Chanted Wedding Vows
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,697
    Two chant nerds are getting married and asked me if there's any history in Catholicism of the bride/groom chanting their vows in either English or Latin. I told them that I had never heard of it, but that I'd check with the "experts" (i.e. you).

    I think I've heard of this in the east, but never in Roman-land.

    Any thoughts?
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    Noooooo, never heard that. I mean, the whole point of wedding vows in church, or earlier, on the church porch, or even earlier, between families, was for them to be in the vernacular, and in public, and in the hearing of multiple people. As an element of marriage, the vows are all about protecting personal and familial rights, by making a clear vow to each other in front of witnesses. It's not a singing thing, although being able to project your voice is a good idea.

    I don't know from Greece. But European wedding vows aren't about singing and happy pretty, just like rings (or 6 coins, or knives, or whatever your Goth/Germanic/Roman thing of worth) are an exchange of betrothal gifts and are intertwined with dowry and brideprice issues of contract and vow to each other and between families.

    Which is not to say that somebody somewhere couldn't have made a custom of it, but....

    If you're gonna do freaky stuff, you could always pronounce the wedding vows in English and Latin, as Queen Mary and King Philip did. (Because the language of the marriage place was English, but the Spanish and other foreign visitors had a right and duty to hear and understand the vows and actual marriage ceremony also.)

    Or you could do that freaky Sarum hymn for votive Masses of the Holy Spirit (including Sarum weddings) that uses all the weirdest titles of Christ, including snake and worm/dragon. (And if I recall correctly, bridegroom and spouse, which is probably the point.) That's quite enough chanting for anybody.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    I did find out that, in some places in medieval Spain, your bridal attendant was called the madrina (same word as godmother, I think) and was regarded as the bride's sponsor in the sacrament. So... that's an interesting reflection on the matron of honor role. :)

    I also found out that the betrothed couple's kiss after the betrothal ceremony was legally binding in Spain, and that the symbolism among Visigoths was different from that in Rome. And that the rite of Braga in medieval days had both the bride and groom totally veiled and lying on the ground like a priest getting ready to get ordained or a nun getting ready to join the order.

    I also see that vernacular Catholic wedding vows in France were not at all like those in England, albeit they were originally from pretty much different rites, and that nobody has yet put together The Exhaustive Book/Website of Really Period Medieval Wedding Stuff, despite the obvious fame and fortune in store for some enterprising young medievalist/liturgist.

    But I haven't found any chant vows yet.

    UPDATE: There's a 1992 book called Documents of the Marriage Liturgy that apparently collates wedding liturgies from about ten or twelve missals from across Europe and history (and some non-Catholic sources also). That's probably where to look for chanted vows, if any.
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