The Grace of God—mentioned on a Canadian Coin???

 

 

Yes! And it has been there for as long as we have been a nation. It's a little bit hidden nowadays— the coins simply say "ELIZABETH II D^.G^.REGINA". But all through the last century and going back to the 1850's, it was much clearer. Here is the quote from an 1858 ten cent piece: "VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA". For those with a smattering of Latin it now comes clear:

"GRATIA" = "by the grace"

"DEI" = "of God"

"REGINA" = "queen"

The modern-day version of this is simply D^.G (D = DEI and G = GRATIA). Not as clear as we might like but still good reason for being thankful we live in Canada!   Ì