He was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti on May 13, 1792, son of the noble family of Girolamo dei conti Ferretti. He would be educated to become a Roman Catholic priest, later serving in Chile and Peru. At age 35, Father Mastai-Ferretti was made Archbishop of Spoleto in 1827 and continued his rise in the Catholic hierarchy, eventually becoming Pope Pius IX.
As Pius IX, Mastai-Ferretti served the longest pontificate on record, not counting the Apostle Saint Peter, from his election on June 16, 1846 until his death 31 years later in 1878. Under the reign of Pope Pius IX, an interesting link developed between the Vatican and Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America.
During the time of the War Between the States from 1861 to 1865, Union operatives openly recruited mercenaries in Europe. President Davis respectfully brought this situation to the attention of the Pope, who reassured Davis that he would do what he could to bring the practice to an end. The Pope contacted the bishops in Catholic Europe, with instructions that the bishops were to do everything in their power to help put an end to the business of U.S. representatives recruiting mercenaries. The bishops acted diligently, ending the Union's recruiting operations.
In the correspondence that followed between the Pope and Davis, Pope Pius always made a point to refer to President Davis as "His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America."
During his post-war imprisonment, ex-President Davis received comfort in the form of a rosary sent to him by the nuns of the Sisters of Charity at Savannah, Ga. And, according to Mrs. Varina Davis, "The sisters came to see me and brought me all the money they had, five gold dollars. They almost forced me to take the money, but I did not. They then offered to take my children to their school in the neighborhood of Savannah, where the air was cool and they could be comfortably cared for during the summer months." Mrs. Davis later sent her children to Canada, because of rough treatment they received from Union soldiers, scalawags, and ex-slaves.
But remarkably, the Pope himself offered the most solace afforded to the former Confederate President by two simple gifts while he was in prison. A personally hand-woven crown of thorns symbolized Davis's suffering at the hands of his enemies. And Davis likely found additional comfort in a portrait of the Pope, autographed by the pontiff with the words from sacred writ, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Despite his own wishes, Pius IX's pontificate also marks the beginning of the modern papacy, which was freed of its temporal sovereignty during his reign. From that point on, the papacy became and continues to become more and more a spiritual, and less a temporal, authority.
Bill Ward lives in Salisbury and is a historian, writer, and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Contact him at wardwriters@bellsouth.net
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