Title	Vatican City Holy Year 1950 10-lire stamp
Date	December 21 1949
Recipient	Rev. Gerard M. Landrey, S.J.
Description	In December 1949, Vatican City issued a set of eight stamps in commemoration of the Holy Year of 1950. The entire set consists of four different designs, each repeated on two stamps. Holy Years occur every twenty-five or fifty years and are considered times of jubilee and pardon for sins. Designed by N. Ena, the illustration on this grey-blue and green 10-lire value stamp was also repeated on the 60-lire value in scarlet and deep brown. It depicts Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) opening the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve 1949, an act symbolizing the start of a Holy Year. The stamp is inscribed 'Poste Vaticane' and 'Anno Santo MCML' (Holy Year, 1950) and carries the winged wheel watermark. A total of 550,000 stamps were printed for Holy Year 1950 by photogravure at the Italian State Printers in Rome.
Notes	Father Gerard M. Landrey was born in Boston, MA in 1902 to Joseph and Elizabeth Landrey. He received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Boston College and a Master’s degree from College of the Holy Cross. He earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from Weston College, now part of Boston College. As a chemistry and mathematics teacher, he was among the first faculty at Fairfield Prep in 1942-1943. In 1950, he joined the faculty of Fairfield University to teach Chemistry. In 1953 he left Fairfield to teach chemistry at Boston College. Father Landrey died in 1995 in Weston, MA.
Original Format	This stamp is perforated 14 x 14 and measures 3 cm x 4 cm.
Digital Specifications	These images exist as an optimized PDF file available for general use. They were scanned in 24-bit color at 600 dpi from the original using an Epson Expression 10000XL scanner.
Date Digital	2014
Source	Fairfield University Archives and Special Collections
Copyright Information	Fairfield University reserves all rights to this resource which is provided here for educational and/or non-commercial purposes only.
Identifier	FDC-VaticanHolyYear1950