Last modified: 2003-09-06 by dov gutterman
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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 webpage 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 cittą del Vaticano. Pontificato di S.S. Pio
XI- Anno VIII. Cittą 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