pit in her villa. (Jun. 10; cf. Jul. 18)

At Rome, St. Zoa, Martyr, wife of the blessed martyr Nicostratus, who, while praying at the Confession of blessed Peter the Aposde, was taken by the persecutors under the Emperor Diocletian, and cast into a dark prison. Then she was tied to a tree by the throat and hair, and a horrible smoke produced beneath her, and so she gave up the ghost, confessing the Lord. (5 July) [To which is related an entry two days later:] At Rome, the holy martyrs Claudius, a notary, Nicostratus (chief secretary, and the husband of blessed Zoa the Martyr), Castorius, Victorinus and Symphorian. St. Sebastian brought them all to the faith of Christ and the Priest blessed Polycarp baptized them. While they were busied in recovering the bodies of the holy martyrs, the judge Fabian ordered them to be apprehended, and after he had tempted them for ten days with threats and flatteries, and could not move them in the least, he ordered them to be thrice tortured and then cast headlong into the sea. (Jul. 7)

In Asia Minor, SS. Aquila and Priscilla, his wife, of whom mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles. (Jul. 8)

At Cordova in Spain, the holy martyrs George, a Deacon, Aurelius and his wife, Natalia, Felix and his wife, Liliosa, in the Arab persecution. (Jul. 27)

At Tomi in Pontus, the holy martyrs Marcellinus, a tribune, his wife Mannea, and their sons John, Serapion and Peter. (Aug. 27)

At Adrumetum in Africa, SS. Boniface and Thecla, who were the parents of twelve sons, blessed Martyrs. (Aug. 30)

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, SS. Theodotus, Rufina and Ammia; the first two of these were the parents of St. Mamas the Martyr, to whom Rufina gave birth in prison and whom Ammia educated. (Aug. 31)

At Rome, on the Via Appia, blessed Cornelius, Pope and Martyr; in the persecution of Decius, after being exiled, he was commanded to be beaten with leaden scourges, and was beheaded with twenty-one others of both sexes. And Cerealis also, a soldier, with his wife Sallustia, whom the same Cornelius had instructed in the faith, were beheaded on the same day. (Sep. 14)

At Rome, the passion of the holy martyrs Eustace and Theopistis, his wife, and their two sons Agapitus and Theopist, who were condemned to the beasts, under the Emperor Hadrian but by the help of God were uninjured by them. They were then enclosed in a heated brazen bull and consummated martyrdom. (Sep. 20)

At Damascus, the holy martyrs Paul and Tatta his wife, and their sons Sabinian, Maximus, Rufus and Eugene, who, accused of professing the Christian religion, were tortured by stripes and other punishments, and in torment gave up their souls to God. (Sep. 25)

In Persia, the holy martyrs Dadas, a kinsman of King Sapor, Casdoa his wife, and Gabdelas his son, who were deprived of their honours, wounded by various tortures and, after long imprisonment, slain by the sword. (Sep. 29)

At Jerusalem, SS. Andronicus and Athanasia his wife. (Oct. 9)

At Rome, the holy martyrs Chrysanthus and his wife Daria, who, after many sufferings which they endured for Christ, under the prefect Celerinus, were commanded by the Emperor Numerian to be set in a sand-pit on the Via Salaria, and there, while still living, to be covered with earth and stones. (Oct. 25)

St. Zachary, Priest and Prophet, the father of blessed John the Baptist, the Precursor of the Lord. Also St. Elisabeth, the mother of the same most holy Precursor. (Nov. 5)

At Emesa in Phoenicia, the holy martyrs Galatio and Epistemis his wife, who in the persecution of Decius were beaten with scourges, their hands, feet and tongues mutilated, and finally achieved martyrdom by beheading. (Nov. 5)

On the same day, St. Natalia, the wife of blessed Adrian, Martyr, who for a long time ministered to the holy martyrs held in prison at Nicomedia under the Emperor Diocletian; and when their battle was over she went to Constantinople, and there rested in peace. (Dec. 1)

At Rome, the holy martyrs Claudius, a tribune, and his wife Hilaria, and their sons Jason and Marus, with seventy soldiers. Of these the Emperor Numerian commanded Claudius to be bound to a huge stone and cast headlong into a river, while the soldiers and sons of Claudius were condemned to death. Blessed Hilaria, after burying the bodies of her sons, was arrested by the heathen a little while after while praying at their tombs, cast into prison and passed to the Lord. (Dec. 3)

At Rome, the finding of the holy martyrs Nemesius, a Deacon, Lucilla, a Virgin, his daughter, Symphronius, Olympius a tribune, Exuperia his wife, and Theodulus his son, whose commemoration is made on August 25. (Dec. 8; cf. Aug. 25.)

In the same city, St. Flavian, an ex-prefect, who was the husband of blessed Dafrosa, a martyr, and the father of the holy virgin martyrs Bibiana and Demetria. He was condemned under Julian the Apostate to be branded for Christ's sake and sent into exile at Bagni-di-Ferrata in Tuscany, where he gave up his spirit to God in prayer. (Dec. 22)

On the same day, St Melania the Younger, who left Rome with her husband Pinian and went to Jerusalem; she led a religious life among the holy women, and her husband among the monks, and both died a holy death. (Dec. 31)

St. Henry and St. Cunegund

2. Married saints who lived a life of continence

At Antioch, under Diocletian and Maximian, the birthday of St. Julian, Martyr, and of Basilissa, Virgin, his wife, who kept her virginity while with her husband, and ended her life in peace. But Julian (after a crowd of priests and ministers of Christ's Church, who fled to them because of the cruel persecution, had been burnt with fire) was tortured with many torments at the command of the governor Marcian and condemned to death. With him suffered also Antony, a priest, and Anastasius. The latter, after he had been raised from the dead, Julian himself had made a sharer of Christ's grace. Celsus, a boy, with his mother Marcionia, and his seven brothers, and many others, suffered martyrdom. (Jan. 8)

At Bamberg, St. Cunegunda, Empress, who was married to the Emperor Henry I, but preserved her virginity with his consent. Enriched with the merit of good works, she rested in a holy death and thereafter was famous for her miracles. (Mar. 3)

Solemnity of St. Joseph, Workman, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Confessor, Patron of Artisans. (May 1)

At Bamberg, St. Henry I, Emperor of the Romans and Confessor. He led a life of perpetual virginity with his wife St. Cunegund, and brought St. Stephen, King of Hungary, and almost all his people, to embrace the faith of Christ. (Jul. 15)

3. Wives and widows, mentioned as such

Wives: St. Joanna (May 24), St. Clotilde (Jun. 3), St. Perpetua (Aug. 4), St. Serena (Aug. 16), St. Tryphonia (Oct. 18).

Widows: St. Paula (Jan. 26), St. Marcella (Jan. 31), St. Louisa Albertoni (Jan. 31), St. Joan de Lestonnac (Feb. 2), St. Juliana (Feb. 7), St. Frances of Rome (Mar. 9), St. Louisa de Marillac (Mar. 15), St. Lea (Mar. 22), St. Grata (May 1), St. Corona (May 14), St. Rita of Cascia (May 22), St. Margaret of Scotland (Jun. 10), St. Elisabeth of Portugal (Jul. 8), St. Athanasia (Aug. 14), St. Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal (Aug. 21), St. Cyriaca (Aug. 21), St. Margaret (Aug. 27), St. Eutropia (Sep. 15), St. Catherine of Genoa (Sep. 15), St. Galla (Oct. 5), St. Bridget (Oct. 8), St. Hedwig (Oct. 16), St. Elisabeth of Hungary (Nov. 19), St. Olympias (Dec. 17), St. Begga (Dec. 17).

4. Husbands, mentioned as such

St. Craton (Feb. 15), St. Palmatius (May 10), St. Simplicius (May 10), St. Euthymius (Aug. 29), St. James Intercisus (Nov. 27), St. Venustian (Dec. 30).

5. Mothers or fathers, mentioned as such

Fathers: St. Richard, King of the English (Feb. 7), Theusetas (Mar. 13), St. Quirinus (Mar. 30), St. Pudens (May 19), St. Philip the Deacon (Jun. 6), St. Tranquillinus (Jul. 6), St. Thomas More (Jul. 6), St. Joachim (Aug. 16), St. Simplicius (Aug. 26), St. Marcellus (Oct. 30).

Mothers: St. Macrina (January 14), Queen Matilda (Mar. 14), St. Monica (Apr. 9), St. Plautilla (May 20), St. Marcella (Jun. 28), St. Mary (Jun. 29), St. Anne (Jul. 26), St. Theodota (Aug. 2), St. Nonna (Aug. 5), St. Helen (Aug. 18), St. Bassa (Aug. 21), St. Philippa (Sep. 20), St. Sophia (Sep. 30), St. Tryphonia (Oct. 18), St. Mary Salome (Oct. 22), St. Denise (Dec. 6), St. Fausta (Dec. 19).

Saints Joachim and Anne

A Litany of Married Saints

(For private use)

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saints Zachary and Elisabeth, pray for us.
Saints Aquila and Priscilla,
Saints Flavian and Dafrosa,
Saints Basil and Emmelia,
Saints Marius and Martha,
Saints Severian and Aquila,
Saints Claudius and Praepedigna,
Saints Claudian and Bassa,
Saints Macedonius and Patricia,
Saints Philetus and Lydia,
Saints Vitalis and Valeria,
Saints Exuperius and Zoe,
Saints Timothy and Maura,
Saints Felix and Blanda,
Saints Artemius and Candida,
Saints Getulius and Symphorosa,
Saints Nicostratus and Zoa,
Saints Aurelius and Natalia,
Saints Felix and Liliosa,
Saints Marcellinus and Mannea,
Saints Boniface and Thecla,
Saints Theodotus and Rufina,
Saints Cerealis and Sallustia,
Saints Eustace and Theopistis,
Saints Paul and Tatta,
Saints Dadas and Casdoa,
Saints Andronicus and Athanasia,
Saints Chrysanthus and Daria,
Saints Galatio and Epistemis,
Saints Adrian and Natalia,
Saints Claudius and Hilaria,
Saints Olympius and Exuperia,
Saints Melania and Pinian, pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Let us pray. Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that the intercession of Holy Mary, Mother of God, St. Joseph, her most chaste Spouse, and all holy husbands and wives, fathers and mothers now reigning in Thy Kingdom, may everywhere gladden us, so that, while we commemorate their merits, we may experience their protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen.

A New Book on Bl. Karl of Austria for Marriage Preparation

The Emperor Karl League of Prayer in the United States and Canada is pleased to announce the publication of a new book entitled Bold Union: Preparing for Marriage with Karl and Zita. Edited by Suzanne Pearson, Cathy Pearson, Dcn. Jordan Hainsey, and Fr. Britton Hennessey, Bold Union utilizes vignettes from the life of the last-ruling imperial family of Austria-Hungary as a witness to the bond of marriage, helping to supplement the preparation a couple receives in their own diocese. Couples are invited to spend half an hour each day, for six weeks leading up to their wedding, growing in prayer and openness to each other. The structure for each day is the same: a vignette from the life or marriage of Karl and Zita, a reflection on the sacramental bond, questions for conversation, and short Catholic prayers.

Eight illustrations were commissioned by the League of Prayer U.S.A. and Canada from John Ritter, an American Post-Pop artist and illustrator whose vibrant figural and cultural depictions have consistently defined the pages of The New Yorker, Time, GQ, The New York Times, and Harper’s. Ritter began his career in northern California in the early-1990’s, where his unique style and deployment of color landed him a slot on the design team that created and marketed Adobe© Photoshop©. Utilizing photographs from the Gebetsliga Archive, this is Ritter’s first collection of religious-themed illustrations which contextualize sanctity in the 21st century and boldly reinterpret the familiar images of Karl and Zita.

Bold Union: Preparing for Marriage with Karl and Zita is the perfect companion for engaged couples beginning their journey together or married couples who wish to deepen their marital bond and explore the vows they made on their wedding day. Printed and bound in the U.S.A., this book carries the Imprimatur of Bishop Roger J. Foys, D.D., of the Diocese of Covington, and an accompanying Nihil Obstat. To order, click this link.

A New Online Resource for Researching and Preparing a Latin Mass Wedding

A young, enterprising, very organized and well-informed lady named Sharon Kabel has put together a fantastic website dedicated to “the Latin Mass Wedding.” This is a resource that has long been urgently needed, with the growing number of “Benedict XVI” and “Francis Effect” Catholics who are interested in tying the knot with a ceremony and Nuptial Mass in the usus antiquior or Extraordinary Form. Years ago (as when my wife and I got married with a Missa Cantata on the feast of St. John, December 27, 1998), this was still fairly far-out, in the misty fringes of possibility, but nowadays one reads about it happening pretty often, and pictures and videos are abundant. Nevertheless, it should be much more frequent than it is, and I wonder if the lack of easily accessible information is part of the problem.

After all, there are a LOT of differences between the Novus Ordo approach and the traditional approach. In the Novus Ordo, the vows are sandwiched into the Mass between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in a pattern that Nicola Bux complains about as depriving both the Mass of its integrity and the inserted item [sacrament, commissioning, exercise, etc.] of its own dignity. In the old way of doing things, in contrast, the bride and bridegroom exchange their vows at the foot of the altar prior to the start of Mass — almost, you might say, their own version of the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar — and then they assist at Mass for the first time as husband and wife. (I remember how special it was at my own wedding to kneel with a ring newly on my finger, with my wife next to me, and hear the priest say: “In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Introibo ad altare Dei...,” knowing that we were going unto the altar of God, united by the God of Israel about whom the schola was singing: “Deus Israel conjungat vos.” As always, the timing of things in the traditional liturgy is magnificent.)

This preceding matrimonial ceremony is usually more elaborate, with some very beautiful prayers (though these have varied and still vary a great deal from country to country, and from century to century); for its part, the ancient Nuptial Mass is extremely rich in its antiphons, readings, and prayers — all of which are required, none optional.

The Nuptial Mass, especially in the form of a Missa Cantata or a Solemn Mass, can be a particularly splendid and festive way to introduce family and friends to the traditional Roman liturgy, a real opportunity for “evangelizing through beauty.” If a young man and woman are serious Catholics, they will already seem strange to many of their relatives and acquaintances, so they might as well go all out rather than trimming the liturgy down to the imagined expectations or tolerance threshold of attendees. You can count on there being many more guests who afterwards say they were moved by the beauty and solemnity of it than there will be grumblers and complainers. No matter what your congregation will be like, it is helpful to provide a missallette or a handout that helps those in attendance to have some clue about what is unfolding before their eyes and ears.

Sharon understands all these things, and she is thorough in providing resources and references. The page “Rite of Marriage” talks about the history of the ceremony and furnishes a full text of the rite found in the 1962 Rituale Romanum for the region of the United States. The page “Wedding Mass” gives in full the English texts of the Missa pro sponso et sponsa. Then comes the page “Resources,” which is fun to explore:

Note that Sharon provides ample information about and links to the text of the traditional Rite of Betrothal, which is also happily returning to the Catholic world after a long period of desuetude. (Just recently, NLM published a piece on it, with photos: check it out.) Betrothal can best be understood as a solemn promise to marry, made before God and His minister, and asking of the Lord the grace of a chaste engagement blessed by His favor. It is really worth doing; my fiancée and I, and many of our friends, and now the children of our friends, have done it. It fits into the general pattern of the Church wishing to bless all created realities: homes, fields, animals, equipment, wine, throats, candles, and the rest. In addition, it serves as a countercultural witness in our times of a serious intent to lead a life in accord with the commandments and virtues. (The U.S. bishops not long ago cobbled together and published a “blessing of an engagement,” but, like all postconciliar liturgical rites, its lameness beggars belief. It will deserve a proper dressing-down someday, not right now.)

Sharon provides a page of FAQs that assume no prior knowledge, so if you are new to all of this, you have found a good place to go.

The website will also be valuable to priests; among other things, Sharon has included Haydock and Catena aurea commentaries on the Scriptural texts of the antiphons and readings of the Nuptial Mass, which could be mined for homilies.

On the website Sharon says she wants feedback about any ways to improve her site, or any further resources to include. Please take her at her word! Let’s make this the single best go-to place on the web for traditional Roman-rite weddings.

(Other wedding-related articles that may be of interest to NLM readers:

• Problems with Weddings and How We Might Remedy Them
• Solemn Music for a Wedding
• The Velatio Nuptialis: An Ancient (and Forgotten) Part of the Latin Marriage Rite
• The New Lectionary and the Catholic Wedding
• When in Florida: The Priest Who Refused My Wedding
• The Wedding: How to Be a Catholic Music Patron, at Least Once)

A Liturgical Rite of Betrothal

Our thanks to Mr Anthony Carona for sharing with us this brief explanation of the liturgical Rite of Betrothal, a subject we have never covered before, which he recently celebrated with his fiancée, and our congratulations to them both!

This summer, my fiancée and I hiked approximately 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago; at the conclusion of our pilgrimage, in the town of Finisterre – the “end of the earth” – I asked her to marry me. Upon returning home, we had the engagement solemnized by a ritual found in Weller’s popular translation of the Rituale Romanum; the Rite of Betrothal appears in the appendix. Canon 1017 of the old Code of Canon Law exhorts priests witnessing the engagement contract to give the couple a “liturgical blessing” in accord with ancient and praiseworthy ecclesiastical custom. Despite this injunction, no such form for a blessing was universally prescribed. This should be no surprise: the Latin Church, even with the reforms of Trent, has always given great license and even deference to local custom when it comes to matrimony – a recognition that the purpose of the liturgy is to sanction and bless the marital bond between spouses, not to effect it. The text and rubrics for this blessing, therefore, are merely a suggestion, but as given in this book, they are beautiful.

Contemporary culture being totally inept to celebrate anything as important as courtship, betrothal, or marriage, we saw the blessing as an opportunity to live out our Catholic ethos that life’s most important events should be punctuated and celebrated by ritual. It also marked the beginning of our sacramental preparation for matrimony, in a way perhaps analogous to the rite of tonsure for holy orders. The ceremony is brief, but composed of several elements: the rite was celebrated at the Church of the Annunciation in Houston, Texas, by the pastor, Rev. Paul Felix.

1. The couple approach the altar with two witnesses as Psalm 126 is chanted. The psalm reminds us to make God the primary author of all our plans.

2. The priest delivers an allocution, reminding the couple to commit themselves to virtuous courtship as the sure foundation for both earthly prosperity and eternal blessedness.

3. The couple join their right hands and promise to one day take each other as husband and wife. Many of us seem to have forgotten that engagement itself is a promise. Nevertheless, commentators are clear that this promise cannot be grounds for compelling marriage.

4. The priest places the ends of his stole over the couple’s hands in the form of a cross, bears witness to the proposal, and blesses the couple with holy water.

5. The priest blesses the engagement ring.

6. The man places the ring on the finger of his fiancée.

7. The priest presents the missal, opened to the picture of the crucifix opposite the canon for the couple to kiss.

8. The priest prays a final blessing over the couple, bidding them to go in peace.

Problems with Weddings and How We Might Remedy Them

Now that we are turning the corner into May, we are entering into the main season for weddings, most of which take place on Saturdays in the warmer months.

The Catholic Church has been known throughout the ages for the strong, unambiguous stand she takes on the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage and of the naturalness, goodness, and social priority of the family that emerges, by God’s blessing, from the union of man and woman.

There is, nevertheless, a monumental disconnect between this exalted doctrine and the disgraceful, if not sacrilegious, manner in which weddings are often conducted. [1] Experience, records, and anecdotal evidence suggest that far too many Catholic weddings are not conducted as befits a holy or sacred occasion, but rather, are turned into carnivals, with the officiant acting as ringmaster. At times, the giddy banter in the church before or after Mass is so loud that an organist playing at full volume can still hear it. Sermons can become the priest’s own version of a wedding reception toast or a sentimental fireside chat with the couple, complete with reminiscences, chestnuts, and down-home advice. “The kissing of the bride” can be a real performance, complete with whistling and clapping; needless to say, everyone goes to Communion! A beautiful and sacred space is turned into a sports arena and a fashion show.

One thinks in this connection of Ratzinger’s rebuke:

Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly — it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation. [2]

If we actually believe in the “sanctity of marriage,” this kind of Hollywood travesty has to be stopped, and if we do not do all in our power to stop it, we are effectively endorsing a secular redefinition of marriage and allowing the faithful to be formed by it and in it. Clergy should take as a model the Lord Jesus expelling the money changers from the temple: “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matt. 21, 13). He didn’t set up a Pontifical Committee for Relations with Thieves, or make a public apology about how badly thieves have been treated over the centuries; he simply drew a line between sacred and profane, and threw them out. God’s house is, first and foremost, a house of prayer. The prophet Isaiah says: “The Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread” (Isa. 8, 13). The prophet Malachi likewise: “The son honoreth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 1, 6).

Connected with the fear of the Lord and respect for His temple is the evangelistic opportunity presented by a beautiful liturgy. I do not mean, of course, that the liturgy should be turned into an occasion for catechesis or apologetics, but rather, that simply by being as it should be, dignified, expressive, and noble, it will touch the hearts and minds of at least some of the non-practicing Catholics and unbelievers present. To cite Ratzinger again:

If the Liturgy appears first of all as the workshop for our activity, then what is essential is being forgotten: God. For the Liturgy is not about us, but about God. Forgetting about God is the most imminent danger of our age. As against this, the Liturgy should be setting up a sign of God’s presence. Yet what is happening, if the habit of forgetting about God makes itself at home in the Liturgy itself, and if in the Liturgy we are only thinking of ourselves? In any and every liturgical reform, and every liturgical celebration, the primacy of God should be kept in view first and foremost. [3]

I remember a priest in Ireland telling me that when he offered a Novus Ordo funeral Mass in English, but merely prayed slowly, chanting the texts, and keeping silence at appropriate points, and generally acting as if he believed in what was happening and was earnestly praying for the deceased, a number of people said to him afterwards: “My goodness, Father, if every Mass was like that one, I’d start coming to church again.”

Has there not been an incredible failure to face the obvious fact that treating the most sacred mysteries casually and horizontally necessarily leads to the eclipse of God? I speak of the eclipse of His transcendent fatherhood and His right to our total homage, intellectual and moral, as well as the eclipse of man’s own nature, his need for redemption, his capacity for the infinite and the eternal, and his heavenly destiny, with all the self-denial and self-mastery it demands of us here and now. The use of such completely foreign imports as “the unity candle” or jars of sand to signify the uniting of two families or two lives exemplifies the stress on horizontality that, together with inventing ritual whole cloth, is one of the worst legacies of the general agitation for liturgical reform that afflicted all the Christian churches and ecclesial communities in the twentieth century.

There will never be a renewed acceptance of the full truth about marriage and family, an adherence to divine and natural law, if there is not a renewed acceptance of the full truth about the sacred liturgy: an adherence to the natural law of religious homage (the obligation of creature to Creator) and to the divine law of Christian worship (the sacrifice of the Cross).

Here are a few ways in which weddings could be improved in the context of the Novus Ordo. (Some of these suggestions would also apply, mutatis mutandis, to Tridentine weddings.)

1. The most important precondition for resacralizing weddings is that those who are to be married understand ahead of time something of the beauty, holiness, and lofty demands of the sacrament, not as described in some wishy-washy pamphlet, but by reading together, in segments, a robust treatment of the subject. In all my years of teaching, the best document I have yet found is Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical Casti Connubii, which has the benefit of being relatively short, frank, and challenging. I imagine that some couples would never do the reading at all, but some others would, and it could at least spark honest, difficult conversations that need to happen, such as the reasons behind the Church’s teaching on the good of abstention before marriage and chastity during it, the corrosive evil of contraception, the inherent ordering of married life to the begetting and educating of children, and the distinct but complementary roles of husband and wife in the family.

2. The ceremony of betrothal should be restored as a sacred way of marking the period of engagement and preparation. Lest this suggestion be viewed as a form of throwback romanticism, it is worthy of mention that one sees betrothals happening quite regularly at the more traditional colleges listed in the Newman Guide. My wife and I were betrothed in a ceremony led by the priest who married us about six months later, and the idea occurred to us in the first place because we’d seen so many others doing it. However, the rite is still not known as well as it should be known, and the recent publication by the USCCB of a pathetic “blessing of engagement” could throw some people off the scent of the real deal. The traditional rite of betrothal is available in a number of places, e.g., here, here, and here. A Google search turns up a number of good articles on the subject.

3. The pastor or celebrant should insist on worthy music being utilized for the wedding: the Ordinary of the Mass and the Propers of the Nuptial Mass (perhaps in simple English psalm tones, if the choir cannot handle more) and additional pieces chosen from a list of suitable hymns and instrumentals.[4] A priest friend of mine told a delightful story. One day he was meeting with a lady to go over the plans for her wedding Mass. She listed off for him a number of popular songs she wanted to have performed at the Mass. The priest smiled and said: “I’ll let you have those songs, as long as you agree to one request of mine.” — “What’s that, Father?” — “That you play Gregorian chant at your reception.” — “But Father, that’s not appropriate for the occasion!” — “Right. Neither are these songs appropriate for the occasion of divine worship. Now let’s rethink the music for the Mass.”

4. Moving to the wedding itself, if one is working with Catholics who have a modicum of faith and open-mindedness, one could suggest holding a Holy Hour after the wedding rehearsal while the priest hears confessions, particularly those of the bride, bridegroom, and wedding party. Among other benefits, this practice would greatly increase the possibility of the bride and bridegroom marrying in a state of grace so that they actually receive the fruits of the sacrament of matrimony rather than being vowed to one another in a graceless state of mortal sin. (Theologians teach that when marriage is contracted in a state of sin, the parties are indeed indissolubly wed, but the grace of the sacrament is not actually received by the sinful party until he or she is restored, through absolution or perfect contrition, to a state of grace, and then the sacramental grace is said to be “revived.”)

5. At the ceremony itself, the priest should bring out the most beautiful vestments and vessels he has access to, chant his own parts of the Mass, avoid the pitfalls of showmanship, and see to it that the service is conducted with solemnity. Such an ars celebrandi, together with the aforementioned music and the Holy Hour and confessions of the evening before, would accentuate the sacredness of the great mystery being celebrated.

When I have discussed these matters with priests, I generally get two reactions (and usually from the same people): “You are right,” and “It’s impossible.” I think there is a lot of discouragement out there about weddings and funerals, because these occasions, more than any others, bring home to the clergy just how horribly lacking in basic Christian faith and morals most baptized Catholics actually are. Nowhere is the postconciliar collapse of the Church and the destruction of the liturgy more apparent.

Nevertheless, with St. Thérèse, I maintain that discouragement is a form of pride, and that Christ is looking for “a few good men” to make the strenuous efforts needed, “brick by brick,” to elevate the seriousness and beauty of all of our sacramental life — be it baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and funerals, or daily and Sunday Mass. This is obviously a long-term project, but it begins with making whatever improvements we can, here and now. With all the care and goodwill in the world, we will sometimes offend people who do not know better, but let us strive to explain clearly and patiently the rationale behind all that we ask or propose to do.

NOTES

[1] There is a similar disconnect between Catholic eschatology and modern-day Catholic funerals, which have degenerated into maudlin wakes of the Protestant “low church” kind. The primary purpose of the Mass for the Dead is to pray for the soul of the departed, that it may be saved and, if in need of purification (as the vast majority of saved souls will be), may be delivered soon from the fires of Purgatory. Hence the traditional Requiem Mass focuses all of its attention on the faithful departed: there is no homily; gone are blessings of certain objects or of the people; a special Agnus Dei begs for the repose of souls; the Propers are a continuous tapestry of prayers for the dead; and so forth. The way that modern funerals have been turned towards the emotional relief of the living and the “celebration” of the mortal life of the deceased is, in reality, a double act of uncharity: first, it deprives Christians of the opportunity to go out of themselves in love by praying for the salvation of their loved one’s soul, thus exercising a great act of spiritual mercy rather than being a passive recipient of an act of spiritual mercy; second, it deprives the departed soul of the power and consolation of collective prayer on its behalf. Of course, all of this presupposes an orthodox understanding of the Four Last Things.

[2] Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, trans. John Saward (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), 198–99; also in idem, Collected Works, vol. XI: Theology of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2014), 125.

[3] Joseph Ratzinger, Preface to Alcuin Reid, The Organic Development of the Liturgy: The Principles of Liturgical Reform and Their Relation to the Twentieth-Century Liturgical Movement Prior to the Second Vatican Council (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 13; also in Ratzinger, Theology of the Liturgy, 593–94.

[4] Fr. Samuel Weber’s book The Proper of the Mass for Sundays and Solemnities has several settings of the Nuptial Mass propers, ranging from psalm-tone to melismatic.

Visit www.peterkwasniewski.com for events, articles, sacred music, and classics reprinted by Os Justi Press (e.g., Benson, Scheeben, Parsch, Guardini, Chaignon, Leen).

The Velatio Nuptialis: An Ancient (and Forgotten) Part of the Latin Marriage Rite

This article was written by Henri de Villiers for the blog of the Schola Sainte-Cécile. We are pleased and grateful to translate and publish it here with the author’s permission, and that of the translator, Zachary Thomas. It has also been published on Canticum Salomonis.

Until around 1999, our parish of Saint-Eugène in Paris was one of the few in France to keep up a custom that goes back to the first centuries of the Church. At Nuptial Masses, [1] two high-ranking clerics or two witnesses held a large white veil [2] over the kneeling couple during the nuptial blessing given by the priest between the Pater and the Kiss of Peace.

In France, the traditional name for this veil is the poêle. The word comes from the Latin pallium, which means a rectangular piece of fabric. [3]

The same word poêle was also used in France to designate the canopy for the Corpus Christi procession and for the funeral pall, and for the canopies used for solemn receptions of a bishop or powerful prince. It lives on in the popular expression “Tenir les cordons du poêle” (“Hold the ends of the veil”) that refers to someone enjoying an honorary position. Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan, in his encomium for Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, points out that it was in virtue of his position as chaplain to the King that he had the privilege of holding the poêle at the wedding of the Duke of Orléans in 1692.

Far from being a simple folk custom proper to certain regions of France, the poêle for the nuptial blessing goes back to the earliest centuries, where it was a fundamental element of Christian marriage. Required by the Fathers of the Church, the origin of this rite helps us to understand the arrangements for marriage in the first Christian centuries in the West.

The velatio nuptialis in the age of the Church Fathers: a Confirmation for the Church and by the Church of the Sacrament of Marriage

From the period of the catacombs until the Early Middle Ages, the essential part of the rites of the sacrament of Christian marriage were celebrated in private and took place in the home. The exchange of vows was from the beginning considered the fundamental element, a consent manifested by an exchange of symbolic gifts (such as the ring, but also a token piece of money.)

Gradually these domestic rites began to be held in the church (and at first in front of the church building), and there is a faint reminder of this in the traditional marriage rite (still followed in the 1962 books): the sacrament is celebrated before the Mass, which is later offered for the husband and wife already married. But originally the spouses gave themselves the sacrament of marriage in their own house by the exchange of consent.

Nevertheless, the spouses then had, in a manner of speaking, to ratify this sacrament they had given themselves by receiving a solemn blessing at the church during a special Mass celebrated for their intention. This solemn, public confirmation of the sacrament given in private appears to have been well-established at least since the 4th century [4] and took the form of a ceremony performed before the priest in the church: the velatio nuptialis, or nuptial veiling.

During a Mass celebrated for the husband and wife (a Mass that has had proper prayers and texts since the 4th century), the couple is covered with a veil while the priest pronounces over them the special nuptial blessing. This blessing comes between the end of the canon and the Communion. [5] The placement of this blessing was no accident: it preceded the ancient blessing that was given by the bishop to all the faithful before Communion. [6]

Contrary to what certain liturgists in the 20th century believed, the veil in question was not the veil that the bride wore on the marriage day (at that time every Christian women wore one, whether she was married or not), but rather a large veil stretched over the couple precisely as the title of the blessing in the Gregorian Sacramentary indicates: Oratio ad sponsas velandas.

St. Ambrose speaks in clear terms about this public ratification in the church (and before the Church) of the sacrament that the spouses had given themselves in private. “It is fitting that the marriage be sanctified by the imposition of the veil and the blessing of the priest.” [7]

In 380, in a letter to Archbishop Himerius of Tarragona, Pope Siricius mentions the nuptial blessing given under the veil. “De conjugali velatione requisisti, si desponsatam alii puellam alter in matrimonium possit accipere. (You inquired about the conjugal veiling, whether a man make take a girl who has been betrothed to another to wife.)”

The question that worries Himerius and Pope Siricius’s subsequent response are very obscure: he wanted to know whether it was possible to give a second nuptial blessing under the veil. The Pope refused. But it is telling to see that the veiling of the spouses is a synonym for marriage in canonical questions about this sacrament from this time onward.

The same Pope Siricius wrote in 390 to many bishops and mentions the velatio nuptialis in passing. “Nos sane nuptiarum vota non aspernantes accepimus, quibus velamine intersumus. (We certainly receive, and do not disdain the vows of marriage, in which we have been present for the veiling. - Ep. 7, PL 13, 117).

Several more passages in the Latin Church Fathers from the 4th to 6th centuries indicate a common point of agreement: in the West the veiling of the spouse is the only public aspect of the ceremony of Christian marriage. [8]

The wide attestation of this rite in the 4th century could lead us to think that the ceremony dates from before the Peace of Constantine. A text of Tertullian (ca. 150 - ca. 220) might also indicate that the nuptial blessing was practiced in Christian Africa in the 3rd century during the sacrifice of the Mass. “This union that the Church ratifies, that the sacrifice confirms, that the blessing consecrates, and that the angels celebrate, and that gladdens the Father.” (Ad Uxorem, II, 8, 6). In any case this citation shows that the marriage celebrated by the spouses in private is confirmed by the subsequent celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

In 403, St Paulinus of Nola composed a very beautiful poem on marriage, an epithalamion written for the occasion of the wedding of the lector Julian (future bishop of Eclanum), son of the bishop of Benevento, to the daughter of the bishop of Capua. Paulinus describes the bishop of Benevento leading the couple to the altar, where the bishop of Capua gives them his nuptial blessing, who are both covered by the same veil. “Ille jugans capita amborum sub pace jugali, / Velat eos dextra, quos prece sanctificat” (He, joining both their heads under the peace of the marriage bond, veils with his right hand those whom the prayer sanctifies. Poem XXV, v. 226-227).

In the most ancient Roman liturgical books we find not only the text of this velatio nuptialis, but also the other texts for the Mass celebrated for the husband and wife. The Leonine and Gelesian Sacramentaries even include a special preface and Hanc igitur. In the Leonine Sacramentary, the most ancient witness of the Latin liturgy, the Mass is entitled Incipit velatio nuptialis. From the Gelesian Sacramentary, we know that this Mass for the spouses was celebrated a second time thirty days later, and on the day of their anniversary.

The Leonine text of the nuptial blessing is repeated in the Gelasian. It is notable that the text asks for God’s blessing only over the wife, even though it is evident that the two spouses are under the same veil. Here is what the Blessed Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster, archbishop of Milan, wrote about this:

“A further remark seems called for in this connection. The various formulas for the nuptial blessing among the Latins have reference to the woman, rather than to the nuptial pair in common. According to the Leonine Sacramentary, it is for her that the holy sacrifice is offered: hanc igitur oblationem famulae tuae N. quam tibi offerimus pro famula tua N. (this sacrifice, of Thy handmaid N., which we offer to Thee for Thy handmaid N.; so also does the velatio conjugalis, together with its special blessing before the Fraction of the Host, refer exclusively to the bride: Sit amabilis ut Rachael viro, sapiens ut Rebecca, longaeva et fidelis ut Sara, etc. (May she be for her husband as lovely as Rachel, as wise as Rebecca, as long-lived and faithful as Sarah, etc.)

Considering the mentality of the ancients with regard to the inferior status of women, the Church displays an admirable wisdom here; in her liturgical formulas she takes the weaker part under her protection, raising her from the degrading condition to which paganism had reduced her, ennobling her to the point that, in Christian chivalry, she has become almost a cultic symbol (Liber Sacramentorum).”

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