Last modified: 2008-07-19 by dov gutterman
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While driving I passed over a car with diplomatic plates which
carried an interesting car flag. It was the VA flag but instead
the expected keys there was an ornamated red double cross on the
center (vertical hand of the cross on the
centerline between two colours).
Eli Gutterman, 15 February 2001
The double cross is symbolic for a bishop, maybe there is some
connection. IMHO - the yellow and white flag clearly indicates
the Roman Catholic 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 belong to some of the orders or alike
organizations that may possibly have diplomatic status in Israel
for some historical reasons (or whatever reason, for that
matter), just like the Maltese Order has in many countries.
Željko 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 signify the rank of bishop, 20 green tassels signify the
rank of archbishop, and 30 red tassels signify 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
As for flags used by Roman Catholic dioceses, there are no
official guidelines. I suspect that (almost) every diocese has a
coat-of-arms, but very few use a distinctive flag. Those that do
are at liberty to design them as they please. In my diocese, we
fly an "armorial banner" of the diocesan arms at key
diocesan sites. It is red, with a white St. George cross, and
charged in the middle with a blue lozenge bearing a white
mystical rose. Here in the US the Vatican flag is commonly used
by Catholic parishes and institutions as a symbol of ecclesial
communion with the pope. By the way, a very good resource for
ecclesiastical heraldry is Bruno Bernard Heim's book, Heraldry in
the Catholic Church.
Rev. William M. Becker, STD, 30 June 2004
I have composed articles for the Flag Bulletin on Vatican
Flags (no. 119) and 19th-century Papal States Flags (pending),
and previously lived in Rome in extraterritorial Vatican zones.
Here are some myths about Vatican flags that I have encountered
over the years, inviting correction. Illustrations are below.
Myth #1: "The Vatican flag is officially
square." - Not exactly.
Its infantry color should be square, but it is not clear that all
other flags should be. An illustration in the Vatican
constitution shows its "official flag" as a square infantry color, with a
special lance, finial, and cravat (Constitution, 2001, annex
A). As such it is carried by the Swiss Guard (Color, Swiss Guard Barracks, 1984
and Color, St. Peter’s
Square). Square infantry colors were the custom of the Papal
States and the Italian peninsula generally, although rectangular
flags prevailed for other state purposes. The current Vatican
flag served as the Papal States civil ensign from 1825-1870 and
was rectangular. Hence it is not clear whether the constitution
requires all Vatican flags to be square, and in practice those
flown on Vatican buildings are not. Since most are manufactured
in Italy, they follow the Italian proportions of 2:3. The size of
the tiara-keys emblem depends on the flag's size and/or
manufacturer; and the shade of the yellow stripe depends on the
flag-maker and/or fabric. Most use golden-yellow, but linen flags
use lemon-yellow.
Myth #2: "The Vatican never flies its flag,
except overseas for diplomatic purposes." - False.
It only flies from local Vatican buildings, however, on annual
holidays specified by the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City
State, including Catholic holy days, papal anniversaries, and
special state occasions. In fact the Vatican phones its various
buildings to remind them to fly the flag, although some are more
regular in its display than others. Below are photos of the flag
flying at the St. Anne’s
Gate (Vatican's public entrance) , St. Damasus Courtyard
(diplomatic entrance) , and an extraterritorial children's hospital (Bambino
Gesu Hospital, Rome, extraterritorial zone of the Holy See).
Myth #3: "A plain yellow-white flag is
proper for extraterritorial properties of the Holy See in
Rome." - False.
Such properties should use the regular Vatican flag, as clarified
by the governor of Vatican City State (letter to the author, 25
February 1993). These properties enjoy various degrees of
extraterritorial privileges according to the 1929 Lateran pacts
and successive agreements. They include Catholic shrines, church
offices, and other properties. Occasionally, however, a plain
bicolor is seen -- probably for reasons of economy.
Myth #4: "There is a special flag to
represent the Holy See apart from the Vatican City flag." -
False.
Smith's Flags Through the Ages and Across the World (1975)
mistakenly showed such a flag (p. 223) which was employed to
welcome Paul VI at Amman airport in 1964 (National Geographic,
December 1964, p. 825). It bore the tiara-keys emblem in stylized
fashion in the center of the flag, and was almost certainly an
erroneous model of the Vatican flag. Indeed all other papal
journeys have employed the usual Vatican flag, including the
pilgrimage of John Paul II to Jordan in 2000. Moreover, papal
diplomats, accredited in the name of the Holy See, are expected
by the Secretariat of State to fly the regular Vatican City flag
despite the technically distinct sovereignties involved (Vatican flag at the Apostolic
Nunciature (Embassy) in Bogota, Colombia). Since the tiny
Vatican state is viewed by papal officials as the sign and
guarantee of the Holy See's independence in international
affairs, its state flag logically serves both entities, and is
commonly referred to as "the papal flag" ("la
bandiera pontificia").
Myth #5: "On the flag, the keys are
juxtaposed with the gold key on the dexter when representing the
Holy See, and on the sinister when representing Vatican
City." - False.
No symbolic difference attaches to the juxtaposition, as can be
seen from the Vatican website, which shows the coats-of-arms of
both entities with the gold key handle on the dexter. It is true,
however, that all papal coats-of-arms since the creation of
Vatican City in 1929 have placed the gold key handle on the
sinister, while the constitutional illustrations of the flag and
arms of Vatican City have always placed it on the dexter. The
difference is merely a matter of custom, however, and the flag is
not manufactured in "different versions" for the two
entities. In actual flags, moreover, liberty prevails in the
juxtaposition of the gold and silver keys.
Myth #6: "The current Vatican flag was the
flag of the Papal States." - Not exactly.
It was the Papal States civil ensign from 1825-1870, and no doubt
gained international familiarity as such, but other flags served
other functions in the same era. The customs ensign was a
yellow-white vertical bicolor with the cardinal chamberlain's
umbrella-and-keys on the white stripe. Plain yellow-white
bicolors (horizontal or vertical) served as unofficial civil
flags. A white flag charged with the arms of the reigning pope
was the war flag for forts and garrisons. The tiny papal navy
flew a white ensign with a small tiara-keys emblem between the
figures of Ss. Peter and Paul (Papal
States War Ensign, Vatican Museums, ca. 1984). The Infantry
color changed with successive popes; from 1860 it was a plain,
square vertical bicolor of yellow-white. There appears to have
been no state flag for unarmed government buildings. In 1929
Vatican City resurrected the pre-1870 civil ensign as its state
flag, probably because it contained the official papal colors
(yellow-white) and the tiara-keys emblem as an unvarying symbol
of the papacy (unlike the personal arms of each pontiff).
Myth #7: "The yellow-white papal colors
come from the medieval crusader banners of Godfrey of
Bouillin." - False.
The most likely origin of the papal colors are the keys of St.
Peter, which in the modern era have usually been rendered in gold
and silver - heraldic tinctures which equate with the colors
yellow and white. The colors were first adopted for the papal
cockade in 1808, when Napoleon's occupying army forcibly
incorporated the papal army into his own, and papal loyalists
desired a symbol of resistance. The colors next appeared in civil
and state ensigns (1825) and in infantry colors (ca. 1835).
Rev. William M. Becker, STD, 23 June 2004
Concering Myth #1, I do not have a copy of
Annex A to the Constitution of 2001, however, I do have a copy of
Annex A to the "Acta Apostolicae...etc" of 7 June 1929
which established the flag of the Vatican City State. This shows
a square flag with the finial and fringed cravat as described by
Rev. Becker, however, the size of the Apostolic arms is
illustrated at exactly one-half the width of the flag as opposed
to the one-third on the Construction Sheet.
Interestingly enough, these arms show a height to width ratio of
10:7.
Christopher Southworth, 6 August 2004
Here is the list of Vatican flag-flying days. They are specified by the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. Some of the religious feasts have variable dates (e.g. Easter, etc.), and some of the papal anniversaries change with each pope (e.g. his birthday, etc.):
- February 11 - Anniversary of the Lateran Accords
- March 19 - Name Day (Benedict XVI: St. Joseph)
- April 2 - Anniversary of the death of the previous pope
(half-mast)
- April 16 - Birthday (Benedict XVI)
- April 19 - Anniversary of Election (Benedict XVI)
- April 24 - Anniversary of Inauguration of Pontificate (Benedict
XVI)
- Variable - Easter
- Variable - Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter)
- Variable - Pentecost (50 days after Easter Sunday)
- Variable - Corpus Domini (second Thursday after Pentecost)
- June 29 - Solemnity of Ss. Peter & Paul
- November 1 - Solemnity of All Saints
- December 25 - Christmas
- Variable - Public Consistory
- Variable - Beatification
- Variable - Canonization
- Variable - Opening and Closing of the Holy Door.
Rev. William M. Becker, STD, 13 July 2007
