PIUS IX

born May 13, 1792, Senigallia, Papal States died Feb. 7, 1878, Rome original name Giovanni Maria Mastai-ferretti Italian head of the Roman Catholic Church whose pontificate (184678) was the longest in history and was marked by a transition from liberalism to conservatism. Notable events of his reign included the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the sessions of the first Vatican Council (186970), during which the doctrine of papal infallibility was authoritatively defined. Additional reading E.E.Y. Hales, Pio Nono: A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century (1954, reissued 1962), was written avowedly to explain events from the viewpoint of Pius IX. Frank J. Coppa, Pope Pius IX (1979), is a sympathetic biography. A less favourable view is presented in Noel Blakiston (ed.), The Roman Question: Extracts from the Despatches of Odo Russell from Rome, 18581870 (1962, reprinted 1980). Cuthbert Butler (Edward Cuthbert Butler), The Vatican Council, 2 vol. (1930, reissued in 1 vol., 1962), based on correspondence with the English bishop Ullathorne, gives a good account of Pius' activity at the council. August Bernhard Hasler, How the Pope Became Infallible: Pius IX and the Politics of Persuasion (1981), by a Catholic historian, recounts the events of Vatican I.