Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venice

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Entrance of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Canale Grande.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venice ( Chiesa Luterana di Venezia ) dates back to the Reformation, but under the pressure of the Inquisition it changed from an Italian Reformation movement to a hermetically sealed association of Upper German long-distance merchants.

Reformatory movement

Venice was a center of book printing, and that is why Martin Luther's writings became known in the lagoon city very early on. They were confiscated here for the first time in 1520; In 1548, in the Antonio Bruciolis printing works, “the books were confiscated in bales and later burned publicly on Rialto Square.” Readers are also known from the files of the Inquisition; an example: "The noble Venetian Foscarina Venier (the poet) and her son Francesco had read the writings of Martin Luther, libros et opera Martini Lutheri et aliorum hereticorum pluries legerunt , and now had to ask for absolution." There was a humanistic one in Venice Milieu in which Luther's concerns were shared by many - without any particular reference to Luther's person. A group of young nobles met to read the Greek New Testament together.

Luther had many sympathizers in the settlement of his order, the Augustinian hermit monastery with the church of S. Stefano . Andrea Baura (Andrea da Ferrara), a member of the convent, preached on Christmas Day 1520 from the balcony of Palazzo Loredan to a crowd that had gathered on Campo S. Stefano. Since he criticized the Pope, he was generally thought to be a Lutheran.

In a letter dated June 13, 1543, Luther addressed the Protestants in Venice, Vincenza and Treviso directly. The addressees were Italians. The decisive factor for the future of this community was that Luther was unable to provide them with any political support, for example through the Schmalkaldic League . By 1550 the Inquisition succeeded in smashing all Protestant networks in Venice. Many fled to Germany or Switzerland; some who stayed became martyrs. They were drowned as heretics in the lagoon, such as the Franciscan Provincial Baldo Lupetino in 1556 , and the Franciscan Bartolomeo Fonzi in 1562 .

In the Fondaco dei Tedeschi

Fondaco dei Tedeschi, inner courtyard, as it is today

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi offered as a German microcosm its residents who are merchants the opportunity to live in their own way; this also applied to forms of private piety and communal worship. The upper German, Lutheran merchants prevailed as the dominant faction, which can be seen in the conflicts surrounding the Cologne trader Abraham Spillieur . Spillieur was a prominent figure in the Reformed community of Venice. This was founded in 1647, but had to celebrate its services in private houses in the city. This made it relatively easy for the Inquisition to suppress Reformed church life; whatever happened.

Construction detail in the Fondaco dei Tedeschi: Relief with the Annunciation, 1559

Church services

As early as 1524, the merchants in the Fondaco had been denounced, they held heretical meetings. In 1581 the papal nuncio learned from informants he had within the Fondaco that of the roughly 900 Germans, hardly 200 were Catholics.

Since 1646 the "Nazione Alemanna" appears as the tenant of the two rooms No. 81 and 82 in the Fondaco. This year probably also marks the start of regular services in these rooms, as has been attested for later.

The residents of the Fondaco were well advised not to leave anything written about their Lutheran faith that could play into the hands of the Inquisition. The historians are therefore dependent on files from the authorities. On March 20, 1654, for example, the papal nuncio reported to the Senate that Johann Georg Renier from Augsburg regularly preached “his damned doctrine” in the Fondaco on Sundays, and that visitors from the city also came to the Fondaco. Renier, secretary of Baron Degenfeld (a general in the Venetian service) was expelled from the city.

lifestyle

The Lutheran long-distance merchants appeared quite self-confidently in the Fondaco around 1581: “They own heretical books, eat meat on fasting days, think about religion (ragionavano come a loro piaceva delle cose della religione) , and if someone recognizes himself as a Catholic there, they make fun of him. ”A Jesuit's attempt to talk to them about faith at table was turned down on the grounds that they could read the gospel on their own. Failure to observe the fasting days was not very discreet: in 1592 it was said that one could watch the meat skewers turn from the Canale Grande .

Church order

The rules that the Lutherans gave themselves in the Fondaco are only preserved in a copy from 1705. Church members were obliged to keep silent about the meetings . The way to the church service and the way home had to be designed in such a way that no group of churchgoers could be recognized. The staff in the Fondaco was sent home, and two parishioners were posted as guard in front of the door of the church services. Getting admitted to the ward was complicated. In 1740, Johann Caspar Goethe did not succeed in “attending the holy assembly even once,” although he was well known to the two preachers, “because one is afraid of being discovered.” The congregation then consisted of 24 families; every new entry had to be reported to the Republic of Venice.

Official acts

The Roman Catholic clergy carried out infant baptisms in the urban area; Problems could arise from insisting on Catholic sponsors. In 1759 the baptism of a child was refused for the first time because the godparents were Protestant. The "Nazione Alemanna" lodged a complaint with the Senate because a child who was not baptized could not become a member of the civil parish. The Senate then permitted the admission of Protestant baptismal witnesses.

Evangelical Lutheran church since 1812, with the main entrance open since 1866: Scuola dell'Angelo Custode.

Legal equality

By decree of May 5, 1806, the Lutheran Church was assimilated to the Catholic Church, in accordance with the Napoleon Code . From now on, she was able to act as a legal entity in its own right, but faced many harassments. So their cemetery was devastated during earthworks. After the dissolution of the Fondaco, the community searched unsuccessfully for a church building; It was not until 1812 that the building of the pious brotherhood Scuola dell 'Angelo Custode was rented and later bought. But the main entrance was permanently locked; the worshipers had to enter their church through the side entrance hidden at the side.

These special regulations came to an end with the annexation of Venice to the Kingdom of Italy . King Vittorio Emanuele himself granted Lutheran Christians permission to enter their church through the main entrance on the occasion of a visit to Venice.

present

With around 80 parishioners, the Lutheran congregation in Venice is very small. The building acquired in 1813 still serves as a church today. Shortly before the anniversary celebrations “Lutherans in Italy: Five centuries in Venice - 200 years at Campo Ss. Apostoli “fell down large pieces of the ceiling in the summer of 2012, probably as a result of an earthquake in Emilia-Romagna , which was still felt in Venice. After extensive renovation, the church was put back into use on October 13, 2013 with a festival service.

On December 25, 2017, an ecumenical Christmas service took place in the Lutheran Church of Venice, which was broadcast by the TV channel RAI 2 and Eurovision. In addition to parish priest Bernd Prigge, Evangelos Yfantidis, vicar of the Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church in Italy and Malta, Francesco Moraglia , Catholic Patriarch of Venice, and Davide Mozzato, pastor of the Seventh-day Adventists , took part.

Web links

literature

  • Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant community in the Republic of Venice . In: Uwe Israel, Michael Matheus: Protestants between Venice and Rome in the early modern period , Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005410-0 , pp. 113–127. ( online )
  • Arnold Esch : Long-Distance Trade and Early Protestantism. Observations on the early history of the Lutheran congregation in Venice. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries vol. 94 (2014) pp. 129–141. (online: www.perspectivia.net)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 113 .
  2. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 139 .
  3. ^ Corinna Mühlstedt: Lutherans in Venice. Retrieved February 25, 2018 .
  4. ^ Ottavia Niccoli: Prophecy and People in Renaissance Italy . Princeton 1990, p. 89 (The person of Andrea Baura is an example of the fact that in Venice many were labeled as Lutherans who acted critically of the Church out of their own motivation, without being dependent on Luther's theology.).
  5. ↑ a b Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Community . S. 116 .
  6. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 131 .
  7. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 133 .
  8. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 134 .
  9. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 132 .
  10. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 117 .
  11. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 134 .
  12. ^ Arnold Esch: Fernhandel . S. 135 .
  13. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 119 .
  14. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 119 .
  15. ↑ Wolfgang Frühwald: "This beaver republic" Venice 1740 to 1830 in reports of the Goethe family and their contemporaries . In: Uwe Israel, Michael Matheus (ed.): Protestants between Venice and Rome in the early modern period . S. 14 .
  16. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 123 .
  17. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 124 .
  18. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 124-125 .
  19. ^ Stephan Oswald: The German Protestant Congregation . S. 125 .
  20. ^ Protestant Church in Venice is reopened. Retrieved February 25, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Venice: Ecumenical Christmas Service on TV. Retrieved February 25, 2018 .