About

There are several different kinds of nuptial blessings. This page is about the traditional Nuptial Blessing, beginning Deus, qui potestate, and said right after the Our Father. it is an ancient blessing, with a rich history.

The answers to the FAQs below are distilled from the rubrics from the 1962 Missale Romanum, and Adrian Fortescue’s The Ceremonies of the Roman Rites Described.¹

Who can receive the Nuptial Blessing?

The Nuptial Blessing can only be given to a Catholic bride and groom. The bride can only receive it once. In some places, there is a custom that the groom can receive it more than once.

Who can give the Nuptial Blessing?

The Nuptial Blessing must be given by the priest celebrating the wedding Mass. You may have a different priest witness the rite of marriage.

When can the Nuptial Blessing be given?

The Nuptial Blessing must be given during a Mass. It does not have to be during the wedding Mass, the Missa pro sponsis, but it must be a Mass.

The Nuptial Blessing is not permitted during the tempus clausum, the closed season: from the first Sunday of Advent to Christmas Day, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day. You may receive the Blessing after these seasons.

Can the Nuptial Blessing be sung?

The Nuptial Blessing can be read, or chanted.²

Rubrics from the 1962 Missale Romanum

Si solemnis benedictio nuptiarum, intra Missam, facienda sit die dominico vel die I classis, dicitur Missa de Officio occurrenti, cum commemoratione sequentis Missae pro sponsis, sub unica conclusione, etiam diebus in quibus commemoratio Missae votivae impeditae prohibetur; et in ea datur benedictio nuptialis more solito. Si autem solemnis benedictio nuptiarum, intra Missam, facienda sit aliis diebus, dicitur sequens Missa votiva pro sponsis. In Commemoratione omnium Fidelium defunctorum et Triduo sacro prohibetur sive Missa votiva, sive eius commemoratio in Missa diei, sive benedictio nuptialis intra Missam. Cum vero tam Missa pro sponsis quam benedictio nuptialis prohibetur, Missa una cum benedictione transferri potest in opportuniorem diem non impeditum, post celebratum matrimonium.

Latin text of the Nuptial Blessing

Propitiare, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et institutis tuis, quibus propagationem humani generis ordinasti, benignus assiste: ut, quod te auctore jungitur, te auxiliante servetur. Per Dominum nostrum.

Oremus. Deus, qui potestate virtutis tuae de nihilo cuncta fecisti: qui, dispositis universitatis exordiis, homini, ad imaginem Dei facto, ideo inseparabile mulieris adjutorium condidisti, ut femineo corpori de virili dares carne principium, docens, quod ex uno placuisset institui, numquam licere disjungi: Deus, qui tam excellenti mysterio conjugalem copulam consecrasti, ut Christi et Ecclesiae sacramentum praesignares in foedere nuptiarum: Deus, per quem mulier jungitur viro, et societas principaliter ordinata ea benedictione donatur, quae sola nec per originalis peccati poenam nec per diluvii est ablata sententiam: respice propitius super hanc famulam tuam, quae, maritali jungenda consortio, tua se expetit protectione muniri: sit in ea jugum dilectionis et pacis: fidelis et casta nubat in Christo, imitatrixque sanctarum permaneat feminarum: sit amabilis viro suo, ut Rachel: sapiens, ut Rebecca: longaeva et fidelis, ut Sara: nihil in ea ex actibus suis ille auctor praevaricationis usurpet: nexa fidei mandatisque permaneat: uni thoro juncta, contactus illicitos fugiat: muniat infirmitatem suam robore disciplinae: sit verecundia gravis, pudore venerabilis, doctrinis coelestibus erudita: sit fecunda in subole, sit probata et innocens: et ad beatorum requiem atque ad caelestia regna perveniat: et videant ambo filios filiorum suorum, usque in tertiam et quartam generationem, et ad optatam perveniant senectutem. Per eiindem Dominum nostrum.

English text of the Nuptial Blessing

Mercifully give ear, O Lord, to our prayers, and let thy grace accompany this thy institution, by which thou hast ordained the propagation of mankind, that this tie, which is made by thy authority, may be preserved by thy grace. Through Our Lord…

R. Amen.

Let us pray.

O God, who, by the power of thy might, didst create all things out of nothing: who, at the first forming of the world, having made man to the likeness of God, didst, out of his flesh, make the woman, and give her to him for a help-mate: and by this didst inform us, that what in its beginning was one, ought never to be separated.

O God, who by so excellent a mystery, hast consecrated this union of the two sexes, and hast been pleased to make it a type of the great sacrament of Christ and his Church, O God, by whom woman is joined to man, and that union, which was instituted in the beginning, is still accompanied with such a blessing, as alone, neither in punishment of original sin, nor by the sentence of the deluge, had been recalled; mercifully look down upon this thy handmaid, who, being now to be joined in wedlock, earnestly desires to be taken under thy protection: may love and peace constantly remain in her: may she marry in Christ faithful and chaste: may she ever imitate the holy women of former times: may she be pleasing to her husband, like Rachael: discreet, like Rebecca; may she, in her years and fidelity, be like Sarah: and may the first author of all evil, at no time, have any share in her actions. May she remain attached to the faith and the commandments, and, being joined to one man in wedlock, may she fly all unlawful addresses: may a regularity of life and conduct be her strength against the weakness of her sex: may she be modest and grave, bashful and venerable, and well instructed in heavenly doctrine. May she be fruitful in her offspring, approved and innocent; and may it be at length her happy lot to arrive at the rest of the blessed in the kingdom of God: may they both see their children’s children to the third and fourth generation, and live to their wished-for old age. Through Our Lord…

R. Amen.

May the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you: and may he fulfill his blessing in you; that you may see your children’s children to the third and fourth generation: and afterwards enter into the possession of eternal life, through the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth, &c.

R. Amen.

Learn more about the Nuptial Blessing

“Nuptial Blessing.” Catholic Culture. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=770

Stevenson, Kenneth W. “The Origins of the Nuptial Blessing.” Heythrop Journal 21. (1980): 412-416.

Stevenson, Kenneth W. The Nuptial Blessing: A Study of Christian Marriage Rites: London. (1982).

“Quaeritur: Nuptial Blessing During a TLM,” Fr. Z, December 3, 2010, http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/12/quaeritur-nuptial-blessing-during-a-tlm/.

Stice, Fr Randy. “An Introduction to the Sacrament of Matrimony and the Nuptial Blessing.” Adoremus, 2015/11/16. https://web.archive.org/web/20230519014200/https://adoremus.org/2015/11/introduction-sacrament-matrimony-nuptial-blessing/.

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