Vatican I Opens
December 8, 1869
Pope Pius IX, alarmed at the modern world, convened the first ecumenical council since Trent. Its signature dogma, proclaimed the following July, was papal infallibility when speaking ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals. It split the German church and alienated liberal Catholics. The Pope had made himself stronger and lonelier.
In context
Also in 1869 (5 other events on record)
- Mendeleev's Periodic Table · Europe · Science
- Transcontinental Railroad Completed · North America · Technology
- Suez Canal Opens · Middle East · Technology
- Tolstoy's War and Peace · Europe · Culture
- Black Friday Gold Panic · North America · Disaster
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Religion
- Before: February 11, 1858: Visions at Lourdes
- After: 1873: Kulturkampf Peaks
Era
Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.