The years during which Pius IX governed the Church were years of great political turmoil in Italy. In 1848 he had to go into exile in Gaeta while in Rome the Roman Republic of Mazzini was established, which declared the fall of the temporal power of the Pope. In 1850 he was able to return to Rome, and years later he faced the consequences of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Earlier he had reconciled with the Protestant monarchies of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Blessed Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, worked to preserve the Papal States, which he lost; he promulgated the encyclical 'Quanta cura' with the famous 'Syllabus errorum', proclaimed the dogma of Immaculate Conception (1854) and convoked the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), where papal infallibility as Pastor of the universal Church in matters of faith and morals was defined. His brother Gabriel declared that John Mary considered himself to be "simply a priest"He also became archbishop, cardinal and pope. He was beatified in 2000 by St. John Paul II together with St. John XXIII.
As for St. Richard of Wessex, it is appropriate to cite the Englishman in this way, because there is another Richard in the saints' calendar, such as Bishop Richard of Wyche (April 3). Richard of Wessex was a man of prayer and the father of three sons who accompanied him in pilgrimage After his death, miracles were recorded at his tomb. A son of yours joined St. Boniface and became the first bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
