I have discovered a most curious fact about Antonio Motta and Grazia Chite'. They married each other in Catania, Italy, in 1905, but that was a few months before their fourth child was born! Yesterday, I located the birth record (1899) for their first child to see if I could discover any clues as to why they delayed their marriage. I have not yet been able to decipher all the words on the document but so far I'm making out the fact that Lucia was the legitimate child of Antonio and Grazia and that their marriage was cebrated in 1905.
Does anyone have any ideas as to why, with so many Catholic Churches accessible in the large city of Catania, Antonio and Grazia waited so long to get married?
Perhaps they WERE married prior to 1899, but for some reason they couldn't celebrate until much later?
ReplyDeleteWhat was going on in Catania at this time? Were things unstable?
Perhaps there's a typo somewhere?
Yes, the birth record of their first daughter states she is legitimate. In our culture, this means her parents were married. I suppose it is the same in other cultures. The marriage date noted on their daughter's civil birth record is the same date as their civil marriage record. Perhaps they were not married in the Catholic Church at first. But in Italy, how else would they have been married? There are a few Greek Orthodox in Italy, but what are their standards regarding a recognized marriage? Could they have been married by a civil official, like we do in this country? It is interesting to note that on the ship's manifest on which Antonio's name appears, it is noted that he had been in prison. I suppose it is possible the Catholic Church would not allow him to be married in the Church until he made some kind of penance. Nevertheless, I would think a civil marriage date would be good enough to note on a civil record. It would be interesting to get into the church records to see what they reveal about the marriage of Antonio and Grazia.
ReplyDeleteOoooooh! Aaahhhh! Antonio was in prison?!? Talk about sensational!!! I want to know more about that!! What did he do?!?!
ReplyDeleteYour guess as to their being married by a civil official then is probably correct.
I have no idea what he did to land himself in prison. It would appear that Grazia was a loyal wife, though. She bore him three children until he could, as we can only suspect at this point, made sufficient penance to be allowed a marriage solemnized in the Church. There is on that one little note on his manifest saying he had been in prison. Also on the manifest is a notation that he was blind in one eye. Do you think the eye injury has anything to do with why he went to prison, or the time he spent in prison?
ReplyDeleteI feel so handicapped when it comes to overseas research.