PROVIDENCE — While brides and grooms cherish special memories of their wedding day, many priests also have fond recollections of ceremonies where they were privileged to unite a loving couple before God in the sacrament of matrimony.
Father Gildardo Suarez, pastor of Assumption Church, recalled marrying one elderly couple two years ago in the South Providence church. He noted that the pair, both natives of the Dominican Republic, had been living together for 50 years.
While the woman was an avid worshipper and longed to be married in the church so that she could receive Holy Communion, her partner rarely attended Mass or participated in parish events.
“The woman was praying all of her life for the sacrament,” Father Suarez remembered. “I could see her pain. She came to me to discuss the situation. I told her “Let’s put this in God’s hands. Keep praying to God.”
The priest reported that the deeply-religious woman prayed fervently for her partner to change his ways and for the sacrament of matrimony.
Finally, the man agreed to be married in the Catholic Church.
“He did it with a happy, happy heart,” Father Suarez noted, adding that the wedding was attended by a large number of jubilant family members and friends.
The priest reported that the man has since become active in parish programs and now shares his wife’s strong faith.
“That’s God working in him,” Father Suarez
Among the many beautiful weddings that he has celebrated, two stand out as being especially memorable.
“The first was my cousin’s wedding in July 1991,” he remembered, noting that he had recently been ordained to the deaconate and officiated at the wedding with Father Nicholas J. Iacovacci at St. Ann Church.
“It was my first wedding, so I was nervous,” he laughed.
The second wedding that Father Finelli vividly recalled was celebrated on Block Island on September 13, 2001 — two days after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, and in Washington and Pennsylvania that took more than 3,000 lives and forever changed the world.
“It was eerie going out there,” the priest recalled, noting that the nation was in crisis and had come to a standstill. Block Island was noticeably quiet as wedding guests traveled around the island snapping photographs. Despite the joyous occasion, Father Finelli recalled that everyone was “intense and nervous.
“It was a small wedding,” Father Finelli added, noting that the couple, who had dated for 15 years before deciding to marry, were friends that he had made through the Waushakum Live Steamers, an organization for railroad buffs.
“Being a part of their wedding was memorable,” he said.
For Father Roman R. Manchester, chaplain at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, North Providence, one unforgettable wedding memory is a humorous one.
“I invited the first reader to come forward, and nobody moved,” he said, laughing. “I waited about 10 seconds — it seemed like an eternity — and proceeded to do the reading. I saw the bride and groom look at each other as if to ask ‘What’s going on?’”
Father Manchester recalled that as he finished the reading, he looked up and saw the woman who was supposed to be the first reader dash into the church and try to squeeze inconspicuously into a pew.
