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The 1834 civil
record of the
marriage promise reproduced below, for my maternal
great-great-grandparents Giuseppe Abate
and Rosa Saetta, 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'.
Only the left column of the record is translated below. Essentially, the left column gives the details of the
civil promise made at the Town Hall, while the right column
simply confirms that the couple was married in
church on 17 May 1830 in the presence of witnesses
Don Rocco Candela
and Maestro Luigi Bellanca,
and that the civil and church records were
cross-referenced.
The civil record below is promise or
contract to
marry, but it contains much more information than the
actual marriage record made by the church, which follows. Click
on the images at left to see the original documents. |
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RECORD OF THE SOLEMN PROMISE
to celebrate
matrimony |
[p. 1]
Number
twelve
Year eighteen hundred thirty-four,
day five
of the month of
April
at hour
fifteen,
before Us,
Gaetano Piazza Mayor and official of civil
records of the town of
Serradifalco,
district of
Caltanissetta,
Val [Region] of
Caltanissetta,
have appeared in the town hall:
Giuseppe
Abate
age
thirty-one,
born in
Serradifalco,
district of
Caltanissetta,
Val of
Caltanissetta, occupation
sharecropper,
living in
this town,
son of
the late Giuseppe,
~ ~ ~
and
of the
late Margherita;
and
Rosa Saetta,
age
twenty-six,
born in
Serradifalco,
living in
this town,
daughter of
the late
Luigi
~ ~ ~ and daughter of
Leonarda
Prizzi ~ ~
The couple,
in the
presence of
witnesses who
will be
mentioned below,
and produced by them,
have
requested to receive
their solemn
promise
to celebrate
prior to the
Church ceremony,
according to the
format
prescribed
by the Sacred
[p. 2] Council of
Trent for the
marriage which they plan between them
.
The notice of this promise was affixed
to the door of the town hall of
Serradifalco on
Sunday the
twenty-third of the
month of
March
We, in accordance
with
their request,
after having
read
them
all the
consistent
documents:
First, the
birth records of the spouses
Second. the banns as noted above in this town
where the betrothed reside,
[p. 3]regarding which there have been no
objections
Third, the death records of the
parents
of the betrothed
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:
Angelo
Schifano, twenty-five,
Sharecropper, Strada Mintina;
Angelo Cumbo, forty-six, Sharecropper,
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[p. 4]
Vicolo dell Orto;
Calogero di Francesco, thirty,
Sharecropper, Strada
Macaluso;
Leonardo Ognibene, fifty-two,
Sharecropper,
Strada Mintina
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 groom and the bride
and the respective parents and witnesses having said
they don't know how to write. |
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The Mayor
[Signed]
Gaetano
Piazza |
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