|
Marian
philately is but a part of religious philately (see, for example, COROS*),
and
both of these are part of philately in general. The literal meaning of
philately conveys the fact "that a stamped letter frees the recipient
from paying the mailing charges." More specifically, philately deals
with the collecting and studying of postage and imprinted stamps.
The
first stamps appeared in 1840 in Great Britain. Up until then
it was the custom for the recipient to pay mailing charges according
to distance. Intent on simplifying the process, Sir Rowland Hill
(1795-1879) suggested to unify taxes (one penny for all distances) and
have them paid by the sender. To make this happen, stamped envelopes
were used; but soon a more practical and mobile solution was found:
the detachable and adhesive stamp easy to stick or glue on the envelope. The first stamp of this kind was English; it was black, featured the
effigy of Queen Victoria, and was issued on May 1, 1840. The country
was not mentioned. Even today, only English stamps can be identified
thanks to the effigy of the reigning monarch. Stamps spread rapidly
to other countries. Beginning in 1843, stamps were used in the
Swiss Cantons of Zurich (March 1, 1843) and Geneva (September 30, 1843). In the same year, stamps were adopted by the government of Brazil, two
years later (1845) by the government of Basel (Switzerland). The
United States followed suit in 1847.
|
Scott #85
|
Christian Motifs on Stamps
Various Christian motifs on
stamps appeared during the early decades of the twentieth century. Note that the first stamp commemorating Christmas was issued on December
7, 1898. This is a Canadian stamp showing the map of the British
Empire and bearing the words Xmas 1898.
|
Scott
#137;
Y&T
#149 |
The First Nativity Stamp
The first stamp to visualize a Nativty set was issued in Estonia on June 10, 1936. |
|
The Marian Library's Stamp Collection
The
Marian stamps published on The Mary Page are part of the Marian Library's
stamp collection. This collection covers, in comprehensive fashion, the
period going from the beginnings in 1920 to the present. It is, in part, the work
of Bro. Eugene Claret, a Swiss Marianist, who organized our existing collection
and completed it thanks to the gift of a great number of stamps from
his own collection. Thanks to additional gifts, his work is being completed and updated by another Marianist,
Bro. Raymond Boutin, from Canada. It is thanks to his efforts and those
of Ms. Kris Sommers that the Marian Library's stamp collection is made
available to the readers of The Mary Page.
*COROS, Collectors of Religion on Stamps. The COROS Chronicle,
bimonthly Journal of the Collectors of Religion on Stamps.
For
the French version of this introduction, see: Les timbres marials.
|
