Can't 'lick' these guys

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

For the collector who has everything, not so fast. How many stickers do you have in your Swiss Guard deluxe collector's album? Did you even know there was a Swiss Guard album and 250 different stickers honoring their 500 years of service to the popes?

Pubblicazioni Collezionare Cultura has just released The Guardian Angels of the Pope as part of its effort to use stickers to promote Italy's culture, including its religious history and heritage, said Claudio Ventrella, the company's editorial director.

Images for the stickers were chosen by Giovanni Morelli, a retired Vatican Library employee, who also wrote brief explanations in Italian and English for each sticker. Morelli was the researcher and curator of a 2006 Vatican exhibition on the history of the Swiss Guards.

The company marketing the stickers and album had previously issued two series on the saints - selling 200,000 albums and 20 million stickers.

To get the saints' albums and stickers, collectors need to go to Italian newsstands. But the Swiss Guards' special edition album and stickers are as close as the Internet - www.collezionarecultura.it. They sell for about $65.

The album includes Swiss Guards' history, portraits of 500 years of popes and the Guards' 33 commanders, and a look at daily life for the Guard. A second series is planned on how the uniforms have changed over the years.