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The
Gesuati (1392 – 1668)
Some friars from Siena arrive in Venice towards the end of
the fourteenth century. Giovanni Colombini, a rich merchant
of Siena, determined to devote himself to the cure of poor
and ill people and founded with some of his companions a lay
movement: the Gesuati, whose name derives from their frequent
invoking the name of Jesus.
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The
Gesuati settled in Venice towards 1390, at Saint Giustina,
then at Saint Agnese and finally at Saint Gerolamo where,
thanks to a donation of the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga I, they
could build a monastery in 1423 getting the official investiture
from Pope Alexander VI (“Jesuates of Saint Gerolamo”). |
The
ground of the ancient building was located between Giudecca
Canal south and Rio della Carità north-west where all
around a plain cloister there were the cells and an oratory.
The latter, being no longer sufficient, was enlarged and modified
since 1494. The church took its definitive configuration which
can be still admired nowadays.
The church was dedicated to Saint Maria della Visitazione
by the Bishop John of Tiberiade on the 21ST December 1524.
The order of Jesuates was abolished by Pope Clement IX on
the 6th December 1668 and their possessions were confiscated
by the Republic of Venice, then engaged in fighting against
the Turks. |
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The
Dominican Fathers (1669-1810)
In 1669 the monastery and the church were bought by
the Dominican Observers who started the construction
of a new church (1726), Saint Maria del Rosario, which
would replace the church of Saint Maria della Visitazione,
then turned into a library.
The works of the new church were commissioned to the
architect Giorgio Massari with the consequent restauration
of the sixteenth monastery. The construction of the
church was completed in 1743 and the solemn consecration
took place on the 29th of September. |
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Between
1745 and 1749 Giorgio Massari provided the first plans for
the erection of a new monastery; for this reason new grounds
belonging to the School of Saint John (Evangelist) were bought
and Rio della Carità was partially covered.
Massari’s works for the construction of the new monastery
began in 1751 and ended in 1757, although the building remained
unfinished.
The Dominican Fathers stayed at the monastery delle Zattere
till 1810 when a decree issued by Napoleon established the
abolition and confiscation of their possessions.
From 1815 to 1850 the building was led by the Autorità
Civili that gave it to a group of orphan children. |
The
Somaschi (1851-1866)
In 1851 the Venetian Municipio, in agreement with Austrian
Authority, that ruled Lombardo-Veneto, trusted the direction
of the Orphanage to the Congregation of the Chierici Regolari
Somaschi, founded by Saint Gerolamo Emiliani, one of the most
important Venetian saints, who first had brought up the orphans
of the city.
The old church of Saint Maria della Visitazione adjacent to
the Orphanage was restaured as a sacred place.
The Somaschi friars did not stay here very long for their
Congregation ended in 1866. |
The
Congregation of Charity (1867-1923)
This lay establishment, whose pupose was still educational,
bought the property of the whole building thus continuing
the assistance to orphan children until 1923. |
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The
Work of Don Orione
On the 4th of August 1923 Don Orione, a priest, bought
the whole building where he kept on helping orphans
and little chidren living in difficult family situations
at the request of Patriarch Pietro La Fontaine, who
had also cared for the preservation of the fine church
of Saint Maria della Visitazione. |
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Since
1923 onwards under the wise, paternal direction first of don
Sterpi and don Pensa, and then of don Piccardo and other valuable,
careful priests, the Institute became with its technical schools
a point of reference for hundreds of young people looking
for an honest job; that’s why the name “Istituto
Artigianelli”.
This kind of boarding-school continued till about 1980 when,
in order to meet the new tendencies and numerous requests
of students who daily attended university faculties even from
distant places, the building passed from children assistance
to student boarding.
In the nineties a part of the building was arranged as religious
boarding putting up organized groups, families, single persons;
more generally speaking acquaintances and friends of Don Orione’s
Work. |
