dental aspect of the act, for instance the informal betrothal may have been a means to deceive, or to lead into sin. For this reason it is important to draw the attention of the people to the fact that those who are not willing to make the formal declaration of betrothal are open to suspicion that they have no earnest, no honorable intention. The faithful should be enlightened, likewise, that formal betrothals are not valid if there is an impediment (except the one of forbidden times) and such betrothals become valid only upon the removal of the impediment. For that which a person can not do valide or licite, he can not either validly promise to do. XXVI. DELEGATION IN ASSISTING AT BETROTHALS Can the parish priest* or the bishop delegate another priest (his curate for instance) to assist at a betrothal, or can they have themselves delegated in another parish by the parish priest there? KNECHT and HEINER affirm this with considerable certainty, and KNECHT applies to this the rule: Plus semper in se continet quod est minus, and, Cui licet quod est plus, licet utique quod est minus. The law, however, speaks of delegation only in cases of marriage, not of betrothal, and there explicitly circumscribes this faculty, therefore all other commentators declare against delegation at betrothals, and so has the S. C. C. decided, March 28, 1908. Pro praxi no special difficulty is thereby offered. If he is not parish priest of the place where the betrothal is made the priest requested to assist may simply secure another witness to the act; then the betrothal at all events is valid ceteris paribus. Is there a law or precept that betrothal must precede the marriage? To this question we must evidently say no. But if two persons wish to become betrothed, they must observe the prescribed form. Otherwise a betrothal does not take place, and he who knowingly and by omission of the prescribed form merely pretends to become betrothed, commits a deception toward the other party and is answerable in foro externo and interno for the consequences of the decep tion. According to decisions of the S. C. C. the term parish priest, in the sense of the decree Ne temere, does not only refer to pastors in canonically erected parishes, but it means, where parishes have not been canonically erected, all priests lawfully appointed to exercise the pastorate for fixed districts; the term includes, furthermore, chaplains in Army and Navy, within the boundaries of their lawful appointment; furthermore, administrators and coadjutors who, for incapacitated pastors, take full charge of parishes; of spiritual directors of hospitals and other institutions, only those who are not subject to a parish priest; and, in missionary territories, every priest entrusted by his lawful superior with the charge of a station or district, XXVII. “NE TEMERE" AND CATHOLICS OF THE ORIENTAL RITE In interpreting the new decree Ne temere there has prevailed a diversity of opinion as to whether the new decree binds only the Catholics of the Latin rite, or also those of the Oriental rite. On February 1, 1908, the Cong. S. Concilii has decided that the new decree is binding only for Catholics of the Latin rite; in regard to Catholics of other rites their former ecclesiastical law continues in force (Acta S. Sedis, 1908, p. 82 et sequ). The editor of the Acta S. Sedis comments anent the new decision that Latins living among adherents to the Oriental rite must not on that account consider themselves exempt from the decree Ne temere. The S. Cong. de Propag. Fide is considering the advisability of extending the new decree to the non-Latin rites. XXVIII. MARRIAGES BETWEEN LATIN AND ORIENTAL CATHOLICS, OR OF CATHOLICS WITH SCHISMATICS (PROTESTANTS)* In districts of mixed religions the following marriage cases may occur: 1. One party is Latin Catholic, the other Oriental Catholic. The marriage may validly take place either according to the decree Ne temere or according to the law to which the Oriental Catholic is subject, because the marriage contract is indivisible and for the Oriental party applies his or her Church law. This is the opinion of the Roman Consultor in Acta S. Sedis, 1908, p. 83. 2. One party is an Oriental Catholic, the other a schismatic (Protestant). Neither party is bound by the new decree Ne temere. The Oriental Catholic is exempted by reason of the decision of the S. C. Concilii of February 1, 1908†; the schismatic (Protestant) is as such not bound on account of Num. XI, paragraph 3, of the decree (Schismatics and Protestants are only involved when marrying a Latin Catholic; Par. 2, Num. XI, of the decree, in conjunction with the decision of the S. C. Concilii, Feb. 1, 1908). Because of the indivisibility of the contract an Oriental Catholic may be validly married to a schismatic (Protestant) either according to the Oriental Catholic, or according to the schismatic (Protestant) Church. This follows from the views of the Roman Consultor in Acta S. Sedis, 1908, page 83. 3. One of the parties is a Latin Catholic, the other a schismatic (Protestant). |