Tomb at the top
The tomb of Doge Francesco Morosini, who died in 1694, is covered by the largest funeral slab in Venice (18 ft by 15 ft or 5.5 m by 4.6 m). He was doge from 1688 until his death. Some hold him responsible for destroying the Parthenon, but I think it was the Turks' fault for using it as a powder magazine. He brought back two of the lions now outside the Arsenale from Greece as war booty. The tomb is in the Church of Santo Stefano.Have you sometimes come across 'San Stefano' as well as 'Santo Stefano'? As far as I can make out, San Stefano is Venetian, and Santo Stefano is Italian. The reason for 'Santo' is that 'Stefano' begins with 's-impura', i.e. 's' followed by a consonant, which also calls for slight differences in the definite article in Italian. I don't know how a letter can be impure.
On the subject of saints, have you ever thought it odd that they seem to have a Saint Cross (Santa Croce), a Saint Trinity (Santa Ternità or Trinità), or a Saint Moses (San Moisè) in Venice (and elsewhere in Italy, I would suppose). When we use the word 'Saint' in English we think of it as applying to a person who died after the time of Christ. But if you think of 'San', Santa' and 'Santo' as meaning 'holy' or 'sacred', then Holy Cross and Holy Trinity and even Holy Moses do not seem so strange.
P.S. Did you notice the previous two photos were posted exactly 12 hours apart?
posted by Bert at 9:28 PM
7 Comments:
18 X 15 feet? Seriously? I have a bedroom in my apartment that's smaller than that! As for the Parthenon, who can say for sure? And as for Santa Croce, Trinita, and Moise, I think you're right about the meaning. And don't you love that there's actually a Holy Moses church? :~}
Yes, I love the idea of Holy Moses church too!!
Hi Bert For years I've been telling friends who come to Venice with me that the Venetians canonised Old Testament Moses in order to name a church after him because the benefactor was named Moses.( I'd read this somewhere) Last year The Times printed a small reference to a medieval St. Moses so I have had to rethink this one.
Hi Bert, I've got a couple of old books that call it Campo Morosini instead of Campo Santo Stefano. Any idea when they changed the name or why?
In addition to those lions, he also brought the icon on the high altar of La Salute; he took it from a church on Crete.
Annie, I have books and maps that refer to the campo by either name, but only the Blue Guide (out of only three books) refers to both. The only nizioletto I can see with VC says "Campo S. Stefano". Ombra only has S. Stefano. You can see some places that say "Campo X già Y".
Andrew, there was a St Moses the Black, who died about 407, but the fact that the altar shows God handing the tablets to Moses may indicate that the dedication is probably to the Old Testament figure. There are also San Giobbe and San Samuele.
San Geremia (Jeremiah) is an Old Testament saint with a church too. I've read the same thing as Andrew, that the donor who built San Moise was named Moses. But I've also read that it's common in the Eastern Christian tradition (as opposed to the Roman church) to dedicate churches to Old Testament saints and shows Venice's early connections to the East.
The tablets make it pretty conclusive don't they. So Moses Prince of Egypt it is! I'd not really considered the other Old Testament fellows. Interesting to know how the Vatican viewed this. Perhaps, as you say Bert, it just means 'Holy'.
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