Question
Question
Our deacon preparing us for marriage says that we cannot sign the license on the altar in the marriage ceremony at church. Is there such a rule in the sacrament?
--Signing in Syracuse
Answer
Answer
The 1990 second edition of the Order for Celebrating Marriage says in paragraph 78:
Missa peracta, testes et sacerdos actum Matrimonii subscribunt. Subcriptio fieri potest vel in secretario vel coram populo; ne tamen fiat super altare.
Signing the marriage record may take place in private or in public, but not on the altar.