St. Francis & Holy Year

One of my favorite saints is St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint animals and nature. He and St. Catherine of Siena were also patron saints of Italy. St. Francis founded the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of Saint Clare (i.e., the Poor Clares), and the Third Order of Saint Francis.

The top set of stamps on this album page are in commemoration of the six-hundred year anniversary of the death of St. Francis. They depict him, the Basillica of St. Francis and San Damiano Church and Convent, both in Assisi, Italy.

Holy Year

The bottom six stamps on this album page are in commemoration of the Holy Year, or Jubilee, of 1925 announced by Pope Pius XI. The stamps are of sites in Rome, the four papal basilicas: Basilica of Saint Mary Major; Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran; Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls; and St. Peter’s Basilica. I’ve been to all four of these basilicas in Rome. In fact, I has a chapter of my new novel (i.e, The Pages of St. John) that is set inside Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

The last pair of stamps in this series relate to the Holy Door. Normally, these particular doors of St. Peter’s Basilica are cemented shut from the inside. They are openned at the start of a Jubilee and resealed at the end. It’s supposed to be symbolic of entering the gates of Heaven and being forgiven of sins (John 10:9 and Luke 11:9).

What’s ironic about these stamps, as well as the other Catholic stamps is that the people in the colonies where they’re used are mostly, almost completely Muslim. They must not have felt very good about using stamps with Christian images. It shows how culturally insensitive was the Italian adminstration.

Note

This page is finished. I could maybe fit a small set of stamps on it, but I don’t see that I need to move any such set from another page. So I’m done with this page.

Contains 11 spots: own 11 – 11 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Feb 10, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

St. Francis of Assisi

1.1	✓	27	St. Francis in Holy Land	20c (apr 1926) comm., green
1.2	✓	28	San Damiano of Assisi	40c (apr 1926) comm., violet
1.3	✓	31	St. Francis & Portiuncula	5+2.50₤ (apr 1926) semi-postal, olive
2.1	✓	29	Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi	60c (apr 1926) comm., carmine
2.2	✓	30	Death of St. Francis of Assisi	1.25₤ (apr 1926) comm., dark blue

Holy Year

3.1	✓	17	Basilica of St. Mary Major	20+10c (jun 1925) semi-postal, dark green & grey brown
3.2	✓	18	St. John Lateran	30+15c (jun 1925) semi-postal, brown & grey brown
3.3	✓	19	St. Paul Outside the Walls	50+25c (jun 1925) semi-postal, violet & grey brown
4.1	✓	20	St. Peter Basilica	60+30c (jun 1925) semi-postal, carmine & grey brown
4.2	✓	21	Opening the Holy Door	1+0.50₤ (jun 1925) semi-postal, blue & violet
4.3	✓	22	Closing the Holy Door	5+2.50₤ (jun 1925) semi-postal, violet & orange

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.