Golden Rose - Recipients

Recipients

For a long time before the Protestant Reformation, the papacy often used the Golden Rose as political propaganda with powerful rulers. But after some of its recipients—especially Henry VIII of England, who received Golden Roses from three different popes—repudiated papal authority, it was rarely given to rulers, becoming both more feminized and less political by the 17th century. Among the principal churches to which the rose has been presented are St. Peter's Basilica (five roses), Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (four roses — according to some, two of the four were given to the basilica proper and two to the chapel called Sancta Sanctorum), Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (two roses), Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima (two roses), Santa Maria sopra Minerva (one rose), Sant'Antonio dei Portoghesi (one rose), and Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida (one rose).

Among the many people who received the gift, the following are noteworthy:

While the Golden Roses bestowed upon people (as opposed to those awarded to places) have been conferred to both men and women, awards to males became rare after the 16th century, and no award has been made to a man since the 18th century. In the 19th century and first half of the 20th century the Golden Rose became seen as a feminine award.

In the second half of the twentieth century, awards of the Golden Rose became very rare, and all Golden Roses conferred after the death of Pope Pius XII were bestowed not upon people but upon places, mostly shrines.

Pope Paul VI, for instance, made only five grants of the Golden Rose during his pontificate, that lasted from 1963 until 1978, and none of them was given to people, but to places of devotion. Pope John Paul II made four awards of the Golden Rose, each to a different shrine, during his 27 year pontificate. Thus, the conferral of the Golden Rose can be considered a great privilege.

The Golden Rose was awarded in the Pontificate of John Paul II to the Jasna Góra Monastery in Poland, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes France, Knock Shrine in Ireland and to St. Joseph's Oratory in Canada in 2004.

In the early 21st century, there has been a surge in the number of awards of the Golden Rose under the Pontificate of Benedict XVI; however, no Golden Rose has been awarded to a person in the 21st century. Pope Benedict XVI has so far adhered to the praxis in place since the 1960s of granting the Golden Rose to places of devotion and not to people.

Pope Benedict XVI has made twelve awards of the Golden Rose so far. So far, the twelve awards of the Golden Rose made by Pope Benedict XVI have in common the fact that the places of devotion honoured are all Marian shrines.

Pope Benedict XVI's first award of the Golden Rose was made in 2006, to the Jasna Góra Monastery (Częstochowa - Poland). Two more were granted to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida (Brazil) and to the Mariazell Basilica (Austria), in 2007. In 2008, during his apostolic pilgrimage to the United States, he bestowed the Golden Rose upon the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Pope Benedict XVI's fifth rose was presented to the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria in Cagliari, Italy on September 8, 2008; the sixth to the Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei on 19 October 2008. His seventh rose was presented to Shrine of Our Lady of Europe on May 5, 2009. Roses were also presented to the Virgen de la Cabeza of the Diocese of Jaen, Spain, in 2009; to the Shrine of Our Lady of Ta' Pinu in 2010. Pope Benedict XVI awarded his tenth Golden Rose to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima on May 12, 2010, during his Apostolic Visit to Portugal. The eleventh rose was to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel in Belgium on February 2, 2011. The archbishop of Malines-Brussels, Msgr. André-Joseph Léonard, received it in Scherpenheuvel on May 15, 2011, from the nuncio to Belgium. Pope Benedict XVI made his twelfth and most recent award of the Golden Rose to Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad de Cobre, during his apostolic journey to Cuba in March 2012.