Papal coats of arms
Videos
Papal coats of arms are the personal coat of arms of popes of the Catholic Church. These have been a tradition since the Late Middle Ages, and has displayed his own, initially that of his family, and
Arms of Innocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cybo, 1484–1492) as shown in the contemporary Wernigerode Armorial. The coat of arms of the House of Cybo is here shown with the papal tiara and two keys argent in one of the earliest examples of these external ornaments of a papal coat of arms (Pope Nicholas V in 1447 was the first to adopt two silver keys as the charges of his adopted coat of arms).
Pope Adrian IV (d. 1159, born Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman to occupy the papal throne) did not use a personal coat of arms; Nevertheless, he was given attributed arms (showing a broken spear) in this 17th-century portrait.
An example of ecclesiastical heraldry
Pope Pius X
Videos
Pope Pius X was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 until his death in August 1914. He was known for opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, and for promoting liturgical re
Portrait by Ernest Walter Histed, c. 1914
Official portrait, 1903
The Marian image of Our Lady of Confidence, for whom Pius had a devotion
A young Giuseppe Sarto