The Pope’s Crown and 666
By D. E. Scoles
[It has been stated that upon the papal crown, or upon a papal crown, is found the inscription “Vicarius Filii Dei,” meaning the “vicegerent of the Son of God.” This has been denied on seemingly good authority as resting upon hearsay evidence; and it has been seriously questioned in the face of the statements which follow, in the article from the late Pastor D. E. Scoles, published in the Review and Herald of December 20, 1906. We reprint the article. The testimony upon which Brother Scoles relied may be true; we certainly do not impugn his word. Ed. S. of T.] BECAUSE some of our workers have been unable to obtain a view of the pope’s crown with the inscription Vicarius Filii Dei, many of our people have concluded that no such crown has ever existed. The Catholics well know the position we occupy, and the use we make of the crown and its inscription; and let none think that Protestants have access to all portions of the Vatican, nor that their inability to find that crown proves its non-existence. I have met two men who declare that they have seen this specific crown; and their testimony is so perfectly in agreement that I am convinced that what they say is true. The first man was M. De Latti, a Sabbath-keeper who had previously been a Catholic priest, and had spent four years in Rome. He visited me when I was pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota, several years ago. I showed him my tract, “The Seal of God and the Mark7of the Beast.” He at once told me that the inscription was not correctly placed in my illustration. He stated that he had often seen it in the museum of the Vatican, and gave a detailed and accurate description of the whole crown. When my tract was published, I was ignorant of the arrangement of the words of the Latin inscription, hence, in the illustration of the crown, placed them in one line. Brother De Latti at once pointed out the mistake, and said the first word of the sentence was on the first crown of the triple arrangement, the second word on the second part of the crown, while the word Dei was on the lower division of the triple crown. He also explained that the first two words were in dark-colored jewels, while the Dei was composed of diamonds entirely. During my recent tent meeting in Webb City, Missouri, I presented the subject “The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast.” I used charts to illustrate it, one being a reproduction of the crown as Brother De Latti had described it. A Presbyterian minister was present, the Rev. B. Hoffman; and when I described the crown, he spoke out publicly, and made a statement to the congregation, saying that while in Rome studying for the priesthood, he had seen this very crown, and noted its inscription, and that the word Dei was composed of one hundred diamonds. I met him, and learned his name, and visited him at his home, and was convinced, from his description, that this was the identical crown that Brother De Latti had seen, but which has been denied by many. I then asked him for a written statement, and he gave me the following, which explains itself: “This is to certify that I was born in Bavaria in 1828, was educated in Munich, and was reared a Roman Catholic. In 1844 and 1845 I was a student for the priesthood in the Jesuit College in Rome. “During the Easter service of 1845, Pope Gregory XVI wore a triple crown upon which was the inscription, in jewels, Vicarius Filii Dei. We were told that there were one hundred diamonds in the word Dei; the other words were of some other kind of precious stones, of a darker color. There was one word upon each crown, and not all on the same line. I was present at the service, and saw the crown distinctly, and noted it carefully. “In 1850 I was converted to God and to Protestantism. Two years later I entered the Evangelical Church ministry, but later in life I united with the Presbyterian Church, of which I am now a retired pastor, having been in the ministry for fifty years. “I have made the above statement at the request of Elder D. E. Scoles, as he states that some deny that the pope ever wore this tiara. But I know that he did, for I saw it upon his head. “Sincerely yours in Christian service, “Webb City, Missouri, October 29, 1906.” I publish these things because I am sure that God does not want us to let the enemy cheat us out of using everything truthful that will help us to expose error, and show the force and power of the truth.