The list is rather silly when it comes to consecrated life. Anyway, sacramental marriage is not a form of consecrated life and is ranked below it. And historically, sacramental marriage began after consecrated virginity. I should add that when we do processions and stuff, where the order of precedence comes into play, the list of organized participants usually ends either at those with honors (like pontifical knighthoods) or consecrated persons. Those who belong to more than one category, such as myself, have the right to choose which group they wish to align themselves with in a procession. Sometimes if it is a big deal for a particular saint, you might have the parish/cathedral’s local and relevant associations/confraternities, but you would never include the “sacramental marriage” as a category because they simply belong to ‘lay faithful’ along with other lay people who are not married, and normally there is no reason for them to be in the organized section of a procession. Even in Corpus Christi processions, the lay faithful simply follow. This list is too simplistic for real-life situations, where, for example, you might also have civil and military leaders present. That’s why we have people who specialize in this.
–Mother Therese, OCV, JCL
Specializing in theology and law of consecrated life.
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