A very special baptism

Carmen and Philip, godparents, myself with Danny, Nicky and Petra-Julienne

Last Sunday I was able to do my first baptism here in Malta since I returned from the USA. It was quite nostalgic for me as this was the very first baptism I did in the same church where I was baptized, St Julian’s old parish church. In fact, I can easily say that the last and only time I was ever involved in any baptism, in that church, was my own baptism, held on August 30, 1952, when I was a 3 day-old screaming baby, but according to my mother, a well-behaved baby.

Well, last Sunday’s baptism was just as historic, because, except for my two nephews, Julian and Peter, now both doctors, and whom I baptized in 1990 and 1994 respectively, the last baby I baptized in Malta was back in 1982, and it was the mother of the baby I baptized last Sunday, Petra-Julienne Coppini. Back in my home parish between 1977 and 1981, I became friends with her parents, Josie and Carmen, whom I married in January 1981. 

Back in 1982, Carmen and Josie Coppini with baby Petra-Julienne

Then Petra-Julienne was born in the summer of 1982, and since I was visiting my family during that summer, I was honored to baptize her in the new parish church of St. Julian’s. And now that Petra-Julienne and her husband Nicky had their first baby, I was just as honored baptizing baby Danny in the presence of Carmen, her mother and godmother, and Justine, her younger sister and their families. Josie had passed away 21 years ago, a much-beloved father, grandfather and a popular comedian on Malta TV and in the local theatre. And one of our Hilltop Gardens residents happens to be Danny’s great-grandmother and was beaming with joy, seeing her 14th great-grandchild being baptized, after 5 children and 15 grandchildren. And baby Danny was well-behaved throughout the entire ceremony, even smiling and posing for the camera.