No weddings during lent/advent? why?

[Gwendolyn]

Hey, in the singles forum someone asked a question for everyone to answer about whether or not their church does weddings during lent or advent.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if we do or not. My gut tells me that we don't. But I'd like to know WHY.

Does anyone have documents they can quote me on why we don't celebrate marriages during Lent, for example? I'd like official quotes explaining it rather than some "because it is a time of repentance" comments. I know that it's a time of repentance, I just want to know, for example....... how long it's been a tradition not to celebrate marriages during that period in the liturgical calendar, historical reasons why, theological reasons why, etc.

I'd just really like some answers because I don't know where to find them myself. I tried googling and looking through some Catholic websites but couldn't find anything.

So if someone has official quotes to offer that'd be great. Thanks.

 

[Maggie893]

Lent and Advent are fine for weddings.

Date (season)
There are no legal restrictions on when the Rite of Marriage may be celebrated, with the exception of the Triduum, as long as the various guidelines specific to the particular parish are respected. When the Rite of Marriage includes a Mass there are limitations as to dates and readings. Few parishes celebrate weddings on Sundays, but a few policies encourage couples to consider integrating their wedding into the regularly scheduled Sunday Mass to more fully express the support of the parish community (See, for example, Gary, Sioux City, Kansas City/St. Joseph, and Louisville). When a wedding coincides with a major feast the readings for that feast must be respected. Weddings during penitential seasons must respect the church tone and décor appropriate for the season.

http://www.usccb.org/laity/marriage/mpanalysis.shtml

 

[Gwendolyn]

I just found that link, too. Thanks maggie.

My parish, for example, doesn't really allow weddings during those seasons, though, and I know that it's a common thing for parishes to do. Does anyone know if there are any real liturgical/theological/whatever reasons for parishes to do this? I know that it is well within the pastor's authority to decide what to do.

 

[zhilan]

I thought you can't have marital relations during Lent. I know it's true in the Orthodox church and I thought it was the same in the Catholic church as well. Which would make for not the best wedding night....

 

[Gwendolyn]

I thought you can't have marital relations during Lent. I know it's true in the Orthodox church and I thought it was the same in the Catholic church as well. Which would make for not the best wedding night....

I don't know about the Eastern Catholics, but it's not so in the Latin rite. Marital relations are not forbidden during that time.

 

[zhilan]

I don't know about the Eastern Catholics, but it's not so in the Latin rite. Marital relations are not forbidden during that time.

If they aren't know, I'm pretty sure they used to be. Maybe someone who knows more can confirm it, but I even remember in my high school literature class reading in the classic some references to all the babies born "9 months after Easter." So likely it's a hold over form that, even if that rule is no longer practiced.

 

[Gwendolyn]

Oh yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that used to be the case. After all, we used to observe the major fasts like the Eastern Catholics still do, too. But unfortunately those practices have faded in the Latin rite. Who knows why. Disciplines tend to ebb and flow over time in this rite.

 

[Virgil the Roman]

Advent and Lent are both penetential seasons; hence, keeping with the penantential fervor and spirit: weddings are either advised to be done at other times or without much solemnity: as our minds and souls are to be focused on penance, asceticism, fasting, abstaining, and turning our minds, especially to our Lord God Most High.

 

[YourBrotherInChrist]

A hundred years ago, it was forbidden to marry during Lent. From the old Catholic Encyclopedia, Ritual of Marriage article:

Marriages in the Greek Church take place after the celebration of the Liturgy, and, as in the West, the season of Lent is a forbidden time.​

 

[epiclesis]

I thought the rule was that you couldn't have a Nuptial wedding during advent (I think it was advent, and not lent)?

that was the only restriction i've ever known about.

 

[YourBrotherInChrist]

From the 1891 Baltimore Catechism:

286. Q. To receive the Sacrament of Matrimony worthily, is it necessary to be in the state of grace?

A. To receive the Sacrament of Matrimony worthily it is necessary to be in the state of grace, and it is necessary also to comply with the laws of the Church.
"The laws," laws concerning marriage. Laws forbidding the solemnizing of marriage at certain times, namely, Advent and Lent; laws forbidding marriage with relatives, or with persons of a different religion or of no religion; laws with regard to age, etc.

 

[stivvy]

I like Raven's explination about weddings during Lent or Philip's Fast.

About "marital relations", the Eastern church or even the Orthodox church doesn't "forbid" these types of things. Penance and fasting are very personal things in the Eastern faith and it is up to the person what they will or will not take upon themselves.

We are a faith of conscience and not of law. Now many will site church suggestion or guidence in many respects of our faith practices of penance and fasting, but they are not seen by the faithful as commandments.