(10-09-2020) CENT. SANT' EFREM IL SIRO DOTTORE DELLA CHIESA

The postage stamp dedicated to the centenary of the proclamation as Doctor of the Church of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, deacon, intends to be, as was the authoritative recognition itself, a sign of consideration towards the churches of Catholic Syriac tradition and others. Pope Benedict XV proclaimed Saint Ephrem Doctor of the Church on 5 October 1920 with the Encyclical Principi Apostolorum Petro. The postage stamp, designed by artist Daniela Fusco with a value of € 1.15, reproduces iconographically the Saint-Doctor of the Church with the symbols that distinguish him: the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that with its wings seems to pull the strings of the harp, held in his left arm, because in Christian tradition he is known as the harp of the Holy Spirit; the star with the letter “M” recalls his inspired Marian doctrine which earned him the title of “first Marian Doctor in the ranks of the Holy Fathers”; with the pen, symbol of his being a Doctor of the Church, about to write one of the most representative phrases of his doctrine on the incarnation of the Son of God: “Blessed is he who has translated its secrets into our language”.