Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, Pius IX’s election by the Papal conclave of 1846 came at a time of significant political unrest across Europe.
3rd October 1918: Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria comes to the throne
3rd October 2017
Two Catholic imperial officials and their secretary were thrown out of the window of the Bohemian Chancellery in the Second Defenestration of Prague.
Sir Francis Drake entered the Bay of Cádiz and attacked the Spanish naval fleet in an event known as ‘Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard’.
The first stone of Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia basilica was laid.
On the 8th February 1587 Mary Stuart, more commonly known as Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed in the great hall of Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire.
Pope Pius IV issued a Papal bull confirming the decrees of the Council of Trent that defined Catholic doctrine in the face of the Protestant Reformation.
The Treaty of Granada ended the Granada War and brought about the end of Islamic rule on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Parliament of England passed the First Act of Supremacy which made Henry VIII the head of the Church of England.
On the 31st October 1517, the foundations of the Protestant Reformation were laid when Martin Luther reputedly nailed his ‘Ninety-five Theses’ to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg – a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
On the 11th October 1521, Pope Leo X granted the title “Defender of the Faith” to King Henry VIII of England.
21st August 1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th state of the USA
21st August 2019
20th August 1940: Leon Trotsky attacked with an ice axe in Mexico
20th August 2019
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2018
9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
9th November 2017