(Vol. vii., p. 332.)
I cannot agree with the answer given, under the above reference, to the
question of J. P.: "How did the use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony,
originate?" The answer given is taken from Wheatly's _Rational
Illustration_, &c., and is in substance this:--The ring anciently was a
_seal_, and the delivery of this seal was a sign of confidence; and as a
ceremony in marriage, its signification is, that the wife is admitted to
the husband's counsels. From this argument, and the supposed proofs of it,
I beg to dissent; and I conceive that Wheatly has not thrown any light upon
the origin of this beautiful ceremony. To bear out his view, it would be
necessary to prove that a signet ring had originally been used for the
wedding ring--a matter of no slight difficulty, not to say impossibility.
What I take to be the real meaning of the ring as a part of the marriage
ceremony, I will now give. It has a far higher meaning in the ceremony, and
a more important duty to perform than merely to signify the admission of
the wife into the counsels of the husband. Its office is to teach her the
duty she owes to her husband, rather than the privilege of admission into
his counsels. The ring is a preacher, to teach her lessons of holy wisdom
referring to her state of life.
A ring, whenever 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. Its form, having no
beginning and no end, is the emblem of eternity, constancy, integrity,
fidelity, &c.; so that the wedding ring symbolises the eternal or entire
fidelity the wife pledges to her husband, and she wears the ring as the
badge of this fidelity. Its office, then, is to teach and perpetually
remind her of the fidelity she owes to her husband, and swore to him at the
marriage ceremony.
The wedding ring is to the wife precisely what the episcopal ring is to the
bishop, and _vice versa_. The language used during the ceremony to the one
is very similar to that used to the other, as the object of the ceremony
and use of the ring is the same. A bishop's ring, as we read, signifies
"integritatem fidei," _i. e._ that he should love as himself the church of
God committed to him as his bride. When he receives the ring at his
consecration, the words used are, "Accipe annulum, _fidei scilicet
signaculum_, quatenus sponsam Dei, sanctum videlicet ecclesiam, intemerata
fide ornatus illibate custodias:" (Receive the ring, the badge of fidelity,
to the end that, adorned with inviolable fidelity you may guard without
reproach the spouse of God, that is, His Holy Church).
Hence the office of the episcopal ring throws light upon the office of the
wedding ring; and there can be no doubt whatever that its real meaning is,
in the latter as in the former case, to signify the _eternal fidelity and
constancy_ that should subsist between the married couple.
That this is the correct view of the meaning of the wedding ring is farther
confirmed by the prayer used in blessing the ring: "Benedic, Domine,
annulum hunc ... ut quae eum gestaverit, _fidelitatem integram_ suo sponso
tenens, in pace et voluntate tua permaneat, acque in mutua charitate semper
vivat."--_Rituale_, &c.