Feb. 7 Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Weekday

The Roman Martyrology commemorates Blessed Pius IX (1792-1878), who reigned as pope from 1846-1878. He was the last pope to hold temporal power for the Papal States, before they were reformed. He defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 8, 1854 and celebrated the First Vatican Council from 1869 to 1870, which defined the dogma of papal infallibility. He was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on September 3, 2000.