http://www.americanpapist.com/2006/09/pope-benedicts-parents-met-through.html
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Pope Benedict's parents met through a singles ad!
Here's a fun story (and no joke!):
London, Sep. 11, 2006 (CNA) - Pope Benedict XVI and his brother, Fr.
Georg Ratzinger, 82, were surprised to learn this week that their
parents, Joseph and Maria, met through a singles ad their father had
placed in local Catholic weekly, Liebfraubote.
The disclosure came at the outset of the Pope's return to his native
Bavaria, where he intends to visit his parents' grave and the village
of Marktl am Inn, where he was born, reported the London Times.
The July 1920 ad was found in the Bavarian state archives by a
researcher for the tabloid Bild. According to the report, the ad read:
"Middle-ranking civil servant, single, Catholic, 43, immaculate past,
from the country, is looking for a good Catholic, pure girl who can
cook well, tackle all household chores, with a talent for sewing and
homemaking with a view to marriage as soon as possible. Fortune
desirable but not a precondition."
Maria Peintner, 36, an illegitimate baker's daughter and a trained
cook, replied. She did not have a fortune, but they married four months
later.
The Pope said he remembers his father as "strict but fair" and his
mother as warm and open-hearted," reported the Times.
CatholicMatch should be very happy. It's never too late to conceive a
Pope!
I wonder if we'll see a bunch of guys copy-out Herr Ratzinger's
advertisement and substitute their own details. After all, he seems to
hit all the important points. And clearly it worked...
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