MAŔIED BY THE POPE

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1934, Page 5

MAŔIED BY THE POPE

NEPHEW AS BRIDEGROOM.

CONSISTORY HALL THE SCENE.

The austere hall of the Consistory at the Vatican was gay with flowers and crowded with women in scintillating jewels a few weeks ago, when Pope Pius XI. married Count Franco Ratti, his nephew, and Signorina Angela Crespi, a member of a well-known Milanese family. The hall had been transformed into a temporary chapel from beginning to end. Afterwards the Pope gave a reception and a luncheon party in the famous Borgia Rooms, but he was not present in person, for an unwritten law forbids the Pontiff from sitting at table. with another human being, even though it be a member of his own family. Royalty, the State and the Church all helped in the marriage, a fact to which His Holiness referred when he spoke to the young couple after the ceremony. King Victor Emmanuel of Italy was represented by the Duke of Bergamot, his cousin, who acted as witness for the bridegroom. Signor Federzoni, President of the Italian Senate, was a witness for the bride. This is the second time Pope Pius XI. has officiated at the sacrament of marriage since his election to the Pontificate in 1922. On the first occasion he married one of his nieces to the Marchesa Persichetti.