A Wedding according to the Use of the Philippine Islands

My thanks to reader JE for letting me know about a post on the blog Dei Praesidio Fultus, with pictures of a wedding celebrated according to the proper use of the Philippine Islands. There have always been a great many proper rituals attached to the celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony; an earlier post from the same blog explains that in Spain, a number of customs from the Mozarabic liturgy passed over into the Roman Rite, and were then imported by the Spanish to the Philippines. On another post, there are pictures of another wedding, and links to the full text of the Philippine wedding rite in both Spanish and Latin.

The wedding itself is celebrated before the doors of the church, rather than inside.

The bride and groom are asked by the priest to give their consent to the Matrimony three times, rather than once as in the Rituale Romanum.


In addition to the rings, the priest blesses 13 coins called arrhae, the Latin word for "pledges", which are then given by the husband to the wife. They symbolize temporal prosperity and fruitfulness, as well as the husband's promise to care for his wife materially.

After the Pater noster, and before the Libera nos quaesumus, a veil is placed over the wife's head, extending over to the husband's shoulders. A cord in the form of a figure 8 is then laid over it upon the shoulders of them both.

Best wishes to the happy couple, and our thanks to Fr. Mitchell Zerudo, spiritual director of Una Voce Philippines, for heling to maintain these beautiful local customs. Ad multos annos!