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 CHURCH OF ROME. 299

stitute an integral part of the kingdom of Italy,' the Pontiff was constituted supreme head of the Church, preserving his former dignities as a reigning prince, and all other prerogatives of absolute and independent sovereignty.

Sovereign-Pontiff. — Pius IX., born at Sinigaglia, May 13, 1792, the son of Count Mastai Ferretti. Appointed bishop, id jjetto, December 23, 1837; Archbishop of Imola, December 14, 1838; created cardinal, December 24, 1839 ; elected Sovereign-Pontiff, as successor of Gregory XVI., June 16, 1846 ; crowned June 21, 1846.

The Pontiff was originally elected by the priests and people of the diocese of Rome; but subsequently by the cardinals. In the eleventh century Nicholas II. conferred on the cardinals the right of directing the election, and, in accordance with his statutes, the cardinals, who had figured as a body since the eighth century, were bound to demand of the Roman people and the Roman clergy the ratification of their choice. To legalise the election it was indispensable that the same name should obtain two-thirds at least of the votes of the Conclave, together with the suffrages of the people and the clergy of Rome. This mode of proceeding, however, was found to give rise to dissen- sions, and the consequence was that both the clergy and the people were excluded from all participation in the election. This reform took place in 1217, on the accession of Gregory X.

The election of a Pontiff is by scrutiny or ballot. Each cardinal writes his own name with that of the candidate he proposes on a ticket. These tickets are deposited in the consecrated chalice which Stands on the altar of the chapel where -they sit; and each one approaching and leaving the altar kneels and repeats a prayer. After a pause the tickets are taken from the sacred cup by officers named ad hoc from their own body ; the tickets are compared with the number of cardinals present, and when it is found that any one of them has two-thirds of the votes in his favour he is declared elected. If no one" can show the requisite number of votes another proceeding is gone through. This proceeding is the election by access — so called because any cardinal has the right to accede to the vote of another by altering his ticket according to a prescribed form. The moment the election is declared the tickets are burnt. The present Pontiff Pius IX. was elected by unanimity. He is the &57th Pope.

The rise of the Pontificate of Rome, as a temporal power, dates from the year 755, when Pepin, king of the Franks, granted to Pope Stephen III. the exarchate of Ravenna, to which Charlemagne added the pro- vinces of Perugia and Spoleto. Kaiser Heinrich III., in 1053, increased these possessions of the head of the Church by the city of Benevento, with the surrounding territory ; and not long after, in 1102, the Mar- chioness Matilda of Tuscany bequeathed to the Holy See the pro-