Antonio Surian (patriarch)

He was born in Venice on 25 November 1455[1][2] to the patrician Giovanni and Margherita Civran.[3] He was the uncle of the Venetian politician and ambassador, Antonio Surian (1483 – 1542).[4]

At the age of eighteen he became a Carthusian monk and was sent to study in Padua. In 1584 was moved to the charterhouse of Saint Andrew in the La Certosa island very near to the town of Venice. He served his order also in diplomatic missions, in France and in Germany, where probably he served also the secret service of the Republic. From 1497 to 1500 he was Prior of the Carthusian charterhouse in Padua, and from 1500 he returned at the monastery of Saint Andrew as Prior.[3]

On 13 November, after the patriarch of Venice Tommaso Donà died, the Venetian Senate elected Surian as his successor. The choice was validated by Pope Julius II on 27 November.[5] Antonio Surian took possession of Venice's cathedral San Pietro di Castello on 2 February 1508, and he was consecrated bishop in the same church a week later by Francesco Quirini, bishop of Durrës.

On 30 April 1507 Antonio Surian ordered that all churches of Venice shall be closed at sunset to avoid abuses. He died in Venice on 19 May 1508, and he was buried in his previous church of the Carthusians monastery in the island of Certosa.[3]