New 55c stamp celebrates canonisation of St Charles

31 May 2007

May 31, 2007: An Post will issue a special 55c stamp on Tuesday next, 5th June,  marking this weekend’s canonisation of St Charles (1821 – 1893) in Rome.

The stamp features a painting of St Charles of Mount Argus by leading Irish artist James Hanley showing the Saint in the foreground with background details of Dublin’s Mount Argus and the Dutch farmhouse where was born Johannes Andreas Houben in 1821.

Welcoming the new stamp, Fr Brian D’Arcy of the Passionist order said he was delighted that An Post are recognising St Charles in this way.

“It's so different from his first visit to Ireland when he slipped unnoticed through Dun Laoghaire. He brought peace, healing and compassion to hundreds of thousands of people through his ministry. He also wrote hundreds of consoling letters to his family in Holland and to people in need all over Ireland.

“Today he represents the New Ireland - the Ireland of welcomes for immigrants and the Ireland who is proud of its European connections. St Charles, like so many immigrants, came here unknown and without a future. Yet he made Ireland better by his presence and became a saint in the process”, he added

The stamp will be available from Tuesday next (June 5)  in all main post offices, at the GPO Dublin, on-line at www.irishstamps.ie and by phone at (01) 705 7400.

An Post is expecting strong interest in the stamp from devotees of St Charles and those involved in securing his canonisation, as well as from philatelists all over world and people with an interest in religious art.