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Our Lady in the Vatican Basilica 
Scott 1204-1213 (2002)</center>
 
On New Year’s Day, our Daily Email focused on the Vatican’s commemoration of the World Day of Peace. However, January 1 is also an important feast day for the Church, as we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the patroness of the United States.
 
As collectors of Vatican stamps know, there have been MANY stamps issued by Vatican City depicting Mary. One issue is presented above, the 10-stamp set from 2002 entitled “Our Lady in the Vatican Basilica”. The definitive set presents some of the iconography of the Blessed Mother found at Saint Peter's Basilica. Click on the UFN reference below for details regarding this set.
 
Also, any attempt to adequately describe and chronical the life and influence of Mary ultimately fails, so this article will not even try to do so. So rather than retelling the story of the Blessed Mother, let’s look at a specific event which ties Our Lady to the United States.
 
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New York World's Fair Issue 
Michelangelo's The Pietà 
Scott 384 and 386 (1964)</center>
 
In the references below, a link appears for an article that appeared in the National Catholic Register last year by Aaron Lambert, entitled “Queen of Queens: The Pietà’s Epic Journey from Rome to America”. The article references a book by Ruth Nelson, Our Lady of the World’s Fair. The book recalls the one time the magnificent sculpture by Michelangelo, The Pietà, left Rome and traveled from St. Peter’s Basilica to the New York World’s Fair in 1964. As most readers know, the Vatican had a significant presence at the Fair, which ran for two seasons from April of 1964 through October of 1965. The Vatican Pavilion was one of the most visited attractions at the Fair and housed The Pietà. In addition, Pope Paul VI, during his epic visit to New York in 1965 (the first visit of a reigning pope to North America), visited the Pavilion as the World’s Fair approached its conclusion. The Pietà was safely returned to the Vatican following the Fair, no doubt to the relief of many who oversaw the planning and logistics of its historic visit.
 
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Vatican Pavilion. New York World's Fair 
Photo by David Pirmann 
From Wikimedia Commons, used under terms of the Creative 
Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license</center>
 
Rather than retelling the story of the voyage of The Pietà to New York in this email, two articles on the New York World’s Fair have been appeared in Vatican Notes, one in 1964 by Father Herbert Phinney and a second by James Hamilton in 2014. Links to those articles are provided in the references. The trip to the New York World’s Fair was truly remarkable, and neatly ties Mary, the Mother of God, to the United States.
 
REFERNCES: 
<li>Aaron Lambert, National Catholic Register, January 1, 2025, <a href='https://www.ncregister.com/features/lambert-our-lady-of-worlds-fair?utm_campaign=NCR&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8G_fmXF2cgPC7EyWguGck7x-fj4hmR_6MKL5kNv3AJzGOS6v3Sb9JFC1CKt4hP21Xf3rEzm6sR4PjtKwwZtOXWA23EXg&_hsmi=340719942&utm_content=340719942&utm_source=hs_email'>Queen of Queens: The Pietà’s Epic Journey from Rome to America</a> 
<li>Rev. Herbert Phinney, Vatican Notes, Volume 12, Issue 6, pp. 1-2, 1964, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay2.php?p=074-01&r=0'>Vatican Pavilion--The New York World's Fair</a> 
<li>James C. Hamilton, Vatican Notes, Volume 62, Number 362, pp. 10-15, 2014, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=62-362-10-11&r=0'>The Vatican and the 1964 New York World's Fair</a> 
<li>UFN, March 12, 2002, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/2002-2-01-1.jpg'>Definitive Mail: Our Lady in the Vatican Basilica</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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