Blessed Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX (1792-1878) with some of the Vatican prelates

We are more familiar with Pope Pius X, who introduced daily communion, and Pope Pius XII who reigned during World War II and was unfairly criticized for not helping the Jews, (something which he did often, saving them from the concentration camps.) But Pope Pius IX reigned over 150 years ago, to be remembered for being the longest-serving Pope in history. Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti in Senigallia, Italy on May 13, 1792, he was to lead the Catholic Church for 31 years. However, he was very much in love as a teenager and was planning to marry an Irish girl. But on the day of the wedding, he did not show up, leaving the girl heartbroken. Instead, he entered the Seminary and was ordained a priest on April 10, 1819. Within a few years, he was made Nuncio to Chile and Peru and worked very effectively in South America. But Pope Leo XII called him back and made him Archbishop of Spoleto in 1827, at the age of 35. During a devastating earthquake, he helped materially and financially the victims and the survivors. He was close to the people, and very much beloved for his liberal, outgoing views. Nonetheless, when he was elected Pope in 1846, he started to show conservative tendencies. As a Pope he oversaw the separation of the Vatican state from the rest of Italy, losing in the process the Papal States. 

A section of the painting at the Vatican Museum during the Immaculate Conception dogma in 1854.

He became known as a Marian Pope, and in 1854, proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, a great event in the history of the church. He also wrote a few Marian encyclicals and declared a new title on Mary, as the Mother of Perpetual Help. In 1869, he called the First Vatican Council and proclaimed the infallibility of the Pope. Pius IX supported the arts and helped in solidifying many of the Roman churches, including the 4 Basilicas. He had threatened to leave the Vatican on a few occasions as the Italian Government was intruding too much in the Vatican affairs. Pius IX died on February 7, 1878. Even though is cause for canonization started soon after his death, he was only beatified in the year 2000.