Last modified: 2004-01-17 by dov gutterman
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by Zeljko Heimer and Marcus Schmöger, 25
December 2003
Official Name: The Holy See (State of the
Vatican City) - Santa Sede (Stato della Citta del Vaticano)
Capital: Vatican City
Location: Enclave of Rome (Italy)
Government Type: Ecclesiastical
Flag adopted: 8
June 1929 (Introduced in 1825)
Coat of Arms adopted: 7 June 1929
ISO Code: VA
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
According to 'Pavillons nationaux et marques distinctives' [pay00] - State Flag (CSW/--- (1:1))
- Vertically divided yellow-white with the keys emblem in the
middle of the last. The image above matches very well to the 2000
Album issue, here the construction sheet is given as
(1+2+1):(2+2), i.e. the hight of the keys emblem is half the flag
hoist. There are minor differences in keys emblem, but they are
of no significance, I believe - every representation of the keys
is somewhat differently stylized, and I do not believe that there
exists a preffered or official one.
The 2003 correction have the emblem set to larger then half the
hoist (8/23), or if you prefer the "rational"
expression (15+16+15):(23+23). Here the keys are again somewhat
differently stylzed then in 2000 issue, notable, they include a
cross thoughout the key rings, otherwise very much the same. I
don't know what was reason for the change, possibly some document
from Vatican was received by Armand lately.
Zeljko Heimer, 14 August 2003
The corr. 3. gives a new construction details of the VA flag
(even though the image there does not follow it). The size of the
emblem in the white field is just a bit larger then one third of
the height, so (15+16+15):(23+23).
Zeljko Heimer, 25 December 2003
by Zeljko Heimer and Marcus Schmöger, 25
December 2003
The 2:3 unofficial variant (C--/-- (2:3)) is certainly used
sometimes in "civil use", i.e. when it serves mere
ornamental purpose more then statehood one. The 2000 issue give
here also construction details (1+2+1):(3+3), but this surely
must be orientational - the flag is unofficial anyway. The 2003
issue removes this construction details. See: Non-Square
Flags.
Zeljko Heimer, 14 August 2003
The unofficial variant in 2:3 is also shown, in corr. 3
without the construction details (in original 2000 issue it had
details, but these are now removed, presumably no sence in
determining construction details for an unofficial flag). The
details were in effect so that the height of the emblem is half
the flag height.
Zeljko Heimer, 25 December 2003
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
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