ESPOUSALS
543
ESSENCE
or custom. That caused many difficulties which
necessitated this law. Private, clandestine espousals
are henceforth of no value in the eyes of the Church.
In the United States engagements were, as a rule, not
considered effective enough to entail the impediment
of public honesty which, unless the engagement were
properly revoked, would render null and void the mar-
riage of either affianced party with a blood-relation in
the first degree of the other affianced party, and make
sinful marriage with any other person not so related,
unless the engagement had been rightly broken.
These are the canonical effects which are not begotten
unless the espousals are made in writing, whether by
filling out a blank formula or by writing the document
entirely.
As to the obligation of contracting espousals in \7riting, it is to be noted that the law does not concern itself with the promise of marriage as a matter of con- science; only with establishing the fact that espousals have no legal value and will not be considered in case of contention by ecclesiastical courts, unless they are in writing. Hence, in foro interna the Church leaves the matter to the confessor. The law suggests no particular formula for the contract of espousals. It must, however, express the promise of future mar- riage. There must be no condition attached contrary to the nature or laws of Christian marriage. No time is assigned by the law within which the promise must be fulfilled; still the time should be reasonable and accord with the common teccliing of competent au- thorities. The document must be signed by both parties — man and woman — promising to marry each other on or within some definite date. If either or both are unable to write their names, that must be noted in the document. They must, of course, affix their signatures somehow, which must be attested by a special witness. In addition, either the parish priest or ordinary must sign it; both need not sign it; the signature of one only is required. By ordinary is meant the bishop of the diocese where the parties hap- pen to be, or his vicar-general, or any one exercising episcopal jurisdiction, as for instance, the adminis- trator when the see is vacant. By parish priest, as used in the present decree, is to be understood not only the priest who legitimately presides over a parish that is canonically erectetl, but also, in localities where par- ishes are not canonically erected, the priest to whom the care of souls has been legitimately entrusted in any specified district, and who is equivalent to a parish priest; and also, in missions where the territory has not yet been perfectly divided, every priest generally deputed for the care of souls in any station by the superior of the mission. The ordinary or parish priest cannot depute any other priest to sign in their stead (Reply of S. Congregation of Council, 30 March, 1908). If the signature of the ordinary or of the parish priest cannot be obtained, then at least two witnesses must sign. Their signatures are not needed if either of the foregoing have signed. The witnes,sps should of course be competent, though they differ in age and sex. The local ecclesiastical authorities are to decide where the tlocument is to be deposited. The new law does not provide for the annulment of espousals. The reasons that formerly sufficed to annul them still remain. If espousals were made as prescribed by the new law, their binding force continues until they shall have been dissolved by proof of either or both parties claim- ing their dissolution.
McNlCHoLAS, The New Marriage Leffislation (1908), 15-21; Devine, The Law of Christian Marriage, 283 sqq.; Cronin, The New Matrimonial Legislation, 32—40; De Becker, Legiala- liu Nova, 13-21.
Joseph Selinger.
Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary (De- .spoNSATio Beat.e Mari.e Vibgini.s), a feast of the Latin Church. It is certain that a real matrimony was contracted by Joseph and Mary. Still Mary is
called "espoused" to Joseph ("his mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph", Matt., i, 18) because the matri-
mony was never consummated. The term spouse is
applied to married people until their marriage is con-
summated (Colvenerius, Cal. Marian., 23 Jan.).
Peter d'.\illy, chancellor of the University of Paris
(d. 1420), and his famous disciple, Jean Charlier, called
Gerson, were the first energetic propagators of the
devotion in honour of St. Joseph. Gerson worked
many years to effect the institution of a special votive
feast (Thursday of ember week in Advent), the ob-
ject of which should be the virginal espou,sal of Mary
and Joseph. Gerson 's friend, Henry Chicoti, canon of
the cathedral chapter of Chartres, had bequeathed a
certain sum for the celebration in the cathedral of this
votive feast, for which Gerson had composed a proper
Office. It seems that Gerson carried out the will of his
friend, but tradition does not tell us on what day the
feast was celebrated.
The first definite knowledge of a feast in honour of the espousals of Mary dates from 29 Aug., 1517, when with nine other Masses in honour of Mary, it was granted by Leo X to the Nuns of the Annunciation, founded by Sainte Jeanne de Valois. This feast was celebrated on 22 October as a double of the second class. Its Mass, however, honoured the Blessed Vir- gin exclusively; it hardly mentioned St. Joseph and therefore did not correspond to the idea of Gerson. Also purely as a feast of Mary it appears in the Missal of the Franci-scans, to whom it was granted 21 Aug., 1537, for 7 March (double major). About the same time the Servites obtained the feast for S March. The Office of the Nativity of Mary was recited, changing the word Xatiin'las to Desponsatio. After the religious orders, among the dioceses which adopted the feast of the Espousals of Mary, Arras takes the lead. It has been kept there since 23 Jan., 1556. The first proper Office was composed by Pierre Dore, O.P. (d. 1569), con- fessor of Duke Claude of Lorraine. This Office fol- lowed the outlines given by Gerson and commemorated both Joseph and Mary. Pierre Dore in 1546 unsuc- cessfully petitioned Paul III to extend the feast of the Desponsatio B.M.V. to the LTniversal Church. But even without the recommendation of the Apostolic See, the feast was adopted by many Churches. In Moravia it was in the sixteenth century kept on 18 July. In subsequent times Rome did not favour any further extension of the feast, but after it had been refused (1655) to the King of Spain, it was granted to the German Emperor for Austria, 27 Jan., 1678 (23 Jan.) ; in 1680 it was conceded to Spain, but trans- ferred (13 July, 1682) to 26 Nov., because in Spain the feast of St. lidephonsus or St. Raymond is kept 23 Jan. In 1680 it was extended to the entire German Empire, 1689 to the Holy Land (double, second class), 1702 to the Ci-stercians (20 Feb.), 1720 to Tuscany, and 1725 to the Pontifical States. In our days it is kept in nearly the entire Latin Church on 23 Jan., in the Spanish-speaking countries on 26 Nov., but it has never been extended to the Universal Church. Since Pius V abolished the Office of Pierre Dore and introduced the modern Office, it is again a feast of Mary. The commemoration of St. Joseph in Mass, Vespers, Lauds (decree 5 May, 1736) can only be made by a special privilege.
Seitz, Die Verehrung des hi. Joseph (Freiburg, 1908); HoL- WE^K, Fasti Mariani (Freiburg, 1892).
Frederick G. Holweck.
Essence and Existence (Lat. essentia, existentia). — Since they are transcendentals, it is not possible to put forward a strict definition of either of the subjects of the present article. Essence, however, is properly described as that whereby a thing is what it is, an equivalent of the rh ri Ijv ehai of Aristotle (Metaph., VII, 7). The es.sence is thus the radical or ground from which the various properties of a thing emanate
