Pope Pius IX Issues an Encyclical Called on Aid for Ireland

Pius donated money to Ireland during the Great Famine. In 1847 he addressed the suffering Irish people in the encyclical Praedecessores nostros.

Praedecessores nostros was a papal encyclical written by Pope Pius IX on March 25, 1847, to address the crisis of the Great Irish Famine that occurred approximately between 1845 and 1850.

This event is known by many as the 19th century’s greatest natural disaster. Pope Pius IX was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti on May 13, 1792, in Senigallia, Italy. He studied at the College of Volterra in Tuscany and was ordained as a priest in 1819.

Throughout the span of his life, Pius IX served as the director of the Roman hospice of San Michele, Bishop of Imola, and Archbishop of Spoleto. He was made a Cardinal in 1840 and elected Pope in 1846. Several important events that occurred during the papacy of Pius IX are the unification of Italy, the First Vatican Council, the defining of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and 38 papal encyclicals.

Praedecessores nostros is one of the more significant papal decrees of the time because it addresses one of the most well known events in history. The Great Irish Famine was caused by the mysterious fungus, Phytophthora infestans.

The fact that the potato was the staple food of over half the population of Ireland caused approximately one million people to die as a consequence.