Catholic Marriage

Catholic marriage, also called matrimony. Matrimony, from the latin mater, "mother," and monium, "-mony" (status) is the creation of the status of mother. It is a "covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring. has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptised." In the Roman Rite, it is ordinarily celebrated in a Nuptial Mass.

On the exact definition of each of these steps hinge all the arguments and technical points involved in annulments, and annulment disputes (e.g., one of the most famous, that of Henry VIII). Catholic Canon law regulates the celebration of marriage in canons 1055–1065.

Marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics were historically viewed as "mixed marriage", and were opposed by the Catholic Church, as they were looked upon as degrading the holy character of matrimony. However, such restrictions were gradually loosened over the past century.

Marriages are often celebrated on Saturdays before nightfall during the spring or summer. According to marriage-related liturgical norms and canon laws, they are usually not celebrated on Sunday (unless it is during the afternoon), and are not generally celebrated on other solemnities or major feast days. They are normally not to be celebrated on Ash Wednesday or during Holy Week from Palm Sunday through Wednesday. They are also discouraged during the final two weeks of Lent and Advent, and are strongly discouraged during the last week of those two seasons and during the eight days that follow Easter and Christmas (their Octaves). They are not celebrated at all during the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday), during Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, and on January 1 (St. Mary's principal feast), and are also not done during the day preceding Christmas Day and the day preceding January 1.