John Olini

Roman Catholic Saint. He is remembered for his miraculous deeds and that, over the years, his body has mummified. Considered a good-natured boy, he was born and educated in Venice studying the Holy Scriptures. His childhood was at a time of unrest with earthquakes and fires throughout Venice. With all this crisis, he grew into a quiet, kind man. When the Parish priest of St. John the Baptist Church in San Zane Degola died, his world changed. The faithful in the parish asked him to consider being their priest. Although he was forty years old, the idea was brought before the local Bishop Monsignor Micheal Calerga, and according to church documents, he was appointed. While he was priest, there were many plagues throughout Venice. During one of the epidemics, a tenth of the population died. Confessions and last rites were needed everywhere and Father John Olini administered them to the sickest, when others would not enter the dwelling. He never got sick and was halted as a “living saint.” He died as an elderly man with his body placed in a stone sarcophagus. In 1393 at a funeral, a child tipped over the sarcophagus causing a body free from decay and dressed in full priest attire to fall from its resting place. During that night, it is documented that a saint appeared to one of the nuns and she was ordered to inscribe “John” on the body. Another time, he was found with his arms raised high as if praising God. In 1644, the body was placed in a sarcophagus at the altar of St. Lawrence. In 1794, Antonia Maria Teresa Suman was miraculously healed at the altar. After these occurrences, pilgrimages started to view the body yet were met with opposition by the local Monsignor as he feared that people would start worshiping the corpse. The situation was taken to the Pope and in time, the pilgrimages were allowed. Since the authorities closed all the monasteries in Venice in 1810, his remains were given to the painter Gaetano Gresler, who saved thousands of artifacts from the Napoleon army. He brought them to St. Blasie on July 23, 1818. A CAT Scan was performed on his body on November 28, 2009 and found that his internal organs were all present. His mummified body is on display at St Blaise Church for religious, scientific, and historical reasons.. His feast day is August 10th. His remains are kept behind the main altar of St. Blaise Church along with St. Leon Bembo and St. Nicoloza Bursa. The scientific community can not offer any explanation for the mummification, yet the Roman Catholic Church considers it a miraculous event.