Silver medal for pope Gregory XVI

Gregory XVI (Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari), 1831-1846.
Rome, 1831, by G. Cerbara
Silver
Dimensions of 61.5x47.5 mm.

Obverse: S GREGORIO MAGNO PONT MAX HVMILIS SVCCESSOR / OSP APLICO 1831. Bust of Saint Gregory the Great wearing a mitre, writing on a book with the inscription: LIBER PASTORAL / PASTORALIS CVRA; behind the neck, the Dove of the Holy Spirit; below, GIUSEPPE CERBARA DIRESSE.

Reverse: S ROMVALDO ABBATI DEVOTVS FILIVS GREGORIVS XVI. Saint Romuald explains to a group of disciples the vision of ascension to heaven.

This medal was struck for the San Michele hospice in Rome, founded in 1689 by Tommaso Odescalchi. Among the numerous initiatives of the hospice, one that deserves to be highlighted is the creation, for the boys housed there, of a course in addition to the existing courses in tapestry and fabric weaving, a course on the engraving of cameos and medal matrices, for which the Cerbara brothers were called in as teachers.