Background
Orseolo was born in 928 near Udine to one of the more powerful families in Venice: the Orseolo who were the descendants of Teodato Ipato and Orso Ipato.
Orseolo was born in 928 near Udine to one of the more powerful families in Venice: the Orseolo who were the descendants of Teodato Ipato and Orso Ipato.
Pietro I Orseolo, Order of St. Benedict Cam. He abdicated his office and left in the middle of the night to become a monk. At the age of 20 he was named commander of the Venetian fleet, performing distinguished service as a soldier.
He waged successful campaigns against the Dalmatian pirates.
In 976, the sitting doge, Pietro IV Candiano, was killed in a revolution that protested his attempts to create a monarchy. This statement, however, cannot be verified.
Nonetheless, Orseolo was elected as his successor. As doge, Orseolo demonstrated a good deal of talent in restoring order to an unsettled Venice and showed remarkable generosity in the treatment of his predecessor"s widow.
He built hospitals and cared for widows, orphans and pilgrims.
Out of his own resources he began the reconstruction of the ducal chapel, now Saint Mark"s Basilica, and the doge"s palace, which had been destroyed during the revolution, along with a great part of the city. Here Orseolo led a life of great asceticism, performing the most menial tasks. There is some evidence that he had been considering such an action for some time.
His body is buried in the village church in Prades (Catalan: Prada), France.
Forty years after his death, in 1027, Orseolo was officially recognized as a blessed by the local bishop. The reform of the liturgical calendar in 1969 transferred the feast to January 10, the day of his death.