re: ignoti genitori and baptism

[mezzogiorno62]

my paternal grandmother was born in barcellona pg messina 21 april 1883 and noted as "'ignoti genitori". unknown parents. of course this was just a term used to denote children born of unwed parents. the ruota or wheel was something different. total abandonment. my grandmother was presented to the civil registrar by her wetnurse,maria bonarrigo,who requested custody and care of the child,for whom she requested she be given the name maria costante. this woman was in a common law marriage with francesco landino,with whom she had 3 previous children. salvatore,rosalia,and mattia. my grandmother may have been one more child born to this couple,but the others were all given the surname landino,unlike my grandmother,so its unclear whether she was a child of this couple,or was simply wetnursed by this woman. she always called maria bonarrigo her mother,but thats understandable,as she was the only mother she knew. francesco landino the common law husband was never mentioned,and appears to have dissappeared from his childrens lives. my grandmother was baptized shortly afterwards. i have copies of both the civil birth and the baptism. the baptism also notes ignoti genitori. it seems odd that a child born most likely out of wedlock and noted as such would have been baptized,as the church strongly disapproved of this. for 20 years i've pondered this. any insight or help would be most appreciated.

[Biff83]

I am indexing baptismal records from San Mango D'Aquino in Calabria and foundlings as well as children with known mothers and unknown fathers were baptized. Foundlings were given the surname Esposito/a and chidlren with known mothers but unknown fathers took the mother's surname but were listed as Spurius/a on their baptismal records.

Biff

[mezzogiorno62]

i'm familiar with all of this. some children were simply abandoned at the wheel. others like my grandmother were in a slightly different situation. my grandmother may have actually been presented to the civil office by her natural mother,but being unmarried "non coniugale" had to actually present her child as being born of unknown parents. not given the surname landino but costante,or"constant" similiar to esposito or trovato,names given to foundlings. it seems a bit unlikely,as imagine a woman giving birth just hours earlier having the strength to bring the child to register her birth. but then how many wetnurses would go to the great lengths she did to actually apply for custody of the child? most wetnurses simply breastfed the child and their job was done. on to the next. plus my grandmother actually accompanied the wetnurse/mother to boston in 1902. the wetnurse/mother died a few days later. if not the natural mother this indicates some family connection. sicily was rife with illegitimate births,as going through the birth registers in barcellona pg messina i found many illegitimate births in there. seems much worse there than mainland italy. my grandfather,antonio ricca, was born in luogosano avellino, near naples in 1870. found virtually no illegitimate births there. my question was,regarding baptism,and the church so strongly against illegitimacy,that baptism would be denied. in my grandmothers case it wasn't.

[Biff83]

I was indexing BAPTISMAL records, not Civil records and foundlings and illegimate children were not denied the sacrament.

Biff

[mezzogiorno62]

whats odd is,the church gives these children the right of baptism,yet brands them as ignoti genitori. same as the civil registry. the majority of times the parents were known,especially the mother,yet they were marked from birth. sad commentary of those times. and makes tracing the lineage virtually impossible. not enough emphasis is placed on this genealogical stumbling block. i see little reference to it,although it was extremely common in southern italy and sicily in particular. and this area constitutes the vast majority of research for italian american genealogists.