Entry 50: Basilia Pintabona (Part 5) - Baptism of her sister, Giuseppina

Location: Sicily, Italy

Date: 1916

Rosaria Princiotto and her husband, Antonino Pintabona, were both 43 years old when their sixth (and youngest) child – Giuseppina, was baptised in 1916. They chose family friend, Carmelo Casella to be their baby’s godfather and to commemorate the special occasion, organised a photograph to be taken. Today, multiple copies of this special photo are located in Australia and Sicily, with the descendants of their children: Basilia Pintabona, Antonia Pintabona and Salvatore Pintabona.

L to R: Antonino Pintabona, Rosaria Princiotto, Giuseppina Pintabona, Carmelo Casella

In the past, family ancestors shared details about the photo through conversations with their sons and daughters, and this information was passed orally from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, over many decades, memories have faded and individual descendants can only partially identify the relatives in the picture. Putting the pieces together from their separate recollections, ruling out other possibilities and finally strengthening the identities with factual data, in particular dates of birth, has been a challenge. There was, however, one exception to all of this - from the onset, Carmelo Casella was the only person in the photo who was easily and consistently recognised.

Before continuing further, an admission needs to be made: the first paragraph above, is my ideal scenario and may not be entirely factual. The sentence about Carmelo being the godfather was NOT remembered by anyone, but has been written as a “true” statement based on logical reasoning. When setting up the camera shot, Rosaria was placed in the middle. Resting on her lap, and looking like a little doll, was baby Giuseppina, dressed in her white christening gown with matching cap. Seated on the right side of Rosaria was her husband Antonino and seated on the other side was Carmelo. He wasn’t a relative, yet that day he represented something significant enough to be included in the photo – to the extent, he was given priority over Rosaria and Antonino’s other children. When celebrating a baptism, is there anyone with a role more significant than a godparent who deserves to occupy that chair next to Rosaria? To further support this “truth”, if Carmelo was merely a guest, it’s likely his wife, Francesca Catrini, would have been invited to be part of the photo too. It makes reasonable sense to infer, the shot was set up with the specific intention of photographing the parents, their baby and their baby’s godfather.

On the day of the baptism, Rosaria and Antonino’s eldest daughter, Basilia, was 18 years old. I wonder if she had any idea that soon, she would play a central role in strengthening the bond between the Pintabona and Casella families. Was Basilia aware that the godfather of her baby sister would eventually become her future father-in-law? Or had thoughts of a potential marriage to Carmelo’s eligible son not entered her mind yet?

We will never know.

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EXTRA INFORMATION 1

Mother and Daughter Comparison

There is an undeniably strong resemblance between Rosaria and her daughter Basilia. The resemblance is so striking, consideration needed to be given to the possibility that Basilia might be the woman in the photo holding the baby. However, further investigation ruled this out. In 1916, the year Giuseppina Pintabona was baptised, Basilia was still single. The woman in the baptism photograph is married, as indicated by a wedding ring clearly visible on her finger.

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EXTRA INFORMATION 2

In Calabria, the Trimboli and Moschilla families chose a godparent to match the gender of the child being baptised - a godmother was selected for a baby girl and a godfather for a baby boy. Based on evidence within the Pintabona and Casella families living in Sicily, this tradition didn’t apply there. For baptism, it wasn’t unusual for daughters to have a godfather.