PETITION TO THE MASTER GENERAL OF THE DOMINICAN ORDER

TO SAVE THE CONVENT OF SAN MARCO IN FLORENCE FROM CLOSURE

After receiving the news—conveyed first by the press and then by the Acts of the Provincial Chapter celebrated in Pistoia from 15 September to 3 October 2013—of the decision to close the Convent of San Marco in Florence, we turn to you, Master General moved solely by our love for this Convent and for all it represents; a love which unites Catholics and non-Catholics alike, because this Convent is truly unique and needs to be treated as such. The news has surprised us, and this should not have occurred had the decision been carefully considered and discussed by all interested parties.  Both local and national Italian newspapers have given it a great deal of attention. San Marco is an institution in Florence, and has been so since 1436, when the Convent was entrusted to the Dominicans. It is an integral part of Florence and its history: one need only remember Saint Antonine, Savonarola and La Pira himself to realize how closely interrelated the Convent and the city have been. No Florentine, whether closely attached to the Church or not, can conceive of his City without the Convent of San Marco. All have immediately recognised that the closure of San Marco would be like a disfigurement for Florence.

It is well known that Florentines are temperamentally prone to be polemical, to be argumentative and to be divisive, but the decision to close the Convent has miraculously united them. They are at one in condemning it. Has this unanimity of opinion no significance to the Dominican Order? Does it not move the Friars’ hearts and induce them to reciprocate the City’s love? It is obvious that the bewilderment of the Florentine population is exacerbated by the fact that not even the most vociferous enemies of the Church — not even Napoleon or the post-Risorgimento Italian government — dared as much. And now, it is the Friars themselves who decree the death of their Convent. San Marco, as can easily be demonstrated, is the most famous Dominican convent in the world. The very fact that it is to be closed by none other than the Dominicans themselves conveys a significant symbolic message. It is as if the Dominicans were with this act publicly foreshadowing the demise of their Order. When one thinks that San Marco holds the most substantial collection of paintings by the Blessed (Fra) Angelico, universal patron of all artists, then the closure of the Convent must offend all artists, who cannot but interpret the decision as betraying a fatal indifference towards their patron. To disregard these symbolic implications would seem to be an unpardonable error.

It is important to remember that San Marco was one of the main centres of Renaissance thought and art, as demonstrated also by its Library, the first to be made accessible to the public, and famous throughout Europe. Sooner or later, all serious scholars of the Renaissance throughout the world must eventually make their pilgrimage to San Marco, discovering it to be an architectural jewel and a repository of treasured works of art. It is essential also to call to mind the famous personages, renowned for their holiness as for their culture, who have enriched the Convent’s history. Among them are Saint Antonine, the Blessed (Fra) Angelico, the Blessed Antonio Neyrot, the Blessed Antonio della Chiesa, the Blessed Andrea da Peschiera, Savonarola, the painter Fra Bartolomeo and the biblical scholar Sante Pagnini. Among them too are the theologians Ignazio del Nente and Serafino Razzi, the sculptor and architect Domenico Portigiani, the scholar and art historian Vincenzo Marchese, the theologian and archbishop of Florence, Cardinal Agostino Bausa, and the Venerable Pio Alberto Del Corona, bishop of San Miniato. Close to San Marco, and influenced by the Convent, were Cosimo de’ Medici and the Renaissance scholars Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola and Girolamo Benivieni, as well as Maximus the Greek (honored in Eastern Orthodox Church) and Saint Filippo Neri, and the writers and historians Cesare Guasti, Niccolo’ Tommaseo and Pasquale Villari. In more recent times, San Marco has drawn to itself the Servant of God Giorgio La Pira, long time Mayor of Florence, the painter Pietro Annigoni, and the director and cinematographer Franco Zeffirelli, together with the scholar of spirituality Arrigo Levasti (who gifted his library to the Convent) and a number of Friars renowned for their erudition, among them Fathers Innocenzo Colosio and Tito Centi. To our knowledge, no other convent can claim to have made such a magnificent contribution to spirituality, art, learning, and culture. Rather than being faced with closure, San Marco should be supported and strengthened as warranted by its extraordinary history to religion and knowledge.

The reasons provided for the intended closure of the Convent of San Marco, as stated in Acts of the Provincial Chapter recently held, are as follows. It is stated, first, that it is not possible to maintain the two Dominican convents of Santa Maria Novella and San Marco in Florence. It is argued, further, that in the light of the geographical proximity of the two communities, it would be possible for the Friars belonging in future to one community to fulfil the various functions and activities previously carried out separately by each (Acts, pp. 36-7). There is however no certainty that the Friars, once residing in Santa Maria Novella, can maintain and fulfil all the activities required in San Marco. In effect, Santa Maria Novella will annex San Marco, which would thereafter survive in name only, by means of the joint title, “Santa Maria Novella and San Marco”. To underline this point: the name alone would remain, the San Marco Friars being forced to leave and the Convent being deprived of its soul. To claim that all liturgical and cultural activities will continue in San Marco (as stated by the Father Provincial in an interview to “Toscana Oggi – L’osservatore toscano”,1 December 2013) obscures the fact that San Marco, after six centuries, will be abandoned, to become an empty, dead place. Without its Friars, the Convent of San Marco will be reduced to a hollow shell.

Another reason adduced for the closure is the lack of Friars. Here however, some considerations are in order. It is true that there has been a diminution of Friars in the Dominican Order, but not to the extent of there being only one for every convent still open. As the Master General of the Dominican Order has noted in his letter to the Province, there are many Dominican communities consisting of only two or three Friars which are able to fulfil pastoral and preaching duties (Acts, p. 8). Why, then, is San Marco excluded from the number of small Dominican communities that are to be maintained?  Why is this “rationalisation” applied only to San Marco, instead of to other convents of the Order?

Whatever the arguments to the contrary, there is no “rationalisation” in gathering Friars in one, numerically larger community, because, in so doing, the San Marco community, deprived of its Friars, will die. The Father Provincial, in the aforementioned interview in “Toscana Oggi”, has maintained everything will be done to ensure that current activities are not abandoned. Indeed, he has argued that they will in fact be increased. But how can this be possible? How can activities be increased by withdrawing Friars from the Convent? The geographical closeness of the two convents of San Marco and Santa Maria Novella will provide no remedy. Let us not delude ourselves: without the constant presence of the Friars in San Marco, all activities will diminish, in quantity as in quality, and the apostolate will be reduced to a mere “part-time” pursuit.

Many can testify that all the activities now conducted in San Marco are properly carried out by Friars who dedicate themselves full-time to their fulfilment. Once the Friars are removed, this will no longer be possible. The many activities in the Convent, together with its libraries, the regular conferences held within its walls and even the hospitality so generously accorded to religious and lay persons will all be scaled down, if not abandoned altogether, as a result of the proposed “rationalisation”: all to the detriment of the Order and of the City of Florence, which have together benefited so much from San Marco’s religious and cultural innovations.

In this context, there is a further consideration to be mentioned regarding the vaunted “rationality” of the present decision. Over the last few years, the government-owned Museum of San Marco has sought and obtained from the Friars additional space in the Convent. To accommodate these changes, the Convent has been obliged to undertake very expensive building works. No sooner were these works completed than the decision has been taken to abandon the Convent and to move the Friars to Santa Maria Novella.

The Convent of San Marco has been one of the principal centres of sanctity and culture from the Renaissance to the present day. Its roles have been highlighted by numerous individuals, many of them already mentioned, ranging from Savonarola to La Pira and including also Pope John Paul II, who praised Florence for its spiritual and cultural inspiration to the world. To this inspiration San Marco has contributed more than any other institution; it has done so, moreover, as we have seen, over the not inconsiderable span of six hundred years.

No one doubts the fact that the decision of the Provincial Chapter is legitimate and also inspired, to a large extent, by the situation of the two Dominican convents in Florence. Even so, it is necessary to consider whether such a decision can have been properly assessed, and whether it can have taken proper cognisance of the history, past and present, of San Marco. We therefore beg you, Master General, to reverse this decision and allow the much loved convent of San Marco to continue imparting the spiritual and cultural teaching it has so magnificently provided for centuries.