The Church of San Geremia or rather Church of San Geremia prophet since 2018 also holds the title of Sanctuary of Santa Lucia or Sanctuary of Lucia. It is located in Venice in the Cannaregio district. It is an important cult building of medieval origin, rebuilt on several occasions but in its current form only between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The structure is full of works of art. It houses various illustrious relics on which the mortal remains of Saint Lucia of Syracuse stand out, which arrived in the church in the nineteenth century, following the demolition of the church of Saint Lucia located on the site of the Venice railway station.
The church was built in the 11th century and then rebuilt several
times. As early as 1206, it housed the mortal remains of St. Magnus,
bishop of Oderzo and Eraclea, who died in 670. Indeed, he had taken
refuge here in an attempt to escape from the Lombards. The brick bell
tower (perhaps dating back to the 12th century) has two narrow
Romanesque mullioned windows at the base.
The first
reconstruction is due to the doge Sebastiano Ziani: in 1292 his
consecration took place.
Until 1615, the confraternity of the
Suffrage of the Dead gathered in front of the altar of the Blessed
Virgin of the People.
The current building was designed by Carlo
Corbellini in 1753. The first mass in the rebuilt church was celebrated
on 27 April 1760. The facades on the campo and on the Cannaregio Canal,
on the other hand, date back to 1861, the year in which the works were
finished.
From the Grand Canal, this inscription can be read on
the wall of the apse of the church:
«LUCIA VIRGIN OF SYRACUSE
MARTYR OF CHRIST IN THIS TEMPLE REST ITALY TO THE WORLD IMPLORE LIGHT
FOR PEACE»
On June 27, 1998, the church was hit by fire.
In 2018 the church was elevated to a sanctuary.
The interior of the church is characterized by the rich classical
architecture.
Very beautiful and valuable is the altar, with its
presbytery, where you can admire the statues of St. Peter the Apostle
and St. Jeremiah the Prophet, dated 1798, by Giovanni Ferrari. In the
background the monochrome work in fresco by Agostino Mengozzi Colonna
Two Angels in the Act of Supporting the Globe.
The work that
appears on the fourth altar is valuable, The virgin assists at the
coronation of Venice made by the bishop S. Magno di Palma il Giovane
Noteworthy sculptural works are the Madonna del Rosario by Giovanni
Maria Morlaiter and the Immaculate Conception by Giovanni Marchiori. In
the church there is a miraculous acheropita sculpture of Christ dating
back to the early seventeenth century.
In the church of San Geremia, following the demolition of the church
of Santa Lucia, the mortal remains of one of the best known and most
venerated saints of Christianity, Saint Lucia, Syracusan virgin and
martyr, are kept. The place is a destination for pilgrimages of the
faithful who, from all over the world, bring their veneration to the
saint.
The chapel in which we find the urn containing the remains
of the saint was built with material from the Palladian church of Santa
Lucia, demolished in 1861 to make way for the Venice railway station
which still retains its name. The remains of the saint have been kept in
the present reliquary since 11 July 1863.
In 1955 the then
Patriarch of Venice Angelo Roncalli, future Pope John XXIII, had a
silver mask placed on her face to protect it from dust.
On
November 7, 1981, some criminals stole the body of Saint Lucia from the
church, with a real action of armed robbery, asking for a ransom for her
return. The relic was later recovered by the police on the night of
December 13 of the same year, i.e. on the day on which the liturgical
memory of the Saint occurs, without any ransom being paid.
The
devotion to the relics of the Saint has recently been rekindled
following the elevation to Sanctuary of the Church of San Geremia which
popularly becomes "Santuario di Lucia".
The remains of Saint
Lucia, which due to historical vicissitudes have been found in Venice
for many centuries, are strongly requested by the population of
Syracuse, the saint's birthplace, to return to rest inside the original
tomb. During the Arab domination of Sicily the remains had been hidden
and when, in 1039, the Byzantine general Giorgio Maniace reconquered the
island, he took them to Constantinople. From here, in 1204 during the IV
Crusade, the doge Enrico Dandolo had them transferred to Venice.