CHAPTER V. The Form of the Celebration of Marriage

Can. 1108 §1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or

deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses according to the rules expressed in the

following canons and without prejudice to the exceptions mentioned in cann. 144, 1112, §1, 1116, and 1127, §§1–2.

§2. The person who assists at a marriage is understood to be only that person who is present, asks for the

manifestation of the consent of the contracting parties, and receives it in the name of the Church.

Can. 1109 Unless the local ordinary and pastor have been excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office

or declared such through a sentence or decree, by virtue of their office and within the confines of their territory they

assist validly at the marriages not only of their subjects but also of those who are not their subjects provided that one

of them is of the Latin rite.

Can. 1110 By virtue of office, a personal ordinary and a personal pastor assist validly only at marriages where at least

one of the parties is a subject within the confines of their jurisdiction.Can. 1111 §1. As long as they hold office

validly, the local ordinary and the pastor can delegate to priests and deacons the faculty, even a general one, of

assisting at marriages within the limits of their territory.

§2. To be valid, the delegation of the faculty to assist at marriages must be given to specific persons expressly.

If it concerns special delegation, it must be given for a specific marriage; if it concerns general delegation, it must

be given in writing.

Can. 1112 §1. Where there is a lack of priests and deacons, the diocesan bishop can delegate lay persons to assist

at marriages, with the previous favorable vote of the conference of bishops and after he has obtained the permission

of the Holy See.

§2. A suitable lay person is to be selected, who is capable of giving instruction to those preparing to be married

and able to perform the matrimonial liturgy properly.

Can. 1113 Before special delegation is granted, all those things which the law has established to prove free status

are to be fulfilled.

Can. 1114 The person assisting at marriage acts illicitly unless the person has made certain of the free status of the

contracting parties according to the norm of law and, if possible, of the permission of the pastor whenever the person

assists in virtue of general delegation.

Can. 1115 Marriages are to be celebrated in a parish where either of the contracting parties has a domicile, quasidomicile,

or month long residence or, if it concerns transients, in the parish where they actually reside. With the

permission of the proper ordinary or proper pastor, marriages can be celebrated elsewhere.

Can. 1116 §1. If a person competent to assist according to the norm of law cannot be present or approached without

grave inconvenience, those who intend to enter into a true marriage can contract it validly and licitly before

witnesses only:

1/ in danger of death;

2/ outside the danger of death provided that it is prudently foreseen that the situation will continue for a

month.

§2. In either case, if some other priest or deacon who can be present is available, he must be called and be

present at the celebration of the marriage together with the witnesses, without prejudice to the validity of the

marriage before witnesses only.

Can. 1117 The form established above must be observed if at least one of the parties contracting marriage was

baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it and has not defected from it by a formal act, without prejudice

to the prescripts of can. 1127, §2.

Can. 1118 §1. A marriage between Catholics or between a Catholic party and a non-Catholic baptized party is to

be celebrated in a parish church. It can be celebrated in another church or oratory with the permission of the local

ordinary or pastor.

§2. The local ordinary can permit a marriage to be celebrated in another suitable place.

§3. A marriage between a Catholic party and a non-baptized party can be celebrated in a church or in another

suitable place.

Can. 1119 Outside the case of necessity, the rites prescribed in the liturgical books approved by the Church or

received by legitimate customs are to be observed in the celebration of a marriage.

Can. 1120 The conference of bishops can produce its own rite of marriage, to be reviewed by the Holy See, in

keeping with the usages of places and peoples which are adapted to the Christian spirit; nevertheless, the law

remains in effect that the person who assists at the marriage is present, asks for the manifestation of consent of the

contracting parties, and receives it.

Can. 1121 §1. After a marriage has been celebrated, the pastor of the place of the celebration or the person who

takes his place, even if neither assisted at the marriage, is to note as soon as possible in the marriage register the

names of the spouses, the person who assisted, and the witnesses, and the place and date of the celebration of the

marriage according to the method prescribed by the conference of bishops or the diocesan bishop.

§2. Whenever a marriage is contracted according to the norm of can. 1116, a priest or deacon, if he was

present at the celebration, or otherwise the witnesses in solidum with the contracting parties are bound to inform

as soon as possible the pastor or local ordinary about the marriage entered into.

§3. For a marriage contracted with a dispensation from canonical form, the local ordinary who granted the

dispensation is to take care that the dispensation and celebration are inscribed in the marriage registers of both the

curia and the proper parish of the Catholic party whose pastor conducted the investigation about the free status. The

Catholic spouse is bound to notify as soon as possible the same ordinary and pastor about the marriage celebrated

and also to indicate the place of the celebration and the public form observed.

Can. 1122 §1. The contracted marriage is to be noted also in the baptismal registers in which the baptism of the

spouses has been recorded.

§2. If a spouse did not contract marriage in the parish in which the person was baptized, the pastor of the place

of the celebration is to send notice of the marriage which has been entered into as soon as possible to the pastor of

the place of the conferral of baptism.

Can. 1123 Whenever a marriage is either convalidated in the external forum, declared null, or legitimately dissolved

other than by death, the pastor of the place of the celebration of the marriage must be informed so that a notation

is properly made in the marriage and baptismal registers.