councils; first, in the great Council of Lateran, held in the year 1215, where the proclamations of marriages are commanded in general terms, all clandestine marriages are strictly forbidden, and no priest allowed to be presnt at them; and again, in the Council of Trent, where the particular circumstances to be observed in making these proclamations are expressly determined. And besides, the reasons for making these proclamations are so strong, and the consequences of neglecting them so fatal, that even the civil laws themselves of almost all Christian states expressly enjoin them; which civil laws the subjects of the state are most certainly bound in conscience to obey.

Q. 17. What are the circumstances required by the Council of Trent in making the proclamations ?

A. (1.) That they be made on three different Sundays or holidays; so that it is not sufficient to do them twice in one day, and much less to do them all three. (2.) That they be made public during divine service, when all the people are present; so that it will not suffice to do them at any other time. (3.) When the parties belong to different parishes, that the proclamations be made in both the parishes, by the proper pastor of each party. (4.) That a particular caution be used with those who travel about from place to place, and have no settled habitation, and no priest be allowed to marry them till the most diligent inquiry be made, lest they should have a wife or husband in other places, which is too often the case with such people.

Q. 18. Can the publishing the banns be in no case dispensed with ?

A. Yes it can; the Council considering that there may be cases wherein it may be necessary to dispense with some or all of the proclamations, gives

power to bishops only to grant such dispensation, when they shall see a just and necessary cause for doing so; particularly if there be danger that malicious people would oppose the marriage, and create disturbance, without having any just cause for doing it, as the council itself expressly observes; and also, when any great and spiritual, or even temporal good of the parties require it.

Q. 19. Are those who know of any lawful impediment obliged to discover it?

A. They certainly are; both because the Church expressly commands them, and calls upon them in a public and solemn manner to do so; and also, because if they do not, they become answerable to God for all the fatal consequences of their silence.

SECTION II.

OF THE CONSENT OF PARENTS.

Q. 20. WHY is the consent of parents required for marriage?

A. For several strong and weighty reasons (1.) On account of the respect and obedience which children owe to their parents by the law of nature, and the honour which is due to them by the express law of God; all which demands, that in an affair of so great consequence to the future happiness both of the children and the parents, nothing should be concluded without their concurrence. (2.) Experience shews, that marriages made against the parents' will, for the most part prove unfortunate; the disturbance of families, dissensions between

husband and wife, the bad education of the children are commonly the fatal consequences of such marriages; and no wonder. The insult done to the paternal authority, and the motives from whence such marriages flow, which generally are unbridled passions, and sometimes criminal intrigues, banish the spirit of God from them, and deprive them of his blessing. (3.) Among the people of God, in the old law, the parents had the principal authority in marrying their children; and hence, when Almighty God speaks to them on this subject, he addresses himself only to the parents. Thus, when he forbids them to marry with infidel nations, he says, "Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son," Deut. vii. 3. And the wise man speaks thus: Marry thy daughter well, and thou shalt do a great work, and give her to a wise man," Ecclus. vii. 27. On this account we find that the servants of God exactly followed this rule of marrying with advice and consent of their parents; as we read of Isaac and Jacob, and Sampson; and Esau is blamed, and displeased his parents, for doing the contrary. (4.) The Church of Christ, in the Council of Trent, declares, that she always did detest and prohibit marriages of this kind; Sess. xxiv. Decr. de Matrim. c. 1. (5.) The civil laws also, of different states, highly disapprove of such marriages; and if the children who marry without consent of their parents be minors, their marriage is, by the laws of France, declared illegal, and they are deprived of many civil advantages on that account, with regard to their portions, and other temporal conventions between them.

Q. 21. In what cases can parents, in conscience, refuse their consent to the marriage of their children?

A. In several cases; as (1.) If the proposed marriage would disturb the peace of their family, or be a disgrace to them. (2.) If they judged it would prove highly detrimental to their children, who, blinded by passion, did not perceive the fatal consequences of it. (3.) If it was such as would endanger the loss of their religion, or expose their children, if they should have any, to the same danger, or the like. (4.) If it was contrary to the civil laws of their country.

Q. 22. But, if the parents merely through hardheartedness, or avarice, or humour, should refuse their consent to a reasonable marriage of their children, would they be obliged to abstain from it?

A. Parents who should behave in this manner would commit a sin themselves, in hurting their children without a reasonable cause; and when the case is evident, and appears so to proper judges, the children are not then obliged to obey them.

SECTION III.

OF THE PRESENCE OF THE PASTOR AND WITNESSES.

Q. 23. WHAT are the regulations of the Church with regard to this point?

A. The Church, in the Council of Trent, considering the great evils that flow from clandestine marriages, and finding, by experience, that the repeated laws made against them had not been sufficiently effectual to prevent them, made a solemn decree, by which it is ordained, not only that the proclamations of the banns should be made before marriage, as we have seen above, but also, that the marriage itself should be made in presence of

the proper pastor of the parties, or one commissioned by him, and at least two witnesses; and it is also declared, that where this is wanting, the marriage is null and void, and, in the sight of God, no marriage at all. In consequence of this, in all Catholic countries where this decree has been solemnly published, no marriage can be contracted but in presence of the proper pastor, or one commissioned by him. In all other places, where the decree has not been published, it is highly unlawful and criminal to be married by any other but the proper pastor, as being so entirely opposite to the spirit and desire of the Church, and to her repeated prohibition of clandestine marriages.

Q. 24. What is the proper Pastor?

A. The Bishop is the proper Pastor of the whole diocese, and the curate or parish priest is the proper pastor of all those who are immediately under his charge; and, when the parties belong to different parishes, the pastor of either place marries them, though the common custom is, that it be done by the pastor of the place to which the woman belongs.

SECTION IV,

OF THE IMPEDIMENTS OF MARRIAGE,

Q. 25. WHAT is meant by the Impediments of Marriage?

A. As marriage is of such vast importance both for the good of particulars, for the peace of the state, and for the edification of the Church, it is of the greatest necessity to take every precaution that it be established on such a footing as to render it conformable to what decency and the light of nature prescribes, and to hinder it from being preju