The Council of Trent created the policy of Tamesti, or public marriages as a way to protect women from being preyed on by upper-class men and church leaders. This policy led to arranged marriages and the patriarchy. Would the Council of Trent have supported arranged marriages?

by vertexoflife
luthernotvandross

Short answer: no. Unlike the developing marriage theologies in the Protestant faiths, who strongly emphasized community and parental consent for marriages, the Council of Trent re-affirmed that the Sacrament of Marriage is created by the couple being married. If both parties do not consent, no marriage has occurred. So the idea that a lot of modern people have of an arranged marriage meaning woman being married to a stranger against her will was anathema to the Tridentine church.

You can read the decree on marriage here: http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct24.html

HOWEVER, in practice, external forces such as parental pressure, economic and political forces often led parents to arrange for the marriages of their children. This was common practice across the nobility. It's not that the couple didn't consent, however. They generally thought they were doing their duty by marrying the partner their parents chose for them. Provided that they come freely to the marriage, this sort of arranged marriage was (and is) perfectly valid according to Catholic marriage theology.