Procurator of St Mark's

Last updated November 12, 2019

The office of Procurator of St Mark's (Italian: Procuratore di San Marco) was the second most prestigious life appointment in the Republic of Venice, after that of Doge of Venice.

Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. Italian descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire and, together with Sardinian, is by most measures the closest language to it of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino and Vatican City. It has an official minority status in western Istria. It formerly had official status in Albania, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro (Kotor) and Greece, and is generally understood in Corsica and Savoie. It also used to be an official language in the former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa, where it still plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is also spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania, although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Many speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian and other regional languages.

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic, traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and maritime republic in what is now northeastern Italy. It lasted from 697 AD until 1797 AD. Centered on the lagoon communities of the prosperous city of Venice, the republic grew into a trading power during the Middle Ages and strengthened this position in the Renaissance. Citizens spoke the still-surviving Venetian language, although publishing in (Florentine) Italian became the norm during the Renaissance.

The Doge of Venice, sometimes translated as Duke, was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 726 and 1797.

History

Originating in the ninth century, the Procurator's original duties were to attend to the fabric and administration of St Mark's Basilica. There was originally one Procurator, appointed by the Doge, but between 1231 and 1442, their number increased to nine procurators appointed by the Great Council of Venice. Their duties also expanded in 1269 to include the protection of orphans and the insane, as well as the execution of wills. Appointment as a Procurator of San Marco was one of the highest honours the Most Serene Republic could bestow on its leading citizens, next to the Dogate, and along with the latter, the only appointments for life.

The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, commonly known as St Mark's Basilica, is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. It lies at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace. Originally it was the chapel of the Doge, and has been the city's cathedral only since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, formerly at San Pietro di Castello.

The Great Council of Venice or Major Council, originally the Consilium Sapientium, was a political organ of the Republic of Venice between 1172 and 1797 and met in a special large hall of the Palazzo Ducale. Participation in the Great Council was established on hereditary right, exclusive to the patrician families enrolled in the Golden Book of the Venetian nobility.

An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used.

The nine procurators consisted of:

the Procuratori de Supra, who took care of the administration of St Mark's Basilica;
the Procuratori de Citra, who dispensed charity and attended to wills in the sestieri of San Marco, Castello, and Cannaregio; and
the Procuratori de Ultra, who performed the same function for the sestieri of Dorsoduro, Santa Croce, and San Polo.

San Marco is one of the six sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Saint Mark's Square, that was never administered as part of the sestiere.

Castello is the largest of the six sestieri of Venice, Italy.

Cannaregio is the northernmost of the six historic sestieri (districts) of Venice. It is the second largest sestiere by land area and the largest by population, with 13,169 people as of 2007.

The Procurators' offices were located in the Procuratie in the Piazza San Marco .

The Procuratie are three connected buildings along the perimeter of Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Two of the buildings, the Procuratie Vecchie and the Procuratie Nuove, were constructed in the sixteenth century by the procurators of Saint Mark, the second-highest dignitaries in the government of the Republic of Venice who were charged with administering the treasury of the Church of Saint Mark as well as the financial affairs of state wards and trust funds established on behalf of religious and charitable institutions. The Procuratie Nuove on the southern side of the square housed the official residences of the procurators whereas the Procuratie Vecchie on the northern side always contained apartments that were rented by the procurators as a source of revenue. Both the official residences and the rental apartments were built above arcades with space on the ground floor that was rented out for stores, workshops, and later coffeehouses, including the historic Caffè Florian, Caffè Quadri, and Caffè Lavena.

Piazza San Marco, often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as la Piazza. All other urban spaces in the city are called campi ("fields"). The Piazzetta is an extension of the Piazza towards San Marco basin in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together. This article relates to both of them.

The office today

The office of Procurator of St Mark's was not abolished at the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797. Instead, the Procurators remained responsible for administering the assets of St. Mark's Basilica, under the authority of the Patriarch of Venice.

The Fall of the Republic of Venice was a series of events in 1797 that led to the dissolution and dismemberment of the Republic of Venice at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte and Habsburg Austria.

The Patriarch of Venice is the ordinary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. The bishop is one of the few patriarchs in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. Presently, the only advantage of this purely formal title is the bishop's place of honor in papal processions. In the case of Venice, an additional privilege allows the patriarch, even if he is not a cardinal, the use of the colour red in non-liturgical vestments. In that case, the red biretta is topped by a tuft, as is the custom with other bishops who are not cardinals.

The position was confirmed by a royal decree issued by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy in 1931. Today, there are seven procurators, with the president holding the title of First Procurator of St Mark's (Primo Procuratore di San Marco). The Procurators work closely with architects and engineers to ensure the historic preservation of St. Mark's Basilica.

Victor Emmanuel III of Italy King of Italy

Victor Emmanuel III was the King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. In addition, he held the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1943) and King of the Albanians (1939–1943). During his reign of nearly 46 years, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two world wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism and its regime.

Historic preservation (US), heritage preservation or heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavour that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. This term refers specifically to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness.

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Francesco Foscari was the 65th Doge of the Republic of Venice from 1423 to 1457. His reign, the longest of all Doges in Venetian history, lasted 34 years, 6 months and 8 days, and coincided with the inception of the Italian Renaissance.

Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino was an Italian sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity. Giorgio Vasari uniquely printed his Vita of Sansovino separately.

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The Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana is a public library in Venice, Italy. Founded in 1468 as the library of the Republic of Venice, it is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and depositories for manuscript in Italy and holds one of the greatest collections of classical texts in the world. It is named after St. Mark, the patron saint of the city.

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Antonio Cappello (1494-1565) was a Venetian noble, a member of the San Polo branch of the Cappello family. A Procurator of St Mark's, he acted as ambassador to the court of Charles V at Gand, but is mainly remembered for his role as one of the main promoters of public art and architectural projects in sixteenth-century Venice. He resided in the palazzo on San Polo now known as Ca Cappello Layard and oversaw its redevelopment.

The Loggetta is a small, richly decorated building at the base of the bell tower in Saint Mark’s Square, Venice, Italy. Built by Jacopo Sansovino between 1538 and 1546, it served at various times as a gathering place for nobles and for meetings of the Procuratori di san Marco, the Venetian officials responsible principally for the administration of the treasury of Saint Mark’s Basilica and for the public buildings around Saint Mark’s Square.

References

This article is based on this article on Italian Wikipedia.
Da Mosto, Andrea: L'Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Biblioteca d'Arte editrice, Rome, 1937.

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Procurator of St Mark's

Contents

History

The office today

Related Research Articles

References