Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 165, Scola Levantina, Venice

(Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am staying in Venice this week, spending a few days at the Hotel San Cassiano in the Ca’ Favretto in the Santa Croce district just a few minutes’ walk from Rialto, and celebrating some important family birthdays and anniversaries.

Before the day begins, I have taken a little time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. Each morning in the time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

As part of my reflections and this prayer diary this week, my photographs are from the ghetto in Venice. I am looking at each of the five historic synagogues in the Ghetto in turn this week. My photograph this morning (10 November 2021) are from the Scola Levantina, founded in 1541 by the Levantine Sephardi communities.

The Scola Levantina was founded by the Levantine Sephardi communities in 1541 and is one of five surviving synagogues in the Ghetto. The Levantine Jews who arrived by the mid-16th century brought different customs of worship and dress that contrasted with the more modest Ashkenazi communities. They were followed by Roman Jews in 1575 and Sephardic Jews in 1589.

The Scola Levantina was restored in the 17th century by Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732), from Belluno, the most famous wood sculptor in Venice at the time.

A beautiful bimah stands on a high base, finely worked in flower motifs. Other motifs twist round the two columns, recalling Solomon’s Temple. The Aron haKodesh (Holy Ark) facing it dates from 1782; it is marked by its simplicity and is enclosed by a brass gate dated 1786.

High up, along the entrance hall, the women’s gallery was once screened by lattices. The Dutch chandeliers, brass candlesticks and silver lamps at the Ark help to harmonise the interior of this synagogue.

Luke 17: 11-19 (NRSVA):

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 14 When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19 Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (10 November 2021) invites us to pray:

We pray for university chaplains and the work they do to support and comfort students. May they in turn be supported to carry out this important work.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘Don’t feed the gondolas’ and don’t ask gondoliers to sing ‘O Sole Mio’

Gondolas facing Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

There is an apocryphal story of an opera set in Venice coming to the festival in Wexford one year and inspiring one town councillor to suggest promoting the theme by putting a Gondola in the Crescent.

Not to be outdone, a second councillor asked why two gondolas could not be found for the Crescent – feeding two would probably be as cheap as feeding one.

‘Don’t be foolish,’ interjected a third councillor. ‘They’d probably fall in love and fly off with each other. Then where we find a third Gone doh-lah.’

But the original proposer was not to be outdone. ‘Sure if they fell in love we could breed them, and have them for the festival every year.’

The traditional Gondolas of Venice are elegant and are found throughout the city, particularly along the Grand Canal between Rialto and Saint Mark’s Square, and even along many of the minor canals.

The Gondola is both symbolic and representative of Venice, a unique example of nautical engineering that has endured for centuries. These black boats are known all over the world as symbols of Venice, yet they also truly carry the symbols of the city themselves.

Those symbols are found in the iron prow-head of the gondola. It looks like a comb at the front of each boat and has the function of balancing the boat. But, in fact, its shape is not random at all.

Il Fero – the symbol of the Gondola – is the metal ornament found at the bow or the front of the Gondola. Its precise design is imbued with many traditional references.

The S-shape of the fero represents the twists of the Grand Canal. The five forward facing teeth correspond to the six districts of Venice: San Marco, San Polo, Sante Croce, Castello, Dorsoduro, and Cannaregio, while the sixth tooth facing inwards represents Giudecca. In between, there are ingots representing three of the larger islands in the lagoon: Murano, Burano Torcello.

The curved top end symbolises the Doge’s hat; the arch below it represents the Rialto Bridge, and the space below it the quayside at Saint Mark’s Square.

Gondolas are made in the Squero, a small shipyard where smaller wooden boats are made by Ascia or Masters that transmit there artistry to future generations.

Eight different types of wood are used in building an authentic Venetian Gondola and there are a total of 280 parts. In fact, more than 500 hours are needed to make this masterpiece, which is 11 meters long and weighs more than 600 kg. To navigate over the countless shifting sandbars, the boats are flat, with no keel or rudder, and the gondoliers stand up to see their way through very shallow waters.

But it was only this week that I realised that the Gondola is crooked in shape. The Gondola is built asymmetrical, with the left side wider than the right side by 24 cm, so that an oar thrusting from that side sends the gondola in a straight line. This also allows the gondolier to perfectly balance as he rows on just one side of the Gondola, using these single oars both to propel and to steer the boats.

Venice has about 400 working Gondolas today. But they used only by tourists. A Gondola ride lasts about 40 minutes and costs about €80, or €100 at night, although prices for group excursions may be negotiable.

Not only should you not try to feed the gondolas, you should not ask a gondolier to sing O Sole Mio – the song comes from Naples, not Venice – even if you did hear it in the streets of Wexford during the Festival.

Gondolas waiting for tourists below Rialto Bridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)