418 cecilia cristellon and silvana seidel menchi
one—could have been manifested in Venice without incurring puni-
tive sanctions, even serious ones. But the Venetian inquisition was not
composed only of the three churchmen who voted in it (the nuncio, the
patriarch, and the inquisitor); beginning in 1547, three laymen (the Tre
savi all’eresia) representing the interests of the Republic also took part in
its proceedings, though only as observers and consultants. Through them,
the Signoria ensured itself the possibility to intervene in the inquisition’s
proceedings.101 if in the 16th century Protestant tendencies of any kind
met with the harshest repression (the documentation of 28 heretics given
over to the secular arm is surely incomplete), the inquisition’s position
during the next two centuries was more moderate. Judging by the surviv-
ing papers of Venice’s “court of the faith,” the most pressing danger was
Protestantism and all its ramifications. Witches, practitioners of magic,
and libertines needed to be kept under control but did not constitute real
threats. The three 18th-century cases of inquisition-mandated executions
that are known to us all refer to cases of the abuse of the sacraments: they
were, in other words, indirect testaments to a faith in the supernatural
efficacy of sacramental matter (particularly the consecrated Host). The
last death sentence was pronounced in Venice in 1724.
ConclusionThe religious history of the Republic of Venice has two key aspects. The
first of these is the institutional structure of the church in an ancien régime
italian state, with its geography of bishoprics and network of monasteries,
as well as spontaneous centers of spiritual life. This panorama is marked
by a central ecclesiastical authority (followed by the patriarch) endowed
with a special authority and constantly held under supervision, and very
often dominated by a political power reluctant to cede to Rome this instru-
ment of control over its citizens. The political training that the Venetian
ruling class gave to its own members explains the relatively high number
of Venetian patricians who rose to the papal throne. At the same time,
tensions with Rome gave a special visibility to the mystical currents that
traverse the history of Venetian culture, particularly in the 15th century.
The second aspect of Venice’s religious history consists of the discord,
resistance, and rebellions against Rome that run through the history of
101 Andrea Del Col, L’Inquisizione in Italia, pp. 342–94.