Roman Catholic vs Eastern Orthodox marriages

[MarcuccioV]

A question for the experts:

In the maternal family home commune, there were two large parishes; one Roman Catholic (the larger of the two), and an Eastern Orthodox. I have family members (including some with the same surname) that were married in both churches. One in particular was a nephew of my grandmother (same surname as her) who married a woman with that same surname as well in the Orthodox parish, while other members of the same family were married in the Catholic church.

I have found other family members with the same scenario. Can anyone explain this..?

I assume my grandparents were married in the Catholic parish as they were Catholic in adulthood and their children were raised as such but there is no documentation to prove that for them. My grandfather's father, however, lived right near the Orthodox parish toward the end of his life.

We DO have some Aegean/Greek (likely by way of Sicily) along with mainland Italian. Makes me wonder if we had relatives of both faiths...

[darkerhorse]

Maybe I misunderstand, but wouldn't the church of the bride usually determine it?

[MarcuccioV]

Maybe I misunderstand, but wouldn't the church of the bride usually determine it?

Most likely, but my point is there are few surnames in the family "web" (ie, surnames tend to skip a gen or 2 and then return) -- yet there are marriages at both parishes of the same surname. In my example, both bride & groom had the same surname (same as my grandmother), yet others from the same family were married in the other parish. I'm sure there's an explanation, but I'm ignorant in the ways of these small-medium-sized communes..

[darkerhorse]

Do you have baptism information either in church records or recorded in civil birth records?

In a family of ancestors, the older children were raised Catholic but the younger ones were raised Protestant after the father had a falling out with the priest.

Is there an age or generation grouping of spouses by church?

[MarcuccioV]

There are no baptism records. No faith info on the marriage acts, either. I only found this info from side entries on birth acts on certain family members. Most of these side notations were post 1900, as there was a stamp used that was filled out by the official which contained the parish info...

[darkerhorse]

I guess it's only the older civil birth records where I've seen baptism recorded.

Another ideas is searching allegati.

[MarcuccioV]

I guess it's only the older civil birth records where I've seen baptism recorded.

Another ideas is searching allegati.

Not available for our commune, unfortunately...

[darkerhorse]

In my family, all older events were in the same local church but I don't know if other denominations even existed there.

[MarcuccioV]

In my family, all older events were in the same local church but I don't know if other denominations even existed there.

The fact that an eastern church even exists there (and did for some time) is an interesting curiosity -- in some histories of the commune I've studied, there was some Albereshe presence in the general area at some point in time; perhaps they started the Orthodox parish. Now my maternal DNA does indicate small percentages of Aegean and Cypriot. I still assume they came up with Sicilian as no Albanian DNA is noted (although it could have been diluted out over the centuries).

It's just a curiosity and I wondered if anyone had a similar story or knew the cultural aspects...

[darkerhorse]

I know there were Jewish persons in my town at least back to the 1700s but I don't know if they had a synagogue. Many Italianized their surnames, such as Zimmitti for Zimmer, I'm told. One family entered my family tree in the early 1800s but as step-relatives, no blood connection.

I suppose you could search unusual proper names to see if there are any clues.

[MarcuccioV]

I suppose you could search unusual proper names to see if there are any clues.

Naming in the town is an oddity and a subject on its own. In our case, my grandfather's surname (also a common Italian male AND female first name) has Hebrew origins.

Our family (both sides of my maternal line) did NOT follow the typical Italian naming tradition. In fact, there are several first names in both lines that never repeat and are "foreign" to the commune for the most part, although they are common names country-wide. The only exception is for the name 'Luigi', which was popular since the patron Saint of the commune was Aloysius of Gonzaga. Other families (I should say MOST families in town) DID follow the tradition...

[darkerhorse]

I was thinking of first names like "Gregory" which might standout as Eastern origin.

[MarcuccioV]

I was thinking of first names like "Gregory" which might standout as Eastern origin.

Nothing that stands out, anyway...