Feast of Redentore 2018 in Venice - Correcting some misinformation

Redentore - fireworks in Venice 2018 - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) I was going to write the definitive Feast of Redentore Venice Blog post this year, but after conferring with the head Capuchin friar in Venice, he convinced me that everyone was too busy, and that it could wait. There are many errors floating around the Internet that need to be corrected, which, hopefully will be attended to in the near future. (However, since I am me, I couldn't resist correcting a few right now:-)

Pontoon bridge for Redentore 2018 - Photo: Cat Bauer

I am glad that a so-called Venice "insider" and "expert" has corrected their erroneous information to reflect that Redentore takes place on the third Sunday of July, not the third weekend, or third Saturday.

As I wrote back in 2016, in the year 2001. the first Sunday fell on July 1st -- as it did again this year. Hence, today, the third Sunday of July, was the Festa del Redentore, with the fireworks celebration starting the evening before, on the second Saturday.

Capuchin friars at Pesca di Beneficenza

The Capuchins are not monks. They are friars. What is the difference between a friar and a monk?

However, the out-of-town so-called Venice "insider" and "expert" continues to publish sloppy articles. The Capuchins, or the Ordine dei frati minori cappuccini, are not monks. They are friars. Monks live in a cloistered community. Friars are out and about, in service to society. For example, there are monks at San Giorgio Maggiore. There are friars at Redentore.

Detail of cross inside the Church of Redentore- Photo: Cat Bauer

Catholics believe in Miracles

You cannot be a saint unless you perform at least two miracles. That is a rule.We seem to forget that although an open, international town, Venice is a Catholic city inside a Catholic country -- after all, Italy, however secular it wants its image to be, is where the Pope has his headquarters. Yet Venice has always maintained its own unique form of Catholicism, with a deep connection to Byzantium. Venice has been excommunicated on more than one occasion by Rome.

The Senate of the Venetian Republic were big-time Catholics, in addition to being merchants, who truly believed that building a church to Jesus Christ the Redeemer would stop the plague. Which it did. This miracle is what Venice still celebrates 441 years later.

Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli - Photo: Cat Bauer

The Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli was not torn down to build Redentore

I have no idea where the out-of-town blogger who calls themselves a Venice "insider" got the idea that the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli was torn down to build Redentore.  Reality is that the small Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli still stands to this very day. The date on the photo in Roman numerals is: MDXXXVI, which translates into Arabic numbers as: 1536. More about this church in the future.

Palladio did not lay the first stone. Giovanni Trevisan, Patriarch of Venice, laid the cornerstone for the Church of Redentore on May 3, 1577.

I repeat the correction I previously wrote back in 2016.

Winnings at Pesca di Beneficenza Redentore 2018 - Photo: Cat Bauer

What did I win in the Pesca di Beneficenza this year?

And now, most importantly: what did I win in the Pesca di Beneficenza, fishing for charity, or a lucky dip? I won some creme rinse, a useful sponge and, most peculiarly, a pencil emblazoned with the United States of America's Stars & Stripes.

Click on the link to read past posts about Redentore, which I have been writing about for decades:

Feast of Redentore 2017 in Venice - Same as it ever was

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog