Just to try to categorize, there are 4 different things that could be meant by “blessing a marriage.” It sounds like Inkits is describing the first. If you wish, Inkits, PM me and I’ll send you the text of the questions, declarations, and the wording of vows. But I think the other posters have covered those parts well.
- It could mean convalidation. *This is commonly called “having one’s marriage blessed,” but this is inaccurate and misleading. *In the Latin Church, simple convalidation is the new exchange of marital consent between a man and a woman whose marriage could not have been recognized as valid previously.
It involves the same questions, declarations, and the exchange of vows that would be used for any Catholic wedding according to Rite of Marriage. There can be the optional blessing of rings. It can take place within a Nuptial Mass, another Mass, or outside a Mass.A. In some cases, a cause of invalidity has been removed in some way so that now the couple can marry validly. Often this means a decree of nullity was obtained. and sometimes, that a certain impediment (an obstacle to a valid marriage) was dispensed or ceased to exist. (A dispensation is a relaxation of Church law by a competent Church authority.)The couple must now exchange marital consent anew properly according to the Catholic form of marriage described below…
B. In other cases, the parties were free to marry in the first place, but they were also required to observe the canonical form of marriage for Latin Catholics. While marriage requires the consent of the parties, a certain form of celebration is *normally *required for the validity of a marriage involving a Latin Catholic. It requires exchanging vows in the presence of an authorized Catholic cleric and two witnessses. Otherwise, the couple needs a dispensation to celebrate the wedding in a different way, such as before a non Catholic minister. (There are some special other cases, too.)
Without the form or its dispensation or in certain other special cases, Church law considers such a marriage to be invalid in the sight of God. The couple must now exchange marital consent anew properly to be validly married.
Also, the Church never dispenses Catholics so they can validly marriage simply before a civil official. A couple otherwise free to marry yet who did this would also need to exchange marital consent anew properly.
When a couple married civilly or in a non Catholic religious service following the divorce of either, the convalidation would serve both the purposes described above in A and B.
2. In the Latin Catholic Church, the
nuptial blessing is an optional prayer which is included the Rite of Matrimony and done later after the vows have been exchanged. This kind of blessing is an invocation for God to protect and aid the couple in their married vocation. It does not create the bond of marriage. Others have referred to this.
- The Latin Catholic Church also has certain blessings for married couplesin its Book of Blessings. Priests or deacons give them. This kind of blessing is an invocation for God to protect and aid the couple in their married vocation. It does not create the bond of marriage.
- In the Eastern Catholic Churches, the blessing conferred by the priest is the required form by which marriage is entered. While marriage requires the consent of the parties, this legal form is normally required for validity when an Eastern Catholic weds.
