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The 1853 civil
record of the marriage promise reproduced below, for
Angela di Giugno and Calogero Alessi, covers four pages.
To the right is a summary. The form is in two
columns, on the left showing the Record of the Solemn
Promise to celebrate matrimony, while the right-hand
column is entitled 'Indication
of the subsequent canonical
[church]
celebration of marriage'.
Essentially, the left column gives the details of the
civil promise made at the Town Hall. The right
column, not translated below, simply confirms that the couple was
in fact married in
church on 18 August 1853, and that civil and church
records were cross-referenced. Click on the images
at left to see the original documents. This record
is only the promise to marry, but it contains much more
information than the actual marriage record made by the
church, which follows.
This was Calogero's second marriage, the
one which led to the line of my mother Rosa Alessi.
His first marriage was in his birthplace, Marianopoli,
to Rosa Giampapa, who died sometime after the death of
their son Salvatore in 1852 and prior to Calogero's marriage to
Angela di Giugno in Serradifalco, in 1853. |
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RECORD OF THE SOLEMN PROMISE
to celebrate
matrimony |
[p. 1]
Number
20
Year eighteen hundred
fifty-three,
day
eighteen
of the month of
August
at hour
twenty-three, before
Us,
Giuseppe Maida
elected assistant functionary of the
Mayor
and official of civil records of the
town of
Serradifalco,
District of
Caltanissetta,
Province of Caltanissetta, have appeared
in the Town Hall:
Calogero
Alessi adult widower
age
thirty-four,
born in
Marianopoli, District
of
Caltanissetta,
Province of
Caltanissetta,
occupation
sharecropper, living
in
Serradifalco,
son of
the late Modesto,
- - and
Emmanuela Ferraro
age sixty,
living in
Marianopoli;
and
Angela di Giugno single adult,
age
twenty-two,
born in
Serradifalco,
living
here,
daughter of
the late Leonardo
- - and daughter of
the late
Michela Vella - -
The couple,
in the
presence of
witnesses who
will be
mentioned below,
and produced by them,
[p. 2] have
requested to receive
their solemn
promise
to celebrate
prior to the
Church ceremony,
according to the
format
prescribed
by the Sacred
Council of
Trent for the
marriage which they plan between them
and with
the support of the mother of the groom
and the paternal grandfather of the
bride, who came together for the present
record in order to lend their express
and formal consent, which they have
accordingly declared.
The notice of this promise was affixed
to the door of the town hall of
Serradifalco on
Sunday the
twentieth of the
month of
March
We, in accordance with
their request,
after having
read
them
all the
consistent
documents:
1st the
birth record of the groom
2nd the birth record of the bride
3rd the banns as noted above at the town
hall, regarding which there have been no
objections
[p. 3]4th
the death records of the
father
of the groom
5th the death record of the paternal
grandfather of the groom
6th the death record of Rosa Giampapa
first wife of Calogero Alessi
7th the death record of the father of
the bride
8th the death record of the mother of
the bride |
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The bottom of page 3 continues:
and
having also read chapter six
under the title of
marriage
of the
civil laws
regarding the
respective
rights and obligations
of the spouses,
we have received from
each
of the parties,
one after
the other, the
declaration, that they
solemnly
promise to
celebrate
the marriage
before the
Church according to
the format
prescribed
by the
Holy Council
of Trent.We
made the record of all this
in the presence
of
four witnesses
attending
the solemn
promise of marriage:
Giuseppe
Aronica, twenty-four, a Carter, Strada Purgatorio;
Filippo Micciche, twenty-four, a Carter,
[p. 4]
Strada Micciche;
Lorenzo Ricotta, twenty-six, - -
Strada Accurzio; Andrea di Francesco, twenty-six,
Sulfur miner, Strada Macaluso
We have read this record, which is inscribed on the two
registers, to the witnesses
and
the bride and
groom, to whom
we have also
given two consistent
copies signed
by Us, to be
presented to the
parish priest,
to whom the celebration
of the
marriage pertains,
and then
it is signed
by us
alone, the bride and groom, the
mother of the groom, the paternal grandfather of the
bride and the witnesses having said they don't know how
to write. |
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[Signed]
The Elected
Assistant
Giuseppe Maida |
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From
Serradifalco Registri Stato Civile Film 1466475,
1853 Marriages, No. 20, Calogero Alessi and
Angela di Giugno
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This translation is
factually correct.
To conserve space, it is not a strict literal
translation. |
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