SEDE VACANTE 1939
(February 10—March 2, 1939)
Cardinal Pacelli
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AG 5 lire SEDE • VACANT E • MCMXXXIX Arms of Eugenio Card. Pacelli, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church (1935-1939), surmounted by his Cardinal's hat, with fifteen tassels on each side; his motto OPVS IUSTITIAE PAX (Isaiah 32. 17) on a ribbon below; crossed keys joined by tasseled cord, above; the Ombrellone above all. Berman, p. 214 #3372. KM 20. |
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INFVNDE AMOREM CORDIBVS STATO DELLA CITTA | DEL VATICANO | L. 5 MISTRVZZI The Holy Spirit, surrounded by rays of light and tongues of fire. |
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AG 10 lire SEDE • VACANT E • MCMXXXIX Arms of Eugenio Card. Pacelli, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church (1935-1939), surmounted by his Cardinal's hat, with fifteen tassels on each side; his motto OPVS IUSTITIAE PAX (Isaiah 32, 17) on a ribbon below; crossed keys joined by tasseled cord, above; the Ombrellone above all. Berman, p. 214 #3371 KM 21. |
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INFVNDE AMOREM CORDIBVS STATO DELLA CITTA | DEL VATICANO | L. 10 MISTRVZZI The Holy Spirit, surrounded by rays of light and tongues of fire. |
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AE Obv.: SEDE • VACANTE • MCMXXXIX Keys of St. Peter, crossed on the pole of the Ombrellone, joined by a cord. |
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Rev.: + EVGENIVS • CARD • PACELLI • S • R • E • CAMERARIVS The Arms of Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli upon an archepiscopal cross and the Cross of the Knights of Malta, surmounted by a Cardinal's galero with fifteen tassels on each side. Calò, p. 62 #1. Mazio, 926. |
EUGENIO CARDINAL PACELLI (1876-1958), born in Rome of a family of Vatican functionaries, attended the Gregorian University, the Capranica College, and the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, though with a dispensation throughout to live at home. He was ordained a priest in 1899, and entered papal service in 1901. He was an assistant to his patron, Msgr. Pietro Gasparri (who became a cardinal in 1907, and Secretary of State in 1914) from 1904-1917 in the project for the recodification of Canon Law. In 1917 he was named Nuncio to Bavaria by Pope Benedict XV, and consecrated Archbishop of Sardis; in 1920 he was named Nuncio to the new Weimar Republic. He was appointed Cardinal on December 16, 1929, and succeeded Cardinal Gasparri as Secretary of State on February 7, 1930. Having long and unsuccessfully sought a concordat with the Weimar Republic, he conducted negotiations at long distance through intermediaries with Nazi Germany for the Concordat of 1933. He became Cardinal Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church in 1935, in succession to his patron, Cardinal Gasparri. Never having had a 'cure of souls', never having been a parish priest, never having administered a diocese, he was elected pope on March 2, 1939.
Prince Ludovico Chigi Albano della Rovere (July 10, 1866–November 14, 1951), son of Prince Mario and Antoinette, Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, was 76th Grand Master of the Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John on Jerusalem (Knights of Malta) from 1931-1951. In 1893 he married Donna Anna Aldobrandini, Princess of Sarsina; they had three children, Sigismondo, Petro and Laura. Prince Ludovico was Marshal of both the conclave of 1922 and that of 1939.
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AE Obv.: LVD • CHIGI • ALBANI • M • MAG •LXXVI • ORD • S • IOAN • HIER • Bust, l., of Prince Ludovico Chigi Albani, 76th Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. |
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in field: AN • JVB • MCMX|XXIV Assembly of the Knights at Rome, 1934. |
At the Conclave of 1939, Cardinal Pacelli, the Camerlengo and Secretary of State, was elected Pope Pius XII on the first day, on the third ballot (March 2, 1939). He died in Rome on October 9, 1958.
