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 April 1860: The first Pony Express service went into operation
3rd April 2019
On the 15th June 1215, Magna Carta – one of the most famous documents in the world – was approved by King John when he added his seal to it in a field at Runnymede near Windsor in England.
On the 18th March 1314 Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was executed on the orders of King Philip IV.
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.
On the 2nd December 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The Parliament of England passed the First Act of Supremacy which made Henry VIII the head of the Church of England.
The public saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for the first time when Pope Julius II celebrated All Saints Day mass.
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.
The 22nd June 1633 saw Galileo Galilei, the famed scientist, was found “vehemently suspect of heresy” by the Papal Inquisition and forced to recant his belief in the heliocentric universe originally put forward by Copernicus ninety years previously.
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2018
9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
9th November 2017