St. Anthony

St. Anthony of Padua, also known as St. Anthony of Lisbon since that’s where he was born, was a Franciscan priest. In 1226, he became the Provincial Superior of Northern Italy, apppointed by Pope Gregory IX. He decided to reside in Padua, which is somewhat the center of Northern Italy, if you consider the weight of Venice compared to that of Milan and Torino combined.

He was a well liked saint amongst Italians, in his day and still today. He was liked by St. Francis of Assisi, founder of his order. St. Anthony was known for being a bible scholar and writing inspiring sermons, some of which have been published. St. Francis had him teach new members of their order. He occasionally visited Rome and preach to the papal court. He died at age 35 in the year 1231. He was so admired that the pope listed him as a saint a year afterwards in 1232, the same year they started building a huge basillica in his honor in Padua.

The first set of stamps on this album page, the bottom seven depict the life of St. Anthony. They’re in commemoration of the 700th anniversary of his death. They depict scenes from his life, such as when he entered the Franciscan Order.

Money Order Stamps

The bottom set of stamps on this album page are called in Italian, Segnatasse per Valglia – which literally and vaguely translates to sign of tax for valuable thing. They’re stamps to be attached to a post office money order, to indicate that the required service charge has been paid.

The basic procedure was for someone who wanted to send money to someone else (e.g., a family member, a vendor), to go to their local post office in Italy and deposit the money for whatever amount they want to send. They would then be given a money order for that amount, to assign it to whomever. A postal worker would take one of these stamps, which the sender would have to buy for the face amount, and attach it to the money order to validate it. Then the sender would mail it to the recipient – another stamp for the envelop – perhaps along with a cover letter. The envelop would be delivered to the recipient wherever they were in Italy. That person would then go to their local post office to get the cash for the postal money order.

Compared to methods that are available to us today for transfering money, the method of late 19th Century Italy seems like a protracted process. But at that time, it was quick and more secure than mailing cash in the mail or traveling across the peninsula to deliver the money in person.

Incidentally, this service start in the early 1870s. It wasn’t until 1924 that the post office decided to issue a stamp specifically for postal money orders. Before then, they first used regular postage stamps. In 1875 they started using the service stamps, shown at the top of Album Page S1.

Note

The middle set of stamps are part of a series, the Leptis Magna. They’re described on the previous page. Previoiusly, when I first designed the pages of the album, I had them together. For my new redesign I have a policy of trying to order stamps in catalog number order – when possible, or at least on the same page as other stamps in the sequence.

As for the money order stamps, I had them on one of the last pages, but trying to fill pages I moved these here, closer to stamps that were issued the same year. There are more a few pages after this, on the Rome to Buenos Aires page.

Contains 18 spots: own 12 – 12 unused, 0 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jul 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. Anthony of Padua

1.1	✓	87	St Anthony Enters Franciscan Order	20c (may 1931) comm., brown
1.2	✓	88	The Miracle of the Fish	25c (may 1931) comm., green
2.1	✓	93	St. Anthony Surrounded by poor	5+2.50₤ (may 1931) semi-postal, dark brown
2.2	✓	89	Hermitage of Olivares	30c (may 1931) comm., dark brown
2.3	✓	90	Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua	50c (may 1931) comm., violet
3.1	✓	91	Saint Antony	75c (may 1931) comm., slate
3.2	✓	92	Liberation of Slaves	1.25₤ (may 1931) comm., bluish grey

Leptis Magna

4.1	✓	A17	Leptis Magna Ruins	50c (dec 1931) air mail, blue
4.2	✓	A18	Leptis Magna Ruins	80c (dec 1931) air mail, violet
5.1	✓	A19	Leptis Magna Ruins	1₤ (dec 1931) air mail, blackish grey
5.2	✓	A20	Leptis Magna Ruins	2₤ (dec 1931) air mail, green
5.3	✓	A21	Leptis Magna Ruins	5+2₤ (dec 1931) air mail, carmine

Money Order Stamps

6.1	SV1	Money Order Stamp	20c (jul 1924) services, light blue
6.2	SV2	Money Order Stamp	40c (jul 1924) services, green
6.3	SV3	Money Order Stamp	50c (jul 1924) services, violet
7.1	SV4	Money Order Stamp	1₤ (jul 1924) services, reddish brown
7.2	SV5	Money Order Stamp	2₤ (jul 1924) services, brown
7.3	SV6	Money Order Stamp	3₤ (jul 1924) services, red

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.