  C-213: Commememorative coin struck
after his death. Picture on back with Constantine"s reaching toward God's hand.
Slightly smaller than a dime. OBV: Veiled head RT; DV. CONSTANTINVS PT. AVGG. REV: No legend.
Constantine in quadriga galloping RT; above, hand of God; in EXG; CONS,
S-3889 AE 4 (17mm), $25.00, FINE About the size of US nickel. OBV: Hear of Constantine RT. IMP. CONTANTINVS P. F. AVG. REV: SOLI INVICTO COMITI. Sol stg. LT. holding globe. S-3862
$25.00, VERY FINE
C-215: About the size of US penny. AE 3, OBV: Head of Constantine RT. CONSTANTINVS AVG. REV: D. N. CONSTANTINI MAX. AVG. Laurel-wreath around VOT XX. S3873
$30.00, VERY FINE
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 C-205: About the size of US DIME. AE 3, OBV: Hear of Constantine RT. CONTANTINVS MAX. AVG. REV: GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two soldiers stg. either side of two standards; in ex., TRS., S-3886 $25.00, VERY FINE
C-212: Commememorative coin struck after his death.The size of US dime. OBV:
CONSTANTINOPOLIS. Helmeted bust of Constantinopolis lt., wearing imperial mantle and hol;ding
septre. REV: No legend. Victory stg., lt., right foot on prow, holding scepter and leaning in
shield., S-3890 AE 3, $35.00,
VERY FINE C-214: About the size of US penny. AE 3, OBV: Head of Constantine RT.
CONSTANTINVS AVG. REV: PROVIDENTIAE AVGG. Camp-gate surmounted by two turrets. S-3878.
$30.00, VERY FINE
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Constantine was greatly outnumbered by Maxentius's army yet the battle for control of the Roman Empire was about to engage at the Milvian Bridge in Italy, 312 AD. Constantine prayed and saw in the sky above the setting sun, a vision of a cross of light and an inscription "Under this sign you will be Victorious". That night he slept and Christ appeared to him commanding he make a likness of the Cross and to use it for the safty in all his encounters with his enemies. In yet one more dream he was directed to make the sign of Christ upon his soldiers shields and join in battle. The sign was Chi-Rho, a monagram composing the first letters of the name of Christ in Greek. Constantine defeated Maxentius, who was killed in battle. In 313 the Edict of Milian was proclaimed and universal Christianity became the state religion. He created a new capitol of the Roman Empire at Constantinopolis (330 AD), modern day Istanboul. The Byzantine Empire he created lasted over 1000 years. This Great man was instramental to the growth of Christianity. Please research this icon of our Christian past.
Constantine was liberal to prodigality, was generous in almsgiving, and adorned the Christian churches magnificently. He paid more attention to literature and art than we might expect from an emperor of this period, although this was partly due to vanity, as is proved by his appreciation of the dedication of literary works to him. It is likely that he practiced the fine arts himself, and he frequently preached to those around him. No doubt he was endowed with a strong religious sense, was sincerely pious, and delighted to be represented in an attitude of prayer, with his eyes raised to heaven. In his palace he had a chapel to which he was fond of retiring, and where he read the Bible and prayed. "Every day", Eusebius tells us, "at a fixed hour he shut himself up in the most secluded part of the palace, as if to assist at the Sacred Mysteries, and there commune with God alone ardently beseeching Him, on bended knees, for his necessities". As a catechumen he was not permitted to assist at the sacred Eucharistic mysteries. He remained a catechumen to the end of his life, but not because he lacked conviction nor because, owing to his passionate disposition, he desired to lead a pagan life. He obeyed as strictly as possible the precepts of Christianity, observing especially the virtue of chastity, which his parents had impressed upon him; he respected celibacy, freed it from legal disadvantages, sought to elevate morality, and punished with great severity the offenses against morals which the pagan worship bad encouraged. He brought up his children as Christians. Thus his life became more and more Christian, and thus gradually turned away from the feeble syncretism which at times he seemed to favour. The God of the Christians was indeed a jealous God who tolerated no other gods beside him. The Church could never acknowledge that she stood on the same plane with other religious bodies, she conquered for herself one domain after another. More information, www.newadvent.org.
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C-216: 
 C-178: Coin the size of a US dime. Commemorative coin struck after her death. OBV: FL.IVL. HELENAE AVG. Diad. and dr. bust, r. REV: PAX PVBLICA. Pax stg. l.; in ex., TPR. S-3910 AE 3 , $60.00, VERY FINE |
Wife of Constantius I, and mother of Constantine the Great. A devoted Christian, Constantine proclaimed her Empress and she employed her wealth in charity to the poor and building of churches. One being on Mount Calvary,and another on Mount Olivet.
Born,248, Drepanon?, Bithynia, Asia Minor and died 328, Nicomedia; Western feast day August 18; Eastern feast day [with Constantine] May 21 also called HELEN, Roman empress who was the reputed discoverer of Christ's cross.
Helena was married to the Roman emperor Constantius I Chlorus, who renounced her for political reasons. When her son Constantine I the Great became emperor at York (306), he made her empress dowager, and under his influence she later became a Christian. She was devoted to her eldest grandson, Crispus Caesar, whom Constantine made titular ruler of Gaul, but a mysterious embroilment in the imperial family culminated with the execution of Crispus and Fausta, Constantine's second wife and Crispus' stepmother. Thereafter, the story became current that Fausta had accused Crispus of attempting to seduce her--hence Crispus' execution (326). Fausta, in turn, was denounced by the grief-stricken Helena and was executed shortly afterward. Immediately after the double tragedy Helena made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She caused churches to be built on the reputed sites of the nativity and of the Ascension.
Before 337 it was claimed in Jerusalem that Christ's cross had been found during the building of Constantine's church on Golgotha. Later in the century Helena was credited with the discovery. Many subsequent legends developed, and the story of the "invention," or the finding of the cross, enhanced by romances and confusions with other Helens, became a favourite throughout Christendom.
Her journey's have been marked by innumerable charities and the most illustrious deeds of virtue. Later she would be canonized a Saint by the Church.
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C-217: Coin about the size of a quarter. OBV: Laurate head RT, IMP. C. MAXENTIVS P. F. AVG/REV: CONSERV. VRB. SVAE.,Roma seated facing in hexastyle temple; in EXG RBQ. AE FOLLIS, S-3779, $72.00, FINE |
Maxentius, Marcus Aurelius Valerius, died 312.Roman emperor from 306 to 312. His father, the emperor Maximian, abdicated with Diocletian in 305. In the new tetrarchy (two augusti with a caesar under each) that was set up after these abdications, Maxentius was passed over in favour of Flavius Valerius Severus, who was made a caesar, and then, in 306, an augustus. But discontent with the policies of Severus at Rome caused Maxentius to be proclaimed augustus there on Oct. 28, 306.
Maximian, recalled to the throne to support Maxentius, defeated and killed Severus in 307. Shortly thereafter, however, father and son quarreled, and Maximian sought refuge with Constantine, who had been designated an augustus by Maximian. Maxentius at first controlled Italy, Spain, and Africa, but in 308 the vicar of Africa, Lucius Domitius Alexander, revolted and proclaimed himself augustus. Two years later Constantine annexed Spain. Africa was recovered by Maxentius in 311, but he was killed by Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312.
Because the sources from this period reflect the propaganda of Constantine, they represent Maxentius as a brutal tyrant, although in actuality he stopped the persecution of the Christians. He built a huge basilica, which Constantine renamed after himself, and a temple to his son Romulus in the Roman Forum.
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The Chi Rho is one of the most ancient "sacred monograms" of Christ. They were developed by early Christians as a secret sign of their faith. This monogram is composed of the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" (XPICTOC). The Chi Rho has many variations, including a form in which a single stroke crosses the downstroke of the "P", forming a cross, and another in which the "P" is made to look like a shepherd's crook, reminding us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (NIV) |
  LICINIUS I C-19: AE Follis, Nice black patina. About the size of
a U.S. nickel. OBV:IMP. CVH LICIN LICINNIVS P. F. AVG., Head rt. REV: IOVI CONSERVATORI.
JUPITER STG. LT., ESGLE AT FEET; IN EX., sis. AE Follis (20-24mm), $40.00, VERY FINE PLUS |
  C-207: AE 3, About the
size of a U.S. DIME. OBV:PROVIDENTIAE CAESS, Head lt. REV: Jupiter stg. lt., palm at
feet. AE 3 (15 mm), $35.00, VERY FINE | VALERIUS LICINIANUS LICINIUS, Roman emperor from 308 to 324, died 325. Born of Illyrian peasant stock, Licinius advanced in the army and was suddenly elevated to the rank of augustus (November 308) by his friend Galerius, who had become emperor. Galerius hoped to have him rule the West, but since Italy, Africa, and Spain were held by the usurper Maxentius, while Constantine reigned in Gaul and Britain, Licinius had to content himself with ruling Pannonia. When Galerius died in 311, Licinius took over Galerius' European dominions. He married Constantine's half sister Constantia (313) and in the same year defeated the Eastern emperor Maximinus at Tzurulum, east of Adrianople, Thrace, pursuing him into Asia, where Maximinus died. Licinius thus added the entire eastern half of the empire to his dominion. After a brief accord between the two augusti, Constantine forced Licinius to surrender the provinces of Pannonia and Moesia. There followed 10 years of uneasy peace in which Licinius built up his army and accumulated a huge reserve of treasure. In 324 Constantine defeated him at Adrianople and again at Chrysopolis (now �sk�dar, Tur.). Licinius surrendered, was exiled to Thessalonica, and was executed the next year on a charge of attempted rebellion. During the campaign against Maximinus, Licinius had made his army use a monotheistic form of prayer closely resembling that later imposed by Constantine. On June 5, 313, he had issued an edict granting toleration to the Christians and restoring church property. Hence his contemporaries, the Latin writer Lactantius and Bishop Eusebius, hailed him as a convert. But he eventually became alienated from the Christians and about 320 initiated a mild form of persecution. He was the Last Emperor Constantine had to conquer to establish a Christian Empire.
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 C-169: AZES II. A little smaller than the size of US QUARTER but thicker. SILVER TETRADRACHM, OBV: King on horseback, rt. REV: Zeus standing lt., holding Nike and septer. SILVER TETRADRACHM, $80.00, FINE PLUS |
C-162: AZES II. A little smaller than the size of US dime but thicker. SILVER DRACHUM, OBV: King on horseback, rt. REV: Zeus standing lt., holding Nike and septer. SILVER Drachum, $50.00, FINE + |
Azes II was king of Bactria, present day Afghanistan, from 35 BC to 5 AD. When he was ruling, he was so revered that he was referred to as the great king. He was so important that for 25 years after his death coinage still bore his name and types. Azes was a political descendant of Alexander the Great who brought Hellenism, better known as Greek culture, to the east. The obverse legends of his coins were written in Greek, bore his image mounted on a horse and had the legend in Indian script on the reverse making his coinage among the earliest bilingual coins. As Azes was king from 35 BC to 5 AD most of his coinage was issued before the birth of Christ, some had to have been struck on the day of Christ's birth and all were in circulation when Christ lived. Since we don't know exactly who the three kings were that visited Christ in the manger at the time of his birth, it is possible that Azes, the great king, was one of the three kings.Written by Harlan Burke
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C-21: Picture of Mother Mary and baby Jesus on reverse. AR Denar, thin silver, a little smaller than the size of a U.S. dime. OBV: Coat of Arms REV: Madonna and Child. AR Denar, $55.00, VERY FINE |
Maximilian II, born, July 31, 1527, Vienna, Austria, died, Oct. 12, 1576, Regensburg [Germany]. Holy Roman emperor from 1564, whose liberal religious policies permitted an interval of peace between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Germany after the first struggles of the Reformation. A humanist and patron of the arts, he largely failed to achieve his political goals, both at home and abroad. Maximilian, the eldest son of the future emperor Ferdinand I and the nephew of the emperor Charles V, received his education in Spain. In a dispute over the Habsburg succession order, he was at first placed behind Charles V's son Philip (the future Philip II of Spain), but, by a 1553 agreement, he displaced Philip as heir to the empire and remained hostile to the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs. Maximilian's sympathies for Lutheranism, formed in his youth, eventually caused sufficient scandal in Habsburg circles for his father to threaten him with exclusion from the succession in 1559. Henceforth, although he paid lip service to Roman Catholicism, he remained basically a humanist Christian who favoured compromise between the rival confessions. Already Bohemian king (from September 1562) and king of the Romans, or successor-designate to the empire (from November 1562), Maximilian became Hungarian king in 1563 and succeeded to the imperial throne in 1564. His refusal to invest Protestant administrators of bishoprics with their imperial fiefs disappointed the hopes of Germany's Protestant princes. Yet he proved his personal liberalism by granting freedom of worship to the Protestant nobility of Austria (1568), promising to respect religious liberty in Bohemia (1575), and working for the reform of the Roman Catholic church. His efforts to gain the right of marriage for priests failed, largely because of the opposition of Spain. In the Netherlands, Maximilian advised compromise between Catholics and Protestants but was again frustrated by Spanish intransigence. After fighting an unsuccessful campaign against the Turks, who remained a threat to the empire, he was compelled by a peace concluded in 1568 to continue to pay tribute to the sultan. His proposed army reform of 1570, by which the emperor would have controlled the army and would have had to grant his consent before foreign powers could recruit on German soil, was defeated by Germany's Protestant princes, who suspected an attempt to prevent them from assisting coreligionists abroad and were less willing to grant greater powers to the emperor. Maximilian's religious neutrality was largely a policy of political expediency in maintaining peace in the empire. Yet, although he preserved the right of his subjects to worship according to their beliefs, he succeeded in few of his political aims.
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C-22: Byzantine Empire, AE Follis. OBV: Justin and Sophia seated facing on double throne. REV: Large M between ANNO and regnal year 5; above CROSS; beneath; officina letter; in ex., CON. Nice coin. AE Follis, $55.00, VERY FINE |
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In art the nimbus, or halo, is often placed behind the head of religious figures. The nimbus is sometimes a simple circle, which represents eternity or eternal life. A circle with three rays is symbolic of the Trinity, and is reserved for representations of the Godhead, especially of Christ. The same idea is sometimes represented with a triangular nimbus. |
C-24: OBV: Helmeted and cuir. bust LT, holding spear and shield, D.N.FL.CL.IVLIANVS P.F. AVG. REV: VOT./X./MVLT./XX. in laurel-wresth; in EXG, S CONST. AE 3, (20mm), S-4074, $60.00, FINE PLUS |
The son of Constantine the Great's half brother, Julian escaped the massacre of his kinfolk at Constantinople after Constantine's death. He received Christian training but his intellectual character aroused attention and in 350 AD was sent to Nicomedia by Constantius, Emperor and son of Constantine the Great. Julian devoted himself exclusively to neo-platonist philosophy, mixed with all kinds of magic and mysteries. He believed his destiny was to restore Paganism. Through a series of events, Constantius died in route to engage Julian in battle in 360 AD, leaving Julian the Emperor. Persecution of Christians followed and Paganism enforced. Fortunatly he was killed in battle 363 AD and Christianity was not to be denied. The Church labeled him "The Apostate". An interesting character to research, the Last Pagan Emperor.
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C-221: AR, Silver Denar. Slightly smaller than a
dime. OBV: Coat of Arms. REV: Nice Double CROSSES. Silver Denar, $60.00, VERY FINE |
SIGISMUND (1368-1437), Holy Roman emperor (1411-1437) and king of Hungary (1387-1437) and Bohemia (1419-1437), the son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. In 1385 he married Queen Mary of Hungary, thus acceding to the throne of Hungary two years later. In 1396 he led a great army of Crusaders from many parts of Europe against the Turks; the latter, under the Ottoman sultan Bayazid I, inflicted a crushing defeat upon Sigismund's forces at Nicopolis (now Nikopol), Bulgaria. Upon the death of Holy Roman Emperor Rupert, Sigismund was elected to succeed him, but he did not receive formal coronation at the hands of the pope until 1433. In 1414 Sigismund persuaded the antipope John XXIII to convoke the Council of Constance at which a long-standing dispute over the papal succession was settled and ecclesiastical reforms were instituted. The council also tried the Bohemian religious reformer John Huss (Jan Hus) and condemned and executed him as a heretic. Sigismund succeeded to the throne of Bohemia in 1419. His power in Bohemia was never more than nominal, however, as the Bohemians believed him guilty of complicity in the death of Huss and repeatedly rose in arms against him
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C-25: Nice example of Leo, a little larger than the size of quarter.OBV: Leo facing center. REV: Letters on four lines, CROSS at beginning. AE FOLLIS, S-1730, $74.00, VERY FINE |
Born Sept. 19, 866, died May 11, 912, Constantinople.
LEO, OR THE PHILOSOPHER, Byzantine coemperor with Alexander from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire.
Leo was the son of Basil I the Macedonian, who had begun the codification, and his second wife, Eudocia Ingerina. Made coemperor in 870, Leo succeeded to the throne on his father's death. His foreign policy was directed mainly against the Arabs and the Bulgars. The able commander Nicephorus Phocas the Elder was recalled from his successful campaigns against the Lombards in south Italy to assist in the Balkans. After this Byzantium met with reverses in the West: Sicily was lost to the Arabs in 902, Thessalonica was sacked by Leo of Tripoli, and the Aegean was open to constant attack from Arab pirates. Steps were taken to strengthen the Byzantine navy, which successfully attacked the Arab fleet in the Aegean in 908. But the naval expedition of 911-912 was defeated by Leo of Tripoli. Byzantium's enemy to the north was Simeon, the Bulgar ruler. Hostilities arose out of a trade dispute in 894, and the Byzantines, aided by the Magyars of the Danube-Dnieper region, forced Simeon to agree to a truce. With the help of the nomadic Pechenegs, however, Simeon in 896 took revenge on the Byzantines, forcing them to pay an annual tribute to the Bulgars.
During Leo's reign the Russian prince Oleg sailed to Constantinople and in 907 obtained a treaty regulating the position of Russian merchants in Byzantium, which was formally ratified in 911. Because of his anxiety for a male heir Leo married four times, thus incurring the censure of the church.
Educated by the patriarch Photius, Leo was more scholar than soldier. In addition to completing the canon of laws, he wrote several decrees (novels) on a wide range of ecclesiastical and secular problems. He also wrote a funeral panegyric on his father, liturgical poems, sermons and orations, secular poetry, and military treatises. Leo's image is in a mosaic over the central door of Hagia Sophia.
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C-300: The ancient religion of Zoroastrianism pre-dated the rise of Parthian empire. The fire-altar that is the predominant reverse design of their coins attests to their faith. Silver drachm .Obv.Crowned bust right. Rev.Fire altar flanked by two attendants. Size of us HALF DOLLAR. SILVER , $75.00, VERY FINE |
Justinian (527-565) devoted most of his energy to
reconquering Rome's lost western territory in Italy, Spain, and northern Africa. In itself this
was one of the spurs to Khusro's war. Khusro feared the threat that a reunified Roman Empire
might pose to Persia. Justinian's efforts in the West forced him to strip the defenses of the
East, an opportunity of which Khusro took advantage. In the end, the two sides made peace in
562, although the Byzantine Empire was required to make large annual subsidies to Persia. It
was a hollow peace for Rome. Like Trajan, Justinian had overextended himself. His successors
lost the reconquered western territories in short order, while Justinian's settlement with
Khusro was not backed up by the military resources it required--resources that had been devoted
to the draining war in the West.
The last act--some might say that it was the most dramatic act of all--came forty years later.
The protagonists were the Sassanid Khusro II "the Victorious" (590-628) and the Byzantine
Heraclius (610-641). In the face of a succession struggle in Byzantium, Khusro made a
breathtaking sweep from Armenia through Anatolia and Syria down to Egypt. In effect, he had
finally fulfilled the old Sassanid dream of a Mediterranean empire--only briefly though.
Heraclius made a heroic reorganization of Byzantine defenses and counterattacked. The
culmination was a great defeat of the Sassanid army on the plains of northern Iraq in 627.
Khusro II was murdered a year later. It is believed Heraclius recovered the
TRUE CROSS of CHRIST which was taken by Khusro II.,
The epilogue is well-known. At the time of Khusro II's death in 628, Mohammed was about to
return in triumph to Mecca. He and his Arab armies were the real victors of the exhausting
Perso-Byzantine wars. By the end of the century, they had conquered most of the Byzantine
empire and virtually all of the Sassanid. Most of this territory has remained Muslim, if not
Arab, until the present day.
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C-179: GALLIENUS The size of US nickel. Silver Antoninianus, NICE SILVERING, OBV: GALLIENVS AVG, Emperor head Rt., REV: FORTVNA REDVX. Fortune stage lt. Silver Antoninianus, $60.00, VERY FINE |
C-177: SALONINA The size of US penny. Antoninianus, OBV: SALONINA AVG. Emperess head Rt. REV: PVDICITIA. Pudicitia seated Lt. Antoninianus, $50.00, FINE PLUS |
During the persecutions the Christians they were denied the use of there places of worship, but in 261 the Emperor Gallienus gave official permission to use them once again. This reign also provides what may be the first direct Christian reference on a coin, as a piece struck in milan, with the the name and portrait of SOLONINA, his wife. SALONINA WAS REPUTED TO HAVE BEEN A CHRISTIAN.
Son of Valerian, Gallienus was entrusted with the defence of the Rhine frontier in 254. He achieved considerable success against the German tribes. Valerian left Rome in 256 for the east and was captured by the Persians, leaving Gallienus sole ruler of the Empire. His reign consisted of internal revolts, famine, plagues, frontier wars and contests with provincial usurpers. Although an able soldier he could not reconstitute an empire showing signs of disintegration, and after a succession of campaigns he was eventually murdered at the seige of Milan in 268 AD. Salonina was murdered with her husband.
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C-192:
The size of US HALF DOLLAR. Bronze AS, OBV: NERO CAESAR AVG. GERM. IMP, Nero bare head rt., REV: SC, Victory lt., holding shield. FOLLIS, $95.00, FINE PLUS |
Nero Claudius Caesar, who ruled Rome from 54 to 68 AD, was one of
its most infamous emperors. Born on Dec. 15, 37 AD, he was the son of Domitius Ahenobarbus and
Caligula's sister Agrippina II. After Agrippina married Emperor Claudius I, she induced him to
adopt Nero.
When Claudius died, the Praetorian Guard and the Roman Senate hailed Nero as the new emperor.
Nero pledged cooperation with the Senate, announcing the beginning of a new golden age. Agrippina
vied for influence and power, however, with the prefect of the Praetorian Guard, Burrus, and with
Nero's former tutor, the philosopher Seneca. The first victim of the ensuing plots and
counterplots was Claudius's son, Britannicus, who was poisoned in 55. Nero resented Agrippina's
interference and had her murdered in 59. Burrus died in 62, and Seneca retired the same year.
From 62, Nero ruled unrestrained. Having divorced and murdered his first wife, Claudius's
daughter, Octavia, Nero married (62) Poppaea Sabina, an ambitious intriguer. In 62 he revived the
wide-ranging law of treason, and people were executed on suspicion of offense. In 64 a great fire
ruined Rome. Nero lavishly rebuilt the city, but rumor held that he had started the fire himself
to make room for his new palace and that he had recited poetry while watching the blaze. To avert
this suspicion Nero blamed the Christians for the fire. There began a fierce persecution
throughout the empire, and through robbery and confiscation the Christians were forced to pay in
great part for the building of the new Rome. In this persecution Saints
Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome in A.D. 67. Executions increased in 65, when an assassination plot was uncovered. The poet Lucan, Seneca, the famous general Corbulo, and numerous other senators lost their lives. Nero's great passion was art. He scandalized Roman society by displaying in public his talents as a chariot driver, singer, and musician. In 67 he toured Greece; the Greeks held numerous games and awarded Nero all of the first prizes for his racing and musical performances in honor of his visit. As Nero devoted himself to artistic pursuits, the reins of power slipped from his hands. In 68 the governors of three provinces rose in an open revolt. When the Praetorians also deserted him, Nero committed suicide on June 9, 68.
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C-159: ALEXANDER III, THE GREAT. About the size of US dime but thicker. AE 18, OBV: Head of Herakles Rt., REV: BA Bow case and quiver. AE 18, $75.00, VERY FINE |
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{PART TWO}
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WEB183: SOLD POPE PAUL VI. The size of US HALF DOLLAR. SILVER, 500 Lire, OBV: Pope head lt., REV: CITTA' DEL VATCANO, Heads of St. Peter and Paul facing, sward between, crosses keys below. B-3449. AE 18, $00.00, EXTREMELY FINE |
C-184:
POPE PAUL VI. The size of US HALF DOLLAR. SILVER, 500 Lire, OBV: Pope head lt., REV: CITTA' DEL VATCANO 1966, Bust of the Good Sheperd facing, L. 500 above. B-3441. AE 18, $40.00, EXTREMELY FINE |
POPE PAUL VI 1963-1978 AD Giovanni Battista Montini
was born in Brescia, Lombardy, on September 27, 1897. His father was a successful
journalist and a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. As a young man
the future pope had such poor health that he was allowed to attend the
seminary as a day student. He was ordained at Brescia on May 29, 1920, and
sent to Rome for further studies. Having entered the papal diplomatic service
he was sent to Warsaw as secretary to the nuncio. His health failed and he
returned to Rome, where he was assigned to the secretariat of state. By 1937
he was under secretary, and by 1952 acting secretary, of state. During World
War II he was in charge of the Vatican's work for refugees and prisoners of
war. He was there all during the occupation of Rome when there was a real
danger the Germans would take the Pope and his chief aides with them when they
were driven north. On December l, 1954, Pius XII made him Archbishop of
Milan, the largest and, after Rome, the most important diocese in Italy.
Since Pius XII made no cardinals after 1953, the Archbishop of Milan was not
a member of the conclave of 1958; but he was one of the first cardinals made
by John XXIII in December of that year. He played a prominent role in the
Council and since he was clearly the favorite of John XXIII, his election as
his successor (June 21, 1963) was almost taken for granted. |
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C-186: POPE PIUS IX. The size of US DIME. SILVER, 10 Soldi, OBV: Pope head lt., REV: 10 SOLDI, 1868. $28.00, EXTREMELY
FINE |
POPE PIUS IX 1846-1878 AD The cardinals, who felt
that Gregory XVI had been a little severe, fixed their eyes on the amiable
Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, but the Austrians also had their eyes on him--cold
eyes. Austria's representative Cardinal Gaysruck reached the conclave with a
veto for Mastai-Ferretti, but it was too late. He had already been elected
and had chosen the name Pius IX. Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti was born at
Sinigaglia on May 13, 1792. Refused admission to the pope's noble guards
because of epileptic attacks, he turned to the study of theology, and when
his epilepsy passed away, Giovanni was ordained a priest. In 1823 he
accompanied the apostolic delegate to Chile, and thus became the first pope to
have visited the new world. As archbishop of Spoleto, he handled the revolt
of 1831 with kind diplomacy. He persuaded the rebels to down arms and the
avenging Austrians to be merciful. Transferred to Imola in 1832, he became a
cardinal in 1840. Pius IX at once started to live up to his liberal
reputation. He promptly issued an amnesty for political prisoners and made
numerous reforms in the Papal States. The delighted Romans took the horses
from his carriage to pull it themselves, while girls strewed flowers in the
way. But, however numerous his concessions, they were not sufficient to
please the radicals, and when Pius refused to join the war against Austria in
stormy forty- eight, his popularity plummeted. On November 15 the radicals
stabbed the Pope's prime minister, Rossi, and practically besieged Pius
himself. Disgusted, Pius fled to Gaeta, leaving Mazzini and his minions to
take over at Rome. In 1849 a French army restored papal authority in Rome,
and in 1850 back came Pius IX, thoroughly cured of liberalism. The
restoration was not to last. In 1860 Cavour and Garibaldi wrested most of the
Papal States from Pius, and in 1870 when the French garrison was withdrawn
from Rome, the Piedmontese moved in. Pius, after making a token resistance,
confined himself to the Vatican. He refused to accept the situation, and
Italo-papal relations remained fundamentally strained until 1929. If Pius was
unfortunate in the temporal sphere, he showed himself a vigorous leader in
spiritual matters. In 1854 he declared it a dogma that Mary was conceived
without original sin. This was an assertion of papal infallibility and a
challenge to a materialistic age which had little belief in original sin. In
1864 Pius issued the encyclical "Quanta cura" and with it a syllabus
of seventy errors. This was no sudden whim of the Pope's, but a measure which
had been widely discussed and long pondered. Since it was an outspoken and
even harsh indictment of many nineteenth- century trends, it caused a
sensation. Indeed the syllabus has been an arsenal of anti-Catholic arguments
for many who misjudged or misinterpreted it. The greatest event of the
pontificate of Pius IX was the First Vatican Council. This, the twentieth
ecumenical council, proclaimed as a dogma that the pope when speaking ex cathedra,
that is, as pope, can make no mistake in solemn declarations of what must be
believed in matters of faith and morals. Pius had to adjourn the council in
the summer of 1870 owing to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. Pius IX
died, a very old, tired man, on February 7, 1878. The pontificate of Paul VI
will always be linked with the Council. His was the task of bringing it to a
successful conclusion (December 8, 1965) and of starting, though he knew he
could not finish, the implementation of its decrees. One of its major themes
was collegiality, or the collective responsibility of all the bishops, under
the pope, for the general welfare of the Church. He wished to govern with and
through the various national episcopal conferences. He was determined to hold
firmly to basic Catholic teaching on faith and morals and to allow any other
changes circumstances might suggest. Since conditions vary greatly from place
to place and some people had unusual notions of the changes the Council had
intended, there was some confusion about what could be done. He will be
remembered for his work toward the reunion of all Christians, his reaching
out to the immense multitudes who belong to non-Christian religions or to
none, his internationalizing the Roman Curia, and his untiring work for
peace. He was deeply interested in the emerging nations of the Third World
and supported every effort for their social advancement. He was the first
pope to visit every continent, and the first since St. Peter to visit the
Holy Land. The first papal visit to the Western Hemisphere was his visit to
the United Nations Headquarters in New York on October 4, 1965. His attempt
to establish better relations with communist governments had few results and
aroused mixed feelings in various Catholic circles. His exceptional capacity
for work lasted to the end, which came quite suddenly on August 6, 1978. |
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C-191: POPE PIUS XII. The size of about US HALF dollar. STANLESS STEEL 100-Lire, POPE HEAD LT., PIUS.XII.P.M.AN.XVII, REV: Faith stg. L 100-L 1955, CITTA.DEL.VATICANO $17.00, EXTREMELY FINE |
POPE PIUS XII 1876-1958 AD Latin: Pius PP. XII; Italian: Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 -October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death in 1958.
Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin-American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Germany. His leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II remains the subject of continued historical controversy.
After the war, Pius XII contributed to the rebuilding of Europe, and advocated peace and reconciliation, including lenient policies toward vanquished nations and the unification of Europe. The Church, flourishing in the West, experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the East. In light of his protests, and his involvement in the Italian elections of 1948, he became known as a staunch but pragmatic opponent of communism. He signed thirty concordats and diplomatic treaties.
Pius XII explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his 1950 Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. His magisterium includes almost 1,000 addresses and radio broadcasts. His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as the Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; Humani Generis on the Church's position on theology and evolution. He eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals with the Grand Consistory in 1946. His canonisation process is in progress.
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