PIUS IX. (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti), pope from 1846 to 1878, was born on May 13, 1792 at Sinigaglia, the fourth son of Count Jerome and Countess Catherine Vollazi ; the family of Mastai was of ancient descent, and the title of count came to it in the 17th century, while later the elder branch, allied by marriage with the Ferretti family, took that name in addition. He spent some time at the College of Piarists in Volaterra, and prepared to enter the pontifical guard as an officer but was refused on the ground that he suffered from epilepsy. The malady, however, was surmounted; and in 1819 he was ordained priest. After minister ing for some time in his native town, he accompanied Cardinal Muzzi to Chile (1823). On his return he was entrusted by Leo XII. with the direction of the Roman hospital of San Michele ; in 1830 he received the archbishopric of Spoleto, in 1832 the bishopric of Imola, and in 1840 Gregory XVI. created him a cardinal, with the title Santi Pietro e Marcellino.
On the death of Gregory X VI. (June 1, 1846) the College of Cardinals met in conclave on June 14, and on June 16 Mastai Ferretti obtained the requisite two-thirds majority, and ascended the papal chair under the title of Pius IX. In his various capacities he had gained much popularity: he had shown himself to be of a kindly disposition and a zealous churchman, and his reputation for piety and tact stood high ; he possessed, too, a winning per sonality and a handsome presence.
Papal Reforms.—The reign of Pius IX. began at an extremely critical time. The problem of the government of the Papal States, transmitted to him by his predecessor, stood in urgent need of solution, for the conditions were intolerable. Dissatisfaction found vent in revolts which could only be quelled by the intervention of foreign powers ; and the ferment in the dominions of the Church was accentuated by the revolutionary disturbances throughout ascendant in all the states of Europe. The proclamation of a general political amnesty made an excellent impression ; and Pius at once instituted preparations for a reform of the adminis tration, the judicature and the financial system. The regulations affecting the censorship were mitigated, and a breath of political liberalism vitalized the whole government. Pius at once acquired the reputation of a reforming pope. But two demands were urged with ever increasing energy—a share in the government and a national Italian policy. The problem of popular representation was one of peculiar difficulty in the Papal States. It was not simply a question of adjusting the claims of monarch and subject : it was necessary to oust the clergy—who, till then, had held all the more important offices—from their dominant position, or at least to limit their privileges. That the clerical character of the adminis
tration could not be indefinitely retained was plain to any clear thinking statesman : for, since the restoration of the Papal State in 1814, the pernicious effects of this confusion of the spiritual and the secular power could no longer be denied. But Pius IX. lacked the courage and perspicacity to draw the inevitable con clusions from these premises ; and the higher clergy at Rome were naturally opposed to any change which would deprive them of power and privileges. In the course of the year 1847 the pope by a series of decrees gave a reorganized municipal council to Rome and instituted a state council, and a responsible ministry, but these reforms were hedged in with reservations which made them unacceptable to the people. In March 1848 the pope pro mulgated a constitution, with a parliament consisting of two chambers.