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Latin in Marriage Record


By Corrine Ardoin - Posted on 12 June 2007

I had some difficulty translating a couple of phrases found in parish
marriage records. I discovered they are Latin phrases that seem to be
terms used in parish documents that have specific meaning. I found some of
them in a law dictionary. One of these phrases is "in fasie eclesia." In
fasie, in the law dictionary, means "in the presence of," so the term, I
concluded, since "eclesia" refers to the church, would translate as "in the
presence of the church."

The next phrase is "inter missarum solemnia." The word "inter" means
"among" and "solemnia," looks like "solemn," so this term would translate as
"among solemn....." Well, that's all I figured out so far. This is in an
1896 record. But, as I recall, even in the 1960's when I attended my
Catholic church in Southern California, the mass was still in Latin, so I
guess it shouldn't come as any surprise to find Latin terms as recent as the
late 1800's.

One of the sentences I am having particular difficulty with, I was hoping
someone could help me with. The document starts out with the usual
introduction of where it is and who is writing the document. Then it goes
into what was done there, saying, "previas las diligencias de estilo y
examen de la doctrina cristiana caso y velo in fasie eclesia, a ....."
Then, it gives the grooms and brides names, their information, etc. So far,
I have translated it as "foresaw the formalities and examination of the
christian doctrine marry and watch over in the presence of the church,
to...." But, this doesn't make any sense. Anyone have any ideas?

Corrine Ardoin