The Marriage Cross

The Marriage Cross is a meaningful symbol of the sacrament of marriage. It has three essential parts: a large cross in the middle, with the lower portion of the vertical beam positioned between two interlocking wedding rings. Many artists include two candles, one on either side of the cross, with each candle between or behind one of the rings.

The Marriage Cross is used to adorn special vestments used for marriages, and it is sometimes used on the front or back of the priest chasuble, the deacon dalmatic or a stole. It frequently is depicted in stained glass windows. Some couples use it with their wedding invitations, thank you notes or table decorations.

The cross is the most prominent feature. The cross represents Jesus himself, and Jesus is the center of every Christian marriage. Jesus confirmed the goodness of marriage when he attended the Cana wedding feast (Jn 2:1-11). He taught about marriage, and he explained that in the beginning God made them male and female, that the bride and the groom leave their parents, are joined to each other, become one flesh, and are not to be separated (Mt 19:4-6 and Mk 10:6-9). The Church teaches that the faithful and generous covenantal love of a Christian marriage is “an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1613).

The cross is a sign of Jesus’ love. Jesus explained, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13; see Rom 5:8). Jesus went to the cross out of love, Jesus has a great love for the wife and husband, and the wife and husband have a great love for Jesus and for each other. Love is the bond that unites the couple to each other, and since God is love (1 Jn 4:8,16) and Jesus is the personification of the love of God, Jesus is the bond that unites them. Jesus seals their union, and his cross provides the grace needed to be faithful.

The cross also represents discipleship and the hardships of life. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily” (Lk 9:23). Every couple has its share of struggles. The marriage promises are blunt and straightforward, “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.” As Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross, the wife and husband are to help each other carry their burdens. And if they will look to Jesus, the one who carried his own cross will help them carry theirs. When a couple carries their crosses together, they are walking in the footsteps of Jesus and partners on the journey to heaven.

The interlocking rings are a symbol of marriage. One ring represents the wife, and the other ring represents the husband. When the rings are interlocked, it signifies how the spouses are inseparably and permanently bound to each other, and when associated with the cross, how they are inseparably and permanently bound to Jesus.

When the two candles are included, they are white to resemble baptismal candles, symbolizing the fact that the husband and wife plan to live out their baptismal faith in the sacrament of marriage. The candles are aflame as a reminder that Jesus is the light of the world (Jn 8:12). And light from the candles indicates that the couple intend to place the light of their love on a stand for all to see (Mt 5:15-16).

Father Van Sloun is the interim clergy services director for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This column is part of a series on the sacrament of marriage.