Sposi Novelli
Blogged by James Preece on 25th October 2008
I'm not sure something that happens every wednesday really constitutes news... Still. Brings back happy memories of when it was us...
Newlyweds Start Married Life With Papal Blessing
ZENIT - Every Wednesday dozens of couples arrive to the papal general audience dressed in their wedding garments. "They must be getting married at St. Peter's" is a typical comment from tourists and pilgrims.
But the couples are generally already married and have requested from the Holy See a privileged place at the audience, very close to the Pope, where they will receive a special greeting from him, some of them individually. There is no charge for these seats, or any others at the audience.
[...]
At the end of his catechesis, following the tradition, the Holy Father addressed a few words to the newlyweds.
"With the fresh energies of youth," he told them, "with the spiritual support of prayer and sacrifice, and with the potency of conjugal life, learn to be missionaries of the Gospel wherever you go, offering your concrete aid to those who make an effort to take [the Gospel] where it is not yet known."
[...]
"This meeting is very beautiful," Daniel said. "There are many couples from all around the world, not just Italians. This shows us that all of us as a Church are one family."
[link]
(We were there on 22nd Feb 2006)
What Zenit don't mention, is that at every Wednesday Audience the Pope leads the Lords Prayer in Latin and couples from all around the world will pray one prayer in one language... except the English.
The English were excluded from prayer. They were not excluded by the Latin, they have been excluded from Latin by the English hierarchy who decided before we were born that we would be to stupid to learn a few lines in another language.
Of course. Things are different now. Bishop Drainey, the Diocesan Youth Service and my own Parish Priest all know full well that Pope Benedict intends to lead the Lords Prayer in Latin at Madrid in 2011.
Surely the time has come to honour those words of the Second Vatican Council...? That steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.
Didn't think so...
If you want to learn the Lords Prayer in Latin, you could do worse than to watch this video of the Pater Noster with English Subtitles
Reader Comments
George Hirtle said...
Can you translate? I have an old framed picture or Pius X with the following handwritten text:
Beatissimo Padre
Eugenio Dani e Giuditta Soldani
Novelli Sposi umilmente prostrati ai piedi della Santita Vostra implorano per loro e per i loro prossimi parenti fino al terzo grado la Benedizione Apostolica e l' Indulgenza Plenario in Articulo Nortis nella forma usata Dalla Chiesa e prescritta Dalla Santa Sede
Gunta(?) preces in Domino
Pius PP X
thank you for any help
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Mark Dobson said...
It was easier than I thought:
Most Blessed Father
Eugenio Dani and Giuditta Soldani
Newlyweds humbly prostrated at the feet of Your Holiness implore for them and for their near relations to the third degree the Apostolic Blessing and Plenary Indulgence in Articulo Nortis in the form used by the Church and prescribed by the Holy See
Gunta(?) preces in Domino
Pius PP X
I don't know Latin however, but I do suspect that what you've typed as "Nortis" may be "Mortis".
Well, that was nice. I got to practise my Italian and gratify the curiosity of a complete stranger!
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Mark Dobson said...
I found this as well. Have a look:
http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/indulge/g28.htm
So it seems pretty likely that it is "Mortis" and that this is the indulgence they requested.
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Mark Dobson said...
Oh, Italian!
Give me a little time and my Italian wife and I will oblige between the two of us.
(Give me some kind of online nudge if I don't in the next couple of days... James has my e-mail address, and his is conveniently on the blog)
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John Colognesi said...
I'm intrigued by your story!
Eugenio Dani was my grandfather, and he was born in Pontremoli, in the northernmost part of Tuscany. Giuditta Dani was my grandmother, and she was born in Fara Sabina, Lazio, Italy. They came to the US in the early 1900's, they were married in Southbridge, Mass, and they lived there until they died (he in the 1940's and she in the 1980's). In 1924 my mother, Luisa Dani, was 13 and she accompanied them on a trip to Italy. It must have been then that they had the papal audience and the blessing recorded in your document.
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Mark Dobson said...
Wow - the wonders of the Internet at work. I guess you just typed their names in and James' blog came up.
George Hirtle never replied to me, but he will have left an e-mail address with James in order to leave the comment. Perhaps if you ask James nicely he could get in contact with Mr. Hirtle - only if you want to of course.
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John Colognesi said...
Mark,
You did a nice job translating the Italian. I was working through it when I saw that you had done it perfectly. You guessed correctly; I simply Googled the two names. It truly is amazing that we have such a powerful communication tool at our disposal. It is changing the world more quickly than ever before. Look at what's going on in Iran right now.
I think if Mr. Hirtle wants to he will contact me.
Ciao
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