Excerpt from the wonderful book Christ in the HomeThe Nuptial Liturgy
ORDINARILY there is very little recollection manifested at a wedding ceremony. It is just as if the congregation had no idea of the sanctity of the place or the grandeur of the event. Yet, all is holy. The priest begins "In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," and prays that God may bless the two about to be married so that all may redound to the glory of His Name. Then follows the exchange of consent accompanied by the rite of joining hands. "The Lord be with you," says the priest before blessing the ring. . . And later, "Be unto them, O Lord, a tower of strength." Can anything less than this Almighty protection suffice for the work of sanctification in their life together? The Gradual of the Nuptial Mass invokes the blessing of fecundity upon the marriage. "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants about thy table." Marriage is not a union founded on chance or pure caprice; reason must control the glow of passion, and the union effected by marriage must be of such a nature that death alone can break it. The Gospel of Saint Matthew gives us Our Savior's own words on this subject. In answer to the question, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause," Christ answered very definitely, No, and quoted the Scripture text, "They shall be two in one flesh." Then He made it more emphatic by adding, "What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." At the Pater Noster of the Nuptial Mass, the priest does something he never does in any other Mass. He interrupts the Sacrifice, permits the Body and Blood of Christ to lie upon the altar, and turning, calls down a new benediction of God upon the bride and the groom. He recalls how the Most High God has watched over the sacred institution of marriage from the beginning of the world, to keep it intact in spite of the frailty of humanity. The rest of the prayer besides referring to the examples of faithful wives of the Old Testament--Rachel, Rebecca, Sarah--implores rich graces for the bride. "O God, by whom woman is joined to man, and that fellowship which Thou didst ordain from the beginning is endowed with a blessing which alone was not taken away either by the punishment for the first sin or by the sentence of the flood; look in Thy mercy upon this Thy handmaid; True and chaste let her wed in Christ . . . Let the father of sin work none of his evil deeds within her... Let her be true to one wedlock and preserve inviolable fidelity; Let her fortify her weakness by strong discipline; Let her be grave in demeanor and honored for her modesty. Let her be well taught in heavenly love; Let her be fruitful in offspring." The priest continues the Mass and receives Holy Communion. The bride and groom should also receive the Body and Blood of Christ during this Nuptial Mass. The rubrics of the missal call for it expressly. The ideal then is to communicate not at an earlier Mass but during the Nuptial Mass itself, which nothing, not even the early hour of the day, can prevent from being solemn. Before the Last Blessing, the priest speaks once more to the newly married couple as if he could not tire of blessing them before their great departure: "May the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob be with you, and may He fulfill His blessing in you: that you may see your children's children even to the third and fourth generation, and afterwards may you have life everlasting, by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ: who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth forever." THE WEDDING DAY
WHAT a marvel of grandeur and of poetry is the nuptial liturgy! The Church, full of solicitude for the two daring young souls ready to launch out on the voyage of life, is eager to prepare them as seriously and as solidly as possible, to put before them essential principles, and to petition God to take this holy couple under His especial care, and conduct it to the great eternal family after their life of reciprocal love and confiding generosity. Is it any wonder that such a noble and meaningful ceremony should bring to mind the First Mass of a newly-ordained priest? Unfortunately, the worldly trappings that often accompany the marriage celebration detract considerably from the sacred atmosphere of the event. Particularly true is this of the banquet which is generally a part of the celebration. The Church has nothing against wholesome joys, particularly family feasts to commemorate an outstanding occasion in life; but she certainly does not approve of the carousings for which wedding banquets are so frequently the excuse, or the tone of certain parties held in connection with weddings. Could anyone imagine an ordination to the priesthood celebrated in such a fashion? After the Nuptial Mass, the world takes over, there are the congratulations, the general stir to get into the line of march in order to see and be seen; there is not a minute for prayer, for recollection, for thanksgiving. The world, even during the Mass as well as after it, assumes control of the couple and their family. Events following the marriage ceremony do nothing to correct these concessions to the world. Does it not seem reasonable that when the fundamental interests of the family are impeded by the worldly spirit, the family should do everything in its power to escape from it? There are those who understand this: Sodalists, the Jocists, members of Catholic Action groups or similar organizations, even previous to the war, wanted to break away from these pagan practices.
It is not a matter of seeing in the holy place only the Church vestibule or the Church lobby. No, no, the church is the house of God. Let everything there be holy and all that is done there be done holily, the founding of the family more than anything else! Those groups who recognize the sanctity of the marriage ceremony have set the example of communicating at their Nuptial Mass; they have suppressed boisterous and giddy celebrations. In the same spirit they decided to delay their departure for their honeymoon and postpone the distractions it entails; so beneficial is it to remain in prolonged recollection during their first days together. They remember to make their union of souls predominate. Therefore, together they restrain themselves and by mutual accord embrace sacrifice. Saint Paulinus, a renowned lawyer of Bordeaux, who renounced a worldly life when he was at the height of success, and with his wife retired into the city of Nola in Campania, wrote these significant lines: Concordes animae casto sociantur amore; Virgo puer Christi, virgo puella Dei. which mean: "Let these souls who are one heart and soul be united in a chaste love; he, a virgin, a son of God; she, a virgin, a daughter of God." Why not secure for these two splendid baptized souls, these two virgin souls, whom marriage has united forever, a departure worthy of them? Like Finer Femininity on Facebook
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You have posted so many beautiful articles about the Sacrament of Matrimony and the Nuptial Mass! Thank you! My family and I are Traditional Catholic, and my oldest sister will be getting married in September to a wonderful Traditional Catholic man. My sister plans a veil with a blusher. From your experiences with your daughter’s weddings and your articles, who lifts and when is the blusher lifted in a Traditional Marriage? Does the father of the bride, or the groom lift it, and when?
Hello Marie, how wonderful that your sister is getting married to a good Catholic man! This is how we do the veil: the father of the bride and the bride walk up the aisle together after all the bridesmaids have processed. Once they get to the front of the church where the groom is waiting, the dad turns toward the daughter, lifts the veil, and then makes the gesture of handing her over to the groom. In our case, Dad gives her a tiny kiss on the cheek or forehead or blesses her forehead first. It is a moving time in the ceremony…..especially for Mom. 🙂
Dear Leane, Thank you so much for your informative and beautiful reply! It is very helpful to know the step by step and Traditional way to lift the veil. I will pass on the information to my sister right away. Thank you again and may God bless you! A blessed feast of Saint Vincent Ferrer to you and your family!