posted 11-01-2008 11:56 AM            

RULERS OF THE WORLD,
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pius X, Pope Pius XI and Pope John Paul II

by Rick Marek

This article first appeared in the Guild's newsletter, The NSCG Cauldron, Volume 16, Number 4, Winter 2007.

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[The NSCG Cauldron] Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles on portrait spoons by Rick Marek. It is entitled Rulers of the World. Rick hopes this series will help spooners identify portrait spoons

Introduction
After Bill Wright's terrific article on "The Six Postage Stamp Countries" in the last issue of The Cauldron, I started thinking it would be fun to feature portrait spoons from some of these countries. This eventually led to the idea of a series of articles entitled Rulers of the World. Although we have over 20 books on circa 1900 European Monarchs which I use to help me identify portrait spoons, my best resource remains Royal Postcards by Jack H. Smith, published in 1987. It is out of print, but I've been told you can obtain it by searching the Internet. Also, for those with computer expertise, Wikipedia has proved very helpful with information and photographs

After Italian unification in 1870, there ensued an on-going political stalemate, known historically as the "Roman Question" between the Holy See and the Italian government for the next 59 years. This imbroglio centered on what over the centuries had become known as The Papal States. These dominions on the Italian peninsula had been successfully ruled by the Holy See�s absolute monarch, the Pope. This impasse finally ended in 1929 when Mussolini and the Vatican signed what is known as the Lateran Treaty. Through the political compromise, the Catholic Church recognized Italian jurisdiction in what had been The Papal States. In return, Italy acknowledged as a sovereign state the less than one-fifth-square-mile territory that is known as Vatican City. To this day each Pope remains absolute ruler of this city state.

For Spooners there is a proliferation of portrait spoons of the two Popes who reigned during the period which produced European enamel spoons. This is from the mid to late 1890s to the beginning of World War I. However, a small production of enamel spoons did occur during the war.

The first is Pope Leo XI11 (Figure 1). The papal crossed keys and tiara on the finial is the traditional symbol of papal authority. You can always recognize Leo by his sharp, beak-shaped nose. This pronounced feature appears on every portrait spoon I've ever seen of him.

His Papacy began m 1878. He was already 68 and was viewed as a compromise candidate by those who elected him. They assumed he would rule for 10 years or so. Well, he lived and ruled for the next 25 years! Up to that time his was the longest reign other than the first Bishop of Rome, St. Peter. Socially, he was very progressive and championed the working man in an ever-increasingly industrial world. His relationship with the Italian state was less progressive. He continued the self-imposed incarceration of the Vatican in their stance regarding The Papal States. Pope Leo XIII, champion of the Labor Movement and the Papal States, died in 1903 at the age of 93.

The other pope whom you routinely find is the regal-looking Pope Saint Pius X (Figure 2). The finial again shows the papal keys and tiara. He, like Leo, was 68 when he was elected in 1903. Unlike Leo, he would only rule for 11 years. Despite this, his pontificate was one of the more controversial in modem times. Problems started immediately. During the Conclave which elects the successor to St. Peter, work leaked out that the leading candidate was someone to which the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef objected. This Catholic ruler subsequently vetoed this candidate citing Imperial Prerogative. Because of this, the Conclave elected another Cardinal who would become Pius X. He would eventually rescind such extraordinary secular powers over ecclesiastical matters. Consequently, this would be the last time a veto would be exercised by a Catholic monarch.

Pius X was an ultra-conservative who reversed the accommodating approach of Leo XI11 towards secular governments. Obviously, he also refused to accept Italian annexation of the disputed Papal States. He died at age 79 in August, 1914, approximately 10 days after the beginning of World War I.

There are numerous portrait spoons avail- able of both Leo XIII and Pius X. Among enamel portrait collections these two are always present. As such, neither is considered rare.

Now looking at the portrait spoons that we have in our collection for the city state of Vatican City, the spoon in Figure 3 is that of Pope Pius XI.. By the time this spoon was produced in 1932 you can readily see the deterioration in the quality of craftsmanship that had existed before World War I. Fortunately, the finial tells us why this spoon was produced as a souvenir- - "Souvenir of the Eucharistic Congress, Dublin, 1932". Although the enamel workmanship is not the usual quality to which we have become accustomed, this is actually a rare spoon. We are delighted to have it in our collection. I have never seen another like it!

What is also fun about spoon collecting is how this hobby forces us to become archaeologists in exploring aspects of the spoons that interest us. This spoon is a great example of how horizons of knowledge are expanded. I knew nothing about Eucharistic Congresses.

Briefly, a Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of Catholic clergy and laymen for adoring and evangelizing the Holy Eucharist which is the wafer that during Mass is consecrated and as such becomes the Body of Christ. The first such "congress" was at Lille, France, in 1881. These official gatherings occur every several years. Over time they would become international in character with thousands in attendance. The latest was the 47th Congress which met in Rome in 2000.

Obviously, Pope Pius XI made an appearance at the Congress held in Dublin. In 1932, Pius XI had been on the throne of St. Peter for 10 years. He was 65 years old when he was elected in 1922 following the death of the World War I Pope, Benedict XV. The absolute rule of Pius XI would last 17 years, from 1922 to just before the beginning of World War I1 in 1939.

Before becoming Pope, he was a noted scholar who spent most of his time frequenting the back halls of the Vatican Library. Over the years he learned many different languages. Because of his linguistic aptitude, he was tapped by the Vatican Diplomatic Corps in 1918. Consequently, this sharp turn in his career propelled him from an obscure scholastic to a very visible cleric on the world stage. By the time of the next Conclave in 1922, he would emerge as the College of Cardinal's next compromise candidate. (It seems like they are always electing compromise Cardinals to the Bishopric of Rome.)

He was a progressive. Following World War I, he realized that the Church had to be pragmatic to deal with an ever-increasingly secular world with secular governments. It was during his reign that the accommodation with the Italian government regarding that vexing issue of The Papal States occurred.

Figure 4 shows us the modern "airport spoon" likeness of the late Pope John Paul 11. He was the first non-Italian Pope since the 16th century. He died in 2005 at the age of 85. His reign of 27 years (1978-2005) became the second longest pontificate. He even surpassed the reign of Leo XI11 in longevity. I believe that we all know that he traveled extensively, visiting over 100 countries which are more than any of his predecessors. A lesser-known fact is that he canonized more people than all the popes before him combined!

He was a conservative who was committed to reorganizing the Catholic hierarchy so that the Pope and the Roman Curia would again be the center of power and authority within the Catholic Church. This authority was decentralized following the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s. Following that Council, power had been transferred to the bishops throughout the world.

Because of the efforts of John Paul II and his long reign, the present Pontiff, Benedict XVI, is once again Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, an absolute monarch.

In the next issue of The Cauldron we will look at spoons from the last two postage stamp countries from which we have portrait spoons: Albert I, Prince of Monaco, and Fra Ferdinando de Hompesch, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta.

My resource material includes Wikipedia.

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See Souvenir Spoons - Rulers of the World - Part II (click here)