Marcantonio Barbarigo (6 March 1640 – 26 May 1706) was an Italian cardinal of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was the founder of the Pontifical Institute of the Religious Teachers Filippini and also founded both the Religious Teachers Filippini of Montefiascone and the Augustinian Sisters of Divine Love. He was the great-uncle of Pope Clement XIII and was a relative of

Gregorio Barbarigo Gregorio Giovanni Gaspare Barbarigo (16 September 1625 – 18 June 1697) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal who served as the Bishop of Bergamo and later as the Bishop of Padua. He was a frontrunner in both the 1689 and 1691 papal concla ...

. In the process towards sainthood

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

approved that he lived a life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

and bestowed upon him the title of

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

in 2007.

Biography

Marcantonio Barbarigo was born on 6 March 1640 in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. Barbarigo studied in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

where he earned a doctorate in both

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

and civil law. He abandoned a successful diplomatic career in order to follow his religious vocation.

Bishop of Corfu

Barbarigo was ordained to the priesthood in Padua and Pope Innocent XI later appointed him as the Bishop of Corfu in 1678. His relative

bestowed upon him

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in the Roman church of Santa Maria in Vallicella on 26 June 1678 and he was granted the

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...

the following month. There he established a seminary for the training of young priests. In August 1684, the Venetian fleet anchored at Corfu was stricken with cholera. Barbarigo spent his days in the hospital ministering to the sick and dying.

Montefiascone and Corneto

Pope Innocent XI elevated him into the cardinalate on 2 September 1686 as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Susanna. He was transferred to the see of Montefiascone and Corneto in 1687 with the title of Archbishop. He established an orphanage in Corneto which was subsequently named "Orfanotrofio Barbarigo" in his honor. In 1685

Rose Venerini Rosa Venerini (9 February 1656 – 7 May 1728) was a pioneer in the education of women and girls in 17th-century Italy and the foundress of the Religious Teachers Venerini ( it, Maestre Pie Venerini), a Roman Catholic religious institute of wo ...

established a school for girls in Viterbo. Cardinal Barbarigo invited Venerini to come to his diocese to give advice on the administration of schools in the diocese and to help train teachers. From 1692 to 1694, Venerini opened ten schools in Montefiascone and the villages surrounding Lake Bolsena. The cardinal rented a house for Venerini and her school, and provided the material means; Rosa trained the teachers, and organized the schools. When she had to return to Viterbo to attend to her first school, Venerini entrusted the Montefiascone schools and the teachers to the direction of a young woman,

Lucy Filippini Lucy Filippini ( it, Santa Lucia Filippini; 13 January 1672 – 25 March 1732) is venerated as a Catholic saint. She founded ''the Institute of the Maestre Pie'', dedicated to the education of young girls. Life Lucy Filippini was born on 13 ...

, whom the cardinal had entrusted with the leadership of the project in his diocese. Filippini organized the teachers of that diocese as a separate

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religi ...

known as the Religious Teachers Filippini. He participated in the papal conclave of 1689 which resulted in the election of

Pope Alexander VIII Pope Alexander VIII ( it, Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the las ...

and also partook in the conclave of 1691 that saw the election of

Pope Innocent XII Pope Innocent XII ( la, Innocentius XII; it, Innocenzo XII; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He ...

. He later opted to be the Cardinal-Priest of San Marco in 1697 and partook in the papal conclave of 1700 that saw the election of Pope Clement XI. Barbarigo died on 26 May 1706 at 10:00am in Montefiascone in the residence of the bishop. He was buried in the tomb where bishops of the see were buried but was later transferred to another church and his heart placed in the Montefiascone

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Sainthood

The cause of beatification was introduced on 23 March 1941 and bestowed on him the title of Servant of God and the Positio was forwarded to the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

in 2006.

approved that he lived a life of

and proclaimed him to be

on 6 July 2007.

Episcopal succession

Augustinian Sisters of Divine Love

Cardinal Barbarigo founded the Congregation of the Augustinian Sisters of Divine Love in Montefiasconi, Italy on September 13, 1705. The sisters run the "Casa per ferie Mater Mundi", a residence for students of the Italian /institute for Classical Studies, affiliated with the Pontificium Institutum Altioris Latinitatis.

References

Books

* Bergamaschi, Pietro (1912). ''Vita del Servo di Dio Cardinale Marc'Antonio Barbarigo''. Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, Roma. 2 vols.

External links

*
Hagiography Circle
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbarigo, Marcantonio 1640 births 1706 deaths 17th-century Italian cardinals 17th-century venerated Christians 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Republic of Venice clergy

Marcantonio Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figure ...

Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI