A Marian Consecration changed his life
It was a devotion to the Virgin Mary that brought Gene, from Edison, NJ, closer to his Catholic faith and led him to join CatholicMatch.
Gene shares, “After doing the 33 Day Consecration to Jesus through Mary in June 2015, I grew very deep in my Catholic faith, which I was born into but mainly used at my convenience.”
That changed the way that Gene, who was 30 at the time, dated. He had a new dedication to finding a woman who would share his Catholic faith.
“Dating had always been a painful series of trial and error for me,” reveals Gene. “I was not firm in my own faith and morals, and as a result, I did not prioritize these qualities in others.”
Mary worked through his mother
He decided that he’d entrust the whole process of finding a wife to Our Lady. That direction came in the form of advice from his mother.
“In my Italian American household, you don’t have to look far for advice—usually advice finds you,” jokes Gene. “My mom recommended that I go on a Christian dating site since my deepened faith meant I could no longer look for a relationship in places I had before like gyms and bars.”
At first, Gene was hesitant to try online dating. He realized that Our Lady might be speaking through his mom, who had also consecrated herself to Mary. Gene made one change from his mother’s advice; instead of looking for a Christian site, he looked for specifically Catholic dating sites.
“I didn’t want to go to a blanket Christian site because I didn’t want to have to debate devout Protestants about Mary, the pope, the Eucharist, and other doctrinal issues. I wanted to be on the same page with a partner. CatholicMatch was the first to come up, and I signed up.”
Their profiles were almost identical!
It would only take Gene a few months to find Gina, then 28, who had joined the website late in 2015. When she came up as a match, his first thought was, “I could look at her face every day.”
When he read her profile. Gene quickly realized how similar the two were—they even had almost the same first line on their profile: “Why/Well hello there.”
“She seemed like a very genuine, passionate, and fun person. She turned out to be even more fun than I imagined.”
In fact, they were so similar that when he read Gina’s profile to his mom, she thought that he had read her his profile. After he finished reading, Gene’s mom said, "Now will you read me Gina's profile?"
“She actually thought her profile description was mine,” exclaims Gene.
Gene sent Gina, who lived in New York City, a message on November 6, 2016. The couple started talking the next day, a Friday, and they wasted no time before seeing each other in person. They planned their first date for that Sunday evening. They went to Mass together and then out to dinner.
He compared her singing voice to the Little Mermaid
“I drove a little under an hour from my family’s home in Edison, NJ, to just over the George Washington Bridge in NYC, and I gave the eventual love of my life our first hug,” recalls Gene.
The first date couldn’t have been better. Gene was struck by Gina’s beautiful singing voice while sitting next to her in Mass that first day.
“I thought I was sitting next to the Little Mermaid,” says Gene of his wife’s voice.
“The first date was magical, and we were laughing almost the entire time,” continues Gene. “It was funny how similar we are—both very upbeat and talkative. It’s funny watching us together, but it works well.”
After that first date, the couple would spend time together every weekend. They enjoyed the things that NYC has to offer like visiting different shrines and skating at Rockefeller Center. They also passed their time singing duets with Gina playing the piano and singing. She also did music at her church.
“We were also having great deep conversations about the faith, life, and our vision for the future. We consecrated our relationship to Mary on her feast day, January 1 in 2017.”
Gene asked her to be his queen
Their relationship moved quickly after that. On April 2nd, after attending their second pre-Cana class together, Gene proposed.
“It did not take long for us to realize we are each other’s partners for life,” says Gene. “After the class, I drove her to the first church where we went to Mass, which was also the spot where we said the consecration prayer to Our Lady back in January. I proposed to her there in front of a beautiful statue of St. Anne, the patron of mothers, and next to a statue of the Virgin Mary, our queen. I asked her in their presence to be my queen on earth and mother of our future children.”
The couple said "I do" in Gina’s home parish on Long Island at St. Francis of Assissi on June 2nd, 2018, which is the feast of St. Eugene.
“Gene and Gina on St. Eugene’s day. It’s not something we planned, but it’s divine providence and it shows that God has a sense of humor."
The couple is now the proud parents of Gene IV (14 months) and baby Joseph due this summer.
“I want to personally thank CatholicMatch and give my highest recommendation for matching us up. It was the answer to my prayers—bringing me to the love of my life, my beautiful bride, my playmate, and 'praymate.'”
Continue Reading
