HIS HOLINESS, POPE PIUS IX.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 62, 4 July 1874, Page 10

HIS HOLINESS, POPE PIUS IX.

From the 'Advocate* we take the following outline of the life of the Holy Father ; and as the Catholic Church has been honoring the 28tli anniversary of his election and coronation, we gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of presenting our readers with a biographical notice of that illustrious Confessor of the Faith, and we would ask with that journal that every Catholic whose hands it may retch will offer up a shout prayer for Christ's Vicar and Christ's Church

THE TOOTH OF KDS IX. The OhriPtian name of Pio Kono is Giovanni Marie. He was bora at Simgaglia, Italy, on the 13th of May, 1792, and he is, consequently, now a little over 82 years of age. His father was the Count JWttstai- Ferretti, and his mother the Countess Catherine Sahzzi. At the ape of eleven— being intended for the Church— young Mastai was jflaced in the college of a religious body at Volterra, where he soon iQnn" S u d blmqelf in his studies. At the age of 17, in October, 1809, the young student removed to Kome, where he resided with his uncle, a canon in tlie Vatican Basilica, but both uncle and nephew were soon compelled to fly from the Eternal City in consequence ot the seizure of the Roman States by Napoleon. In 1802, being then twenty, by reason of his distinguished birth, young Count Mastai was required to join the Guard of Honour in Milan, but obtained exemption owing to the delicacy of his health, having suffered for four years from occasional epileptic fits. He remained in his native city, whither he went after leaving Rome, until the return of Pius VII. to his States, and to whom he was presented on his passage through Sinizaglia. He returned to Rome in 1814, where he attended the Ecclesiastical Academy, but only as a layman, as the continuance of his disease was a preventative to his aspiring to sacred orders. Still, he did not despair, but hoped that the obstacle would in time be removed, and he soon re-assumed his ecclesiastical garb and commenced a course of theological studies, under the celebrated Professor Joseph Graziosi. In course of time his epileptic attacks became less Tiolent, no as to permit his being admitted to minor orders. WBST ECCLESIASTICAL lABOTTBB. His first services in the Church were in connection with a misrion to his native pvovince, in which he was invited to join in an endeavor to awaken a spirit of religion among the people, and in which he engaged with singular zeal, and with gratifying results. Beturnim? to Kerne m improved health, he obtained a dispensation, and was promoted to subdeaoon, to which office he whs ordained 18th Deoe-nber, 1818, and afterwards to that of deacon. Aspiring to tho priesthood, he eventually solicited a further dispensation, which was granted on the condition that he should be- assisted by another clergyman when offering the Holy Sacrifice. He, however, in lime, determined, if possible, to obtain the removal of this restriction, for which purpose he asked lor, and obtained, a special audience of the Pope, who had always looked kindly upon him. In this andience he was granted the favor he desired, the Holy Father telling him that he believed he would be no longer afflicted with bis disease ; and from that time he lias hud no return of the malady. He celebt-ated Mass for the first time on Easter, 1819, in the Church of St. Anne del Foli<nmuii, which adjoined an orphanage where he had devoted himself to the care and maintenance of 100 poor orphans, who were being trained to various trades, and to whom he personally gave religious instruction. BECOMES A MISSIONAB* IX SOUTH AMEEICA. _ A mission m Chili beiug decided upon in 1523, Mastai was invited to join m, and accepted the duty in opposition to the wishes of his mother who interceded to prevent his departure; but the Pone assured her that he would return home safely. Upon the breaking out v f the Tfjoktion in Chili he returned home, reaching JEtome in December, 1820, after an absence of two years and a half. He was at once appointed by Leo X£L, who had ascended the Papal throne shortly after his departure, to the presidency of the Ospizio of San Miohele the laborious duties of which he faithfully discharged. ' BECOMES A PRKLATE. After fulfilling these duties for twenty months, Leo XII. designated him to the Arehiepiscopal See of Spoleto, the Pontiff's native diocese, where he founded an orphanage for the maintenance and instruction of pcor children intended for industrial life. . ELEVATED TO THE DIG-NITY OF CAHDINAL. . ,4, 4 ? « emb "; 1832 ' Gregoiy XVL, who was then the Pontiff, translated Mastai from the Arehiepiscopal See of Spoleto to the Episcopal Soe of Imola, vacant by the resignation of Cardinal Justinian • and while m this diocese he was decorated with the purple, being reserved tn petto in the consistory of 2Srd December, 1839; and was proclaimed Cardinal 14th December, 1840. IHE PAPAL THEO^E BECOMES TACANT. The intelligence of the death of Popa Gregory XVI., which took place Ist June, 1846, was received by Gardinal Mastai a few days later, while engaged with a number of his clergy in a spiritual retreat, where they were accustomed to assemble for ten days for seclusion and P iT aj w'i at ° DCc haßtened t0 Kome > at Tvhich city he arrived on .. , T ELECTION OF PIUS IX. On 14th June the Cardinals aßsembled to elect a new Pontiff with -an anxious and excited crowd in the outer streets awaiting the" decision. Xhe Sacred College consumed two days in the testing o f votes, the candidates for the vacant tiara bein L - the following Sar-dinals:-Fr som,aged7l? an Castruccio Castacano, 67; Oreol!;£j i?Sr\r/hrt 1°" >66; and M^tai-Fen- e tti, 54. On the evening 1 «W J* CC nn « nim °«»ly on the latter, who was by ™nr^na.^Af 0Ze il^i 1^l ea^ Stl^ 7°*^ of the candidates ; and on the J^fnf n " th { Car , dmal M «*«was proclaimed from the balconies of the QumnaUs the new Pope, under the title ofPiuaLX and he was crowned on tho 21st. He has worn the tiara over 28 lih,,?! 16 ?? WBS c Cause of & reat "joioing among the Italian Lbejals. who felt inspired with the hope that the new Pontiff would maugu.ate his reiga with a course of liberal measures, which they

imagined in the end would conduoe-.tto Italian uuity, which had been their " bewitching dream " for many years. • %r Tho new Pope did not disappoint the expectations of the .Liberals, as he commenced his reign by the introduction of reforms, of a Mature, more progressive than any that had been granted by previous Popes ; but he soon found himself; overwhelmed by the revolutionary wav« which passed over Europe in 1848, from which date till the tiwe of its total extinction, the temporal power of the Pope was dependent iou its existence on foreign bayonets. ■ , But the Pope was now beset with difficulties, in consequenco of . his liberal news, which induced a horde of the dissatisfied of othercountries to crowd to Kome. The result was that Pius IX found it • ?OATZ, to f C ifts hiS ™ fopmator y "easuwri Shortly after this, on 10th August, 1847 another cause of disquietude was the seizure by the Austnans of the city of Perrara, under a presumed authoritygiven by the treaty of Vienna s but evidently for the purpose of keeping watcli over the Roman Liberals. V *T _ _ THE UPBISING OF 1848. «1 JJ n,n ,u Febi : Uary WlB4W 184 - 8 '^ O .?. k Vlaoe the French Revolution which closed the reign of Louis Philippe, and shook Europe to its foundation Pius IX., to give full satisfaction to the Roman people, formed a new Cabinet, composed of ten lay and only three ecclesiastical member!. 2£,£^ftrT^S ttb .° Ut fl>amin S a »•* constitution, S Aztensuraof the National Guards, and the organisation of part for active service m the field. c*™ wr „ „ ?? h X P ° pe T ?."* dra f£? d into the ™ »Weh was now being waged between Sardin.a and Austria, being forced against his will to declare war against tho latter power, and to contribute a small forct to the Ital»n league. This was immediately followed, on the l 2 May ; by the formation of a new Cabinet, composed entirely of men ot the most hoeral opinions, at the head of which were Car.linat £■£ of C?C ?r b > , Marc J etti - who decla^ their firm adherence terminal h T ' W Wa V Waa not a P">"«cted oue, soon terminating by the sneees* of Austria and the abdication I H Char , le V Al , berfc - m &vo «« 1 of hi» son, the present King of Irir ; Throughout the summer of 1848 the revolitionarv paSions waS violently excited m the unstable .Romans, and although maSyiifaSJ were introduced, they were not .ufflciently radical for the «rduMoSJ3SK? "it •&&%&& ssa - turned, however, mnforced, and after some firing the Pope ordered his Riuri to cease firing, and said to the diplomatic body that hi™ no louger a free agent, and must yield to necessity. On the lUfe of Ministers which the insurgents had drawn up being presented to hi.? he refused to sign , ; which when the crowd loaroel, they beeS T^Porno a w n viT c i.° U K' " SigU ' Bign '" tHI last the Pope^mpS «* nSSn Z lv *• * b .f° Ame a P risOGer ia hid ow " P^ace, ttll d took name Th?. ni>- "' ***** the g OTe "'««»fc was carried on in h£ to«e"krefoLnnT^r ia^ PP ° rtab [ ce ' and ha determined to seek refuge m flight ; and bo, on the 2ith, ho esotped from Rome and succeeded m reaching Ghwta, in the Neapolitan teKorv fm^e'. £Sjs^"Srt th ° ° ardi ? als 0O " 8id «^ "disable to follaHS example. D rectly it was known that the Pope had escape 1 th* Mmfrtry sent a deputation requesting his return, but they S £j, perm, ted to pass the frontier. The PontiflTdccla^ed tliatSeXi^ was illegal and all its- acts void, whereupon' both Chambers provS i l^i?ln V 1 r° f tem r ral » PP ° Wer ' and ***** the electon of a Provisional Supreme Junta " for the purpose of o-M-ryiue on the government, its function "to terminate upon the return of X Sovereign Pontiff, or wh-n he shall himself apooinf. aecorS.™ to constitutional forms, a subsrituto of hu own sefaoiio.i " P °IX P " mamed at Giiota and Portioi nem-ly ' . eDtoredhi, d.«,» th. 6th, .ntf rwnteid Boms o a t he lart roopsm suppressing any revolutionary attempts. SineebUre.fi hon to the .Eternal City. Pio Nono has most devotedly attoi id"j to the f£ s ,°f Church, and the progress of Catholicity davL i£ Pontificate marts his reign as one of the most celebrated on S>rd Itis sufficient that we should here merely mention The unpiftont events which belong to n» ecclesiastical history. These are the re union with the See of Rome of large numLers of schismatb t V^Ja T* abhshment > " 1850, of a Catholic hierarchy in England j the large development and fuller organisation of theChurohm the Unite! States; the daflnitum i£^December her, 1804, of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception ; and the moe-1 mg in December, 1869 of the (Eaumenical Council at the VaSn the first general council held since that of Trent, which met upvv ard ; 2m ZllT f ga The ° oUnCil ° f the Vatican * as att ««ded bvTourly 900 prelates from every part of tho world. One of the resufts of ' S dehberaboos has been the declaration of the infallibility of the » cathedra, teaching, of the supremo head of the Church. Several othw important matteM were aUo to have been settled, especially with regard to the discipline of the Church in different countries, when t"e news that war was declared be! ween France and Germany (ell <m Europe like a thunderbolt, in the middleof July, 1870 Tue Cou.iSl had on tlus account to be postponed. In the next mouth the iVonch troops, who had so long protected the city, were withdrawn, and it was left completely undefended. The army of Victor EaJmana li

crossed the liber at Oasole, and sent a flag of truce to General Kanzler, commander of the Papal Zouaves, on the 13th September. He, however, refused' to surrender. But all was in vain. The Zouaves were overwhelmed by numbers, and several killed.: t On the 20th, the troops under Cadorna made a breach in the walls of Rome and entered it The Pope had ordered his soldiers to ceaso their resistance, seeing that all was of no avail, and wishing to prevent the shedding of blood. Since that time the Pope has been virtually a prisoner in his own palace, deprived of all power with regard to the government of the States which have belonged to the Church for so many ages, and which have been wrested from her by base and unscrupulous intrigues. He has, however, steadily refused, by any act or word of his, to sanction the acts of the usuper, although various attempts have been made to induce him to do so. As the Popes always were, so is he, firmly resolved to maintain the rights of his See and of his Church. These are now assailed, in one way or another, in almost every part of the world. The active persecution that was commenced in Italy has extended to Germany, to Switzerland, to Austria, and to South America, and the established Governments of other countries, our own included are oppressing the Catholic conscience by legislation infringing on its rights. An old battle, often before fought out, is now again raffing The principles of good and evil are at war throughout society, but who oaa doubt the result? Will not the victory be with God and His Church P