Saint LORENZO GIUSTINIANI (LAURENT JUSTINIEN), évêque et confesseur

Giovanni Marchiori. Statue de Saint Laurent Justinien, 

Église San Rocco, Venise

St Laurent Justinien (+1455)

 Fêté le 05 septembre

Originaire d’une famille vénitienne, Laurent Justinien perd très tôt son père. Sa mère reste à 24 ans avec cinq enfants. Elle voudrait bien marier ce fils, mais il choisit d’entrer dans une communauté de chanoines réguliers où il vit dans la pauvreté et la prière. Elu prieur général de sa congrégation, il sera appelé par le Pape Eugène IV à devenir évêque de Castello, puis de Venise. Il y garde un mode de vie très pauvre, s’occupe avec zèle de son diocèse dont il est le premier patriarche nommé. Par sa prédication et son enseignement théologique, il donne une grande impulsion à sa communauté, accueillant tout le monde avec bonté et simplicité.

Il faut éviter les affaires trop compliquées. Il y a toujours du démon dans les complications.

(Saint Laurent Justinien – Perles de sagesse)

La véritable science tient dans ces deux propositions : Dieu est tout. Je ne suis rien !

(Saint Laurent Justinien – Perles de sagesse)

SOURCE : https://eglise.catholique.fr/saint-du-jour/05/09/saint-laurent-justinien/

Svatý Vavřinec Giustiniani. Freska č. 26, kostel Nejsvětější Trojice, Fulnek, Česko, Evropa.

Saint Lorenzo Giustiniani. Fresco No. 26, Most Holy Trinity Church, Fulnek, Czechia, Europe.

Sankta Laŭrenco Giustiniani. Fresko n-ro 26, kirko de la Plej Sankta Triunuo, Fulnek, Ĉeĥujo, Eŭropo.

St Laurent Justinien, évêque et confesseur

Né en 1381, sacré évêque le 5 septembre 1433, mort patriarche de Venise en 1455. Canonisé en 1690, fête depuis 1692.

(Leçons des Matines (avant 1960) 

Quatrième leçon. Laurent, né à Venise de l’illustre famille des Justinien, montra dès son enfance une très grande gravité de mœurs. Les pratiques d’une piété fervente sanctifièrent son adolescence, et l’appel de la Sagesse divine ayant convié son âme aux chastes fiançailles du Christ, il s’appliqua à connaître dans quel institut religieux il se consacrerait à Dieu. Voulant donc se préparer en secret à cette nouvelle milice, il se mit, entre autres mortifications, à coucher sur des planches nues. Un jour qu’il considérait, d’une part les plaisirs du monde et une alliance négociée par sa mère à son intention, et d’autre part les rudes austérités du cloître, il jeta les yeux sur la croix du Christ souffrant et s’écria : « C’est vous, Seigneur, qui êtes mon espérance, et c’est en vous que se trouve la consolation et la force. » Laurent dirigea ses pas vers la communauté des Chanoines de Saint-Georges in Alga, où, ingénieux à trouver de nouveaux moyens de se mortifier, il engagea contre lui-même le plus opiniâtre des combats, comme s’il se fût agi de son ennemi le plus redoutable. Ne s’accordant aucune satisfaction, il s’interdit même l’entrée du jardin de la maison paternelle, et ne franchit jamais le seuil de cette demeure, si ce n’est pour remplir auprès de sa mère mourante les derniers devoirs de la piété, ce qu’il fit sans verser de larmes. Égal à son esprit de pénitence se montrait son zèle pour la pratique de l’obéissance, de la douceur et surtout de l’humilité, qui lui faisait rechercher les emplois les plus abjects du monastère, mendier dans les endroits les plus fréquentés de la ville, en y recueillant moins de vivres que de moqueries, et supporter, impassible et silencieux, les injures ainsi que les calomnies. C’était principalement dans une oraison assidue, où souvent l’extase le ravissait en Dieu, que s’enflammait la grande ardeur dont son cœur brûlait, ardeur telle qu’elle excitait à la persévérance les frères chancelants et les embrasait d’amour pour Jésus-Christ 

Cinquième leçon. Désigné par Eugène IV pour occuper le siège épiscopal de Venise, Laurent fit tous ses efforts pour décliner cette dignité, dont il remplit les devoirs d’une manière digne des plus grands éloges. Il ne changea absolument rien à son genre de vie accoutumé ; conserva dans ses repas, ses meubles et son coucher, la même pauvreté qu’il avait toujours pratiquée et ne prit qu’un petit nombre de domestiques, disant qu’il possédait une grande famille, les pauvres du Christ. A quelque heure du jour qu’on l’abordât, il était tout à tous, prodiguant à chacun sa charité paternelle et n’hésitant même pas à se charger de dettes pour venir en aide à l’indigence du prochain. Quand on lui demandait sur quoi il comptait : « Sur mon Seigneur, qui pourra facilement acquitter mes dettes, répondait-il. » Sa confiance n’avait jamais été trompée par la divine Providence, comme le montraient les secours inespérés qui lui arrivaient. Il construisit plusieurs monastères de vierges, qu’il forma par sa vigilance à la pratique de la vie parfaite, s’appliqua avec grand soin à arracher les dames aux pompes du siècle et à la vanité des parures, et n’apporta pas moins d’ardeur à la réforme de la discipline et des mœurs dans le clergé, se montrant digne assurément d’être proclamé par le Pape Eugène III, devant les Cardinaux, la gloire et l’honneur de l’épiscopat, et d’être nommé par Nicolas V, son successeur, le premier Patriarche de Venise, quand ce titre eut été transféré de Grado dans cette cité. 

Sixième leçon. Favorisé du don des larmes, Laurent offrait chaque jour au Dieu tout-puissant l’hostie de propitiation. Une fois même, la nuit de la Nativité du Seigneur, en accomplissant les saints Mystères, il mérita de contempler Jésus-Christ sous la forme d’un gracieux petit enfant. Si grande était l’efficacité de ses prières pour le troupeau confié à ses soins, que la République devait son salut à l’intercession et au mérite de son Pontife, d’après un témoignage qu’en a rendu le ciel. Doué de l’esprit prophétique, il prédit plusieurs fois des événements qu’on ne pouvait humainement prévoir. Ses prières eurent souvent pour effet de guérir les malades et de chasser les démons. Il composa des ouvrages remplis d’une doctrine toute céleste et respirant la piété, bien qu’il sût à peine les règles du style. Enfin une maladie mortelle étant venue l’atteindre, comme ses domestiques lui préparaient un lit plus commode pour un vieillard et pour un malade, il refusa des soulagements qui lui semblaient trop contraster avec la très dure croix sur laquelle avait expiré son Seigneur, et voulut qu’on le déposât sur sa couche habituelle. Puis voyant sa fin approcher, il leva les yeux au ciel, et dit ces paroles : « Je vais à vous, ô bon Jésus. » Et le huitième jour du mois de janvier, il s’endormit dans le Seigneur. Sa mort fut précieuse devant Dieu. Ce qui le prouve ce sont les concerts angéliques entendus par des religieux Chartreux ; c’est aussi la conservation de son saint corps, qui demeura dans toute son intégrité et sans trace de corruption, exhalant une odeur suave, conservant un visage vermeil, durant plus de deux mois qu’il resta sans sépulture ; ce sont enfin les nouveaux miracles qui suivirent cette mort. En considération de ces prodiges, le souverain Pontife Alexandre VIII l’inscrivit au nombre des Saints, et Innocent XII fixa la célébration de sa Fête au cinq septembre, jour où le Saint était monté sur la chaire épiscopale

SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/05-09-St-Laurent-Justinien-eveque

Il Pordenone  (1484–1539). Le Bienheureux Lorenzo Giustiniani entre deux moines et Saint Louis de Toulouse, saint Francois d'Assise, saint Bernard et saint Jean Baptiste, 1532, Gallerie dell'Accademia de Venise

Saint Laurent Justinien

Premier patriarche de Venise (✝ 1455)

Originaire d'une famille vénitienne, il perd très tôt son père. Sa mère reste à 24 ans avec cinq enfants. Elle voudrait bien marier ce fils, mais il choisit d'entrer dans une communauté de chanoines réguliers où il vit dans la pauvreté et la prière. 

Élu prieur général de sa congrégation, il sera appelé par le Pape Eugène IV à devenir évêque de Castello, puis de Venise. Il y garde un mode de vie très pauvre, s'occupe avec zèle de son diocèse dont il est le premier patriarche nommé. 

Par sa prédication et son enseignement théologique, il donne une grande impulsion à sa communauté, accueillant tout le monde avec bonté et simplicité.

Martyrologe romain au 8 janvier: À Venise, en 1456, saint Laurent Justinien, évêque, premier patriarche de cette église, qu'il illustra par sa doctrine de la sagesse éternelle.

Martyrologe romain

Il faut éviter les affaires trop compliquées. Il y a toujours du démon dans les complications.

saint Laurent Justinien - Perles de sagesse

SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1802/Saint-Laurent-Justinien.html

Plaque to Lorenzo Giustiniani (1551) in the Giustiniani chapel inside the church of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, December 8 2007.

SAINT LAURENT JUSTINIEN, ÉVÊQUE ET CONFESSEUR.

VENEZ, vous tous que sollicite l'attrait du bien immuable, et qui vainement le demandez à ce siècle qui passe; je vous dirai ce que le ciel a fait pour moi. Comme vous jadis je cherchais fiévreusement ; et ce monde extérieur ne donnait point satisfaction à mon désir brûlant. Mais, par la divine grâce qui nourrissait mon angoisse, enfin m'est apparue, plus belle que le soleil, plus suave que le baume, Celle dont alors le nom m'était ignoré. Venant à moi, combien son visage, était doux !combien pacifiante était sa voix, me disant : « O toi dont la jeunesse est toute pleine de l'amour que je t'inspire, pourquoi répandre ainsi ton cœur ? La paix que tu cherches par tant de sentiers divers est avec moi; ton désir sera comblé, je t'en donne ma foi : si, cependant, tu veux de moi pour épouse. » J'avoue qu'à ces mots défaillit mon cœur ; mon âme fut transpercée du trait de son amour. Comme toutefois je désirais savoir son nom, sa dignité, son origine, die me dit qu'elle se nommait la Sagesse de Dieu, laquelle, invisible d'abord au sein du Père, avait pris d'une Mère une nature visible pour être plus facilement aimée. Alors, en grande allégresse, je lui donnai consentement; et elle, me donnant le baiser, se retira joyeuse.

« Depuis, la flamme de son amour a été croissant, absorbant mes pensées. Ses délices durent toujours; c'est mon épouse bien-aimée, mon inséparable compagne. Par elle, la paix que je cherchais fait maintenant ma joie. Aussi, écoutez-moi, vous tous : allez à elle de même; car elle met son bonheur à ne rebuter personne (1). »

Lisons l'histoire de celui qui vient de nous livrer dans ces lignes le secret du ressort de sa vie.

Laurent naquit à Venise de l'illustre famille des Justiniani. Il montra dès l'enfance une gravité rare. Son adolescence se passait dans les exercices de la piété, lorsque, invité par In Sagesse divine aux noces très pures du Verbe et de l'âme, il conçut la pensée d'embrasser l'état religieux. C'est pourquoi, préludant secrètement à cette milice nouvelle, il affligeait son corps en différentes manières et couchait sur la planche nue. Puis, comme un arbitre appelé à prononcer, il prenait séance entre, d'une part, les austérités du cloître, de l'autre, les douceurs du siècle et le mariage que lui préparait sa mère ; alors, tournant les yeux vers la croix du Christ souffrant : «C'est vous, disait-il, Seigneur, qui êtes mon espérance ; c'est là que vous avez placé pour moi votre asile très sûr. »  Ce fut vers la  congrégation  des chanoines  de  Saint-Georges in Alga que le porta sa ferveur. On l'y vit inventer de nouveaux tourments pour sévir plus durement contre lui-même, se déclarant une guerre d'ennemi  acharné, ne  se permettant aucun plaisir. Plus jamais il n'entra dans le  jardin de sa famille, ni  dans la maison paternelle, si ce n'est pour rendre les derniers devoirs à sa  mère  mourante, ce qu'il fit sans une larme. Non moindre était son zèle pour l'obéissance,  la  douceur, l'humilité  surtout : il allait au-devant des offices les plus abjects du monastère; il se plaisait à  mendier par les lieux les plus fréquentés de la ville, cherchant moins la nourriture que l'opprobre ; les injures, les calomnies  ne  pouvaient l'émouvoir ni lui l'aire rompre le silence. Son  grand secours était dans  la  prière  continuelle; souvent l'extase le ravissait en Dieu; telle était l'ardeur dont brûlait son âme, qu'elle embrasait ses compagnons, les prémunissant contre la défaillance, les affermissant dans la persévérance et  l'amour  de Jésus-Christ.

Elevé par Eugène IV à l'épiscopat de sa patrie, l'effort qu'il fit pour décliner  l'honneur ne fut  dépassé que par le mérite avec lequel il s'acquitta de la charge. Il ne changea en rien sa manière de vivre, gardant jusqu'à la fin pour la table, le lit, l'ameublement, la pauvreté qu'il avait toujours pratiquée. Il ne retenait à ses gages qu'un personnel réduit de familiers, disant qu'il avait une autre grande famille, par laquelle il entendait les pauvres du Christ. Quelle que fût l'heure, on le trouvait toujours abordable ; sa paternelle charité se donnait a tous, n'hésitant pas à s'endetter pour soulager la misère. Comme on lui demandait sur quelles ressources il comptait, ce faisant, il répondait : « Sur celles de mon Seigneur, qui pourra facilement payer pour moi. » Et toujours, par les secours les plus inattendus, la Providence divine justifiait sa confiance. Il bâtit plusieurs monastères de vierges, et forma diligemment leurs habitantes à marcher dans les voies de la vie parfaite. Son zèle s'employa à détourner les matrones vénitiennes des pompes du siècle et des vaines parures, comme à réformer la discipline ecclésiastique et les mœurs. Aussi fût-ce à bon droit que le même Eugène IV l'appela, en présence des cardinaux, la gloire et l'honneur de la prélature.  Ce  fut également pour reconnaître son mérite, que le successeur d'Eugène, Nicolas V, ayant transféré le titre patriarcal de Grado à Venise, l'institua premier patriarche de cette ville.

Honoré du don des larmes, il offrait tous les jours au Dieu tout-puissant l'hostie d'expiation. C'est en s'en acquittant une fois dans la nuit  de la Nativité du Seigneur, qu'il mérita  de voir sous l'aspect d'un très bel enfant le Christ Jésus. Efficace était sa garde autour du bercail à lui confié; un jour, on sut du ciel que l'intercession et les mérites du Pontife avaient sauvé la république. Eclairé de l'esprit de prophétie, il annonça d'avance plusieurs événements que  nul homme ne pouvait  prévoir. Maintes fois ses  prières mirent en fuite maladies et démons. Bien qu'il n'eût presque point étudié la grammaire, il a laissé des livres remplis d'une céleste doctrine  et respirant l'amour.  Cependant la maladie qui devait l'enlever de ce  monde venait de l'atteindre; ses gens lui préparaient un lit plus commode pour sa vieillesse et son infirmité ; mais lui, manifestant  sa  répulsion pour des délices trop peu en rapport avec  la dure croix de son  Seigneur mourant, voulut qu'on le déposât sur sa couche ordinaire. Sentant venue la fin de sa vie : « Je viens à vous, ô bon Jésus ! » dit-il, les yeux levés au ciel. Ce fut le huit janvier qu'il s'endormit dans le Seigneur. Combien sa mort avait été précieuse, c'est ce qu'attestèrent les concerts angéliques entendus par plu sieurs Chartreux, et la conservation de son saint corps qui , pendant plus de deux mois que la sépulture en fut différée, demeura sans corruption, avec les couleurs de la vie et exhalant un suave parfum. D'autres miracles suivirent aussi cette mort, lesquels amenèrent le Souverain Pontife Alexandre VIII à l'inscrire au nombre des Saints. Innocent XII désigna pour sa fête le cinquième jour de septembre, où il avait été d'abord élevé sur la chaire des pontifes.

O Sagesse qui résidez sur votre trône sublime, Verbe par qui tout fut fait, soyez-moi propice dans la manifestation des secrets de votre saint amour (2). » C'était, Laurent, votre prière, lorsque craignant d'avoir à répondre du talent caché si vous gardiez pour vous seul ce qui pouvait profitera plusieurs (3), vous résolûtes de divulguer d'augustes mystères. Soyez béni d'avoir voulu nous faire partager le secret des cieux. Par la lecture de vos dévots ouvrages, par votre intercession

près de Dieu, attirez-nous vers les hauteurs comme la flamme purifiée qui ne sait plus que monter toujours. Pour l'homme, c'est déchoir de sa noblesse native que de chercher son repos ailleurs qu'en Celui dont il est l'image (4). Tout ici-bas n'est que pour nous traduire l'éternelle beauté, nous apprendre à l'aimer, chanter avec nous notre amour (5).

Quelles délices ne furent pas les vôtres, à ces sommets de la charité, voisins du ciel, où conduisent les sentiers de la vérité qui sont les vertus (6) ! C'est bien de vous-même en cette vie mortelle que vous faites le portrait, quand vous dites de l'âme admise à l'ineffable intimité de la Sagesse du Père : Tout lui profite; où qu'elle se tourne, elle n'aperçoit qu'étincelles d'amour; au-dessous d'elle, le monde qu'elle a méprisé se dépense à servir sa flamme; sons, spectacles, suavités, parfums, aliments délectables, concerts de la terre et rayonnement des cieux, elle n'entend plus, elle ne voit plus dans la nature entière qu'une harmonie d'épithalame et le décor de la fête où le Verbe l'a épousée (7). Oh! puissions-nous marcher comme vous à la divine lumière, vivre d'union et de désir, aimer plus toujours, pour toujours être aimé davantage.

1.      Laurent. Justinian. Fasciculus amoris, cap. XVI.

2.      2. De casto connubio Verbi  et  animée. Proœmium.

3.      3. Ibid.

4.      4. De castoconnubio Verbi et animae, cap. I.

5.      5. Ibid. cap. XXV.

6.      6. Ibid. —

7.      7. Ibid.

SOURCE : http://abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/gueranger/anneliturgique/pentecote/pentecote05/012.htm

Lorenzo : Giustiniani. De disciplina et perfectione monastica conversationis. Dottrina della vita monastica. - [Venezia] : [Bernardino Benali], Anno MCCCCLXXXXIIII […] a XX de octobrio del anno supra notato. - 114 c. ; [a-n⁸, o¹⁰] ; 4º. - Alcune copie hanno il titolo stampato sopra l'incisione a c. 1r (BMC) Anno MCCCCLXXXXIIII […] a XX de octobrio del anno supra notato AD

SAINT LAURENT JUSTINIEN

Patriarche de Venise

(1381-1455)

Saint Laurent Justinien naquit à Venise. On remarqua en lui, dès son enfance, une docilité peu commune. Sa pieuse mère le grondait quelques fois pour le prémunir contre l'orgueil, le tenir dans l'humilité et le porter à ce qu'il y avait de plus parfait. Il répondait alors qu'il tâcherait de mieux faire, et qu'il ne désirait rien tant que de devenir un Saint. Une vision de la Sagesse éternelle le porta vers la vocation religieuse; il s'y essaya d'abord par la pénitence, coucha sur le bois ou la terre nue, et brisa son corps par les macérations. Laurent ne tarda pas à s'enfuir chez les chanoines réguliers de Saint-Georges-d'Alga, où il prit l'habit.

Ses premiers pas dans la vie religieuse montrèrent en lui le modèle de tous ses frères: jamais de récréations non nécessaires, jamais de feu, jamais de boisson en dehors des repas, fort peu de nourriture, de sévères disciplines: c'était là sa règle. Quand, par une grande chaleur, on lui proposait de boire: "Si nous ne pouvons supporter la soif, disait-il, comment supporterons-nous le feu du purgatoire?" Il dut subir une opération par le fer et par le feu; aucune plainte ne sortit de sa bouche: "Allons, disait-il au chirurgien dont la main tremblait, coupez hardiment; cela ne vaut pas les ongles de fer avec lesquels on déchirait les martyrs." – "Allons quêter des mépris, disait-il à son compagnon de quête, lorsqu'il y avait quelque avanie à souffrir; nous n'avons rien fait, si nous n'avons renoncé au monde." À un frère qui se lamentait parce que le grenier de la communauté avait brûlé: "Pourquoi donc, dit-il, avons-nous fait le voeu de pauvreté? Cet incendie est une grâce de Dieu pour nous!"

Il ne célébrait jamais la Sainte Messe sans larmes, et souvent il y était favorisé de ravissements. Ses vertus l'élevèrent d'abord aux fonctions de général de son Ordre, puis au patriarcat de Venise, malgré ses supplications et ses larmes. Il parut aussi admirable pontife qu'il avait été saint religieux; son zèle lui attira des injures qu'il reçut avec joie; sa charité le faisait bénir de tous les pauvres; sa ponctualité ne laissait jamais attendre personne, sa bonté agréait tout le monde: il était regardé de tous comme un ange sur la terre. Après de longs travaux, il sentit sa fin prochaine: "Un chrétien, dit-il, après saint Martin, doit mourir sur la cendre et le cilice."

Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.

SOURCE : https://livres-mystiques.com/partieTEXTES/Jaud_Saints/calendrier/Vies_des_Saints/09-05.htm

Lapide dedicata a Lorenzo Giustiniani, Sant'Agostino

St. Lawrence Justinian

Bishop and first Patriarch of Venice, b. in 1381, and d. 8 January, 1456. He was a descendant of the Giustiniani, a Venetian patrician family which numbered several saints among its members. Lawrence's pious mother sowed the seeds of a devout religious life in the boy's youth. In 1400 when he was about nineteen years old, he entered the monastery of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine on the Island of Alga near Venice. In spite of his youth he excited admiration by his poverty, mortifications, and fervour in prayer. At that time the convent was changed into a congregation of secular canons living in community. After his ordination in 1406 Lawrence was chosen prior of the community, and shortly after that general of the congregation. He gave them their constitution, and was so zealous in spreading the same that he was looked upon as the founder. His reputation for saintliness as well as his zeal for souls attracted the notice of Eugene IV and on 12 May, 1433, he was raised to the Bishopric of Castello. The newprelate restored churches, established new parishes in Venice, aided the foundation of convents, and reformed the life of the canons. But above all he was noted for his Christian charity and his unbounded liberality. All the money he could raise he bestowed upon the poor, while he himself led a life of simplicity and poverty. He was greatly respected both in Italy and elsewhere by the dignitaries of both Church and State. He tried to foster the religious life by his sermons as well as by his writings. The Diocese of Castello belonged to the Patriarchate of Grado. On 8 October, 1451, Nicholas V united the See of Castello with the Patriarchate of Grado, and the see of the patriarch was transferred to Venice, and Lawrence was named the first Patriarch of Venice, and exercised his office till his death somewhat more than four years later. His beatification was ratified by Clement VII in 1524, and he was canonized in 1690 by Alexander VIII. Innocent XII appointed 5 September for the celebration of his feast. The saint's asceticalwritings have often been published, first in Brescia in 1506, later in Paris in 1524, and in Basle in 1560, etc. We are indebted to his nephew, Bernardo Giustiniani, for his biography.

Sources

BERNARDUS JUSTINIANUS, Opusculum de vita beati Laurentii Justiniani (Venice, 1574); SURIUS, De vitis sanctorum, ed. 1618, I, 126-35; Acta SS., January, I, 551-63; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina, ed. BOLLANDISTS, II, 1708; Bullarium Romanum, ed. TAURIN., V, 107 sqq.; EUBEL, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi, II, 134-290; ROSA, Summorum Pontificum, illustrium virorum . . . de b. Laurentii Justiniani vita, sanctitate ac miraculis testimoniorum centuria (Venice, 1614); BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, III (Baltimore, 1844), 416-422; REGAZZI, Note storiche edite ed inedite di S. Lorenzo Giustiniani (Venice, 1856); CUCITO, S. Lorenzo Giustiniani, primo patriarca di Venezia (Venice, 1895).

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Lawrence Justinian." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 8 Jan. 2018 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09091a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. O Saint Lawrence, and all ye holy Pastors, pray for us.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09091a.htm

Portrait de Saint Laurent Justinien, vers 1622, 100 X 74, Madonna dell'Orto

Saint Lawrence Giustiniani

Also known as

• Lawrence Justinian
• Laurence…
• Laurentius…
• Lorenzo…
• Patriarch of Venice

Memorial

• 8 January
• formerly 5 September (based on the date of his ordination)

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Born to the Venetian nobility; his ancestors had fled Constantinople for political reasons. Against his widowed mother‘s wishes, he chose against marriage and for the religious life. Augustinian canon regular at San Giorgio, Alga, Italy in 1400. Spent his days wandering the island, begging for the poor. Ordained in 1406. Noted preacher and teacher of the faith. Held assorted administrative positions within his Order. Reluctant bishop of Castello, Italy in 1433. General of the canons regular. Bishop of Grado, Italy in 1451; the see was then moved to Venice, Italy, and Laurence was named archbishop and patriarch by Pope Nicholas V. Noted writer on mystical contemplation. Had the gift of prophecy. Miracle worker.

Born

• 1 September 1381 at Venice, Italy

Died

• 8 January 1455 at Venice, Italy of natural causes
• interred at the basilica of San Pietro di Castello, Venice

Canonized

• 16 October 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII

Patronage

• Venice, Italy

Additional Information

• Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
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• Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein,/li>
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MLA Citation

• “Saint Lawrence Giustiniani“. CatholicSaints.Info. 28 December 2020. Web. 8 January 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lawrence-giustiniani/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lawrence-giustiniani/

Francesco Fontebasso. " Saint-Léonard entre Laurent Justinien, St André et St Nicolas",  Église San Salvador à Venise,

Francesco Fontebasso. "San Leonardo tra i santi Lorenzo Giustiniani, Andrea apostolo e Nicolo". Chiesa di San Salvador Venezia.

Francesco Fontebasso."St Leonard between Lawrence Giustiniani, Andrew the Apostle and Saint Nicholas". Church of San Salvador, in Venice.

Laurence Giustiniani (Lawrence Justinian) B (RM)

Born at Venice, Italy, July 1, 1381; died in Venice on January 8, 1456; canonized in 1670; feast day formerly January 8; September 4 was the date of his episcopal consecration.

Saint Laurence was born into a prominent Venetian family that had produced important scholars, statesmen, prelates, and saints. Although his father, Bernard Giustiniani, died while he was still young, his pious mother lived only for her children and ensured they had an excellent education. From the cradle she recognized in Laurence an uncommon docility and generosity of soul that might point to a religious vocation, yet she desired to keep him for herself.

When he was 19, Laurence had a vision of the Eternal Wisdom in the guise of a maiden encircled with light. She invited him to seek her with happiness, rather than satiate his baser lusts. The youth confided his vision to his uncle, Marino Querino, an Augustinian canon of San Giorgio on Alga Island one mile from Venice. Don Querino recommended that he take on the austerities of a monk at home, that is, try on the role of a religious by putting aside honors, riches, and worldly pleasures, before entering religious life. His mother feared he would damage his health and tried to divert him by arranging a marriage.

Heeding his uncle's advice, he refused his mother's wish for him to marry and instead joined Querino in the monastery. As a young monk, he practice the most severe austerities and went about the city with a sack over his should to beg alms and food for the community. In 1406, Laurence was ordained to the priesthood and made prior of San Giorgio. His deep prayer life that often led to raptures and his spirit of penance provided him with experiential knowledge of the paths of the interior life and a wonderful ability to direct souls. The tears that he shed while offering Mass strongly affected all who assisted and awakened in them a renewed faith.

Thereafter he was general of the congregation, which at the time of his entry into the position had adopted a different rule. Laurence completed this rule by writing its constitutions, so that he became its second founder of this congregation of secular canons. He also preached widely during this time and taught theology.

In 1433, Pope Eugene IV forced Laurence to accept the see of Castello, which then included part of Venice in its diocesan boundaries. He would not be persuaded by the saint to change his mind and appoint a worthier bishop. He took possession of his cathedral so quietly that his own friends knew nothing about it until after the ceremony was complete. He was impatient with the temporal administration of his diocese, and delegated this work to others so that he might be free to personally look after his flock. In 1451, Pope Nicholas suppressed the see of Castello and transferred the patriarchal title of Grado to Venice with Laurence as archbishop.

The senate of the Venetian Republic, wary that this change might lead to a diminution of its prerogatives, began a debate over Laurence's jurisdiction. Laurence sought an audience with the assembled senate and declared his desire to resign a charge for which he was unfit, rather than to feel his burden increased by this additional dignity. His bearing so strongly affected the whole senate that the doge himself asked him not to entertain such a thought or to raise any obstacle to the pope's decree, and he was supported by the whole assembly. Laurence therefore accepted the new office and continually acted in such way that his reputation for goodness and charity increased.

He drew from his prayer life the light, vigor, and courage to direct the diocese as easily as if it had been a single, well- regulated monastery. As bishop of the Jewel of the Adriatic, Laurence did a great deal to restore Saint Mark's and other churches; he also enhanced the beauty of the service. He added parishes, tried to elevate the pastoral work, and to inspire both the secular and the cloistered clergy with his zeal. Not only was he known for his piety, but also for his ability as a peace maker, his spiritual knowledge, and his gifts of prophecy and miracles. He overcame opposition by meekness and patience. Under his direction, the whole spirit of the diocese was changed; crowds flocked to him for spiritual and material aid.

He was of a boundless generosity toward the poor and needy, and stinted himself as regards his dwelling, table, and dress to a point which the strictest orders could not surpass. It is interesting to note that he rarely gave monetary aid except in small amounts because he thought it might be ill-spent. In fact, when a relative asked him for a dowry for his daughter, he replied: "A little is not enough for you; and if I gave you much, I would be robbing the poor." Nevertheless he was open-handed with food and clothes. He even employed married women to seek out those who might need relief but who were too bashful to ask for it.

The writings of Saint Laurence on mystical contemplation, especially The degrees of perfection, are sublime in their simplicity. They are practical, not speculative, and intended to assist the clergy. He had just finished The degrees of perfection when he was seized with a sharp fever. As he lay dying, someone tried to give him a featherbed, but he refused it, saying: "My Savior did not die on a featherbed, but upon the hard wood of the Cross." He was troubled and restless until they laid him on straw.

The saint had no will to make, because he no longer possessed anything of which he could have disposed. During the two days of his illness after he received the last sacraments, many of the city came to receive his blessing. He insisted that the beggars be admitted, as well as the elite, and gave to each a short, final instruction.

Laurence was venerated by popes even in his lifetime. When Eugene IV met him once in Bologna, he greeted Laurence: "Welcome, ornament of bishops!" The saint's nephew and biographer, Bernardo Giustiniani, relates that the corpse remained 67 days without burial. He emphasizes that it was on view for the multitudes that came from afar, and that doctors examined the body and could give no explanation for its incorrupted state (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Schamoni, Walsh).

In art, Saint Laurence is best recognized by his face, which is typically Venetian: thin, long-nosed, and austere. He has dark, hollow eyes, and an ascetic, rather Dantesque mouth. Laurence seldom wore the grandiose insignia of a bishop. Most often he is portrayed in a severe Venetian gown and close-fitting cap. He may also be shown (1) distributing the vessels of the Church during a famine; (2) as an episcopal cross and banner are carried in front of him and a mitre carried behind him; (3) holding a book, his hand raised to bless; or (4) giving alms (Roeder). 

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0905.shtml

Luca Giordano  (1634–1705). San Lorenzo Giustiniani adoring the Baby Jesus. 17th century. Private Neapolitan collection.

St. Laurence Justinian, Bishop and Confessor

From his original Life written by his nephew, Bernard Justinian, in Bollandus, Jan. 8, and from his Italian Life, elegantly compiled by F. Maffei. See also Helyot, Hist. des Ord. Relig. t. 2, p. 359; and Opera S. Laurentii Justiniani, Proto-Patriarchæ Venetiarum, published by F. Nicolas Antony Justiniani, a Benedictin monk, at Venice, in two volumes, 1756.

A.D. 1455.

[First Patriarch of Venice.]  ST. LAURENCE was born at Venice, in 1380. His father Bernardi Justiniani 1 held an illustrious rank among the prime nobility of the commonwealth; nor was the extraction of his mother Querini less noble. By the death of Bernardo she was left a disconsolate widow with a nursery of tender children; though very young, she thought it her duty to sanctify her soul by the great means and advantages which her state afforded for virtue, and resolutely rejected all thoughts of any more altering her condition. She looked upon herself as called by her very state to a penitential and retired life, and devoted herself altogether to the care of her children’s education, to works of charity, fasting, watching, assiduous prayer, and the exercises of all virtues. Under her inspection her children were brought up in the most perfect maxims of Christian piety. Laurence discovered, even from the cradle, an uncommon docility, and an extraordinary generosity of soul; and disdaining to lose any part of his time, loved only serious conversation and employs. His mother fearing some spark of pride and ambition, chid him sometimes for aiming at things above his age; but he humbly answered that it was his only desire, by the divine grace, to become a saint. Reflecting from his infancy that he was made by God only to serve him, and to live eternally with him, he kept this end always in view, and governed all his thoughts and actions so as to refer them to God and eternity.

In the nineteenth year of his age he was called by God to consecrate himself in a special manner to his service. He seemed one day to see in a vision the eternal wisdom in the disguise and habit of a damsel, shining brighter than the sun, and to hear from her the following words: “Why seekest thou rest to thy mind out of thyself, sometimes in this object, and sometimes in that? What thou desirest is to be found only with me: behold, it is in my hands. Seek it in me who am the wisdom of God. By taking me for thy spouse and thy portion, thou shalt be possessed of its inestimable treasure.” That instant he found his soul so pierced with the charms, incomparable honour, and advantages of this invitation of divine grace, that he felt himself inflamed with new ardour to give himself up entirely to the search of the holy knowledge and love of God. 2 A religious state appeared to him that in which God pointed out to him the path in which he might most securely attain to the great and arduous end which he proposed to himself. But, before he determined himself, he make his application to God by humble prayer, and addressed himself for advice to a holy and learned priest called Marino Querini, who was his uncle by the mother’s side, and a regular canon in the austere Congregation of St. George in Alga, established in a little isle which bears that name, situate a mile from the city of Venice, towards the continent. 3 The prudent director, understanding that he was most inclined to a religious state, advised him first to make trial of his strength, by inuring himself to the habitual practice of austerities. Laurence readily obeyed, and in the night, leaving his soft bed, lay on knotty sticks on the floor. During this deliberation, he one day represented to himself on one side honours, riches, and worldly pleasures, and on the other, the hardships of poverty, fasting, watching, and self-denial. Then said to himself: “Hast thou courage, my soul, to despise these delights, and to undertake a life of uninterrupted penance and mortification?” After standing some time in a pause, he cast his eyes on a crucifix, and said: “Thou, O Lord, art my hope.” In this tree are found comfort and strength. The ardour of his resolution to walk in the narrow path of the cross, showed itself in the extreme severity with which he treated his body, and the continual application of his mind to the exercises of religion. His mother and other friends, fearing lest his excessive mortifications should prove prejudicial to his health, endeavoured to divert him from that course, and, with that view, contrived a proposal of an honourable match to be made him. The saint perceiving in this stratagem that his friends had entered into a conspiracy to break his measures, fled secretly to the monastery of St. George in Alga, and was admitted to the religious habit.

By the change of his state he found no new austerities which he had not before practised; his superiors even judged it necessary to mitigate the rigours which he exercised upon himself. He was only nineteen years of age, but surpassed in his watchings and fasts all his religious brethren. To make a general assault upon sensuality he never took any useless recreation, subdued his body by severe discipline, and never came near a fire in the sharpest weather in winter, though his hands were often benumbed with cold; he allowed to hunger only what the utmost necessity required, and never drank out of meals; when asked to do it under excessive heats and weariness, he used to say: “If we cannot bear this thirst, how shall we endure the fire of purgatory?” From the same heroic disposition proceeded his invincible patience in every kind of sickness. During his novitiate he was afflicted with dangerous scrofulous swellings in his neck. The physicians prescribed cupping, lancing, and searing with fire. Before the operation, seeing others tremble for his sake, he courageously said to them: “What do you fear? Let the razors and burning irons be brought in. Cannot he grant me constancy, who not only supported but even preserved from the flames the three children in the furnace?” Under the cutting and burning he never so much as fetched a sigh, and only once pronounced the holy name of Jesus. In his old age, seeing a surgeon tremble who was going to make a ghastly incision in a great sore in his neck, he said to him: “Cut boldly, your razor cannot exceed the burning irons of the martyrs.” The saint stood the operation of this timorous surgeon without stirring, and as if he had been a stock that had no feeling. At all public devotions he was the first in the church, and left it the last; he remained there from matins, whilst others returned to their rest, till they came to prime at sunrise.

Humiliations he always embraced with singular satisfaction. The meanest and most loathsome offices, and the most tattered habit were his desire and delight. The beck of any superior was to him as an oracle; even in private conversation he was always ready to yield to the judgment and will of others, and he sought every where the lowest place as much as was possible to be done without affectation. When he went about the streets begging alms with a wallet on his back, he often thrust himself into the thickest crowds, and into assemblies of the nobility, that he might meet with derision and contempt. Being one day put in mind, that by appearing loaded with his wallet in a certain public place, he would expose himself to the ridicule of the company, he answered to his companion: “Let us go boldly in quest of scorn.” We have done nothing if we have renounced the world only in words. Let us to-day triumph over it with our sacks and crosses. Nothing is of greater advantage towards gaining a complete victory over ourselves, and the fund of pride which is our greatest obstacle to virtue, than humiliations accepted and borne with cheerfulness and sincere humility. To those which providence daily sends us opportunities of, it is expedient to add some that are voluntary, provided the choice be discreet, and accompanied with heroic dispositions of soul, clear of the least tincture of affectation or hypocrisy. Our saint frequently came to beg at the house where he was born, but only stood in the street before the door, crying out: “An alms for God’s sake.” His mother never failed to be exceedingly moved at hearing his voice, and to order the servants to fill his wallet. But he never took more than two loaves, and wishing peace to those who had done him that charity, departed as if he had been some stranger. The store-house, in which were laid up the provisions of the community for a year, happening to be burned down, St. Laurence hearing a certain brother lament for the loss, said cheerfully: “Why have we embraced and vowed poverty? God has granted us this blessing that we may feel it.” Thus he discovered his ardour for suffering the humiliations, hardships, and inconveniences of that state, for the exercise and improvement of the heroic virtues of which they afford the occasions, and in which consists its chief advantages. When he first renounced the world, as often as he felt a violent inclination to justify or excuse himself, (so natural to the children of Adam, upon being unjustly reprehended or injured,) in order to repress it, he used to bite his tongue; and he at length obtained a perfect mastery over himself in this particular. Whilst he was superior, he was one day rashly accused in chapter of having done something against the rule. The saint could have easily confuted the slander, and given a satisfactory account of his conduct; but he rose instantly from his seat, and walking gently, with his eyes cast down, into the middle of the chapter-room, there fell on his knees, and begged penance and pardon of the fathers. The sight of his astonishing humility covered the accuser with such confusion and shame, that he threw himself at the saint’s feet, proclaimed him innocent, and loudly condemned himself.

St. Laurence so much dreaded the danger of worldly dissipation breaking in upon his solitude, that from the day on which he first entered the monastery, to that of his death, he never set foot in his father’s house, only when with dry eyes he assisted his mother and brothers on their death-beds. Some months after his retreat from the world, a certain nobleman who had been his intimate friend, and then filled one of the first dignities in the commonwealth, returning from the East, and hearing of the state he had embraced, determined to use all his endeavours to change his purpose. With this design he went to St. George’s with a band of musicians, and, on account of his dignity, got admittance; but the issue of the interview proved quite contrary to his expectation. Upon the first sight of the new soldier of Christ he was struck by the modesty of his countenance, and the gravity and composure of his person, and stood for some time silent and astonished. However, at length offering violence to himself he spoke, and both by the endearments of the most tender friendship, and afterwards by the sharpest reproaches and invectives, undertook to shake the resolution of the young novice. Laurence suffered him to vent his passion: then with a cheerful and mild countenance he discoursed in so feeling a manner on death and the vanity of the world, that the nobleman was disarmed, and so penetrated with compunction, that cutting off all his worldly schemes he resolved upon the spot to embrace the holy rule which he came to violate; and the fervour with which he went through the novitiate, and persevered to his death in this penitential institute, was a subject of admiration and edification to the whole city.

St. Laurence was promoted to the priesthood, and the fruit of the excellent spirit of prayer and compunction with which he was endowed was a wonderful experimental knowledge of spiritual things, and of the paths of interior virtue, and a heavenly light and prudence in the direction of souls. The tears which he abundantly shed at his devotions, especially whilst he offered the adorable sacrifice of the mass, strongly affected all the assistants, and awakened their faith; and the raptures with which he was favoured in prayer were wonderful, especially in saying mass one Christmas-night. Much against his inclination he was chosen general of his Order, which he governed with singular prudence, and extraordinary reputation for sanctity. He reformed its discipline in such a manner as to be afterwards regarded as its founder. Even in private conversation he used to give pathetic lessons of virtue, and that sometimes in one short sentence; and such was the unction with which he spoke on spiritual matters in private discourses, as to melt the heart of those who heard him. By his inflamed entertainments he awaked the tepid, filled the presumptuous with saving fear, raised the pusillanimous to confidence, and quickened the fervour of all. It was his usual saying, that a religious man ought to tremble at the very name of the least transgression. He would receive very few into his Order, and these thoroughly tried, saying, that a state of such perfection and obligations is only for few, and its essential spirit and fervour are scarcely to be maintained in multitudes; yet in these conditions, not in the number of a religious community, its advantages and glory consist. It is not therefore to be wondered at that he was very attentive and rigorous in examining and trying the vocation of postulants. The most sincere and profound humility was the first thing in which he laboured to ground his religious disciples, teaching them that it not only purges the soul of all lurking pride, but also that this alone inspires her with true courage and resolution, by teaching her to place her entire confidence in God alone, the only source of her strength. Whence he compared this virtue to a river which is low and still in summer, but loud and high in winter. So, said he, humility is silent in prosperity, never elated or swelled by it; but it is high, magnanimous, and full of joy and invincible courage under adversity. He used to say, that there is nothing in which men more frequently deceive themselves than humility; that few comprehend what it is, and they only truly possess it who, by strenuous endeavours, and an experimental spirit of prayer, have received this virtue by infusion from God. That humility which is required by repeated acts is necessary and preparatory to the other; but this first is always blind and imperfect. Infused humility enlightens the soul in all her views, and makes her clearly see and feel her own miseries and baseness; it gives her perfectly that true science which consists in knowing that God alone is the great All, and that we are nothing.

The saint never ceased to preach to the magistrates and senators in times of war and all public calamities, that, to obtain the divine mercy, and the remedy of all the evils with which they were afflicted, they ought, in the first place, to become perfectly sensible that they were nothing; for, without this disposition of heart they could never hope for the divine assistance. His confidence in God’s infinite goodness and power accordingly kept pace with his humility and entire distrust in himself, and assiduous prayer was his constant support. From the time he was made priest he never failed saying mass every day, unless he was hindered by sickness; and he used to say, that it is a sign of little love if a person does not earnestly endeavour to be united to his Saviour as often as he can. It was a maxim which he frequently repeated, that for a person to pretend to live chaste amid softness, ease, and continual gratifications of sense, is as if a man should undertake to quench fire by throwing fuel upon it. He often put the rich in mind, that they could not be saved but by abundant alms-deeds. His discourses consisted more of effective amorous sentiments than of studied thoughts; which sufficiently appears from his works. 4

Pope Eugenius IV. being perfectly acquainted with the eminent virtue of our saint, obliged him to quit his cloister, and nominated him to the episcopal see of Venice in 1433. The holy man employed all manner of entreaties and artifices to prevent his elevation, and engaged his whole Order to write in the same strain, in the most pressing manner, to his Holiness: but to no effect. When he could no longer oppose the repeated orders of the pope, he acquiesced with many tears; but such was his aversion to pomp and show, that he took possession of his church so privately that his own friends knew nothing of the matter till the ceremony was over. The saint passed that whole night in the church at the foot of the altar, pouring forth his soul before God, with many tears; and he spent in the same manner the night which preceded his consecration. He was a prelate, says Dr. Cave, 5 admirable for his sincere piety towards God, the ardour of his zeal for the divine honour, and the excess of his charity to the poor. In this dignity he remitted nothing of the austerities which he had practised in the cloister, and from his assiduity in holy prayer he drew a heavenly light, an invincible courage, and indefatigable vigour which directed and animated him in his whole conduct, and with which he pacified the most violent public dissensions in the state, and governed a great diocess in the most difficult times, and the most intricate affairs, with as much ease as if it had been a single well regulated convent.

Though he was bishop of so distinguished a see, in the ordering of his household he consulted only piety and humility; and when others told him that he owed some degree of state to his illustrious birth, to the dignity of his church, and to the commonwealth, his answer was, that virtue ought to be the only ornament of the episcopal character, and that all the poor of the diocess composed the bishop’s family. His household consisted only of five persons; he had no plate, making use only of earthen ware; he lay on a scanty straw bed covered with a coarse rag, and wore no clothes but his ordinary purple cassock. His example, his severity to himself, and the affability and mildness with which he treated all others, won every one’s heart, and effected with ease the most difficult reformations which he introduced both among the laity and clergy. The flock loved and respected too much so holy and tender a parent and pastor not to receive all his ordinances with docility and the utmost deference. When any private persons thwarted or opposed his pious designs, he triumphed over their obstinacy by meekness and patience. A certain powerful man who was exasperated at a mandate the zealous bishop had published against stage entertainments, called him a scrupulous old monk, and endeavoured to stir up the populace against him. Another time, an abandoned wretch reproached him in the public streets as a hypocrite. The saint heard them without changing his countenance, or altering his pace. He was no less unmoved amidst commendations and applause. No sadness or inordinate passions seemed ever to spread their clouds in his soul, and all his actions demonstrated a constant peace and serenity of mind which no words can express. By the very first visitation which he made, the face of his whole diocess was changed. He founded fifteen religious houses, and a great number of churches, and reformed those of all his diocess, especially with regard to the most devout manner of performing the divine office, and the administration of the sacraments. Such was the good order and devotion he established in his cathedral, that it was a model to all Christendom. The number of canons that served it being too small, St. Laurence founded several new canonries in it, and also in many other churches; and he increased the number of parishes in the city of Venice from twenty to thirty.

It is incredible what crowds every day resorted to the holy bishop’s palace for advice, comfort, or alms; his gate, pantry, and coffers were always open to the poor. He gave alms more willingly in bread and clothes than in money, which might be ill spent; when he gave money it was always in small sums. He employed pious matrons to find out and relieve the bashful poor, or persons of family in decayed circumstances. In the distribution of his charities, he had no regard to flesh and blood. When a poor man came to him, recommended by his brother Leonard, he said to him: “Go to him who sent you, and tell him, from me, that he is able to relieve you himself.” No man ever had a greater contempt of money than our saint. He committed the care of his temporals to a faithful steward, and used to say, that it is an unworthy thing for a pastor of souls to spend much of his precious time in casting up farthings.

The popes held St. Laurence in great veneration. Eugenius IV. having ordered our holy bishop to give him a meeting once at Bologna, saluted him in these words: “Welcome the ornament of bishops.” His successor, Nicholas V., earnestly sought an opportunity of giving him some singular token of his particular esteem; when Dominic Michelli, patriarch of Grado, happened to die in 1451, 6 his holiness, barely in consideration of the saint, transferred the patriarchal dignity to the see of Venice. The senate, always jealous of its prerogatives and liberty above all other states in the world, formed great difficulties lest such an authority should in any cases trespass upon their jurisdiction. Whilst this affair was debated in the senate-house, St. Laurence repaired thither, and, being admitted, humbly declared his sincere and earnest desire of rather resigning a charge for which he was most unfit, and which he had borne against his will eighteen years, than to feel his burden increased by this additional dignity. His humility and charity so strongly affected the whole senate, that the doge himself was not able to refrain from tears, and cried out to the saint, conjuring him not to entertain such a thought, or to raise any obstacle to the pope’s decree, which was expedient to the church, and most honourable to their country. In this he was seconded by the whole house, and the ceremony of the installation of the new patriarch was celebrated with great joy by the whole city.

St. Laurence, after this new exaltation, considered himself as bound by a new tie to exert his utmost strength in labouring for the advancement of the divine honour, and the sanctification of all the souls committed to his care. Nor did it perhaps ever appear more sensible than in this zealous prelate, how much good a saint, when placed in such a station, is, with the blessing of heaven, capable of doing; nor how much time a person is able to find for himself and the service of his neighbour, who husbands all his moments to the best advantage, and is never taken up with any inordinate care of his body, or gratification of self-love. St. Laurence never, on his own account, made any one wait to speak to him, but immediately interrupted his writing, studies, or prayers to give admittance to others, whether rich or poor; and received all persons who addressed themselves to him with so much sweetness and charity, comforted and exhorted them in so heavenly a manner, and appeared in his conversation so perfectly exempt from all inordinate passions, that he scarcely seemed clothed with human flesh, infected with the corruption of our first parent. Every one looked upon him as if he had been an angel living on earth. His advice was always satisfactory and healing to the various distempers of the human mind; and such was the universal opinion of his virtue, prudence, penetration, and judgment, that causes decided by him were never admitted to a second hearing at Rome; but in all appeals his sentence was forthwith confirmed. Grounded in the most sincere and perfect contempt of himself, he seemed insensible and dead to the flattering temptation of human applause; which appeared to have no other effect upon him than to make him more profoundly to humble himself in his own soul, and before both God and men. His good works he studied as much as possible to hide from the eyes of others. When he was not able to refrain his tears, which proceeded from the tenderness and vehemence of the divine love, and from the wonderful spirit of compunction with which he was endowed, he used to accuse himself of weakness and too tender and compassionate a disposition of mind. But these he freely indulged at his private devotions, and by them he purified his affections more and more from earthly things, and moved the divine mercy to shower down the greatest blessings on others.

The republic was at that time shaken with violent storms, and threatened with great dangers. 7 A holy hermit, who had served God with great fervour above thirty years in the isle of Corfu, assured a Venetian nobleman, as if it were from a divine revelation, that the city and republic of Venice had been preserved by the prayers of the good bishop. The saint’s nephew, who has accurately wrote his life in an elegant and pure style, mentions several miracles wrought by him, and certain prophecies, of which he was himself witness. It appeared in many instances how perfectly the saint was mortified in his senses. A servant presenting him vinegar one day at table instead of wine and water, he drank it without saying a word. Out of love for holy poverty, in order to disengage his heart from the things of this world, he never had any books bound, but only sewed.

St. Laurence was seventy-four years old when he wrote his last work, entitled The Degrees of Perfection; he had just finished it when he was seized with a sharp fever. In his illness his servants prepared a bed for him; at which the true imitator of Christ was troubled, and said: “Are you laying a feather-bed for me? No: that shall not be. My Lord was stretched on a hard and painful tree. Do not you remember that St. Martin said, in his agony, that a Christian ought to die on sack-cloth and ashes?” Nor could he be contented till he was laid on his straw. He forbade his friends to weep for him, and often cried out, in raptures of joy: “Behold the Spouse; let us go forth and meet him.” He added, with his eyes lifted up to heaven: “Good Jesus, behold I come.” At other times, weighing the divine judgments, he expressed sentiments of holy fear. One saying to him that he might go joyfully to his crown, he was much disturbed, and said: “The crown is for valiant soldiers; not for base cowards, such as I am.” So great was his poverty that he had no temporal goods to dispose of, and he made his testament only to exhort in it all men to virtue, and to order that his body should be buried without pomp, as a private religious man would be, in his convent of St. George; though this clause was set aside by the senate after his death. During the two days that he survived, after receiving extreme unction, the whole city came in turns, according to their different ranks, to receive his blessing. The saint would have even the beggars admitted, and gave to each class some short pathetic instruction. Seeing one Marcellus, a very pious young nobleman, who was his favourite disciple, weep most bitterly, he comforted him, giving him the following assurance: “I go before, but you will shortly follow me. Next Easter we shall again meet in mutual embraces.” Marcellus fell sick in the beginning of Lent, and was buried in Easter week. St. Laurence, closing his eyes, calmly expired on the 8th of January, in the year 1455, being seventy-four years old, having been honoured with the episcopal dignity twenty-two years, and four with that of patriarch. During the contestation about the place of his burial, his body was preserved entire, without the least ill savour or sign of corruption, sixty-seven days, and interred, according to a decree of the senate, on the 17th of March. The ceremony of his beatification was performed by Clement VII. in 1524, and that of his canonization by Alexander VIII. in 1690. His festival is kept on the 5th of September, the day on which he was consecrated bishop.

With St. Laurence Justinian, we must first labour strenuously in sanctifying our own souls before we can hope to preach to others with much fruit. Only he can inspire into others the perfect sentiments of Christian virtue, and instruct others well in the great practical truths of religion, who has learned them by experience, and whose heart is penetrated with them. The pastoral obligation is of great extent; it is not confined to those who are charged with the ministry of the word, and the distribution of the sacraments; it regards not only pastors of souls; every king is, in some degree, a pastor to his whole kingdom; and every parent and master to those who are under their care. He will be accountable to God for the loss of their souls, who is not, in a qualified sense, an apostle or pastor to all that are under his charge.

Note 1. The nobility of Venice are of four classes; the first is of the electoral families, descended from the twelve tribunes who elected the first doge in 709, which, by a kind of miracle, all subsist to this day. These are the Contarini, Morosini, Gradenighi, Baduari, Tiepoli, Micheli, Sanudi, Memmi, Falieri, Dandoli, Polani, and Barozzi. There are four other families almost as ancient, who signed with them the foundation of the great church of St. George Major, in the year 800. These are the Justiniani, Cornari, Bragadini, and Bembi. The second class consists of those whose names are found in the Golden Book or Register of the Nobility, drawn up by Gradenigo II. when the aristocracy was established in 1289. The third class is of those who have bought their title of nobility since that time for one hundred thousand ducats, of whom there are four-score families. The fourth class is of foreign nobility, or such as have been aggregated to the senate of Venice, as the Bentivogli, Pico, &c. The Justiniani are said by some moderns to derive their pedigree from the Emperors Justin and Justinian. It is related from better authority, that in the Constantinopolitan war, in the twelfth century, all the princes of this house were cut off in battle, except one, who was a monk at Venice; but that, at the earnest request of the republic, a dispensation was granted by the pope for him to marry. After he had taken a wife, and was father of a numerous progeny, he returned to his monastery, and closed his life in the profession of that state. Since that time several branches of this noble family are settled at Genoa and Rome, and in the isles of Chio and Corsica; though there is some dispute about the pedigree of the family established at Genoa and Rome. [back]

Note 2. The call of this saint to the divine service may, in some measure, be compared with that of Henry Suso, of the family of the counts of Mons, who became an eminent contemplative, was author of several pious tracts, and died a Dominican friar in the odour of sanctity, at Ulm, in 1365, according to Fabricius. (Bibliotheca Mediæ et infimæ ætatis, vol. 3, p. 683.) He was excited to serve God with the utmost fervour by hearing the sweet invitations, with which Eternal Wisdom allures a soul to receive her inestimable treasure, read at table. (Wisd. vi. 13; vii. viii.) Not able to contain himself, he burst aloud into the following exclamations: “Oh! I will set myself with all my power to procure this happy wisdom. If I am possessed of it, I am the happiest of men. I will desire, I will seek, I will ask nothing else. She herself invites me. Adieu all other thoughts and pursuits. I will never cease praying and conjuring this divine Wisdom, with all the ardour of my soul, to visit me. For this I will sigh night and day.” Thus he arrived at that perfection of Christian virtue which puts the soul in possession of the divine Wisdom, or God himself, and his grace. See his Life by Surius, prefixed to the Latin edition of his works. [back]

Note 3. This Congregation, which became afterwards very rich, being suppressed by Clement IX. during the war of the republic against the Turks in Candia, the convent and church, which occupy the island of St. George in Alga, are now in the hands of a community of reformed Carmelite friars. [back]

Note 4. These consist of sermons, letters, and fourteen short treatises of piety, full of unction. In them he speaks in a feeling manner on humility, self-denial, contempt of the world, solitude, and divine love. His works were printed at Basil in 1560, at Lyons in 1568, at Venice in 1606, and, most completely at the same place, in 1756. [back]

Note 5. Hist. Literar. t. 2, App. p. 133. [back]

Note 6. In the Order of the ecclesiastical hierarchy are distinguished patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops. Archbishops or metropolitans, whatever some may say to the contrary, were established by the apostles to direct all public and common affairs of the several churches of large provinces. Thus St. Titus had the superintendency of all the churches in Crete, as Eusebius (Hist. l. 3, c. 4,) and St. Chrysostom (Hom. 1. in Tit.) observe; and the latter takes notice, that St. Paul intrusted St. Timothy with the care of superintending all the churches of Asia Minor. (See St. Chrysost. Hom. 15, in 1 Tim.) Metropolitans anciently exercised, especially in some places, a very extensive jurisdiction over their suffragans, but this is long since much limited by the canons. They have an immediate jurisdiction over their suffragans in some few points; but the greater causes of bishops are only to be discussed in provincial synods, or by the pope. Nor have archbishops any jurisdiction over the subjects of their suffragans, (whose causes, nevertheless, are judged by their courts, when carried to them by regular appeals,) nor can archbishops perform the visitation of the diocesses of their suffragans, unless the cause be first known and proved in a provincial synod. (See Conc. Trid. Sess. 24, c. 3, de Reform.)

  The jurisdiction of primates is much limited by canons and particular usages; it is extended over several metropolitans. Many primates are only titular. In France the archbishops of Arles, Bourdeaux, Bourges, Sens, Rheims, and Rouen take the title of primates, because some of their predecessors enjoyed that prerogative; but only the archbishop of Lyons exercises the jurisdiction of primate in all France.

  The jurisdiction of all patriarchs is not the same; to them is reserved, in most places, the confirmation of new bishops, with several other such points. The great patriarchs in the East are the bishops of Constantinople; and of the apostolical sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. There is also a patriarch of Ethiopia, that is, Abyssinia. The bishop of Rome is not only, by divine right, head of the whole church, but is also in particular patriarch of the West. See Marca, (De Concordia Sacerd. et Imperii, l. 1, c. 3, &c.) Morinus, (l. 1, Exerc. 1,) Thomassin. (De Benefic. c. 3, 7, 8,) Leo Allatius, (De Concord. Utriusque Eccl. l. 1, c. 25.) Certain lesser patriarchs have been established in the West, some barely titular. The archbishop of Lisbon is patriarch of the Portuguese Indies. During the schism in Istria in the sixth century, the patriarchade of Aquileia was set up. See Baronius, (ad ann. 570, n. 10, et 630, n. 18.) Marca, (De Primat, n. 20, 21,) Ughelli. (Italia Sacra.)

  The great city of Aquileia, which had been sometimes honoured with the residence of Augustus, and other emperors, having been destroyed by Attila, the inhabitants, with their patriarch, some time after retired to Grado, an island near the continent, where they built a town, which was afterwards embellished by the Gradenigos. Aquileia being rebuilt after the incursions of the Lombards, (though it remains to this day in the lowest condition,) the patriarch returned to that city. The church of Grado continued to choose its own patriarchs, till that dignity was transferred to Venice. When the city of Aquileia fell under the dominion of the house of Austria, the patriarch, who was a Venetian, chose to reside at Udina, a town subject to that republic. This patriarchate of Aquileia was suppressed in 1751, by Pope Benedict XIV. and, instead thereof, two archbishoprics are erected, that of Goricia, for the churches in the Austrian dominions, and that of Udina, for those in the Venetian territories. [back]

Note 7. Among other enemies, Philip Visconti, duke of Milan, flushed with the success of several enterprises against Genoa and other neighbouring states, meditated the ruin of the Venetians; but his general, Charles Malatesta, was defeated by them in 1429. He continued the war several years, but without success. He died in 1447, and in him ended the family of Visconti, which had enjoyed the sovereignty of Milan since Eliprand had received the investiture with the title of viscount from Charles the Fat, in 881. Philip left his dominions to his general, Francis Sforza, who had married his natural daughter, Blanche, whom the father had legitimated. Francis Sforza was an enemy to the Venetians, and he and his posterity maintained themselves in the possession of the duchy of Milan, till, in 1535, it was annexed by Charles V. to the dominions of the house of Austria. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume IX: September. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/9/051.html

Sebastiano Santi  “Cristo crocifisso tra i Ss. Agostino, Lorenzo Giustiniani, Antonio di Padova, e Gaetano da Thiene”. Chiesa di San Geremia Venezia

Sebastiano Santi. "Christ crucified between Ss. Augustine, Lawrence Giustiniani, Anthony of Padua, and Saint Cajetan". San Geremia, Venice

Sebastiano Santi."Le Christ crucifié entre Saint Augustin, Lorenzo Giustiniani, Antoine de Padoue, et Gaetan de Thiene»  Église San Geremia à Venise

Weninger’s Lives of the Saints – Saint Lawrence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice

Article

Saint Lawrence was a descendant of the noble house of Giustiniani, greatly famed at Genoa, Venice and Naples. He was born 1380, of very pious parents, but early lost his father, Bernard. His mother, on whom now devolved the education of her children, redoubled her care, but Lawrence gave her very little trouble, as he was naturally inclined to virtue. One day, she made him understand that she feared he harbored ambition or pride secretly in his heart; but he answered: “fear not, mother; I have only one ambition, and that is to become a great servant of the Lord, and to be more pious than my brothers.” His conduct in youth bore witness to his words; for though he lived at a period when the morals of the whole city were very corrupt, his edifying life was regarded by every one with surprise and admiration.

To escape the danger which threatened him, he prayed most fervently to God to give him the grace to know the vocation to which he was called. While, one day, kneeling before a crucifix and an image of the Blessed Virgin, he said his prayers for this intention, he felt deep within him an intense desire to leave the world, and to serve God in the religious state. He obeyed the heavenly voice, renounced the world and all its allurements, went to the Regular Canons of Saint George, in Alga, an island near Venice, and requested to be received among their number. His request was granted, and he began his novitiate cheerfully; but he soon manifested in his conduct that he was no beginner in the science of holiness, but a proficient. His superiors had much more difficulty in moderating his zeal than in animating it. Amongst other austerities which he practised to mortify himself, it was specially noticed that, even on the coldest days, he never warmed himself by the fire, and that, in summer, he took nothing to allay his thirst except with his meals at noon and evening. He was never seen taking the air in the convent garden, or enjoying the beauty and fragrance of the flowers. The only time when he visited his home was when he was called to see his dying mother. Still more to be admired is the fortitude with which he bore a very painful and dangerous operation on his throat for the removal of a great tumor. He himself encouraged the surgeon to begin fearlessly. “Cannot Christ,” said he, “give me as much fortitude as He gave to the three youths in the furnace?” Not even a sigh escaped him during the operation he repeated only the names of Jesus and Mary. When those present uttered their profound astonishment at his self-control, he said: “How little is my suffering compared with that of the holy martyrs, who were tortured with burning torches and red- hot irons, or roasted over a slow fire.”

After Lawrence had been ordained priest, he daily said Mass with great devotion and seldom without tears. During the Mass on Christmas-night, heaven bestowed upon him the grace to behold his Saviour in the form of a lovely child, to the inexpressible comfort of his heart. Although he desired to remain free from all offices of honor, he was chosen general of his order, and sometime later was nominated bishop of Venice, by Pope Eu- genius IV. The humble servant of the Almighty endeavored in every possible manner to escape this dignity; but at last obliged by obedience, he accepted it. As bishop, he altered nothing of the austerities he had practised in the monastery; he visited his whole diocese, and with apostolic zeal, animated his flock to observe the Commandments of God and the Church. His income he used for the benefit of the Church and the relief of the poor. Besides several collegiate Churches, he founded fifteen religious houses, and daily fed a great number of poor. The answer he gave to one of his relatives, who requested a contribution out of the Episcopal revenues as a marriage-portion for his daughter, must not be omitted. “It will not satisfy you if I give you but little,” said he; “and if I give you much, you alone will receive it, and many others will have nothing. No, the Episcopal revenues must not be used for worldly luxuries, but to comfort the needy. Be not offended, therefore, that I cannot fulfill your desire.” Thus spoke the holy bishop, whom Pope Nicholas V soon after raised to a still higher dignity.

The Patriarch of Grado died; and as the Pope desired to nominate Lawrence as his successor, but was convinced at the same time, that the Venetians would not consent to part with their bishop, he transferred the Patriarchal chair to Venice, and declared Saint Lawrence the first Patriarch of Venice. This city had indeed great reason to use all possible means not to lose the Saint, as only on his account God averted a terrible and well-deserved punishment from its walls. There lived at that time, in the Island of Corfu, a hermit, famous for his holiness, who, one day, said to a Venetian noble, who visited him: “The inhabitants of Venice have provoked God’s wrath, by despising His words, and had not the tears of your Patriarch cried to Him, you would all have long since gone to destruction like the inhabitants of Sodom.”

While the holy Patriarch was assiduously occupied with the functions of his high station, his strength gradually gave way and he felt his end approaching. On the feast of the Nativity of Christ, he felt, during Holy Mass, an intense desire to be admitted into the presence of his God. A fever, which seized him soon after Mass, ended with his death in a very few days. He lay on the bare floor, and not even in his last days could he be persuaded to make use of a softer bed. “Jesus Christ,” said he, “died upon the hard wood of the Cross, and you desire that a sinner, like me, should lie soft and comfortable!” After receiving the holy Sacraments, he gave his last instructions to those around him. “Keep the Commandments of the Lord,” said he; “nothing is more noble or excellent than to serve God.” After having finished his discourse, he raised his eyes to heaven and said: “I am coming, O my Jesus!” and his soul went to God. Thus ended, in the seventy-third year of his age, the earthly career of this great and holy Patriarch. That his life in heaven had begun, was known by the manner in which the Lord honored his holy body, from which emanated a heavenly fragrance; as also, by the miracles which, at the intercession of the Saint, took place at his tomb, in favor of the infirm and the possessed.

Gentile Bellini  (1429–1507). Portrait of Lorenzo Giustiniani, 1465, tempera on panel, 41 X 29,5, National Museum in Warsaw  

Practical Considerations

Before I give to your special consideration several points of the life of this Saint, I must remind you of what you have just read about the preservation of Venice from destruction, by reason of the prayers of Saint Lawrence. Learn from this that pious persons may be the greatest public benefactors, and that God has frequently averted, in their behalf, well deserved punishment from cities and even whole Kingdoms. Thus He promised to protect Jerusalem from destruction, in consideration of His faithful servant, David. “I will protect this city for my own sake, and for David, my servant’s sake.” (4 Kings 20) Judge from this, how wrong they are, who imagine and say, that religious Orders, among whose members there are many pious and faithful servants of the Lord, are of no profit to communities, but only a burden. If many cities, many states, had been deprived of such intercession with God, who knows if the earth would not long since have swallowed them, or if they would not have been destroyed by fire from heaven, by famine, pestilence or war? Pious priests, pious religious, by their prayers, their works for the salvation of men, have averted such punishments. Can you, therefore, say they are useless, or a burden to the community?

Consider, further, that Venice should have been punished for disregarding the word of God. The inhabitants were slothful in hearing the Gospel: they disregarded it, and were present rather at plays and similar amusements, than at sermons. They respected not the priests, who expounded the Gospel to them, but they blamed, slandered or otherwise persecuted them. This aroused the wrath of the Most High, and He was about to punish the offence done to Him by the destruction of the entire city. I say the offence done to Him: for, disregard of the word of God and of those who teach it, is an offence offered to the Majesty of the Most High, just as it is an affront to a king, or others set above us, when we do not respect their will and when we insult those who make it known to us. God speaks to us, at the present time, by His priests, as He spoke in the Old Testament by the Prophets, and in the New by the Apostles, to whom Christ said:

“He that hears you, hears me; and he that despises you, despises me.” (Luke 10) Hence, all those who despise the word of God or His priests, despise the Almighty Himself: a most grievous wrong to Him, which will surely draw after it a great punishment. It is awful to read what Christ says of those who neither receive the Apostles, nor listen to their instructions. “Amen, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of Judgment, than for that city.” And soon after, Christ said of the cities, in which the inhabitants listened to the Gospel, but did not live in accordance with its teachings: “Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida; for if in Tyre and Sidon the miracles had been wrought, that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sack-cloth and ashes. But I say unto you: it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment, than for you. And thou, Capharnaum, that art exalted up to heaven, shalt go down even unto hell; for if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of Judgment, than for thee.” (Mark 9) The menace of Christ to these cities and their inhabitants should be taken to heart by those who are slothful in listening to the word of God, or who disregard those who expound it, and lend no willing ear to their admonitions. I now come to those points, in the Life of Saint Lawrence Justinian, which especially call for a closer consideration, in order that we may imitate them.

• Saint Lawrence cheered himself in his sufferings by recollecting those of the holy martyrs. “What are the pains I endure,” said he, “in comparison with those endured by the martyrs?” If you have to bear anything, use the same means. Think or say to yourself: “What is this, my pain, my anguish, compared with the sufferings of the Saints? What is my agony in Comparison with what my Saviour bore for love of me?” Descend also, in imagination, into hell, and ask yourself: “What are my torments compared with those endured in hell: and what should I not suffer in hell if the Almighty had taken me from earth in my sins?” If you will meditate on these three points, it will be impossible for you to complain about your suffering. All will appear easy and trifling to you, as it is in reality, if contrasted with what Christ and the Saints suffered, and what the damned in hell have to endure.

• The last instruction of Saint Lawrence was: “Keep the Commandments of the Lord;” a short but very comprehensive lesson, on the observance of which everything depends. Those who conform their lives to it, will surely go to heaven, as those who neglect it, will go to hell. Some expect to gain salvation by other means and thus escape hell. They imagine, for instance, that when they wear a blessed scapular about their neck, keep certain fast-days during the year, or daily say certain prayers, they will certainly save their souls, although they are otherwise but little concerned about keeping the laws of God. What wrong ideas are these! how dangerous a delusion of Satan! It is praiseworthy and beneficial to wear a sacred scapular, and to observe other pious practices; but it is most certain that by doing so, we shall not escape hell, nor gain heaven, without keeping the Commandments of the Lord. These must be adhered to before all else, as they are the surest, the most necessary means for our salvation. Hence your first, your greatest care must be to observe them, and as the Lord also commands you to obey His Church, you must also follow her. Imprint this lesson deeply into your heart, and live in accordance with it. “They are cursed who decline from thy Commandments.” (Psalm 118)

MLA Citation

• Father Francis Xavier Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Lawrence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice”. Lives of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info. 30 April 2018. Web. 8 January 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-lawrence-justinian-patriarch-of-venice/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-lawrence-justinian-patriarch-of-venice/

Statua di San Lorenzo Giustiniani del Chiereghini nella Cattedrale di Padova

San Lorenzo Giustiniani Vescovo

8 gennaio

Venezia, luglio 1381 - 8 gennaio 1456

Di nobilissima famiglia, si diede ad una vita ascetica dopo una visione della Sapienza Eterna. Entrò nella Congregazione dei Canonici Secolari dell'isola di San Giorgio, di cui fu Superiore, continuando a dedicarsi alla preghiera e alla contemplazione ma anche alla questua per le strade. Vescovo di Castello, riformò con zelo apostolico la sua diocesi e, nominato prima patriarca di Venezia seppe, grazie anche alla sua umiltà e santità, sanare la frattura tra la Chiesa e il potere civile. Nei suoi scritti, opere varie e sermoni c'è l'idea madre dell'Eterna Sapienza, elemento dominante della sua mistica. Essa, negli scritti del periodo monacale, guida l'uomo al vertice della perfezione interiore e, degli scritti successivi, al vertice della vita episcopale.

Etimologia: Lorenzo = nativo di Laurento, dal latino

Emblema: Bastone pastorale, Portamonete

Martirologio Romano: A Venezia, san Lorenzo Giustiniani, vescovo, che illuminò questa Chiesa con la dottrina dell’eterna sapienza. 

Un figlio accattone non è un bel vedere per la nobile famiglia Zustinian o Giustiniani, ornamento della Serenissima. Lui, Lorenzo, arriva a mendicare fin sotto casa. I servi corrono a riempirgli la bisaccia, purché si tolga di lì. Lui accetta soltanto due pani, ringrazia e continua. Il suo scopo non è l’“opera buona” in sé. E’, addirittura, la rigenerazione della Chiesa attraverso la riforma personale di chierici e laici. L’umiliazione del mendicare ha valore di "vittoria sopra sé stessi", di avversione alle pompe prelatizie, di primo passo verso il rinnovamento attraverso la meditazione, la preghiera, lo studio, l’austerità. L’intraprendente e battagliera Venezia del Quattrocento è anche un fervido laboratorio di riforma cattolica, destinato a portare frutti preziosi. 

Lorenzo Giustiniani è diacono nel 1404, quando si unisce ad altri sacerdoti, accolti nel monastero di San Giorgio in Alga, per vivere in comune tra loro, riconosciuti poi come “Compagnia di canonici secolari”: sono i pionieri dello sforzo riformatore. Sacerdote nel 1407, due anni dopo è già priore della comunità di San Giorgio in Alga. 

Lorenzo ha scarse doti di oratore, ma “predica” con molta efficacia, da un lato, continuando a girare con saio e bisaccia; e, dall’altro, scrivendo instancabilmente. Scrive per i dotti e per gli ignoranti, trattati teologici e opuscoletti popolari, offrendo a tutti una guida alla riforma personale nel credere e nel praticare. Spinge i fedeli a recuperare il senso di comunione con tutta la Chiesa, anima la fiducia nella misericordia di Dio piuttosto che il timore per la sua giustizia. 

Nel 1433 arriva la nomina a vescovo, sebbene egli cerchi di evitarla, aiutato dai confratelli di San Giorgio in Alga: ma di lì viene anche papa Eugenio IV, Gabriele Condulmer, che conosce benissimo Lorenzo e non dà retta ai suoi pretesti: la stanchezza, il compito troppo difficile... 

Eccolo perciò vescovo “di Castello”, dal nome della sua residenza, che è un’isoletta lagunare fortificata, l’antica Olivolo. Nel 1451, poi, Niccolò V sopprime quello che resta del patriarcato di Grado, e dà a Lorenzo Giustiniani il titolo di patriarca di Venezia: il primo. 

Vengono i tempi duri della lotta contro i Turchi. Nel 1453 cade in mano loro Costantinopoli, e "a Venezia è tutto un pianto, non si sa che fare", come scrive un testimone. Lorenzo Giustiniani va avanti con rigore nell’opera di riforma, inimicandosi qualche volta il Senato, altre volte i preti, e affascinando i veneziani che già lo tengono per santo. 

Dopo la sua morte, essi ottengono che il suo corpo resti sepolto per sempre nella chiesa di San Pietro in Castello. Lo canonizzerà, nel 1690, papa Alessandro VIII (il veneziano Piero Ottoboni), ma la pubblicazione ufficiale si avrà soltanto con papa Benedetto XIII nel 1727.

Autore: Domenico Agasso

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/34500

Tiburzio Passarotti, L'elezione di san Lorenzo Giustiniani al Patriarcato di Venezia, vers 1585

San Lorenzo Giustiniani, primo patriarca di Venezia che protesse dai turchi

 Alessio Yandusheff-Rumiantseff  8 Gennaio 2019

Di origini nobili, San Lorenzo Giustiniani si privò di tutti i suoi beni materiali per servire il prossimo e poi chiese al Signore l’intercessione per tutta Venezia in qualità di Primo Patriarca.

L’8 gennaio la chiesa celebra la figura di San Lorenzo Giustiniani, che merita un posto speciale tra i santi italiani. Nato il 1 Luglio 1381 a Venezia da una antica e aristocratica famiglia. Come narra il famoso “Fasciculus amoris”, a 11 anni  gli apparve una giovane e splendida fanciulla che si presentò come «Sapienza di Dio» e le entrò nel cuore. Quando venne l’età di pensare al matrimonio e sua madre gli trovò moglie, Lorenzo rifiutò e fuggì di casa, trovando rifugio sull’isola di San Giorgio in Alga, Era un luogo dove si raccoglievano giovani ecclesiastici, nobili veneziani, per dedicarsi alla preghiera e alla penitenza. Dopo una breve preparazione fu ordinato diacono. Nel 1404, con qualche suo amico, tra i quali Gabriele Condulmer (poi eletto papa col nome di Eugenio IV), Lorenzo fondò la Congregazione dei Canonici Regolari di San Giorgio in Alga.

Nel 1407 divenne priore dei monasteri dei SS. Fermo e Rustico di Lonigo e di Sant’Agostino di Vicenza, che fu completamente riformato, rendendolo modello ideale di vita religiosa e pastorale, impegno che gli valse l’appellativo di “Vicentiae benefactor”, datogli dal vescovo Francesco Malipiero.

In quegli anni girava instancabilmente con un umile saio e una bisaccia per spingere i fedeli a recuperare il senso di comunione con la Chiesa, come espressione della misericordia di Dio.

Tornato a Venezia, nel 1424  diventò Superiore Generale dei Canonici di San Giorgio in Alga e nove anni dopo Papa Eugenio IV lo nominò vescovo di Castello nella Diocesi dell’isola di Rialto.

Nel 1451 Papa Niccolò trasferì a Venezia la dignità patriarcale  e Lorenzo Giustiniani diventò il primo Patriarca della “Serenissima”, con il consenso pieno del clero e del popolo. Non erano tempi facili, a tenere banco era la lotta contro i Turchi e le cronache testimoniavano che “a Venezia è tutto un pianto, non si sa che fare”. Il Patriarca, che restò in carica per molti anni, realizzò con fermezza un’autentica riforma, affascinando i veneziani. Morì l’ 8 gennaio del 1456, dopo aver visto sfilare per due giorni l’intera città dinanzi al suo letto di moribondo. In segno di devozione per sessantasette giorni il suo corpo rimase esposto alla venerazione dei veneziani, che ottennero che il suo corpo fosse sepolto nella chiesa di San Pietro in Castello. La canonizzazione avvenne nel 1690 per merito di Papa Alessandro VIII (il veneziano Piero Ottoboni), ma la pubblicazione ufficiale avvenne solamente 37 anni dopo, con papa Benedetto XIII.

Alessio Yandusheff-Rumiantseff

Sacerdote cattolico, nato a San Pietroburgo nel 1973, attualmente vive a Roma dove svolge il suo servizio pastorale ed accademico. Ha compiuto gli studi in genetica a San Pietroburgo, in filosofia in Liechtenstein e in teologia alla Pontificia Università Lateranense e alla Pontificia Università Gregoriana di Roma. E' cappellano della Facoltà di Economia dell'Università La Sapienza. Collabora con le riviste teologico-filosofico-storiche "Traditio viva" e "Folia petropolitana" in qualità di redattore e traduttore.

SOURCE : https://www.ilvaloreitaliano.it/san-lorenzo-giustiniani-primo-patriarca-di-venezia-che-protesse-dai-turchi/

Duomo (Padua) - cappella di San Lorenzo Giustiniani

LORENZO Giustinian, santo

di Giuseppe Del Torre - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 66 (2006)

LORENZO Giustinian, santo. - Figlio di Bernardo di Piero e di Querina di Nicolò Querini, nacque a Venezia probabilmente nel 1381 e fu battezzato con il nome di Giovanni; assunse il nome Lorenzo solo quando abbandonò lo stato secolare.

L. apparteneva al ramo di S. Moisè di una famiglia del patriziato di antica origine, che nei secoli XIV e XV occupò un posto di rilievo nella vita politica della città. Anche due fratelli di L. furono personalità di spicco nella Venezia del Quattrocento: Marco (m. 1438) fu rettore di alcuni tra i principali centri urbani della Terraferma; Leonardo fu uno dei protagonisti dell'umanesimo veneziano.

Poco si sa del periodo della formazione e di studio di L. fin verso i vent'anni quando, secondo le fonti agiografiche, avvenne la sua conversione. All'inizio del Quattrocento, probabilmente nel 1403, era già inserito e attivamente presente nel gruppo di chierici e laici attorno a Gabriele Condulmer, il futuro papa Eugenio IV, e ad Antonio Correr, tra i quali spiccava anche lo zio di L., Marino Querini. Molti di loro erano esponenti del patriziato veneziano che, rifiutando il secolo, si ispiravano a un ideale di vita comunitaria umile e povera sul modello apostolico. Dapprima si riunirono nel palazzo Correr sul Canal Grande, poi nel monastero di S. Nicolò del Lido e infine in quello di S. Giorgio in Alga, casa agostiniana eretta su un'isoletta della laguna, tenuta in commenda da uno dei confratelli, Ludovico Barbo. Nel 1404 il piccolo gruppo di religiosi, denominati anche celestini, fu riconosciuto da papa Bonifacio IX che dette l'assenso alla creazione della Congregazione dei canonici secolari di S. Giorgio in Alga.

I motivi che spinsero L. a una scelta così radicale non sono noti, ma è certo che erano in gran parte condivisi dai confratelli e che trovavano un'eco più ampia nei mutamenti che stavano verificandosi alla fine del Trecento nella società veneziana e in particolare a livello della sensibilità religiosa.

Soprattutto dopo la difficile crisi della guerra di Chioggia (1378-81) a Venezia avevano infatti avuto un diffuso seguito i gruppi di spiritualisti cateriniani, in particolare con la predicazione di Giovanni Dominici (Giovanni di Domenico Banchini) e di Tommaso di Antonio da Siena. Essi avevano svolto un ruolo fondamentale nella riforma osservante dei conventi domenicani della città ma, mediante la predicazione e l'opera di convincimento personale condotta attraverso la confessione e l'assistenza spirituale, avevano saputo guadagnarsi l'adesione di una parte importante della popolazione e anche di molti appartenenti al ceto di governo, tra cui il doge Antonio Venier. Gli ideali promossi da Giovanni Dominici trovarono una tale diffusione nella società veneziana da arrivare alla collisione con il potere politico in occasione della processione dei Bianchi, organizzata nel 1399, che portò il Consiglio dei dieci a bandire Giovanni Dominici dai domini veneziani.

I canonici alghensi, e tra questi L., maturarono la loro scelta in un clima fortemente influenzato dalla vicenda di Giovanni Dominici, rispetto al quale però si distinsero nettamente, ispirandosi a un ideale di vita le cui regole erano fondate, da un lato, sulla vita comune ispirata all'umiltà, al disprezzo del mondo, al digiuno e alla preghiera, dall'altro, su una prospettiva di assoluto rispetto degli assetti sociali e di allineamento alle linee del governo sul piano politico.

I celestini fornirono dunque un contribuito non trascurabile al consolidamento veneziano nelle province della Terraferma che proprio nel primo decennio del Quattrocento entrarono a far parte dei domini della Repubblica. La diffusione degli ideali dei canonici alghensi sembra infatti accompagnare l'espansione veneziana, consolidatasi tra il 1404 e il 1405 con l'acquisto di Vicenza, Verona e Padova - cui si affiancava Treviso, già controllata da una sessantina d'anni -, prendendo piede in monasteri delle città controllate da Venezia, come S. Giovanni Decollato di Padova, S. Agostino di Vicenza, e poi, nel corso del Quattrocento, S. Giacomo di Monselice, S. Giorgio in Braida di Verona, S. Pietro in Oliveto di Brescia e altri. L'esperienza di S. Giorgio in Alga fu il punto di partenza della riforma osservante dell'Ordine benedettino, che prese avvio da S. Giustina di Padova su iniziativa di L. Barbo, già priore di S. Giorgio, il quale diede vita a quel movimento di riforma, sancito nel 1419 dalla costituzione De unitate, che si diffuse nelle province venete e in Italia. In quell'ambito maturò inoltre la consapevolezza della necessità della riforma della Chiesa secolare, che si concretò nell'azione di vescovi come L. Barbo a Treviso, F. Malipiero a Verona e dello stesso L. a Venezia.

La Congregazione giocò quindi un ruolo importante nella storia religiosa di Venezia e delle diocesi della Terraferma, tanto da essere indicata dalla storiografia come la culla di una sorta di "Chiesa veneta", fortemente marcata dall'influenza della Dominante; essa non fu quindi caratterizzata esclusivamente dalla presenza pervasiva di patrizi veneziani tra i titolari di sedi episcopali e di buona parte dei benefici più lucrosi delle diocesi delle terre suddite, ma anche da una spinta alla riforma delle strutture ecclesiastiche regolari e secolari destinata a lasciare tracce in profondità.

Il successo dei celestini deve molto al fatto che essi riuscirono, fin dal 1406, a portare le loro istanze di riforma fino ai massimi vertici della Chiesa, soprattutto grazie all'elezione pontificia di uno dei loro fondatori, Angelo Correr, divenuto papa nel 1406 con il nome di Gregorio XII. Egli portò con sé a Roma Antonio Correr e Gabriele Condulmer, suoi nipoti ben presto creati cardinali, dando così inizio a una "dinastia" di papi veneziani che continuò con l'ascesa al soglio pontificio del Condulmer e giunse a compimento nel 1464 con il papato del nipote di quest'ultimo, Pietro Barbo (Paolo II).

Con la partenza per Roma del papa e dei nipoti, L. divenne ben presto la figura di riferimento nella comunità dei canonici: dopo essere stato a S. Giovanni decollato di Padova (1406) e a S. Agostino di Vicenza (1407), nel 1409, in seguito al trasferimento di L. Barbo da S. Giorgio in Alga a S. Giustina di Padova, L. fu eletto priore della casa madre, carica di durata annuale cui fu chiamato ancora nel 1413, nel 1418 e nel 1421, in alternanza con quella del convento vicentino e di altri della Terraferma. Infine, quando nel 1424 la Congregazione raggiunse dimensioni tali da richiedere per il suo governo la presenza di una figura di raccordo tra le molte case che ormai vi aderivano, egli fu designato superiore generale, carica a cui fu chiamato di nuovo nel 1427, nel 1429 e nel 1431.

Il suo prestigio gli veniva senza dubbio da una scelta di vita ispirata all'assoluta povertà e alla castità, rivolta interamente alla preghiera e alla riflessione sulla Scrittura. Per molti versi tale scelta era assai più radicalmente aliena dal contatto con il secolo rispetto a quella di illustri confratelli come Angelo e Antonio Correr o G. Condulmer, che pur restando fedeli agli ideali della Congregazione, puntando alle massime dignità della Chiesa accettarono comunque un compromesso con la mondanità che li portò tra l'altro a cumulare un buon numero di benefici ecclesiastici. L. invece rifuggì da ogni carica esterna all'Ordine, e per questo cercò di evitare la nomina al vescovado di Castello. In particolare, fu sempre evidente la sua volontà di rimanere estraneo a ogni sia pur lontano contatto con il sistema beneficiale, che costituiva invece la struttura portante della Chiesa e che, anche negli ambienti vicini alle istanze riformatrici, era quasi sempre considerato un mezzo indispensabile per garantire le risorse indispensabili al mantenimento degli ecclesiastici. Solo così è possibile spiegare, per esempio, il fatto che il nome di L. sia assente dagli elenchi dei chierici che concorrevano alle probae per i benefici ecclesiastici vacanti nei domini veneziani, nei quali risultano a più riprese Antonio Correr, L. Barbo e altri protagonisti del movimento riformatore. L. si dedicò invece totalmente al governo delle singole comunità solo esercitando l'ufficio di priore di queste, e con l'unico scopo di consentire la vita delle comunità accettò di occuparsi dell'amministrazione delle rendite beneficiali. Fu proprio questo l'ambito in cui L. seppe conquistarsi tra i confratelli la stima e la venerazione che ne fecero la guida della Congregazione: sotto la sua guida la casa di S. Agostino di Vicenza e poi molte altre divennero non solo centri di spiritualità e di forte vita comunitaria dei canonici, ma anche centri di una rinnovata presenza pastorale che richiamò dal territorio circostante i fedeli delusi dalla pochezza delle istituzioni parrocchiali, cui i canonici si sostituirono spesso nella cura animarum. Uno dei segni distintivi del modello alghense, e in questo l'influsso laurenziano risultò determinante, fu proprio quello di coniugare il distacco dal secolo e la vita comunitaria ispirata a principî fortemente ascetico-spirituali con un'attenzione costante alla cura delle anime dei territori circostanti le comunità.

I fondamenti teologico-spirituali dell'azione di L. sono condensati in un corpus di opere composte tra il 1419 e il 1455. Basati su una preparazione culturale in gran parte di natura autodidatta, caratterizzata da una profonda conoscenza della Scrittura e dei Padri della Chiesa, i suoi testi sono privi di grande originalità, ma ripercorrono fedelmente le tappe della sua formazione e della vita nella Congregazione, offrendo nel contempo un modello di fede e spiritualità tutto volto alla perfezione, rivolto ai confratelli ma più in generale a tutti i cristiani.

La prima delle sue opere, il Lignum vitae (1419), richiamando l'immagine dell'età dell'oro della Chiesa delle origini, mette in evidenza il ruolo che l'"albero della vita", costituito dal timor di Dio, la cui radice è la fede e i cui frutti sono le virtù (continenza, prudenza, giustizia, carità, pazienza, obbedienza, speranza, perseveranza, povertà, sobrietà, umiltà, orazione), deve svolgere come punto di riferimento non solo per chi conduce vita monastica, in particolare per i celestini, ma per tutti gli uomini. Esso può essere inteso allo stesso tempo come un'allegoria della vita di L. e delle origini della Congregazione. I quattro trattatelli scritti tra il 1425 e il 1426, De disciplina et perfectione monasticae conversationis, De contemptu mundi, De vita solitaria e De spirituali et casto Verbi animaeque connubio e i due lunghi trattati Fasciculus amoris e De triumphali agone mediatoris Christi che insieme con il De compunctione et complanctu christianae perfectionis sono di poco posteriori, contribuiscono da un lato a definire il primato della vita monastica e dall'altro ad affermare la necessità di una rinascita, quasi una rifondazione, della Chiesa secondo i principî della Scrittura e i canoni della Chiesa delle origini, dopo aver messo in evidenza i pericoli della mondanità, e lo stato di profonda crisi e decadenza che le stesse strutture ecclesiastiche attraversavano anche dopo la conclusione del Grande Scisma.

Dopo l'apertura del concilio di Basilea (1431) la vita di L. subì un profondo cambiamento con la nomina a vescovo di Castello (11 maggio 1433).

Eugenio IV, ex confratello, lo chiamava al difficile compito di reggere una diocesi che comprendeva quasi l'intera città di Venezia e che, seppure non molto estesa, annoverava una settantina di parrocchie e circa 90.000 anime, oltre a un gran numero di strutture ecclesiastiche secolari e regolari. Si trattava inoltre della capitale di un grande Stato territoriale, della sede delle massime magistrature repubblicane, la cui volontà di mantenere indipendenti le strutture della Chiesa locale dal controllo della Curia romana era ormai da secoli una caratteristica consolidata.

L. tentò in ogni modo di rifiutare l'incarico, che lo obbligava, ormai più che cinquantenne, ad abbandonare la Congregazione e a impegnarsi in un ambito completamente diverso, molto lontano dagli ideali di vita di preghiera e di ascesi per i quali si sentiva più portato.

Nonostante la riluttanza ad accettare la carica, una volta preso possesso della diocesi L. si impegnò a fondo nel suo nuovo compito, muovendosi in sintonia con le direttive che il papa aveva dato a lui come ad altri vescovi nominati in quegli anni, volte a restaurare l'autorità episcopale attraverso una presenza costante nel governo vescovile.

Oltre ad amministrare con attenzione e oculatezza, convocò subito un sinodo diocesano, provvedendo anche a far stendere una raccolta di vecchie e nuove disposizioni relative alla disciplina ecclesiastica (Synodicon, 1438), e riuscì a sottoporre, almeno in parte, al controllo dell'autorità ecclesiastica le nove congregazioni nelle quali era raccolto tutto il clero della città. I loro rappresentanti si rivolsero infatti in almeno due occasioni (1433 e 1438) a L. per un arbitrato sulle loro controversie, dando modo al vescovo di stabilire una più precisa struttura di governo e di rappresentanza. Dedicò particolare cura al clero della cattedrale di S. Pietro, che era afflitto dalla scarsità di risorse economiche a causa dell'esiguità delle prebende capitolari, istituendo e dotando un collegio di dodici chierici poveri da istruire nella grammatica e nel canto per poter assolvere al culto nella chiesa; accanto a questo fondò sei nuovi benefici del rango di sottocanonicati, i cui titolari, che avevano obbligo di residenza, dovevano subentrare ai canonici in caso di morte o di trasferimento. Insieme con le norme più strette che, oltre a obbligare tutti alla residenza, vietavano ai canonici di essere titolari di altri benefici, questi provvedimenti dovevano contribuire a creare una carriera interna al clero della cattedrale addetto al culto divino che fino ad allora non aveva avuto luogo. Munito della delega apostolica, intervenne poi nelle molte comunità monastiche di Venezia (S. Daniele, S. Maria della Celestia, Corpus Domini, S. Croce della Giudecca) restaurando la disciplina.

Dell'intensa azione pastorale di L., i cui dettagli attendono ancora una ricerca approfondita, fece le spese la produzione letteraria che si limitò nel corso dei vent'anni di episcopato a soli quattro scritti.

Il primo (De institutione et regimine prelatorum), composto appena dopo la nomina, esprime una visione pastorale del suo episcopato; gli altri tre (De oboedientia, De humilitate, De perfectione gradibus), composti tra il 1451 e il 1455, offrono un'immagine assai diversa. Attribuendo infatti un'importanza del tutto nuova al ruolo delle istituzioni e della gerarchia, questi testi modificano radicalmente l'ecclesiologia delle opere laurenziane precedenti il 1433, rivalutando alla luce dell'esperienza del governo della diocesi il ruolo dell'autorità e in particolare di quella del vescovo, del papa e del diritto canonico, nella vita della comunità ecclesiale.

La fine dell'esperienza mistico-contemplativa, sia pur fortemente nutrita di una prospettiva pastorale, di S. Giorgio in Alga e le responsabilità di governo concreto della diocesi nel quale L. si impegnò a fondo, lo portarono a riconsiderare solo l'importanza dell'autorità nella vita ecclesiale e del rapporto con le istituzioni ecclesiali. Nell'ultimo periodo della sua vita egli si avviò così ad assumere agli occhi della società veneziana quelle caratteristiche che ne avrebbero, dopo la morte, facilitato e al tempo stesso, paradossalmente, ostacolato il processo di canonizzazione. Pastore ascetico e alieno dalla mondanità, in odore di santità già dall'epidemia di peste del 1447 che lo vide protagonista nell'aiuto alla popolazione, ma definito "omni sanctimonia ornatissimum" addirittura in una lettera del Consiglio dei dieci al papa nel 1454, egli rappresentava agli occhi del potere politico uno dei mediatori più importanti con Eugenio IV, che Venezia appoggiò contro il concilio di Basilea.

L. divenne inoltre il primo patriarca di Venezia nel 1451, quando Nicolò V abolì il patriarcato di Grado e il vescovado di Castello facendoli confluire nella nuova dignità patriarcale cui assegnò attributi metropolitici nei confronti delle altre diocesi del Dogado (Torcello, Chioggia, Caorle, Iesolo). Quanto L. fosse vicino alla sensibilità politica dei massimi organi di governo della Repubblica apparve comunque chiaro nel 1453 quando, insieme con un altro arcivescovo e futuro santo, Antonino Pierozzi da Firenze, fu mediatore delle trattative che portarono, l'anno successivo, alla pace di Lodi.

L. morì a Venezia l'8 genn. 1456 e fu sepolto nella cattedrale di S. Pietro di Castello.

Il culto laurenziano, già presente in nuce negli ultimi anni di vita, si diffuse ben presto in città, come attestano le raffigurazioni celebrative subito commissionate ai Bellini dal patriarcato di Venezia e dalla Congregazione di S. Giorgio in Alga, e fu alimentato anche dall'orientarsi della devozione popolare verso L. come santo contro la peste (dalle epidemie del 1476 e del 1480). Il governo veneziano assunse ben presto l'iniziativa di appoggiare la canonizzazione di quello che era considerato un santo "di Stato", tanto che nel 1472 ottenne dal papa l'avvio del processo di beatificazione. Anche la stesura della Vita beati Laurentii Iustiniani Venetiarum protopatriarchae (Venetiis, per Jacobum de Rubeis, 1475) del nipote Bernardo Giustinian, figlio di Leonardo, edita nel 1475 (L. Hain, Repertorium bibliographicum, 9478; cfr. anche Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina, 4749), faceva parte di una complessa manovra politico-diplomatica, volta a ottenerne la santificazione. Proprio la forte connotazione politica ostacolò un rapido accoglimento della candidatura, che subì le conseguenze dei rapporti sempre difficili tra Venezia e la Sede apostolica: solo nel 1524 Clemente VII riconobbe a L. il titolo di beato, mentre per la canonizzazione si dovette attendere che un veneziano salisse, dopo più di due secoli, sul soglio di Pietro: fu Alessandro VIII Ottoboni a concludere il processo nel 1690.

Opere edite. La prima opera a stampa di L. fu Institutiones vite monastice (Brescia 1502, A. Britannico, cfr. anche Hain, 9477, dove è segnalato un volgarizzamento). L'Opera omnia di L. fu pubblicata presso lo stesso editore, a Brescia nel 1506, per iniziativa del generale di S. Giorgio in Alga, ma in seguito ebbe circolazione soprattutto Oltralpe, come dimostrano i luoghi delle successive edizioni cinquecentesche e seicentesche: Parigi 1524, Basilea 1560, Lione 1569, Venezia 1606, Colonia 1616, Lione 1628, Colonia 1675. Solo nel XVIII secolo, dopo la canonizzazione, l'interesse per gli scritti giustinianei tornò a concentrarsi a Venezia, con le edizioni del 1721 e del 1751. Quest'ultima, la più corretta, è stata riproposta in edizione anastatica nel 1982 (Firenze) in occasione delle celebrazioni del sesto centenario della nascita.

Fonti e Bibl.: Arch. di Stato di Venezia, Misc. codd., I, St. veneta, 23: M. Barbaro - A.M. Tasca, Arbori de' patritii veneti(, cc. 453 s.; D. Rosa, Summorum sanctissimorumque pontificum, illustrium virorum, piorumque Patrum de b. Laurentii Iustiniani Venetiarum patriarchae vita(, Venetiis 1614; G.F. Tomasini, Annales canonicorum secularium S. Georgii in Alga, Utini 1642; F. Corner, Ecclesiae Venetae antiquis monumentis(, VI, Venetiis 1749, pp. 68-70, 134-145; F. Ughelli - N. Coleti, Italia sacra, V, Venetiis 1720, coll. 1290-1299; A. Orsoni, Cronologia storica dei vescovi olivolensi( successivi patriarchi di Venezia, Venezia 1838, pp. 254 s.; G. Cappelletti, Storia della Chiesa di Venezia dalla sua fondazione ai nostri giorni, I, Venezia 1849, pp. 166 s., 394-413; G. Mantese, S. L. Giustiniani priore del monastero di S. Agostino in Vicenza, in Don Federico. Miscellanea in memoria e onore di Federico M. Mistrorigo, Vicenza 1956, pp. 719-757; S. L. Giustiniani, protopatriarca di Venezia nel V centenario della morte(, Venezia 1959; G. Cracco, Riforma e decadenza del monastero di S. Agostino di Vicenza, in Riv. di storia della Chiesa in Italia, XIV (1960), pp. 203-234; P. La Fontaine, Il primo patriarca di Venezia, Venezia 1960; S. Tramontin, Saggio di bibliografia laurenziana: appunti per lo studio della vita e delle opere di s. L. Giustiniani, Venezia 1960; A. Costantini, Introduzione alle opere di s. L. Giustiniani, Venezia 1960; F. De Marco, Ricerca bibliografica su s. L. G., Città del Vaticano 1962, pp. 49-131; G. Cracco, Momenti escatologici nella formazione di L. Giustiniani, in L'attesa dell'età nuova nella spiritualità della fine del Medioevo, Todi 1962, pp. 217-231; A. Costantini, Saggi laurenziani, Venezia 1964; P.H. Labalme, Bernardo Giustinian: a Venetian of the Quattrocento, Roma 1969, ad ind.; G. Penco, Storia della Chiesa in Italia, I-II, Milano 1978, ad ind.; S. Tramontin, La cultura monastica del Quattrocento dal primo patriarca L. Giustiniani, in Storia della cultura veneta, 3, I, Dal primo Quattrocento(, a cura di G. Arnaldi - M. Pastore Stocchi, Vicenza 1980, pp. 431-457; S. L. Giustiniani nelle raccolte della Biblioteca nazionale Marciana (catal.), a cura di F. Colasanti, Venezia 1981; A. Niero, Pietà popolare e interessi politici nel culto di s. L. Giustiniani, in Archivio veneto, s. 5, CLII (1981), pp. 197-224; Venezia e L. Giustiniani, a cura di S. Tramontin - F. Donaglio, Venezia 1982; B. Betto, Il capitolo della basilica di S. Marco in Venezia: statuti e consuetudini dei primi decenni del sec. XIV, Padova 1984, pp. 234-236; Id., Le nove congregazioni del clero di Venezia (sec. XI-XV), Padova 1984, pp. 128-138, 271-308; M.L. King, Umanesimo e patriziato a Venezia nel '400, Roma 1989, ad ind.; S. Tramontin, Dall'episcopato castellano al patriarcato veneziano, in La Chiesa di Venezia tra Medioevo ed età moderna, a cura di G. Vian, Venezia 1989, pp. 55-90; Vescovi e diocesi in Italia dal XIV alla metà del XVI secolo. Atti del VII Convegno di storia della Chiesa in Italia, Brescia ( 1987, a cura di G. De Sandre Gasparini et al., I-II, Roma 1990, ad ind.; S. Tramontin, Fondazione e sviluppo della diocesi, in Patriarcato di Venezia, a cura di S. Tramontin, Padova 1991, pp. 19-47; P.H. Labalme, "No man but an angel". Early efforts to canonize L. Giustiniani, in Continuità e discontinuità nella storia politica, economica e religiosa. Studi in onore di Aldo Stella, a cura di P. Pecorari - G. Silvano, Vicenza 1993, pp. 15-43; V. Branca, L'umanesimo, in Storia di Venezia, IV, a cura di A. Tenenti - U. Tucci, Roma 1996, pp. 723-755; G. Moroni, Diz. di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, XXXIX, pp. 197-199; Hierarchia catholica, I, p. 179; II, p. 200; Dictionnaire de spiritualité, IX, pp. 393-401; Diz. degli istituti di perfezione, V, coll. 736-738; Rep. font. hist. Medii Aevi, V, pp. 159 s. G. Del Torre

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