medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> I recall an exchange we had a while back in which you referred to Sta Maria
> Assunta as Venice's first cathedral and I remarked that I had just been to
> Venice and San Pietro di Castello makes that claim. You agreed. However, SMA
> is apparently cathedral of some diocese
A brief perusal of John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice appears to establish a
precendence for S. Maria Assunta, also known as Torcello Cathedral, although he
does not appear to treat the episcopal structure of the region very systematically.
The early history, in any case, is a bit messy, with, as John Dillon said, populations
fleeing the Lombards abandoning their settlements on the mainland and settling on
islands in the lagoon. According to the Altino Chronicle, the site for S. Maria
Assunta was established when Bishop Paul (which he rather annoyingly describes
as "of that city" without specifying what city it was -- possibly Altino, which John
mentioned) heard a voice from heaven commanding him to climb to the top of a
nearby tower and look at the stars, which would show him the island to which he
must lead his flock. The cathedral of S. Maria Assunta was subsequently erected
on the celestially chosen island of Torcello in 639, and the document recording its
foundation apparently still exists (although Norwich does not give a proper reference
to it). As for S. Pietro di Castello, this was founded as a new bishopric by Doge
Maurizio in c. 775 at the east end of the little island of Olivolo, on which the Trojans,
fleeing westwards after the destruction of their city, were reputed to have built a
fortress which gave the name "Castello" to the site. Since Olivolo is one of the
cluster of islands known as Rialto -- i.e. downtown Venice -- while Torcello is sort of
off to one side, it probably depends on just how one defines Venice -- as a city or as
a state -- as to which church might be considered the oldest cathedral of Venice.
And of course leaving aside all of the various post-medieval changes of status of
the churches involved.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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