PIO IX, POPE. — A descendant of the Mastai family of Cesena, which had earned the comital title from the Duke of Parma and had added to its own surname that of the Ferretti, a noble family of Ancona related to it by marriage. Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti was born in Senigallia on 13 May 1792, the son of Count Girolamo and Caterina Solazzi.
He studied with the Scolopi Fathers in Volterra, continued his studies at the Collegio Romano, which he had to interrupt because of the Napoleonic upheavals, and resumed them in Rome once order was restored. As he suffered from epilepsy, he feared he might not be able to receive Holy Orders; but once this difficulty was overcome, he was ordained a priest on 19 April 1819. From his youth he took an interest in the Ospizio di Tata Giovanni, to which he remained very devoted throughout his life.
He accompanied Monsignor Giovanni Muzi, Apostolic Delegate to the Republics of Chile and Peru (1823–25), as auditor, and upon his return from this mission he was given the canonry of Santa Maria in Via Lata, the direction of the Ospizio di San Michele, and on 3 June 1827 was consecrated Bishop of Spoleto. During the insurrectionary disturbances of 1831 he took charge of the government of the city, earning the gratitude of the Holy See and of the entire citizenry. Gregory XVI transferred him on 17 December 1832 to the see of Imola, at the same time creating him Cardinal with the title of Saints Peter and Marcellinus. He was in danger during the disturbances of September 1843 of falling into the hands of the insurgents, and rendered great service in preserving public order. He suffered much from the political factions that were tearing apart the populations of Romagna and from the outbreaks of vengeance and bloodshed of which he was obliged to be a witness. He left no means untried to calm the passions of party spirit, even intervening with the Holy See to curb the provocative conduct of the so-called “papaloni.”
I. ELECTION AS POPE. EARLY ACTS. REFORMS. — In the Conclave that followed the death of Gregory XVI, from 14 to 16 June 1846—one of the shortest in history—the Cardinal Mastai was elected pope and took the name Pius IX. The eminent pastoral qualities he had shown and his knowledge of the needs of the State were the qualities that drew the electors’ attention to him. Contrary to a widely held opinion, no nation imposed a veto against Mastai. Cardinal Gaysruck, Archbishop of Milan, who was said to have brought the veto of Austria, did not arrive in Rome until after the election had taken place. The Pope’s coronation on 21 June was marked by demonstrations of vibrant enthusiasm.
As his principal collaborator he immediately chose the young prelate Giovanni Corboli-Bussi (q.v.) of Urbino, secretary of the Conclave. Together with Cardinal Pasquale Gizzi, appointed Secretary of State on 8 August, he became the Pope’s right hand. On 17 July Pius IX granted a broad amnesty to political prisoners and allowed exiles to return upon a simple declaration of loyal submission to the public authorities. He moved to improve the condition of the Jews in Rome, where, moreover, they enjoyed treatment far more humane than in other countries, by ordering the abolition of the enclosure of the ghetto. His experience in pastoral life had enabled him to gain a direct knowledge of the true needs and aspirations of the people. He had formed a friendship with Count Giuseppe Pasolini of Ravenna, an ardent student of political and social sciences, a moderate liberal, who kept him informed of the various currents of thought emerging among the educated classes and of the recent writings of Balbo, Gioberti, and others, which were shaping a new national and federal consciousness. He had read the Manifesto of Rimini of 24 September 1845 and the Casi di Romagna by Massimo d’Azeglio. He recognized that d’Azeglio, with whom he had had contact since 1845, in his pamphlet said several truths, though mixed with exaggerations and falsehoods.
He immediately set about remedying the ills of the Papal State, beginning by establishing a special Congregation of State to study some of the most urgent matters: the amnesty, railways, financial reorganization, the courts, and the militia. He called Cardinals Macchi, Lambruschini, Mattei, Amat, Gizzi, and Bernetti to serve on it and appointed Corboli-Bussi as its secretary. The meetings were held in the Pope’s presence and in five important sessions, in which Monsignor Morichini, pro-treasurer, also took part, all the designated subjects were discussed. Measures were taken to ensure that the amnesty, granted with the return or release of so many persons compromised for political reasons, would not disrupt the normal functions of the State. The amnesty, published with the historic Proclamation drafted by Corboli-Bussi on 17 July 1846, gave rise to frenetic demonstrations that seemed as though they would never end; so much so that Cardinal Gizzi had to intervene with circulars and ordinances, calling on the authorities and citizens to show greater austerity in order to achieve the normal implementation of the reconstructive and reformist programme the Pope had set for himself. It soon became clear that these repeated demonstrations were nothing but an artifice of hidden agitators, to accustom the people to act as if they were sovereign. With the Edict of 15 March 1847 press censorship was mitigated, much to the disappointment of liberals who would have liked to abolish all restrictions. By a motu proprio of 18 June a Council of Ministers was established. An edict of 5 July set up the civic guard in Rome and gave normative provisions for the other cities of the State. On 14 October the Consiglio di Stato was established, presided over by a cardinal and composed of 24 consultants chosen by the Pope on the nomination of provincial and municipal councils. Among its members were several moderate liberals, such as Pasolini, Minghetti, Silvani, and Gualterio.
II. THE ITALIAN QUESTION
On 24 August 1847 Corboli-Bussi left Rome with secret instructions to propose a customs league, on the model of the German Zollverein, to the courts of Florence, Turin, and Modena. The aim of this initiative was to stir the patriotic sentiment that was still dormant in many and to direct it toward a national federal union. For this reason the instructions to the papal envoy did not mention Austria. The league was meant to pave the way for a closer union among the Italian courts in civil, military, and political matters. The initiative met with a prompt and unconditional reception in Florence. In Turin, however, it was subjected to so many precautions, examinations, and restrictions as to show that it was far from welcome. More than two months were needed to reach agreement on some preliminary articles, which were signed on 3 November, giving Austria every opportunity to undermine the papal initiative in Modena and the duchies and to arrange with them secret commercial and military treaties on highly advantageous terms, which were concluded on 24 December. When Corboli-Bussi, together with Ricci and Martini, respectively deputies from Turin and Florence, presented the league to a certain Duchess F., she gave the impression of goodwill and took advantage of the envoys’
to smooth out the frictions existing between her and Florence, which was trying to delay the cession of Fivizzano. Once his aim was achieved, he dismissed them in an ungracious manner, insulting not only the three envoys but also the Holy See, which had offered itself as mediator.
Despite the failure of the League, the name of PIUS IX, which was now being hailed throughout Italy as the champion of nationality, continued to provide the impetus for the demonstrations that were multiplying with the aim of pushing the nation towards war. This was especially the case from the moment when, in August of that year, Austria, in a most unwise move, reinforced the garrison at Ferrara and occupied the militarily important points of the city. The incident was soon resolved diplomatically by the parties involved; nonetheless, the demonstrations multiplied endlessly, and to the name of PIUS IX was joined that of CHARLES ALBERT, who, in a letter deliberately circulated, declared himself ready, “pour la cause quelque,” to play the role of a second Shamil.
The Ferrara incident would have lent itself very well to the designs cherished by Piedmont of attacking Austria under the pretext of defending the rights and independence of the Pope, posing as the champion of Italian nationality. Strong pressure was exerted on PIUS IX to induce him to abandon his neutrality. But he, having examined the problem from every angle, deemed it his duty—given also the conditions in which the State found itself—to use his authority to ensure that the national unity be achieved not through war but through peaceful means. From the beginning of his pontificate until November 1848—that is, until his flight to Gaeta—he never lost sight of the idea of an Italian confederation and supported the plans elaborated for this purpose both by Corboli and by Abbot Rosmini and Pellegrino Rossi.
III. THE YEAR 1848. CRISIS OF PIUS IX’S ITALIAN POLICY. FLIGHT TO GAETA. — Following the example of the other Italian princes, on 14 March 1848 PIUS IX granted a Statute. Its drafting was entrusted to a special commission composed of Cardinals Ostini, Orioli, Altieri, Vizzardelli, Antonelli, Boffi, and the prelates Corboli, Bernabò, and Mertel, adapting it to the conditions deriving from the State for the prince who was head of the Church. It delimited the competence of public powers to purely civil matters; the College of Cardinals constituted the Senate of the new regime; two elective legislative bodies were established, the High Council and the Council of Deputies; laws could only become executive after receiving the sanction of the Pope, following consultation with the Cardinals. The Pope was assigned a civil list of 600,000 scudi annually, including the appanages of the cardinals, the expenses of the ecclesiastical dicasteries, and those of the court.
After the Five Days of Milan and Piedmont’s intervention in Lombardy, the pressure on PIUS IX to take part in the war to drive out Austria became even stronger and more insistent. The lay members of the Ministry, Minghetti and Pasolini, were in favor of war. Already in the edict of 22 June 1847, which sought to avert the eventuality of a war that would pit peoples bound by a common faith against one another, it was made abundantly clear that in such an event the Pope would not take the field against Austria. The same hesitations persisted, and to the moral and religious reasons (rumors of schism were circulating in Austria and Germany) were added others of a military and financial nature. PIUS IX, while agreeing to the request of the Sardinian government to send a corps of troops to the Lombard-Venetian border in order to lighten the burden on the Austrian army, never resolved to assume the responsibilities of a declaration of war.
Nevertheless, on 9 April 1848 he sent Corboli-Bussi to the headquarters of CHARLES ALBERT with the mission of urging the conclusion of a national league, which he considered all the more urgent in that it would free him from the responsibilities he so greatly feared; and at the same time to request a loan. The Pope’s requests went unheeded: Piedmont, placing too much confidence in its own strength and early successes, refused to assume any commitments; and on 29 April PIUS IX delivered the celebrated allocution in which he solemnly declared that he would not declare war. The repercussions of the Pope’s words were enormous, and his meaning was twisted in the most odious ways. He publicly declared his true sentiments and on 3 May wrote an autograph letter to the Emperor of Austria, entreating him to grant Italy a peace founded on the recognition of its nationality. With the same end in view he sent Monsignor Morichini on a special mission to Vienna. But nothing could erase from him the immortal stigma of being branded an enemy of his country. The ministerial crisis that followed the allocution of 29 April forced PIUS IX, under the influence of turbulent elements that dominated the clubs and the streets, to entrust power to Mamiani, whose advanced ideas he was well aware of and with whom he remained in constant disagreement throughout the duration of his ministry (May–August). Finally, on 16 September he entrusted the government to Pellegrino Rossi, with the intention of establishing a strong regime by restoring the now-declining authority of the State. His program was progress within order and the federal unity of the nation. The distinguished statesman, who enjoyed the full confidence of the Pope and was determined to curb anarchy, was barbarously assassinated at the foot of the staircase of the Cancelleria on 15 November as he was going to inaugurate the Camera dei Deputati and deliver his programmatic speech. The material author of the crime was believed to be one of the sons of the popular leader Angelo Brunetti (Ciceruacchio), but the conspiracy that had ordered it must have been far-reaching. With the death of Rossi, the most effective bulwark of legality—hated by the clubs and the mob—gone, Rome fell prey to anarchy; the Quirinal was stormed by the rabble, which tumultuously demanded a demagogic government. The Pope’s secretary, Monsignor Palma, was struck by bullets fired from neighboring houses into the courtyards and halls of the Palace, at whose gate the Prince of Canino had a cannon trained. In this critical situation PIUS IX set an example of admirable self-mastery.
Finding himself no longer safe in Rome, on 24 November—thus advised by various ambassadors and by Cardinal Antonelli—he secretly departed and took refuge in Gaeta, where he was received with filial devotion by King Ferdinand II, who placed the royal palace at his disposal and supplied him with everything he needed. From Gaeta PIUS IX wrote to the sovereigns who had relations with the Vatican, apprising them of the events that had occurred and requesting their assistance. He declared null and void the acts issued by the government of Rome. He rejected the invitations conveyed to him by the government he had disavowed to return to his seat, as well as the proposal advanced by Gioberti, on behalf of the Sardinian government, to restore the temporal power single-handedly and reconcile the Pope with his subjects.
IV. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
Meanwhile in Rome a supreme State junta was formed, which on 20 December called for a constituent assembly; and the new chamber that emerged from the elections of 1849 declared the Pope’s government deposed and proclaimed the Republic (8–9 February). Executive power was entrusted to a Triumvirate, which was initially composed of Armellini, Montecchi, and Saliceti, and shortly thereafter of Mazzini, Saffi, and Armellini. Thus the bridges between Rome and Gaeta were broken. There, the representatives of the courts that had responded to PIUS IX’s appeal—Austria, France, Spain, and Naples—met in conference under the presidency of Cardinal Antonelli to discuss the modalities of restoring the Pontiff to his throne and, against the wishes and pressures of France, decided to abolish the Statute. An Austrian corps of arms, having crossed the Po on 16 May, occupied Bologna and on 10 June Ancona. The French, who had landed at Civitavecchia on 15 April, after some military operations that proved unsuccessful, entrusted Lesseps with negotiations with Mazzini, but without result; finally they attacked Rome with adequate forces and on 3 July, after a fierce resistance, forced it to surrender.From Gaeta on 4 September the Pope had transferred to Portici. For various reasons, partly political and partly financial, Pius IX, having to delay his return to Rome, sent there a regency commission composed of three cardinals—Della Genga, Vannicelli, and Altieri—and only on 12 April 1850 did he re-enter the Eternal City, where he was awaited by grand and festive welcomes. From Portici on 12 September 1849 he had issued a motu proprio granting a broad amnesty and several reforms, including the establishment of a Council of State with advisory functions, a Finance Consultative Board, regulations for the election of municipal and provincial councils, and he foreshadowed further concessions.
V. RESTORATION. DOMESTIC POLICY. — The conditions in which the Pope resumed the reins of government in the State were extremely grave; all the more arduous therefore appeared the task of restoration that now devolved upon him. Public administration was divided into four departments: 1) Interior, Grace, and Justice; 2) Finance; 3) Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, Fine Arts and Public Works; 4) War. The ministers met under the presidency of the Cardinal Secretary of State, Antonelli, who, first as Pro-Secretary and then from 1852 as Secretary, held this office for many years until his death (v. YEAR 1851). The first and most difficult undertaking was the restoration of the finances, left by the republican government in a state of bankruptcy. The coffers were empty, the scant fiscal sources dried up, and the State was flooded with some eight million in paper money not backed by any gold reserve. Nevertheless, without resorting to tax increases, the budget, which in 1850 showed a deficit of more than two million, within less than a decade was restored to balance, thanks to the prudent management of the ministers and to the generosity and extreme parsimony of the Pope. Many grand public works were completed in those years: reclamation of the Pontine and Ostian countryside, regulation of river courses, port works in almost all maritime cities, and railways (in addition to the French sections, the lines of Montalto and Ceprano, the Rome-Ancona-Bologna line was undertaken and brought to a successful conclusion). It may be said that there was no city in the Papal States that did not benefit from the munificence of the Pope: he also promoted trade, the sciences, the arts, and public welfare; on the very eve of the breach of Porta Pia the Acqua Pia (the ancient Marcia aqueduct) was inaugurated, bringing water from Arcoli to Rome. Nor should we overlook the important advances made, during his pontificate, in historical and archaeological studies, thanks to the protection and assistance accorded to Pietro Ercole Giovanni Battista de Rossi (v.), the former dedicated to excavations of classical antiquities and the latter to Christian antiquities. Such was the urban growth of the city under Pius’s government that it took on the true character of a modern capital.
To dispel rumors that he was universally abhorred by his subjects, in 1857 the Pope made a tour of all the cities of the State, staying in Bologna for a couple of months, listening to anyone who wished to speak with him, extending his journey as far as Modena and Florence, and everywhere being greeted with cordial and enthusiastic demonstrations. He returned to Rome on 5 September in triumph.
After the unhappy outcome of the constitutional experiment of 1848, Pius IX remained always reluctant to make democratic concessions. He was, however, no enemy of reform. In addition to the public program outlined in the motu proprio of 12 September 1849, further concessions were agreed upon with France in 1850, but for the most part France failed to fulfill what it had led him to expect in return, namely the restoration of the Legations. In 1863, under the ministry of Drouyn de Lhuys, with improved relations with Paris, Pius IX voluntarily implemented and carried out an important program of improvements and reforms extending to almost every branch of administration, such as posts, customs, and justice (special tribunals of the S.C. Lauretana, of the Fabbrica of St. Peter, of the S. Visita of the Vicariate, etc., were abolished), as well as civil and commercial legislation, etc. While rejecting the proposal for the total exclusion of the clergy from civil offices, he encouraged liberal governments to reduce the number of ecclesiastical officials to two percent.
VI. THE ROMAN QUESTION
With Piedmont there always persisted the old jurisdictional disputes, which the anticlerical spirit dominant in governmental circles exacerbated ever further. Following the so-called Siccardi Laws, which abolished ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the nuncio Antonucci left Turin on 8 April 1850, and the Pope protested in a concistorial allocution. New deplorable events further complicated the situation: the abolition of the livings for parish priests and the suppression of collegiate churches, simple benefices, and religious congregations provoked the reaction of the episcopate and clergy and elicited strong protests from Pius.On the occasion of the Congress of Paris in 1856, Cavour seized the opportunity to raise before the assembled governments the Italian question, attributing chiefly to the mismanagement of the papal government the ills afflicting the nation. In July 1858, at Plombières, secret agreements were reached between Napoleon III and Cavour on how to exclude Austria from the Peninsula and give Italy a new political arrangement.
On the eve of attacking Austria, Napoleon III, through verbal assurances and an autograph letter, assured the Pope that, whatever the outcome of the war, he had nothing to fear for his principality. As further guarantee of this, the declaration of neutrality of the Holy See was accepted by the belligerents, with France and Austria pledging to consider their respective troops still stationed in the territories of the Church as exempt from military operations. In fact, however, the observance of neutrality gave rise to so many and such disputes that Austria, after the battle of Magenta, decided to withdraw its garrisons, at the same time causing the insurrection of the Duchies, the Legations, and Perugia, where provisional governments were set up in agreement with Piedmont. The Legations were lost forever; Perugia was recovered thanks to the prompt intervention of the papal government. The armistice of Villafranca, which ended the war in Lombardy, left the program agreed upon at Plombières half-finished: the two emperors, of France and Austria, remained in agreement on the restoration of the princes deposed by the revolution.
VII. FALL OF THE TEMPORAL POWER
In the peace treaty signed at Zurich on 10 November 1859 it was agreed that a European congress to be held in Paris would provide the definitive settlement of affairs in Italy. Pius IX delegated Cardinal Antonelli as his representative to the congress, but when the famous pamphlet inspired by Napoleon, *Le Pape et le Congrès*, appeared, demanding serious mutilations of the Pope’s State, he withdrew his adhesion to the congress, which thus came to nothing.When Cavour returned to power on 24 January 1860, he secured Napoleon III’s acceptance of the annexations of Tuscany, the Duchies, and the Legations through the plebiscites of 11 and 12 March. However, on 26 March, a major excommunication was launched from Rome against all who, in any way, had cooperated in the usurpation. When Pius IX rejected the proposal to renounce the Romagna, the Marches, and Umbria, the response was the violent occupation by regular forces, under the pretext of preventing Garibaldi’s advance. On 18 September, the small papal army was overwhelmed at Castelfidardo (q.v.), and the Pope was left with only Rome and the surrounding Patrimony of St Peter.
Various projects were then undertaken by the interested powers, chiefly France and Piedmont, to provide some arrangement for the Head of the Church and resolve the famous Roman Question (q.v.), but without success. A modus vivendi that seemed to foreshadow the September Convention (q.v.) was on the verge of being concluded between Paris and Turin when Cavour’s death occurred, suspending the negotiations.
With Cavour’s death, Napoleon notified his recognition of the Kingdom of Italy but simultaneously began a more respectful policy toward the Holy See. In 1864, under the ministry of Minghetti, the September Convention was concluded between Paris and Turin, by which the Italian government undertook not to attack or allow the attack on the remaining papal territory, to assume a fair share of the public debt burdening the papal budget, and to transfer the capital from Turin to Florence. General Kanzler reorganized a suitable corps of troops, reinforced by the so-called Antibes Legion, composed of volunteers, under unofficial French protection. The French garrison finally left Rome on 12 December 1866.
Two missions sent to Rome to address the 106 vacant dioceses of Italy (by Vegezzi in 1865 and Tonello in 1868) failed to improve relations between the two powers. The resurgence of Freemasonry and anticlericalism in increasingly intolerant forms obstructed any attempt at reconciliation. When the King fell gravely ill at San Rossore in November 1869, Pius IX, through Cardinal Corsi, Archbishop of Pisa, obtained absolution from censures once more.
In the autumn of 1867, in response to extremist elements linked to Garibaldi, who had marred Rome with the tragic episodes at Villa Glori, Casa Ajani, and the Serristori Barracks, France intervened in favor of the Pope. Garibaldi, with the bulk of his expedition, was halted at Monterotondo and suffered a complete defeat at Mentana (q.v.). The following November, Napoleon invited governments to a congress on the Roman Question (q.v.), to which the Holy See also adhered, but the initiative failed due to opposition from England and Russia. Nonetheless, the French Parliament resolved to restore the garrison in Civitavecchia, which remained there until 1870.
The Franco-Prussian War, which broke out in July 1870, marked the final epilogue of the temporal power. Pius IX wrote to the two sovereigns offering to mediate for peace, but without result. With the first setbacks suffered by the imperial armies, the recall of the French garrison was ordered, which Pius vainly sought to avert. On 20 July, Napoleon informed the Pope that the custody of the Ecclesiastical State was entrusted to Italian arms.
At the outbreak of the conflict, the Italian government, through Minister Lanza, assured that it would observe the September Convention. However, as soon as Napoleon’s fortunes began to waver, the papal territory was encircled by troops. After Sedan, the noose tightened, and on 20 September, through the breach at Porta Pia, royal troops entered Rome. On 10 September, the King sent a letter to the Pope via Count Gustavo Ponza di San Martino, offering to guarantee order and ensure the Pope’s inviolability. Pius declined the offer but ordered General Kanzler, his commander-in-chief, to limit defense to what was strictly necessary to demonstrate that force was being yielded to. Initially, the Vatican and the Leonine City remained exempt from occupation. However, due to the threat of a plebiscite that even menaced the bronze doors, Cardinal Antonelli had to request Cadorna to maintain order, and the occupation extended to the very threshold of the Vatican.
On 13 May 1871, the Law of Guarantees (q.v.) was published in the Official Gazette of the Kingdom. Pius IX condemned the law in the encyclical *Ubi nos* of 15 May 1871, rejected the annual grant assigned to him, and, as he declared in a letter to Cardinal Antonelli on 8 June 1872, shut himself within the Vatican in protest.
VIII. CATHOLIC ACTION AND POLITICAL GUIDELINES
The sectarian and even openly irregular manner in which Italian unity was achieved opened an irreparable rift between the Pope and official Italy and divided Catholics themselves.In all countries where religion found itself struggling against the encroachment of sectarian secularism—France, Germany, Switzerland, and elsewhere—associations were formed to defend Catholic interests, inspired by directives from Rome and often with aims of social renewal. Even the Sardinian episcopate in 1849 established a Catholic association in Italy to defend the Church, modeled after the *Katholischer Verein* in Germany, blessed and encouraged by Pius IX, though, as far as is known, it did not achieve significant results.
While limiting the Holy See’s action in the religious sphere, which was still deeply marked by Gallican and Jansenist survivals, the influence exerted by Pius IX was truly broad and profound. In matters of great urgency, such as the law on freedom of education, the exclusion of pagan classics from Catholic schools in 1850, the adoption of the Roman liturgy, and others, the wisdom and moderation of Pius IX overcame considerable difficulties, thanks also to the universal sympathy his name and sufferings inspired throughout the great nation.
After the restoration of 1849, Austria intensified its religious policy toward Pius IX, and in 1855 concluded new concordats with him that eliminated the Josephinist spirit of those previously in force. However, in protest against the proclamation of papal infallibility, these new concordats were abolished throughout the empire. Despite certain stances of official religious policy, the true spiritual revival and union with Rome, fostered by men of the caliber of Windthorst in Germany, Vogelsang, Lueger, and Rauscher in Austria, was substantial, as it was in all other countries: in Switzerland through the work of Mermillod and Lachat; in Spain through Balmes and St Anthony Mary Claret, despite its sectarian liberalism and political factions; in Protestant countries such as Holland (1853) and England (1850), where the hierarchy was restored, and in the United States, where Catholic life was able to develop in a few years into a vanguard that drew admiration from all the world’s nations.
Pius IX’s concern for Latin America is evidenced by the diplomatic relations he reestablished with those republics, the concordats concluded with many of them, and particularly by the foundation in Rome of the Pio Latino-American Seminary, for the benefit of all the South American republics.
A period of exceptional importance was the pontificate of Pius IX for the revival of Catholic life in Germany. The early years were full of happy promise. But the political supremacy achieved by Prussia, hitherto a stronghold of Protestantism, over the other German principalities, and the iron regime established by Bismarck, unleashed that bitter and violent struggle against Catholics known as the Kulturkampf (q.v.). Its repercussions were felt, not only in Prussia, but also in other principalities with which good concordats had been concluded, such as Württemberg (1857), Baden (1859), and Nassau (1861). Pius IX did not live to see the glorious conclusion of this titanic struggle, but he had the satisfaction of seeing the German clergy and laity draw ever closer and more devotedly around the Holy See. The tragedy of Catholic Poland, which had been a subject of concern and tears for Gregory XVI, was likewise a source of anxiety for Pius IX, who did not fail to make the most urgent representations to Nicholas I and Alexander II for a modus vivendi that would secure the religious and civil freedom of that unhappy nation. Yet he had to endure the bitter disappointment of seeing the agreements which he himself had concluded in 1847, after so much laborious negotiation, denounced in 1866, and to witness the apostasy of the Uniate Church of Chełm (1875), fomented and desired by the Tsarist government.
X. EXPANSION OF THE MISSIONS
Missionary activity had suffered a mortal blow in the last decades of the 18th century, and the work of reconstruction after the restoration of 1815 progressed, but slowly. A vigorous initial impulse had been given by Gregory XVI, who had been Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, but an even greater one was given by Pius IX. Intense efforts were made to bring the schismatic Churches back to unity. On 14 December 1847, Pius IX addressed a warm appeal to them, sent an apostolic visitor, and fostered movements towards union in the Balkan countries and the Near East: Moldavia, Wallachia, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Armenia, and Palestine. Especially promising was the situation in Bulgaria, though this was frustrated by Russian opposition. Pius IX reconstituted the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem, an archdiocese at Athens, etc., and by the constitution Romani Pontifices of 16 January 1862 he established within the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide a special Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Denmark, Norway, and Scotland, which had long been closed to Catholic influence, each received an apostolic prefecture in 1868.As for the evangelization of the infidels, it will suffice to mention the names of Maximilian Ryllo, apostle of the White Nile; Lavigerie (q.v.) in the regions of the Great Lakes; Comboni (q.v.) in Central Africa; Massaja (q.v.) among the Galla; De Jacobis (q.v.) and Ghebra-Michael in Abyssinia; and Cagliero (q.v.) in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. During this period there arose the Seminary of SS. Peter and Paul in Rome for the Foreign Missions (1867), the Seminary for Foreign Missions in Milan (1850), the Pontifical Albanian College (1858), the Brignole-Sale College in Genoa (1855), the Mill Hill Seminary near London (1866); and there came into being the missionary congregations of Scheut (1863), the White Fathers, of the Niger (1867), and of Steyl (1875).
XI. DOCTRINAL TEACHING
Pius IX was untiring in promoting everything connected with sacred studies and sciences, and in repressing, as occasion demanded, deviations or errors that threatened the purity of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline. His activity in this field makes him the worthy precursor of Leo XIII.Among the documents to be recalled are the encyclical Qui pluribus (9 November 1846) on biblical rationalism; the consistorial allocutions Ubi primum (17 December 1847) on religious indifferentism, Quibus quantisque (20 April 1849) on secret societies, In consistoriali (1 November 1850) on ecclesiastical immunity, Singulari quadam (9 December 1854) on the encroachments of civil authorities in matters pertaining to the Church, and Incredibili (17 March 1861) against the separatism of national Churches; as well as the apostolic letters by which the errors of Nütz (22 April 1851), Günther (15 June 1857), Baltzer (30 April 1860), and Froschammer (11 December 1862) were condemned, etc. The struggle of radical Freemasonry against the Church in many countries gave him the opportunity to clarify in various documents the Church’s teaching on the relations between the two powers. His tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin inspired him to promote her cult and to illustrate her singular privileges. In 1848, his first thought upon arriving at Gaeta was to honour the Mother of God; with an encyclical dated 2 February 1849 he sought the opinion of the episcopate on the definability of her Immaculate Conception; and on 8 December 1854, with the dogmatic bull Ineffabilis, he solemnly defined it as a matter of faith.
On the occasion of the solemn canonization of the Japanese Martyrs on 9 June 1862, in the presence of more than 300 bishops from all parts of the world, he delivered the allocution Maxima quidem, which in synthesis condemned the principal errors of the age. This paved the way for the famous encyclical Quanta cura of 8 December 1864 and its annexed Syllabus, in which, drawing on his earlier documents, he listed in eighty propositions the false principles—speculative, moral, political, and social—of the decline of modern civilization, systematically classified. In the various countries governed by liberal regimes and dominated by Freemasonry, a veritable uproar broke out against the Syllabus, which was regarded as a challenge to civilization and progress. In France the minister Baroche forbade the clergy, by a circular, to communicate it to the faithful.
The most memorable religious event of the pontificate of Pius IX was the Vatican Council, which had been announced in 1867 on the occasion of the jubilee of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, carefully prepared by special commissions, and convoked by the bull Aeterni Patris of 29 June 1868. It was inaugurated on 8 December 1869 and continued its work until July 1870, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Invitations were extended even to the separated Churches, and an appeal was made to Protestants. Catholic sovereigns were not invited, for they had long since abandoned their role as defenders of the faith. The Council’s work may be divided into two phases: the first, devoted to dogmatic matters, concluded with the constitution De fide catholica; the second culminated in the solemn definition of the infallibility of the Pope as a matter of faith (q.V. VATICAN, COUNCIL).
Epilogue. – Pius IX died on 7 February 1878, and his remains were placed in a temporary tomb in the Vatican until, as he had wished, they were transferred in 1881 to the basilica of St Lawrence outside the Walls, which he had restored and embellished. The translation took place at night, amid scenes of sectarian hatred. He rests in the crypt, artistically decorated by Ludovico Seitz at the initiative of the Italian Catholic Youth, with the assistance of Catholics from all over the world.
Though the pontificate of Pius IX, the longest in history, unfolded amid unceasing political and religious turmoil, the work of regeneration and expansion which he promoted was intense and profound in every field. “Bien des choses ont changé dans le monde et dans l'Église entre 1846 et 1878,” concludes Aubert (op. cit. in bibliography, p. 502); “Aucune peut-être n'a changé davantage que la qualité de la vie catholique moyenne.”
Indeed, that fervour of enthusiasm which arose at the beginning of his pontificate never waned, even when the historical phase had changed. This is demonstrated by the ever-growing crowds flocking to his feet, the generous subsidies that poured in from all sides to alleviate his august indigence, and the veneration and esteem even his political adversaries held for him. While still alive, his figure appeared to contemporaries surrounded by an unmistakable aura of sanctity, so much so that in 1897 Leo XIII authorised the regular process of his beatification.