The Evangelist Saint Mark is the patron saint of Venice and is also situated under the protection of the Virgin Mary and of her son, Jesus Christ.
Officially, Venice was founded in March 421, more precisely on March 25th, the day of the Annunciation of the birth of Christ. It is a city born in the sea, a Christian Venus born after the fall of Roman Empire caused by the barbaric hordes: his birth seems to promise a new epoch where pagan vision and Christian vision of the world would unite in harmony in one and the same free and sovereign person.
The Myth of Venice the Catholic
Such is the origin and uniqueness of the Myth of Venice the Catholic whom the Doge left to the open sea onboard the splendid Bucentaure to celebrate his wedding to the sea, by throwing a gold ring into the water on the day of Ascension, a symbolic nuptial to remember the dominance of Venice and the union of its links with his maritime empire.
Numerous pictures represent the Doge to knees in front of the Virgin and the child Jesus.
Many religious buildings and churches are richly endowed with pictures of the grand masters. Nunneries and scuole substantiate the importance of religious practice and presence and action of monastic orders in Venice.
Secular and spiritual: the Venetian Melting Pot
Rialto was the seat of trade and economy, Place saint Mark was the place where were placed side by side the devotion to the patron saint and Political Power.
It unites Basilica saint Mark, the Bell tower with its bells and the Ducal palace where they elect the Doge who domiciles there.
This neighborhood translates perfectly the nearness of Secular and the Spiritual in Venice. The Patriarch of Venice was not named by Vatican City, it was chosen by the Venetians, and religious holidays always formed an alliance with the pageantry of republican political power.
Venice defended fiercely its economic interests and its political independence in the course of its history.
Such policies, blended by devotion to Fatherland and by Catholic creed, also guarded against any flood of spiritual power or secular likely to threaten the Sovereignty of the Republic.
This original synthesis of firm beliefs, which defended and the separation of the political power from religious power, gave him force and courage to become heir apparent Sovereigns of the foreign States and in Vatican City.
