The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-01-24

! the groom, linked with the grooms-
man, should take the aisle to the right,
followed by the other groomsmen Gf
there be such) and his relatives and
friends. all in pairs. The bride, on her
fathers arm, or, in his absence, on the
arm of her guardian, brother, relative
or intimate friend, should take the
aisle to the left, followed by her brides
maids. maids of honor relatives and
friends, all in pairs and linked. If the
church has but one aisle, the best use
must be made of it, taking care to
observe the same order. Thus the pro-
cession advances, keeping time to the
music until it reaches the high altar,
where the two wings meet and where
the officiating priest with an an as
sistant or clerk is awaiting them.
Here the parties draw up in single file
before the altar and facing it, but out
side the altarrails in this order: In
the center stands the brides father or
his vicegerent, on his left is the bride
the groomsman or men. All the
honor; while on the fathers right
stands the groom and on his right
others may arrange themselves in the
pews. Then the priest, addressing the
N N, here present, for thy law
full wife, etc. The groom an
swers: Il will" Addressing the
bride, he says: IN. N, wilt thou
take N. N, here present, for your law
full husband" etc. She answers: II
will.' Here the father, or guardian,
places the right hand of the bride in
the right hand of the groom, and hav-
ing thus given her away" retires. III
passing let us remark that Il rubric
specifies that the hands Of the bride,
if virgin, should be ungloved, if d
widow, gloved.
After the departure of the father, the
priest, continuing the ceremony, places
these words in the groom's mouth: Il,
n. N, take thee, N. N, for my lawful
wife" etc. They disjoin hands, and the
bride, again taking the groom's hand,
says, the priest prompting: Il, N. N,
take thee, n. N, for my lawful hus-
band" etc. The priest then makes the
Sign of the Cross over their joined
hands, saying in the Latin tongue:
Il join you together in marriage in the
name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, Amen" after
which he sprinllles them with holy
water Here we would remark that
marriage, being one of the seven sac
raments, should be received in as re-
spectful posture as possible. Hence
ones sense of piety would suggest that
it be received on Bonded knees. The
bride and groom should kneel imme-
diately after the bride has been given
away by her father. The maids and
groomsmen may kneeI or stand at their |
own discretion. 1t must be especially |
borne in mind, both by the priest and |
the marriage parties, that at no time, |
whether during the marriage ceremony |
proper or during the Mass that fol- |
lows, are the contracting parties al |
lowed to enter the sanctuary, as there |
is a decree of the Sacred Congregation |
it. We have witnessed a few |
instances where this was done and |
heard of twice as many others, it is !
true; but nothing short of well-es- |
tablished custom with the knowledge |
and recognition of the bishop, could |
warrant such a departure from the |
law. We are certain-and We know |
whereof we sDeak-that no such GUS |
tom exists in this Diocese, nor in any |
other Diocese that we know of. Prize
deus and chairs should be placed out |
side the altar rails, on which the bride |
&c
kneel and sit during the Mass.
There is a special Mass for this oc-
casion, called the "Nuptial Mass dur
ing which the priest turns out from
the altar and twice interrupts the sac
rifice in order to bless the marriage
union The parties should kneel to re-
ceive blessings. From the fact that !
there is a special Mass for the mar
riage ceremony it is easy to see that
1t is the wish of the church that Cath
olics should be married with this Mass.
Afternoon weddings are nothing more
or less than a fad borrowed from
Professionalism and should be discoun-
tenanced as much as possible. AT thls
Mass. too, the married couple should
receive Holy Communion together, ana
let their union with the Lord sanctlIy
their union with each other. Tne sac
rament of matrimony being "sacra-
,nent of the living" should be received
in the state of grace. Hence the con-
tracing parties, whether they go to
or not, should go to con-
fession; and this confession should not
be put off till the very day of the cere-
mony. Confession should be made not
later than the previous day. The rea-
son of this is lest perhaps the exist
ence of some impeachment to the mar
rage may develop through the confess
sion and thus be cause of embar-
rassment at the last moment. But we
must return to our questions.
8. The bride Gf a virgin) usually
ca aries a bouquet of flowers. The
flowers are generally of white color,
and this is to signify the purity of her
former life-that she is a virgin in
deed. There is no custom, as far as
we know, of the brides carrying
prayer book; yet we see no incongnuity
IN it, but by all means let it be white.
4. The brides sister, though a non
Catholic, may assist as bridesmaid, for
she is only a witness to the marriage
contract, and for this office faith is not
necessary.
5. There is no fee for the officiat-
ng priest We don't like that word
feet sounds so like price and
you know there is no price on the sac
nor on the Mass. Let US