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The first set of Vatican City stamps issued to celebrate Christmas was released on December 14, 1959. Today’s e-mail will look at the first ten years of Vatican Christmas stamps, as well as review the history of Vatican Christmas stamp issues. The inspiration for this e-mail is a Vatican Notes article written in 2016 by Michael Lamothe entitled Natale: The First Ten Years of Vatican City Christmas Stamps:1959-1968. That article can be accessed by clicking on the link under the references below. As Michael notes in his article, very few stamps from Vatican City prior to 1961 depicted scenes from outside of Europe. It has been suggested that the developing philosophies of Vatican II, particularly those addressing a desire to engage Christians more openly around the world, may have inspired the change to venture abroad for depictions of Christmas and other events on Vatican City stamps. As will be seen, Vatican City used the Christmas issue as an opportunity to showcase presentations of the Nativity in artwork from around the globe. The stamps come from different cultures, geographic regions, and artistic styles, but they all bring out beautiful representations of the birth of Jesus on Christmas. 1959. The first Vatican Christmas stamps were based on the fresco of the Nativity by the Italian Renaissance giant Raphael: 
 Christmas 1959 (Scott 266-268) 1960. The next issue of Christmas stamps was inspired by a painting by the Dutch artist Gerard van Honhorst: 
 Christmas 1960 (Scott 292-294) 1961. The Vatican next ventured to China, with this year’s stamps being a scene from The Adoration by Lucas Chen: 
 Christmas 1961 (Scott 323-325) 1962. For this year’s issue, depictions of the Nativity are taken from a scene set in India, following a design by Marcus Toano: 
 Christmas 1962 (Scott 353-355) 1963. An African Nativity scene is presented in this year’s set, the stamp design coming from a representation of a sculpture by Andreas Bukuru of Burundi: 
 Christmas 1963 (Scott 372-374) 1964. For this year’s set, the Vatican ventures to Japan, with the stamps being modeled after a Japanese Nativity scene by Kimito Koseki: 
 Christmas 1964 (Scott 397-399) 1965. The Vatican comes to the New World for this year’s issue, which is a depiction of a Peruvian Nativity scene: 
 Christmas 1965 (Scott 420-422) 1966. The stamps for this year come back home to Italy, where the Nativity sculpture by 20th-century artist Lello Scorzelli (who has been referred to as the "Pope’s Sculptor" since his work was admired by Pope Paul VI) is presented: 
 Christmas 1966 (Scott 445-447) 1967. A Byzantine painting on wood, dating to the 9th century, serves as the subject for this year’s stamps: 
 Christmas 1967 (Scott 458-460) 1968. The last of the initial ten-year sampling of Vatican City Christmas stamps draws it inspiration from Eastern Europe, specifically from Prague, Czechoslovakia (the present-day Czech Republic), with three stamps showing the statue of the Infant of Prague: 
 Christmas 1968 (Scott 464-466) As the images show, the Vatican used the Christmas stamp issues to illustrate the celebration of Christmas around the world. Each issue contains three stamps, all showing the same image, in three denominations. It seemed like a Christmas tradition had started in 1959. However, no Vatican Christmas stamps were issued after 1968 for another fourteen years, until the issue of 1982. From that point, Christmas stamps were issued on a sporadic basis, with the next stamps being released on an every-other-year basis in 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994. It was not until 1996 that Vatican City began releasing Christmas stamps on an annual basis, a tradition that has continued to the present day. References: • Michael B. Lamothe, Vatican Notes, Volume 64, Number 370, pages 12-21, 2016, Natale: The First Ten Years of Vatican City Christmas Stamps:1959-1968 • Vatican Philatelic Society website (www.vaticanstamps.org), Stamp Database Search |
