Pope Paul VI: 80th Birthday
Scott 630-631 (1978)
Sculpture of Risen Christ by Fazzini
Scott 1516 (2013)
Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was born 26 September 1897 and died on 6 August 1978. He was pope from 21 June 1963, succeeding St. John XXIII to 1978, and succeeded by Pope John Paul I.
Pope Paul VI has been extensively covered in the Daily Emails, and a biography was included on his feast day 29 May. Instead of a biographical summary for his birthday, the following comments were prepared by VPS member Peter Caracci which focus on the Vatican City stamps issued in 1978, the sculpture by Pericle Fazzini in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall. Scott 630-631 are images of the face of Jesus and Pope Paul VI issued to mark his 80th birthday, and feature Paul VI’s coat of arms.
“This stamp (Scott 630) shows the face of Christ from the statue, “The Resurrection,” which was sculptured by Pericle Fazzini (1913-1987). “Resurrection” is a monumental statue that dominates the stage of the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall where a pope’s general audiences are held when an outside venue is not comfortable. The statue depicts Jesus rising from a nuclear bomb crater. “Resurrection’ is molded in red bronze, and yellow brass. It measures 66 feet by 23 feet by 10 feet.
“Suddenly there came to me the idea of Christ preaching peace for 2,000 years, and the place where He prayed for the last time: the olive grove of Gethsemane” said Mr. Fazzini in a book about the work. “I had the idea of depicting Christ as if He were rising again from the explosion of this large olive grove peaceful site of His last prayers. Christ rises from this crater torn open by a nuclear bomb; an atrocious explosion, a vortex of violence and energy.” One of the great engravers of the 20th century, Lino Bianchi Barreviera produced these stamps.
“Pope Paul VI was born in 1897 and died in 1978 and served as pope from 1963 to 1978. Throughout his pontificate, the tension between papal primacy and the collegiality of the episcopacy was a source of conflict. Those who knew him best, however, describe him as a brilliant man, deeply spiritual, humble, reserved, and gentle, a man of ‘infinite courtesy.” The controversies over the encyclicals Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) which forbid artificial method of birth control and Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (On the Celibacy of the Priest) which stated that priests should not marry, were objected to by many in the church. Scott 631 shows the soberness of a Pope whose teachings were not accepted, nor understood by the Church faithful.” – Peter Caracci
In addition to the stamps issued in 1978, Vatican City issued a single stamp with the entire image of the Resurrection sculpture (Scott 1516) as its Easter release for 2013.
REFERENCES:
Mor, Ferdinando, Fazzini and The Resurrection, 1999 (text also in Italian and French)
Anonymous, Vatican Notes, Volume 27, Number 2, pp. 4-6, 1978, Pope Paul VI - His Family, His Early Youth, His Career
Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search
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