1792-1878
Pope

Early Years. The individual who would serve as Pope longer than any other man in history was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti in Senigallia, Italy. As a child, he was bright but sickly, subject periodically to epileptic seizures. After receiving a classical education in Volterra, he went to Rome in 1809 to study theology and philosophy but returned home the following year because of political unrest. In 1814 he went back to Rome, where he sought admission to the Pope's Noble Guard. After authorities declared him physically unfit to serve, however, he entered a Roman seminary to study theology. Ordained in 1819, he was appointed the spiritual director of a Roman orphanage, where he remained until 1823, when he was sent as a church auditor on a mission to South America. After his return to Rome in 1825, he was appointed canon of the Church of Santa Maria and director...