Patriarch of Venice

The Patriarch of Venice (Latin: Patriarcha Venetiarum; Italian: Patriarca di Venezia) is the ordinary of the Patriarchate of Venice. The bishop is one of only four patriarchs in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. The other three are the Patriarch of Lisbon, the Patriarch of the East Indies and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. 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 diocese of Venice was created in 774 as suffragan of the Patriarchate of Grado. It was only in 1451 that, in consideration of the political influence of the city, its bishops were accorded the title of patriarch by the pope.

By a relatively recent tradition, the Patriarch of Venice is created a cardinal at the consistory following his appointment, though nothing requires the pope to do so. The current patriarch Francesco Moraglia has not been made a cardinal.

In the last centuries of the Republic of Venice (to 1797), exceptionally among Catholic bishops, the patriarch was elected by the Venetian Senate, who always chose a member of one of the hereditary patrician families of the city, and usually a layman who was only ordained to take up the patriarchate. The papacy obliged them to pass an examination in theology, though many evaded this. Usually the new patriarch was a Venetian diplomat or administrator, as with Lorenzo Priuli in 1591 or Francesco Vendramin in 1608, though some were career clerics, who had usually been previously in positions in Rome, such as Federico Cornaro in 1631. The patriarchs normally remained in Venice, and in this period none were elected pope. Since the end of the republic, patriarchs have rarely been of Venetian origin, and three of them became pope in the 20th century alone: Pius X (1903), John XXIII (1958) and John Paul I (1978).

The Venetian islands at first belonged to the diocese of Altino or of Padua, under jurisdiction of the archbishop of Aquileia, believed to be the successor of St. Mark. During the Lombard invasion (568–572) many bishops of the invaded mainland escaped under protection of the Byzantine fleet in the eastern lagoons. The archbishop himself took refuge in Grado, where he was claimed as patriarch, during the schism of the Three Chapters. At the end of the invasion, many of the ancient dioceses of the mainland were restored by the Lombards, while the exiles supported the new sees in the lagoons. Two patriarchs emerged: the Patriarchate of Old Aquileia on the mainland and Patriarchate of Grado.

In 774 or 775, Pope Adrian I and John IV, Patriarch of Grado, authorized the establishment of an episcopal see on the island of Olivolo. The first bishop, Obelerius, was nominated, invested and enthroned by the doge and consecrated by the patriarch. The Bishop of Olivolo was subordinate to Grado and had jurisdiction over the islands of Olivolo, Rialto, Luprio, Gemini, Scopulo or Dorsoduro, Spinalonga, Biria and other minor islands of the central group. The diocese's cathedral was San Pietro di Castello.

In 828 the body of Saint Mark the Evangelist was smuggled from Alexandria, Egypt, to Venice. When the ship reached Olivolo island in Venice, the saint made signs (or so it was claimed) showing he did not want to be placed in the custody of the bishop. Instead, he was taken to the doge's chapel, and planning began to create a magnificent new temple, St Mark's Basilica, suitable for such important relics. The legend that St. Mark himself had preached the Gospel at Venice grew up in later times.

In 1074, the Bishop of Olivolo began to be styled the Bishop of Castello. Enrico Contarini was the first to hold this title. In 1084 the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in his Golden Bull recognized the full independence of Venice, along with freedom from tributes, trade restrictions and customs duties.