1-627-159 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Pope Pius IX, (1792-1878). Born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, Pius IX was elected Pope in 1846. His pontificate was the longest of the post-apostolic era. A conservative, Pius proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and in 1869 convened the First Vatican Council, which declared the doctrine of papal infallibility. Illustration from The Life & Times of Queen Victoria, by Robert Wilson, Vol III.