Vatican Flags

Product Description

Vatican Flags: Keys & Crowns Since 1800 documents in detail the flags of the Papal States and today’s Vatican. This first-of-its-kind volume reflects decades of research by Rev. William M. Becker, STD, Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota), much of it conducted during his studies at the Vatican. Richly illustrated with over 160 images in full color and scrupulously documented with extensive footnotes, its 192 pages describe the many forms of the bandiera pontificia civil, state, and war ensigns; war flags; cockades, infantry and guard colors; and civil/state flags over two centuries. Sources include museums, libraries, and extensive literary resources. This landmark book is published by the North American Vexillological Association / Association nord-américaine de vexillologie, (NAVA), North America’s leading organization for the study of flags, vexillology. The illustrations come from many sources, including the Vatican Secret Archive. George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote the foreword.

Review

Flag lovers will be intrigued by the story that Father Becker tells and by the striking images in this book. But Vatican Flags is not for flag lovers alone. The story it tells is full of important reminders that there are different forms of power in the world, and that the human condition cannot be reduced to politics alone, or economics alone, or some combination of politics-and-economics alone. The realm of the spirit still counts, and soulcraft shapes the future at least as much as statecraft. –George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center

About the Author

Rev. William M. Becker is a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota, USA). After undergraduate studies at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, he studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, completing a doctorate (S.T.D.) in 1994. Ordained in 1988, he has served in parish, chancery, seminary, and academic roles. He is currently a pastor in Plainview, Minnesota. Flags have interested him since boyhood; he joined NAVA in 1977. He specializes in flags of his native Minnesota, as well as the papacy, having lived in Rome for eight years. His vexillological work has appeared in the Flag Bulletin, NAVA News, Minnesota History, Flagmaster, and Raven.