Congo – 2005 – 10 Francs – Holy Kings Balthasar with incense (PROOF)

Description

.925 silver, 25 grams, 38.61 grams, 5000 pieces with small piece of incense

Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar ? almost every baptized child or adult knows the story of them. The three wise men bringing gold, myrrh and frankincense by following the Star of Bethlehem to pay homage to the Jesus child.

Only in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-12) written approx. 70 AC is mentioning the mythology about the Three Wise Men – the Greek text is referring to the Magi from the East?.

The first reference to them was discovered in the underground of Rome – the Catacombs ? before the year 100, depicting four figures with gifts presenting them to the Jesus Child.

In the early middle age the number of holy 3 (Trinity) and the names of the kings were initiated by
the clerics but never canonized by the Roman Church. Recently the magi where identified as
priests or scholars (of Zoroastrian) from Babylon, following the Star of Bethlehem.

By decoding of inscriptions on clay tablets they are referring to the stars conjunction of Saturn and
Jupiter announcing the arriving of the Messiah near Jerusalem as the King of the Jewish. By
computer simulation the date of this conjunction in 7 BC was found as well.

By approx. 330 AC under the reign of Constantinus the Great (the founder of Constantinople and
first Christian Emperor of Rome), his mother, later canonized as the Saint Helena, found the tomb
of the Three Kings in the Middle East. They where brought to Constantinople and buried in the
present Hagia Sophia.

After Constantinus death their remains have been moved as a gift to Milan. In 1164 upon order by
Emperor Barbarossa the reliquary of the Three Kings have been brought from Milan to Cologne. In
the years after this event the Dome of Cologne was build as a gothic monument like the cathedrals
in France.

The holy reliquary was set in a very artistic gilded shrine, called Dreikönigsschrein. For centuries
these relics in the Cologne Cathedral are considered as the most significant pilgrimage place in
Europe.

January 6th is the celebration day of the Holy Three Kings ? in Spanish Countries the day of
Christmas gift giving, commemorating the ceremony of the Three Kings and the Jesus child.