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Museo Pio Cristiano

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The Museo Pio Cristiano is one of the Vatican Museums . It houses various works of Christian antiquity.

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60-621: The museum was founded by Pope Pius IX in 1854, two years after the establishment of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology . 41°54′23″N 12°27′14″E  /  41.9065°N 12.4538°E  / 41.9065; 12.4538 This article about a museum in Italy is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( Italian : Pio IX , Pio Nono ; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti ; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878)

120-525: A "friend of light" and a reformer of Europe towards freedom and progress. He was elected without secular political influences and in the full vigor of life. He was pious, progressive, intellectual, decent, friendly, and open to all. While his political views and policies were hotly debated in the coming years, his personal lifestyle was above reproach, a model of simplicity and poverty in everyday affairs. The most notable event in Pius IX's long pontificate

180-726: A Catholic priest in his own right and unsuccessfully attempted to convert his Jewish parents. In his 1849 encyclical Ubi primum , he emphasized Mary's role in salvation. In 1854, he promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception , articulating a long-held Catholic belief that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin . His 1864 Syllabus of Errors was a strong condemnation of liberalism, modernism , moral relativism , secularization , separation of church and state , and other Enlightenment ideas. Pius reaffirmed Catholic teaching in favor of making

240-569: A calculated, well-prepared move, Prime Minister Rossi was assassinated on 15 November 1848, and in the days following, the Swiss Guards were disarmed, making the Pope a prisoner in his palace. However, he succeeded in escaping Rome several days later. A Roman Republic was declared in February 1849. Pius responded from his exile by excommunicating all participants. After the suppression of

300-701: A cardinal instead. On 22 August 1861, the pope informed the Patriarch of Venice Angelo Ramazzotti that he would name him a cardinal, however, Ramazzoti died three days before the consistory. Also in 1861, the dean of the Sacred Rota Ignazio Alberghini declined the pope's offer of nomination into the Sacred College. In December 1863, Pius IX intended to elevate the Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań Leon Michał Przyłuski to

360-468: A character evaluation from his parish priest to be considered. Financial administration in the Papal States under Pius IX was increasingly put in the hands of laymen. The budget and financial administration in the Papal States had long been subject to criticism even before Pius IX. In 1850, he created a government finance body ("congregation") consisting of four laymen with finance backgrounds for

420-458: A constitutional government – to which he was sympathetic – but also the unification of Italy under his leadership and a war of liberation to free the northern Italian provinces from the rule of Catholic Austria. By early 1848, all of Western Europe began to be convulsed in various revolutionary movements . The Pope, claiming to be above national interests, refused to go to war with Austria, which reversed Pius' popularity in his native Italy. In

480-466: A majority of the votes in the early ballots but failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority. Gizzi was favoured by the French government but failed to get further support from the cardinals, and the conclave ended up ultimately as a contest between Lambruschini and Mastai Ferretti. In the meantime, Cardinal Tommaso Bernetti reportedly received information that Cardinal Karl Kajetan von Gaisruck ,

540-414: A move that contradicted the general mood throughout Europe. On the evening of the second day of the conclave, 16 June 1846, Mastai Ferretti was elected pope. "He was a glamorous candidate, ardent, emotional with a gift for friendship and a track-record of generosity even towards anti-Clericals and Carbonari . He was a patriot, known to be critical of Gregory XVI." Because it was night, no formal announcement

600-596: A new archaeological commission in 1853. The Papal States were a theocracy in which the Catholic Church and its members had far more rights than other religions. Pius IX's religious policies became increasingly reactionary over time. At the beginning of his pontificate, together with other liberal measures, Pius opened up the Jewish ghetto in Rome , freeing Jews to reside elsewhere. In 1850, after French troops defeated

660-585: A new constitution titled the " Fundamental Statute for the Secular Government of the States of the Church ". The governmental structure of the Papal States reflected the dual spiritual-secular character of the papacy. The secular or laypersons were strongly in the majority with 6,850 persons versus 300 members of the clergy. Nevertheless, the clergy made key decisions and every job applicant had to present

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720-569: A secular ruler and the monarch of the Papal States , ruling over some 3 million subjects from 1846 to 1870, when the newly founded Kingdom of Italy seized the remaining areas of the Papal States by force of arms. Contention between Italy and the Papacy was only resolved legally by the 1929 Lateran Treaty ( Lateran Pacts or Lateran Accords ) between the Kingdom of Italy under Mussolini and

780-492: The Holy See ever accepted this title. Ignaz von Döllinger , a fervent critic of Pius' infallibility dogma, considered the political regime of the pope in the Papal States "wise, well-intentioned, mild-natured, frugal and open for innovations". Yet there was controversy. In the period before the 1848 revolutions , Pius was a most ardent reformer advised by such innovative thinkers as Antonio Rosmini (1797–1855), who reconciled

840-687: The Holy See , the latter receiving financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States and recognition of the Vatican City State as the sovereign independent territory of the Holy See. Though he was well aware upon his accession of the political pressures within the Papal States , Pius IX's first act was a general amnesty for political prisoners , despite the potential consequences. The freed revolutionaries resumed their previous political activities, and his concessions only provoked greater demands as patriotic Italian groups sought not only

900-554: The Law of Guarantees (13 May 1871) which gave the Pope the use of the Vatican but denied him sovereignty over this territory, nevertheless granting him the right to send and receive ambassadors and a budget of 3.25 million lira annually. Pius IX officially rejected this offer (encyclical Ubi nos , 15 May 1871), since it was a unilateral decision which did not grant the papacy international recognition and could be changed at any time by

960-505: The Martyrs of Japan (8 June 1862), Josaphat Kuntsevych (29 June 1867), and Nicholas Pieck (29 June 1867). Pius IX further beatified 222 individuals throughout his papacy, including the likes of Benedict Joseph Labre , Peter Claver , and his two predecessors Pope Eugene III and Pope Urban V . Pius IX named three new Doctors of the Church : Hilary of Poitiers (13 May 1851, naming him " Doctor divinitatem Christi " or "Doctor of

1020-591: The Quirinal Palace inside Rome to the Vatican, where popes have lived ever since. After defeating the Papal army on 18 September 1860 at the Battle of Castelfidardo , and on 30 September at Ancona , Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia took all the Papal territories except Latium with Rome and took the title King of Italy . Rome itself was invaded on 20 September 1870 after a few-hours siege. Italy instituted

1080-575: The Revolutions of 1848 . Upon the assassination of his prime minister , Pellegrino Rossi , Pius fled Rome and excommunicated all participants in the short-lived Roman Republic . After its suppression by the French army and his return in 1850, his policies and doctrinal pronouncements became increasingly conservative. He was responsible for the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara , a six-year-old taken by force from his Jewish family who went on to become

1140-527: The 20 provinces. After joining the Latin Monetary Union in 1866, the old Roman scudo was replaced by the new Papal lira . Pius IX is credited with systematic efforts to improve manufacturing and trade by giving advantages and papal prizes to domestic producers of wool , silk and other materials destined for export. He improved the transportation system by building roads, viaducts, bridges and seaports . A series of new railway links connected

1200-514: The 35-year-old Mastai Ferretti Archbishop of Spoleto in 1827. In 1831, the abortive revolution that had begun in Parma and Modena spread to Spoleto ; the Archbishop obtained a general pardon after it was suppressed, gaining him a reputation for being liberal. During an earthquake, he made a reputation as an efficient organizer of relief and great charity. The following year he was moved to

1260-587: The Austrian Archbishop of Milan, was on his way to the conclave to veto the election of Mastai Ferretti on behalf of the Austrian Empire and Prince Metternich . According to historian Valérie Pirie, Bernetti realized that he had only a few hours in which to stop Lambruschini's election. Faced with a deadlock and urgently persuaded by Bernetti to reject Lambruschini, liberals and moderates decided to cast their votes for Mastai Ferretti, in

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1320-496: The Catholic faith the state religion where possible. His appeal for financial support revived global donations known as Peter's Pence . He strengthened the central power of the Holy See and Roman Curia over the worldwide Catholic Church, while also formalizing the pope's ultimate doctrinal authority (the dogma of papal infallibility defined in 1870). Pope John Paul II beatified him in 2000. Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti

1380-621: The Church for a decade after the Franco-Prussian War . Pius IX celebrated several jubilees including the 300th anniversary of the Council of Trent . Pius celebrated the 1,800th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Apostle Peter and Apostle Paul on 29 June 1867 with 512 bishops, 20,000 priests and 140,000 lay persons in Rome. A large gathering was organized in 1871 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his papacy. Though

1440-473: The Divinity of Christ"), Alphonsus Liguori (23 March 1871, naming him " Doctor zelantissimus " or "Most Zealous Doctor"), and Francis de Sales (19 July 1877, naming him " Doctor caritatis " or "Doctor of Charity"). Pius IX was not only pope but, until 1870, also the last sovereign ruler of the Papal States . As a secular ruler he was occasionally referred to as "king", though it is unclear whether

1500-489: The Italian government in 1870 outlawed many popular pilgrimages, the faithful of Bologna organized a nationwide "spiritual pilgrimage" to the pope and the tombs of the apostles in 1873. In 1875, Pius declared a Holy Year that was celebrated throughout the Catholic world. On the 50th anniversary of his episcopal consecration, people from all parts of the world came to see the old pontiff from 30 April 1877 to 15 June 1877. He

1560-456: The Papal States and throughout Italy, organized criminal gangs threatened commerce and travelers, engaging in robbery and murder at will. The Papal army in 1859 had 15,000 soldiers. A separate military body, the elite Swiss Guard , served as the Pope's personal bodyguard. The two papal universities in Rome and Bologna suffered much from revolutionary activities in 1848 but their standards in

1620-506: The Papal States to northern Italy. It soon became apparent that the Northern Italians were more adept at economically exploiting the modern means of communication than the inhabitants in central and Southern Italy. The justice system of the Papal States was subject to much criticism, not unlike the justice systems in the rest of Italy. Legal books were scarce, standards inconsistent, and judges were often accused of favoritism. In

1680-446: The Papal States. He also showed himself hostile to Austrian influences, delighting Italian patriots, who hailed him as the coming redeemer of Italy. "They want to make a Napoleon of me who am only a poor country parson", he once declared. In Pius' early years as pope, the government of the Papal States improved agricultural technology and productivity via farmer education in newly created scientific agricultural institutes. It abolished

1740-675: The Pope reorganize the Catholic Church of the new republic – named him auditor to assist the apostolic nuncio , Monsignore Giovanni Muzi, in the first mission to post-revolutionary South America. The mission had the objective to map out the role of the Catholic Church in Chile and its relationship with the state, but when it finally arrived in Santiago in March 1824, O'Higgins had been overthrown and replaced by General Ramón Freire , who

1800-484: The adoption of the dogmatic constitution Pastor aeternus on papal infallibility . Gregory and the Melkite bishops ultimately subscribed to it, but added the qualifying clause used at the Council of Florence : "except the rights and privileges of Eastern patriarchs." This earned Gregory the enmity of Pius IX; during his next visit to the pontiff , before leaving Rome, when Gregory was kneeling, Pius placed his knee on

1860-509: The areas of science, mathematics, philosophy and theology were considered adequate. Pius recognized that much had to be done and instituted a reform commission in 1851. During his tenure, Catholics and Protestants collaborated to found a school in Rome to study international law and train international mediators committed to conflict resolution. There was one newspaper, Giornale di Roma , and one periodical, La Civiltà Cattolica , run by Jesuits . Like most of his predecessors, Pius IX

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1920-422: The battle for Italian independence. His later turn toward profound conservatism shocked and dismayed his original supporters, while surprising and delighting the conservative old guard. The conclave of 1846, following the death of Pope Gregory XVI (1831–1846), took place in an unsettled political climate within Italy. The conclave was steeped in a factional division between right and left. The conservatives on

1980-559: The cardinalate, but he died before the consistory took place. In 1866, Pius IX wanted to nominate a Barnabite to the College of Cardinals before he opened the First Vatican Council. While the pope originally decided on appointing Carlo Vercellone , a noted biblical scholar, Vercellone refused due to his precarious health, instead proposing that Pius IX instead nominate Luigi Bilio . In 1868, Pius IX nominated Andre Pila to

2040-543: The cardinalate, however, he died the day before he would have been elevated as the only person for elevation in that April consistory. Also in 1868, Pius IX offered the cardinalate to the Bishop of Concepción José Hipólito Salas whom he had met during the First Vatican Council, inviting him to join the Roman Curia. However, the bishop preferred to live in Chile and declined the offer, while Pius IX did not offer it again in

2100-474: The child legally a Christian convert, and Papal law forbade Christians from being raised by Jews, even their own parents. The incident provoked widespread outrage amongst liberals, both Catholic and non-Catholic, and contributed to the growing anti-papal sentiment in Europe. The boy was raised in the papal household , and was eventually ordained a priest at age 21. Pius IX was the last pope who also functioned as

2160-463: The church sought relief from a friendly government after the anti-clerical actions of Benito Juárez , who had suspended payment on foreign debt and seized ecclesial property. Pius blessed Maximilian and his wife Charlotte of Belgium before they set off for Mexico to begin their reign. But the friction between the Vatican and Mexico would continue with the new emperor when Maximilian insisted on freedom of religion, which Pius opposed. Relations with

2220-517: The convert Henry Edward Manning ; and John McCloskey , the first American cardinal. According to Bishop Cipriano Calderón, the pope intended to make the Bishop of Michoacán , Juan Cayetano Gómez de Portugal y Solís , a cardinal in 1850 and even had Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli send a letter to him to express his intentions. He would have been the first Latin American cardinal had he not died before

2280-512: The future. In 1875, Pius IX intended to nominate the papal almoner Xavier de Mérode to the Sacred College, however, he died just eight months before the consistory was to be held. Pius IX also decided to nominate Augusto Negroni  [ pl ] , a longtime Curial official, but he declined and instead joined the Society of Jesus in mid-1874. Pope Pius IX canonized 52 saints during his pontificate. He canonized notable saints such as

2340-551: The mercy of Pius VII, who elevated him and supported his continued theological studies. Mastai was ordained a priest on 10 April 1819. The Pope had originally insisted that another priest should assist Mastai during Holy Mass, but rescinded the stipulation after the seizures became less frequent. He initially worked as the rector of the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome. Shortly before his death, Pius VII – following Chilean leader Bernardo O'Higgins ' wish to have

2400-467: The more prestigious Diocese of Imola , was made a cardinal in pectore in 1839, and in 1840 was publicly announced as cardinal-priest of Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano . As in Spoleto, his episcopal priorities were the formation of priests through improved education and charities. He became known for visiting prisoners in jail and for programs for street children. Cardinal Mastai Ferretti

2460-491: The new free-thinking concerning human rights with the classical natural law tradition of the church's political and economic teaching on social justice . After the revolution, however, his political reforms and constitutional improvements were minimal, remaining largely within the framework of the 1850 laws mentioned above. Pius IX's liberal policies initially made him very popular throughout Italy. He appointed an able and enlightened minister, Pellegrino Rossi , to administer

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2520-413: The new pope had little diplomatic experience and no curial experience at all. Pius IX was crowned on 21 June 1846. The election of the liberal Pius IX created much enthusiasm in Europe and elsewhere. "For the next twenty months after the election, Pius IX was the most popular man on the Italian peninsula, where the exclamation "Long life to Pius IX!" was often heard. English Protestants celebrated him as

2580-529: The next consistory. According to the Benedictine monk Guy-Marie Oury, a letter addressed by Prosper Guéranger to his Benedictine colleague Léandre Fonteinne on 6 March 1856 indicated that Guéranger had learned that Pius IX wanted to name him a cardinal in November 1855, but he refused the honor because he did not want to live in Rome. As a result, Pius IX made the Bishop of La Rochelle Clément Villecourt

2640-730: The patriarch's shoulder, just saying to him: Testa dura! ( You headstrong! ). In spite of this event, Gregory and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church remained committed to their union with the Holy See. The ecclesiastical policies of Pius IX were dominated by defence of the rights of the church and the free exercise of religion for Catholics in countries such as Russia and the Ottoman Empire . He also fought against what he perceived to be anti-Catholic philosophies in countries such as Italy , Germany , and France . The German Empire sought to restrict and weaken

2700-583: The republic later that year, Pius appointed a conservative government of three cardinals known as the Red Triumvirate to administer the Papal States until his return to Rome in April 1850. He visited the hospitals to comfort the wounded and sick, but he seemed to have lost both his liberal tastes and his confidence in the Romans, who had turned against him in 1848. Pius decided to move his residence from

2760-526: The requirements for Jews to attend Christian services and sermons and opened the papal charities to the needy amongst them. The new pope freed all political prisoners by giving amnesty to revolutionaries, which horrified the conservative monarchies in the Austrian Empire and elsewhere. "He was celebrated in New York City , London and Berlin as a model ruler." In 1848, Pius IX released

2820-624: The revolutionary Roman Republic and returned him from exile, the Pope reversed the Republic's religious freedom laws and issued a series of anti-liberal measures, including re-instituting the Jewish ghetto. In a highly publicized case from 1858, the police of the Papal States seized a 6-year-old Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara , from his parents. A Christian servant girl unrelated to the family claimed she had informally baptized him during an illness six years prior, fearing he would die. This had made

2880-461: The right favoured the hardline stances and papal absolutism of the previous pontificate, while liberals supported moderate reforms. The conservatives supported Luigi Lambruschini , the late pope's Cardinal Secretary of State . Liberals supported two candidates: Tommaso Pasquale Gizzi and the then 54-year-old Mastai Ferretti. During the first ballot, Mastai Ferretti received 15 votes, the rest going to Lambruschini and Gizzi. Lambruschini received

2940-412: The secular parliament. Pius IX refused to recognize the new Italian kingdom, which he denounced as an illegitimate creation of revolution. He excommunicated the nation's leaders, including King Victor Emmanuel II, whom he denounced as "forgetful of every religious principle, despising every right, trampling upon every law," whose reign over Italy was therefore "a sacrilegious usurpation." In response to

3000-594: The upheavals faced by the Papal States during the 1848 revolutions, the Mexican government offered Pope Pius IX asylum, which the pope responded to by considering the creation of a Mexican cardinal and granting an award to President José Joaquín de Herrera . With French Emperor Napoleon III 's military intervention in Mexico and establishment of the Second Mexican Empire under Maximilian I in 1864,

3060-511: The young Count Mastai was engaged to the daughter of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore , William Foster . Certainly, if there was ever any such engagement, it did not proceed. In 1814, as a theology student in his hometown of Sinigaglia, he met Pope Pius VII , who had returned from French captivity. In 1815, he entered the Papal Noble Guard but was soon dismissed after an epileptic seizure. He threw himself on

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3120-476: Was a bit shy, but he valued initiative within the church and created several new titles, rewards, and orders to elevate those who in his view deserved merit. Pius IX created 122 new cardinals, of whom 64 were alive at his death; at the time membership in the College of Cardinals was limited to 70. Noteworthy elevations included Vincenzo Pecci (his eventual successor Leo XIII ); Nicholas Wiseman of Westminster;

3180-582: Was a patron of the arts. He supported architecture, painting, sculpture, music, goldsmiths , coppersmiths , and more, and handed out numerous rewards to artists. Much of his efforts went to renovate and improve churches in Rome and the Papal States. He ordered the strengthening of the Colosseum , which was feared to be on the verge of collapse. Huge sums were spent in the excavation of the Christian Catacombs of Rome , for which Pius created

3240-610: Was born on 13 May 1792 in Senigallia . He was the ninth child born into the noble family of Girolamo dei Conti Ferretti (1750–1833) and Caterina Antonia Maddalena Solazzei di Fano (1764–1842). He was baptized on the day of his birth with the names Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro. He was educated at the Piarist College in Volterra and in Rome. An unreliable account published many years later suggests that

3300-440: Was considered a liberal during his episcopate in Spoleto and Imola because he supported administrative changes in the Papal States and sympathized with the nationalist movement in Italy. Cardinal Mastai Ferretti entered the papacy in 1846, amidst widespread expectations that he would be a champion of reform and modernization in the Papal States, which he ruled directly, and in the entire Catholic Church. Admirers wanted him to lead

3360-547: Was considered a milestone not only in his pontificate but also in ecclesiastical history through its defining of the dogma of papal infallibility . After the First Vatican Council concluded, an emissary of the Roman Curia was dispatched to secure the signatures of Patriarch Gregory II Youssef and the rest of the Melkite delegation who had voted non placet at the general congregation and left Rome prior to

3420-502: Was given, just the signal of white smoke. On the following morning, the Cardinal protodeacon , Tommaso Riario Sforza , announced the election of Mastai Ferretti before a crowd of faithful Catholics. When Mastai Ferretti appeared on the balcony, the mood became joyous. Mastai Ferretti chose the name of Pius IX in honour of Pope Pius VII (1800–1823), who had encouraged his vocation to the priesthood despite his childhood epilepsy. However,

3480-510: Was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest of any pope in history. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican Council in 1868 and for permanently losing control of the Papal States in 1870 to the Kingdom of Italy . Thereafter, he refused to leave Vatican City , declaring himself a " prisoner in the Vatican ". At the time of his election, some considered him liberal, but no longer after

3540-590: Was less well-disposed toward the Church and had already taken hostile measures such as the seizure of Church property. Having ended in failure, the mission returned to Europe. Nevertheless, Mastai had been the first future pope ever to have been in the Americas. Upon his return to Rome, the successor of Pius VII, Pope Leo XII , appointed him head of the hospital of San Michele a Ripa in Rome (1825–1827) and canon of Santa Maria in Via Lata . Pope Leo XII appointed

3600-439: Was the end of the Papal States , which lay in the middle of the "Italian boot" around the central area of Rome . In contrast, he led the worldwide Church toward an ever-increasing centralization and consolidation of power in Rome and the papacy. More than his predecessors, Pius used the papal pulpit to address the bishops of the world. The First Vatican Council (1869–1870), which he convened to consolidate papal authority further,

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