The 1878 papal conclave, which resulted from the death of

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

on 7 February 1878, met from 18 to 20 February. The conclave followed the longest reign of any other pope since Saint Peter. It was the first election of a pope who would not rule the Papal States. It was the first to meet in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican because the venue used earlier in the 19th century, the Quirinal Palace, was now the palace of the King of Italy, Umberto I.

Questions facing the cardinals

When the cardinals assembled, they faced a dilemma. Should they choose a pope who would continue to espouse Pius IX's

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...

religious and political views, and would continue to refuse to accept Italy's '' Law of Guarantees'' guaranteeing the pope religious liberty in the Kingdom of Italy? Or should they turn away from the policies of Pius IX and choose a more liberal pope who could work for reconciliation with the King of Italy? Would choosing such a policy be seen as a betrayal of Pius IX, the self-proclaimed "Prisoner in the Vatican"? Other broader issues included Church-State relations in Italy, the Third French Republic, Ireland and the United States; the heresy Pope Leo XIII later called

Americanism Americanism may refer to: * American nationalism * Any characteristic feature of American English * Americanism (ideology), an early 20th-century ideology frequently posited in opposition to communism or anarchism * Americanism (heresy), a group ...

; divisions in the Church caused by the proclamation of papal infallibility by the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecu ...

; and the status of the

, which had been halted suddenly and never concluded. The length of Pope Pius' reign suggested the cardinals give special consideration to the age and health of the man they elected.

Conclave

Some 61 of 64 cardinals entered the conclave. Two others arrived too late from New York and Dublin to participate and one did not attend for health reasons. Three of the 61 had participated in the previous conclave in 1846:

Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso (20 June 1796 – 30 March 1878) was the dean of the College of Cardinals during the last part of the record long reign of Pope Pius IX. Biography The issue of an ancient and noble Catalan Sardinian family,As f ...

, Fabio Maria Asquini, and Domenico Carafa della Spina di Traetto. With what many churchmen believed was the "unstable" and "anti-Catholic" situation in a Rome that was no longer controlled by the Church, some cardinals, notably Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, urged that the conclave be moved outside Rome, perhaps even to Malta. However the

Camerlengo Camerlengo (plural: ''camerlenghi'', Italian for "chamberlain") is an Italian title of medieval origin. It derives from the late Latin ''camarlingus'', in turn coming through the Frankish ''kamerling'', from the Latin ''camerarius'' which meant "ch ...

, Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, advocated otherwise, and an initial vote among cardinals to move to Spain was overturned in a later vote. The conclave finally assembled in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on 18 February 1878. Going into the conclave, Cardinal Pecci was the one candidate favored to be elected, in part because many of the cardinals who headed to Rome had already decided to elect him. In addition to Pecci's competent administration as Camerlengo during the brief ''sede vacante'' period up to the conclave, Pecci was seen as the opposite of Pope Pius IX in terms of manner and temperament, and had also had a successful diplomatic career prior to being Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia. Pecci's election was also facilitated in that

Alessandro Franchi Alessandro Franchi may refer to: * Alessandro Franchi (cardinal) (1819–1878), Italian cardinal and archbishop * Alessandro Franchi (painter) Alessandro Franchi (15 March 1838, in Prato – 29 April 1914, in Siena) was an Italian painter. He ...

, the candidate favored by the conservatives, urged his supporters to switch their support to the Camerlengo. One account reported the voting tabulations without providing its source. Pius ix

Ballot 1 (morning 19 February)

On the first ballot, held on the morning of 19 February the votes were * Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci 19 votes * Luigi Bilio 6 votes *

4 votes This ballot was ruled invalid because at least one cardinal did not mark his ballot properly.

Ballot 2 (afternoon 19 February)

* Pecci 26 * Bilio 7 * Franchi 2

Ballot 3 (morning 20 February)

* Pecci 44 – elected

Result, implications, and aftermath

The election of Cardinal Pecci, who took the name of ''Leo XIII'', was a victory for the liberals. Pecci had been an effective bishop whose diocese had moved from the Papal States to the Kingdom of Italy successfully, without Church problems. He was seen as a diplomatic pragmatist with the tact and flexibility opponents of the previous pope believed Pius IX lacked. At 68 Leo was also young enough to do the job without hindrance of health problems, but old enough to offer the prospect of a relatively short reign of ten to fifteen years. Whereas Pius IX was seen as having isolated the Church from international opinion (his confining Jews in ghettos and his treatment of minorities had been condemned by world leaders such as

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

), Leo was seen as an "internationalist" who could earn back the Vatican some international respect. Though always seemingly in poor health and delicate condition, Leo reigned for 25 years. He had the third longest reign of any pope until that time. When he died on 20 July 1903 at the age of 93 he had lived to be older than any of his known predecessors.

Participants

;Arrived too late to participate * Paul Cullen,

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

( Primate of Ireland) * John McCloskey, Archbishop of New York (United States) ;Unavailable through ill-health *Godefroy Brossais-Saint-Marc,

Archbishop of Rennes The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rhedonensis, Dolensis et Sancti Maclovii''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rennes, Dol et Saint-Malo''; br, Arc'heskopti Roazhon, Dol ha Sant-Maloù) is a dioces ...

(France) ;Present *

, Dean of the College of Cardinals, cardinal-bishop of Ostia and Velletri * Camillo di Pietro, cardinal-bishop of Porto e Santa Ruffina * Carlo Sacconi,

cardinal-bishop of Palestrina The Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Palestrina ( la, Diocesis Praenestina) is a Roman Catholic suburbicarian diocese centered on the comune of Palestrina in Italy. The current bishop of Palestrina is Domenico Sigalini, who from 3 Novembe ...

* Filippo Maria Guidi,

cardinal-bishop of Frascati The Diocese of Frascati (Lat.: ''Tusculana'') is a suburbicarian see of the Holy Roman Church and a diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy, based at Frascati, near Rome. The bishop of Frascati is a Cardinal Bishop; from the Latin name of the are ...

* Luigi Bilio,

cardinal-bishop of Sabina A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

* Carlo Luigi Morichini, cardinal-bishop of Albano * Friedrich Johannes Jacob Celestin von Schwarzenberg, Prince-Archbishop of Prague (Bohemia, part of Austria-Hungary) * Fabio Maria Asquini, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics * Domenico Carafa della Spina di Traetto,

Archbishop of Benevento The Italian Catholic metropolitan Archdiocese of Benevento ( la, Archidioecesis Beneventana) has a long history; it now has five suffragan dioceses: the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita-T ...

* Ferdinand-François-Auguste Donnet, Bordeaux * Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci,

(Papal Chamberlain), Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia (Italy) *

Antonio Benedetto Antonucci Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, Ancona *

Antonio Maria Panebianco Antonio Maria Panebianco (13 August 1808 – 21 November 1885) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He became cardinal in 1861 and held several senior positions in the Roman Curia. Biography Niccolò Panebianco was born on 13 August 1 ...

, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Indulgences and Sacred Relics * Antonio Saverio De Luca, prefect of the Pontifical Congregation for Studies * Jean Baptiste François Pitra, librarian of the Vatican Library * Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose, Rouen * Gustav Adolph von Hohenlohe, archpriest of

Santa Maria Maggiore The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...

* Lucien-Louis-Joseph-Napoleon Bonaparte, cardinal of Santa Pudenziana * Innocenzo Ferrieri,

Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals The Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals was the treasurer of the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church. The title is based on an Italian word for chamberlain, a word no longer used in secular contexts. The position existed from at ...

Giuseppe Berardi Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Gius ...

, Cardinal-Priest of Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano * Juan Ignacio Moreno, Toledo *

Raffaele Monaco La Valletta Raffaele Monaco La Valletta S.T.D. J.U.D. (23 February 1827 – 14 July 1896) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. Education Raffaele Monaco La Vallet ...

Cardinal Vicar General of Rome it, Vicario Generale di Sua Santità , unofficial_names = Cardinal Vicar , insignia = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , insigniasize = 75px , insigniacaption = Coat of arms of the Diocese of Rome , image = AngeloDeDonatis.jpg , incumbent = Angel ...

Inácio do Nascimento de Morais Cardoso ''Dom'' Inácio do Nascimento de Morais Cardoso (20 December 1811 – 23 February 1883) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was Patriarch of Lisbon. Morais Cardoso was born in Murça, Portugal, the son of Hipólito de Morais Cardo ...

, Patriarch of Lisbon * René-François Régnier, Archbishop of Cambrai (France) * Flavio Chigi, Grand Prior of Rome of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta *

, Prefect of Propagande Fide * Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert,

Archbishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Parisiensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Paris'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France ...

(France) * Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Relics * János Simor, Esztergom * Tommaso Martinelli, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints * Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei *

Pietro Giannelli Pietro Giannelli (11 August 1807 – 5 November 1881) was an Italian prelate who was elevated to the cardinalate The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Churc ...

, cardinal-priest of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura * Mieczyslaw Halka Ledóchowski, Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen, ( Poland, part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

). * Henry Edward Manning,

Archbishop of Westminster The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

(Head of the

Catholic Church in England and Wales The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...

). *

Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps Victor Augustin Isidore Dechamps (6 December 1810, in Melle – 29 September 1883, in Mechelen) was a Belgian Archbishop of Mechelen, Cardinal and Primate of Belgium. Biography He and his brothers made rapid progress in science under th ...

, Archbishop of Mechelen ( Belgium). *

Giovanni Simeoni Giovanni Simeoni (July 12, 1816 – January 14, 1892) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith from 1878 until his death, and was elevated to the card ...

Secretary of State of the Holy See The Secretariat of State (Latin: ''Secretaria Status''; Italian: ''Segreteria di Stato'') is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of Sta ...

* Domenico Bartolini, Cardinal-Priest of San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio * Bartolomeo d'Avanzo, Bishop of Calvi e Teano (Italy) *

Johann Baptist Franzelin Johannes Baptist Franzelin (b. at Aldein, in Tyrol, 15 April 1816; d. at Rome, 11 December 1886) was an Austrian Jesuit theologian and Cardinal. Life Johann Baptist Franzelin was born 15 April 1816, in Aldein, Austria, the son of Pellegrino and ...

, Jesuit theologian, Cardinal-Priest of Santi Bonifacio ed Alessio *

Francisco de Paula Benavides y Navarrete Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

, Patriarch of the West Indies * Francesco Saverio Apuzzo, Archbishop of Capua * Emmanuele Garcia Gil, Zaragoza * Edward Henry Howard, Protector of the English College at Rome *

Miguel Payá y Rico --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places *Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disambi ...

, Santiago de Compostella *

Louis-Marie Caverot Louis-Marie Caverot (26 May 1806 – 23 January 1887) was a French prelate of the Catholic Church who became a bishop in 1849 and served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1876 to 1887. He was raised to the rank of cardinal in 1877. Biography Louis-Mari ...

, Lyon * Luigi di Canossa, Verona * Luigi Serafini, Viterbo *

Josip Mihalovic Josip () is a male given name found among Croats and Slovenes, a cognate of Joseph. In Croatia, the name Josip was the second most common masculine given name in the decades up to 1959, and has stayed among the top ten most common ones throughout 2 ...

, Zagreb *

Johann Rudolf Kutschker Johann Baptist Rudolph Kutschker (11 April 1810, Loučky – 27 January 1881, Vienna) was an Austrian Cardinal. Life Johann Rudolf Kutschker was born in Seifersdorf, Austrian Silesia (now Loučky in Zátor, Czech Republic). He studied humaniti ...

, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria-Hungary * Lucido Parocchi, Bologna *

Vincenzo Moretti Vincenzo Moretti (14 November 1815 – 6 October 1881) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and the Archbishop of Ravenna from 1871 until his resignation in 1879. He was elevated to the cardinalate in late 1877. He served first as the Bishop ...

, Ravenna * Antonio Pellegrini, cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria in Aquiro *

Prospero Caterini Prospero Caterini (15 October 1795, in Onano – 28 October 1881, in Rome) was an Italian cardinal. Biography Prospero Caterini was born in Onano, diocese of Acquapendente in the region of Lazio in what was then the Papal States. His parents ...

, Protodeacon, Secretary of the Inquisition. * Teodolfo Mertel, Prefect of the

Apostolic Signatura The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura () is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church (apart from the pope himself, who as supreme ecclesiastical judge is the final point of appeal for any ecclesiastical judgment). In additio ...

; the last cardinal to not be ordained to the priesthood *

Domenico Consolini Domenico Antonio Luigi Pacifico Nicola Baldassare Consolini (7 June 1806 – 20 December 1884) was an Italian bishop and cardinal, who served as a diplomat of the Holy See. Life Born in Senigallia, he was the fourth son of Marchese Tommaso Cons ...

, Prefect of the Pontifical Roman Seminary of Sts. Peter and Paul for the Foreign Missions * Edoardo Borromeo, President of the Fabric of Saint Peter * Lorenzo Ilarione Randi, Vice-Camerlengo of the

Apostolic Camera The Apostolic Camera ( la, Camera Apostolica), formerly known as the was an office in the Roman Curia. It was the central board of finance in the papal administrative system and at one time was of great importance in the government of the Stat ...

* Bartolomeo Pacca il Giovane, Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Campitelli *

Lorenzo Nina Lorenzo Nina (May 12, 1812 – July 25, 1885) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A longtime member of the Roman Curia, he served as Prefect of the Congregation for Studies (1877–1878), Secretary of State of the Holy Se ...

, Prefect of the Congregation for Studies * Enea Sbarretti, Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria dei Martiri (the Pantheon) * Frédéric de Falloux du Coudray, Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Agata de' Goti

Notes

References

External links

L’Osservatore Romano article revealing ballots in 1878 conclave
{{Subject bar , portal1= Catholicism , portal2= Christianity , portal3= Vatican City , b=y, b-search=Biblical Studies/Christianity/Roman Catholicism/History , commons=y, commons-search=Papal conclave , n=y, n-search=Roman Catholic Church , q=y, q-search=Popes , s=y, s-search=Popes , v=y, v-search=Christian History , wikt=y, wikt-search=Pope , d=y 1878 in Italy 1870s in Rome 1878 elections in Europe

1878 Events January–March * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War – Battle of Shipka Pass IV: Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Battle o ...

Pope Pius IX 19th-century Catholicism 1878 in Christianity February 1878 events