ation of personal baptismal certificates to the parents of the person who has been baptized. Several Internet sites mention a kind of Origami baptismal certificate created in Europe during the 1500s, and known in Spain as the Pajarita (little bird) the harbinger of Springtime when the earth is reborn. Were they in use in the Kingdom of Sicily, which was a part of the Spanish Realm at that time? Only further research will begin to shed light on this mystery.
The detailed materials included in the multiplicity of sections comprising this site were extracted directly from the 1542-48 Baptismal records of Termini Imerese, with the sole thought of bringing the 16th-century town, its people, and the era of Late Middle Ages back to life. Now it is possible for the descendants of Termini’s old families to get a glimpse of what life was like for their ancestors 500 years ago. Although the majority among Termini’s descendants cannot claim direct descent from the great Barons and Baronesses, or as they were later known, the Leopards, we do know that the DNA of the converted Sicilian-Jewish population of Termini (the Neofiti) is present among a considerable number of descendants, along with that from the offspring of the great barons’ many female slaves. Indeed, the DNA of Jews, Greeks, Tarters, Africans, Berbers, Gypsies, and Englishmen figures prominently in the makeup of all people of Sicilian descent. And that is to be expected for the descendants of a people living on an island kingdom, which was once the very center of Mediterranean activity.
Nowadays, the Leopards are gone from Termini; there are no slaves there, and the town no longer trades on a large scale with the Mediterranean World, although the cars produced in the Fiat factory do give the town a certain amount of notoriety. Cruise ships (the ferry from Genoa and private vessels) dock at the old port where once millions of tons of grain were loaded onto ships, bringing curious visitors into the ancient town: they come to enjoy the food, visit the monuments of the city’s past, and join the crowds of the faithful who attend the yearly processions dedicated to the veneration of the relics of St. Agostino, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps some will invest in a time-share condo, or get into shape at the famous spa there. But few will realize that a good part of the tremendous power which was the 16th-century Termini of Codex A, now resides in the cool basement located under the Church of Sant’Orsola.
Now they, the nobles and their wives, and the professional people and priests who once served them, indeed the very people we will meet in this study, are but mummies in full dress, rotting away in the catacombs located under the Church of Sant’Orsola. Such is history!
Thousand Oaks 2009