Help Build A Compendium Of Saints On Coins: Alphabetical By Issuing Entity.

Quite the journey! Well done.

Since becoming active in CCF, I have been working on an OFEY from roughly 1474 to 1800, but constrained to themes I already collect. Since Poland has some large date gaps in the 18th century, I am looking for the missing dates in my other themes.

Here is a nice 1796 copper "Sampietrino" (2 1/2 baiocchi) from the Papal State of Ancona dated 1796. While I have several other representations of Saint Peter, this is my first Ancona coin (photo is still that of the auction house).

St Hilary is the patron saint of the city of Parma.

There is a story about Hilary returning from his exile in Phrygia, where he was sent in 356 by emperor Constantius II after having fiercly opposed Arianism. He returned via Parma in 360, and when passing through the city, a shoemaker saw his worn-out shoes and, out of pity, gave him a new pair. The next morning, the shoemaker found that the bishop's worn-out shoes had turned into gold.

Nice coin, by the way.

There are a number of Swedish saints, virtually all from the Catholic period before the Protestant reformation in 1527.* Of those only two are generally known to the Swedish public: Eric the Holy and Bridget of Sweden.

I have no pre-reformation Swedish coins, so I didn't think I could contribute with anything Swedish in this thread. Until, the latest posts about the patron saint of Parma, made me recall that St Eric, who is patron saint of Stockholm (and in fact, of Sweden), is used as a mint mark on coins until 1973 (for Stockholm, where the mint was located during the 19th-20th centuries)!

So, St Eric actually appears on numerous modern Swedish coins. Not like he dominates the design, but he is recognizable, like on this 1902 20 kr gold coin:




Eric was king of (at least part of) Sweden around 1156-1160. There are few reliable sources about his life - he may have led a crusade to the then pagan Finland and Christianized them, with a lot of brute force, but that is uncertain. What seems fairly certain is that he was killed by the Danish prince Magnus, one of his rivals for the throne, on Ascension Day 1160, after having attended Mass. He was beheaded outside the church (according to legend, a fountain sprang from the place). That and other alleged miracles, as well as the crusade, qualified him for being revered as a saint.

* There is, to my knowledge, only a single exception: The Swedish Catholic nun Elisabeth Hesselblad, dead 1957 and canonized as late as 2016.

I remembered this topic and thought I would post a new acquisition: ORDER OF MALTA 1786 TARI. SEVERED HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Slovakia
Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius

Do anyone know the object in the red circle?

It's been a while since anything has been added to this thread, so I will post a couple of recent medieval acquisitions that fit the theme.

Byzantium, Empire of Nicaea, Theodore Lascaris (1202-1228). Billon trachy, Sear 2061.
Obverse has a rather odd madonna with seated Mary holding a nimbate head of Christ. Reverse has Emperor Theodore (left) and Saint Theodore (right).

That is an interesting coin, @tdziemia!

As a Swede I can relate to St Lucy, because even though the Church of Sweden is Lutheran and all veneration of saints was officially banned about 500 years ago, we have a strong tradition of celebrating Sankta Lucia (as she is called here) every December 13. Exactly why is lost in the mists of history, but it probably has to do with her role as bringer of light (Lucia in Latin = light) and that Dec 13 in the Julian calendar (in use in Sweden until 1753) was the day the the year "turned" and days became longer again. The Swedish winter is long and dark, and the length of the day at mid winter (nowadays Dec 21) ranges from 7 hours in the south to 0 hours in the north. So celebrating the return of the light was a big thing!

And it still is, although the religious connection is gone. Every Dec 13, people all around the country celebrate Lucia. "Lucia processions" are arranged in schools, in work places, in churches and in homes. A girl* dresses up in a white robe with a red ribbon around her waist, wearing a crown with candlelights (or electric lights these days). She is accompanied by other girls, dressed in the same way except they hold a single light in their hand instead of wearing a crown. There are also boys carrying lights in their hands, in white robes and wearing a special very high and pointy white hat, which can be decorated with stars (they are called "star boys"). The size of the procession can vary from a single Lucia to as many as you can engage and fit where the procession is held. A number of traditional songs are sung by all. Most kids participate in these processions in school (I was a star boy several times ), most adults nowadays watch a procession on TV.

This may sound exotic if you have never seen it (it probably is a bit exotic ...). You can find many recordings on Youtube, search for "lucia procession" or "lucia celebration". Here is one for you, with English subtitles:



* Traditionally it should be a blond girl, but these modern days gender and color matter less.