In the sestiere of Dorsoduro, you’ll find the aforementioned church. It is an unusual church in that you can walk right around it, a rare occurrence in Venice.
The church is dedicated to St Raphael, and above the door, you’ll see a fine representation of him, his companion Tobias carrying a big fish, and Tobias’ dog.
I just adore the story of how the Angel Raphael (in disguise) guides the young lad, Tobias, to a distant land, with the aim of collecting an old debt for his blind father. Along the way, Tobias falls in love with a young woman who is possessed by an evil spirit. (Funny how that so often happens!) Raphael teaches Tobias how to get rid of that darn spirit, so young love can triumph, they can live happily ever after, etc., etc. All together now “Awwww.”
To read all about this, and also to find out why Tobias carried that fish for such a long time, you can either open the Old Testament to the Book of Tobit, or go for this simple version: st-raphael-and-tobias
The travelling companions, and fish
Our little friend, Tobias complete with fish
I reckon we should have a “Name that dog” competition. As usual, only fame and glory for the winning entry, no cash prizes. (It’s my contest, I make the rules.)
There you go, Bert, a post set in Venice.
Hello World 