Palatine Tiara - "Vicarius Filii Dei" Myth

"Vicarius Filii Dei" Myth

Some Protestant groups, particularly associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, claimed that Vicarius Filii Dei', "representative of the Son of God", is spelt out in jewels on the 1877 tiara. "Vicarius Filii Dei" is a title mentioned as a papal title in the forged mediaeval Donation of Constantine. Some Protestant groups claim it is a real papal title, a claim dismissed by the Roman Catholic Church as an "anti-Catholic myth".

All photographs of the tiara, including close-up photographs taken from all sides at the coronation of Pius XII in 1939 show that it actually contains no writing. None of the existing tiaras in the collection, the oldest of which is from the 16th century, contains the words Vicarius Filii Dei.