VENICE COMMEMORATES THE CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF “THE SMILING POPE”

Vatican City, 30 October 2012 (VIS) - A Mass is due to be celebrated this afternoon in Venice to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Pope John Paul I, Albino Luciani, who was patriarch of that city from 1969 to 1978. The pontificate of John Paul I, who became known as "the Smiling Pope", lasted only 33 days from 26 August to 28 September 1978. The process for his beatification began in 2003.

The Venetian commemoration will consist of a Mass at 6 p.m. in Saint Mark's Basilica, presided by Patriarch Francesco Moraglia, who will concelebrate with bishops of the Triveneto Episcopal Conference. This will be followed at 8.30 p.m. by a concert of religious music organised by the Procurator of Saint Mark's Basilica, the Polish Institute in Rome and the "Capella Cracoviensis" of Krakow. During the intervals, there will be readings of texts by John Paul I.

The programme of the concert will be dedicated to two of the most important exponents of the Venetian school of the seventeenth century: Giovanni Gabrieli, composer, organist and choir master of Saint Mark's Basilica, the four-hundredth anniversary of whose death falls this year, and Mikolak Zielenski, composer, organist and choir master linked to the Collegiate of Lowicz, see of the Polish primate.