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The Monitor Re-publications. iji3lj~ 

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THE LIFE· AND PONTIFICATE 

OF BIS HOLINESS 

POPE PIUS IX. 

PRICl1~ , TEN C~~NTS. 

'. 
RAX FRANCISCO: 

PUBLISHE;D FOR THE "MONITOR" BY P. J. THOMAS, 505 CLAY STnEET. 

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THE LIFoE AND PONTIFICATE 
--OF--

PC) PE PIUS IX . 
• 

1. 

Incontestably the grandest figu~e in the 
history of the nineteenth century Is .~hat of 
Pius IX. With virtues as great as hIS sor-
rows his character stands out clearly and 
unmistakably as that of one whom misfor-
tunes could not overwhelm, and whom 
prosperity could not spoil. His disasters 
were not of his own creation. They came 
to him from without. ' His successes 
and triumphs were spiritual rather than ° 
temporal. They came to him from God 
and wert> received with a humble heart. 
They belonged to him not so muc~l in, ~s 

, individual capacity as in that of his offiClal 
position as Head of the Church on earth, 
and were shared by members of the Church 
throughout Christendom. When thrones 
fell around hun, and when almost all the 
chief dynasties in Europe wer~ brought to 
humiliation or overthrow, PlUS IX. pre-
served even when his own temporal sover-
eignty'was in its turn assailed, an unbroken 
serenity !l-nd cheerfulness. o.f heart, l;Ind an 
unbilincr trust in that Dlvme ProvIdence, 
which s~oner or later establishes the tri-
umph of God's Church and rewards the 
children of the Faith. 

The family of Mastai can ° be traced back 
to the thirteenth century, and was ennobled 
towards tho end of the seventeenth centu-
ry, by the Duke of .P~rmll: and Pi3.?enza, 
who rewarded the dlstmgUlshed serVIces of 

, a member of the Mastai family with the 
title of Count. The name of Ferretti was 
about the same time, in consequence of a 
matrimonial alliance, added to that of Mas-
tai. Sinigaglia, on the coast of the Adri-
atic was the dwelling place of the Counts 
Ma~tai~FeITetti. In olden time a member 
of their house was usually chosen Muni-
cipal Governor of Sinigaglia, and duringt~e 
invasion of Italy by the French, th.e chIef 
magistrate of that city was Count GIrolamo 
l\1a~tai-Ferretti , the father of Pius IX. 
Andrea. Mastai, uncle of Pius I~. , was 
Bishop of Pesaro, and was. shut up m Man-
tlU~ in chaslise:11ent for Ius fidelIty to the 
causc of Pius VII. The mother of Pius 
IX., .Caterina Solazzi, a na~ive 'of Si~igag­
lia, was a lady of singular pIety and yl~ue. 
She bore to her husband several children, 
and when he who was ty be the future Pon-
t,iff was born, upon the 19th of ~ay, 1792, 
sne pla.t:ed him under the l?rotectlOn o~ the . 
m"i>8ecl Virgin, and ga~e h1111 the baptIsmal 
~a,ll\C of Giovanni-Marla. 

In the year 1803, the young Count Gio-
vanni-Maria Mastai-Ferretti,o then eleven 
years old, was sent to the College of ~nt 
Michele at Volterra, where he remamed 
under the careful instruction of the Padri 
Scolopii for a term of six years. The name 
of Giovanni Inghirami, one of t~e. best 
mathematicians of his day in Italy, IS hon-
orably associated with this College of Vol-
terra as professor. A manuscript b.ook, pur-
porting to c~ntain ~ome ~athemat~cal exer: 
cises of GlOvanru Mana Mastai-Ferrettl 
during the years 1808 a~d 1899, in Algebr~, 
Trigonometry and Euchd, WrItten neatly ~n 
his own handwriting, is now preserved l.n 
the English College at Rome. .From thIS 
book Mastai Ferretti appears to have been 
familiar with Newton's binomial theorem, 
and to have possessed more knowledge of 
mathemathics than usually falls to the lot 
of a youth of seventeen. The desires of 
Mastai-Ferretti were early fixed on the cler-
ical career. His autograph lette~ to ~on­
signor Guiseppe Gaetano Incontn, BIshop 
of Volterra, applying for the first tonsure, 
which he received at the hands of that pre-
late in 1808 is 'still preserved in Volterra. 
1<1 October' of that year he rep [!ired to 
Rome to pursue his studi~s, and liv~d in 
the house of his uncle, Paolmo Mastru-Fer-
retti who was a Prelate of the Papal Court, 
Can~n of the Vati.can" and Sub-Secretary of 
Memorials. The young Mastai-Ferretti 
must have been vividly impressed with the 
stirring eyent~ of the year 1809. N ap,?-
leon, in the May of that year, froI:1 his 
camp at Vienna, decreed the annexation of 
the Papal States to the F~ench . Empire. 
This annexation was proclaImed m Rome 
on the 10th of June by the guns of St. An-
gelo the French flag on that day replacing 
the Papal on the summit of that fortress. 
Then followed the excommunication, but 
not by name, of Napoleon, and the arrest 
of Pius VII. was resolved on. General. 
Radet, on the night of the 5tll of July, 
brok"e into t.he Quirinal Palace, and forced 
his way into the private apartmen~ of ~e 
Pontifl". The Swiss Guards, obeymg tbeIr 
master's orders, made no resistance, and 
Pius VII. was ° made a prisoner. Paolino 
Mastai-Ferretti was in the Quirinal upon 

. that eventful night, enc~l1~raging and c,?n-
soling his august master, III cornprulY Wlth ° 
Doria the Maestro di Camera, and other . 
prela~s. PiuB VII. was then carried· cap-
otive, fil'nt t~ S>l.vona, and :tfterwards to 



I 4 ] 

Fontainbleau. Young Mastai-Ferretti re-
tired in 1810 to his parents' house in Sini-
gaglia, and waited for happier times. 

It has been often asserted by various au-
thors that Pius IX., when a youth, was in-
tended for the army, and even served some 
time as an officer in the Pontifical Guard. 
This statement originated in a Catholic 
newspaper in Milan, and was copied by suc-
ceeding writers without doubt or examina-
tio~. It has been contradicted by two his-
torIans, Cappelletti and Torrigiani, who 
relate that Pius IX. himself was applied 
to ~or information on the subject, and pro-
nounced the assertion to be entirely false. 
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti never wore 
a uniform. He was included, it is true, in 
the conscription of 1812, but was exempted 
owing to his suffering from epilepsy. Nor 
was such evidence required of his inability 
to serve, for the French Sub-Prefect, who 
resided in the house of the Mastais, in Sin-
igaglia, was frequently witness to the severe 
convulsions to which at that time Giovanni 
Maria was subject. He was first attacked 
by that disorder in 1807, when a pupil at 
Volterra. 

When. Pius VII. returned to his throne, 
after the fall of Napoleon, and passed 
through Sinigaglia, Giovanni Maria Mastai-
Ferretti was presented to him, and going 
again to Rome, witnessed, in 1814, the en-
thusiastic reception given to the Pontiff by 
the Romans in the Piazza del Popolo. The 
Accademia Ecclesiastica ·being now reopen-
ed, Giovanni Maria attended the schools, 
but in layman's dress, his malady forbid-
ing him to think of speedy admission to 
sacred orders. In a little while. his pray-, 
ers for relief being partly granted, he as-
sumed, in 1816, the clerical garb, and stud · 
ied tl~eo~ogy under Professor Giuseppe 
Graziosi, and, finally, his tlpileptic attacks 
be.coming less severe, although not alto-
gether ceasing, he was admitted to the 
minor orders. In 1818 a mission was or-
ganized for Sinigaglia, under the direction 
of Monsignor Odescalchi-afterwards Car-
dinal and subsequently Jesuit-and Mon· 
signor .Strambi, then Bishop of Macerata. 
Its.objept, like that of other missions sent 
at that period to various parts of the Papal 
States, was to revive the spirit of religion, 
and repair, if possible, the evils occasioned 
by the revolutionary disorders which had so 
long prevailed. The Abate Mastai-Ferretti 
was appointed to accompany this mission, 
and, although occupying a subordinate posi-
tion, distinguished himself by his zeal .and 
ability. Returning to Rome he found his 
hllalth so much -improved, that he solicited 
alld obtained a dispensation, and was 01'-
d.ained deacon on the 18th of December, 
1818. Another dispensation was Boon after 
granted for the orders of priest, but with a 
clause that he could only celebrate Mass in 
privl;\t,e" and with the assistance of another 
priest. , J?on Giovanni Mastai was now in 
his twenty-seventh year, and his constitu-
tion was becoming stronger. He sought 

a special audience of Pius VII., and im-
plored him to remove the proviso which im-
peded his full exercise of sacerdotal func-
tions. The Pontiff granted his request, and 
expressed a belief that the young prielit's 
malady would never again assail him, a 
belief which was fulfilled, as he was scarcely 
ever afterwards troubled by a recurrence of 
that disorder. The cure of the Abate 
Mastai from epilepsy has been also attri-
buted to the intercession of a holy woman, 
Elizabetta Canori Mora. " Very marvel-
ous " such are the words of her biographer, 
wh~ wrote in 1868; ' and took his account 
from official documents, "was her cure of 
the epileptic convulsions which often as-
sailed Canon Mastai, vice-rector of the Hos-
pice of Tata Giovanni. Being asked by the 
sister of Agostino Bartolesi to intercede for 
Mastai, she said to her, 'Let us beseech the 
Gesu N azzareno,' and then giving a phial of 
the holy water she was in the habit of keep-
ing by her, she told her: 'Give this to Agos-
tino, and desire him to put a little of it 
either into the water, or wine, or soup, used 
by Mastai, and be certain he will be cured,' 
and so It was. He had but one slight attack 
afterwards. " 

Giovanni-Maria Mastai-Ferretti, as a 
young man, was handsome and of winning 
manners. His features were an index to 
the sweetness of his disposition. His voice 
was snigularly harmonious, clear and pene-
trating. He was popular WIth all classes, 
and his acquaintances became mostly his 
friends. He had especial symplthy for the 
sick, the aged, and for little children. H e 
was of a very practical turn, and his sym-
pathies, instead of evaporating in good 
wishes, became forerunners of good deeds. 
In the very outset of his clerical career, he 
devoted himself to the care of a Hospice, 
called after its founder by the name of Tata 
Giovanni, or Daddy John, where young or-
phans were housed and instructed in various 
useful trades. In this orphanage Don Gio-
vanni-Maria dwelt, teaching the inmates 
their catechism and religious duties, and ' 
expending upon them liberally the funds 
sent him by his parents. The Church of 
St. Anne dei Falegnami attached to this in-
stitution was selected by the Abate MasLai 
for his first Mass, which he celebrated on 
the 11th of April, 1819. He was soon 
afterwards appointed to a,sub-Canomy, with 
ri~ht of succession, in Sta. Maria in V:a. 
Lata. 

II. 

In 1823, an application was made to Pius 
VII. to send a representative of the Holy 
See to those parts of South America which 
had thrown off the yoke of Spain and con-
stituted themselves into republics. The 
Pontiff granted the petition, and selected 
Mgr. Ostini to be Vicar-Apostolic of Chili. 
Mgr. Ostini at first accepted the mission 
but subsequently, at the instance of his 
brother and near relations, declined it. The 
appointment was then conferred uP.o~ Mg:t·. 
Giovanni Muzi, who was at the hme ill 



L5] 

,Vienna, as auditor of the N unciature, but 
who immediately returned to Rome, where 
he was consecrated Archbishop of Philippi 
in partibus, and Vicar-Apostolic of Chili, 
with faculties extending to Peru, Mexico, 
Columbia, and all the Western Indies of 
Spain. To Muzi was assigned as companion 
"Don Giovanni-Maria dei Conti Mastai"; 
and a secretary was appointed in the person 
of Guiseppe Sallusti, who wrote a history 
of the expedition. But the Countess Mas-
tai-Ferretti, infected probably by the fears 
which caused the resignation of Ostfui, 
wrote t o the Cardinal Secretary of State to 
hfuder her son's employment on this mis-
sion, which was on . good grounds regarded 
as hazardous. The voyage to Chili was long 
and perilous. The condition of the newly 
formed republics was precarious, and the 
Spanish authorities disliked the establish-
ment of direct relations between Rome and 

. the revolted provfuces. Canon Mastai, ig-
norant of his mother's remonstrance, pre-
sen Led himself in audience to Pius .VII., 
who then informed him of the unwilling-
ness of the Countess, and said: " Your 
mother has written to the Secretary of State 
to prevent your journey, but we have writ-
ten to her in answer, that you will surely 
return safe from this mIssion." The Pope's 
prediction was happily fulfilled. The mem-
bers of the Legation left Rome on the 3d of 
July, 1823, for Genoa, from whence they 
were to take ship for Buenos Ayres. While 
waitillg at Genoa, they heard of the death 
of Pius VII. on the 19th of August, and 
subsequently of the election to the Pon-
tifical Chair of Cardfual Della Genga as 
Leo XII. . They also received tidfugs of 
the confirmation of their mission by the 
new Pontiff. They experienced much delay 
at Genoa. Their ship, the Eloysa, a two-
masted brigantine built in France, which 
was promised to sail in August, did not ac-
tually leave Genoa until the 30th of Sep-
tember. A violent storm arose in the 
Mediterranean on the 1st of October, and 
drove the Eloysa back into port. She set 
sail. again from Genoa on the 4th of Octo-
ber, and experienced a succession of storms 
along the Spanish coast. The captain, 
afraid of the Spaniards, was unwilling to . 
put into any harbor. On the 14th of Octo-
ber, the weather became so bad that they 
were forced to anchor in Palma, a harbor 
of Majorca. Here they were at first sus-
pected of the plague and threatened with 
twenty days of quarantine. Next their 
passports and papers were demanded. The 
Vicar-Apostolic and his suite were eventu-
ally compelled by menaces to disembark, 
and on landing Mgr. Muzi arid Canon Mastai 
were arrested and imprisoned in the Laza-
retto. After repeated fumigations, examin-
ations, and appeals to the Bishop of the 
place and to the Austrian and Sardinian 
Consuls for assistance, they were acquitted 
and set free on the 20th of October. They 
saw incarcerated in the Lazaretto forty-one 
ecclesiastics, whose only crime was that 

of befug members of Religious Orders. 
Leavfug 'Majorca they went to Gibraltar 
and thence set sail. for Buenos Ayres. On 
the 5th of November they were hailed by 
an armed cruiser of Columbia, styled by 
Sallusti a corsair, and were boarded, but 
after an inspection of the ship's papers, the 
Eloysa was suffered to proceed on her route, 
and reached Buenos Ayres on the 3rd of 
January, 1824. Canon Mastai suffered very 
much from sea' sickness on this unpleasant 
voyage. The Legation was at first well re-
ceived at Bu"nos Ayres, but afterwards the 
authorities became alarmed by the crowds 
which attended the religious ministrations 
of Mgr . Muzi and Canon Mastai~ prohibited 
the further administration of the Sacrament 
of Confirmation, and finally requested the 
Vicar-Apostolic and his companivns to take 
their departure. This they did on the 16th 
of January, when they set out for Santiago. 
They remained at bantiago from the 6th of 
March to the 19th of October. They then 
went to Valparaiso and stopped there ten 
days. By sea they proceeded to Monte:vi-
deo, and resided there for more than two 
months. , At Montevideo, as at other cities, 
the Vicar-Apostolic and Mastai were occu-
pied incessantly in preaching, hearing con-
fessions, and dispensing the Sacraments, 
that of Confirmation being administered to 
12,000 persons in one place alone. But 
although the people in general were well-
disposed towards the mission, and enthusi-
astic in their welcome, the Governments of 
the American republics were jealous of their 
new authority and apprehensive of dist urb-
ances. Signs were apparent of fresh revo-
lutionary proceedings; and it was judged 
better to withdraw than, by remaining, to 
compromise the safety of the mission. Ac-
cordingly, the Legation set sail from Mon-
tevideo on the way back to Europe, on the 
8th of February. Canon Mastai on this 
return voyage was in serious danger. In 
Holy IN eek he felt unw6il. An acrid humor 
showed itself in his neck and mounted to 
his face, and his mouth appeared paralyzed. 
His companions feared for his life. . He 
could obtain, of course, but little medical 
care on board the. ship. But by' degrees the 
more dangerous symptoms abated, and the ' 
patient slowly was restored to health. In 
May they reachlld Gibraltar, and, after a ' 
fortnight's stay, having procured the escort 
of a corvette to protect them ,against pirates, 
they proceeded to Genoa, where they arrived 
on the 5th of June. Here they passed 
fourteen days of quarantine, and on the 7th 
of July, 1825, they were in Rome. 

III. 

Canon Mastai-Ferretti now betook him-
self anew to the service of the poor, the 
care of orphans, and attendance on the sick 
in the great hospital of Santo Spirito. In 
a short time he was chosen director of the ' 
Ospizio dell'Assunta, and afterwards was 
made President of the Hospice ' of St. l\i[i: 
chela a Ripa, .a vast institution in the Tras: 



[6 ] 

tevere, where children learn trades, old age 
foun,d a.n asylum, and vice met with salu-
tary repression. In this arduous a.nd im-
portant post, Mastai displayed considerable 
talents for administration. In 1827, on the 
21st of May, he was nominated by Leo XII. 
to the Archbishopric of Spoleto, and was con-
secrated on Whitsunday, the 3d of June, by 
Cardmal Castiglioni, aft<Jrwards Pius VIII. 
For the space of five years Mgr. Mastai gov-
erned the See of Spoleto with such care, ac-
tivity, and zeal, as to conciliate the confi-
dence and aftection of the people of that dio-
cese, who were filled with admiration of 
his capacity, intelligence and virtue. In 
1831 he was provisionally entrusted with 
the civil duties of the Delegate Apostolic, 
and returning from Leonessa, where he had 
been engaged in his episcopal functions, to 
Spoleto, he found that city in great alarm 
in consequence of the presence of about 
5,000 rebels under the command of General 
Sercognani. But on the 3d of March, these 
misguided men, pursued by the Pontifical 
Militia, and learnQg that the advance guard 
of the Austrians was at Tolentino, were in-
duced to surrender their arms into the cus-
tody of the Archbishop. The Bolognese, 
the men of the Romagna and the Marches, 
likewise gave up their arms, which were at 
once forwarded to Rome. The good prelate 
then endeavored to effect the restoration of 
these disb~nded soldiers to their homes, 
and went to Rome to procure their pardon 
from the Pope. On his return to Spoleto, 
the young men drew his caniage in triumph 
to his house. On another occasion, a spy 
offered to the Archbishop a list of suspected 
persons, which he immediately burned, ob-
serving at the same time that a wolf which 
means to harm the flock does not begin by 
warning the shepherd. Pope Gregory XVI. 
on the 17th of December, 1832, translated 
Mgr. Mastai to Imola, a Bishopric usually 
held by a Cardinal, and then vaca.nt by res-
ignation of Cardinal Giustiniani. In !mola 
Mgr. Mastai exhibited the same qualities as 
in Spoleto. He occupied himself in the de-
tails of the administration of the religious 
and charitable institutions in his diocese, 
introducing judicious reforms. He founded 
and endowed a house of retreat for the 
clergy, and a Bible academy for monthly 
discussion of sacred themes. He restored 
several churches and invited the Sisters of 
St. Vincent de Paul to take the care of a 
female orphan house. He established an: 
orphanage for boys, modelled on the Tata 
Giovanni plan, for teaching trades· to the 
children and giving them food and clothing. 
He likewise founded a penitentiary, or ref-
uge for fallen women, placl1lg it under the 
care of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, 
whom he was thus the first to introduce into 
Italv. When Bishop of Imola, he received 
the' purple, being reserved in petto by 
Gregory XVI. on the 23d of December, · 
1839, and proclaimed on the 14th of Decem- ' 
ber, 1840, with the title of SS. MarcellinUll 
.md Peter. CM'd.inal 1rIa.stAi was a constant 

resident within lw3 wocese and in no way 
sought prometion. His purse was ever open 
at the call of charity, and his private means 
were spent freely upon the various benevo-
lent schemes which he carried out. In Feb-
ruary, 1846, an incident occurred which 
showed how courageous he could be when 
courage was required. It was late in the 
evening during Carnival time and the Car-
dinal was paying his accustomed visit to the 
Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral of 
Imola. Suddenly the sacristan ran to the 
Cardinal, imploring him for the love of God 
t<? hasten, as a homicide had been attempted 
in the sacristy. The Cardinal at once rose 
and proceeded to the sacristv, where he 
found a youth of twenty years' of age lying 
on a bench severely wounded by a bayonet. 
Three men now approached with the pur-
pose of putting the injured man to death. 
But the Cardinal boldly confronted the as-
sassins, held before them his pectoral cross, 
denounced the enormity of their intended 
crime, and commanded them to withdraw. 
They silent ly obeyed, and the Cardinal had 
the satisfaction of preventing a sacrilege and 
saving the life of a. fellow-creature. 

IV. 

In the same year, 1846, in the beginnmg 
of the month of June, the Cardinal-Arch-
bIshop-Bishop of Imola was in a spiritual 
r~treat, together with a goodly' number of 
hIS clergy. News was brought of the death 
of Gregory XVI. upon the 1st of June, at 
the age of 81 years. Cardinal Mastai at 
once returned to his episcopal palace, cele-
brated the rites tor the de(;p.ased Pontiff, 
and then set out for Rome, where he arrived 
on the evening of the 12th of June. On the 
14th the Cardinals entered into Conclave. 
They were sixty-three in number. Five 
nominations reserved in petto in two consist-
ories of 1845, and two vacancies made up 
the total of seventy, the complete numbe 
prescribed by the statutes of the Sacred Col-
lege. Two days only, and consequently only 
foar scrutinies sufficed to give to the Church 
a Supreme Governor . and a successor to 
Gregory XVI. On the first day ofthe Con-
clave, the names of twenty-two Caxdinals 
were found inscribed on the voting papers, 
some proposed by three, some by two, and 
many by only one voter. Far in advanC!! 
of all the rest were Lambruschini and Mas-
tai Ferretti. Cardinal Lambl'uschilli had 
on 'tlle morning nine scrutiny votes, and six 
others by accesso. Mastai had eight votes, 
and five by accesso. The evening scrutiny 
gave Lambruschini eight votes, with five by 
accesso, while Mastai had seventeen, with 
five by accesS!!. The result was thencefor-
ward evident. The morning scru tiny ofthe 
second day gave to Mastai eighteen votes, 
with nine others by accesso, and the evening 
scrutiny gave him twent.y~sevell votes, and 
nine by accesso, or in all thirty-six votes. 
This was more than sufficient mll.jority, and 
consequently C~.rdinru Mastai-F'erretti be-



[ 7 ] 

came the Supreme head of the Church, 
taking the name of Pius IX. in honor of his 
early patron Pius VII., who had also been 
his predecessor in the See of Imola. His 
formal acceptation having been attested 
. by the notary of the Holy See, the new 
Pope was conducted by Cardinals Riario 
~forza and Bernetti to the sacristy, to as-
sume the Pontifical habit. From thence he 
proceeded to the chapel of the Quirinal, 
to receive the obedience of the Cardinals, 
and afterwards the ring of the Fisherman 
was placed on his finger by the Camerlengo, 
Cardinal Riario Sforza. The same night, 
at a quarter to.12 P. M., Pius IX. wrote his 
first letter as Pope, to his brothers Gabriele, 
Guiseppe, and Gaetano, at , Sinigaglia. It 
:was couched)n the following terms: "The 
Blessed God, who humbles and exalts, has 
been pleased to raise me from obscurity to 
the sublimest earthly dighity. May His 
most holy will be ever done. I am moved 
when I think of the vast extent of this 
weighty charge, and I feel the great, not to 
say total, incapacity of my own strength. 
There is the greater cause for me to pray for 
aid, and, for the same reason, .you, my 
brothers, must also pray for me. The Con-
clave lasted forty-eght hours. If the town 
should desire to make a pu1!lic demonstra-
tion on .this occasion I request it may be re-
strained. Indeed I desire that all the sums 
destined for that purpose may be employed 
in whatever works may be considered most 
useful by the Chief Magistrate and Council. 
You, my dear brothers, I embrace with all 
,my heart in Jesus Christ, and do you, far 
from exulting, take pity on your brother, 
who sends you the Apostolical Benediction." 
The dispatch of tl1is letter, by special order 
of the Pope, had the precedence of all oth-
ers. The next day, June the 17th, the 
news of the ele..:tion of Cardinal Mastai-
Ferretti spread through Rome, having been 
announced from the balcony ofthe Quirinal 
by Cardinal Riario Sforza. The cannons of 
St. Angelo fired a salute. The new Pope, 
with tears in his eyes, pronounced his first 
Apostolical Benediction upon his people, and 
was saluted with acclamations. His form 
was familiar to many who remembered his 
ministerial services at Tata Giovanni and 
St. Michele. But to many others he was 
personally a stranger, owing .to his sCJ)Upu-
.lous observance of the duty of residence 
>yithin his diocese. But the . men of the 
Tra,stevere, to whom he was well known, 
BOO,n recognized their old benefactor and 
sounded his praises as "the friend of the peo-
ple" and "the father of the poor." The 
coronation of Pius IX. took place in St. 
Peter's on the 21st June, the tiara used on 
the occasion being that presented to Pius 
VII. by Napoleon 1. It is of white velvet, 
the three crowns are b'lautifully designed 
and adorned with sapphires, emeralds

f 
ru-

~ies, pearls, and diamonds. Upon ~he top 
18 a large emerald, surmounted again by a 
,diamond cross. Its value is, 440,000 francs. 
. The rejoicings Gf ,the day were closed with, a 

musical festival and a display of fireworks, 
at the cost of Prince Torlonia, in the Piazza 
del Popolo. The new Pope gave in charity 
100,000 lire. ' 

V . 

Pius IX., the 225th occupant of the chair 
of St. Peter, was a man of action, benevo-
lence, and piety. None better than he 

, knew the difficulties of his position and the 
necessity for political reforms. He had 
proved himself, while yet a priest, an able 
administrator and a wise governor of phe 
institutions committed to his charge. As a 
Bishop he had labored aSl>iduously to im-
prove and benefit his clergy, and to inspire 
them with zeal in their vocation. He had 
triven earnestly and not without success to 

ameliorate the 'condition of the people and 
to encourage a good understanding between 
laymen and ecclesiastics. In the sees of 
Spoleto and Imola he had exhibited firm-
ness and skill, and had gained the respect 
and affection of his subjects. He had 
never epared his private purse, when occa-
sions for charity presented themselves, nor 
had he 'ever betrayed a disposition to shrink 
from any sa.crifices of personal ease when 
labor was to be perforIll.ed or danger en-
countered. Scarcely had he assumed the 
tiara when he formed the resolution of en-
deavoring to master the exigencies of his 
position and to anticipate the politicalinflu-
ences which were at work, ,by timely and 
thorough remedial measures. As a prelimi-
nary, he determined upon a bold step, not 
unattended with dangers, as after events 

.proved, but one which exllibited at once 
the goodness and courage of his heart and 
his desire to test the loyalty and gallantry 
of his subje('ts. Upon the 16th of July, 
one month exactly after his election in 
Conclave, 'he issued a full amnesty to all 
political offenders then imprisoned or ban-
ished for crimes against the State. The 
cases of ecclesiastics or employes sentenced 
or under trial were reserved for special ex-
amination, but in all other irist ances the 
prison doors were opened and exiles were 
permitted to return. The only stIpulation 
attached to this act of clemency was that 
those who availed themselves of it should 
declare on their honor that they would not 
abuse this grace, but would in fut.ure COlll-
fort themselves as loyal citizens. This ex-
traordina:ry measure of tenderness and for-
giveness produced extraordinary displays of 
gratitude. The cUy Of Rome was filled with 
rejoicings, the houses were illuminated and 
the streets echoed with Vivas. Many of the 
released prisoners and returned exiles swore 
eternal fidelity to Pius IX., and pledged 
themselves to' spend their, lives and the lives 
of their sons in hlS defence. The provinces 
were as enthusiastic as Rome. The de-
scription of the universal ,joy throughout 
the Pontifical States occasioned by this act 

, of pardon, almost passes belief. A closely 
printed octavo volume of 432 pages, pub-
lished at ROme in 1846, under the title 



L8] . 

, It Ragguaglio Storico di quanto e avvenuto 
-.in Roma e in tutte Ie provincie della Stato 
Pontificio, in seguito del Perdono accordato 
dalla Santita di N ostro Signore Papa Pio 
~X., come d31 suo Editto del 16 Luglio 
1846," although furnishing authentic details 
of numerous addresses then presented to 
his Holiness, yet by no means contains all 
the multitudinollS protestations of gratitude 
and reverence which on this occasion were 
'poured in upon 'the Pontiff with suspicious 
vehemence and prodigality. But by these 
exuberant and troublesome demonstrations ' 
Pius IX. was not deceived. His measures 
were adopted, not because his subjects were 
supposed capable of appreciating them, but 
because they were approved by the con-
science of their author. It is noteworthy 
that one of the first acts of Pius IX. after 
the amnesty was to issue, in .August, 1846, 
a Commission for the introduction of rail-
roads into his dominions. This was fol-
lowed by another commission, in October, 
for enquiry into the best way of organizing 
tho several offices of public business, and 
for the establishment of Ii. council of re-
sponsible ministers. .At the same time he 
confirmed the committee of Jurisconsults 
appointed by his predecessor for the im-
provement of the procedure in criminal 

. causes extending its scope to the amend-
ment of the Civil Code. Within the first 
year of his Pontificate, Pius IX. seems to 
have laid the foundation and devised the 
principles of the various reforms called for 
by the necessities of the tiriles and suited to 
the circumstances of Italy. He appears to 
have granted spontaneously, so far as was 
consistent with the maintenance of his tem-
poral sovereignty, what was wrung from 
other princes by op'en revolution. In the 
early part of the year 1847, he consolidated 
several minor courts under the supreme 
tribunal of the Consulta, provided a council 
lof Deputies from Rome and the provinces 
to assist in legislation, and established the 
municipal council and senate of Rome. 
Upon the 12th of March, ill the same year, 
he issued a decree, giving greater liberty to 
the Press. The laws indeed regarding the 
"censure" in matters of science, morals and 
religion were retained, but for the "cen-
sure" of political matters a council was in-
stituted, composed of four laymen and one 
clerical member. This decree allowed every 
citizen freely to express his sentiments on 
all subjects relating ' to government or ad-
ministration, provided the terms employed 
were such as neither directly or indirectly 
tended to bring into odium the acts or per-
sons <.or the ministers. In October and De-
cember of that year, 1847, Pius IX. created 
by moZu proprio responsible ministers and 
representative Government, admitting lay-
men ' to some of the principal seats in the 
cabinet. These forms of administration 
afterwards settl{ld down into the Constitu- , 
tion or Parliament instituted on the 14t.h of 
March, 1848, when two Legislative Cham-
bers were erected. The first, or High 

Chamber, consisted of life members nomi-
nated by the Pope without restriction of 
number. The second, or Chamber of De-
puties, was formed of representatives chosen 
by electoral districts or colleges throughout 

' the Pontifical States, on the basis of one 
deputy to every 30,000 souls. .At the same 
time a council of State was nominated, com-
posed of five ordinary and five extraordi-
nary members, with auditors to the number 
of fOlolr and twenty, Their functions con-
sisted in proposing projects of law, in devis-
ing regulations for the dispatch of public 
business, and in delivering opinions on any 
matters of difficulty which might arise in 
the Government of the country. It was ' 
intended afterwards to amplify the powers 
of this Council. 

.As early as February, 1847, Pius IX. 
showed his desire to ameliorate the condi-
tion of the Jews residing in his dominions. 
He assigned 300 crowns yearly for the re-
lief of poor Jews in Rome, and extended 
to them the privileges enjoyed by paren~ 
with twelve children. He first suspended 
and afterwards formally abolished the bar-
barous custom of making the J ews do hom-
age at Carnival time to the Senate and peo-
ple of Rome. He perrmtted the J ews to 
elect a new high priest in Rome, that office 
having been vacant for twelve years. He 
gave a sum of money towards the repairs of 
the tabernacle in the Ghetto. .And in .April, 
1848, he abolished the line of demarcation 
by which previously the Jews were forced 
to reside in a certain quarter of the city. 
.At the accession of Pius IX. Rome was 
without telegraphs, railways, gas, and other 
modern improvements. The rain-water 
poured from the roofs of the houses through 
open shoots or spouts, which sent streams 
of water into the streets to the terror and 
damage of the unwary foot passengers. 
Pius IX., in the third month of his ponti-
ficate, gave directions for the projection of 
railroads, and in 1847 granted a conceSSIOn 
to an Englishman for a gas manufactory, 
and also prescribed the use of covered pipes 
to carry the water from the housetops into 
the sewers. In the same year he became 
patron and chief associate of an institute 
composed of land owners and occupiers, 
who joined together to further the cultiva-
tion of the deserted Campagna, and to en-
courage agriculture. It is true that some of 
these many useful measures contemplated 
by Pius IX. were delayed in execution by 
the intrigues of interested parties, and by 
the troubles of the ·times. But it is none 
the less truo that Pius IX., from the very 
outset of his reign, showed himself to be a. 
reformer of the first 'rank, originating wise 
innovations with a courage which neither 
f;J,ilure nor ingratitude could damp, lmd 
with a persistency which in many instances 
commanded eventual success. His ambi-
tion was limited within honest and unselfish 
bounds. Not a single instance of nepotism 
was ever charged a.gainst him. He ,sought 
not to extend his dominions by pandering 



[9] 

to the revolutionary principles which were 
abroad, but strove to improve and elevate 
by good government the moral and social 
status of his subjects. In the pursuit of 
this wise and noble end, he suffered no an-
tiquated traditions of former times to re-
main obstacles in his path. 

VI. 

Evil influences, however, were at work 
which strove to undermine the efforts of 
Pius IX. and effectuate, if possi1;>le, his 
ruin. The very plaudits which greeted his 
amnesty were tainted with insincerity, and 
th~ secret societies, the terrible bane of 
modern civilization, turned into instru-
ments for effecting their own vile ends the 
popular demonstrations which apparently 
were dictated by gratitude for the favors 
granted by the Pope. Mazzini and his emis-
saries guided many of these noisy orations, 
and by means of them taught the people 
the habit of assembling in masses, and the 
way to overawe the constituted authorities 
by monster meetings. It WllS the eve of 
the approaching hour of triumph of the 
men of disorder, of democrats, of the bit-
ter foes of the Church and religion. These 
wretched men sought to replace the Gospel 
of Christ by that of so-called liberty and 
.equality, and to suppress all regular author-
ity, religious or political. They made no 
secret of their aims. They declared their 
purpose of putting, to use the words of 
Mazzini their leader, "the republic in the 
place of royalty and nature in the place of 
the Pope. " Their Magna Charta, or Con-
stitution, lay in the cry "we are kings," 
and their creed was impiously comprised in 
the formula "we are God." While pre-
tendirig to vanguish oppression they were 
jJJ.emselves the slaves of their passions. 
Pride, hate, and envy filled their bosoms, 
while the poignard was ever ready in their 
bloodstained hands to assassinate whoever 
opposed their revolutionary schemes. The 
proclamation, issued by Mazzini from Paris 
in October, 1846, t o the friends of Italy, 
recommended the votaries of revolution to 
dissimulate, and employ as temporary tools 
the sovereigns of the Italian States. "The 
Pope," Mazzini wrote, "will march to re-
forms from principle and necessity, the 
King of Piedmont from ambitious desire 
for the croWn of Italy, the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany from inclination and imitation, and 
the King of Naples will yield from com-
pulsion. " . ; . . . "Profit by the least con-
cession to assemble the masses, were it only 
under the color of testifying gratitude." 
"The difficulty is not in convincing, but in 
uniting the multitudes. The day of their 
gathering will be the day of the new era." 
The Pope, it seems, was to be feted first 
and .destroyed afterwards. "vVe must 
make him "-such are Mazzini's w.ords on 
<;tnothef'occasion-" our political b(mif gras. " 
That no constitutional reforms would·satisfy 
the so-called Liberals of Italy may be in-
ferred from a few of the statutes 0 the 

great secret society which, under the name 
of «Young Italy," and under the auspices 
of Mazzini, was to have been established in 
the Peninsula: 

"Article I.-This Society is instituted 
for the indispensable destruction of all the 
Governments 'in the Peninsula, in order to 
create one sole Italian State, under the 
Republican form. , 

"Article !I.-By reason of the evils 
flowing from absolute rule, and the still 
greater evils produced by Constitutional 
Monarchies, we must unite all our efforts 
to form a Republic, one and indivisible. 

"Article XXX.-Members who disobey 
the orders of this Secret Society, and they 
who unveil its mysteries, shall be poignard-
ed without remission. 

"Article XXXl.-The secret tribunal 
shal pronounce sentence by designating 
one or two associates for its immediate ex-
ecution. -

"Article XXXII.-The associate who 
shall refuse to execute the sentence pro-
nounced shall be deemed a perjurer, and 
as such put to death on the spot. 

"Article XXX!II.-If the condemned 
victim should try to escape by flight he 
shall be pursued without delay in every 
place, and the guilty shall be struck by an 
invisible hand, even though he should \fly 
for refuge to the bosom of his mother, or 
to the tabernacle of Christ. 

"Article XXXIV.-Each secret triblmal 
shall be competent not only to judge guilty 
adepts, but also to put to death all the per-
sons whom it may devote to death." 

Such was the nature of the conspiracy 
formed against law and 'order and against 
the authority of the Pope by the Italian 
Revolutionists at the very time ;when Pius 
IX. was la,boring to secure, ,by ~imely re-
forms, the triumph of justice and virtue over 
anarchy and irreligion. In vain his Holil 
ness strove to conciliate his adversaries by 
concessions. Each step in the ,yay of pro-
gress only emboldened the demagogues to 
further demands. Among the so-called re-
formers were two great parties, one which 
sought to unite the several Italian States 
into one monarchy, the other the. party of 
" Young Italy " and the secret SOCIety men, 
who aimed at the overthrow of all au-
thority, whether of Pope or' King, and the 
substitution of a Republic one <;tnd in-
divisible. The chief . organ of the Re-
publicans was the club or society called the 
"Circolo Romano," which afforded frequent 
opportunities to the tribunes of the people 
to disseminate their political poison by 
means of violent harangues. This club 
held a grand re-union on the Esquiline, on 
the 21st of April, 1847, to celebrate the 
the Natal Day. of Rome, an anniversary 
which artists and men of science were ac-
customed to honor by a banquet and 

. speeChes; The place of meeting was .• dec-
orated with P ontifical flags and emblems. 
After dinner the orators took occasion to 
praise the ancient glories of Rome and to 



L 10 ] 

infla.me the minds of their hearers by dis-
paraging allusiOIl8 to the modern condition 
'of Italy, exciting resentment especially 
against the Austrians. The Austrian Am-
bassador knew well to what these harangues 
were tending, and made remonstrances to 
the. Pope. But in vain. The Mazzinians 
were in the ascendant, and unhappily had 
gained over to their side many of the lead-
~ng men in the city of Rome a~d the prov-
mces. The revolutionists having obtained 
many Goncessions from Pius IX., at last de-
manded the possession of arms. They 
raised cries in the various towns of the 
Papal States that the person of the Holy 
Father w!\s in danger, from conspirators 
who were in league with the AustrIans, and 
that his subjects required weapons to em-
ploy in his defense and in the maintenance 
of law and order. Petitions in great num-
ber were sent in for the formation of what 
was called the "Guardia Civica," an insti-
tution analogous to that of National 
Guards. Demonstrations in Rome for the 
same purpose were organized. Cardinal 
Gizzi,. Secretary of State, almost alone stood 
out against further concessions. The Pope 
was perplexed between his dis ire to gratify 
the wishes of his people, and his respect 
for the judgment of his Secretary of State. 
Prince Aldobrandini, victim probably to 
the machinations of the Mazzinians, inter-
posed, and by his advice decided the waver-
ing resolution of the Pontiff. The institu-
tion of the Civic Guard was decreed on the 
5th of July, 1847, and two days later Gizzi 
resigned and was succeeded on the 12th of 
JUly by Cardinal Fenett.i, a relative of 
Pius IX. , through the family of his 
mother. . 

The Austrians at this time took military 
occupation of the City of Fenara, a place 
in which, as well as in Comacchio, they 
claimed a right to maintain garrisons, under 
the l03rd article of the Treaty of Vienna 
of the year 1815, an article against which 
the then Pope, Pius VII., had always pro-
tested. 'rhey now, on pretext that one of 
their officers, Captain Sankowich, had been 
waylaid by ill-disposed persons and saved 
with difficulty from assassination, extended 
their troops from the garrison into the city 
of Ferrara, and patrolied the streets with 

;, ar,med soldiers. Against this usurpation 
the Papal Delegate, Ciacchi, protested ener-
geticallyon the 6th of August, 1847. His 
protest, being formally approved by Pius 
IX. on the 10th, was repeated in stronger 
~erms on the 13th, and renewed again by 
Cardinal Fenettion the 17th of the same 
month. Notwithstanding these protests, 
the forclble occupation of Ferrara was con-
tinued for many monthS by the Austrians. 
The affair was amicably arranged in the 
December following by a compromise. The 
Austrians retired to the citadel and discon-
tinued the military' patrols. The Pope's 
troops were to guard the gates and maintain 
order in the city, an unarmed Austrian . 

official being permitted to watch the gates ro 
prevent desertioIl8. . 

VII. 

Pius IX., in December, 1847, had re-
modeled his government, adII\itting laymen 
to all the chief posts, and making his Min-
isters responsible. 'l'hereforms thusgranfed 
by his Holiness caused a general desire 
within the other Italian States for similar 
Constitutions, and increased the activity of 
tl1e Mazzinian agents, who in Tuscany, 
Piedmont, and Naples, as well as in Rome, 
p~eached sedition under the guise of pa-
trlOtlsm, and pretended to follow the lead 
of the Pope. In consequence, Constitu-
tions were granted in Naples, Florence, and 
Turin, during the first months of the year 
1848. Meanwhile Cardinal Ferretti re-
signed the premiership and was succeeded, 
on the 7th of February, by ClDrdinal Bo-
fondi. The day afterwards a popular tu-
mult, exceeding all previous demoIl8trationJl 
in violence, occurred in Rome. The Maz-
zinians [spread a report that the Pope's 
Ministers had opposed the measures of ar-
mament brought forward by the Consulta. 
The cry of treason was raised. The popu-
lace broke out into loud denunciations of 
the Cabinet. 'I'he Senator of Rome and 
other citizens of respectability failed 1;1;: 
quell the agitation. Pius IX. was com· 
pelled to promise a further re-modification 
of the Cabinet, which was effected on the 
12th of February. But the faU of the 
monarchy of Louis Philippe, and the es-
tablishment of a Republic in France, gave 
a fresh impulse to revolution in Rome, and, 
on the 10th of March, a new Cabinet, with 
Recchi as Borne Minister, and Giuseppe 
Galletti over the police, was formed by the' 
Pope, who two days afterwards published 
a new Constitution based upon wider prin-
ciples of representation and responsibility. 
'rhus the concessions of Pius IX., which be-
gan with amnesty for political offenders, 
culminated in inviting his subjects to a 
share in his sovereignty. But these con-
cessions were received with the blackest in-
graititude, some of the most disloyal and 
malignant of his enemies being those whom 
he had loaded with favors. 

The sudden change of government in 
France hastened the outburst of revolution 
in It3J.y. The Mazzinians, strong ' in the 
support of the masses, and also in 'that of 
the moderate liberal party, which cordially 
worked them up to a certain point, urged on 
the crisis. At Milan the people rose and 
drove out the Austrians, and the same 
events happened in Venice. Tumults arose 
in Turin; Genoa, Florence,' and the Duchies. 
,At N aphis similar disturbances occurred, ac-
companie.d by outrageous cries and violences 
against the Jesuits, who were driven from 
that kingdom with inhuman fur~ . rhe same 
brutality, the same insane war against the 
Monastic Orders, those benefactors to 
science and religion, were displayed iA 



[11] 

Rome. In vain Pius IX. appealed to the 
good sense and feelings of the Romans 'by 
a proclamation in which he begged them to 
spare him the shame of seeing religion out-
raged, and the fair form of the Church dis-
figured by the persecution of her ministers. 
'fhe Jesuits were forced to fly. The au-
t,hority of the Pope over the masses was 

. gone, and the Mazzinian sect alone was 
obeyed. 

VIII. 

Meanwhile war broke out between Pied-
mont and Austria, and, quickly assuming 
the chara-::ter of a war for Italian indepen-
dence and for removal of a foreign yoke, 
was aided and abetted by the majority of 
Italians. Soldiers and volunteers from 
every part of the Peninsula now flocked to 
join the. st~ndard of Charles. Albert. The 
ReVOIUtlOlllSts at Rome deSIred the Pope 
also to unite with other Italian princes 
against Austria, refusing to recognize the 

. impossibility of the Pontiff proclaiming 
~ war without provocation against a Catholic 

Power. To overcome the firmness of Pius 
IX., they had recourse to riots and intimi-
dation. The popular excitement was fo-
mented by the clubs and agents of the sect. 
At last a monster meeting was held in the 
Colosseum, on the 23rd of March, 1848, 
and was addressed by various tribunes of 
the people. Chief among these was Ga-
vazzi, who wore upon his breast a cross de-
signed in green, red, and white, the colors 
of the Oarbonari. His cry was "To arms-
To arms, against Austria." Under the in-
fluence of inflammatory speeches, the mul-
titude became ripe for mischief, and pro-
ceeded to the Quirinal to demand from ' the 
Pope' a blessing on their flags, under which 
the Roman troops were to conquel' the 
Austrians. The Pope refused. "1 'cannot" 
-said he-"as minister of the God of 
peace, bless the torches which may set , 
Europe on fire." But the multitude was 
obstinate and would not disperse, until his 
Holiness consented to ,admit to his presence a 
deputation of five persons and to bless 
one flag on condition that it should be used 
for protection of the frontier only. With 
a view to avert the storm the Pope consented 
to the departure of a detachment of soldiers 
and volunteers to Ferrara and Bologna, un · 
derthecommandof GeneralDurandoj andhe 
received the officers ' of this corps in the 
Quirinal and gave them strict injunctions 
not to pass the frontier, but to limit their 
operations to defense of the Papal territory. 
But the revolutionists found means to make 
their will prevail ov'er that of Pius IX. 
"Yhen .the v?lunteers and troop~ were 're,-
VIewed, prevlOus to their departure,by Du-
rando and Gavazzi, the latter wore in his 
girdle the poignard of the "Bravos" and 
styled himself "Grand Almoner ~f the 
Army of Italian Independence.'" 'Arrive'a 
at Bologna, Durando, in an "Order of 'the 
Day," dated the 5th of April; 1848 pro~ 
c~ed a crusade ·i.n the name of the 'Pope 
agamst t.hP. Austrums, and informed his 

men that he had directions to march them 
to the scene of hostilities. Durando "ilow 
crossed the frontier, in deference ' to ' the 
commands of the sect and in defiance of 
the injunctions of Pius IX" who thus saw 
himself involved in open hostilities with 
Austria, without either provocation on the 
part of that Power or previous declaration 
of war. ·On the 10th of April the Pope re-
pud.iated Durando's manifesto, and on the 
19th of the same month, with a view to 
calm the popular ferment, and put his de-
cision beyond doubt, he issued an Allocution 
in Consistory, in which he openly declare(i 
that his only object in sending troops to the 
confines was to provide for the integrity 
and security of the Pontifical dominions. ' 
He also disclaimed all desire to be recrarded 
as consenting to the crafty designs of those 
who wished to make the Pontiff the Head 
and President of a new Republic, formed 
of all the Staces of Italy. This Allocution 
drove the Mazzinians to frenzy. The clubs 
were urged to renewed exertions. Indig-
nation meetings were held and haran!!ued 
by Ciceruacchio, Sterbini and other dem-
agogues. The Pope and Cardinals were 
said to be in secret league with the Aus-
trians. Treason and treachery were 
charged on the Holy Father and his advisers, 
and the popular rage was inflamed to the 
utmost against the Pope and the Sacred 
College. The Civic Guards, in accord with 
the insurgents, increased, instead of di-
minishing the peril. In the midst of these 
tumults the Ministry resigned en masse. 
The Pope now beheld himself almost totally 
isolated. He was in the midst of an aris-
tocracy which owed its elevation to the 
.Papacy', of citizens whose riches flowed 
from the presence of the Pontiff, of officials 
and soldiers bound' to him by alleCTiance and 
of multitudes of poor pers~ns who 
depended for subsistence upon the i~creas­
ing charity of the Popes. Yet Pius LX. 
was now virtually a prisoner in the Q\lirin:l.l, 
and not one hand-of patrician or of citi-
zen-nor a single voice, was lifted in his de-
fense. A Roman princess knelt on her 
knees before her-sons to pray them to visit 
Pius IX. in his distress, but her suppli-
cation was useless. The Pope, , thus de-
serted by those who ought to have been his 
champions, was assailed and threatened in 
his palace of the Quirinal by an infuriated 
mob. Forced to admit a deputation of the 
rioters, with Sterbini at their head, h~ 'con-
sented to nominate a neW ~inistry of lay-
men acceptable to the Mazzll1lan party, and 
on .the 4th of ' May, 1848, the Mamiani 
Cabinet entered upon· office. The day pre-
viouslY ,the generous Pontiff; who as Head 
of the Church, refused to make war on a 
Cathqlic Power,. wrote an autograph letter 
to the Emperor of Austria, imploring him 
to abandon Lhe ,val', to rest content within 
the bounds of his natural empire, and to 1'e-
sgect the natioI?-ality of Italy, He assured 
'hi~ ·that he never ,could reconquer, the af-
fection.~ of the inhabitants of Lombardy and 



I 12 ] 

Venice. But this patriotic appeal of Pius 
IX. was without effect. 

'['he day of the 15th of May, 1848, was 
signal1sed by the simultaneous outbreak of 
tumultuous risings in most of the capitals 
of Europe. In Paris the R epresentative 
Assembly was assailed. At Vienna the Em-
'peror was forced to fly to Olmutz. At Na-
ples, the King of the Two Sicilies, who had 
been the first to grant a Constitution, was 
compelled by riots which broke out on the 
very day fixed for the assembly of the new 
Parliament to place his capital in a state of 
siege, to dissolve the Chambers, and to dis-
band the Civic Guard. In Rome there was 
discontent among the people, dispirited at 
the ill-success of the troops under Durando 
and Ferrarl, while dissension prevailed in 
the Cabinet. The opening of the Roman 
Parliament was on the 5th of June. On 
that occasion Cardinal Altieri appeared as 
Delegate of the Pope, and delivered a speech 
conveying the sentimer~ts of his Huliness. 
On the 9th of June the Parliament met for 
the dispatch of public business, the High 
Chamber assembling in the " Collegio dell' 
Apollinare," and the Chamber of Deputies 
In the hall of the Cancellaria. Count Ma-

. miani then addressed the Deputies, and, 
with unparalleled perfidy, informed them 
that Pius IX., as Constitutional Sovereign, 
had delegated to them the chief care in all 
temporal matters, reserving to himself the 
spiritual functions of prayer, benediction, 
and fOl'giveness, which formed the proper 
field of his jurisdiction as Head of the 
Ohurch. "In conformity with the pater-
nal solicitude of his Holiness, we have en-
trusted"-so said Marniani-" to Charles 
Albert the direct command of our regulars 
and volunteers, and placed them under his 
safeguard. " The Pontiff, added Mamiani, 
"abhorring bloodshed and war, and moved 
by the dictates of a heart at once Apostolic 
and Italian, seeks to interpose between the 
combatants, and to make the enemies of our 
common country understand the cruelty and 
inutility of attempting to deprive Italians of 
their natural frontiers, or to impede the for-
mation, in unity and concord, of one great 
and undivided Italian family." Great ap-
plause greeted Mamiani on rus delivery of 
this ministerial oration, which he had the 
effrontery to declare had previously been 
submitted to the Pope, and approved by his 
Holiness. For a brief interval the contest 
between the Pope and his Minister was sus-
pended. News arrived that the forces under 
Durando were compelled to surrender to the 
Austrians at Vicenza on the 10th of July, 
and at Treviso on the 14th, while the victors 
had passed the Po and were extending their 
advance under Prince Liechtenstein. Car-
dinal Soglia made a solemn protest, in the 
Pope's name, against this violation of terri-
tory. The Chambers meanwhile had pre-
pared an answer to the address made· at 
their opening by Marniani, and sent it by 
a deputation to his Holiness. Pius IX. 

thanked the deputies for their response, 
and observed that if it were the Pontiff's 
duty "to pray, to bless, and to pardon," it 
was his also to bind and to loose. If he 
had invited the Chambers to co-operate with 
him, he nevertheless required, and was re-
solved to preserve to himself, entire liberty 
of action. If, moreover, all parties seemed 
desirous of war with Austria, it was need-
ful again to remind them that a declaration 
of hostilities could never proceed from him. 
Mamiani was reluctant to abandon office, 
but was forced by this language of the Pope 
to resign. The Ministerial crisis, which 
began on the 13th of July, lasted until the 
3rd of the following August. 

During this interval anarchy reigned in 
Rome. Rioters went to the Cancellaria, 
demanding from the deputies arms and a 
declaration of war against Austria. An 
ecclcsiastic named Ximenes, who was editor 
of a newspaper, and had written some 
articles displeasing to the sect, was assassi-
nated. An attempt made by the mob under 
Ciceruacchio to seize the castle of S. An-
gelo, was foiled by the address of Prince 
Aldobrandini-Borghese. An ovation was 
given to the soldiers who returned from Vi-
cenza. These defeated men were received 
as conquerors, were crowned with immor-
telles and wreaths of laurel, and were styled 
"the Pride of Rome." They were compli-
mented in a speech by Prince Corsini, Sen-
ator of Rome, and feted by Prince Doria. 
Towards evening, intoxicated by wine and 
flattery, these braves who had escaped from 
the Austrians rushed valiantly to the Church 
of the Gesu, and courageously shouting 
"Death to the Jesuits," took possession of 
the adjoining Convent. A few days after 
this banquet to the defeated, a mounted 
courier, entering Rome from the Ponte 

. Molle, rode alopg the Corso carrying tidings 
' of a pretended victory. The Austrian army 
had been cut to pieces by the sword of 
Charles Albert and Italian independence had 
been achieved. This false intelligence 
caused illuminations in Rome and the most 
frantic rejoicings. The messenger had been 
paid three piastres by Mamiani, the late 
Prime Minister, to disguise himself as a. 
courier, and so spread this false report. Far 
from being victorious, Charles Albert had 
been completely defeated at Custozza, and 
the Austrians were once more masters of 
Lombardy ::.nd Venice .. 

On the 3d of August, 1848, Fapri, once a 
Carbonaro and exiled for his revolutionary 
tendencies, became Prime Minister in room 
of Marniani. Tidings arrived that the Aus-
trians under General Weldon had again in-
vaded the Legations, and Rome was thrown 
into another ferment. The populace, after 
insulting many respectable persons and 
wounding a priest, repaired to the French 
Embassy and clamored for the intervention 
of the French, crying out, "ViiValaFrancill-i 
Viva il Duca d'Harcourt !'" Meanwhile or-
ders for armaments, enrolments, mobiliza~ . 



[13 ] 

tion of the Civic Guards, and for the forma-
tion of war material, followed each · other 
with rapidity. But the Pope, placing little 
reliance on these measures, dispatched 
commissioners to meet General Welden and 
remonstrate against the Austrian occupa-
tion. This commission, composed of Prince 
Corsini, Cardinal Marini, and Count Guar-
ini, discharged its duties with success. 
Tranquility in Rome was now temporarily 
secured by the events in Lombardy and the 
Romagna, by the dissolu ion of the free 
corps formed under pretext of war, and by 
a. decree against the excess of the Press. 
The members of the Cabinet seemed to feel 
the necessity of acting in concert with the 
Pontiff. The Chamber of Deputies was 
prorogued on the 26th of August until the 
15th of November. Before separating the· 
Deputies published a series of Resolutions, 
framed to suit the popular requirements. 
It was in them proposed to form a Congress 
for discussion ofItalian interests; to demand 
kom Austria an entire evacuation of the. 
States, including Ferrara; to guarantee 
Italian independence; to compel peace be-
tween Naples and Sicily; to ·create an Ital-
ian league; and to orgdnize the army. This 
was a truly formidably programme. The 
Pope availed himself of the breathing time 
between the 26th of August and the 15th of 
November, to obtain anew Prime Minister 
of character and firmness to undertake the 
perilous task of retrieving the sad condition 
of affairs and restoring safety to the State. 
He found such a man in Count Rossi, a 
statesman of enlarged views, undaunted 
courage, and inflexible determination. 

IX. 

Pellegrino Rossi, born 'at Carrara, in the 
duchy of Modena, was in early life exiled 
from that' State for political motives, and 
went first to Geneva, where he distinguished 
himself as orator, lawyer, and legislator, 
and afterwards . to Paris, where his talents 
procured him the post of French Ambassa-
dor at Rome. Somewhat cold and haughty 
in temperament, reserved, and disdainful, 
he despised mere popularity, and preferred 
the approval of his own conscience to the 
applause of inferiors. His heart was, how-
ever, just as charitable, and he was practical 
an<\ business-like. He ruled with Vigorous 
hand, and communicated confidence and 
activity to his subordinates. Being French 
by naturalization, he solicited, when he was 
requested, through the Allbe Vaures, to 
become Minister of Pius IX., permission 
tram the French authorities to accept the 
post. The Duc d'Harcourt, his successor 
in the Embassy, made the requisite applica-
tion to Paris, and at first without effect. But 
the ambassador made a second application, 
and mmmwhile counselled Rossi to obey 
the Pope's wishes. Rossi laid before the . 
Pope his intended programme? which at first 
did not commend itself altogether to his 

H o'liness, . and Rossi was ~n .~opes of escape 
froJ? the Immense responslliility of the office 
whlch ha,d been offered him. Being again 
sought by the Pontiff, he at last consented to 
form a Cabinet, and selected for collea(Tues 
Cardinal Soglia, Cicognani, Monta;'ari; 
the Duke of Rignano, and Guarini. Rossi 
was "indefatigable in his personal exertions, 
was devoted to the cause of the Pontiff, and 
every day repaired to the Quirinal to super-
intend the various departments of Govern-
ment, and impress upon the officials the 
rapid impulse of his own powerful will. The 
clergy were the first to respond to his ap-
peals, by offering to the needs of the Treas-
ury a donation of twenty-one millions six 
hundred thousand lire. Negoations were 
commenced with Naples, Florence and Turin 
for the formation oi an Italian leaO'ue the 
notion of which first originated ~ith the 
Pope himself, and when the Piedmontese 
Cabinet r ejected the overtures, Rossi boldly 
exposed the selfish aims of the House of 
Savoy. He suppressed with firmness a tu-
mult in Rome, which arose from a brawl be-
tween a Jew and a soldier of the National 
Guard, and which threatened to imperil the 
safety of the Jews resident in the Ghetto. 
Gavazzi, who was preaching revolt in the 
Legations, was arrested by order of Rossi, 
and confined in Cornetto, in a prison re-
served for ecclesiastical offenders. These 
decided measures aroused the raO"e of the 
Mazzinians. 'Ih0 journals of the sect 
teemed with denunciations of the Premier, 
some of ~h? fiercest diatribe,. ' being written 
by Sterblm, and at length the assassination 
of Rossi was resolved on in the councils of 
the Secret Societies. Accordin(T to some 
writers this atrocious conspiracy w~s hatched 
a.t Turin, during the meeting of a Scientific 
Congress. Others say the plot was formed 
at Leghorn, by Mamiani, the Prince of Ca" 
nino, Sterbini, and Guerrazzi. And many 
assert the murder of the Roman Pemier was 
definitely arranged in Florence in the via 
Santa Apollonia, where, the lot of assassin-
ation falling on the Prince of Canino he 
promised a thousand scudi to another'vil-
lain to execute the horrible decree i.n his 
room. According to Balleydier, the night 
before the re-opening of the Roman Parlia-
ment, the conspirators assembled in secret 
in the Capranica. Theater, and there re-
hearsed the terrible drama of the followi.ng 
daJ:, stabbing in the throat a dead body 
wluch they had brought from the hospital 
of San Giacomo to represent the person of 
Count Rossi. 

The 15th of November, the day fixed for 
the meeting of the Parliament,· arrived. 
I-tossi had carefully prepared a speech for 
dclivery in the Chamber of Deputies con-
taining an outline of his policy. He was 
aware that his life was in danger and had 
80me time before called in from the neiah-
boring towns, a number of Carbine:rs 
whom he himself reviewed and addressed: 



I 

He considered the Onxbineers more faithful 
,t han the National Guards, and particularly 
requested that a detachment of the former 
should protect the approach to the Cham-

,bers. His colleagues, however, preferred to 
employ the latter corps, and Rossi's decision 
was neglected. The Duchess of Rignano 
warned the Count by letter to beware. His 
sons asked permission to witness the de-
bate, but Rossi refused them. The Pope, 
when Rossi visited the Qui~inal at noon, 
begged him to be cautiuus ,for his life. De-
scending the stairs of the Papal Palace, 
Monsignor Marini gave him another warn-
ing, which he had received at the Gesu 
that morning, to the effect that the Premier 
would be pOlgnarded at the Parliament. "I 
thank you," exclaimed Rossi, and added 
raising his eyes to heaven, "the cause of the 
Pope is the cause of God." Rossi and 
Righetti, the Under-Secretary of State, left 
the Quirinal together in a carriage and pro-
ceeded to the Cancelleria. They might have 
gained admission to the Assembly by a pri-
vate door, but Rossi preferred the public 
entrance. On nearing the Cancelleria, 
many unknown men were noticed exchang-
ing mysterious looks and keeping each 
other in view. Rossi's coachman, observ-
ing an individual rush forward, as if to 
announce to others their arrival, wished to 
stop, but his master ordered him to ad-
vance. Contrary to R.:>ssi's express com-
mands, the Carbineers were not on duty, 
and N[Ltional Guards alone appeared. Rossi 
and Righetti entered the courtyard and 
[Ilighted. They were immediately sur-
rounded by abuut sixty men cloaked and 
silent. Others guarded the gateway and cut 
off the retreat. Hisses and cries of "Ab-
basso Rossi," and "Viva laRepublica," now 
broke the ominous stillness. As it were 
upon an instant, an old man with long white 
beard, who followed the steps of Rossi as he 
proceeded to ascend the staircase and di-
1'ected at him glances like , those of a tiger, 
struck him on the shoulder with a stick. 
This was the signal for assassination. When 
Rossi turned toward his cowardly assailant, 
another conspirator-the same, probably, 
who had stabbed the corpse in the Capranica 
-·drove h.is poignard into the throat of the 
Count, and disappeared among the crowd. 
The victim fell without a cry. The moral 
energy of the dyi{lg statesman triumphed, 
however, over physical weakness, and by a 
last effort, Rossi rose erect, put his hand-
kerchief to the wound, and assisted by 
R ighet.ti and his servant, advanced a few 
steps But the carotid artery had been 
severed and blood flowed forth in streams. 
The brave man fell anew. His features be-
came livid and pale. Spasms passed over 
his limbs, and with a convulsive shudder, 
Rossi breathed his last sigh. The warm 
body was carried to the neighboring apart-
ment of Cardinal Gazzoli, and the doctors, 
Fusconi, Pantaleoni, and Fabri, all three 
mem,bers of the Assembly, bAing hastily 

summoned to examine the wound, pro-
nounced life extinct. 

Tidings of Rossi's murder were 'brought 
to the Pope by Righetti, and to the Count-
ess 'Rossi by the Abbe Vaures. The an-
nouncement came upon the Pontiff as a 
thunderstroke. His grief was intense. He 
lost, by this biow, a courageous champion 
and a Minister whom it was impossible to 
.replace. "Count Rossi," said Pius IX., 
"has died a martyr's death, and God will 
receive his soul in peace." The anguish of 
the Countess may be passed over in resped-
ful silence. Her two sons, on learning the 
terrible news, hastened to attend their 
father's corpse, vowing vengeance on Ster-
bini, whom they considered the instigator of 
the crime. The younger of the two, who 
wore the National Guard uniform and had 
fought as a volunteer, tore off his epaulets 
in disgnst at the treachery and cowardice of 
the soldiers who, instead of protecting their 
father had co~nived at his murder. The 
Abbe Vaures a~d a few friends paid the 
last honors to the body of Rossi. It was 
necessary, before removal for interment, 
that it should be formally identified by the 
police. The Director of P olice, who had 
received his appointme)lt not long before 
through the kindness of Rossi, was afraid 
to recognize the corpse, and gave in the 
resignation of his oftice to the Procurator 
.Fiscal, who himself discharged that duty. 
The body was carried in the evening to a 
room near the sacristy of San I;orenzo in 
Damaso, a church not far from the Can-
celleria. The next night it was embalmed 
in presence of the Abbe Vaures, placed in 
two \loftins, one of lead, the other of wood, 
and reverently deposited, with the custom-
ary religious rites, in one of the private 
burial vaults of the church. The leaden cof-
fin was inscribed with a brief legend-the 
letter "R." 

When the murder of Rossi was made 
known to the Chamber of Deputies-and 
the news must have arrivecl almost before ' 
the Count had ceased to breathe-one ofthe 
deputies was engaged in reading a speech. 
The Spanish Ambassador instantly rose to 
leave the hall of Assembly. The French 
Ambassador, the Duc d'Harcourt, said, 
"Wait and see what the President will do, 
and how he will dismiss the Chamber." 
Vain expectation! Sturbinetti, the Presi-
dent, merely addressed the Assembly to re-
press the excitement consequent on the 
event, and to say, "Let us pass, gentlemen, 
to the' Order of the Day." Upon this the 
Duke d'Harcourt .. -left the Chamber, ex-
claiming, "What infamy! Let us go out, 
that we may not participate in such criminal 
indifference." This impassibility of the Dep-
uties in presence of the death of their col-
league and minister, slain almost under 
iherr eyes, attaches to them a brand of im-
p'erishable infamy. There was only . only 

' one member who betrayed the least courage 
on ~his Of:casion. This gentleman. when 



[15 ] 

questioned .. about the. crime by some mem-
bers who had not heard the particulars, 
boldly replied, "Ask Signor Sterbini," add-
ing, fixing his glance on Sterbini himself,. 
"he knqws ~ome~hing about it. " Outside 
the Cha~ber of Deputies the intelligence 
of Rossi's death spread rapidly through. the 
city. .All honest men were in consterna-
tion, but the wicked rejoiced. The conspir-
ators resolved to celebrate the assassination 
as the triumph of liberty over absolutism, 
and sent the secret agents of , revolution 
into the barracks of the troops of the line 
and into the quarters of the National 
Guard, to stir up ' admiraticn for the so-
called Brutus of the hour. The poignard, 
reeking with the blood of Rossi, was ex-
posed to public view in a .fashionable coffee · 
house, adorned with flowers and labelled 
" Such is the end of Traitors to the People." 
At night the streets were illuminated and a 
procession carried the rp,puted murderer in 
triumph, while the poignard was fixed on a 
staff with tricolor ribands, and waved ex-
ultantly beneath the very windows of the 
palace wherein the Countess Rossi and her 
children were weeping over their bereave-
ment. Outraging still further the inviola-
ble sanctity of grief, these wretches,shouted 
into the ears of the widow and orphans the 
verses of a hymn composed for the occasion 
by Sterbini, which glorified the murder, 
each stanza concluding with the refrain 
"Benedetta sill. 1(\ inano-che il Rossi pug-
nalo"-"Blessed be the hand which stabbed 
Rossi." The revolutionists even threatened 
to insult the dead body of their victim. 
The Duc d'Harcourt, fearing for their 
safety, took the Countess and her family 
into the hotel of the French Embassy. It 
is needless to say that no attempt wad made · 
to arr'lst or punish the assassin or his ac-
complices. The crime, wh,ieh in the /ltreets 
of ,Rome gained the disgraceful honors of 
ovation, received in the Roman Parlia.ment 
the cowardly protection of silence. It was 
proposed, indeed, on the 16th November, 
to form a committee to pre~ent to the Pope 
an address of condolence upon the death of 
his Prime Minister, but the Prinee of Ca-
nino, with shameful effrontery, spoke 
against the motion, which consequently fell 
to the ground. 

x. 
Tile day after' the mvrder of Rossi the 

chiefs of the revolution met in the Piazzi 
del Popolo, and organized a demonstration 
against the Quirinal. The rioters; desiring 
to lend a color of legality to their proceed-
ings, went first to the Cancelleria, and ob-
tained from the Chamber a committee of 
deputies to accompany them to the Pope. 
When they arrived ,at the Pontifica.l Palace 
the deputies were received by Cardinal 
Soglia, who took the list of the.newly-pro-
posed de,mocratic ministers to lay it .before 
the Pontiff, who said ,he would take it·into 
kis oonsideril.tion, but 'would yield nothing 

to violenee. The deputation retired, little 
contented with this ans'wer, and a fresh 
deputation, composed of Carbirieer officers, 
was 800n after admitted to the Pope's 
presence, and implored him to assent to t he 
wishes of the populace whom it was impos-
sible to restrain. "My duties as Pontiff 
and So:vereign forbid me, " replied his Ho-
liness, "to receive terms imposed by rebel-
lion." The officers withdrew. Pius IX. 
had with him at this trying moment, be-
sides Antonelli and a few faithful servants, 
the AmbassadOIs of France, Spain, Portu-
gal, Bavaria, Holland and the Brazils. No 
representati ves from the Italian States, nor 
England were present. Sixty Swiss Guards, 
and some members · of the "Guardia N 0-
bile,' ~ alone formed the garrison of the 
Quirinal. On the other hand the Palace 
was beset by the students of the Sapienza, 
with the Prince of Canino, musket in hand, 
at their head; by the Civic Guards, by 
troops of the line, by Carbineers, with a 
piece of ordnance pointed against the prin-
cipal gate, by riflemen, who took their post 
on the bell-tower of San Carlo . . Fire was 
applied to the smaller gate of the Palace 
which opened on the Porta. Pia, but it was 
extinguished by the Swiss Guards. From 
a house in the Via Scanderbeg, a carbine 
was discharged into the windows of the 
apartment of the Holy Father, scattering 
fragments of glass over the inmates. At 
the same instant a ball, fired from San Car-
lo, struck Monsignor Pa~ma in the fore-
head, and killed him on the spot. It was 
now evident that the. defenders of the Pal-
ace could not long hold out against the 
numberof the assailants, and that the Pope's 
person was ' in imminent jeopardy. At 8 
in the .evening a third, deputation,. headed 
by Galletti, .was admitted into the Quirinal, 
and Galletti was usher/3d into the cablllet 
of the.Pope. His'Holiness gave cons0ut to 
the nomination of. Galletti as Premier, with 
Marniani, Sterbini, artd other democrats for 
colleagues. No sooner had the interview 
with . Galletti terminated than the Pope pro-
tested before the foreign Amba,ssadors that 
he was acting only from compulsion, and 
from a desire to save ' the effusion of olood . . 
"I am here," said he, "as a prisoner. They 
will take from me my guards, and pla'ce me 
in, the custody of others. My coniluct in 
this hour, ' in which every Inltteridl aid is ' 
withdrawn, ,is based upon ' tho;l deternlina-
twn to avoid the spilling of a single lirqp of 
fraternal blood · in my defEmce. I yield ' 
solely from this principle, but at the same 
time I desire you and all Europe 'to know 
that I take no par~, even by nalne, in this 
new Government, from which I remain . 
aloof . . I have i'nhibited,the ll-huse,' of 'nlY 
name, .and forbidden the employment of ' 
the ordinary formulas." The sound of the 
v.oice of . Pius IX., as he pronou,ilced ~hcse . 

' words was well nigh drowned in fhe shol.1ts ·· 
which arose. from without. • The vast mnl-
titude in the Piazzi ~nt up the cry of "Vi-



r 161 

va l'Italia," and the troops discharged their 
muskets in sign of exultation. The popu-
lace, slowly descending the .Quirinal, cele-
brated their victory by parading the streets 
with lighted torches, until the night put an 
end to their triumphant demonstrations. 

Giuseppe Galletti, who now succeeded to 
the office vacated by the assassination of 
Count Rossi, was the son of a barber in 
Bologna, and originally followed his father's 
trade. Being of quick parts, he was sent 
to the famous university of his native city, 
and in time became an able lawyer. In 
1831 he resigned the toga for the sword, 
and joined the revolution. A brave soldier, 
he distinguished himself at the storming of 
Cento, fought the Austrians at Rimini, and 
was wounded at Cesena. Meeting with ad-
verse fortune, he went into exile, but twelve 
years later returned to direct a ' new con-
spITacy, tile secret aim of which was to 
compass the a&sassination of the then Pontiff 
Gregory XVI. 

Arrested before he could put into execu-
tion his odious project, he was put in irons, 
brought to Rome, tried and condemned to 
the galleys for life, a sentence commuted 
into penal imprisonment. The amnesty of 
Pius IX. set him free, and, on the occasion 
of his liberation, he was so profuse in de-
mons.trations of hypocritical gratitude, as to 
force the Pontiff to say to him, "Enough, 
my son, enough." Such was the man 
whom Pius IX. was now forced to accept 
as the nominal head or his Government, 
but it was plain that this connection be-
tween the Pontiff and Galletti could exist 
only by compulsion, and would terminate 
the momen,t when the Holy Father could 
regain his personal liberty. Flight seemed 
the only mode of obtaining this freedom. 
But the Quirinal was closely watched. The 
Swiss Guards had been sent away, and re-
placed by the National Guards. Sentinels 
kept constant ward upon the gates. The 
foreign Ambassadors were permitted ·to see 
the Pontiff, but their visits were always at-
tended with ceremonious precautions. 
Pius IX. himself, although:.convinced of the 
necessity of escape, was reluctant to aban-
don his people, and hesitated in choice of a 
refuge. He was in doubt whether to fix 
his domicile in France, or in Spain, or to 
remain in Italian territory. At one time 
he had almost resolved upon flight by way 
of Civita Vecchia, and the French Ambas-
sador sent orders to the ship of war, Tenare, 
to be in readiness at that port. But Car-
dinal Antonelli, fearing that the road to 
Civita Vecchia was beset by revolutionists, 
dissuaded the Pope from accepting the offer 
of the Due d'Harcourt. Meanwhile the 
Countess von Spaur, wife of the Bavarian 
Minister, devised with her husband a mode 
of escape, which was put into execution on 
the eveniD!; of the 24th of November, 
1848. · The Duc d'Harcourt, a little before 
five o'clock in the afternoon, drove in state 
to the Quirinal, footmen with torches ac-

companying the carrage. He demanded 
audience of the Pope, and after delays on 
the part of the guards, was admitted to the 
private apartment of his Holiness, a.nd 
closed the doors behind him. The Holy 
Fa.ther changed his dress, and put on the 
black soutane and hat of a priest, and a pair 
of spectacles. By aid of the Cavaliere 
Fillippani, he made his eXit from the Quiri-
nal through a private passage, while the 
Duc d'Harcourt continued until the hour of 
seven P.M. in the cabinet, reading aloud in 
order to distract the attention of the ser-
vants on watch in the ante-chamber. The 
Pope drove in a carriage through Lhe Fo-
rum of Trajan, and passed the streets lead-
ing to the Coliseum to the Baths of Titus, 
and to the church of SS. Pietro and Mar-
cellino, where ' the Count von Spaur was 
waiting with a postchaise. Into this the 
Pope entered, and in half an hour from 
leaving the Quirinal they had passed 
through the gate of St. John Lateran, and 
were on their way to join the Countess von 
Spaur, who had left Rome the same morn-
ing for Albano. The Duc d'Harcourt hav-
ing remained long enough in the Pope's 
cabinet to cover the escape of the Pontiff, 
retired, telling the gentlemen of the ante-
chamber, and the sentinels on duty at the 
Pope's apartment, that his Holiness was 
indisposed, and had gone to bed He then 
returned to the Embassy, and entering a 
traveling carriage, set out for Civita 
Vecchia, and embarked in the Tenare 
for Gaeta. Count von Spaur and the Pope 
overtook the Countess in the valley of l' Ar-
iccia, near Albano. At this moment four 
Carbineers on patrol appeared, but the in-
genuity of the Countess prevented all sus-
picion. She addressed the Pope as if angry 
at being delayed, and told him to make 
haste and get into her carriage. The Car-
bineers, deceived, actually assisted the Pope 
to ascend, and shut the door behind him 
after he had entered, and wished them a 
good journey. The carriage contained in 
the interior the Countess, the Pope, her 
son and his tutor. Outside were the Count, 
an armed servant and a maid. They tra.v-
Illed with good fortune. At Fondi, indeed, 
the Pope hardly escaped recognitlOn. A 
postillion, uttering a cry of surprise, said 
to one of his companions: "Look well at 
that priest; he is very like the portrait of 
the Pope which we have at home." Soon, 
however, they reached the frontier, and 
were safe. Then the Holy Father, in grat-
itude for divine protection, recited the Te 
Dewm. At half-past nine on the morning 
of the 25th, hey were at Mola di Gaeta, 
and found there Cardinal Antonelli and 
Cavaliere Arnao; Secretary of the Spanish 
Embassy, who had preceded them by some 
hours. At the Albergo di Cicerone the 
travelers allighted for refreshment. It was 
now decided that Count von Spaur should 
proceed to Naples, bearing an autograph 
letter from the Pope to King Ferdinand II .. . 



while the rest of the party should go on to 
Gaeta, which is about five miles distant 
from the Mole. 

Count von Spaur arrived in Naples about 
eleven o'clock on the night of the 25th, 
and went to the house of Monsignor Gari-
baldi, the Apostolic Nuncio, who was on 
the point of going to bed. The Count anx-
iously asked him if the King was in N 30-
pIes. "Yes," replied the - Nuncio, "he 
came to-day and leaves in the morning for 
Caserta." "Then, Monsignor, I must 
speak with him." " To-morrow 1 " " At 
once, this evening, immediately." "This 
evening 1 Do you really mean it 1" "It 
must be done, and you must introduce 
me." "But do you know the hour 1 " 
"Five minutes past eleven," said the Count, 
looking at his watch. "It will be midnight 
before we reach the palace." , 'If one 
o'clock I must speak to his Majesty." "But 
reflect, the King may be in bed." " No 
matter, his Majesty must rise." " Make 
the King get up from bed 1 " "Yes, Mon-
signor, if he should have gone to bed." 

The Nuncio was not disposed to prolong 
the conversation, and was retiring to his 
bedroom, w.hen Count Spaur drew from his 
portfolio the letter addressed and sealed 
by the Pope. The Nuncio recognizing 
his master's handwriting, conducted the 
Count to the royal palace, where they ar-
rived at 12 P.M. The King received Count 
von Spaur alone, and hastily read the 
Pope's letter, which was in these terms: 

"Sire-The Roman Pontiff, Vicar of 
.Jesus Christ, and Sovereign of the States 
of the Holy See, finds himself constrained 
by circumstances to abandon his Capital, in 
order not to compromise his dignity, and to 
avoid appearing to approve by silence the 
excesses, which have been and may be com-
mitted at Rome. He is at Gaeta, but is 
there for a brief time only, as he does not 
wish to compromise your Majesty, nor to 
disturb the repose of your subjects. The 
Count von Spaur will have the honor of 
presenting this letter, and will inform you 
of all which lack of time prevents me 
from expressing to you relative to the place 
whither the Pope has arranged to go for the 
present. In quietness of spirit, and with 
profound resignation to the decrees -of God, 
he sends to your Majesty, to your Royal 
Consort, and your. bmily, the Apostolic 
benediction.' Mola di Gaeta, 25th N ovem-
ber,1848. PIUS PP. IX, 

Ferdinand II., having read this letter, 
turned to Count Spaur and said :-" If you 
will return hither at six o'clock In the morn-
ing my answer will be ready." During that 
rught preparations were made by the King's 
orders for visiting the Pope. Two steamers, 
the Tancredi and the Robert@, were got 
ready. And at the appointed hour the 
King and Count - von Spaur, with the 
Queen, the Counts of Aquilla and Trapani, 
the Infante Don Sebastiano, and a. brilliant 
8uite'embarked for Gaeta. 

Pius IX., after the departure of Couni 
von Spaur for Naples on the 25th, left Mola 
di Gaeta on the same day, according to ar-
rangement, for Gaeta, intending to stay at 
the house of Monsignor Parisio, the Bishop 
of that place. Monsignor Parisio, however, 
was absent at the bcdside of a dying 
brother, and Daniel, the Bishop's servant, 
refused, in his master's absence, the re-
peated requests of A:dtonelli and of the 
Pope, who still preserved his incognito, to 
admit them into the palace. The Pope con-
sequently was forced to go to an humble 
inn, called the "Giardinetto." On the 26th 
of November the ,two Neapolitan frigates 
arrived at Gaeta, and King Ferdinand, on 
landing, asked General Grosse, commandant 
of the garrison, of the residence of his 
Holiness. The General knew nothing of 
the Pope. But Cavaliere Arnao, who was 
waiting with Antonelli, stepped forward 
and explained the position of affairs. It 
was then arranged that the Pope should be 
conducted privately from the "Giardinetto" 
to the King's palace, while Ferdinand pro. 
ceeded thither on foot by another way to 
distract the attention of the crowd. Pius 
IX., still attired as a simple priest, on ar-
riving at the Royal residence, was met at the 
foot of the stairs by the King, the Queen, 
and the three brothers of his Majesty, who, 
with tears, paid him their homage, and de-
clared their thankfulness to God for being 
permitted to afford an asylum to the Vicar 
of Christ in his distress. 

At Rome the PQpe's escape was made 
known, on the morning of the 25th of N 0-
vember, to Galletti by means of a letter, 
which had been addressed for that purpose 
by the Pope to the Marquis Sacchetti. 
The news excited the sorrow of some and 
the joy of others, while a general feeling of 
uneasiness prevailed, and anxiety for fresh 
intelligence. The Romans were not kept 
long in suspense. On the 3rd of December, 
a brief, dated from Gaetta, the 27th of 
November, arrived, and was published in 
Rome. In this brief, Pius IX. renewed the 
protests previously made verbally, in pres-
ence of the diplomatic body, on the 16th 
and 17th of November, againsc the un-
heard-of violence and sacrilege to which he 
had been exposed; declared all the acts of 
Galletti and the democratic Ministry null 
and void, and nominated a new Cabinet, 
consisting of Cardinal Castracane, Monsig-
nor Roberto Roberti, the PrincDs Ruviano 
and Barberini, the Marquises Bevilacqua 
and Ricci, and Lieutenant-General Succhi. 
The Galletti Ministry now sent a deputation 
to Gaeta to invite the Pope to return to Rome, 
and, at the same time, issued a decree for ' 
the election of a Constituent Assembly to 
decide on the form of the new Government. 
This Assembly, in spite of a warning ad-
monition signed by Pius IX. on the 1st 
.January, 1849, met in Rome, and on the 
9th 6f .January, decreed the downfall of 
the temporal power of the Pope-and the es-



[18 ] 

tablishmcnt of. a pure democracy under the 
name of -the Roman Republic. Mazzini, 
himself ,at the head of the secret societies, 
entering the Assembly on the 6th oflrlarch, 
took the reigns of power. into his own 
hands. 

The Pope at Gaeta received abundant 
testimonies of the .sympathy almost uni-
Tersally felt. for hint All the Sovereigns 
of Europe wrote him letters of condolllnce. 
In the Parliaments of France and Spain, 
his cause was advocated b; the most elo-
quent orators. In every Caiholic country, 
associatlOns were formed to send voluntary 
offerings to the Vicar of Christ exiled at 
Gaeta. France, Spain, Austria, and Na-
ples, in concert with other powers-Pied-
mont standing aloof ........ offered material aid 
to restore the Pope to his dominions. As 
it was necessary that their interposition 
should be officially requested before the 
taking of .any overt steps, Cardinal Anto-
nelli, on the 18th of February, 1849, ad-
dressed a formal note to the Diplomatic 
Bodf, demanding in the name of Pius IX., 
the armed assistance of the Catholic Pow-
ers and .notably of those kingdoms whose 
geographical situation presented special 
facilities for intervention. , This demand 
produced prompt effect. The Mazzinian 
reign was brief, and the rtlin of the Repub-
lican edifice was rapid. The Austrian forces 
entered the Legations, and were speedily 
successful. Louis . Napoleon Bonaparte, 
President of the French Repulic, sent 'an 
army under General Oudinot, which landed 
at Civita Vecchia on the 25th of April, 
1849.. And after two months of military 
operations, in which the bravery of the 
forces on both sides was conspicuous, Oudi-
not entered Rome at the head of his victo-
rious troops on the 30th of June, and the 
same day dispatched Colonel Niel to Gaeta 
to lay before his Holiness the keys , of the 
Metropolis. Pius IX. , did not, however, . 
immediately return to Rome. . He ap-
pointed,. on the 17th of July, a commission 
of three Cardinals, Della Genga, Vanni-
celli, and Altiera, to re-organize the Gov-
ernment. They entered en their functions 
on the 31st of July, and nominated' a new 
Ministry, consisting of Calli, Savelli, Gian-
Santo, and CamilloScabini. Havingmoved 
his court 'from .Gaeta to Portici, a small 
town near Naples, the Pope on the 12th of 
September, by ni.otu pr.opaire, decreed the 
establishment of several councils or boards, 
for improving law and finance; instituted 
anew provincial and representative bodies, 
and proclaimed an amnesty, under certain 
limitations, . for politlCal offences. Six 
months afterwards, namely, upon the 12th 
of April, .1850, Piu8 IX. re-entered ·Rome 
amid .the plaudits of. his people. 

. XI. 

'Ihe trials and persecutIOns, to which the 
Ohurch and her aUgust Head had l>een ex-

posed, by no means ceased . with the fall of 
the democratic Government of Mazzini. 
The restoration of the' Italian princes to 
their thrones was followed by a passionate 
reaction in favor of Italian independence, 
and Liberals from every part of the Penin-
sulaflocked to Turin, where, under shadow 
of the tri-color, they found security and 
licence, and w.here the work of the revolu-
tionists, interrupted for a moment by the 
Austrian victory at Novara, was fostered by 
the Piedmontese Government. Early in 
the year 1850, the Sardinian Minister, Sic-
cardi, proposed an Act of P:;trliament against 
the clergy, breaking the concordat with the 
Holy See, and placing the clergy in subjec-
tion to the civil power, and destroying their 
privileges and 'ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 
The Pontiff in vain protested, when in Por-
tici, against this act of hostility to the 
Church, which. became law on the 9th of 
April, 1850. Franzoni, Archbishop 9f Tu-
rin, advised his clergy by a circular, to 
oppose. the new law by protests, and to 
yield, if compelled by force, only al provi-
sional obedience. For this he was cited 
before the tribunals, and refusing to appear, 
was condemned on the 27th of May to three . 
months' incarceration. On the same day 
the Archbishop was arrested by gendarmes 
and lodged in prison in the citadel of Turin. 
The Pope's Allocution, pronounced at Rome 
in the Consistory of the 20th of May, 1850, 
contains an allusion to the deplorable policy 
pursued by Piedmont. For an offence sim-
ilal' to that of Mgr. Franzoni, the' Arch-
bishop of Sassari, an aged and infirm pre-
late, was kept pris9ner in his own house. 
.And finally, Mgr. Franzoni, for refusing the 
sacraments to Santa Rosa, one of the Pied- · 
montese Ministers, who died under excom-
munication, and who persisted to his last · 
hour in impenitence, for his complicity in 
the Siccardi law, was sentenced to forfeiture 
of his archiepiscopal revenues, and to 
banishment. He went into forced exile on 
the 28th September, 1850. The Pope was 
now held up to reprobation by the Turin 
journals as the cause of the rupture between 
Sardinia and Rome, and as the foe to Italian 
freedom. 

In the midst of this bitterness, one of 
the most glorious acts of his Pontificate was 
performed by Pim IX., the re-establish-
ment, namely, in England of the Catholic ' 
Episcopate. The Apostolic letter of the 
24th S~ptember, 1850, formed England into 

eccleBiast~cal province, consisting of one 
archbishopric, that of Westminster, and 
twelve suffragan sees. Bishop Wiseman 
was then created the first Archbishop of the 
new ecclesiastical province; and hel was 
raised to the rank of Cardinal in the 00n-
sistory of the 30th of September following. 
TIus act of the Pontiff did not escape the 
angry certsure of 'the same Protestant hie-
rarchy, which had vainly opposed, in 1829, 
Catholic emancipation in Great Britain arid 



L 19 J-

Ireland. The archbishops and bishops of 
the so-called Chl.\rch of England united in 
an address to Queen Victoria, ?omplaining 
that England, a country possessmg, as the.y 
said, a true branch of the Holy CatholIc 
Church, was treated as pagan land .by the 
Bishop of Rome, whose arrogant usurpa-
tions in defiance of the laws had trespassec\ 
upon the constitutio~al prerogatives ?f t~e 
British Crown, and mvaded her Majesty s 
supremacy within the realm. . But this pro-
test of the Anglican prelates was unproduc-
tive of the effects expected by Protestants. 
Cardinal Wiseman proceeded to his diocese 
and governed his see without molestation, a 
new impulse to the development of Cathol, 
icism in Great Britain appearing to be the 
only result of the hostility of the sectarians. 
The IJoly Father, in 1853, confel!ed a s~m­
ilar benefit upon Holland, restormg to that 
Kingdom the blessing of an Episcopal Hie-
rarchy. In the same year, 1.8.53~ Pius IX. 
newly organized the Roman t1tles of honor; 
pronounced an Allocution, exhorting the 
Eastern Church to abandon its schism; and 
issued an Encyclical to the bishops and the 
faithful in Catholic Armenia. 

XII. 

The year ] 854 was slgnalized ~y the ac-
complishment of a solemn act,. ~hlCh was ?f 
the highest importance to religlOn, and III 
itself reflects imperishable lustre on the 
reign of Pius IX. This was the dO!pl1atic 
definition of the Immaculate ConceptlOn of 
the Blessed Virgin. In preparation for this 
grand solemnity, a Jubilee was proclaimed 
by Encvclicalletter on the 1st of August, 
1854 and addressed to all the bishop/! of 
Chri~tendom. The Church, it may be re-
marked, does not make new do~as .by new 
definitions; she merely declares mfalhbly the 
truths of religion revealed by God. The 
8th day of December was fixed for the so-
lemnity. A little before nine o'clock on the 
morning of that day the Pope entered the 
Basilica of St. Peter, which was sumptuous-. 
ly decorated, and in which were gathered to-
gether from all parts of the Catholic world, 
all the Cardinals, forty-three Archbishops, 
and ninety-two Bishops, and an immense 
number of laymen. Pontifical High Mass 
commenced. After the Gospel, Cardmal 
Macchi, Dean of the Sacred College, with'. 

. the senior archbishops and bishops present,_ 
together with an archbishop of the Greek 
and another of the Armenian rite, drew near' 
the throne of the Pontifl, and the Cardinal 
Dean, in their name, read a ~isc~:mrSe, .con-: 
eluding with a request that h1s Holmess 
would lift up his Apostolical voice arid pro-' 
nounce the dogmatic decree of the Concep.: 
cion of the Virgin Mother of God. Divine' 

. aid w;ui then invoked by the singing of the' 
"Velli Creator," after which' Pi~s IX., 
deepls moved, and his voice at times broken 
by teai-s, read tho decree,by which it is de-:. 
elared that·the '''doctrine, that the Bltl~l' 

• ( , f 

Virgin Mary, in the first instant o£.-her (:on~ 
ception, by the singular grace ,and privilege 
of Almighty God, and by favor of the merits 
of Jesus the Saviour of the world, was pre-
served slj,fe from all taint of original sin, is 
revealed by God, and, therefore, .IpuSt be 
firmly and constantly believed by all the 
faithful." The Cardinal-Deacon then ad-
vanced to the foot of the throne, and peti- _ 
~ioned for the · publication of the decree, 
and this request being granted, the' Mass 
proceeded. At its conclusion , the "Te 
'oeum" was intoned. The Pope was then 
carried procossionally in sedia gestatoria to 
the chapel of Sixtus IV., where his Holi-
ness placed on the head of the image of the 
Blessed Virgin a rich crown of gold, 
adorned with precious jewels. In the even-
ing all public and private edifices ·were ,bril-
liantly illuminated. To perpetuate the 
memory of thb act, Pius IX. ordered a .co-
lossal column of marble to be erected in front 
of the college of the Propagl).nda. This 
column was not completed until 1856, when, 
on the 18th of December, it was raised on 
its base by the Roman Fire Brigade, com-
manded by the Duke of Sermoneta, the 
the salne nobleman, who fourteen years 
later, that is to say, on the 20th of October,-
1870, carried the plebiscite, by which :Pius 
IX. was stripped -of his temporal sover-
eignty, to Victor Emmanuel, and rece,ived 
as his reward ·the collar of the Annunziata. 
The GO I umn bears a suitable inscription, and 
is surnlOunted by a bronze statue of the 
Blessed Virgin. Immaculate. Two days after 
the proclamation of the dogma, the Holy 
Father consecrated the magnificent church 
of St. Paul outside the walls, which was now 
rebuilt, the original edifice having been Qe-
stroyed by fire towards the end of the Pon-
tificate of Pius VII. On Christma8 Day, 
in 1854, at the High Mass in St. PElter's, 
the Pope wore, for the first time, the tiara 
given him by Isabella II. of Spain. It ill of 
exquisite workmanship, being o( tissue of 
silver adorned with 19,000 gems, of which 
18,000 are brilliants. _ . 

An accident occuITed to Pius IX., in 
1855, which placed his 'person i~serious' 
peril. He was returning on the 12th of 
April, from visiting the excavations made, 
by the Propaganda College in a place called 
"Petra Anrea," about seven miles from 
Rome, on the Via N omentana. At two 
o'clock his Holiness stoppe-d at the' conv~nt, 
of St. Agneb to dine. He wafl ,received by 
Cardinal d'Andrea, Titular of St, Agnes, 
and had arranged to give audience, there to 
the students of the Urban College of the 
Propaganda. These students at the hour of 
four o'clock in the afternoon, ' be~ng one 
hundred and ten in number, and accompa-
niedby the.ir, Rector, enteredthe :Chamber 
where the 'Pope was sitting, surroun!l,ed ;by, 
those who had been admitted to hi~ tallle .. 
The 8tudents ranged thelI!se!ve8 in order, 
and 'llopout e\ghty.of ~hep1 .ha(l'qeen W~Elnt-: 
"4 to liis Holiness, when a sudden crash waa 



[201 

'heard, the 'tiled floor gave way, and the 
whole party was precipitated some fifteen or ' 
twenty feet downwards' into a dark hall. 
full of dust, caused by the falling fragments 
of the broken pavement. Pius IX. escaped 
without a scratch, and wonderful to say not 
one individual was seriously injured, al-
though SOllie aged men and several boys of 

, tender age were among the number of the 
fallen. Tho cause of the accident was the 

• breaking of a beam which supported the 
floor. The Pope, having ascertained that 
no one had suffered damage to life or limb, 
betook ,himself to the adjoining church 
where .the Bleased Sacrament was exposed. 
He then mtoned the "Te Deum," in grati-
tude for the escape, and for the many mer-
cies of God. After Benediction of the Most 
Holy liIacrament, Pius IX. went to visit a 
few of the students who f being slightly hurt, 
had been placed in bed, and ,thcn he drove 
back to the Vatican safe and sound. Short-
ly after this acci~ent t~e H?ly Father re-
ceived a consolation whlCh hIS predeces~ors 
from Pius VI. to Gregory XVI. had vamly 
sought, the restoration ~amely, thro?gh?ut 
the vast AUlltrian EmpIre, of eccleslastlCal 
authority ahd of all the anCIent rights of 
the Church which had been taken away by 
the anti-Catholic and schismatical laws of 
;Joseph II. This grand restoration 'Was effect· 
ed by a Concordat, concluded between 
Francis-Joseph and ·the Holy See, on the 
18th of August, 1855, a ConcoFClat which 
unfortllliately lasted only fourteen years, 
the Austrian Emperor being so weakened 
by the disasters of the wars of 1859 and 
1866 as to be obliged to sacrifice his own 
judgment to the exige~cies of rev~luti0n: 

Public order, secunty and qUIet bemg 
now re-established in the States of the 
Church, Pius IX. resolved on visiting the 
provinces and acquiring by perso~a~ inspec-
tion a knowledge of the condItIOn and 
needs of his subjects. Leaving Rome on 
4th of May, 1857, the Pontiff passed 
through Nami. Terni, Spoleto, Foligno and 
Assissi. At Perugia he was met by Arch-
duke Charles, the second son of the Grand 
Duke Leopold II. He next proceeded to 
Loreto Ancona, and his native Sinigaglia. 
The ~public of San Marino sent a depu-
tation to pay him homage at Pesaro, where 
al.so he received the Governor of Lombar-
dy and Venice, the Archd~ke Maximilian 
of Awftria. Visiting Rimini, Cesena, For-
li and 'Iniola, he arrived on the 9th of 
J~ne at Bologna, where he remained some 

. time, being visited by the Duke and Duch-
eSS of Modena, King Louis of lhvaria, the 
Duchess Regent of Parma, Leopold II., 
and by all the Bishops of Tuscany. From 
Bologna he made excursions to Mod~na, 
Ferrara, and Ravenna. On the invitation 
of the Grand Duke the Pontiff visited Tus-
canl' being received on the confines of 
thllIt 'State by the Archdukes ' Ferdinand 
ana ':(!JliaNes! -On the 18th of August he 
enlieted -Florence, a splendid apartment in 

t~e Pitti palace having been , prepare<1 tor ' 
Ius use. From Florence he went to Pisa, 
Lucca and Volterra; at the latter place 
visiting the college where he had been edu-
cated, and celebrating Mass in the college 
chapel. On the 28th of August the Pope 
was at Siena, and left it on the 31st, on his 
return to his capital. During the whole of 
this journey he was occupled in inspecting 
churches and institutions of various kinds . 
He was everywhere welcomed with profound 
respect. His re-entry into Rome was made 
on the 5th of September, 1857, amid pub-
lic rejoicings. Concordats with Modena 
and Tuscany, the result probably of the 
Pope's interviews with the sovereigns of 
those States, were soon after effected. 

XIII. 

Dark clouds now began to gather in the 
political atmosphere, and threatened to 
burst in war. The menacing words spoken 
on the first of January, 1858, by the Em-
peror Napoleon III. to the Austrian Am-
bassador, the language of Count Cavour 
and the Earl of Clarendon in the Congress 
of Paris, and the address of Victor Em-
manuel to the Chambers on the opening of 
the session of 1859, were winged harbin-
bers of strife. Austria, seeing the contest 
inevitable, was first to draw the sword. and 
crossed the Ticini on the 29th of April, 
1859, with the design of marching on Turin . 
and dictating terms before his enemy could 
have time to prepare resistance. This 
daring plall was frustrated by a series of 
victories, gained by the French dnd Sardi-
nian troops united, which drove the Em-
peror from Lombardy and Venice and put 
an end to Austrian occupation of the penin-
sula. Bologna and the Legations now raised 
the standard of revolt against the Pope, 
being instigated to rebellion by the emis-
saries of the Mazzinian sect and the agents 
of Victor Emmanuel. The Emperor N a-
poleon IlL, when giving his alliance to 
Sardinia, had solemnly declared-" We do 
not enter Italy to foment disorder or de-
stroy the power of the Pontiff whum we 
ourselves replaced upon his throne." The 
Pope had been assured likewise by private 
letters from the French Emperor, of the 
security of the rights and temporal sover-
eigntyof ihe Holy See. Yet in spite of 
these declarations, and of the fact that one . 
word from Napoleon would have sufficed to 
check the revolt and stay the arm of Vic-
tor Emmanuel, the word was not spoken, 
and the Sardinian King, availing himself of 
a request for protection mad~ to him by 
Qertain Bolognese, sent to them in June, 
18,Q9, troops and a Governor in the person 
of the Marquis Massimo d'Azeglio. The 
examplt> of Bologna was followed by other 
parts of the Pontifical States. Sardinian 
soldiers were dispatched to seize Forte Ur-
bano and Castelfranco, and to mine the for-
tres30f Ferrara. The army of Pius IX. was 
unable to quell revolts thus aided by Vic-



[2l] 

tor Emmanuel, and as neither France nQr 
Austria interfered, the Legations were 
taken from the Holy See and annexed to 
Piedmont. Napoleon III., in a ·letter dated 
the 31st December, 1859" told Pius IX., in 
reply to his appeal that he had better, for 
the sake of the peace of Eumpe, renounce 
those provinces which for fifty years had 
occasioned,so much trouble to the Pontiffs, 
and receive in return a guarantee of the, 
powers for the undisturbed possession of 
the rest of his dominions. The Bull of the 
greater excom.munication, enjoined by the 
Canons against usurpers of the property of 
the Church, was published on the 20th of 
March, 1860, and in April following Gen-
eml de. La Moriciere, a French officer of ap-
proyed bravery and loyalty, was appointed 
by the Holy Father to command the Pon-
tificaJ troops, which were now increased in 
number, in order to repeL the attacks ex-
pected .to be made upon the territory: which 
remained to the Pontiff. 

By intrigues, revolts, and plebisoites, 
the Sardinian , Government had possessed 
itself of Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and the 
Legations, and being desirous to see these 
aim,exations confirmed by the sanction of 
religion, commanded the clergy to make · 
common cause with the revolutionists, and to 
sing sole~n Te Deurns in tl' e newly acquired 
cities. But the clergy could not approach 
the altar of God to offer thanks' f@r a work 
contrary to equity, and based on intrigue 
and violence. They, with few exceptions, 
refused their co-operatIOn, and hence a bit-
ter persecution arose in Italy against the 
Church. prie~ts at first, then cardinals 
and bishops, were arrested and imprisoned. 
Odium was excited against them through 
the public journals, which depicted them as 
foes to Italian freedom, and finally they 
were stripped of, their ecclesiastical prop-
erty and reduced to want. Appetite grows 
by feeding. Victor Emmanuel became de-
sirous to add Umbria and the Marshes to 
his kingdqm. Hi~ troops, under Fanti and 
CialdiI).i, began their invasion of a country 
with ,whose sovereign they were at peace: 
Perugia was taken on the 14th of Septem-
ber, 1860, and on the 18th La Moriciere 
was , defeated in a bloody engagement at 
Castelfidardo. Ancona, capitulated on the 
29th. Thus the entire Marshes and Um-
bria, being at the mercy of the Royal 
forces, the usual ~arce of plebicites fol-
lowed, and they too passed under the do-
minion of .Victor Emmanuel. The reli-
gious orders ,in the lately annexed Papal 
provinces ';vere sUPIlressed and their prQP' 
erty expropriated in December, 1860. 

.. , XIV. 

The men who were thus endeavoring to 
destroy the temporal dominion of the Head 
of the Church, to disperse the Religious 
Orders, and to 'reduce the c'lergy to 
abject dependence upon the secular' power, 

i ., 

were seconded in their efforts by those who 
sought ,to repudiate the authority of divine 
revelation, to exalt into law the will of the 
peoples as manifested by public opinion, 
and to teach communism or socialism. 
These apostles of irreligion and immorality, 
disseminating their foul poison by means 
of pestiferous tracts, journals! and publi-
cations of various kinds, hoped to corrupt 
and brutalize the young of both sexes, and 
thus render them ripe for revort against all 
authority. Pius IX., moved by the perils 
to which Catholics were thus exposed, issued, 
on the 8th of December, 1864, ~n Encyclical 
to which ,was attached the famous,Syllapus, 
or, "elenchus" of the principal errors of the 
age which it behoved him, as Head of the 
Church, formally to condemn. The publi-
cation of this Syllabus excited, in an extra-
ordinary degree, the resentment of Prot-
estants and the so-called Liberals of ]Jurope, 
who found in the uncompromizing attitude 
of Pius IX. a barrier to the progress among 
Catholics of irisiduous opinions concerning 
matrimony, which was degraded into a civil 
contract, and concerning the r elations be-
tween Church and State, which the modern 
statesmen sought to separate from eacll 
other, or at least to treat as a combination 
wherein the State sho\lld be altogether su-
perior and supreme. The firmness with 
which Pius IX. maintained the inviolable 
sanctity of the sacrament of marriage, and 
the impossibility of any compl'0mise by which 
the independence and absolute freedoII.l of 
the Church in matters of faith and morals 
could be surrendered, was. termed obstinacy 
by his opponents, but received the grateful 
approbation of enlightened Catholics, who 
found in the Syllabus a valuable andidote 
to the poisonous philosophy ,of, the nine-
teenth century. 

Xy 

" The leaders of "Young Italy" had robbed 
the Holy See of the ,Legations, Umbria 
and the Marshes, and now made no secret 
of their resolve to seize the rest of the 
Pontifical territory, and make Rome the 
capital of Italy. The only obstacl,es to the 
immediate realization of their scheme was 
France, whpse army still protected the re-
maining patrimony of the Church. To qb-
tain ,the withdrawal of the French troops 
was the great ai~ of the J,\'Iazzinian con-
spirators. Napoleon III. wavert;d between 
obedience to the wishes of CathOlic France 
and his own tenderness towards the revo-
lution. AI; last the celebrated Convention 
of S~ptember, 1864, was ratified between 
the Courts of Turin and Paris, by whicl] 
the French army was, pledged to evacuatE 
the Pontifical t rprritory within two years, 
that is in December of 1866, while thE 
ftal,ian Government was to transfer its capi. 
tal from T.urin to .Iflorence, and undertake" 
not only itself t i> .refraip. from forcibly en, 
tering any part of the .Pope's dominions, 
but also to guard the frontier" and prote'lj 



r 22 J 
the Holy See from hostile invasion. The 
Pope, thu's assured of exemption from at-
tack from without was to organize an army 
of his own for maintenance of order, and 
preservation of his sovereignty, within his 
own territory. Such was the substance of 
the Convention which was concluded with-
out the Pope's consent, and without even 
consulting the Holy Father, who refused 
his participation in the responsibility for 
t~is treaty when it was officially communi-
cated to him on the 23rd of September by 
Napoleon III. Time went on. Florence 
became the capital of Italy, but only pro-
visionally, as popular orators ill the Italian 
Parliament openly boasted. A French 
legion of 1,200 volunteers, recruited at An-
tibes, were sent to Rome in September, 
1866, to pass under the control of the Pope 
and for his defence, and in December of 
that year the Freneh division, which for 
eighteen years had maintained the Holy 
Father on his throne, was recalled to 
France. The little principality of the 
Church was thus abandoned to the pro-
tection of a few native soldiers, and the 
Foreign Legion. Pius IX. was duly as-
sured that the moral support of ,France 
would be equally important and not less 
efficacious than ·the material aid previously 
afforded. Rome-so the French Ambassa-.' 
dol' had asserted-was by nature incapable 
of being the capital of a kingdom, but pos-
sessed all the essentials for remaining the 
eapital of Catholicity. But the Pope was 
not deceived. He knew the revolution 
would never relinquish its assaults so long 
as a corner in Italy remained to him where 
justice, order, and peace reigned. He con-
fessed himself weak and without resources. 
"But notwithstanding all this," observed 
the Holy Father, when bidding farewell to 
the army which had so long protected him, 
"I am tranquil, because I place my trust in 
a power which will give me the strength I 
need, and that Power is God." 

General Kanzler, the Pope's Minister of 
War, now became Commander in'Chiefof the 
Papal army, which comprised a fp,w home 
troops, the Antibes Legion, and the Zouaves. 
The revolutionary agents at once endeavored 
to excite dissention and jealousy between 
the native and foreign soldiers, and to cor-
rupt their allegiance. ' Urbano Rattazzi, 
the Prime Minister of Victor Emmanuel, 
commenced, in 1867, to plot against the 
Pope, in order to gain Rome as a ca]1ital in-
stead of Florence, and permitted and en-
couraged the abettors of the revolutionary 
enterprise to collect arms, money, and vol-
unteers, while Garibaldi went through the 
rrincipal cities, preaching war against the 
Pope and the priests. The French Gov-
ernment interposed just as Garibaldi was 
about to invade the Papal States. By or-
der of Rattazzi, Garibaldi was arrested at 
Sinalunga, and conducted to .Alessahdria, 
where he was kept in. custody for the Bpace 
'of fifty-eight 4ours. ' Bei~ released-on 

promise, as the OffiCial Gazette said, of go-
ing home to Caprera and renouncing his as-
sault on Rome, but as he himself declared, 
without any conditions whatever-he pro-
ceeded, not to Caprera, but to Genoa, 
where he resumed his preparations against 
the Pope without opposition from Rattazzi. 
In fact the protests made in the Italian 
Parliament by the Ministers of Victor Em-
manuel, the Notes addressed to the Paris 
Cabinet, the arrest of Garibaldi and of a. 
few volunteers were substantially a comedy, 
for on the 29th of September, 1867, the 
Garibaldians crossed the frontier and inva-
ded the province of Viterbo. In presence 
of this aggression the French Emperor re-
solved on sending an expeditionary corps to 
Civita Vecchia, being unwilling, as the 
Moniteur of the 22nd of October observed, 
to see the signature of France to the Con-
vention of September despised and set at 
naught. But the order of the embarkation 
of the French troops was delayed in con-
sequence of representations from the Italian 
Government to the effect that sufficient 
measures had been taken to prevent the in-
vasion of the Papal States. These repre-
sentations were illusory. Garibaldi, with 
all his squadrons, was permitted to invade 
the Pope's territory, and strife commenced 
in the province of Vitetbo. In Rome the 
accomplices of the revolution fomented re-
bellion, and some conspirators, on the 22nd 
of October, sprung a mine under the Ser-
ristori barracks, which caused much loss of 
life to the Pontifical Zouaves. Satisfied of 
Rattazzi's bad faith, Nopoleon III. gave im-
mediate orders for the departure of the ex-
pedition to succor Pius IX., and on the 
29th of October, 1867, General de Failly 
and the French corps disembarked at 
Civita Vecchia, a considerable portion of 
the soldiers arriving by railway on the same 
day in Rome. After several conflicts be-
tween the Garibaldians and the united 
French and Pontifical troops, a decisive 
battle was fought at Mentana, near Monte 
Rotondo, on the 3rd of November, ending 
in the total defeat and flight of the Garibal-
dini. Order being restored, and public se-
curity following the withdrawal of the in-
vaders, the French soldiers, in February, 
1868, re-embarked for France, leaving be-
hind a small division under General 
Dumont, to garrison Civita Vecchia. 

XVI. 

The holy Catholic Church, tranquil in the 
midst of the fierce and obstinate war SQ 
long waged by the enemies of Christ against 
his Vicar, was preparing herself for no less 
an act than the solemn assembly of an (Ecu-
menica.l Council. The Bull for its convo-
cation was published an the 29th of June, 
1868, in the Vatican Uasilica, and the scope 
assigned by the Pontiff for its deliberations 
. ~mbra,ced "the things relating to the greater , 
glory of God., the integrity of the faith, 'the 
honor of divine worship, the eternal salva-



[23 ] 

tion of SOl11s, the discipline ~ the clergy, 
both regular and secular, the education of 
youth, and the peace of the world." An 
Apostolic Letter, dated the 8th of Septem-
ber, 1868, . was directed to the Bishops of 
the Eastern Church, not in communion 
with the Holy See, inviting them to return 
to the true fold, and take part in the ap-
proaching General Council in unity of spirit, 
faith, and doctrine. The 8th of December, 
1869, a day sacred to the Immaculate Con-
ception of the Blessed Virgin, was fixed for 
the opening of the Council. Meanwhile 
Pius IX. celebrated with much solemnity, 
on the 11th of April, 1869, in St. Peter's, 
the fiftieth anniversary of his fitst Mass. 
On this occasion costly presents flowed in 
to. the Holy Father from all parts of the 
Catholic World, with addresses of congrat-
ulation. On the appointed day', despite 
the many obstacles which had to be over-
come, the opening of the General Gouncil, 
the crowning glory of the long Pontificate 
of Pius IX., took place. The rain descend-
ed in torrents from an early hour in the 
morning, but at 7 A. M. the enormous Ba-
silica of St. Peter's was ' filled by visitors 
from every quarter of the g~obe. The 
Fathers of the Council numl;>ered 722, and 
comprised 49 Cardmals, 9 Patriarchs, 4 
Primates, 123 Archbishops, 480 Bishops, 6 
Abbots, 22 Abbots-Generals of Monastic 
Orders, and 29 Generals of Religious Con-
gregations. At 8 A. M. they were all assem-
bled with the Holy Father in one of the 
transepts of the Basilica. Among the 
spectators of the opening ceremonies were 
the Empress of Austria, Francis II. of N 30-
pIes, the Queen of Wurtemberg, Leopold 
II. and his Consort, the Duke and Duchess 
of Parma, besides other members of royal 
houses, and the diplomatic body. Of this 
Council there were four Sessions-General. 
During the first three, canons were enacted 
defining propositions concerning God the 
Creator of all things, concerning revelation 
and faith, and concerning faith and relig-
ion. In the fourth Session, which was held 
on the 18th of July, 1870, was defined and 
solemnly published the doctrine of the in-
stitution of the Apostolic Primacy of St. 
Peter, the perpetuity of this Primacy in the 
Roman IPontiffs, the force and nature of 
this Primacy, and, finally, its infallibility-
the fact, namely, that "the Roman Pontiff, 
when he speaks ex-cathedra, that is, when, 
in the fulfilment of the office of Pastor or 
Doctor of all Christians, in virtue of his su-
preme apostolic authorHy, he defines a doc-
trine of faith or morals, to be held by all 
the Church, througll the divine assistance 
promised him in Blessed Peter, is endowed 
with that infallibility with which the Divine 
Redeemer willed his Church to be endowed 
in defining doctrines of faith or morals, and 
consequentl) that such definitions of the 
Roman Pontiff are of themselves alone, and 
not by consent of the Church, irreforma-
ble." To this point the labors of the Ooun-

cil had reached, when the Holy Father was 
obliged to suspend its sessions in cOllile-
quence of fresh political adversities. 

XVII. 

In 1870 the cruel and sanguinalY war 
broke out .between France and Prussia, 
which resulted in the overthrow of the Na-
poleonic Empire, in unheard-of disast.ers to 
the French nation, and in total abandon-
ment of the Holy See to the fierce and im-
placable hatred of his foes. The Italian 
Parliament, before the battle of Sedan, dis-
cussed the opportunity, affo!'ded by the with-
drawal of the, French corps, for transferring 
the capital from Florence to Rome, and 
annexing the remaining states of theChurch. 
Visconti -V enosta, the Italian Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, was cautious in his lan-
guage, and at first deprecated the idea of 
seizing the moment of French disaster for 
violation of a solemn treaty, and aba;'ldon-
ment of the programme already proclaimed 
for one of violence and invasion. But the 
professions of the Italian Minister, and his 
pacific declarations to the Foreign Cabinets, 
were merely intended to disarm opposition, 
and were dictated, not by honesty, but by 
cunning and fear. When France lay pros-
trate beneath the armed hosts of Germany, 
and all the civilized world was amazed at the 
appalling calamities which overwhelmed 
France, and gave Prussia a preponderance 
in Europe to which no one could assign 
limits, Victor Emmanuel felt himself freed 
from all restraint, and determined to take 
possession of the Pope's dominions without 
scruple or delay. On the 8th of September, 
1870, the King of Italy sent to Rome Count 
Ponza di San Martino with a letter to his 
Holi!l6ss, which he hypocritically addressed 

. "to the heart" of Pius IX., "with the af-
fection of a son, with the faith of a Catholic, 
with the loyalty of a King, and the feelings 
of an Italian." Victor Emmanuel proceed-
ed to say that he felt compelled by events, 
"in the face of Europe and Catholicity, to 
assume the responsibility of maintaining 
order in the Peninsula and the security of 
the Holy See," and to send his arniy into 
Papal territory. "Your Holiness," so wrote 
the King, "will not see in this precaution-
ary measure an act of hostility. My Gov-
ernment and my forces will rf'lstrain them-
selves absolutely to a conservative action in 
order to guard the rights of the Roman pop-
ulations, rights which are easily reconcilia-
ble with the inviolability of the Pontiff and 
his spiritual authority, and with the inde-
pendence of the Holy See." TheKingthen 
solicited the Pope to enter into arrange-
ments with Count Ponza for co-operating 
with his Majesty, that is to say, for sur-
rendering his dominions. Pius IX. thus 
replied to the King's letter: "Majesty,-By 
Count Ponza di San Martino a letter, has 
been presented to me, which your Majeaty 
has been pleased to oo.dress to me, but 



[24 ] 

whLh is not worthy of an afiectionate son 
who boasts to profess the Catholic faith.' 
Into the details of that letter I donot enter, 
lest I should renew the pain which its first 
perusal caused mI". I bless God who has 
permitted your Majesty to bring to a cli-
max of bitterness the closing period of my 
life. As for the rest, I cannot admit cer-
tain demands, nor conform myself to certain 
principles, contained in your letter. Again, 
I invoke God, and remit to His hands my 
cause, which is altogether His O~. I pray 
him to grant many graces to your Majesty, 
to free you from dangers, and afford you the 
mercies which you need. From the Vati-
can, 11th of September, 1870. PIO PAPA 
IX." 

Meanwhile the army of Victor Emmanuel, 
nnder General Cadorna, passed the frontier, 
and marching almost without opposition 
through the invaded territory of the Pope, 
arrived, on the 19Lh of September, under 
the walls of Rome. By order of his Holi-
ness the gates were closed, and the Royal 
troops planted their cannon to break them 
down. The following letter from Pius IX. 
to General Kanzler, will account for the 
brevity ofthe resistance offered to Cadorna: 

"General-Now that a great sacrilege and 
an enormous injustice is to be perpetrated, 
and the soldiers of a Catholic monarch, 
without provocation, without even the ap-
pearance of excuse, are assembled to besiege 
Lhe capital of the Catholic world, I feel, in 
the first place, the necessity of returning to 
you, General, my thanks, 'as well as to all 
our troops, for t heir generous conduct to the 
present moment, for the affection they have 
shown to tj-le Holy See, and for their wil-
lingness to devote themselves 'altogether to 
the defe.nse of this metropolis. Let these 
words be a solemn document to certify the 
discipline, loyalty, and valor of the troops 
in the service oftheHoly See. With regard, 
however; to the duration of the defense, it 
is my duty ·to command that the resistance 
must only consist in a protest suflicient-
and no more-to establish the fact of VIO-
lence. Upon the opening of the breach, 
arrangements for surrenaer must be made. 
At a moment when all Europe deplores the 
numerous victims to the war raging between 
two 'gTeat nations, it must not be said that 
the Vicar of Christ, however unjustly as-
sailed, consented to a great effusion of blood. 
Our cause is the cause of God, and to His 
hand ~e commit all our defense. From my 
heart, General, 1 give my benediction toyou 
and to all Qur soldiers. From the Vatican, 
19th o'f September, 1870. PIUS PP. IX." 

Early on the following morning the Ital-
ian troop~ op~llied fire, and after a vigorous 
cannonade of some hours, effected a breach 
in the walls at (Porta . Pia, penetrated into 
the city, iisarmed the Pontifical soldiers, 
and !Uade them prisoners of war. The rev-
olutionists thus finished the last act of their 
pr9gramme, and succeeded in planting their 
standard UpOr.l tli~' Capitol. The impious 

work of the Mazzinian Sect, commenced in 
1821 in the dark councils of the Freema-
sons, attained its completion by aid of a 
Catholic Sovereign. The abettors of rebel-
lion, those fierce foesof the Papacy and'the 
Holy See, ~ained a full triumph. Rome, 
the sacred Clty of the Popes and the capital 
of the v.ast Catholic Empire, became the 
prey. of mvad~rs, and the persecuted Pope, 
de~rIved o~ his te~poral. sovereignty, re-
mamed a VIrtual 'Prlsoner ill the Vatican. 

XVIII. 

The position of Pius IX., after the entry 
o~ the Ita:lians into Rome and ~he usurpa-
tIOn of hIS temporal throne by Victor Em-
man'Uel,is unique in the history of the world. 
The Pope was, as he himself happily ex-
pressed it, sub hostili dominatione constitu-
rus. Enemies surrounded him on all sides. 
His captors indeed allowed him to reside in 
the Vatican and put no maLerial constraint 
on his person. He was free to go in or out, 
to continue to reside in Rome or to seek re-
fuge in other countries if he thought fit. 
But oven this personal liberty was a mock-
ery. The streets of Rome, after the entry 
of the Ital.ians,. were daily traversed by men 
whose delIght It would have been to insult 
and assault the Pope. The shop windows 
were full of scurrilous caricatures of the 
Pontiff and the Curia. The Liberal news-
papers, introduced under the regis of the 
revolution, were full of obscenity and blas-
ph~my. Scandalo,us and impious biogra-
plues of the Pontiff, and of Jesus Christ 
were printed in wicked journals and openly 
hawked about the Corso. The very churches 
were invaded by freethinkers and despisers 
of religion. The spies and agents of the 
new Government beset the very gates of the 
Vatican, and everyone who entered the 
Pope's palace was marked and noted and 
sometimes insulted by the soldiers and po-
licemen of the King. It was then of little 
consequence that the doors of the Pope's 
domicile were unbarred, since it was impos-
sible for him to pass outside them without 
assisting at scenes impious and revolting, 
without exposing himself to outrages from 
the men who had come to Rome to foment 
disorder and immorality, and witho\lt run-
ning the risk of . becoming the involuntary 
cause of conflicts among the citizens. " Do 
you ,desire to know the reason," said the 
Holy Father to an audience in the Vatican 
on the 26th of March, 1872, "why 1 do not 
go outside this palace! If I do not go out 
it is because I cannot avoid in the streets of 
Rome so many occasiops of pain and scan-
dal. I cannot, for example, help meeting 
Mazzini's procession. I do not go out of 
the Vatican lest I should meet all those 
enemie.s of myself and of the Holy See. . 
And there is the same reason why I cannot 
descend to St. Peter's to celebrate, ,as they 
would wish, the sacred functions. And what 
functions can be celebrated in a city wherein 



[ 20 -; 

many churches have been already profaners 
and where!n religion, the sacred ministed, 
and the worshippers are daily insulted in the 
very act of per,formance of divine myste-
ries f' The going forth of the Pontiff from 
his palace gates would be a signal for insult 
to him and violence to his adherents. It 
was dangerous for the Pope and his compa-
nions even to look out of the Vatican win-
dows. In December, 1870, Monsignor de 
Merode, the Grand Almoner, and the Swiss 
Guards, who showed themselves in a bal-
cony, were peremptorily ordered to with-
draw into the interior of the palace by the 
King's soldiers on guard. In 1874, on the 
anniversary of the Pope's coronation, the 
face of the Pope was for an instant seen at 
a window, and the piazza became instantly 
filled as if by magic. The crowd in exulta-
tion shouted Viva Pio Nono, Viva il Pa;pa 
Be, Viva il Santo Pad1'e, etc. These cries 
were not illegal or seditious. The law of 
the guarantees acknowledges the Sover-
eignty of the Pope, and pretends to secure 
to him the same sovereign honors as Victor 
Emmf,nuel is entitled to receive. But the 
Bersaglieri and Questurini ordered the 
crowdS to disperse, and deliberately charged 
through the piazza. The disturbance caused 
by the King's soldiers, in suppressing this 
spontaneous demonstration in favor of the 
Pope, led to arrests and imprisonments. In 
fact within four days of the occurence two 
of the arrested men were tried and sen-
tenced to six months' imprisonment, another 
victim was sentenced to eighteen months, 
alid a fourth to imprisonment for the space 
of two years. Foul' others of the alleged 
rioters were remanded for trial at the azzi-
ze~. These events are sufficient to prove 
the impossibility of the Pope's appearance 
in public places. Life, under these circum-
stances, became for Pius IX., as long as he 
remained in Rome, a virtual imprisonment, 
and there is no doubt that he might have 
obtained, by flight from Rome, a more 
agreeable and more independent .dom:.cile 
il~ some other country than Itlay. Eng-
land and France were both ready to facili-
tate his escape and afford him an asylum. 
But personal considerations weighed little 
with Pius IX. By remaining in the Vatican 
until expelled from it by force, the Pope 
thought he could serve the interests of the 
Church better than by flight. His presence 
in Italy would be a drag, if not a check, 
upon the re·volutionary schemes which, as 
the Pope knew well, aimed at the destruc-
tion of the spiritual as well as the temporal 
power of the Papacy. The departure of the 
Pope from Ita:ly would be taken as a sur-
render of his ecclesiastical rule, and would 
give the signal for immediate intervention, 
on the part of the State, in the government 
of the CatholIc Church. The continuance 
of Pius IX. in the Va.ticall would test be-
fore. Europe the worth of the perfidious 
promises made by.the Government of Vic-
tor Emmanuel respecting the spiritual ad-

ministration of the ·aftarrs of the Chul'(;.u. 
Consequently the Holy Father remained in 
his Palace, ever protesting against the vio-
lence which dethroned him, and refusing to 
acceptthe smallest favor fromjhis despoilers, 
or to participate by the least mark of sub-
mission or compromise in the guilt of the 
usurpers. He was in the power of foes 
whom he could not resist, and who, by the 
bombardment of Rome, became his captol's ' 
and masters. It was bitter to fall into their 
cruel hands and to become their prisoner. 
But it would be sinful and degrading to 
consent to the iniquity of his despoilers and 
become partner in their shame. Pius IX. 
might be the victim of perfidious and usurp-
ing revolutionists, but never their accom-
plice. 

Pius IX. was left almost alone and single 
handed to fight , the battle of the Church 
against the world. As far as the several 
Governments of the universe were con-
cerned, none was willing, and at the same 
time able, to take the part of the oppressed 
against the oppressor. France, Austria, 
Spain, and other countries were held back 
by weakness or ·timidity. Germany, and 
certain Protestant nations could not, of 
course, be expected to champion the cause 
of the Pope. Fear tied the hands of the 
Catholic powers, while the Protestant pow-
ers, undisguisedly favored the movement 
which afforded a triumph to the Liberal and 
anti-Catholic principles of modern and Pro-
testant civilization. The Prussian Minister, 
Count Arnim, made no secret of his efforts 
to assist the downfall of the Pope. He 
went to and fro, as volunteer messenger, 
between the Vatican and the camp of Ca-
dorna, and, while pretending to sympa-
thize with the afflictions of the Pontiff, 
facilitated the plans of the invaders and 
was deep in their confidence. His conduct 
earned him the temporary applause of his 
Government, but the promotion he so basll-
ly earned brought him eventually to shame 
and ruin. England was, in 1870, repre-
sented at the Vatican, in an indirect man-
ner, by Mr. Henry Clarke Jervoise, who 
had succeeded to the office filled in Rome by 
Lord Odo Russell, the present British Min-
ister at Berlin. Mr. Jarvoise discharged his 
functions with considerable ability, and 
made true and faithf'Il reports to his Gov-
ernment on the condition of affairs in 
Rome. But he was soon removed from his 
post by the iJ;lterference of Sir Augustus 
Paget, who, as Minister to the King of 
Italy, followed the Court of Victor Em-
manuel from Florence to Rome. Sir Au-
gustus Paget, whose wife is a Prussian lady; 
openly proclaimed his approval of the pol-
icy of Vietor Emmanuel, and his sympathy 
with the usurpers. A member of hisho~lse­
hold, who intruded himself into the Pope's 
presence, took the opportunity to insult his 
Holiness by remaining standing during the 
benediction, and was turned out· by the 
guards on duty. No diplomatic aid accord-



r 26 J 
ingly was to" be expected by Pius IX. from 
the representative of Great Britain. Nor 

I did any other of the great -powers in Eu-
rope -take steps to defend the Pontiff, or go 
oeyond expressing barren sympathy with 
his misfortunes. Practically the l;'ope was 
abandoned by all the nations, for in no one 
instance was remonstrance made diplomati-
ecally against the usurpation of the Pope's 
dominions. Scarcely any successful inter-
f6renc& was made even in behalf of the inter-
61lts in Rome of Catholic subjects of Euro-
pean Sovereigns. The properties of the 
foreign ~olleges and convents in Rome were 
s!)ized and sold, and the inmates driven 
from their homes. The flagrant injustice 
committed upon foreign Catholics resident 
in Rome by the King's Government, may 

. be illustrated by the case of an English 
priest, Father Douglas, who built a church 
and convent on the Esquiline, at a cost of 
some £60,000. To this gentleman, as com-
pensation for the seizure of his property, 
was assigned the pittance of some 400 lire 
per year for his life, equal in English to 
about ten pence a day. To the ,dis-
grace of · the British Foreign Office, this 
outrage upon the property of a British sub-
ject was permitted to pass without redress. 
The seizure of Rome for the capital of 
Italy received the tacit, and, in some cases, 
the expressed approbation of almost all the 
:Jljuropean powers. When the Court of Vic-
tor Emmanuel was removed from Florence 
to Rome, the Comte de Choiseul, the 
French Ambassador, refused to attend the 
Quirinal, and the Austrian and Belgian 
Amba!fsadors were not present at the re-
ception of the Diplomatic Body at the 
Quirinal on the 2d of July, 1871, but all of 
them, a few days later, called, or sent their 
Secretaries to call upon the Italian ForeIgn 
Minister, Signor Visconti-Venosta. Efforts 
were fl'om time to time made by thfl revo-
lutionary partisans to do away with the 
double representation of foreign courts in 
Rome. The Prussian minister, Count Ar-
Dim, paid his farewell visit to the Vatican 
in March, 1872, and an attempt was made 
vainly to appoint Cardinal Hohenlohe to be 
German Ambassador to the Pope. After 
the faIlure of this scheme, and the issue of 
the Papal Allocution of December 23, 
1872, the German Charge d' Ajfaires, Herr 
~turnm, was withdrawn, by order of Prince 
Bismarck, . ,on the 30th of that month. 
England and Prussia have now no represen-
tive at the Vatican. As a solitary symbol 
of the materi!t.l aid which France was sup-
posed to render to Pius IX., a ship of war, 
the Orenoque, lay for some time after the 
breach of Porta Pia, in the harbor of Civi-
ta Veechia, the presence of tIllS vessel in 
Italian ,watHrs, and the fact of its being 
held ready to receive the Pontiff, should 
his Holiness choose to depart from Italy, 
was considered an insult to the C.,urt of ( 
Victor Emmanuel, an offence to the new ' 
kingdom. At last, in October, 1874, the 

Orenoque was withdra.wn from Civita Veu-
chia, and the French Government content-
ed itself with sending another vessel, the 
Kleber, to the French port of Bastia in 
Corsica, there to remain at the disposition 
of the Pope. 

XIX. 

- The apathy with which the several Pow-
ers in Europe regarded the temporal de-
thronementof Pius IX. was doubtless partly 
due to the loud and reiterated assurances 
marle by the Italian Government to Europe, 
to the effect th'lt the personal dignity of the 
Pope would be respected, and the spiritual 
authority of the Head of Catholicism left 

. untouched and unimpaired. Victor Em-
manuel, by letters to Pius IX. , by the pro-
clamations of his generals, by solemn 
speeches in Florence when receiving the ' 
Roman plebiscite, and by ilpeeches in Rome 
to the Parliament, declared over and over 
again that the property and privileges of 
Catholic institutions would be secured and 
preserved, and that the Catholic religion 
would be protected and fostered. The hy-
pocrisy of these professions was, from the 
first, apparent to Pius IX., and soon be-
came apparent to all the world. In the 
month of October, 1871, seals were put en 
the Pope's summer Palace at the Quirinal, 
and two Cardinals, Clarelli, the Secretary 
of Briefs, and Vannicelli Casoni, the Pro-
Datario, were turned out of their apart-
ments in the Palace of the Consulta. A 
fortnight later the Quirinal Palace was 
broken open by means of pick-locks, and 
architects and ma-sons were employed to 
convert the Palace, which had always been 
devoted to the use of the Popes and of 
Conclaves, into a residence for the King. 
The Italian Freemasons transferred their 
head-quarters to Rome undcr the shelter 
of the guns of Cadorna, and in a meeting 
held in Rome in January, 1871, proclaimed 
their resolve to destroy the spiritual power 
of the Pope. At the same time when the 
Quirinal was taken, the Jesuits were ex-
pelled from the Roman College, and the 
name of Jesus over the portal was ha.cked 
off by the workmen o~ the Government. 
Prince Umberto and Princess Margharita 
arrived in Rome in January, and took part 
in the Carnival festivities, part of which 
consisted in a mock crusade caricaturing the 
Pope, Cardinals, and the Religious Orders, 
the revolutionists applauding and crying, 
"Death to the Priests," and "Down with the 
Vatica?~." Mock benediction was given by 
these -masked crusaders, and the Liberal 
journals took care to note that when the 
procession passed the Royal party it was 
saluted cordially by Prince Umberto. - The 
Carnival was closely followed by a riot in 
in the church of the Gesu, wherein sacri-
legious outrage was offered to the Blessed 
Sacrament, and to a Spanish priest who was 
officiating. The spoliation of the Religious 
Orders then commenced. Eight large con-



, r 27 ] 
vents, namely, Sta. Maria. in Va.llicella, the 
Holv Apostles, S. Sylvester in Capite, S. 
Syh;:ester a Monte Cavallo, Sta. Maria delle 
Vergini, S. Andrea della Valle, the Minerva, 
and S. Augustine, were expropriated on the 
4th of March, 1871, for purposes of public 
utility. One of the eight was required for 
stabling for the horses of Victor EmmanueL 
Fifteen days' notice was given to the in-
mates to provide themselves with other 
habitations. In the Allgust following the 
Government expropriated, on the same pre-
text, the Convents of Sta. Teresa, and of 
the Incarnazione, occupied by Carmelite 
Nuns; the vineyards and gardens of the 
Novitiate of the Jesuits; the vineyards and 
gardens of the Roman College; and the 
vineyards and gardens of the Carthusians of 
S. Maria degli Angeli. The nuns who in-
habited the Convent of Sta. Teresa had to 
1;;>e ejected by force, and picklocks were em-
ployed to eftect the seizure of the Incarna-
zione Convent. The forcible expropriation 
of the latter convent occurred in November, 
1871, and in the midst of rain, and the 
Roman ladies sent their carriages to re-
move the inmates. Part of the Convent of 
St. Anthony, Abbot, was at the san::e time 
turned into an .hospital for sold,iers. In 
1872 the Convents of Sta. Croce in Gerusa-
lemme, part of the Gesu, the entire of Sta. 
Marta and SS. Annunziata, were expropri-
ated. In January, 1873., sixteen other Re-
ligious houses were seiz~d by the Govern-
ment. But this piecemeal spoliation was 
not sufficient, anda w holesalemeasure for sup-
pression of all the Religious Orders· in 

. a mass was resolved on. This measure was 
introduced into the Italian Chamber of 
Deputies by a bill prepared carefully by 
the Ministry, and devised with considerable 
skill. The framers of the bill spoke in the 
.pream ble in t erms of great respect for the 
members of the Religious Orders, whom 
they acknowledged to be the right hand of 
the Pope, and an indispensible part of the 
machinery for ruling the universal Church. 
It was not the wish of the Government to 
destroy the Religious Orders, but merely to 
abolish mortmain, and destroy the legal or 
.corporate character of the doomed commu-
nities. The effect of the bill, des-
pite their hypocritICal declarations, was to 
drive the monks and nllns from their con-
vents, put to public auction the lands and 
houses of the Religious, and to make the 
expelled inmates' life prisoners on pittances 
varying from sixpence totenpence per diem. 
This iniquitous bill, which. passed the 
.Chamber of Deputies on the 27th of May, 
1873, by a majority of 196 votes against 46, 
and which passed the Senate without dis-
cussion, by 68 votes against 20, on the 
.17th of June, was signed by the King in 
Turin on the 19th of June. The Ministry, 
which passed this bill, fell only a few days 
,later, namely, on the 25th . of June, 1873. 

The secular clergy in Rome and the ,Ro-
,man {lrovince were not ,plunde,red to tho 

yetsa.meoxtentas were the l·egulars,·but they 
suffere~ severely by the legislation to whieh 
they were subjected. Their landed estates 
were taken and sold by auction, and to the 
Canons and dther clergy were assigned an-
nuities chargeable on the public funds. By 
this .exchange of landed estates for payment 
in depreciated paper money the clergy were 
not only wronged in pecuniary matters, but 
were also made mere State pensioners. 
The very fabrics of the churches' were 
brought under the control of the State. 
The parochial funds for charitable purposes 
were admini,jl tered no longer by the parish 
clergymen, but by State superihtendents. 
Harassing circulars of the Home Office 
were continually issued to annoy and vex 
the clergy. Pilgrimages to sanctuaries and 
religious processions outside the churches 
were prohibited by illegal manifestoes of 
the King's Minister of Grace and Justice 
and of the Minister of the Interior. These 
manifestoes gave rise to numerous 
prosecutions and to much litigation. In 
the years 1872 and 1873 no less than twen-
ty-nine processes were issued against bish-
ops and forty-nine against priests; and sev-
eral bishops and priests were sentenced to 
fine and imprisonment for having performed 
acts incident to their functions without hav-
ing previously obeyed the requirements of 
the Government in regard to the Royal 
Placet and Exequatur. The pulpits were 
rigorously watched, in order to find pre-
texts for prosecuting the preachers. The 
usual grants of money made by the muni-
cipalities for religious festivals were disal-
lowed by the Government officials. The 
army chaplains were discontinued, and no 
facilities were afforded to soldiers for hear-
ing Mass and attending to their religious 
duties. Them.ogical chairs were suppressed 
in the universities, spiritual directors in 
lyceums and colleges were no longer paid, 
and religious instruction was banished from 
the Government schools. Young men pre-
paring for the sacred office of the pnest-
hood were made liable to the conscription, 
and were forced to serve in the army. Cruel 
and exceptional laws were proposed for the 
punishment of the clergy. In every pos-
sible way it was sought to injure the Catho-
lie religion, and to represent Catholics as the 
enemies of their country. 

The policy, in short, which led Victor 
Emmanuel to Rome, was the policy of Maz-
zini, Garibaldi, and the revolutionists. It 
was also the policy of Prince Bismarck. 
·Signor Visconti Venosta, one of Victor 
Emmannel's most tJ;llsted ministers, thu8 
expressed himself in the Italian Parliament 
on the 27th of November, 1872:-"The 
Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire 
have now a common enemy to combat," 
meaning thereby the Pope and Catholici.~m. 
When Mazzini died in March of that year, 
the President of the Italian Chamber of 
.Deputies proposed a vote of national regret, 
.and Signor Crispi, afterwards President . of 

~ 



[28 J 

the same Chamber, and most of the Depu-
ties present concurred in that vote. To 
Garibaldi great honors were paid by the 
King and bv Prince Umberto, and a na-
tional dotation was granted t6 him of 100,-
000 lire per annum. Rewards and honors' 
were lavished on other chiefs of the Revo-
lution. Garibaldi's blasphemous rage 
against the Catholic Church and the Chris-
tianreligion is noto;:ious. In August, 1871, 
Garil:Saldi accepted the presidency of the 
United Democratic Societies, and upon what 
principles these were founded, may be 
gathered from the published rules of one of 
them which was called the Alfieri. By the 
third article of this association, every mem-
ber was pledged to make the national unity 
of Italy the 'basis of his political principles, 
and either to have, as basis of his religious 
principles, free thought, or else to belong to 
some schism or sect which combats Catholi-
cism. Article 4 enacts that each member 
must in political affairs sustain the alliance of 
Italy with Germany, and in religion assail Ca-
tholicism in everyway,and give aid toProt-
estantism. ' By,thefiftharticle, the members 
are bound to advocate the abolition of the 
Papacy, the withdrawal of the Pope from 
Rome, and the abolition of the civil rights 
of priests. By the sixth article, the mem-
bers are -bound in the case of war between 
Italy and any foreign power, to burn all the 
churches, especially the Vatican, and 'to 
banish all priests and abettors of priests. 
The foregoing programme is thoroughly 
Garibaldian. In a le~.ter, dated August 3, 
1872, Garibaldi openly demanded the fo1'-
mal 'l.bolition of the frrsh article of the 
statute by which the Catholic religion is de-
clared· to be the religion of the State. He 
next demanded the abolition of the religious 
orders, and his third stipulatilln was for lay, 
obligatory, and gratuitous instruction. 
Such were his principal requirements for 
his purpose of destroymg Catholicism. 
His political demand6 included universal 
suffrage in all elections, political or admin-
istrative; absolute freedom for political 
meetings and unbridled license for the press; 
the abolition of the salt tax, the tax on 
grinding corn, and the tax on articles of 
consuption; and, lastly, the imposition of 
one uniform and progressi ve system . of 
taxation. 

While in matters of taxation the Go'Y-
·ernment has not yielded to the cries of the 
democrats, it must be confessetl that it has 
adopted most of the democratic programme 
in matters of r eligion. Bya series of leg-
islative enactments and Ministerial decrees, 
the Catholic religian ' has been banished 
from all colleges, schools, and seminaries 
under Government control, and from the 
army, navy, and all institutes of the State. 
The Rcligious Orders have been suppressed, 
and measures have been prepared, and in 
part adopted to confine the CatholicTeligion, 
in its culture and worship, to the yrecincts 
of -the Churches. The alliance with Ger-

I 

. many has been confirmed, and that allianoo 
!lleans the adoption, whenever practicable 
m Italy, of the persecuting policy of 
Prince Bismarck. The unity of Italy, that 
is to say, the kingdom formed by the over-· 
throw of the temporal power of the Pope, 
cannot, it is felt and acknowledged, remain 
in security unless the entire organization, 
civil, political, and administrative of the 
Catholic Church in Italy be qverthrown. 
As a means to this overthrow, it is 
necessary to introduce a complete re-anange-
ment of ecclesiastical property, and to 
adopt the elective principle in all appoint-
ments to benefices and bishoprics. The 
lay element !)lust be made supreme in all 
ecclesiastical matters. Civil and religious 
reform and new relations between the 
Church and State are the only means to 
destro.y the political power o.t Catholics and 
to give permanence t o the new kingdom 
created by the breach of Porta Pia. . 

Quant1~m mutawts ab iUa! How <;liffer-
ent is the present policy of the Ministers of 
Victor Emmanuel from that which was held 
out to the world before the 20th September, 
1870. Eight days before the storming of 
Rome by Cadorna, a circular was sent to the 
Bishops in Italy by Signor Raeli, the Ital-
ian Minister of Grace, Justice and Worship. 
That circular was intended to lull the anx-
ious fears of Catholics who trembled for the 
downfall of the spiritual along with thetem-
poral power of the Pope. But the l'taeli 
circular took away their fears. "The King's 
Government," such are its words, "offers to 
the Holy Father the largest proposals for 
guaranteeing the independence and full lib-
erty of the exercise of the spiritual power 
and the means for providing for Lhe main-
tainance of the Holy See with all the offices, 
institutions, churches, and ecclesiastical 
corporations existing in Rome. Let us 
hope," so proceeds the circular, "that the 
Holy Father will accept our proposals. 
'Whatever be his resolution, the Govern-
ment will never permit the least offense or 
insult to be given ty anyone to the Church, 
to her clergymen, or to the exercise of their 
spiritual ministry." Yet within a year 
from the date of this circular, and while 
Raeli was still Minister of Grace and J ust-
ice, the Italian Governmeut no.t merely per-
mitted, but ordered, the name of J esus to 
be publicly erased from the facade of the 
Roman College; tolerated and encouraged 
blasphemous caricatures of Pope, Cardinals, 
and priests in the Carnival, lmder the 
eyes of Prince Umberto and Princess Mar-
gharita; and introduced a bill which plund-
ered every c nvent in Italy, made pltupers 
·of monks and nuns, and set up to public 
auction the lands, honses, furniture, and 
household goods of the religious corpora-
tions. 

Verily the · Royal speeches, delivered ill 
successive Parliaments since September, 
1870, speak truly when they allude to the 
sacrifices which have 'been made in order to 



l29 'I 

perfect the unity of Italy. Those sacrifices 
include material sacrifices which are deeply 
felt. Italians have to submit to a crushing 
taxation which makes life in some cases un-
endurable. In a land of exceptional fertil-
ity and abundance, where in former years 
no man need die for want of food, men are 
now found frequently dead or expiring in 
the streets from starvation, and suicides are 
more numerous than in any other European 
country. Italians, moreover, have now to 
pay a tax which they call the impost on 
blood, through means of the conscription. 
Tbis conscripLion summons every youth to 
join the army, where he loses his morality 
and ruins his constitution, and from whence 
he returns to his family a disgrace or an in-
cumbrance. , But the royal speeches allude 
to sacrifices other than material, the sacri-
fices of personal principles, of truth, honor 
an.d veracity. The sacrifices of national 
honesty, and of the public faith are by no 
means light. But theso sacrifices are made 
coUectiv,ely and the national stigma at-
taches not to the individual when all are 
'partners in the guilt. There is a harder 
sacrifice 'still, the sacrifice of that which 
men ought nevel' to yield, namely, the per-
sonal sentiments of the heart and the inspI-
rations of the conscience. This is the sort 
of sacrifice whi'ch debases and degrades a 
man in his own opinion as well as in that of 
all honest men. Yet, strange to say, the 
making of this sacrifice has been claimed for 
Victor Emmanuel as a merit. The hiberta 
of July 2, 1871, .when pronouncing a pane-
gyric on his Majesty, has the following para-
graph: "Re galantuomo fino aU' ultimo, egli 
ha. sacrificato tutto; fors' anche quello che 
gli riomini non sacrificano mai, ci ve i1 senti-
mento personale e Ie ispirazioni .della pro-
pria solitaria coscieIlZ<'1.. " 

XX. 

From the charge of betrayal of his own 
convictions to gain personal and political 
advantages PiUB IX. is free. He has never 
wavered in his uncompromising opposition 
to the Revolution, nor showed the smallest 
disposition to yield to the temptations in-
sultingly and persistently offered to him. 
The oV.Jrtures contained in the King's letter 
pres,ented by Count Ponza. di San Martino 
were peremptorily rejected. 'I'he Pope de-
nounced the iniquity of his foes before the 
assembled ambassadors of the Foreign Pow-
ers; as well as in Ihis letter to the Cardi-
nals dated September '29, 1870; and in his 
Encyclical Letter of November 1, 1870, a. 
letter which was sequestrated in the prov-
inces by order of the King's Government. 
In the Papal brief of the 20th of October, 
1870, suspending the Vatican Council, Pius 
IX. attributed the necessity of that meas-
ure to the hostile domination under which 
he was hrought bY ,the seizure of Rome. In 
March, 1872, he announced,' in a letter to 
Cardinal Patrizi, his resolve to reject the 
guarantees lind the ·dotation which was of-

fered to him of three and a quarter millionlJ 
of lire annually. He repeated thIS refusal 
in his Encyclical of May 15, 1872, ahd in 
,his Allocution of October 27, 1872. The 
Italian Government sent messages in va.in 
to the Yatican to try to prevail on the Pope 
to accept the money. It is needless to say 
all these overtures were rejected, in what-
ever form and by whatever Ministers they 
wer~ m~d~. The vacillating conduct of 
GarIbaldI lD first refusing in insulting 
terms, and afterwards accepting with com-
placency a pension of one hundred thou-
sand lire from the Italian Government 
stands out in ludicrous contrast to the dig-
nified behavior of the Pontiff. In the <larly 
part of the year 1876 the Gazetta d' Italia 
gave currency to a rumor that the pension 
voted by Parliament had been actually paid 
to Garibaldi, and the receipt for the firstin-
stallment was in possession of the Govern-
ment. The following letter was then ad-
dressed to the editor of that journal: 

"Sir-Liar is robber! Robber is liar! 
This is an incontestible historical maxim. 
and in no time has better application than 
in these our fine times of misery, corrup-
tion, and suicides. This is' why they hesi-
tate to believe that a poor devil (the Gen-
eral himself) would refuse to dirty himself 
with a 100,000 lire of Government . filth-
meZma governativa. I allude, sir, to the 
100,000 lire which you say I have had amI 
have gh'en a receipt for to the Government 
offi..:ial. This lie is known to-day, and I beg 
you to divulge the name of the liar. 

('ISigned,) "G. GARIBALDI. 
In spite ofthis angry and insulting letter, 

which was written on the '19th of February, 
1876, General Garibaldi formally acknowl-
edged his acceptance of the pension by let-
ter, dated a few months later, namely, on 
the 9th of April, 1876. 

Pius IX., llOwever, was consistent, and 
steadily resisted all attempts made to induce 
him to accept money from his despoilers. 
He firmly opposed the attempts made from 
.time to time to entangle him in relations 
with the Quirinal, and to· draw him into 
compromise with Victor Emmanuel. Gen-
eral Bertholet Viale, Aid-de-Camp to his 
Majesty, went to the Vatican on the 16th 
of. June, 1871, seeking an audience, but 
was demed one. Again, on the 31st of De-
c.ember, 1871, General Pralorma and the 
Marchese Corsi'ni di Lajatico went in state 
carriages to the Vatican on the part of the 
King, but were refused admission.. Sev-
eral exalted personages, including the Prince 
of Wales and the Emperor of the Brazils, 
are said to have personally asked the Pope 
to come to some accdmmodation with Victor 
Emmanuel, but it was stated that all such 
requests were firmly, though courteously 
declined. "It is useless," said the Holy 
Father to a mixed audience of Romans and 
foreigners on the 27th of November, 1871, 
"it is useless to talk of conciliation, for the 
Church can never reconcile herself with 



[30 J 

error, and the Pope can never be separated 
from the Church. It is of no avail to expose in 
public those abominable pictures (the Pope 
alluded to caricatures representing himself 
and Victor Emmanuel walking together 
arm in arm), "intended to dishonor the 
Pontiff, but which offer an injury rather to 
him for whose pleasure they were executed. 
No; no conciliation is ever possible between 
Christ and Belial, between light and dark-
ness, between truth and falsehood, between 
justice and the usurpation?" " How is it 
possible," said Pius IX. in December, 1871, 
"to come to an accommodation with the 
revolution without betraying truth and 
justice1" In an admirable letter addressed 
to the Cardinal Secretary of State on the 
16th of June, 1872, his Holiness went at 
some length into the question of concilia-
tion. "It is not easy to believe, said the 
Holy Father, "in the seriousness of pro-
posals for an accord between the Papacy 
and the usurping government. What con-
ciliation could, in fact, be made in the act-
ual condition of things1 It is not the case 
of a simple question arising in the political 
or religious order, and admitting easy terms 
for a convenient transaction. It is the case, 
on the contrary, of a situation created by 
violence against the Roman Pontiff, which 
destroys almost entirely that liberty and 
independence which is indispensable to him 
in the government of the Church. Were' 
the Pontiff to le.ld himself to an accommo-
dation in such a case,it would be equivalent 
on his part, not only to a renunciation of 
all the rights of the Holy See transmitted 
to him in deposit by his predecessors, but 
also to his resigning hims&lf by an act of 
his own will to encounter frequent obstacles 
to the exercise of his supreme ministry. 
It would be equivalent to his abandoning 
to inquietude and agitation the consciences 
of the faithful, and to shutting the path 
against the free manifestation of truth. In 
a word, it would mean that the Pope 
should spontaneously surrender :to the ca-
price of the Government of the day that 
sublime mission which the Roman Pontifi-
cate received d'irect from God, with a strict 
obligation to guard its independence from 
every earth,ly power. 

" No," repeats Pius IX., "we cannot 
bend to the assaults made up<>n the Church, 
nor bow before the usurpation of her sacred 
rights, arid before the unwarranted inter-
ference of the civil authoritv in affairs of 
religion, Firm and undaunted in defend-
ing, by all the means as yet within our 
power, .our honor, and the interests of the 
flock committed to our care, we are ready 
,to encounter still greater sacrifices, and, if 
necessary, even to shed our blood, rather than 
fail in any of the duties imposed upon us 
by our supreme Apostolate. Nay, more; 
by God's aid we will never fail to. show an 
example of strength and courage to those 
pastors and ministers of the Church who, 
in these adverse times, sustain 80 many bat-

tles for the cause of God, for the good of 
souls, for .the defense of the sacred deposit 
of the faith, and for the preservation of the 
eternal principles of morality and justice." 

'Pius IX. was able not only to protest 
against the acts of persecution which were 
committed by the enemies of the Church, 
but also to do not a little to alleviate the 
misfortunes of the victims of the revolu-
tion, and to provide a remedy for some of 
the evils which befel Catholicism. The re-
monstrances and protests made by the 
Pope, sometimes in Encyclicals to the Cath-
olic bishops, sometimes in Allocutions to 
the Sacred College, sometimes in manifes-
toes uttered through the Cardinal-Vicar or 
the Cardinal-Secretary of State, and some-
times in speeches addressed to those present 
at Vatican audience, were of considerable 
use, and tended to delay, modify, and some-
times to cause the withdrawal of hostile 
measures, The Roman Society for Pro-
moting Catholic Interests, which W'lS insti-
tuted in February, 1871, did good service 
in uniting Catholic laymen together for 
works of charity and devotion. The Pope 
formed a new Pontifical University to re-
place the Roman University, which became, 
after the entry of the Italians, an unfit place 
of education for Catholics. Under the aus-
pices of Pius IX. several Catholic newspa-
pers and periodicals were published, which 
advocated the cause of truth and justice, 
and afforded a means of counteracting the 
false, calumnious, and blasphemous state-
ments made by the Liberal press against the 
Church and against religion. Pius IX. 
caused many Catholic schools to be opened 
in Rome, and he vigorously denounced the 
infidel and proselytizing schools introduced 
by the revolution. "Beware," said the Pon-
tiff, in December, 1871, to a deputation of 
women from the Rione Monti, "beware of 
sending your children to certain modern 
schools, wh'3rein unbelief and impiety are 
openly professed. and corruption and liber-
tinism are propagated under the lying pre-
tence of progress and civilization, and where-
in God is known only for the purpose of 
being blasphel~ed. " 

The Holy Father took measures to coun-
teract the machinations of the horde of 
Protestant missionaries who took advantage 
of the usurpation to enter Rome and the 
Roman States, with the purpose of destroying 
the faith of Catholics in the centre of Cath-
olicism. These emissaries were enabled to 
carryon their work of perversion chiefly by 
means of money contributed by credulous 
and fanatical bigots in America, Great 
Britain and PruBsia. Twenty or more 
Protestant churches, mission houses and 
schools were opened in Rome ; and money, 
clothes and food were abundantly offered 

,to tempt poor Catholic parents to send their 
children to these seminaries, of error. The 
agents employed in this anti-Catholic cru-
sade were sometimes apostate priests and 
persons of bad reputation and ill-lif!}, 



[31 ] 

whose ~nc1als and bickerings, as disclosed 
in public by thell' own mutual recrimina-
tions, greatly diminished the evil conse-
quences which might otherwise have at-
tended their efforts. The Italian Govern-
ment afforded toleration and encouragement 
to all schemes which promised to tend to 
the overthrow of Catholicism, and aid, 
direct and indirect, was therefore freely 
furnished to the promoters of these Pro-
testant institutes. Schools were provided 
by the zeal of Catholics, aided by the mu-
nificence of Pius IX.; wherein poor chil-
dren of Catholics of the humbler class 
might obtain gratuitous education without 
danger to their faith. 

Succor was given by the Holy Father to 
a large number of families in Rome, whorv. 
the entry of the Italians deprived of their 
former resources. Very many of the per-
Bons employed in the civil and military de-
partments of the State under the Pontifical 
Government lost their situations and em-
ployments after the breach of Porta Pia, 
partly because they would not take the 
oath of allegiance to Victor Emmanuel, and 
partly because they were turned away to 
make room for the new-comers. Pius IX. 
provided most of thesa loyal and attached 
servants with moderate pensions in reward 
for their fidelity. 

A heavy pecuniary burden was placed on 
the Pope for the support of many of the 
Italian Archbishops and Bishops appointed 
after September, 1870, who being unable 
from conscientious scruples to apply for the 
exequatur under the usurping Government 
were deprived of their episcopal residences 
and revenues. To these prelates Pius IX . . 
gave Bums of money varying from 600 to 
1,000 lire per month. And the Halian 
Government , attempted, alid frequently 
with success, to force these prelates to pay 
an income tax upon the sums thus granted 
by the liberality of the Pontiff. 

XXI. 

In order to fill the vacancies caused by 
death in the Sacred College, Pius IX., on 
the 22nd December, 1873, created twelve 
Cardinals, one of whom was the learned and 
pious Jesuit, Camillo Tarquini, who, how-
ever, did not long enjoy his dignity, for he 
died on the 15th of February, 1874. A 
fresh creation of Cardinals occurred in the 
Consistory of the] 5th of March, 1875, when 
six Cardinals were made, one of whom waa 
John MacCloskey, Archbishop of New 
York, tIl'! first American Cardinal ever cre-. 
ated. At the same time five Cardinals were 
created in petta. ~n . this Consistory of 
lfarch 15, 1875, Mleclslaus Ledochowski 
Archbiship of Gnesen and Posen, who sul' 
fered pers~cu.tion !!:nd .incarcer~tion under. 
the cru~l policy of Prmce Bismarck was. 
created and proclaimcd . a Cardinal priest. 
And in th~ same C~nslst(n':Y, Henry Ed-

ard Mannmg, ;\rchblllhop of 'Vestminster 
was made Cardinal priest, · with ,the title .J 

SS. Andrew and Gregory on the Coelian 
Hill. On the 17th of September, 1875, a 
Consistory was held, wherein six Cardinals 
including the five previously created i~ 
petta, were proclaimed. On the 3d of April, 
1876, two more Cardinals were created, one 
of them being a Jesuit, Father Giambattista 
Franzelin, ~he distinguished. theologian. 
Eleven Cardmals were created m a Consist-
ory held on the 12th of March, 1877 among 
whom was Archbishop Edward HenDrHow-
ard, who received the title of SS. John and 
Paul on the Ccelian Hill. The Pope created 
three other Cardinals in a Consistory held 
on the 22d of June, 1877. 

Of the Car"dinais who died after Septem-
ber, 1870, three held such important 
relations with the Pontiff as to render 
the appointment of their succesors a. 
matter of more than ordinary anxiety 
to the Holy Father. Of these, one was Al-
essandro Barnabo, the Cardinal Prefect of 
the Propaganda, a prelate who for years had 
devoted himself with unremitting assiduity 
to the affairs of the Institute over which he 
presided, and with whose interests he was 
completely identified. Cardinal Barnabo 
died in February, 1874, and to his place suc-
ceeded Alessandro Franchi, a Cardinal of 
proved talent and merit, who had previously 
served the Holy See as Nuncio in Madrid. 
The second was Giacomo Antonelli, the 
Cardinal Secretary of State, who had in 
that capacity faithfully and with consum-
mate ability served Pius IX. for many 
years, and who died at his post in the 
month 01 November, ] 876, in his apart-
ments in the Vatican. The successor of 
Antonelli was Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, 
for many years Secretary of the Propa-
ganda, lmder Cardinal Barnabo, and subse-
quently Pro-Nuncio in Spain. The third 
was ConstantinePatrizi, Deanofthe Sacred 
College and Vicar-General of His Holiness, 
a Cardinal, whose virtues and talents were 
recognized even by the Revolutionists. To 
Cardinal Patrizi, who died full of years and 
honors in December, 1876, succeeded in the 
arduous post of Vicar-General, Cardinal 
Raffaele Monaco La Valetta. 

Among the aillictions which Pius IX. suf-
fered since the usurpation in 1870, must be 
reckoned the deaths of two members of his 
family, his elder brother and his nephew. 
The grandfather of his Holiness had died at 
the age of 93 years, IllS father at th~ age of 
~, and his mother at the age of 88 years. 
His elder brother, Count Gabrielli Mastai-
Ferretti, born July 25th, 1783, died on the 
18th of September, 1872, aged over 89 years. 
The news of this domestic calamity of the 
Pope was at once known in Rome, but not-
withstanding, the usurpers omitted not to 
celeprate, in their acc\l-Stomed fashion, the 
breach of Porta Pia, by discharges . • ,f c1ln-
non from tho Fort of St. Anglllo', .m the' 
20th September. How the Pope felt this 
wanton ou~rage, may be gatl~ered from the 
words whiQh'he addreaae.d on ,the same day, 



[32 ] 

to a deputatIOll from the Federazione Piana: 
"I cannot deny," he said, "that the firing of 
cannon which I heard this morning towards 
a quarter to five o'clock caused profound 
grief to my heart. Doubtless it was impos-
sible to forbear those discharges of guns and 
other ignoble deinonstrations of JOY, as 
well as certain expressions of triumph which 
would ill-suit victors who had learnt the 
firs t lessons of generosity towards the van· 
quished. But these, 01:)1' conquerors, know 
not generosity, and must perforce enjoy 
their discharges of cannon And their tri-
umphant boasts which only render the self-
sufficient victors more abject, contemptible, 
and vile." These bitter words were wrung 
from a grief-strickeri heart. A nephew of 
the P ope, and son of Count Gabrielli' Mas-
mi, named Count Lugi Mastai, dieq on the 
9th of J anuary, 1877. 

The resolute opposition which Pius IX. 
offered to his oppressors, and his steadfast 
refusal t o listen to any terms of accommo-
dations were n ot inspired by hope of any 
intervention to be made on his behalf by 
the great Powers of Europe. He knew 
himself to be abandoned by the princes of 
this world, and that the same forces which 
destroyed Ilis temporal throne would strive 
to annihilate his spiritual authority. "We 
look around," he said, "and we cannot dis-
cern a gleam of hope from man. " Yet the 
courageous Pontiff' did not despair of the 
eventual triumph )f the Church. "In 
every age," observed the Holy Father, "the 
d lmrch has been persecuted, but her per-
secutors are dead, and the Church lives. 
The tyrants who assailed her are dead, and 
the heretics who strove to destroy her are 
dead, but the Church survives. The un-
believers of these, our days, are despoiling 
the Church, and would destroy her min-
isters, but her ministers and the Church 
herself will live for ever. The Church is 
ussailed by incredulity, atheism, and ma-
terialism, and the generation of men is be-
come perverse and adulterous. But the 
promise ofl God is sure and cannot fail. 
He has said that the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against His Church. He will, in his 
own good time, uplift His Almighty arm 
and avenge His own quarrel. He will 
cause the good spirit of His people to 
awake, and they, wearied with so many 
iniquities, will turn again to their Heavenly 
Lord. . "The triumph and ' deliverance may 
llOt, " said the Pontiff, "come in my time, 
and perhaps my aged eyes may never see 
the day of retribution. But yet that day 
is not far off, and for the advent we wait 
with patient and assured expectation." 

As the best and only means of hastening 
the triumph of the Church, the Holy Father 
recommended the 'spiritual weapons of 
prayer and good works. He cOUllseled 
frequent attendance in the churches to offer 
intercession in behalf of the erring and 
backsliding and weak members .df the fold 
of Christ. He urged continual priyer that 

God wonld pardon the iniquities of ~jnftH 
men and bring them back to obediencB r.1.'J 
virtue. Special services were performed ill 
the Roman churches to atone for the ter-
rible insults offered to the Divine Majesty 
in the central seat of Christianity. Asso-
ciations were formed for united prayer, for 
promoting the due observance of Sundays 
and festivals, and for counteracting the 
-evils produced by a licentous press, and by 
immoral and blasphemous theatrical rep-
resentations. The Pope continually warned 
<:atholics against yielding to the tempta-
tIons set before them by the R evolutionists. 
"Their promises," he said, "are delusive, 
their professions hypocritical, and their 
gifts poisonous and deadly. Better is war 
~nd open enmity than peace with t he usur-
pers. " To the laws of the new Government 
the Holy Father preached obedience, so far 
as that obedience could be rendered with a 
sfap, conscience. But ,to t ake part in the 
usurpation by accepting seats in t he Parlia-
ment was unlawful for Catholics, who could 
neither be elected as members of the 
Chamber of Deputies nor vote at political 
elections without compromising their prin-
ciples. The case of administrative 0 1' mu-
nicipal elections was clift'erent, as in them 
Catholics might take part without Eacri-
ficing the interests of t ruth and witlifl1lt 
violating their consciences. 

For the most part the Roman no'bility 
displayed remarkable obedience, devotion, 
and fidelity to the Holy See. Some few, 
indeed, of the Roman princes betrayed 
their allegiance to Pius IX., and em 
braced the party of the invaders in 1870. 
,But thest3 defections were not numerOllS, 
and hi some instances were speedily repen-
ted of. So spa,rse Was the attendance of 
the aristocraoy at a State ball given at the 
Quirinal in July, 1871, that P rince Umberto 
had to give his hand for a quadrille to a 
lady who was the daughter of a pltstrycook 
and the wife of a shopkeeper. The King 
felt himself a stranger among the great 
families of 'Rome, and was unable t o 
allure to his Court the wives and daughters 
of the Roman nobles. The Duke of 8er-
moneta, an agerl and blind prince, but of 
great ,talents, early joined the side of Vic-
tor Emmanuel, and gave to him his politi-
cal support. In a few years, however, he 
withdrew in disgust from public affairs. 
Prince Pallavicini, a younger brother of 
Prince Rospigliosi, and married to a 
daughter of the Prince of Piombino, who 
had been a Liberal since 1860, was induced 
by the Boncompagni connection to accept 
the office of Syndic of Rome under the 
King in April, 1871, but he resigned that 
office in the month of October foll owinu, 
Prin",e Philip Andrew Doria, for . .t fo~v 
months filled the office of acting Syndic, 
and wila appointed Master of the Palace to 
Victor Emmanuel, one oi his daughters 
being m'ade a Lady of HOllOI' to Pdnc03s 
Margharita. 'But the Doril' intimacy with 



/ r 33 ] 
the Quirinal proved unfortunate and the 
Prince resigned his office of PrefeQt in1872, 
and sought and obtained reconciliation 
with. tl.Ie Pope. . Prince Sciarra, Duke 
Cesanlll, Duke Braschi, the Marchese 
Calabrini, and others might be. nat;led ~s 
persons who either showed glarmg mgratl-
tude to the Holy See or else were led by 
folly and extravagan~e to dissipate. ~heir 
fortlUles in the gaities of the Qmrmal. 
The great body of the Roman aristocracy 
remained loyal to Pius IX., and by fre-
quent attendances at the Vatican audiences, 
made public demonstration o~ their fidel~ty 
and affection. In thIS steadmess of prm-
ciple and noble maintenance of honor they 
were largely encouraged by the patient dig-
nitywith whichPiudX. sustained the insults 
and injuries inflicted on himself and the 
Church. 

XXII. 

But undoubtedly the greatest work per-
formed by Pius IX. since the Breach of 
Pota Pia was that work of continual and 
almost hourly labor by which he urged 
on the great Catholic revival in every por-
tion of the world. In his daily receptions 
of individuals and of .deputations he so 
stirred the hearts of his auditors as to cre-
ate amopg Catholics of every clime a genu-
ine and fervid zeal for the cause of justice 
and religion. The . very aspect of the aged 
Pontifl~ calm ttnd courageous in spite of his 
grievous wrongs and sufferings, inspired 
sympathy and love. His eloquence flowed 
in a stream which was apparently inexhaus-
tible, and was always fresh. Even while 
petraying in other respects physical exhaus-
tion, his tongue and his voice seemed e\'er 
;vigorous and strong. Addressing, from 
day to day, men of various countries and of 
different professions, he never failed to .say 
something appropriate to his audience, and 
that always in such felicitous terms as to 
rivet the attention of his listeners. Nor 
while encouraging virtue did he omit to 
censure vice. He was unsparing and inde-
fatigable in rebuking all appearances to er-
ror, and in deuouncing those tricks and de-
ceptions by which weak Catholics suffered 
themselves to be deluded. The speeches of 
Pius IX. were not studied preparations, 
nor labored specimens of oratory. He had 
no leisure time, had he been willing to em-
ploy it, in deliberating u~)on tl~e style of 
his discourses. How was It l)osslble to ded-
icate even an hour to the elaborations of 
discoursea which were sometimes as many 
three or four, and on one occasion 'as many 
as twelve in one day? The G0spel for the 
day generally furnished Pius IX. with a 
text for these discourses, which were for 
the most part delivered in the Italian lan-
gUll-ge, and occasionally in Fr~nch,. Spanis~, 
cr Latin, according to the natIOnalIty of Ius 

auditors. ' 
The rnarvelpus .effeet produced~y the 

Jlpeeches of Pius IX. l is~ to be attnbuted 

not only to their remarkable merit and 
power, but also to the immense number of 
his hearers. From all parts of the world 
people came to Rome, for the purpose of 
seeing Pius IX. No grand Church func-
tions were celebrated after the usurpation. \ 
The Cardinals and Ambassadors to the Holy 
See gave no receptions. The great Catho-
lic hous,s offere,d no entertainmentJ, and 
Catholic Rome seemed in mourning for its 
deposed and imprisoned Sovereign. Stran-
gers therefore found no social gaieties nul' 
splendid ecclesiastical ceremonies to attract 
them to Rome. The Pope himself was the 
only allurement, and the hope of looking 
on him and hearing his voice was enough to 
draw tens of thousands of persons annually 
towards the throne whereon the despoiled 
Pontiff was still permitted to sit. Persons 
of all ranks and conditions of life took part in 
these pilgrimages to St. Peter's. Aged men 
and women traveled long distances, cyen 
from Californi,~ and the far we&t of Amer-
ica, to see Pius IX. before they died. Eng-
lish and Irish, Frenchmen and Spaniards, 
Germans, Poles, and Russians, all seemed 
smitten with the desire to pay homage to 
the living head of the Catholic Church, and 
to attest their devotion to the Holy See . 
'fhe Government of Victor Emmanuel 
looked jealously on this demonstration in 
favor of Pius IX., but were afraid to put 
it down by open proclamation. They fuund 
no pretext for attributing to the Vatican 
pilgrims any .design to plot for the restora-
tion of the temporal power oy force. 
Prayer was the pilgrim's only weapon, a 
weapon which no Government could con· 
fiscate. 

The fervor of thes.e pilgrimages culminated 
in the summer of the year 1877, when the 
celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of 
the episcopal consecration of Pius IX. oc-

. curred. At the same tIme an exposition 
was held in the Vatican of all the presents 
from the whole world made on this occasion 
to the Pope. These presents were of great 
value, and were sufficient to 1m several 
spacious halls. They consisted of ~old 
chalices and church plate, rich ecclesiastical 
:vestments, and altar decorations, pictures, 
thrones, and a variety of miscellaneous 
gifts, almost all of which were destined to 
be sent eventually to poor churches in vari-
ous parts of Catholic Christendom. During 
the days immediately before and after the 
3rd of June, the day which was the anni-
versary of the Pope's consecration, his Ho-
liness receiyed an incredible number of vis-
itors. The Roman nobles, the Catholic 
young men's committee for the exposition, 
and. pilgrims from Holland, France, Bel-
gium, America and Canada, Switzeland, 
Austria, Crotia, Britanny, Savoy, Portugal, 
E)lgiand, Scotland, and Germany, were re-
cei~ed on days before the 3rd of June, 
whlCh on that day . the Italian Catholics 
head~d QY Cardinal Parocehi, had audience 
in the Sala Ducaie. So l~ueh was the P ope 



[ 34 ] 

fatigued with his exertions on the 3rd of 
June that he rested on the ' dlty following. 
Then, on successive days, his H oliness, ad-
mitted deputations from his former civil 
and military servants; from P oland, which 
sent seven hundred pilgrims; from Ireland, 
whose pilgrims were headed by Cardinal 
Cullen; from Malta, Dalmatia; from 
Spain, and other countries. , 

By the special providence of God, Pius 
IX., during his years of imprisonment, en-
joyed for the most part of that time a re-
markable degree of health and vigor. He 
suffered, indeed, occasionally from painful 
ailments. In April, 1873, he was attacked 
by rheumatism, and for some days the Vat-
igan audiences were snspended. H e was 
unable to celebrate Mass on Holy Thurs-
day'and Easter Day in that year, being un-
able to stand upon his feet. But upon the 
17th of April he was able to receive visitors 
in his library, and by the 5th of May he 
was so much recovered as to receive a large 
deputation, consisting of two hundred per-
sons. Towards the end of August and the 
beginning of September in the same year, 
1873, the H oly Father again fell ill, and 
was unable to hold pub:lic audiences. On 
these an~ other occasions of the Pope's 
temporary indispositions the revolutionary 
newspapers seemed to take fiendish pleasure 
in magnifying the illness, and predicting the 
speedy demise of the Pontiff. Forged bulls 
were printed; which it was falsely alleged 
that Pius IX. had secretly prepared with a 
view of controlling the election of his suc-
~'essor. 'The Protestant journals in Europ9 
;md America eagerly pnblished these forged 
b lllls and ,constitutions, and gave long and 
minute details of the daily health of the 
Pope, and of the progres; of his illness. 
The telegrams sent to all the capitals of Eu-
rope sometimes stated that the Pope was 
either dead or dying. The Liberal press 
was full of much false and malicious criti-
cism upon thA presumed arrangements for a 
Conclave. 

But P ius IX. did not die in 1873. The 
venerable Pontift· was destined for some 
years longer to disappoint the expectations 
of his foes. H e was restored to compara-
tive vigor, and was enabled to discharge for 
a long time with apparent ease the many 
.. nd fatiguing duties of his office, duties 
which many younger men would have found 
burdensome aud oppressive. The excessive 
labor incidental to the Jubilee receptlOns in 
the hot month of June, 1877, was endured 
~ourageously by the Pope, hut not without 
prejudice to his health. The summer of 1877 
was unusually sultry, and the P ope lost, to 
n great extent, the use of his legs to walk 
or stand. The Liberal newspapers again 
reported t.hat the P()pe w1¥l' dying. Indeed; 
in one .newspaper it was gravely announced 
that PlUS IX. had been for some time de-
funct, and' that the Cardinals had dressed 
up one of tlleir number to act as a kind of 
sham Pope before the ·publio white thoy 

were privately engaged in carrying on the 
Conclave. The correspondents of the daily 
journals again were on' the watch. The 
London Times sent to Rome, as special cor-
respondent for the Conclave, Mr. Antonio 
Gallenga, a gentleman well known for his 
former connection with Mazzini and Mele-
gari. This gentleman, writing for the 
Times in October, 1877, just after the 
French elections, gave it as the correct 
opinion that Pius IX. would most likely ex-
pire during the first frosts of the winter, 
lmless, indeed, the excitement caused by 
the unfavorable news of the Republican 
victories at the elections in France should 
have the effect of stimulating the bodilyen-
ergies of the P ontiff and prolonging his life 
for a year or two longer. 

XXIII. 

During this period his Holiness was in 
the habit of r eceiving daily, not only the 
Cardinals and Secretaries of Congregations, 
but also ,,11 persons who sought for au-
diences, for the purpose of paying him re-
spect or gratifying their pardonable curios-
ity to see the person of the venerable Pon-
tiff. The Holy Father was carried in a 
portuntino through the various reception 
chambers eIther to the Hall of Consistory or 
to one of the L oggias. After the strangers 
had been dismissed, the H oly Father re-
mained some time, surrounded by the Car-
dinals present and the gentlemen of the 
anticamera, with whom he conversed freely 
and cheerfully. 

On the 21st of November the French pil-
grims from Carcassonne, under the guidance 
of their Bishop, Monsignor Leuillieux, 
were received, and the P ope mr.de unusual 
exertion!! to respond to their affectionate so-
licitude. He addressed them in French for 
a considerable time, and with much emo-
tion. The Duchess of Hamilton, a princess 
of Baden by birth, was present on this oc-
casion. Whether from the overheat of the 
apartment, or from a chill caught in re-
turning .from the audience chamber to his 
private "partments, the P ope caught anill-
ness which confined him to his bedroom for 
more than a month, and gave to the corres-
pondents of various newspapers an oppor-
tunity for spreading abroad the most .. larm-
ing rumors. In reality, the Pope suffered 
from a slight attack of fever, and the 
wounds in his legs became enlarged. But 
by the skill and care of his physicians, the 
fever soon disappeared, and the wounds in 
his legs began to heal. His H oliness was 
soon able to resume all the duties inciden~ 
to the Government of the Universal Church, 
and daily gave audience to the Cardinals 
and prelates. It was, however, impossible 
for him to say mass) and a temporary altar 
was erec'ted in the room adjoining his bed-
charrber, where one of his chaplains said 
mass each morning, and the door between 
both apartments being kept open, the Holy 
Father, ' lying' in his bed, was able to assist 



[35 J 

tunlty which We giadly seIze to return' you 
and each of you Our sincere .thaoKs for the 
kind offices shown Us in this time of Our 
·illness. We thank God that We have found 
you most faithful helpers in bearing the 
burdens ' of the Apostolic ministry; and 
-your virtue and your constant affection 
-have contributed to lessen the bitterness of 
Our many sufferings" Btit much more ' We 
rejoice in your love and . zeal. We canr-ot 
forget that we need da,ily more and more 
your co-operation,' and that of all Our 
·brethern ,and of the faithful, to obtain the 
immediate aid of God for the many'pi'ess-
1ng, necessities of ,Us and or the Chtu·ch. 
Therefore We urgently exhort you, and es-
pecially those of you, who exercise the 
episcopal' ministry' in your diocese, as well 
as all the pastors who preside over the 
Lord 's flock throughout the Catholic world, 
to implore the Divine clemenllY, and cause 
prayers to be offered up to God that He 
may give Us, amidst the affiictions of Our 
body, strength of mind to wage vigOl'ously 
me,conflict which must be endured, ,tQ re-
gard mercifully the labors and.wrongs of the 
Church, to forgiv.e Us and all our sins, and 
for the glory of His name to grant us the 
gift of good-will and the fruits of that 
peace which the angelic choirs anno-qncecl 
to mankind at the Savior's birth ." 

·at mass and remve H61y,'CommuniOll daily. 
,Dr. Ceccarelli Claused t@ be 'constructed in 
.Rome It. portable bed, in which; af~ern: tim~, 
the H.oly Father was m?ved! and ' .111 tins 
bed,he WI\.S carried in'to Ius prIvate lIbrary, 
and remained there ,' for some hOlJrs leach 
o.ay. In this bed, in his private library, 
was held the Consistory ,of December 28th, 
in wl{ich the Archbishop of Rav.enna, Mon-
.signor Moretti. ·and Antonio· Pellegrini, 
Dean df ·the Clerks ,of the Apostolic Cham-
ber were made Cardinals. His Emin<'lllce 
Ca:dinal Manning was present at this Con-
·sistory as well as .at an<)ther held on the 
31st 'or' December, in which the Cardinali-
tinl hats were given by the Pope himself to 
.three Cardinals who had not previously re-
ceived them, namely, Cardinals Regnier, 
Manning, and Sain~ Marc, as well as to 
two Cardinals Moretti and Pellegrini. At 
these two Consistories some forty or forty-
five Cardinals assisted: The Pope, reclin-
ing in his bed, went through all the custom-
&ly formalities, and read al).cl spoke in a 
firm, clear and strong voice. N or was he 
much affected by the fatigue incident to the 
ceremony. In fact he held, frequent inter-
yiews with his Eminence Cardinal Manning 
and with other Cardirlals, and w11en Arch-
bishop Eyre and ,Bishop Stl'ain arrived in 
Rome on the business of the' Scotch Hie-
rarchy, he gave them immediate r.nd length-
ened aurlienues, .receivingt1wm ill the even- , XXIV. 

ings in his bedchamber, and discussing in We now approach the end. The Holy. 
detail the arrangements for t he restoration F ather rallied wonderfully from his severe 
in Scotland of the ancient Catholic Hierar- illness, and it almost seeme'cl as though, 
chy. His Holiness occasionally admitted Inonths and perhaps years of life were still 
Borne few of the leading Roman nobles, as in store for him. One of his last acts was au. 
well as other distinguished personages, to act of 'mercy to a soul which we may hop~ 
private audienc.es, but of course he no was tl'uly penitent. That soul. was the soul 
longer gave admission to the numerous of a King, who, if not the real author, was 
strangers who, with no particular business, the instrument of the greatest i~juries 
sought presentations to the Pontiff. His which had been i,nflicted upon the aged and 
health forbade all unnecessary exertion, and holy Pontiff. It will. be fresh in the mem-
his physicians enjoined as much repose as . ory of all how willingly and even eageJ;'ly 
possible. the paternal tenderness oj the Pope was 

This confinement to bed was a terrible called forth by the expression of sorrow for 
burden to otle so active and vigorous in wrongs committed which reached him from 
mind liS Pius IX. But he bore his infirmi- the dying King. "Usiamo tutta misericor-
ties with touching resignation and admira- dia," "let us treat him with all possible 
ble confidence. His mind was always clear pity," are reported to have been the words 
and his judgment prompt. He was cheer- of this true Shepherd of Christ's sheep, 
ful to .an extraordinary degree, and his face whose arms were always open to the most 
')Vas full of kindness aild sympathy. As he erring and rebellious, however sternly his 
lay pillowed on his couch he yet looked the apostolic words rebuked the error and the 
same firm, yet benevolent, Pontiff, whose revolt. 

courage and resolution were unfailing, and The following conclusion is taken from 
whose trust ever lay in the protection of the 
Omnipotent God. His constant thought the Dublin Review: 
seemed ever to be for the welfare of the In D ecember and January the health of 
Church and the good of the flock intrusted the Holy Father manifestly improved. 
to the care of Christ's Vicar upon earth. Those who saw him were struck with the 
The simple and affecting allocution pro- appearance of renewed vigor and bright-
noul1ced· before the assembled Cardinals on ness in the expression of his face and eyes, 
the 28th of December, as they stood around and though still keeping to his couch, it 
his couch, shows the spirit which animated was rather as a measure of precaution than 
the suffering Pontiff. It was thus worded: from necessity. He daily transacted busi-

'''Venerable Brethern-Yourpresence to- ness with the Cardinals, H eads of Congre-
day in such l1\lmbers gives Us the oppor- gations, and with other Prelates, liIud on 



r 36 J 
Saturday, the 2d of February, he received 
the usual offerings of candles for the Feast 
.of the Purification, and made an animated 
address, seated on his throne, without ap-
pearing at all fatigued by the effort. On 
Wednesday, tpe 6th, the Pepe seemed 
more than usually bright, and l'eceived sev-
eral persons at audience in tho large pri-
vate library of his apartments, and also 
walked a short distance without even the 
aid of a stick. It would seem that the li-
brary was rather cold er than usual, and that 
though not aware of it at the time, the Holy 
Father received a slight chill, to which he 
was very subject. Be that as it may, he 
awoke after a disturbed night with the 
symptoms of a cold and feverish attack. 
About two o'clock these were slightly re-
lieved, but by five o'clock they had returned 
with more accentuation. The pulse was 
weak and greatly accelerated, and the 
breathing labored. Towards eight o'clock 

. the Holy Father, who had sent for Mgr. 
Marinelli, Bishop of Porphyria and Sacris-
tan of the Apostolic Palace, desired to be 
anointed, and soon after, also at his own 
request, he received for the last time the 
Divine Eucharist by way of Viaticum. 
Meanwhile the news of his alarming I ~te 
had been sent to the Cardinal Vicar, \ nd 
by him to the clergy of Rome, with the in-
junction to expose the Blessed Sacrament in 
all the churches, that the faithful might 
pray for their beloved Father and Prince. 
The members of the sacred College were all 
summoned, and by eleven o'clock they and 
the Court ,thronged the ante-rooms and the 
Pope's own room. 

The churches were crowded with a de-
vout multitude, and the very streets of the 
city scemed deserted and mournful as the 
day wore on. About noon, the Holy 
Father, who was assisted by CardinalsBilio, 
Grand Penitentiary, and Martinelli, on 
either hanel, expressed by broken words and 
by signs his r egret that he could not speak 
to the Sacred College; the mind remained 
perfectly clellr and serene, but the t ongue 
refused its office It was there that the 
Cardinal Penitentiary besought him once 
more t o bless the Sacred Colloge; and rais-
ing himself on one arm, the Pope took from 
under his pillow his crucifix, the witness of 
so many hours of prayer and of suffering, 
and, lifting it aloft, solemnly blessed the 
Cttrdinn,ls for the last time. As the after-
noon wore o~, the Holy Father's breathing 
became more and more impeded, and the 
supreme agony of that great soul com-
menced. '1'he Cardinals ceased not to sug-
gest pious prayers t1nd ejaculations, to 
which he remained fully sensible. When 
the prayers for the departing soul were read 
and the Cardinals came to the words, "Pro-
ficiscere, anima christinia," the Pope saiLl 
audibly, "Si profiscere" ("Yes, go forth!"), 
and when the act of contrition was reitera-
ted he joined in it, with his dying breath 
saying the words, "Col vostro santo ajuto" 

-that ' is, "With the assistance of Thy 
Holy Grace." One of the last whom he 
recognized was o\:.:, own Cardinal Arch-
bishop of Westminster, to whom he said, 
"Addio, carissimo!" Towards sunset the 
eJes became clouded, and the death-rattle 
became painfully audible. The Cardinal 
Penitentiary, who was saying aloud, with 
all present, the sorrowful mysteries of the 
Rosary of our Blessed Lady, rose up, ap-
proached the pillow of the dying Pontiff, 
and, as the clock chimed the third quarter 
past five o'clock, and the Angelus bell rang 
out from the hundred towers of Rome's 
churches, the soul of Pope Pius IX. winged 
its way to the presence of that God whom 
he had so long and so faithfully served, to 
receive its unfading crown of glury and re-
ward. 

No words can adequately describe the 
solemnity uf that moment. In the midst of' 
a breathless silence the Cardinal Penitenti-
ary, in tones broken by emotion, pronoun-
ces the wf)rds, "Eternal rest give to him, 
o Lord, and may light perpetual shine 
upon him!" which convey the fatal truth to 
all, and then there rises up one long-sup-
pressed wailing sob, and Cardinals and Pre-
lates, nobles, guards, servants struggle and 
crowd on each other; to press once more 
forehead and lips upon those sacred hands 
of God's Vicar which will never more be 
raised to bless them. All the love :md ven-
eration, which for thirty-two years have 
been poured out on that beloved head, 
seem to be concentrated in the chamber of 
death; and the lament which begins there 
finds its echoes throughout the whole in-
habited world, in the hearts of his faith-
ful children, of every land and of every 
race. 

The solemnities of the Holy Father's fu~ 
neral rites which occupy nine days were so 
amply described in the newspapers that it 
would be useless to dwell upon them here, 

• but there were one ortwomomentsof special 
interest which we ~:J.nnot pass over. On the 
day succeeding the death of the Pope, an 
eye ·witness describes the scene that pre-
sented itself in the room where he breathed 
his last: 

"Within the Vatican, the venerable fig-
ure lay upon a small bed covered with crim-
son damllsk. The whole form was visible, 
dressed in a white Cassock, with a crimson 
mozetta trimmed with whIte fur, and the 
hood, also crimson, drawn up round the 
head. The features were singularly unal-
tered, and the lips bore that placid and be-
nevolent smile so famIliar to all who have 
approached the person of the Holy Father. 
His afled hands, white as marble, were 
crossed on his breast, and held the crucifix 
which remained in his grasp during his last 
moments. The feet were uncovered save 
by a crimson slipper, and the faithful de-
voutly kissed them as they knelt before the 
bed. Of course all the members of the 
Papal Court were admitted, p.nd elso the 



[ 371 

members of the Embassiel! accredited to the 
H oly See, as well as the aristocracy of 
Rome. Ladies knelt, sobbing and praying, 
before that placid form, never more to be 
moved by smiles or tears. But the most 
striking and pathetic sight of all was to be-
hold aCfed Priests and Prelates, men who 
would~eem to have outlived emotion, burst-
ing into loud sobs when they came within 
view of the body. Two noble guards stood 
motionless as statues, with reversed arms, 
at the foot of the bed, and, save for the sound 
of weeping, the chamber was as still as 
death. 

On the 14th of 1<'ebruary, at seven in the 
evening, the sacred remains, of our Holy 
Father were sacredly entombed. The cus-
tom for some centuries has been that the 
body of the deceased Pope after bein? em-
balmed, and the prrecordia inurried (either 
in the parish church of SS. Vincent and 
Anastasius, if he should die in the Quiri-
nal Palace, or in the vaults of St. Peter's 
if Jed dies at the ~ atican), is temporarily 
placed in a vaulted niche in one of the walls, 
of vast thickness, of St. Peter's, until the 
death of the next Pope, on whose decease 
the remains of his predecessor are removed 
to their final resting-place. The Sacred 001-
lege and the Court, with the guards and 
other attendants having assembled in the 
Hall of the Consistory, preceded by the 
Papal Cross, descended into the chapel of 
the Blessed Sacrament, in which the body 
llad been exposed in state, veated in the 
full Pontifical Vestments, as if to sing Mass. 
The choir chanting the "Miserere" in sol-
emn tones, the vast temple lit fitfully by 
the torches carried on either hand by the 
canons and clergy, the wailing sound of the 
mourners, as the body was carried up the 
nave, paused for a moment before the statue 
of St. Peter and the Tomb of the Apostles, 
and making a circuit past the Chapel of St. 
-Gregory the Great, passed into the Canons' 
Choir, near which is its temporary resting 
p lace, formed a ,spectacle of 'wonderfill and 
impressive solemnity neve to be forgotten. 
When the body had been reverently placed 

within the triple coffin, it was the last sad 
office of Monsignor Ricci, his Holiness· 
most faithful and attached Magriordome 
(Lord Steward of Lhe Household), to cover 
the beloved features with a white, gold-
fringed, silken veil. "Never," says a by-
st~n~er, "did I see man moved as poor Sig. 
RICCi was moved at that sad moment; twice 
he approached to fulfil his office, and twice 
slmk to the pavement in the anguish of his 
soul." Such was the affection that this great 
Pontiff inspired in all who were nearest to 
him. ' 

The cynic La Rochefoucauld has said that 
"no man i.s a hero to his valet de chambre;" 
and a greater has declared that' 'N 0 one is a. 
prophet in his own country;" but Pius IX. 
was loved and revered by those who lived 
nearest to him. 
, On the three following days High Mass is 
sung and absolutions are given by five Car-
dinals with greater solemnity at the Ceno-
t aph, which is erected for the purpose at St. 
Peter's. On that which succeed the en-
tbmbment, as soon as the absolutions were 
ended, the great mass of people who crowd 
ed the church, as by one common impulse, 
rose from their knees, and pressing in a 
dense crowd toward-the tomb, knelt around 
it in silent, t earful prayer. These, and not 
the hired profanities of street manifesta-
tions, are the impulses of the real Roman 
people, and they were shared in, let it be 
said to their honor, by great numbers ofthe 
new comers, officials, and employees of the 
new Government and others. In truth, 
all seemed to feel that if they had lost the 
beloved presence of a Venerable F ather and 
majestic Prince, it was to regain him as a 
patron and an intercessor with his. Lord in 
the heavenly C6urt. 

It is our sincere conviction that no more 
majestic or mqre lovely figure appears in 
the long and sacred line of his predeces-
sors than that of Pius IX., the Pontiff of 
the Immaculate Conception, of the Papal 
Infallibility, and of the (Ecumenical Vati-
can Council. Great and holy in his life, he 
was greater and holier in his death. 



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