Just a short post for today!
It’s funny to think that a picture of the pope was once a real event. Photographs of the pope are ubiquitous now, but someone had to be first. And that someone was Pius IX.
As the second longest reigning pontificate, Pius IX was the head of the Church for 32 years. (Who was longest reigning Pope? I’ll tell you at the end of the post, under the pictures.)
Pius IX in a papal train in 1862
Pius IX, pictured in 1864
Pius IX was born on the Adriatic coast of Italy on May 13, 1792 and christened Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti. (It’s fascinating to see pictures of people born in the 1700s. Imagine how much their eyes had seen!)
Here is Pius IX in 1875, on his 82nd birthday. What do you think of his face? What kind of a person do you suppose he was?
Pius IX, photographed May 13, 1875 by Adolphe Braun
Who was the longest reigning pope? St. Peter, the founder of the Church, was the pontiff for thirty-four years!
If you’d like to read more, check out the latest episode of my story about the collapse of the Romanov dynasty! In this episode, we meet the infamous and lecherous Siberian monk Rasputin and explore his strange hold over the Russian royals!
old spirituals 
I think he has very strong features in his face, yet somehow I think he would have made a good grandfather! He has gentle eyes. I once stunned my children by saying that I knew people who were Victorians. I was born in 1964, so the older people I knew as a child were indeed Victorians!
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That is so cool! I wish I knew some Victorians. My great grandmother was born in 1901, so I guess I knew an Edwardian!
I wonder what they would think of the world today.
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