For more than two thousand years, from the time of the Apostles, the Bishop of Rome has served as the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. There have been 266 papacies, some spanning a few months, others decades. This collection features coins issued during the reigns of some of history’s most notable popes:
–St. Peter (A.D. 32-67)-One of the original twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, Simon was renamed Peter—petra, or rock—because Jesus said he was the rock on which He would build His Church. The Messiah also entrusted Peter with the keys to Heaven, leading to the popular image of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. Like Jesus, St. Peter was martyred—crucified upside down in Rome. This bronze prutah was issued in Judaea under the authority of the Roman prefect Porcius Festus, whom Peter knew personally.
–St. Sylvester (A.D. 314-335)-The dates of this obscure pontiff’s papacy align almost exactly with the rein of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. It was under Sylvester’s leadership that the Council of Nicaea was held. From that gathering of bishops was born the Nicene Creed that Catholics recite to this day. This is a bronze coin issued during the reign of Constantine I, whose bust adorns the obverse.–St. Gregory the Great (A.D. 590-604)-One of the most influential figures in the long annals of the Church, Gregory helped develop the doctrine, organization, and discipline of the modern faith. Unlike many medieval popes, Gregory was known for his kindness and charity; he sold off church lands to feed the poor during a famine. He was canonized immediately upon his death. This bronze coin was struck during the reign of the Eastern Roman / Byzantine emperor Maurice Tiberius, which coincided with his papacy (582-602).
–Innocent III (A.D. 1198-1216)-The most powerful pope of the Middle Ages, if not ever, Innocent exerted so much influence that any Western European king could not rule without his express sanction. He had the final say in any number of succession controversies, and presided over the disastrous Fourth Crusade, on which Constantinople was sacked, and the slaughter of the Cathars at Béziers. This is an aspron trachy, a ”cup“ coin, featuring the image of Jesus, that circulated in the Byzantine Empire during Innocent III’s papacy.
–Blessed Pius IX (1846-78)-Pius IX was the longest-reigning pope since St. Peter. He presided over the First Vatican Council and could only watch as the Papal States fell to the unified state of Italy in 1860. After that, he locked himself up in the Vatican and refused to leave. A proponent of the old guard, he was opposed to the Revolutions of 1848. His Syllabus of Errors famously lambasted modernism, secularism, and the separation of church and state. This is a 5 centesimi from the newly formed nation of Italy that circulated during his papacy.
–Venerable Pius XII (1939-58)-Eugenio Pacelli had the misfortune of being pope during the Second World War. As the papal nuncio to the German Reich and the Cardinal Secretary of State, he was well acquainted with Hitler and the Nazi regime; it was he who had negotiated the Reichskonkordat that many considered a tacit endorsement of the Third Reich. This is an aluminum Vatican City lira coin issued during the papacy of Pius XII.
–St. John Paul II (1978-2005)-Born Karol Jósef Wojty?a in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920, John Paul II was elected Pope in 1978, becoming the first non-Italian to assume the Papacy since Adrian VI in 1522, and the first man of letters since Pius II in 1458. Among the 117 countries he traveled to as Vicar of Christ was his native Poland, where his historic 1979 visit helped inspire the Solidarity movement and the fall of Communism. This aluminum bronze Vatican City 200 lira coin showing Christ among the poor and outcast was issued in 2001.
Note: for the ancient and medieval coins, reverses and sizes may vary.