The church of Sant'Elena is a religious building in the city of Venice, located in the Castello district, at the eastern end of the city.
Built on the island of the same name, once quite distinct from the
rest of the city (before then the eastern end of Venice was the tip of
Sant'Antonio, or the current Giardini), Sant'Elena now overlooks an
extensive reclaimed area in the nineteenth century.
The first
chapel dedicated to Empress Saint Helena (that is Flavia Giulia Elena,
mother of Constantine I) was built in 1028 and entrusted to the
Augustinians, who also built a convent next to it. In 1211 the
Augustinian monk Aicardo brought the presumed body of the empress to
Venice from Constantinople. Later the Augustinians incorporated the
chapel into a larger church.
In 1407 the convent and the church
passed to the Olivetan Benedictine monks, who rebuilt it in 1439. A
century later, in 1515, the church was consecrated by the bishop of
Aleppo and became an important religious centre, with vast properties
and notable works of art .
Every year on Ascension Day, the
"Sposalizio col mare" is celebrated in Venice, a still alive ceremony
known as the "Festa della Sensa". On the morning of the feast, the
patriarch with the clergy went by gondola to the island of Sant'Elena
and was welcomed by the Olivetan monks and the abbot who offered him a
bouquet of roses. In the churchyard the lustral water was blessed which
was used to bless the ring for the wedding ceremony. Meanwhile, in the
cloister, the patriarch and the five dignitaries of his entourage were
offered a strange refreshment based on raw dried chestnuts and only
water as a drink. Upon the doge's arrival on the bucintoro, the
patriarch joined the water procession carrying the blessed water with
him and everyone continued towards the Lido where, at the mouth of the
port of San Nicolò, the wedding ceremony took place.
Under the
Napoleonic domination, in 1810, the church was deconsecrated. The urn of
Saint Helena was transported to the basilica of San Pietro di Castello
and the Renaissance portal was rebuilt on the facade of the church of
Sant'Aponal.
The church was reopened for worship in 1928 and
entrusted to the Order of the Servants of Mary. In the following years
the urn of Sant'Elena was placed again inside the sacred building, the
bell tower was rebuilt according to a project by the engineer Forlati.
The original portal was also relocated. On the other hand, the original
altarpiece of the high altar which depicted the Adoration of the Magi
with Saint Helena, by Jacopo Palma il Vecchio, was not relocated. It was
stolen in the Napoleonic era and is now located in the Pinacoteca di
Brera. In October 2016 the friars served left the parish and the church
definitively, entrusting them to the Salesian priests, already present
in the nearby parishes of Castello.
The church is in the Gothic style, the narrow gabled façade is closed
at the corners by sturdy pilasters and bordered by trilobed hanging
arches; quite anomalous is the protrusion at the top of the facade,
similar to a hanging pilaster.
The perforated mullioned windows
and the central two-tone rose window appear Gothic, while the portal
dates back to 1467 and is in Renaissance style. The portal, relocated
here in 1929, contains within the arch the monument to the sea captain
Vettore Cappello, a work by Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino, previously
attributed to Antonio Rizzo. Interesting, in the context of the early
Venetian Renaissance, is also the architectural structure with its
rudentate columns set on high bases to support the entablature and the
archivolt, both decorated with a refined succession of old-fashioned
moldings and ceilings with coffered rose windows .
The church has
a single nave, with cross vaults chained by the original twisted wooden
tie rods and supported by barbicans. The apse is polygonal on seven
sides with perforated windows with superimposed double mullioned
windows, but rebuilt in the 20th century. On the right side there are
two chapels, one erected in 1418-20, dedicated to the titular saint, the
other used as a sacristy, built by the Giustinians, is dedicated to the
Crucifix.
From inside, the numerous tombstones have disappeared,
leaving no traces except in literature and archives, including those
with the gisant figures of Pietro and Jacopo Loredan and the articulated
sepulchral monument of Bonromeo Borromeo. Likewise the marble septum
(similar to that of the Frari) which enclosed the stalls of the monastic
choir carved and inlaid with 34 city views by Sebastiano da Rovigno
probably with some authoritative intervention by Giovanni da Verona. The
two were also responsible for the sacristy wardrobes which disappeared
together with the majolica floor repeatedly bearing the Giustinian
insignia. Equally disappeared is the choir loft with the parapet
partitions painted together with the organ doors.
Of the one
hundred and two paintings listed following the suppression in 1807 for
transfer to state property or to the Viceroy, few remain. Today in the
Gallerie dell'Accademia are the polyptych of the Assumption of the
Virgin with Saints Helena, John the Baptist, Benedict and Elizabeth by
Jacopo Moranzone, the Nativity of Lazarus Bastiani and the Polyptych of
Saint Helena by Michele di Matteo while the altarpiece of the high
altar, the Adoration of the Magi with Saint Helena by Palma il Vecchio,
is located in the Pinacoteca di Brera.
The altarpiece visible
today is a replica of the "neo-Gothic" one present in the church of the
Sette Santi Fondatori of the Order of the Servants of Mary in Florence.
A low bell tower crowned by a small cupola was erected in 1558, but
was torn down when the church was deconsecrated, only to be rebuilt,
pretentiously tall, in 1950. It is about 60m high and contains a mighty
concert of 6 scaled bells diatonic B2 major, cast by the Colbachini
foundry in Padua in 1958. It was consecrated by Cardinal Patriarch
Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII. There is also another bronze
that serves as a call bell, cast by the Cavadini foundry in Verona. The
concert is the third largest in Venice after that of the Campanile di
San Marco and San Francesco della Vigna.
Following the deconsecration of 1807, the Olivetan monastery was
partially demolished, therefore, after worship in the nearby church
returned, it was connected to it. The wings adjoining the cloister from
the second half of the fifteenth century remain of the ancient convent,
on three sides with round arches, with the adjoining wing the church
characterized by a loggia with architraves. An 18th century well curb is
placed in the center of the cloister.
The complex houses an
international center for peace, dedicated to study and research. The
recovery works of the complex have been completed for a few years, now
with spaces dedicated to photographic exhibitions, catechesis and the
reopening of the patronage. Every year in May, the community of
Sant'Elena organizes a party near the church with the aim of raising
funds for humanitarian missions organized by the served fathers.