Banns

[dandesmommie]

I asked this at the apologist list but did not receive an answer, so maybe you guys can answer here.
My brother and SIL were married several years ago at her home parish in South America. They both were living in the USA at the time and did their marriage pep with their own parish priest. They had the needed dispensations from their bishop etc. Recently she was told by a cousin back home that no banns were read at the masses before the wedding. SIL called the priest out there who comfirmed it to her but also told her it was not a problem and in no way did it affect the marriage.
SIL is now FRANTIC, convinced that she is in an invalid marriage. She does not want to ask their current priest about it, since she is afraid she is living in sin, etc etc.
Can someone PLEASE let us know if they need to do anything or if they are ok?

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I asked this at the apologist list but did not receive an answer, so maybe you guys can answer here.
My brother and SIL were married several years ago at her home parish in South America. They both were living in the USA at the time and did their marriage pep with their own parish priest. They had the needed dispensations from their bishop etc. Recently she was told by a cousin back home that no banns were read at the masses before the wedding. SIL called the priest out there who comfirmed it to her but also told her it was not a problem and in no way did it affect the marriage.
SIL is now FRANTIC, convinced that she is in an invalid marriage. She does not want to ask their current priest about it, since she is afraid she is living in sin, etc etc.
Can someone PLEASE let us know if they need to do anything or if they are ok?

Banns are usually no longer published, and they are no longer required. It is possible to have them Published if the couple wants. They are not as efective today because people move from parish to parish much more often today.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Banns are rarely posted these days. Priests are required to use due diligence to make sure the couple is free to marry (not married to someone else, etc.), but they may use different procedures to do so.

 

[chrisb]

Grace and Peace,

For those who don’t know what ‘Banns’ are could someone define them?

 

[passus]

Public banns of matrimony are no longer required by universal law, but the marital law of the Church does call for an investigation to be conducted to ensure the freedom of the engaged to marry. This is usually done by an affidavit signed by the two witnesses.

According to Canon Law:The conference of bishops is to establish norms about the examination of spouses and about the marriage banns or other opportune means to accomplish the investigations necessary before marriage. After these norms have been diligently observed, the pastor can proceed to assist at the marriage (CIC 1067).
And even if the banns of marriage were required or an investigation was never conducted, that would not be grounds for an invalid marriage unless the man and woman really were not free to marry.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Grace and Peace,

For those who don’t know what ‘Banns’ are could someone define them?

These are announcements that a certain couple intends to marry, so that anyone with information suggesting that the couple are not free to marry can let the pastor know.

 

[Chatter163]

 

[Ghoti]

I can remember the banns being read at Mass as recently as the 80s. The lector would say, “There is a promise of marriage between N. of St. Local’s Parish and N. of St. Elsewhere’s Parish. Any person knowing of any impediment to this marriage is bound to make it known to the pastor.”

They were invariably read just before the dismissal.

Side note, I read in a historical novel – middle ages – that if the banns were read three times, and there was no impediment, the marriage was deemed to have taken place at some level, later to be solemnized by the wedding Mass – i.e., if either party “cheated”, it wasn’t just fornication but adultery; also if either party fled/died before the wedding, the local civil laws of abandonment/inheritance could be brought to bear.

'Course, this may hold as much historical water as Dan Brown’s Grail.

 

[Phemie]

In some places (i.e., Ontario, Canada) banns replace the need to get a marriage license so they are still published if the couple attend a church on a regular basis.

In 10 years in this parish we’ve published banns exactly ONCE. This was done because a parish 2 provinces away requested that we do so. Nobody in the parish had the foggiest idea who the bride, groom, or the parents were. This parish, only 50 years old, serves a great number of transients. Reading the parish registers of baptism and marriages generally shows a large number of families who no longer live here and whom no one remembers.

 

[dandesmommie]

Thanks Y’all. This makes sense (and hopefully it will placate the ire of the no-banned bride (and give the rest of the family some peace!) (I love my SIL but sometimes…)