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Pope Pius IX: The Man And The Myth
Is the 19th century a blank century to you? Let this book from Angelus Press connect the dots from the viewpoint of the longest pontificate in the history of the Church–Blessed Pius IX.
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti is one of the most interesting and complex individuals to ever become Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in 1792, during the French Revolution, lived through the Napoleonic conquests of Europe, and witnessed the unification of both Italy and the Prussian Empire.
His pontificate included the proclamation of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility, the convocation of the First Vatican Council, the publication of the Syllabus of Errors, the beginnings of Catholic Action, and the development of the foreign missions.
If you want an insight into the many interesting facets of the relationship between the Church and the world at the end of the 19th century, this book is for you. If you are interested in the fight of the Church against the great movements of Modernity: liberalism, Freemasonry, the Enlightenment, laicism, capitalism and communism, this book is worth reading. If the mention of Pius IX brings nothing to mind, you need to read this book. Chapters include:
• The First Years
• A Difficult Path to the Priesthood
• From Tata Giovanni to Chile
• Bishop of Spoleto
• Bishop and Cardinal of Imola
• Sovereign Pontiff
• From Reform to Revolution
• The Pope in Exile
• Resistance and Renewal
• The Pope of the Immaculate Conception
• Pius IX and Italy
• The Pope of the Syllabus
• The Roman Question
• The Vatican Council
• The “Prisoner of the Vatican”
• Towards the Canonization.
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti is one of the most interesting and complex individuals to ever become Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in 1792, during the French Revolution, lived through the Napoleonic conquests of Europe, and witnessed the unification of both Italy and the Prussian Empire.
His pontificate included the proclamation of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility, the convocation of the First Vatican Council, the publication of the Syllabus of Errors, the beginnings of Catholic Action, and the development of the foreign missions.
If you want an insight into the many interesting facets of the relationship between the Church and the world at the end of the 19th century, this book is for you. If you are interested in the fight of the Church against the great movements of Modernity: liberalism, Freemasonry, the Enlightenment, laicism, capitalism and communism, this book is worth reading. If the mention of Pius IX brings nothing to mind, you need to read this book. Chapters include:
• The First Years
• A Difficult Path to the Priesthood
• From Tata Giovanni to Chile
• Bishop of Spoleto
• Bishop and Cardinal of Imola
• Sovereign Pontiff
• From Reform to Revolution
• The Pope in Exile
• Resistance and Renewal
• The Pope of the Immaculate Conception
• Pius IX and Italy
• The Pope of the Syllabus
• The Roman Question
• The Vatican Council
• The “Prisoner of the Vatican”
• Towards the Canonization.
327 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2005
20 people want to read
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January 25, 2021
This text is notable not just for the life of Pope Pius IX himself, which it captures well, but for the major historical changes that happened during his pontificate, the longest of any pope (1846-1878) in Church history. He defined the Immaculate Conception, issued the Syllabus of Errors, dealt with the 1848 Revolution (before falling victim to the invasion of the Piedmontese/Sardinian kingdom in 1870), called Vatican I (which defined papal infallibility), re-established episcopal hierarchies in England, Scotland, and the Netherlands, laid the foundation for Catholic Action, and managed to conduct, by all accounts, a competent reign as ruler of the Papal States, which until its invasion in 1870, was the most ancient state in Europe. This text is well worth a read for anyone interested in the history of Europe in the 19th century: Pope Pius IX played a major role in its events.
"One also finds many ecclesiastics in the Mastai-Ferretti family: male and female religious, canons, beneficiary or conventual clergy, two consultors of the Holy Office, and a vicar-general. Three of the future Pius IX's four uncles were ecclesiastics. One, Andrea, having been canon of Senigallia cathedral, would become Bishop of Pesaro; the second, Gabriele, who was also a canon in Senigallia, was already dead when the future pope was born; the third, Paolino, had an ecclesiastical career in Rome, where he was secretary to the Rota and canon of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore." (p. 2)
"We also know that, on the very day of his birth, he was consecrated to the Virgin Mary by his mother." (p. 4)
(quoting a member of the French Directory) "'Rome's Pius the Last must be overthrown; the hydra of priestly fanaticism must be crushed in its lair.'" (p. 6)
(quoting from a diary of Pius IX, when he was 19) "Always try to walk with eyes cast down; control all human respect. To avoid irreligious, impure, and other thoughts, frequently raise your mind to God; make ejaculatory prayers very frequently, but make them from the bottom of your heart." (p. 18)
(quoting from an accusation of faults from Pius IX's own diary) "Tendency to judge others too harshly. Tendency to become irritated at the least affront. Too concerned about my own person, especially at certain times, from the spirit of pride."
(quoting from resolutions made after the Spiritual Exercises) "The desire to do what pleases God. A true contempt of myself, enabling me to thank God when my neighbor is scornful of me, and when I am humiliated. I must not act as the lawgiver when I am only a beginner." (p. 35)
(more resolutions) "Maintain a Christian firmness and sang-froid. Mortify your feelings." (p. 39)
(commenting on the frictions around creating an Italian state) "As an Italian, I cannot blame them; as a sovereign, I desire good relations with my neighbor Austria; as pope, I beg God for peace between nations. But, above all, I must do my duty." (p. 103)
(on the effects of the anti-Catholic policies in Piedmont-Sardinia) "This law brought about the closing of more than six hundred monasteries and convents, mostly those of contemplative orders. Their goods were confiscated and their members were obliged to disperse." (p. 137)
"Pius IX's policy in his relations with States and regimes of whatever hue was constant from the beginning of his pontificate to its end: the doctrine which aims to separate Church and State is erroneous." (p. 138)
(from an 1862 letter of various bishops to the pope) "[W]hen you speak, it is Peter we hear; when you decree, it is Jesus Christ we obey; in the midst of so many trials and tempests we admire you as, with serene mien and imperturbable heart, you accomplish your sacred ministry, invincible and steadfast." (p. 192)
(quoting Leopold de Gaillard) "Condemned or not, in twenty-five years' time the principles of [17]89 will constitute the spirit and the law of all civilized peoples. This future is assured, and it counsels us to be both prudent and firm." (p. 195)
(regarding the Pope's opinion of Louis Veuillot's book The Liberal Illusion) "'These are my ideas, utterly and absolutely.'" (p. 207)
"Blessed Josaphat, Archbishop of Polotsk, massacred by the Orthodox in 1623...The Orthodox Church regarded the canonization of Blessed Josaphat as an insult." (p. 223)
(quoting Giuseppi Garibaldi) "The slave has the right to make war against tyrants...The priesthood of ignorance and revelations must be replaced by the priesthood of enlightenment, truth, and justice...There will be no improvement until priestcraft is defeated." (p. 225)
(quoting Louis Veuillot) "The bull summoning the Ecumenical Council does not call sovereigns to sit in this legislative assembly. The omission is striking, indeed, remarkable! Implicitly it affirms that there are no longer any Catholic crowns, i.e. that the order on which society has been based for more than ten centuries has now ceased to exist...A new era has begun. Church and State are de facto separated, and both sides acknowledge this...It is done, and it is not a good thing. It was the State, not the Church, which wanted it. Soul and body are no longer united." (p. 238)
(quoting Dom Gueranger) "The adversaries of infallibility are men who, while being proud to be called Catholics, show themselves to be completely imbued with corrupt principles and keep trotting out quibbles, calumnies, and sophisms in order to undermine the authority of the supreme leader whom Christ has given to the Church - for they do not believe in his prerogatives. They do not believe, as other Catholics do, that the Council is governed by the Holy Spirit; heedless as they are, full of folly, unreason, impudence, hatred, violence, they seek to enthuse people like themselves by organizing activities by which they get hold of votes in popular assemblies. They undertake to refashion the Church's divine constitution and adapt it to the modern forms of civil governments." (p. 258)
(quoting Montalembert, shortly before his death) "How could we have suspected in 1847 that the liberal pontificate of Pius IX, acclaimed by the liberals of both worlds, would turn into the pontificate represented and personified by L'Univers and the Civilta?...Who could have foreseen the enthusiasm of the majority of Ultramontane doctors for a renaissance of Caesarism?...Who could have predicted the permanent triumph of these lay theologians of absolutism, who began by throwing away all our liberties, all our principles, all our former ideas, under Napoleon III, and are now sacrificing justice and truth, reason and history, as a holocaust to the idol they have erected at the Vatican?" (p. 260)
(quoting the schismatic Dollinger) "Pius...is firm, unshakable, simultaneously polite and as hard as marble; his intellect is very mediocre; he lacks ideas; he is ignorant; he understands nothing of humanity's state of mind and its present needs; he does not even suspect the existence of different nationalities; but, with the faith of a nun and the most profound veneration for his own person - the repository of the Holy Spirit - his whole being breathes absolutism. He is filled by one single thought: Me, and outside me - no one." (p. 263)
(regarding some of the debates at Vatican I about infallibility) "I have the impression that several speakers are talking with clenched fists or with their finger on the trigger of a revolver." (p. 265)
"One also finds many ecclesiastics in the Mastai-Ferretti family: male and female religious, canons, beneficiary or conventual clergy, two consultors of the Holy Office, and a vicar-general. Three of the future Pius IX's four uncles were ecclesiastics. One, Andrea, having been canon of Senigallia cathedral, would become Bishop of Pesaro; the second, Gabriele, who was also a canon in Senigallia, was already dead when the future pope was born; the third, Paolino, had an ecclesiastical career in Rome, where he was secretary to the Rota and canon of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore." (p. 2)
"We also know that, on the very day of his birth, he was consecrated to the Virgin Mary by his mother." (p. 4)
(quoting a member of the French Directory) "'Rome's Pius the Last must be overthrown; the hydra of priestly fanaticism must be crushed in its lair.'" (p. 6)
(quoting from a diary of Pius IX, when he was 19) "Always try to walk with eyes cast down; control all human respect. To avoid irreligious, impure, and other thoughts, frequently raise your mind to God; make ejaculatory prayers very frequently, but make them from the bottom of your heart." (p. 18)
(quoting from an accusation of faults from Pius IX's own diary) "Tendency to judge others too harshly. Tendency to become irritated at the least affront. Too concerned about my own person, especially at certain times, from the spirit of pride."
(quoting from resolutions made after the Spiritual Exercises) "The desire to do what pleases God. A true contempt of myself, enabling me to thank God when my neighbor is scornful of me, and when I am humiliated. I must not act as the lawgiver when I am only a beginner." (p. 35)
(more resolutions) "Maintain a Christian firmness and sang-froid. Mortify your feelings." (p. 39)
(commenting on the frictions around creating an Italian state) "As an Italian, I cannot blame them; as a sovereign, I desire good relations with my neighbor Austria; as pope, I beg God for peace between nations. But, above all, I must do my duty." (p. 103)
(on the effects of the anti-Catholic policies in Piedmont-Sardinia) "This law brought about the closing of more than six hundred monasteries and convents, mostly those of contemplative orders. Their goods were confiscated and their members were obliged to disperse." (p. 137)
"Pius IX's policy in his relations with States and regimes of whatever hue was constant from the beginning of his pontificate to its end: the doctrine which aims to separate Church and State is erroneous." (p. 138)
(from an 1862 letter of various bishops to the pope) "[W]hen you speak, it is Peter we hear; when you decree, it is Jesus Christ we obey; in the midst of so many trials and tempests we admire you as, with serene mien and imperturbable heart, you accomplish your sacred ministry, invincible and steadfast." (p. 192)
(quoting Leopold de Gaillard) "Condemned or not, in twenty-five years' time the principles of [17]89 will constitute the spirit and the law of all civilized peoples. This future is assured, and it counsels us to be both prudent and firm." (p. 195)
(regarding the Pope's opinion of Louis Veuillot's book The Liberal Illusion) "'These are my ideas, utterly and absolutely.'" (p. 207)
"Blessed Josaphat, Archbishop of Polotsk, massacred by the Orthodox in 1623...The Orthodox Church regarded the canonization of Blessed Josaphat as an insult." (p. 223)
(quoting Giuseppi Garibaldi) "The slave has the right to make war against tyrants...The priesthood of ignorance and revelations must be replaced by the priesthood of enlightenment, truth, and justice...There will be no improvement until priestcraft is defeated." (p. 225)
(quoting Louis Veuillot) "The bull summoning the Ecumenical Council does not call sovereigns to sit in this legislative assembly. The omission is striking, indeed, remarkable! Implicitly it affirms that there are no longer any Catholic crowns, i.e. that the order on which society has been based for more than ten centuries has now ceased to exist...A new era has begun. Church and State are de facto separated, and both sides acknowledge this...It is done, and it is not a good thing. It was the State, not the Church, which wanted it. Soul and body are no longer united." (p. 238)
(quoting Dom Gueranger) "The adversaries of infallibility are men who, while being proud to be called Catholics, show themselves to be completely imbued with corrupt principles and keep trotting out quibbles, calumnies, and sophisms in order to undermine the authority of the supreme leader whom Christ has given to the Church - for they do not believe in his prerogatives. They do not believe, as other Catholics do, that the Council is governed by the Holy Spirit; heedless as they are, full of folly, unreason, impudence, hatred, violence, they seek to enthuse people like themselves by organizing activities by which they get hold of votes in popular assemblies. They undertake to refashion the Church's divine constitution and adapt it to the modern forms of civil governments." (p. 258)
(quoting Montalembert, shortly before his death) "How could we have suspected in 1847 that the liberal pontificate of Pius IX, acclaimed by the liberals of both worlds, would turn into the pontificate represented and personified by L'Univers and the Civilta?...Who could have foreseen the enthusiasm of the majority of Ultramontane doctors for a renaissance of Caesarism?...Who could have predicted the permanent triumph of these lay theologians of absolutism, who began by throwing away all our liberties, all our principles, all our former ideas, under Napoleon III, and are now sacrificing justice and truth, reason and history, as a holocaust to the idol they have erected at the Vatican?" (p. 260)
(quoting the schismatic Dollinger) "Pius...is firm, unshakable, simultaneously polite and as hard as marble; his intellect is very mediocre; he lacks ideas; he is ignorant; he understands nothing of humanity's state of mind and its present needs; he does not even suspect the existence of different nationalities; but, with the faith of a nun and the most profound veneration for his own person - the repository of the Holy Spirit - his whole being breathes absolutism. He is filled by one single thought: Me, and outside me - no one." (p. 263)
(regarding some of the debates at Vatican I about infallibility) "I have the impression that several speakers are talking with clenched fists or with their finger on the trigger of a revolver." (p. 265)
October 9, 2022
Chiron covers the well-known infallibility aspect of the Pius IX pontificate but also details many other facets of not only the pontifical reign but also the entire life of one of the most misunderstood modern popes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews