CrucisPope Bl. Pius IX
Pope Blessed Pius IX was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti on 13 May 1792 at Senigallia in the Papal States. Elected pope in 1846, he reigned for nearly thirty-two years, the longest pontificate in history after that traditionally ascribed to St. Peter. Greeted at first as a liberal reformer, he was driven from Rome by the revolution of 1848 and returned a determined opponent of the political liberalism and secular nationalism that would ultimately strip the papacy of its temporal domains, for during his reign the Papal States were absorbed into a united Italy, and in 1870 he became the "prisoner of the Vatican."
Spiritually his pontificate was momentous. In 1854 he solemnly defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in 1869–1870 he convened the First Vatican Council, which defined the pope's infallibility when teaching solemnly on faith and morals. A man of warmth, faith, and personal piety, he died in Rome on 7 February 1878, and was beatified in 2000.
Selected quotes
“Be faithful in the small duties of each day, for sanctity is built not in great moments but in the quiet constancy of ordinary love.”
“The errors of the age pass like clouds before the sun; let the believer hold fast to the unchanging light of revealed truth.”
“Let the faithful cling to the Holy See as children to a mother; in unity with Peter the flock of Christ is kept safe from every wolf.”