The Rite of Betrothal – Part 2 of 3
Below is the first part of the English translation of the Rite of Betrothal from the Traditional Roman Ritual, which speaks beautifully of God’s plan for the man and the woman.
1. The priest (vested in surplice and white stole) with his assistants (vested in surplice) awaits the couple at the altar rail. At hand are the stoup with holy water and the altar missal. As the man and woman come forward with the two witnesses they have chosen, the following antiphon and psalm are sung on the eighth psalm tone:
Antiphon: To the Lord I will tender my promise: in the presence of all His people.
Psalm 126
Unless the house be of the Lord’s building, in vain do the builders labor.2. The priest now addresses them:
Unless the Lord be the guard of the city, 'tis in vain the guard keeps his sentry.
It is futile that you rise before daybreak, to be astir in the midst of darkness,
Ye that eat the bread of hard labor; for He deals bountifully to His beloved while they are sleeping.
Behold, offspring result from God’s giving, a fruitful womb the regard of His blessing.
Like arrows in the hand of the warrior, are children begotten of a youthful father.
Happy the man who has filled therewith his quiver; they shall uphold him in contending at the gate with his rival.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever, through endless ages. Amen.
Antiphon: To the Lord I will tender my promise: in the presence of all His people.
Allocution
Beloved of Christ: It is in the dispensation of Divine Providence that you are called to the holy vocation of marriage. For this reason, you present yourselves today before Christ and His Church, before His sacred minister and the devout people of God, to ratify in solemn manner the engagement bespoken between you. At the same time you entreat the blessing of the Church upon your proposal, as well as the earnest supplications of the faithful here present, since you fully realize that what has been inspired and guided by the will of your heavenly Father requires equally His grace to be brought to a happy fulfillment. We are confident that you have given serious and prayerful deliberation to your pledge of wedlock; moreover, that you have sought counsel from the superiors whom God has placed over you. In the time that intervenes, you will prepare for the sacrament of matrimony by a period of virtuous courtship, so that when the happy and blessed day arrives for you to give yourselves irrevocably to each other, you will have laid a sound spiritual foundation for long years of godly prosperity on earth and eventual blessedness together in the life to come. May the union you purpose one day to consummate as man and wife be found worthy to be in all truth a sacramental image and reality of the union of Christ and His beloved Bride, the Church. This grant, Thou Who livest and reignest, God, forever and evermore.3. The priest now bids the couple to join their right hands, while they repeat after him the following:
R. Amen.
The man:
In the name of our Lord, I, N.N., promise that I will one day take thee, N.N., as my wife, according to the ordinances of God and holy Church. I will love thee even as myself. I will keep faith and loyalty to thee, and so in thine necessities aid and comfort thee; which things and all that a man ought to do unto his espoused I promise to do unto thee and to keep by the faith that is in me.The woman:
In the name of our Lord, I, N.N., in the form and manner wherein thou hast promised thyself unto me, do declare and affirm that I will one day bind and oblige myself unto thee, and will take thee, N.N., as my husband. And all that thou hast pledged unto me I promise to do and keep unto thee, by the faith that is in me.4. Then the priest takes the two ends of his stole and in the form of a cross places them over the clasped hands of the couple. Holding the stole in place with his left hand, he says: I bear witness of your solemn proposal and I declare you betrothed. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen.
As he pronounces the last words, he sprinkles them with holy water in the form of a cross.
Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
- Tue. 09/24 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Our Lady of Ransom)
- Sat. 09/28 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Wenceslaus, Duke & Martyr)
- Sun. 09/29 6:00 PM: Solemn High Mass at St. Mary of Redford (Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel) – Rosary, Novena Prayers for fallen away Catholics, and veneration of relics follow the Mass
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