CROATIAN COAT OF ARMS IN PAPAL FLAGS

( Editorial: --> 5247 ) ZAGREB/SAN CARLOS, Oct 3 (Hina) - An American citizen of Croat origin, Adam S. Eterovich while "digging" through American libraries and archives discovered that several papal flags in the period between 900 and 1200 A.D. contained the Croatian Coat of Arms, which was a compliment to the Croatian people because their Coat of Arms was their "state symbol". Eterovich, whose origins are from the Croatian island of Brac, founded a non-profit organisation "Ragusan Press" in San Carlos (California), The organisation dealt with researching the history of the Croat diaspora in the United States of America as well as other interesting facts tied to Croatia in the homeland and abroad. The details about the Croat Coat of Arms in papal flags was found in American archives but they did not contain any information about the colours of the fields on the Coat of Arms. Eterovich believes that these details could be found in Vatican archives. According to the information gathered from "secondary sources", Pope Sergius III's papal flag who presided the Holy See in 904 contained the Croat Coat of Arms in the shape of a falcon. This symbol was prevalent in the papal flags of Pope John XI (931- 936), Pope Benedict VII (974-983), Pope Benedict VIII (1012-1024), Pope Benedict IX (1032 - 1048), Pope Inocent III (1198-1216) and Pope Inocent XIII (1721-1724). The papal flags of Pope Urban II (1088-1099) and Pope Clement II (1187-1191) contained the Croat Coat of Arms with 100 fields, while Pope Eugene II's (1145-1153), papal flag contained the symbol with 25 fields. Pope Alexander IV's papal (1254-1261) contained the Coat of Arms in the shape of an eagle. The papal flags of Pope Bonifatius IX (1389-1404) and Pope Inocent VIII (1484-1492), had the Coat of Arms displayed diagonally. Eterovich recalled that Pope Inocent X (1644-1655) prior to his pontificacy was called Per Francesco Orsini which can be seen on the family coat of arms of the Orsini-Ursinic and Frangipani family originating in Croatia's Adriatic region, Dalmatia. (Hina) sp 031219 MET oct 98