Enrico Contarini (died 15 November 1108) was a Venetian priest who was Bishop of Castello from 1074 to 1108.

Biography

Enrico Contarini was the son of the Doge Domenico Contarini of the aristocratic Venetian family ( House of Contarini). He was appointed Bishop of Olivolo or Rialto in 1074. That year the Bishop of Olivolo began to be styled the Bishop of Castello. Enrico Contarini was the first to hold this title. The Doge Vitale Michiel (1096-1112) held back from participating in the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

until he saw the amount of loot that the Genoese and Pisans were bringing back from Palestine. In 1099 Enrico Contarini was the spiritual leader of the fleet of about 200 ships that Michiel sent to assist in the crusade in the Levant. The fleet sailed to

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, where it wintered. The emperor of Byzantium asked the Venetians not to proceed, but the bishop overcame any who were inclined to listen to this request. In the spring of 1100 the fleet went on to

Myra Myra (; , ''Mýra'') was a city in Lycia. The city was probably founded by Lycians on the river Myros (; Turkish: ''Demre Çay''), in the fertile alluvial plain between, the Massikytos range (Turkish: ''Alaca Dağ'') and the Aegean Sea. By the ...

in Asia Minor, where they obtained the remains of

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

, his uncle Nicholas and Saint Theodore the Martyr. They went on to the Holy Land, then returned to Venice, which they reached on 6 December 1100. With Saint Nicholas the Bishop obtained a patron saint to rival the Doge's Saint Mark. Theodore the Martyr became one of the four tutelary guardians of Venice, along with the angel Gabriel, the Virgin Mary and Saint

Mark the Evangelist Mark the Evangelist (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek language, Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' ...

. Enrico Contarini died in office on 15 November 1108.

References

Citations Sources * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Contarini, Enrico 1108 deaths Bishops of Venice Enrico Year of birth unknown

Biography

See also

References