103178 | ITALY. Vatican City. Pope Pius XII silver Medal.

103178  |  ITALY. Vatican City. Pope Pius XII silver Medal. Issued Year XV (1953). Commemorating the Papal Consistory (44mm, 33.35 g, 12h). By Aurelio Mistruzzi at the Rome mint.

 

PIVS • XII • PONTIFEX • MAX • ANN • XV, bust right, wearing zucchetto, stole, and pallium // EX • MVLTIS• GENTIBVS • PVRPVRATORVM • PATRVM • ORDO • COMPLETVS, Pius, surrounded by cardinals, seated left on throne, blessing new cardinal kneeling to left, and presenting him with a galero. Edge: Plain.

 

Bartolotti E953; Rinaldi 147; Cusumano-Modesti 204. Gem Mint State. Exceptionally brilliant and prooflike, with some alluring pastel toning nearer the peripheries.

 

Consistories in Catholicism represent times at which a pope can create new cardinals, adding them to the College of Cardinals. Due to death or retirement, the number of cardinals decreases, creating the need for periodic additions during such consistories. Pius XII was elected to the papacy in 1939 during a conclave consisting of 62 cardinals. The second of his two consistories occurred in 1953, with the first occurring in 1946. During the second, the first Indian cardinal was ordained—Valerian Gracias, who served as the Archbishop of Bombay from 1950 until his death in 1978.

 

Upload: 16 June 2025.