US Woman to Marry Swiss Guard in Rome; Pope Tells Them ‘Have a Lot of Children’

How a Novena and God’s Providence Led to the Blessed Meeting — and Engagement

By EMILY BRANDENBURG

(National Catholic Register) Huntington Beach, Calif. — She was 29 years old with a dream to see Italy before she turned 30.

So Miranda Emde convinced her mother, Martha, to go with her, and off they went. In October 2013, they toured Rome, Milan, Venice and Assisi for three weeks. But Miranda fell in love with Rome. She went to Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica every day while she was there — and she didn’t want to leave.

The day before they were to return home to California, Miranda had an idea. “I’m single still. What if I could live here [in Rome] for six months and do something for the Vatican?”

She and her mom asked around, but ended up wasting a few hours without finding out how to get a job at the Holy See. At that point, Miranda wanted to give up. “I said, ‘Let’s just go back to the hotel.’ My mom said, ‘No we are getting the information before we leave. We are going to walk by St. Anne’s Gate. Talk to the Swiss Guard who is there.”

When “she feels strongly about something, you just listen to her,” Miranda said of her mom. Father Angelo Sebastian, who aids orphanages in his native India and is a friend of Miranda and her family, describes her as “St. Martha” who prays several Rosaries a day and is a “very faithful and holy woman.”

“So I’m like, ‘Okay.’ As I’m just looking over, I see Jonathan,” Miranda recalled. So she went over to Jonathan Binaghi, a Vatican Swiss Guard, introduced herself, and asked, “I’m visiting Rome and curious about opportunities at the Vatican in marketing and communications.”

They only talked a few minutes, as he was busy talking with other people as part of his duties. But he was extremely helpful and gave her contact information of several individuals who could help her with her job search.

“I could tell he wanted to talk more. Towards the end, he said, ‘I get off work at 8. Can you meet for dinner?’ And I turned him down. I said, ‘Sorry, we have to be up so early [for our flight.]’ He wrote down his contact information.”

The helpful Swiss Guard made quite the impression on her. “We felt a spark [and] observing him in those couple minutes, I picked up something different — how he handled people,” she recalled.  “He’s so kind — very kind and dignified. His presence is just not what you see all the time.”

Miranda remembers walking away and joking with her mom, “Oh, I think I just fell in love! What are the chances?” (continued)

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• US Woman to Marry Swiss Guard in Rome; Pope Tells Them ‘Have a Lot of Children’