Vatican City 500 Lire Nautical Coin, 1985 Start Price USD 7.00 Current Price USD 7.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, August 02, 2008 End Time Saturday, August 09, 2008 Location Aurora, CO See more about 'Vatican City 500 Lire Nautical Coin, 1985' Description ! Nautical Numismatics ! Vatican City 500 Lire Coin, 1985 Obverse: Bust facing left. I0ANNES PAVLVS II PONT.MAX. AN.VII MCMLXXXV - around Reverse: Bark of St. Peter left. CITTA′ DEL VATICANO - around. L.500 Y190, Uncirculated, Aluminium -Bronze Center, Stainless steel Ring, Diameter - 25,8mm Ship as a Symbol of the Church. (Bark of St. Peter) by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson The ship (bark or barque, barchetta) was an ancient Christian symbol. Its is the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbor with its cargo of human souls. Part of the imagery comes from the ark saving Noah's family during the Flood (1 Peter 3:20-21). Jesus protecting the Peter's boat and the apostles on the stormy Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41). It was also a great symbol during times when Christians needed to disguise the cross, since the ship’s mast forms a cross in many of its depictions.. " In the Apostolic Constitutions (II, xlvii) the bishop surrounded by the assembly of the faithful is compared to the helmsman of a ship; but the idea is as old as Tertullian (De bap., xii; P. L., l, 1214) and it was varied sometimes by comparing the Church to the Ark of Noah. In any case the ship was a recognized Christian symbol and Clement of Alexandria approved it for a signet ring. "Let the dove or the fish", he says, " the vessel flying before the wind, — or the marine anchor be our signets" (P?d. III, ii; P. G., VIII, 633). Numerous representations of ships, sometimes serving as the design for a lamp, with the figure of Christ or St. Peter as helmsman are preserved to us.… In an illustration for Psalm 69 from the Belleville Breviary, chosen to accompany the sacrament of Confirmation, St. Peter lies in a boat on a storm-tossed sea while God blesses him from the heavens, symbolizing the soul′s refuge in time of trial in the ship of the Church which is blessed by God. The final traditional symbolic meaning of the ship is a means of conveyance between this world and the next. In Christian tradition, in which earthly life was seen as a pilgrimage, the ship of the church transports the faithful through the seas of the world to the heavenly home. (Ideas from Chaucer and the Image of Narrative, by V. A. Kolve.) Great addition for your Vatican City or Maritime Numismatic Collection International bidders please contact us for shipping information before you bid ! See my other nautical auctions ! Good Luck ! Place a Bid!