According to the ritual of the Greek Church, the priest first placed the rings on the fingers of the parties, who afterwards exchanged them. In the life of St. Leobard, who is said to have flourished about the year 580, written by Gregory of Tours, he appears to have given a ring, a kiss and a pair of shoes to his affianced. The ring and shoes were a symbol of securing the lady’s hands and feet in the trammels of conjugal obedience; but the ring, of itself, was sufficient to confirm the contract.[329]
It would seem that, on the ceremony of betrothal, the ring was placed on the third finger of the right hand; and it may be a question, whether the beautiful picture by Raffaelle, called Lo Sposalizio, should not be considered as an illustration of espousal or betrothing and not a marriage of the Virgin. Mary and Joseph stand opposite to each other in the centre; the high priest, between them, is bringing their right hands towards each other; Joseph, with his right hand, (guided by the priest,) is placing the ring on the third finger of the right hand of the Virgin; beside Mary is a group of the virgins of the Temple; near Joseph are the suitors, who break their barren wands—that which Joseph holds in his hand has blossomed into a lily, which, according to the legend, was the sign that he was the chosen one.[330]
The same circumstance, of placing the ring on the third finger of the right hand, is observable in Ghirlandais’s fresco of the “Espousals” in the church of the Santa Croce at Florence.
There is certainly some confusion as to the hand on which the marriage-ring was placed. However, in religious symbols of espousal, the distinction of the right hand was certainly kept. In an ancient pontifical was an order that the bridegroom should place the ring successively on three fingers of the right hand and leave it on the fourth finger of the left, in order to mark the difference between the marriage-ring, the symbol of a love which is mixed with carnal affection and the episcopal ring, the symbol of entire chastity.[331]
The espousal became the marriage-ring. The esponsais consisted in a mutual promise of marriage, which was made by the man and woman before the bishop or presbyter and several witnesses; after which, the articles of agreement of marriage (called tabulæ matrimoniales) which are mentioned by Augustin, were signed by both persons. After this, the man delivered to the woman the ring and other gifts: an action which was termed subarrhation. In the latter ages the espousals have always been performed at the same time as the office of matrimony, both in the western and eastern churches; and it has long been customary for the ring to be delivered to the woman after the contract has been made, which has always been in the actual office of matrimony.[332]
According to Clemens Alexandrinus, the ring was given, not as an ornament but as a seal to signify the woman’s duty in preserving the goods of her husband, because the care of the house belongs to her. This idea, by the by, is very reasonable, as we shall hereafter show, when speaking of the ritual of the Church of England. The symbolical import of the “wedding ring,” under the spiritual influence of Christianity, came to comprise the general idea of wedded fidelity in all the width and importance of its application.[333]
§ 6. The first Christians engraved upon their seals symbolical figures, such as a dove, fish, anchor or lyre.[334] The rings used in their fyancels represented pigeons, fish, or, more often, two hands joined together. Clemens of Alexandria, who permitted these symbols, condemns not only the representation of idols, but also of the instruments of war, vases for the table and every thing repugnant to the strictness of the Gospel.
A ring, when used by the church, signifies, to use the words of liturgical writers, integritatem fidei, the perfection of fidelity and is fidei sacramentum, the badge of fidelity.[335]
§ 7. The canon law is the basis of marriage throughout Europe, except so far as it has been altered by the municipal laws of particular States.[336] An important alteration was made in the law of marriage in many countries by the decrees of the Council of Trent, held for the reformation of marriage. These decrees are the standing judgments of the Romish Church; but they were never received as authority in Great Britain. Still the ecclesiastical law of marriage in England is derived from the Roman pontiffs. It has been traced as far back as 605, soon after the establishment of Christianity there.[337]
Marriages in the Episcopal Church are governed by the Rubric. This term signifies a title or article in certain ancient common-law books.