2io THE MEANS OF GRACE 



riage, but St. Paul's declaration that marriages are con- 

 tracted "in the Lord" and "sanctified by the word of God 

 and prayer," 21 naturally led the early Christians to ask 

 the Church for her blessing when they were about to enter 

 this holy state. That Matrimony between Catholics 

 should not be contracted without the approbation and co- 

 operation of the Church follows from its nature as a 

 Sacrament. While civil marriage is per se neither im- 

 moral nor irreligious, yet as a consequence of the unnat- 

 ural rupture between State and Church it necessarily in- 

 volves disrespect to the latter and is sinful. 22 That mar- 

 riage should take place in facie Ecclesiae is a demand 

 practically as ancient as the Church herself, though the 

 Fathers regarded the blessing of bishop or priest merely 

 as a condition of licitness, not of validity. 23 



No matter what laws the State may make with regard 

 to marriage, the rules of the Church never cease to bind 

 the faithful and cannot therefore be disregarded without 

 sin. Catholics who wish to contract marriage are in duty 

 bound, after observing the formalities required by the 

 State, to declare their mutual consent in facie Ecclesiae, 

 i. e., ordinarily, before their pastor and two witnesses, 

 and they should be reminded that it is only by virtue of 

 this act that they really become man and wife, fully en- 

 titled to the privileges of the married state. 



To seek a husband or a wife by advertising in the 

 newspapers is sometimes justified by circumstances and 

 therefore morally licit. 



21 i Cor. VII, 39; 1 Tim. IV, 5; united with the consent of the 

 cfr. 1 Cor. X, 31; Col. Ill, 17; 1 Bishop, that the marriage he accord- 

 Pet. IV, 11. ing to the Lord, and not according 



22 Pohle-Preuss, The Sacraments, to lust. Let all things be done to 

 Vol. IV, pp. 240 sq. the honor of God." (Funk, Pair. 



23 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epist. Apost., Vol. I, 2nd ed., 292, 6; Kir- 

 ad Polyc, c. 5: "It is right for topp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, 

 men and women who marry to be Vol. I, London 1912, p. 272). 



