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by Marcus Schmöger, 20 August 2002
Flag Introduced in 1825, official
since 8 June 1929 , present coat of arms adopted 7 June 1929.
See also:
Other Sites:
There seem to be a confusion between the Vatican City State,
the minuscule state that exists only since 1929, and the Holy See
(of Rome), which is the entity which is active in all
international relationships except those of a clearly territorial
nature, such as membership of UPU (Universal Postal Union),
INTELSAT, CEPT and UNIDROIT (International Institute for the
Unification of Private Law).
No government would have much interest in relations with so tiny
a state as Vatican City. But 172 states maintain diplomatic
relations with the Holy See, and half of those that have
accredited their ambassador to the Holy See find it worthwhile to
have him or her resident in Rome, distinct from their ambassador
to the Italian Republic.
The flag of the Vatican City State is as on your webpage, showing
the arms with the silver key in the dexter position. When
what is represented is the Holy See, not Vatican City State, the
keys are reversed. Rather, when the state was set up in
1929, the keys in the arms of the Holy See,
with the gold one in dexter position, were reversed to provide a
distinctive symbol for the new entity. In the personal arms
of the popes, the keys are, of course, arranged as in the arms of
the Holy See: the other arrangement would be equivalent to
treating him as merely the head of that little state. The
arrangement for the Holy See is seen in the arms
of Pope John Paul II on your webpage.
Rather than "the keys of paradise", as given on your
page, the reference would be better expressed exactly as in
Jesus' words to Peter in St Matthew's Gospel 16:19 "I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
I doubt too the exactness of the description given of the papal
flag in use before the Napoleonic occupation of Rome. The
flag used then was that of the city of Rome, which, if I rightly
recall what is today displayed in Rome, is not "yellow and
red" but gold (yellow) and purple, as it no doubt was also
in 1848 and before 1808.
"nuntius" , 14 Febuary 2000
The Vatican has citizens (1500 persons), but there is nobody
with only Vatican citizenship. For example, the Pope is citizen
of both the Vatican and Poland. The other peculiarity is that the
Vatican issues only diplomatic passports, so this is a country,
where all the citizens are diplomats.
Maxval, 14 March 2001
I would suppose the Holy See could be considered to be part of
the government of the Vatican City State, which does have a small
territory.
Elias Granqvist, 15 March 2001
US Department of State's background notes on the Holy See
explain the situation this way:
"The term "Holy See" refers to the composite of
the authority, jurisdiction, and sovereignty vested in the Pope
and his advisers to direct the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.
As the "central government" of the Roman Catholic
Church, the Holy See has a legal personality that allows it to
enter into treaties as the juridical equal of a state and to send
and receive diplomatic representatives. The Holy See has formal
diplomatic relations with 166 nations, including the United
States. Libya, Guyana, and Angola established diplomatic
relations in 1997. Created in 1929 to administer properties
belonging to the Holy See in Rome, the State of the Vatican City
is recognized under international law and enters into
international agreements. Unlike the Holy See, it does not
receive or send diplomatic representatives."
Joe McMillan, 15 March 2001
I notice that the Vatican is listed as "Holy See" in
a list of UN observers at the UN site. Is this used as an
alternative name only, or does it imply something else- more of a
supernational organization, the Catholic Church perhaps? It is
listed as a "non-member state".
Nathan Lamm, 1 October 2002
Holy See is the center of the catholic church, while Vatican
City State is the territorial unit where Holy See is placed. (the
situation is much more complicated, as Holy See not *the* state
is a subject of diplomatic recognition. See web page of the Holy
See's observer mission to UN.) The HS is not a member of UN (and
does not want to become a member). Again - see the web page: <www.holyseemission.org>.
Jan Zrzavy, 1 October 2002
"In the period between the annexation of the Papal State
by Italy in 1870 and the restoration of its temporal sovereignty
in the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the Holy Sea concluded treaties
(in the form of concordats) and entertained diplomatic relations
with the great majority of States. It was to that extent a
subject of international law without being a State in the
accepted sense of the term." (International Law; Collected
Papers of Hersch Lauterpacht).
David Prothero, 29 December 2002
Vatican has 44 hectares of area + 13 other dependencies of
which Castel Gandolfo who has 7 km2, if I remember well. The Holy
See of whom Vatican is the head territory (Vatican is not
strictly equal to Holy See), is the remnant of the Church States.
Jean-Marc Merklin, 28 December 2002
Crampton [cra90] states the
yellow and white used today date from 1808. Before that yellow
and red were used. However, I'm reading Trevelyan's Garibaldi
and the Defence of the Roman Republic at the moment and that
source clearly describes the Papal colours in 1848 as still being
yellow and red.
Roy Stilling, 13 May 1996
From Smith's [smi75]: 'In the
whole middle age red was the colour of Catholic Church, and gold
was used for the crossed papal keys. Napoleon mixed his army with
papal, so pope Pius VII decided new colours should be found.'
Pius VII choose gold and silver, and those were accepted in 1825.
The flag was used until 1870, when the state was integrated into
Italy. When the City of Vatican was formed as separate state, it
took the same flag in 1929.
Zeljko Heimer, 16 May 1996
by Marcus Schmöger, 20 August 2002
The (larger) Vatican flags seen displayed over Jordan and
Israel during the Pope visit , appeared to be 1:2 rather than
1:1. Some of them as banners.
Santiago Dotor , Jorge Candeias and Dov
Gutterman , 21 March 2000
I see vatican flags in 1:2 ratios constantly. This has
to do with the fact that I went to Catholic Primary and Secondary
Schools, my sister went to a Catholic Primary School, and so is
my brother. Overall, the three of us have attended (or are
attending) 4 different schools. The reason for the
Vatican's flag is that, as a Catholic school, our teaching falls
under the "jurisdiction" of the Vatican. And
since Canada has the law about all flags being the same size as
the Canadian flag, the Vatican's flag is stretched to be 1:2.
Georges G. Kovari, 25 Febuary 2002
In the States the Vatican flag is seen in 2:3 and 3:5, being
made to fit with the standard sizes manufactured by US flag
makers. In our church the US and Vatican flags are 4 foot by 6
feet, i.e. 2:3.
Devereaux Cannon, 25 Febuary 2002
taken from the official Vatican
site.
Yellow (or golden) is associated with golden keys - symbols of
Saint Peter (popes are the direct descendants of Saint Peter's
office). The keys are supposedly the keys to paradise.
Zeljko Heimer, 21 May 1996
I recommend [gal72] as a good reference for papal heraldry.
Pascal Vagnat, 17 May 1996
From the 16th Century on the coat of the Papacy may be blasoned: Gules a pair of keys crossed in saltire, one gold, one silver, tied gold, surmounted by a tiara silver, crowned gold.[hei78], page 101
Philip E. Cleary, 17 May 1997
I would strongly suggest the Vatican Web Page at www.vatican.va is also a good
start for Vatican heraldry. I do know a little bit about it, for
example the keys represent the keys to heaven, and the hat
represents papal authority.
John D. Giorgis , 10 December 1997
The arms of the Vatican City and the papacy are (in plain
English) On a red field, two crossed keys, one gold and one
silver, and a tiara. (less plain) Gules, two keys, or and argent,
in saltire, a tiara of the second and third.. The Pope uses his
own arms, with the keys behind and the tiara on top.
Ole Andersen, 13 December 1997
Ole is right. The coat of arms of the State of the City of the
Vatican has been officialised with the Fundamental Law of the 7th
of June 1929, as part of the Treaty of Lateran. In this one, the
article 19 says: "The flag of the City of the Vatican
consists of two fields divided vertically, yellow field on the
staff side and a white field on the other side, which bears the
tiara and the keys, the whole following the model A annexed to
the present law. The shield shows the tiara with the key,
according to the model B annexed to the present law. The seal
bears in the centre the tiara and the keys, and on the
circumference the words "State of the City of the
Vatican", according to the model annexed to the present
law."
The flag is a square flag with at the top of the yellow and gold
hoist, a pike with an angel's face. On the hoist is attached a
ribbon (French: une cravate et un noeud) in yellow and white. The
ends of the "cravate" are fringed in gold. In Italian:
"Asta gialla istata d'oro, cimata di lancia ornata di
coccarda degli stessi colori della bandiera e frangiata
d'oro".
The coat of arms consists of a red French styled shield:
___________
| |
| |
| |
| |
\___ ____/
\/
The seal has the words "STATO DELLA CITTA DEL
VATICANO" written.
Still on this subject, for those who are interested in Papal
heraldry, I recommend:
Galbreath, Donald Lindsay: "Papal Heraldry", second
edition revised by Geoffrey Briggs, Heraldry Today, London 1972.
Source: Acta apostolicae sedis, supplemento per le leggi e
disposizioni dello città del Vaticano. Pontificato di S.S. Pio
XI- Anno VIII. Città del Vaticano, tipografia poliglotta
vaticana. 1929
Pascal Vagnat, 14 December 1997
Thanks for the infos about the Vatican City State flag and
arms. But some years ago I noted a certain discrepancy which one
of you may solve.
The arms of all of the popes I know show the heraldically right
(= dexter) key as golden, the other one as silver.
BUT: In the illustration to the law Pascal quoted (I own a
colourful sample of it) the keys in the Vatican City State are
exchanged, i. e. the dexter key is SILVER.
Why this difference? From an heraldic view the more prominent key
(I think gold is more worthy than silver) should show to the
heraldically right side, which is followed by the popes' arms,
but not by the state's arms. Does anyone know the reason?
Ed Linder, 15 December 1997
The position of the gold key isn't so important. In fact
during the history, both versions can be found: dexter key: gold
and sinister key silver or vice versa. But more important: at
first, in the history of this coat of arms, there wasn't any gold
key: both were silver (see for instance in the Cathedral of
Bourges the picture of the Church coat of arms which is
accompanying the achievements of the anti-popes Clement VII and
Benedict XIII). Then came a time where gold keys are to be found
and finally the present usage of placing a gold key in bend
across silver one in bend sinister slowly makes its way, but it
is to be noted that the relative positions are sometimes
reversed. The colour of the field also varied: the field is
almost always red, ccasionally blue.
So, having gold in dexter and silver in sinister isn't important.
Why would be a key more important than the other, as we also know
that there wasn't any gold key at first? I think the coat of arms
is normal as this case occurred in the past for the Church coat
of arms (now, the coat of arms of the State of the City of
Vatican), or maybe is it a reproduction error, the picture being
inverted, as it can happen sometimes.
Source: - Galbreath, Donald Lindsay: "Papal Heraldry",
second edition revised by Geoffrey Briggs, Heraldry Today, London
1972.
Pascal Vagnat , 16 December 1997
There seems to be literary if not heraldic authority for one
golden and one silver key as early as the fourteenth century;
they were at least being thought of as gold and silver. In
Dante's Purgatorio, Canto IX, beginning at line 118, the angel
posted at Peter's Gate is portrayed with Peter's keys and
explains their significance. Dorothy Sayers, in the notes to her
translation of the Purgatorio (Penguin Books, 1955), glosses this
explanation as follows:
"[The Keys] are the two parts of absolution: The Golden Key
is the Divine authority given to the Church to remit sin; it is
'the costlier' because it was bought at the price of God's
Passion and Death. The Silver Key is the unloosening of the hard
entanglement of sin in the human heart: and this needs great
skill on the part of the Church and her priesthood when
administering the sacrament of Penance. Both keys must function
smoothly for a valid absolution: the use of the golden key
without the silver lands you exactly where it landed Guido da
Montefeltro (Inf. xxvii. 67 sqq.): the silver without the golden
(i.e. remorse for sin without seeking reconciliation) leads only
to despair and the Gorgon at the Gates of Dis. (Inf. ix.)"
Matthew H. Seeger , 14 October 1999
The Vatican coat of arms looks very similar to the arms of
French Historical Province called Comtat Venassin (near Avignon),
which was the former capital of Popes (and a papal territory from
Medieval Ages to 1792). The Comtat Venassin Arms are red with two
GOLD St. Peter keys crossed.
Jerome Sterkers, 23 August 2000
Jerome is globally right. I just would like to make a slight
linguistical correction and add historical comments. The banner
of arms is shown here
The correct name of the place is Comtat Venaissin. Comtat is
probably a Provencal deformation of Comte (County). The
inhabitants of Comtat Venaissin are called "Comtadins".
"Venaissin" comes from the city of Venasque, now a
village of ca. 600 inhabitants, but formerly the siege of the
diocese of Comtat (later transfered to Carpentras).
Concerning the city of Avignon and Comtat Venaissin, the story is
a bit difficult: Comtat Venaissin has been a Papal possession
since 1274, but Avignon had remained under the rule of the Counts
of Provence. In 1309, the French Pope Clement V (Bertrand de Got,
elected in 1305), followed the "advice" of the king of
France Philippe le Bel and moved officially to Avignon on 9 March
1309. He died in 1314 and the next Pope, Jean XXII, from Avignon,
was elected only two years later. Benoit XII (1335-1342), a
Cistercian monk, commanded the construction of the Old Palace
(Palais Vieux), looking like a fortress. The next Pope, Clement
VI (1342-1352) was much more interested in art and comfort and
commanded the construction of the New Palace (Palais Neuf) and
its rich decoration. Embelishments were carried on by Innocent VI
(1352-1362), Urbain V (1362-1370) and Gregor XI (1370-1378). The
papal city of Avignon became a place of tolerance and asylum for
the political refugees, such as the Italian poet Petrarco, and an
important Jewish community. The place became also unfortunately a
safe place for rioters, burglars and all kinds of criminals. The
Italians violently claimed the return of the Pope to Roma, and
called the era "the Babylon captivity".
Urbain V had moved to Roma in 1367 but came back three years
later because of the insurrectional situation of Italy. In 1376,
Gregor XI was convinced by St. Catherine of Siena to leave
Avignon against the willingness of the King of France. His death
in 1378 was the starting point of the Great Western Schism.
Clement VII (1378-1394), supported by the French cardinals and
the king of France, came back to Avignon. Benoit XIII (1394-1409)
lost the support of the king of France and left Avignon in 1403,
but his supporters resisted in the palace until 1411. In the same
time, anti-popes (who themselves called the French popes
antipopes) had been elected in Roma. The unity was restored only
in 1417 with the election of Martin V.
After the departure of the popes, Avignon remained a papal
possession and was ruled by a legat and later by a
vice-legat. After the French Revolution, the partisans of
rattachment to France won over the papists and the Assemblee
Constituante voted the annexion on 14 September 1791.
The Comtat was incorporated to the department of Vaucluse (named
after Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, from Latin "vallis clusa",
the closed valley), which still has an exclave in the department
of Drome, constituted by the municipality of Valreas, a.k.a. the
papal enclave.
Ivan Sache, 23 August 2000
The Flag
by Antonio Martins, 8 November 2001
car flag
by Antonio Martins, 8 November 2001
I just saw in the news a short coverage of an Vatican meeting
where the Pope came by car that was addorned with two flags that
were sometimes reported as Pope's personal flag. There were of
the same design as the state flag of Vatican, but the Vatican CoA
being replaced with the papal personal coat of arms (blue, golden
cross and letter M) of Pope John Paul II.
Even if these flags are somtimes (rather often?) seen in various
occasions, I think that this is first time I have seen them used
by the Pope himself or the Vatican government - otherwise these
flags were always seen (more or less) as ornamentation hoisted
by Catholics in various occasions. The two flags on the car
were rather in the triangualr pennant form, with the white fields
therefore being considerably larger then the yellow field, so
that it could contain the CoA confortably.
Zeljko Heimer, 21 May 2001
The Arms
by Antonio Martins, 8 November 2001
John-Paul II has a blue shield with golden cross off-centered towards dexter chief, with a golden 'M' in sinister base field. The 'M' stands for Mary, Mr. Woytil~a's personal devotion. Above the shield there is a papal tiara (three times crowned hat), and behind shield are crossed golden and silver keys.
Note that the cord should be red, also all of the gems in the
tiara. The ribbon emerging from the tiara will be red, too, with
golden crosses and golden fringes. A pretty good source for
symbols of the Catholic church might be named: Peter Bander van
Duren (ed.): Armorial Bruno B. Heim, Van Duren, Gerrards Cross,
England, 1981.
Zeljko Heimer, 16 May 1996, Dieter Linder, 29 May
1997
While driving I passed over a car with diplomatic plates which
carried interesting car flag. It was the VA flag but instead the
expected keys there was an ornamated red double cross on the
center (verticl hand of the cross on the
centerline between two colours).
Eli Gutterman, 15 Febuary 2001
The double cross is symbolic for a bishop, maybe there is some
connection. IMHO - the yellow and white flag clearly indicate the
Romancatholic connection - it may be an ususual flag used by
Vatican mission, though it is not quite likely, I guess. I
suspect that the flag may beling to some of the orders or like
organizations that may possibly have diplomatic status in Israel
for some historical reasons (or whatever reason, for that
matter), just like the Maltese Order have in many countires
allover the world.
Zeljko Heimer, 15 Febuary 2001
Could the vatican use some sort of "rank" flag ? The
VA flag with the key as a car flag might be reserved for the
pope.
Marc , 15 Febuary 2001
Here is a brief synopsis of Roman Episcopal Heraldry.
That crest that you mentioned is an Episcopal coat of arms, which
means it is the arms of a bishop. Any shield that has a
double cross behind it is the crest of an archbishop.
A single cross in the backdrop is the cross of a regular
bishop. On the bishops coat of arms, You also would have
seen an elaborate arrangement of tassels on either side, rather
then the keys of St. Peter, as in the papal coat of arms.
These tassels come in three different forms. Twelve green
tassels signifies the rank of bishop, 20 green tassels signifies
the rank of archbishop, and 30 red tassels signifies the rank of
Archbishop/Cardinal Priest. All bishops, other than the
archbishop of Rome (pope), have a shield in the center which is
split in two halves. The left half, is the arms of his
Diocese, and the right is his personal arms. The scroll
below the shield is the bishops personal motto. You may also see
plain shields that have no tassels but have a mitre on
them. These shields are the arms of the actual
diocese.
I. Jasionowski, 17 March 2002
Jasionowski's paragraph muddled the terminology of
"crest" and "coat of arms" and was also
somewhat confusing about other accoutrements. The following
is from Carl Alexander von Volborth's Heraldry: Customs,
Rules, and Styles:
First, nowhere should the term "crest" appear.
Roman Catholic episcopal CoAs don't have crests.
Second, the crosses mentioned are the episcopal crosses carried
in procession--a metal cross mounted on a staff. The staff
is behind the shield, the cross appearing above it and below the
hat that indicates the prelate's rank.
Pope: crossed keys behind shield, tiara above.
Cardinal: red hat above shield with 15 tassels hanging down
on either side. (Note that most cardinals are also
patriarchs, archbishops or bishops and if so have the appropriate
episcopal cross behind the shield, as listed below.
Patriarch (who is not also a cardinal): green hat with 15
tassels on each side; double-barred cross.
Archbishop (who is not also a cardinal): green hat with 10
tassels on each side; double barred cross.
Bishop (who is not also a cardinal): green hat with 6
tassels on each side; single barred cross.
Abbot and provost with mitre and crozier: black hat with 6
tassels on each side; veiled crozier (pastoral staff) behind
shield.
Abbot and prelate nullius: green hat with six tassels on
each side; veiled crozier behind shield.
Prelate di fiocchetto (senior official of curia): violet
hat with red cords with 10 red tassels on each side; nothing
behind shield.
Protonotary apostolic: violet hat with red cords and six
red tassels on each side.
Prelate of honor: violet hat with violet cords and six
violet tassels on each side.
Chaplain to the pope: black hat with violet cords and six
violet tassels on each side.
Canon: black hat with three black tassels on each side
Dean and minor superiores: black hat with two black tassels
on each side, one above the other.
Priest: black hat with one black tassel on each side.
Anglican bishops and other clergy use a different arrangement.
Joe McMillan, 5 May 2002