FORBIDDEN TIME. - Canon 1108 § 1 of the CIC establishes the principle of freedom to contract marriage at any time, abolishing the local prohibitions still existing here and there that prevented weddings on days of penance. This does not prevent particular law from being held, or even formed, with a directive and exhortative character, so that the faithful may also observe the spirit of the fifth precept of the Church: Not to celebrate weddings solemnly in forbidden times. The letter of the precept, in the light of canon 1108, is satisfied that the faithful abstain, when contracting marriage in a forbidden time, from excessive pomp and solemnity, which disturb the spirit of penance and distract from Christian recollection.
Forbidden time is, at present, that of Advent and Lent, and possibly the time of local interdict, general or particular, including the days on which the effects of the interdict are suspended (cann. 2270-72).
The Church, in marriages contracted during this period, with a limitation of a predominantly liturgical character, denies the bride the solemn nuptial blessing (can. 1108 § 2). But, with a fine sense of adaptation, it understands external solemnity with a certain breadth and does not absolutely forbid the ringing of bells, the organ, ornaments on the altar and decorations in the church, the wedding procession, the banquet, and the like; it only exhorts the faithful to abstain from excessive display. It further allows that local Ordinaries in particular cases may establish temporary prohibitions with a character that is also penal and preventive, and, on the other hand, that they may dispense, granting, even outside of Mass, the solemn nuptial blessing in forbidden times (can. 1108 § 3).
A Council of Laodicea of the 4th century first established the prohibition of celebrating weddings in Lent. In 866 Pope Nicholas I reminded the Bulgarians of this prohibition. In the 11th century the prohibition, observed with rigor, extended from Septuagesima to Low Sunday, for the three weeks preceding the feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24), and from Advent to the octave of the Epiphany. This practice became universal law with Clement III (1187-91), whose provisions were received in the Decretals of Gregory IX. This discipline, which in ancient times had also joined the prohibition of consummating a marriage contracted in a forbidden time, remained substantially in force until the publication of the CIC.
Bibliography3 works
Agostino Pugliese