CHAPTER XVI.
SAINTS AND OTHERS.
In the earliest days of the Venetian Republic a church was built on the Rialto, and dedicated to Saint James; and when in 452 the decree was issued at Padua which ordered the gathering together of the straggling inhabitants who had fled from Attila and his Huns, and the formation of a town under the rule of consuls, it was to this notable warrior saint that these people looked for protection. Tradition teaches that this earliest church in Venice stood on a portion of the land now covered by the Cathedral of San Marco.
About a century later, when already the Republic of Venice was rising in importance and esteem, Narses, coming from his victory over the Ostrogoths, visited the Venetians, and built them a new chapel, which he dedicated to Saint Theodore,—a young Syrian soldier saint, much honored in the Oriental church. He was apparently a satisfactory protector, for all went well with the Venetians under his tutelage. Their numbers and wealth increased so that one island was quite insufficient for their habitations, and no one church could suffice for the growing state or city.
During these important years images of Saint Theodore, whom we have seen standing on a column in the Piazzetta, opposite the lion of his more fortunate successor, were cherished and worshipped by the people, who looked to him as their efficient patron and guardian; and with reason,—for if his symbols were rightly understood, his saintship taught the Republic the wise policy of exerting its strength for protection and defence rather than for invasion and assault. But the time came when Saint Theodore was superseded, in spite of the good services he had rendered Venice during nearly three centuries,—centuries, too, when the struggle to live and grow and build up the Republic taxed the heads and hands of all, and required an able defender to watch over them.
There is a legend that during the first Crusade, in 1099, when Vitale Michieli was Doge, a flotilla of two hundred and seven vessels sailed from Venice in command of the son of the Doge, Giovanni Michieli, and Arrigo Contarini, Bishop of Castello, whose father had been Doge about twenty years before.
Their alleged object was to succor Godfrey de Bouillon; but they seem to have been far more successful as relic-hunters than as Knights of the Cross, and brought back rich treasures to the churches of Venice, among which was the body of Saint Theodore, which they found at a small town near the city of Myra. It was received with joy at Venice, and deposited in the Church of San Salvatore; but as this saint had already been superseded by the great Evangelist, he seems to have been left principally to the Confraternity of San Teodoro, whose scuola is close to San Salvatore.
In 829 two Venetian merchants, Buono of Malamocco and Rustico of Torcello, with ten galleys, were trading clandestinely in the port of Alexandria, just at the time when the Caliph of Egypt was building a splendid palace, and for its decoration was contemplating denuding all the Christian temples of their treasures and ornaments. Hearing this, these merchants feared that the Church of St. Mark, where that Evangelist was honorably reposing, would be desecrated; and they determined if possible to rescue the sacred body and bear it to Venice. When they proposed to the Greek priest of the temple to aid them in their designs, he naturally refused, and represented to them the sin and danger of such an act; but their promises of riches and prosperity at Venice overcame his scruples, and he yielded to their wishes. The body of Saint Mark was wrapped in the linen shroud of Saint Claudia, and laid in a deep basket. It was then covered with a thick layer of herbs, on which joints of pork were laid. The Venetian seamen who carried the basket to the ship walked leisurely, taking the precaution to cry out Khanzir! Khanzir! (pork, pork), which effectually prevented any examination by Mussulmans. When safely on the vessel, the basket was hoisted into the shrouds, and was thus safely borne away.
A tradition adds that during a tempest on the voyage the saint appeared to a priest, who was one of the passengers, and commanded the sails to be furled. This being done, the ship next morning reached the port of Olivolo, while the remainder of the fleet were scattered by the furious storm.
The saint was welcomed with immense satisfaction, and his arrival was of great importance to the State. It increased the courage and the commerce of the Republic. Pilgrims of all ranks, from crowned heads to the poorest sailors, came to worship at his shrine. A commercial fair was instituted in his honor; and although Saint Theodore was not discarded, Saint Mark was by common consent placed above him, his image and name being stamped on the coins of Venice, and woven in her banners, while the battle-cry from this time was viva San Marco!
Very soon the Doge Badoer II. died, and in his will provided for the erection of a mausoleum for the sacred bones of the new patron saint, which was the beginning of the Basilica of San Marco. Meantime the relics of Saint Mark were deposited in the Chapel of St. Theodore, and there worshipped; and as if that were not sufficiently humiliating to the superseded warrior, the chapel itself was demolished to make room for the more imposing edifice of the newly arrived saint. More fortunate than his predecessors, Saint Mark has retained his honored place in the hearts of the Venetians, through all the days of their glory, and alas! through those of their decline.