Blessed Pope Pius IX
Long-reigning pope from Vatican I to the loss of the Papal States
- Rank
- Blessed
- Kind
- Pope
- Life
- 1792 – 1878
- Era
- 19th century
- Feast
- 7 February
- Countries
- Italy
Life story
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born on 13 May 1792 in Senigallia, in the Papal States. He was elected pope on 16 June 1846 after the death of Gregory XVI and was crowned on 21 June. His reign of about thirty-two years is among the longest in papal history.
In 1854 he proclaimed the dogma that Mary was conceived without original sin. In 1864 he issued the Syllabus of Errors, which condemned liberalism, secularization and the separation of church and state, among other ideas.
The First Vatican Council opened in 1869; it defined papal infallibility in 1870 before it was suspended and never reconvened. On 20 September 1870 Rome was taken by the Kingdom of Italy, and from then on he called himself a prisoner in the Vatican. The dispute was settled by the Lateran Treaty of 1929.
He died on 7 February 1878 in the Apostolic Palace in Rome. Pope John Paul II beatified him on 3 September 2000. Assessments of his pontificate, especially of its relations with the modern state, are still discussed by historians.
Works and witness
- Elected pope on 16 June 1846
- Proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854
- Issued the Syllabus of Errors in 1864
- Convened the First Vatican Council, which defined papal infallibility
- Rome taken by the Kingdom of Italy on 20 September 1870
Saints from the same country
References
- Bull Ineffabilis Deus (1854) and Pastor aeternus (Vatican I, 1870)
- Vatican biography of Blessed Pius IX, beatification decree 3 September 2000
- Martyrologium Romanum, 7 February
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.