History and Purpose

The Carmini School is the last of eight Grand Schools surviving in Venice dating back to the fall of the Venetian Republic (whether one refers to its founding date or to its recognition under the title of “Grand”). In fact, out of the first six Grand Schools the Carmini School was the last one to be recognized as “Grand School” (Scola Magna) by the Council of Ten was in 1767. This took place two years after the recognition of another Grand School, that of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, located in a chapel within the church of Saints John and Paul, founded in 1575 and conferred the title “Grand” in 1765.

The History of the School

The Carmini School was founded in 1 March 1594 as a “Confraternity school of laypersons under the name of the Glorious Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel” by Bernardin Soardi, originally from the province of Bergamo (Lombardy) and of the “tellarol” profession, that is a manufacturer or merchant of textiles. He was named prior of the new Confraternity during the pontificate of Clement VIII, the partriarchate of Lorenzo Priuli, and the administration of the doge Pasquale Cicogna. Initially the school had its modest headquarters and altar in the convent and church belonging to the Carmelites (of traditional observance), located in the Carmini Oval of the Dorsoduro neighbourhood. After the suppression of the Order under the command of Napoleon and the expropriation of its goods, it became the headquarters of the State Institute of Art. The historical records recount the existence of a lay Congregation or Confraternity for women, known as “Pizzocchere dei Carmini” at the end of the thirteenth century. Verylittle is known about this confraternity. Initially the confraternity met in the Carmini church, whose construction began in 1286 and continued until 1348. The church would have been open for religious services some time before then however, once the main structure was complete. It is worth noting that the sisters of the confraternity wore the scapular as a distinctive sign, which they themselves made from fabric and distributed to the devotees as an object of Marian devotion and protection. The scapular is typically worn underneath one’s clothing. It is made up of two rectangular pieces of fabric on which the images of the Blessed Virgin and Christ are found, held together by a small cord that hangs around the shoulders. This female confraternity held autonomous meetings up until 1498 in a hospice adjacent to the Carmini church, named Our Lady of Hope. In the alley besides the church (“Calle delle Pazienze”) are the homes where the women worked at this devotional practice, which was then distributed after receiving the blessed of the friars.

Bernardino Soardi was inspired to spread the devotion of the Carmelite Scapular in Venice primarily as an anti-protestant gesture. In 1593 he asked the prior general of the Carmelite Order, Giovanni Stefano Chizzola, for permission to found a lay devotional school named after Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the Carmini conventual church (of the St. Margaret parish). The concession to use the altar of the Assumption in the Carmelite church for the religious ceremonies of the members of the confraternity is recorded in the text of the mariegola which was composed by 1594.

The agreement stipulated by the notary Francesco Mondo between the school and the Carmelites of the nearby church is dated 3 March 1595. It established amongst other things the autonomy of the Confraternity with respect to the Carmelites, who conceded to the confraternity brothers a large part of the right nave of their church and the altar previously dedicated to Saint Mary Elisabeth, with the payment of an annual rental fee. This section of the church was reconstructed with painted wood and dedicated to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. It was at this same altar of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary that the confraternity sisters of the Pizzocchere met. The panel depicted by Pase Pase, representing “The Virgin in Glory and the Souls in Purgatory” (1594), was given to the church as a gift by the same artist, who is also named amongst the founders of the same school.

With the decree dated 22 September 1597 the Council of Ten authorized the foundation of the “Fraternity under the name of the Most Holy Habit of the Glorious Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.” It was placed under the authority of municipal administrators of The Most Serene Republic of Venice just as all the other schools were. The prior of the confraternity was elected by the assembly of members.

With the decree dated 27 April 1767 the Council of Ten elevated the “School of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel” from minor to Grand status, placing it under the tutelage of the Magistrate of the Inquisitors and Revisers of the Grand Schools. Women, who were not accepted at the time of the first schools, now had a place in this school. It was a unique case amongst the confraternities, originally formed as schools for penitents. The woman represented a tangible form a piety and of charity. They performed a lay initiative free of any interference on the part of the clergy. In fact, the Council of Ten opposed the management of the schools by members of the clergy on various occasions, which became known as the cause of their eventual disappearance.

With the decree dated 26 May 1807, the occupying French government suppressed all “schools and lay religious societies,” with the exception of the Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament. On 1 October 1807 the Prefect of the Adriatic allowed the Carmini School to function as a “lay group assigned to objects of devotion,” with no further obligations towards the state. The school survived precariously after 1806 as a result of serious economic problems, and was subsequently reduced to a devotional activity. The situation began to improve after 1817 thanks to the intervention of certain individuals of good will. In 1825 the Grand Guardian was once again elected, as were the members of the Chancery.

The Emperor of Austria authorized the renewal of the Carmini Confraternity institution with the decree dated 7 December 1853. The institutional regulation was approved and the organization was subsequently elevated to the status of “Arch-Confraternity.”