Holy Matrimony Certificates & Papal Blessings

And What I Printed on a Letterpress for my brother Andy's 2023 wedding

Naples, Italy is a mere 145 miles from Rome, the home the Vatican. So it was only natural that my aunt Mary Ann and her husband, Bob (my dad’s brother) visit the capital of Italy while they were stationed there in the 1960s.

So Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Bob drove there and visited the Vatican, a moving experience for her and my Uncle, both devout Catholics. While they were there, they discovered a shop that specialized in creating hand-written papal blessings for about $15 each. So she bought papal blessings for all her siblings, herself, my late Aunt Pat and Uncle Bob and they were all mailed overseas.

My parent’s papal blessing lived on the wall in their bedroom for many years, near the entrance to their bathroom. The blessing now lives on a shelf in hallway closet in my mother’s townhouse. Aunt Mary Ann’s got lost in a move; I’m not sure of the status of my Aunt Pat’s. In the 1990s, I used my newly acquired Spencerian penmanship skills to inscribe a vintage reprint of a Victorian wedding certificate to commemorate a friend’s wedding. I even found a complimentary white wood frame for it.

It seems as weddings have become less important in today’s culture, the documents commemorating them have become less ornate. Here are snapshots of a 1930s era wedding certificate at Antiques on Pierce, a local Milwaukee store.

I love the language, the sense of the sacredness in this 1934 document, and of course, the Palmer method penmanship.

Here’s my parents’s papal blessing:

I’ve noticed in my letterpress poster workshops many couples have made posters to commemorate anniversaries: the date they got engaged or married. As soon as my brother Andy set a date for his 2023 wedding, I knew I had to make a poster to honor the occasion. It was an instant hit and one of my better posters.

I plan to print more posters commemorating graduations and other weddings. They don’t take place of the old certificates and papal blessings, but they do honor what’s important in my family’s lives. It’s very satisfying to print a poster with important dates. These prints, I believe, will outlive me.

Or least I hope they won’t get lost in a move.

What posters have you printed to remember anniversaries, births and graduations in your family and friends’ lives?

As a paid subscriber, you can see below what I printed at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum for Andy’s wedding. Actually, what you’ll see is a misprint but I fixed the typo in another print.