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| Merry Christmas from Venice 2018 - Photo: Cat Bauer |
(Venice, Italy) Venice is a Catholic city, with churches in every campo, and bells atop steeples ringing hourly throughout the town. Founded in 421 A.D. just around the time of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Venice naturally leaned toward the East to the Byzantium Empire in Constantinople, whose official state religion was Christianity. Its isolated position and seafaring merchant nobility allowed Venice to create a unique brand of Catholicism, with its own myths and traditions, which I just love.
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| Basiica of San Marco just before Midnight - Photo: Cat Bauer |
Saint Mark the Evangelist is Venice's patron saint. His relics are in the Basilica of San Marco in Piazza San Marco. His symbol, the winged lion, is everywhere in the city -- even on the Venetian flag. Saint Mark wrote the Gospel according to Mark, and founded the Christian Church of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, one of the most important centers of Hellenistic civilization, and the intellectual and cultural center of the ancient world.
In 828 A.D., a couple hundred years after the Muslim conquest of Egypt, some Venetian merchants went down to Alexandria, stole Saint Mark's body, and brought him here to Venice after they learned that the Muslims were plundering Christian churches and turning them into mosques.
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| Jesus Christ on the Pala D'Oro |
Saint Mark's tomb is on the high altar inside the Basilica of San Marco right below the Pala D'Oro. During the High Holy Days like Christmas, the Pala D'Oro, the "Golden Cloth," is turned toward the congregation, its Byzantine enamel sparkling with gold and silver and precious jewels. Combined with the soaring voices of the choir, the exotic scent of the incense and the glow of the candles, it is one of the most magical and spiritual places to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ during Midnight Mass.
For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
---Jesus Christ, Mark 8:36
Merry Christmas from Venice,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
Venice is a Catholic city, with churches in every campo, and bells atop steeples ringing hourly throughout the town. Founded in 421 A.D. just around the time of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Venice naturally leaned toward the East to the Byzantium Empire in Constantinople, whose official state religion was Christianity. Its isolated position and seafaring merchant nobility allowed Venice to create a unique brand of Catholicism, with its own myths and traditions, which I just love.
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