Abbreviation on irish parish records

[Jackie]

Hi
I've found a marriage record in the Irish Parish Records for 1851 for one of my ancestors. At the beginning of each marriage record on the pages are the initials BD followed by "Married by the Rev....etc., followed by the details of the bride and groom. Can anyone tell me what the BD stands for? I've looked it up and the answer I got is Bachelor of Divinity but that just doesn't make sense. Any suggestions will be very gratefully received!

Many Thanks

Jackie

[kiterunner]

Can you post a link to the record, or details of how to find it, please, Jackie, and I'll have a look.

[Jackie]

Thank you so much. I searched Ancestry Ireland Catholic Parish Registers 1655 - 1915 for Thomas McDonald. The record is one of the first to come up it's in March 1851 at St Munchins Limerick and the bride is Ellen O'Brien.

[kiterunner]

OK, look at the last entry on the right-hand page of this image and it starts with "By Dispn", which I assume is short for "By Dispensation".
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/61...=02414_03_0265

I found this on Google book search, dated 1829, which says "it appears that almost every marriage celebrated by the Roman Catholic priests in Ireland is celebrated by dispensation; and that the fees paid for such dispensation constitue a considerable portion of the revenues of the bishops!!" and has some information about what dispensation was supposed to mean and how it was used:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...tholic&f=false

[Jackie]

Thank you so much KiteRunner!! You've put me out of my misery!!