Pius, the name of nine among the Roman pontiffs, of whom the following only appear to call for particular notice.—PIUS II., originally known as Æneas Sylvius, was a member of the noble family of Piccolomini, and was born in 1405 at Corsignano near Siena. His early life was stained with moral irregularities, and, like other humanists of his time, he wrote licentious poems, letters, and at least one loose novel—Lucretia and Euryalus. At twenty-six he was employed as secretary to Domenico da Capranica, Bishop of Fermo, at the Council of Basel. He soon developed a genius for diplomacy, and from 1432-35 was employed in missions to Scotland, England, and Germany. Returning to Basel he sided with the council in its conflict with the pope, and on the election of the antipope, Felix V., was chosen as his secretary. But, having been sent on an embassy to the Emperor Frederick III., he was without difficulty induced to accept office in the imperial court, and served on several embassies and other missions of importance on behalf of the emperor. Up till this time he had lived a life of unrestrained self-indulgence, but at the age of forty his passions had burned themselves out, and he was able to take orders and make his peace with Rome—the only means of obtaining a reward adequate to his ambition. He won over Pope Eugenius IV. by the frankness of his apology and earned his gratitude by his adroitness in bringing back to the papacy the allegiance of the neutral German Church. Almost the last act of the pontiff was to reward him with the bishopric of Trieste. It was not, however, till the end of 1456 that Æneas was free to leave the uncongenial atmosphere of Germany. Nicholas V. had employed him without rewarding him, but Callistus III. created him a cardinal. On the death of Callistus in 1458 he was elected pope, and took the name of Pius II. He possessed a marvellous power of adapting himself to circumstances, and the profligate and shifty intriguer made a most decorous pope. He was embarrassed by contests about Neapolitan and German affairs, but his reign is chiefly memorable for his efforts to organise an armed confederation of Christian princes to resist the progress of the Turkish arms. He died at Ancona, 14th August 1464, his last moments darkened by the failure of his great scheme. Æneas Sylvius was one of the most eminent scholars of his age. His works were published at Basel (1 vol. fol. 1551), and consist chiefly of histories, or historical dissertations and materials of history. The most interesting of his writings, however, are his letters, which throw a vivid light upon their age. The same may be said of a biographical commentary, or rather autobiography, published under the name of the copyist Gobellinus, and apparently altered by his secretary Campanus.
See Voigt's Life (3 vols. Berlin, 1856-63); also two papers by Bishop Creighton in Macmillan's Magazine, vol. xxvii., and vol. ii. (1882) of his History of the Papacy during the Reformation.
PIUS IV., Giovanni Angelo Medici, was born of humble parents at Milan in 1499, was educated at Bologna, and under Paul III. rose rapidly to be Archbishop of Ragusa, vice-legat of Bologna, and cardinal (1549). He was elected pope at the close of 1559. His reign is chiefly memorable as that in which the protracted deliberations of the Council of Trent were brought to a close. The famous Creed of Pius IV., or Tridentine Creed, was confirmed by a bull dated 26th January 1564. Pius died, December 8, 1565, in the arms of his nephew, St Charles Borromeo. His correspondence with the Emperor Maximilian II. has been edited by Schwarz (Paderborn, 1889).
PIUS V., originally named Michele Ghislieri, was born of poor parents, in the village of Bosco, near Alessandria, in 1504, and at the age of fourteen entered the Dominican order. His merit was recognised by Paul IV., who named him Bishop of Sutri and Nepi in 1556, and cardinal in the following year. His austere temper prompted him as inquisitor-general for Lombardy to employ the most rigorous measures for repressing the Reformed doctrines. Under Pius IV. he was translated to the see of Mondovì, and was chosen unanimously as his successor, January 8, 1566. As pope he laboured to restore discipline and morality at Rome, reduced the expenditure of his court, prohibited bull-fights and other amusements, suppressed prostitution, and regulated the taverns of the city. He zealously maintained the Inquisition, and strove to enforce everywhere the disciplinary decrees of the Council of Trent. The whole spirit of his pontificate is most strikingly exhibited in the decree by which he ordered the yearly publication of the celebrated bull, In Cena Domini (1568)—an attempt to apply to the 16th century the principles and the legislation of Hildebrand. His impotent bull releasing Queen Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance (1570) fell harmless even upon patriotic English Catholics in a heroic age. But the most momentous event of the pontificate of Pius V. was the expedition which he organised, with Spain and Venice, against the Turks, and which resulted in the great naval engagement of the Gulf of Lepanto, on 7th October 1571. Pius died in the following May, 1572, and was canonised by Clement XI. in 1712.
PIUS VI., originally named Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was born at Cesena, December 27, 1717. He was selected by Benedict XIV. as his secretary; and under Clement XIII. he was named to several important appointments, which led finally, under Clement XIV., to his elevation to the cardinalate (1773). On the death of Clement XIV. Cardinal Braschi was chosen to succeed him, February 15, 1775. His internal administration was enlightened and judicious. To him Rome owes the drainage of the Pontine Marsh, the improvement of the port of Ancona, the completion of the church of St Peter's, the foundation of the new Museum of the Vatican, and the general improvement and embellishment of the city. Soon after his accession he found himself at serious variance with the Emperor Joseph of Austria and Leopold of Tuscany, whose reforms had swept away much of the papal supremacy. The pope repaired in person to Vienna, but, though received kindly, failed to restrain the emperor from further curtailing his privileges. Soon after came the outbreak of the French Revolution and the confiscation of all church property in France. The pope launched his thunders in vain, and ere long the storm broke upon his own head. The murder of the French political agent Basseville in a street scuffle at Rome (1793) gave the Directory an excuse for the attack. In 1796 Bonaparte took possession of the Legations, and afterwards of the March of Ancona, and by a threatened advance upon Rome extorted from Pius, in the treaty of Tolentino (19th February 1797), the surrender of these provinces to the Cisalpine Republic, together with a heavy war contribution. The murder of General Duphot of the French embassy in December was avenged by Berthier marching on Rome and taking possession of the castle of St Angelo. Pius was called on to renounce his temporal sovereignty, and on his refusal was seized, February 20, and carried to Siena, and afterwards to the celebrated Certosa or Carthusian monastery of Florence. On the threatened advance of the Austro-Russian army in the following year he was transferred to Grenoble, and finally to Valence on the Rhone, where, worn out by age and grief, he died, August 28, 1799.
PIUS VII., originally Gregorio Luigi Barnaba
Chiaramonti, was born at Cesena, 14th August 1742. He entered the Benedictine order at an early age, taught philosophy and theology at Parma and at Rome, became Bishop of Tivoli, and on being created cardinal was translated to the see of Imola. After the death of Pius VI. Cardinal Chiaramonti was chosen his successor (March 14, 1800). Rome, which up to this time had been occupied by the French, was now restored to the papal authority, and in the July of that year Pius VII. entered into his capital; while next year the French troops were definitively withdrawn from the papal territory, with the exception of the Legations. Aided by his secretary, Cardinal Consalvi, Pius restored order in his states, and in 1801 concluded a concordat with Bonaparte. But much of the advantage thus gained by Rome was annulled simultaneously by Bonaparte's Articles organiques, which concerned the discipline of the church on marriage, on the clergy, and on public worship. These had never been submitted to the pope, and called forth his strongest opposition. In 1804 Napoleon compelled Pius to come to Paris to consecrate him as emperor. He was well received, but failed to get any modification of the articles, and not six months after his return to Rome the troops of Napoleon seized Ancona, and finally in February 1808 General Miollis entered Rome, and took possession of the castle of St Angelo. Ere long a decree was issued annexing the provinces of Ancona, Fermo, Urbino, and Macerata to the kingdom of Italy. The usurpation was consummated (May 17, 1809) by a decree annexing Rome and all the remaining papal territory to the French empire. The pope on June 10 retaliated with a bull of excommunication directed against the robbers of the holy see, yet without formally naming Napoleon. The unhappy pope was next removed to Grenoble, then to Savona, and finally to Fontainebleau. There he was forced into signing a new concordat, recognising the annexation of the Roman states to the empire (January 25, 1813). The fall of Napoleon allowed him to return, and on May 24, 1814 he re-entered Rome. The Congress of Vienna formally restored to him his territory, and the remainder of his reign was devoted, under the enlightened advice of Consalvi, to wise measures of internal administration. Brigandage was sternly suppressed, as well as secret societies, especially that of the Carbonari; while the Jesuits were restored, and concordats concluded with Naples, Prussia, Württemberg, and other courts of Germany. Throughout his life Pius was a model of gentleness, simplicity, benevolence, and Christian charity. He died August 20, 1823, after having broken his thigh through a fall.
PIUS IX., Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, occupant of the papal chair during one of the most eventful periods in the history of the papacy, was the fourth son of Count Jerome Mastai Ferretti, and was born at Sinigaglia, May 13, 1792. His epileptic attacks rendered him unfit for the Noble Guard, whereupon he turned to the study of theology, and was admitted to deacon's orders in December 1818. For five years he presided over the orphanage of Tata Giovanni, next accompanied the Apostolic delegate Monsignor Muzi to Chili. In 1825 he returned to Rome, was made canon of S. Maria in the Via Lata, and head of San Michele, a great hospital for destitute children. In 1827 he was made Archbishop of Spoleto by Leo XII., and transferred to Imola by Gregory XVI. in 1832. In 1840 he became a cardinal, and on the death of Gregory XVI. in 1846 was elected by acclamation to succeed him. He was avowedly the leader of the reforming party, and twelve hours after his election Cardinal Gaysruck, Archbishop of Milan, reached Rome with instructions from Austria to veto his election. He took the name of Pius IX., and entered at once on a course of reforms, by which he hoped to establish the papal government on a popular but yet firm basis. His first step was to grant an amnesty to all prisoners and exiles for political offences. He next removed most of the disabilities of the Jews, authorised railways, and projected a Consulta or council of state, and in March 1848 published his Statuto Fondamentale, a complete scheme for the temporal government of the papal states by means of two chambers, one nominated by the pope, the other (with the power of taxation) elected by the people. At first the new pope was the idol of the populace. Mazzini hailed the new policy with enthusiasm, and Carlyle declared that 'the old chimera was rejuvenised!' But the revolutionary fever of 1848 spread too fast for a reforming pope, and the refusal to make war upon the Austrians finally forfeited the affections of the Romans. On November 15, 1848, his first minister, Count Rossi, was murdered in broad daylight, and two days later a threatening mob assembled in the square of the Quirinal. On the 24th the pope escaped to Gaeta, a Neapolitan seaport near the Roman frontier. A republic was proclaimed in Rome, the provisional heads of which proceeded with great moderation and wisdom to a complete and radical remodelling of the civil government of the state. Pius from his exile addressed a remonstrance to the various sovereigns. In April 1849 a French expedition was sent to Civita Vecchia, and on July 2 General Oudinot took Rome, after a siege of thirty days. The papal government was re-established, but Pius himself did not return till April 12, 1850. From this time his government, swayed by Antonelli, was the very reverse of what it had been, and to the end of his life he continued an unhesitating and unyielding Conservative. After the war for the unification of Italy the Legations, Ancona, and a considerable part of the papal territory southward in the direction of Rome were annexed to the kingdom of Italy, but Pius persistently refused to cede any portion or to enter into any compromise.
In his ecclesiastical policy he was incessantly active, henceforward closely related with the Jesuits, and ever uncompromising in his ultramontanism; and at last he proceeded to promulgate dogmatic definitions about problems that had been left unsettled by the wisdom of the ages. He re-established the hierarchy in England, he sanctioned the establishment in Ireland of a Catholic university, and condemned the principles upon which the Queen's Colleges in that country were constituted. He concluded with Austria a concordat much more favourable to church authority than the existing ecclesiastical laws had permitted. By the bull 'Ineffabilis Deus' (8th December 1854) he decreed as a doctrine of the church the faith of the Immaculate Conception (q.v.) of the Blessed Virgin Mary; his famous encyclical 'Quanta Cura,' and the Syllabus, or list of prevalent errors especially to be reprobated, appeared in December 1864. But the most important event of his pontificate was the convocation of the Vatican Council, at which bishops from all parts of the Catholic world assembled in December 1869. It was adjourned in July 1870, after it had proclaimed the celebrated decree of the Infallibility (q.v.) of the Pope, when on a subject of faith or morals he issues a decree ex cathedra to the universal church. For the last ten years the pope's temporal power in Rome had been only maintained by French bayonets, and on the withdrawal of the garrison at the outbreak of the war with Germany the soldiers of Victor Emmanuel crossed the frontiers, and, after the short delay of a feeble and half-hearted defence, entered the city amid the acclamations of the populace, and so terminated the temporal power of the pope. The result of the plebiscitum on October 2 was 40,805 for, and but 46 against, union with Italy, and for the rest of his days the pope lived a voluntary prisoner within the Vatican, having the mortification to see his capital become the centre of a united kingdom of Italy, its king enthroned in the Quirinal with the affections of all his subjects. He renewed with all solemnity his oft-repeated protest, and refused the pension of £129,000 voted him by the national parliament. His loss was in some measure compensated by the revival, as a voluntary contribution, of the ancient tribute of Peter's-pence (q.v.). In June 1871 his reign reached the unparalleled duration of twenty-five years, and on June 3, 1877, he celebrated the jubilee of his episcopal consecration. He died a month after Victor Emmanuel (to whom he sent the papal benediction), on 8th February 1878.
See Lives by J. F. Maguire (2d ed. New York, 1878), T. A. Trollope (2 vols. 1877), and Wappmannsperger (Ratisbon, 1878); also the articles ITALY, GARIBALDI, and MAZZINI.