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Marriage cermonies in the Catholic church
Source: Situado and Sabana #82
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Males and females completed their transition into the world of responsible adulthood by marrying and establishing a home. Matrimony was a relatively recent Catholic sacrament, the Council of Trent having declared it to be one in the mid-16th century, and some of the canonical intricacies had yet to be ironed out. In Florida first the Jesuits and then the Franciscans struggled manfully with the complicated cases of conscience created by a polygamous society, trying to differentiate "natural marriage," an inviolable contract, from concubinage and to determine which of a man's consorts was his "rightful" wife. Before a marriage could take place, the parish priest had to investigate the betrothed couple's respective backgrounds for legal impediments such as bigamy, consanguinity, affinity, coercion, or male impotence. AN5 He then informed the congregation of the couple's intent by the reading of banns on three successive Sundays or days of doctrina, allowing time for possible obstacles to the union to surface. The wedding ceremony itself was simple, requiring only that the couple join hands and voice their vows to one another before witnesses. Once the promise to marry was fulfilled by sexual consummation, the sacrament was complete; without consummation, it remained invalid. A wedding "in" the church meant only that a priest was present; few couples could afford the higher sacerdotal fees for a wedding "at" the church, or the consummation-affirming nuptial Mass and blessing on church premises. (Bushnell SS)
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