In fact he wanted everything to turn out for the best and he thought that every question should be considered from an optimistic point of view. He dealt with every difficulty at once as he did not think there was any point in waiting. “Never put things off”, he always said. Guglielmo had many exceptional qualities that I did not find in other men and his sensitivity and intuition made him understand me at once.
I have many letters that Guglielmo wrote to me from London and elsewhere, before and during our engagement, which show his renewed interest in the Catholic faith. They are profound and interesting. Each of them reflects his nobility of mind and his exceptional human and spiritual values. I always remember a phrase in a letter he wrote to me from London on Christmas Eve, 1926. “...Dear Cristina, whatever happens, you have been the Angel of my conversion, of my redemption, an Angel like the one that stopped St. Paul on the road to Damascus, (...)”. When we were married he did not write so often because we were always together and he could tell me his thoughts and feelings personally. To have found someone in whom he could confide and whom he could trust completely was essential to him. I have about two hundred of his letters. They show a youthful spontaneous spirit and intense emotion which he himself was surprised by and which filled him with joy and optimism about his life and work. As for me I felt very proud to be the source of this happiness that he longed for and deserved so much.
Guglielmo wanted to make a thorough study of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church and he found in my sweetness and my ideals the wisdom, serenity and faith in God which he had missed up until then. “I feel like a ship that has found a safe harbour”, he said to me one day. I spoke to him about my faith openly and lovingly; I advised him to study the New Testament together with the commentaries of great scholars. I also gave him the famous ascetic book “The Imitation of Christ” which he found particularly interesting. We often read religious works together. Guglielmo was very interested in the texts of St. Paul and St. Augustine whose works and ideas he admired.
The Sacrament of Confirmation was administered by a Bishop in my family’s palace in Via Condotti in Rome, where I was born and where I lived with my parents. My father Count Francesco Bezzi Scali stood godfather to Guglielmo. I was present with my mother Anna Sacchetti the daughter of Marquis Urbano Sacchetti and of Princess Beatrice Orsini. Guglielmo was deeply moved because he knew the importance of the decision he was about to take. I had the joy of knowing that Guglielmo now shared my great faith which was to give us strength for the rest of our lives. After our marriage, he liked to conclude his scientific conferences on his experiments and inventions by stressing that everything he had succeeded in doing with his discoveries had been a gift from God. I helped him to have a wide religious culture which he assimilated quickly and with great interest. He often met my spiritual counsellor, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who had a great respect for him. He knew that Guglielmo’s conversion was genuine and that he truly loved me.
During our engagement I introduced Guglielmo to Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, Secretary of State to His Holiness the Pope. On 11th February, 1929 he and Mussolini who was then the Italian Prime Minister signed the Concordat, thus putting an end to the contention between the Italian State and the Church which had been going on since 1870. I kept the correspondence between the Cardinal and my husband and I presented Pope John Paul II with a letter which Guglielmo sent to Cardinal Gasparri, written on board his yacht; engraved on the writing-paper are the flag of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the name, “Elettra”. It is now kept in the Vatican Museums.
On his return to the practice of the Catholic faith Marconi asked the Sacra Rota (the ecclesiastic high court) to annul his marriage since his first wife had already remarried. After carefully examining his matrimonial situation the Sacra Rota granted his request and at the beginning of 1927 Guglielmo’s first marriage was declared null. The statement of reasons in the judgment, expressly provided for by the code of canon law, was of “invalid consent” (that is that the parties even before they were married had declared themselves ready to separate in the event of the marriage vows being broken). This statement of reasons was proved conclusively by the unanimous declarations made by the witnesses before the ecclesiastic high court and these statements in fact rendered the marriage null.
This made it possible for us to be married in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome on 15th June 1927. It was a solemn occasion and the marriage was blessed by our great friend Cardinal Evaristo Lucidi since Cardinal Pacelli was in Berlin because of his diplomatic commitments as Apostolic Nuncio. Guglielmo’s witnesses were Prince Clemente del Drago and Prince Ludovico Spada Potenziani while my witnesses were my uncles Prince Domenico Orsini and the Marquis Guglielmo Guglielmi d’Antognolla. All our friends and relatives and a crowd of Roman citizens were present and when we came out of the church they showered us with flower petals. After the wedding there was a very elegant and intimate luncheon at my parents’ house in Via Condotti with our witnesses, relatives and closest friends.
My wedding-dress was of white satin with a long train, made by the well-known dressmaker Ventura and designed by Madame Anna. I wore a diamond tiara and an antique Irish lace veil which had belonged to Guglielmo’s mother on my head. One thing which still touches me is that the tiara was designed for me personally by Guglielmo as he did not think that any of the ones he had seen in the various jewellers in London were beautiful enough for me. (See letter dated 14 May 1927)
Since the matrimonial concordat between the Italian State and the Holy See was not yet in force in 1927, the civil ceremony had taken place two days before in the Capitol. This was followed by a formal reception at my parents’ house with all our relatives, including Guglielmo’s brother Alfonso who had come from London for the occasion and many of our friends from the Roman aristocracy, the Vatican and other personalities, including the ambassadors of various countries who admired Guglielmo very much.
LETTERS WRITTEN BY GUGLIELMO MARCONI TO HIS BELOVED CRISTINA BEFORE THEIR MARRIAGE
PRESENTATION
This is the first time that I have published these letters written by my father to my mother.
In life, my parents were always very reserved about the deep feeling they shared for one another. I feel a great deal of emotion in revealing my father's state of mind when he wrote these letters to my mother. I have been uncertain, but at the same time, I have felt the duty to let people know the truth about the great love and devotion that existed between them, which lasted all their lives.
From these letters--so intense and alive, there appears evidence that their love never failed, never had ups and downs, and was always constant, always faithful, always total. I repeat: it is the first time that I offer to those of you who have treasured and have been inspired by my father's memory, and now also, of my mother. I am offering you, the readers of these memoirs, the chance to penetrate in the private life of my parents.
I can say with pleasure that my father found, in his love for my mother, a new impulse and the challenge to do and to create always more, to research every aspect and detail of his experiments, and to complete with utmost devotion the preparation of his inventions.
He was, without doubt, always reinforced and enlightened by his Faith, and by my mother's love.
My spirit, as his grateful daughter, being now the only one to keep alive the most intimate, clear memories of both my father and my mother, I ask all you, who read these letters, to do it with respect and understanding.
(Elettra's signature here.)
Savoy Hotel London, Sunday 27th June, 1926
Dear Cristina,
Here I am writing to you again!!!
I must tell you that there is no power on earth which can change or diminish by
