131 Holy See: Golden Rose of the Pope - Gift of Pius XI. to Queen Elena of Italy

 The Golden Rose with four rose blossoms on long stems with filigree blossomsfmade of gold.

The vase made of gilded silver. On the neck of the vase the crowned cipher "E" Queen Elena of Italy. In the center hand chased frieze with surrounding rose petals and the cipher Pope Pius XI "PIUS P.P. XI".

On the reverse medallion with date: "ANNO XVI".

Pius XI (b. May 31, 1857 in Desio, Lombardy; † February 10, 1939 in Rome; civil name Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti) was pope from 1922 to 1939.

After Leo XIII, Pius XI devoted himself to social doctrine. In the encyclical Quadragesimo anno he devoted himself to the question of the social bond of property.

Total height: 57 cm.

Splendid example of this important papal award which since the late 18th century has been awarded only to rulers, cities and places of pilgrimage.

The Golden Rose (alsoPapal Rose, Virtue Rose; Latin Rosa Aurea) is the highest papal award.

The symbol of the golden rose represents Jesus Christ. The gold indicates his resurrection, the thorns indicate the Passion.

Traditionally, the Golden Rose is awarded on the 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare), which is therefore also called Rose Sunday, to a personality, a state, a city or an organization that had rendered outstanding services to the Catholic Church.

One of the first Golden Roses was given by Pope Urban II to the Count of Anjou in 1096.

The Golden Rose awarded by Pope Clement V to the Prince-Bishop of Basel at the beginning of the 14th century and kept in the Musée de Cluny in Paris is one of the earliest surviving examples.

Awarded to the Council of Florence in 1417, the Golden Rose consisted of nine golden flowers decorated with sapphires and filled with balsam, musk and myrrh. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) compared theGolden Rose to Jesus, saying, "As the rose is composed of gold, musk and balsam, so Jesus is composed of three substances, the divinity, the human soul and the human body."

Sometimes, however, the Golden Rose was given to personalities to make them inclined to papal influence. For example, in early January 1519, the papal chamberlain Karl von Miltitz presented the rose to the Elector Frederick the Wise to encourage him to suppress the teachings of Martin Luther. Originally, the award was reserved for men. But when it was later extended to women, it was usually called the Rose of Virtue. Men have been awarded the Pope's Sword since that time.

The custom of awarding the Rose of Virtue to women extends to our own time: in 1925, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium was honored by the Pope with the Golden Rose. The last reigning person to receive the Rose of Virtue was Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg in 1956, and the first Rose of Virtue is said to have been given to Queen Giovanna of Sicily.

Since Pope Paul VI (1963-1978), the special award has been given only to shrines. The former did so five times, Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) nine times, and Benedict XVI (2005-2013) as many as eighteen times. Pope Francis awarded his first Golden Rose in November 2013. 

The recipient of this Golden Rose was Queen Elena of Italy, Princess of Montenegro (b. January 8, 1873, Cetinje, Montenegro; † November 28, 1952, Montpellier, France). She was a member of the Petrović-Njegoš house. By marriage she became Queen of Italy and Albania, as well as Empress of Ethiopia and Duchess of Savoy.

Elena was the sixth and youngest daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro (1841-1921) and his wife Milena Vukotić (1847-1923). She grew up with her siblings in Cetinje. She was educated in the Russian boarding school Smolny Monastery under the protection of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna and studied politics and philosophy at the University in Saint Petersburg. On October 24, 1896, Princess Elena of Montenegro married Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples (1869-1947), only son of the first Italian King Umberto I and Princess Maria Margarethe Therese Johanna of Genoa, at the Quirinal Palace in Rome. The marriage produced five children who married into various European royal and princely families.

After the death of her father-in-law, King Umberto I, her husband ascended the Italian throne on August 11, 1900, as King Victor Emmanuel III. Through colonial rule, Elena became not only Queen of Italy, but later Queen of Albania and Empress of Ethiopia. In the Strait of Messina, on December 28, 1908, there was a severe earthquake that almost completely destroyed the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, killing 70,000 people. Queen Elena gave aid by signing portrait photos of herself and offering them for sale. The proceeds were brought in for reconstruction. This earned the queen great popularity among the population. During World War I, she was one of the volunteer nurses of the Red Cross and gave Villa Margherita as a military hospital. Later she studied medicine and obtained a doctorate degree in order to continue helping. In 1946, her husband abdicated in favor of their son Umberto II and went into exile with his wife that same year. In Alexandria they found hospitality with King Farouk. Her husband died in exile in Alexandria in the then Kingdom of Egypt on December 28, 1947. In 1950, ex-Queen Elena was diagnosed with cancer, and on November 28, 1952, she died during surgery in Montpellier and was buried at her request in the Montpellier City Cemetery. In December 2017, her remains were transferred to the Sanctuary of Vicoforte in Piedmont, where other family members of the House of Savoy are buried.

Truly magnificent and an important objec for  the history of the Kingdom of Italy and the House of Savoy.