charity and confraternities 435
to the mainland. those who returned would be flogged, and the boatmen
who transported them would also be punished.
the measures were provisional, only in effect until the following year’s
harvest, and they clearly stated that the temporary hospitals would not
compete with the established parish-based alms distribution. neverthe-
less, the decree marked an important shift in public response to the cri-
sis: the poor had become the community’s responsibility, cared for and
financed through public taxation. as the preamble to the ordinance
stated, “there is no work that one can do in this world that is more pleas-
ing to our Lord God than to take care and responsibility of providing for
his miserable creatures.” famine, disease, and the general confusion in the
city motivated the Venetian government to act “for the praise and glory of
almighty God and the honor of this exalted republic.”44
the 1528 decree marked the Venetian government’s first attempt to
eliminate begging and mandated a communal tax to raise funds for the
public relief. Given the exceptional nature of the decree, Venetian nobles
justified the new policies with reference to the famine and threat of dis-
ease and also the city’s reputation. the public begging and aggressive
solicitations for alms in the streets brought “great ignominy to this city,
which is a scandalous thing and a bad example.”45 the emergency legisla-
tion of 1528 was reissued a year later with a more concise objective and
stricter mechanisms of enforcement. the second decree of 3 april 1529
clearly articulated the well-established Catholic theology of welfare.
Charity is, without any doubt, to be considered the most important form
of good work, and it must always be practiced towards our neighbors. as
is everyone’s duty, we must look to the interests of the poor and the health
of the sick and offer food to the hungry; and never should we fail to extend
our aid and favor to those who can earn their bread in the sweat of their
brow. these things we must do in order to please our supreme and almighty
God, who will bring to perfection every well-conceived and well-intentioned
undertaking; in order to root out a wicked custom and an evil way of life,
in the form of begging and cheating, to which so many people resort in this
noble city, bringing some notoriety to Venice; and in order to enhance the
good name of this well-ordered republic. We must neglect no method of
promoting such an important enterprise.4644 sanuto, I Diarii, vol. 47, col. 81.
45 sanuto, I Diarii, vol. 47, col. 81.
46 the Venetian senate decree of 3 april 1529 is translated in Chambers and Pullan,
Venice, pp. 303–06, quotation pp. 303–04.