A set of five stamps issued October 31, 1951, commemorates the 1500th anniversary of the Council of Chalcedon, which took place in 451. The 25-lire brown-lake value, modeled on a painting by Raphael, depicts the meeting between Pope St. Leo I (440-461) and Attila the Hun at Mantua. This design also appears on the 60-lire value.
Although three stamps in this set commemorate the Council of Chalcedon, two of the stamps in the set recall the meeting in 452 between Pope Leo I and Attila the Hun, which occurred at Mantua, in the province of Lombardy, north of Rome. Rome and Italy encountered invasions from the 4th century, and the city was sacked in 401 by the Visigoths under the command of Geseric. By the 5th century, the Huns controlled a large empire from the Baltic to the Danube and from the Rhineland to the Ural Mountains. A combined Roman-Visigoth army defeated the Huns in Gaul at Chalons in 451.
The Huns presented a fearsome military force, and under their leader Attila, the Huns entered Italy in 452, sacking Aquileia. Some of its population fled, eventually establishing the city of Venice. They were met near Mantua by a delegation from Rome headed by Pope Leo I, who achieved an agreement to seek peace with the Emperor Valentinian III and retreat across the Alps. Attila died suddenly in 453, and the Hunnic Empire dissolved thereafter.
The horizontal stamp depicts a dramatic scene from Raphael’s painting. Leo I and Attila appear on horseback, and, overhead, Sts. Peter and Paul brandish swords, warning the awestruck Attila not to attack Rome. This scene is also captured in a magnificent bas-relief by sculptor Alessandro Algardi (1598-1652), which hangs above the Altar of St. Leo I in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Poste Vaticane and the stamp’s value appear at the stamp’s top left. The inscription S. LEONE MAGNO PP (St. Pope Leo I, the Great) appears at the bottom left, and XV CENTARIO DEL CONCILIO CALCEDONIA (15th Centenary of the Council of Chalcedon) appears at the bottom right.
Corrado Mezzana designed the stamp, which T. Cioini engraved. It measures 4 x 3 cm with 13 ½ x 14 ½ perforations. The stamp was printed by recess at the Italian State Printing Works, Rome. Approximately 225,000 sets were printed. The stamps were withdrawn on December 31, 1952.
References:
Catalogo Enciclopedico Italiano, 2007/2008, “Citta del Vaticano,” Rome: ASCAT, 2006.
“Vatikanstaat,” in Michel Europa Katalog, band 3, Südeuropa, Unterschleißheim, Germany: Schwanberger Verlag GMBH, 2008.
“Vatican City,” in Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, part 8, Italy and Switzerland, 7th edition, Ringwood, Hampshire, England, 2010.
Davis, R. H. C., A History of Medieval Europe From Constantine to St. Louis (New York: David McKay, 1968), 25, 74.
