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Pius IX Biography

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Pius IX (Count Giovanni Maria Mastei-Ferretti), Pope. 1846-78. He was born at Sinigaglia, May 13, 1792, and intended to enter the Papal Guards, but symptoms of an epileptic tendency caused him to abandon a military life. He took holy orders and became Archbishop of Spoleto in 1827, Bishop of Imola in 1832, and Cardinal in 1840. He was elevated to the papal chair on June 16, 1846, two weeks after the death of Gregory XVI. Pius IX took hold of the reins of government in the pontifical dominions, imbued with a sense of the evils, political, economic, and social, under which his semimediæval realm had been laboring and with a patriotic desire to raise Italy from her political degradation. He entered at once on a course of reforms, resolving to extirpate all abuses of administration in his state, to secularize the local administration, and to extend the rights of self-government. His first steps were to dismiss his Swiss guards and to grant a general amnesty. The latter measure unfortunately had the effect of bringing together a body of men whom exile had embittered against the existing state of things. The Pope extended his innovations to every department of the administration, not sparing the ecclesiastical institutions and the clergy. At the same time he exerted himself strenuously to improve the economic condition of his people and to promote their intellectual progress. His subjects were permitted to make their voice heard in public assemblies and in the press. His policy awakened enthusiasm among the friends of progress throughout Europe, Protestants and Jews, as well as Roman Catholics. Pius IX was inspired with the dream of a free Italy, and sought to realize the ideal set forth by Gioberti of a federated Italy under the moral primacy of the Pope. But the programme which he embraced was far from satisfying the demands of the revolutionary party represented by Mazzini and his followers, and Austria was ready to combat with force of arms a policy which threatened to subvert her dominion in Italy.

In April, 1847, the Pope announced the institution of a consulta, an advisory body consisting of deputies from the provinces. When it assembled in November Pius IX found that he had created a mouthpiece of radical demands, vehemently set forth and backed by the populace, which he was utterly unable to satisfy. A few months later the February revolution of 1848 overthrew the Orleanist monarchy in France, and the Papal States were borne along on the flood of revolution which swept over Europe. Pius IX was forced, while yet unprepared for it, to grant a regular constitution to his subjects, which was promulgated on March 14, 1848. It was an anomalous creation, providing for a triple machinery of legislation—a consistory of cardinals, an advisory council appointed by the Pope, and a Parliament of two chambers. A few days after this event Lombardy and Venice rose against the Austrians, and Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, embarked upon a war for the liberation of Italy. Pius IX was dragged against his will into a struggle with the house of Hapsburg, which was to prove utterly futile. On June 11 the papal forces were compelled to surrender to the Austrians at Vicenza. On July 25 the King of Sardinia met with disaster at Custozza. The revolutionary elements now obtained complete mastery in Rome. On November 15 the Pope's Prime Minister, Count Rossi, was assassinated as he was about to open the session of the Parliament. Violent demonstrations took place daily to compel the Pope's assent to measures which he repudiated. He at first confined himself in the Quirinal, and on November 24 fled secretly from Rome, taking refuge in the Neapolitan fortress of Gaeta. A republic was proclaimed in Rome in February, 1849. Pius IX from his exile addressed a remonstrance to the various sovereigns. In April a French expedition, sent to restore the papal authority, landed at Civitavecchia, which surrendered on July 2, after a month's siege. The Pope's government was reëstablished, and in 1850 he again entered upon the administration. He now declared that, in view of the unsettled condition of Italy and the failure of many of his early measures of improvement, he could not proceed with the reforms which he had contemplated. With Cardinal Antonelli as Secretary of State, the course of the papal government became intensely reactionary. In 1860, after the war for the unification of Italy, the Romagna, the Marches, and Umbria were annexed to the dominions of Victor Emmanuel, but Pius persistently refused to cede any portion or to enter into any compromise.

His ecclesiastical administration continued very active and proceeded upon the strongest assumption of the right of independent action on the part of the Church. He reëstablished the hierarchy in England, sanctioned the establishment in Ireland of a Catholic university, and condemned the principles upon which the Queen's colleges in that country were constituted. He concluded with Austria a concordat much more favorable to Church authority than the existing ecclesiastical laws had permitted. (See Concordat.) In 1854 he issued a decree propounding as a doctrine of the Church the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (q.v.) of the blessed Virgin Mary. The most important event of his pontificate was the convocation of the Vatican Council (q.v.), at which bishops from all parts of the Catholic world assembled, in December, 1869. This was the first Church council since that of Trent had crystallized Roman Catholic dogma and practice to meet the Reformation attack. It was adjourned in July, 1870, after it had proclaimed the decree of the infallibility (q.v.) of the Pope when on a subject of faith or morals he issues a decree ex cathedra to the universal Church. Soon after the adjournment the Italian army occupied Rome, which was made the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Pius renewed with all solemnity his oft-repeated protest and, refusing all proposals of accommodation, from that date declared himself a captive in the Vatican, to which he strictly confined himself until his death, Feb. 7, 1878.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 687-688.