This Monaco stamp, issued in 1958, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes in 1858. At the center is the figure of Our Lady of Lourdes, with the inscription in French around her halo: “Je suis l’Immaculée Conception” (“I am the Immaculate Conception”). Flanking her are portraits of two popes: Pope Pius XII (top left) and Pope Pius IX (bottom right), the latter of whom formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. The phrase in Basque, “Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou,” reflects what Saint Bernadette reported the Virgin Mary said during the Lourdes apparitions.