La Garde de hallebardiers suisses
de la Cité du Vatican
Plus redoutable
qu'une machine de guerre:
La dernière presse à balancier pour les bulles plombées pontificales
du Palais de la
Chancellerie
Collection PC FNCV
National Anthems
Vatican : Papal Anthem
"Immortal Rome, City of Martyrs and Saints"
The state of the City of Vatican was born of the pontifical states, invaded by the Italian army in 1870. It is a universally recognized public law body. The new Italian constitution strengthens the Latran agreement of February 11, 1929, which enshrines the independence and sovereignty of the State and the Church.
In 1935, Joseph Stalin, responding to the French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, who mentioned papal influence in Europe and the World, scornfully asked him: How many divisions does the Pope have?. That was not taking into consideration the strength of religion and spirituality which, a few decades later, crumbled communism first in Poland, and subsequently in the entire Soviet Union. Finally, the lead bubbles which sealed the Holy Father’s decrees turned out to be more dreadful than bullets of the same metal...
The Vatican City, with a surface area less than 50 hectares, has its own money and postal service. Since 1506, it has been protected by a mission armed corps, the Swiss Guard.
The Vatican has its official national anthem and flag. The anthem is the Papal March composed by the French musician Charles Gounod, who also wrote Ave Maria. The Papal March was played for the first time on April 11, 1869, on the parvis of Saint Peter’s Basilica, by seven military bands, in the presence of the Pope. The Italian lyrics were written by the maestro Antonio Allegra, one of the organists of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, and the Latin text was authored by Canon Raffaello Lavagna. It was on October 16, 1949, that Pope Pius XII decided that this piece would replace the former Hallmayer’s Triumphal March that had been used till then.
Renowned for its official and majestic nature, Gounod’s Papal anthem, known worldwide, is played during very official ceremonies of the Vatican State, in the presence of the Holy Father or one of his representatives.
La place Saint Pierre à Rome et la Cité du Vatican - Collection PC FNCV