LEGEND OF THE DEAD BRIDE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2094, 22 March 1889, Page 2

LEGEND OF THE DEAD BRIDE

One of the streets of Florence is known aa tbe 'Via del Mort!,' the way (or street) of the dead. Many yeara all 3 a beautiful Italian Princess-was sought m marriage by two nobles— -Pricoa Goudl aiid Count Aldobrandi, whose palaces stand at either end of the short and narrow street. Tha Prinoe was successful m his anlt bat m leas than a year the beantifnl young woman died, and her body was plaoed la tbe orypt beneath the oathedrai, tha coffin and the Iron door of the vault being left open, as la atill the oastom In Taioanj so that if the parson thought dead eomea to life he may ea'oape being burled .alive. Ia the middle ofthe night after thefqneral Prince Goudl. was startled -by Vj_n_ok at tbe outer door. Tbe porter opened tha door aod a white figure groped its way 10. The porter fell m a. swoon, «td the Prince rushed to a; chapel m the palace and fell pray log before Ihe' altar, beseeching- protection against his dead wife's ghost. Fqr days all Florence rang with a story of how Prinoa Goudi was haunted by his wife's ghost, and .the exoitement gradually died away. When the porter swooned and the Prince fled to the altar, the white figure .slipped out of the house and went to that of her oIJ suitor, Count Aldobrandi. There she kneoked feebly, but the porter was asleep, and tbe master of the house came to the open door. The Princess fell at his f est, and he lif ted her up and called upon the, women, m hie household to care for her. After a week bad passed, no one knowing the faots, the Count applied to the patriarch of the oathedrai and asked ; < Holy father, if a woman is deolared dead and receives the sacred office of the Church, returns to life, is repulsed by her husband, is received and taken care of by a friend of her living days, who may claim her?' ""

The venerable priest said the question was so weighty that tho Pope must answer it, and he replied that the one who bad rescued her oonld claim her. It was soon announced that tbe Oourt Aldobrandi would wed a noble lady long a- stranger m Florence, acd he requested his friend Goudi to give away the bride, her parents not being present. At the appointed day, bef ore*he altar of the ohapel m the doomo, the marriage took plaoe. Tbe question was asked, • Who gives this woman to be the wife of this man?' Prince Goudi stepped forward, but «j_ot until he had taken her hand did he know that he was bestowing hia own bride upon another.; For years Count Aldobrandi and his wife lived happily together, and at thia late day a descendant of Prince Goudi tells the story as an historical fact.