Christening

Sacred Heart Church, Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1958. My Godmother's husband must have taken this snapshot; recall Parents and Grandparents do not, in our culture, attend baptisms.

Related by Marriage: The Godparents

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, January 18, 1959. Mr. Irene's Godparents, Martha and Anthony, admire the new arrival.

Related by Marriage: Sunday Gathering

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1959. Mr. Irene's Dad celebrates Mr. Irene's christening day. The group sits in the kitchen of Anna and Stanley's home. The back of Anna's head—covered in a hair net—faces the camera lens.

Do you recognize the 7Up bottle partially visible in the lower right corner?

Related by Marriage: Traditions

Nativity BVM Church, Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, January 11, 1958. Mr. Irene's Parents exchange wedding vows.

There are few people in the pews; contrast with the numbers of many guests at the reception, here and here. The discrepency may stem from a familiar custom: Lithuanians used to maintain that the marriage ceremony was a private ritual meant to be observed only by close family. More peripheral relatives and friends did not attend the church service, but they took part in the celebration. I attended many wedding receptions, but I witnessed few marriage masses.

This tradition is similar to the christening one.

Related by Marriage: Celebratory Table

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1959. Mr. Irene's Parents celebrate Mr. Irene's christening with Aunt Martha.

Admire the baby.

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. My Godparents—and their respective spouses—prop me up on my christening day.

Preparations

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. My paternal Grandmother Tatjana, my Mom, and my Godmother finish preparations for the party that will follow my christening ceremony. 

The Prayer Book

Two years ago, I posted a crumpled photograph my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, had carried with her when she fled the Russian Revolution. She had slipped the snapshot into a Russian-language prayer book. I have the prayer book, and I had planned to post images of it. I forgot about that idea until yesterday, when Althouse linked to the original, "Fresh off the Troika," post. 

That "Troika" post reminded me that I don't usually connect Tatjana with her Russian-religious roots. After Tatjana emigrated to Lithuania, she thoroughly assimilated. Tatjana became a devout Roman Catholic. She grew fluent in the Lithuanian language, worked at a Lithuanian library, and—while a Displaced Person—organized a Lithuanian-culture exhibit.

The only item that occasionally called us back to Tatjana's religious roots was the icon she used to bless family members.

When I looked at the prayer book today, I realized it is a Roman Catholic, not a Russian Orthodox, missal. The text includes the dialogue for a Mass written in Latin and Russian. I read only a few words in Russian, but I was able to make out that the title page states that it is a book for "Russian Catholics" (my Mom, who does read Russian, confirmed my hunch). Why did Tatjana already have a Roman Catholic prayer book when she fled Russia? There's an explanation. Tatjana met and married her Lithuanian husband, Vytautas, in Russia, while he still was serving in the Russian Imperial Army. It's likely she converted to Roman Catholicism before the wedding. The custom in an interfaith marriage—at least at that time, in that part of the world—was that the woman was the party required to convert to the man's religion.* 

The prayer book may have been an item Tatjana received from the Roman Catholic Church when she was studying for the conversion.

*Our family held this belief through the twentieth century. When a male family member married a Protestant, my Parents were miffed that the wedding ceremony took place at the bride's Protestant church. They insisted that a marriage must be consecrated in the man's house of worship. To Americans, this tradition is as peculiar as the custom that parents cannot attend a christening.

The book is in bad condition. The spine is gone. Dad must have created a book cover for it (I assume the cover is modern because it is secured with "invisible" tape).

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Here's the title page. "для русских католиков" means "For Russian Catholics."

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It looks like Polish clerics coordinated publication of the missal.

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These pages show the Latin text alongside the Russian text.

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This is the topper that decorated Tatjana's wedding cake. It's a crown: how interesting, because Orthodox wedding ceremonies use crowns.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making a photo of the cake topper available to us.

Related by Marriage: We celebrated in the kitchen.

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1959. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Stanley and Anna, celebrate Mr. Irene's christening with Anna's sister, Petra.

Departing for the Ceremony

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. My Godparents depart for my christening. The two boys are my Godmother's sons.

Christening Candid

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. Everyone's busy talking at my christening party. I slept for several months in a stroller; my Parents only later acquired a crib.

Related by Marriage: A Christening Toast

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1959. Mr. Irene's Godparents—his maternal Aunt Martha and his Dad's Cousin Anthony—celebrate at the home of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Anna and Stanley, after Mr. Irene's christening.

Martha rarely smiled for photographs, so this snapshot is a keeper.

Unfazed

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. It's my christening day, and the gang has gathered in the living room. My Godfather must have taken this photo because he's not in the shot. From left to right sit my Godmother, my Godfather's wife, my Godmother's husband, and Mom and Dad.

The painting—a still life of lilacs—was a gift from an artist to my Mom. It still hangs.

Godparents

Seligenstadt, Germany, about 1948. My Mom and an acquaintance serve as Godparents for a friend's daughter. Mom did not know this fellow well, but he gave Mom a lovely, wood-inlay box for the occasion. She still has that box.

The New Bundle

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. Mom and Dad reunite with me after my christening ceremony.

Every item in this photo—except the sofa and the clothing—is still in use.

After the Ceremony

Suburban Chicago, November 1958. My Godmother holds me after my christening.

Christening Day

Suburban Chicago, December 1958. Mom is ready to send me off to my baptism. The custom among Lithuanians was for Parents (and Grandparents) not to attend a baby's christening. The absence is symbolic: the baptism proceeds when the Godparents step in and assume the role of spiritual Parents.

My American friends found this custom peculiar.

Related by Marriage: Loss

Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, the first-waver immigrants Anna and Stanley, lost their three middle children. Only their eldest daughter, Martha (to whom I referred as "Aunt M" before her death), and their youngest daughter, Mr. Irene's Mom, survived.

I wrote about the death of brother Benny here.

Today, I post a photo of Baby Jean. She survived only her first three-and-one-half months.

Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois, 1924. The Godparents of Baby Jean pose with the child on her christening day.

Related by Marriage: A Christening

Bridgeport, Chicago, May 12, 1929. This is Mr. Irene's Mom on her christening day. She was baptised at St. George's Parish.