Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX (Latin: Pius PP. IX, Italian: Pio IX; May 13, 1792 – February 7, 1878), born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Feretti, was an Italian priest of the Roman Catholic Church and the 256th Pope, from 1846 until his death.[1] Only Saint Peter himself led the church longer than the 32-year reign of Pius IX.
Blessed Pius IX | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Papacy began | June 16, 1846 |
| Papacy ended | 7 February, 1878 |
| Predecessor | Pope Gregory XVI |
| Successor | Pope Leo XIII |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Giovanni Maria Mastai-Feretti |
| Born | May 31, 1792 Senigallia, Marche, Papal States |
| Died | February 7, 1878 (aged 85) Apostolic Palace, Vatican City |
| Motto | Crux de Cruce |
| Other popes named Pius | |
In 2000, he was beatified, which is a step in the process of naming a saint of the Catholic Church.[2]
Career
Bishop
Father Mastai-Feretti was named Bishop of Spoleto in 1827.[3] In 1877, the Golden Jubilee celebrations recalled the 50 years since he was named a bishop.[4]
Cardinal
In 1840, Pope Gregory XVI made Bishop Mastai-Feretti a cardinal.[3]
Pope
Cardinal Mastai-Feretti was elected Pope in 1846; and he took the name Pius IX.[3]
In 1846, Piux IX declared an amnesty for political prisoners.[2]
In 1848 he ordered that the gates to the Jewish ghetto in Rome be knocked down.[2]
Pius formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.[5]
Papal States
In 1849, Pius was deposed as the temporal ruler of the Papal States.[3] As a result of Italian nationalism and the Risorgimento, the Papal States and all of the pope's land outside the Apostolic Palace were seized in 1870 and pope spent his last years a virtual prisoner within the Vatican.[2]
First Vatican Council
In 1869-1870, Pope Pius brought together the church's bishops and cardinals in a meeting called the Vatican Council.[6] The council defined the dogma of papal infallibility.[7]
Pius died at age 85.[8]
After his death
The process of recognizing Pius IX as a saint began in 1907.[2]
The body of Pope Pius IX was exhumed in 1956.[9] This was part of a ceremony of "recognition".[5]
Preparations for beatification were almost finished in 1962;[10] and they were completed in 1984.[2]
Related pages
References
More reading
- Kertazer, David I. (1997). The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780679450313; ISBN 9780679768173; OCLC 35829023
Other websites
Media related to Pius IX at Wikimedia Commons
. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.- Catholic Hierarchy, Pope Pius IX
- Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Mastai-Feretti
| Preceded by Gregory XVI | Pope 1846–1978 | Succeeded by Leo XIII |
