Who he was
Turned away from the Noble Guard because of epilepsy, he studied for the priesthood once the illness had passed and was ordained in 1819. He ran a Roman orphanage, served on a papal mission to Chile, and was Archbishop of Spoleto and Bishop of Imola, much loved for his charity and good humour. Elected in 1846, he began with an amnesty for political prisoners, but lived through the revolutions of 1848 and, in 1870, the loss of Rome to the new Kingdom of Italy.
What he is remembered for
He defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and called the First Vatican Council, which in 1870 defined papal infallibility. He restored the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales (1850) and the Netherlands (1853), and his reign of nearly thirty-two years is the longest in the history of the papacy. St John Paul II beatified him on 3 September 2000.
He is honoured by the Church as Blessed. Read his page in the dictionary of saints.
Sources
All popes · Home · All saints